The ZX Files 3/ZX Files 3 (Disk 2 of 3).adf/PAGE6/152/152

Text File | 1978-01-15 | 6.3 KB | 126 lines

                      IF I HAD A DISC DRIVE....
                      =========================
                    A Spectrum with a disc drive?
        We asked the industry what they would do with it......

@5 Andrew Hewson
@2 ( Hewson ) @1

It would save a lot of problems! The possibilities are enormous.
We wouldn't have to worry so much about compressing data. One thing it
would certainly do is improve the  quality  of the backdrops and other
graphics detail in a game -  it  would  be possible to load screens as
necessary from disc without having to hold all that information in the
computer memory. It would  certainly  make  things  more fun. It might
mean that the Spectrum  would  stop  being  just  a  games machine and
people would start to do other kinds of software.
  I'd be very supportive of a Spectrum with discs - I think the market
is crying out for it,  the  Spectrum  has  never had a really standard
system - the equivalent of what Kempston is to joysticks.
Price would obviously be a key but it would have to be under ú200.

@5 Tim Langdell
@2 (The Edge ) @1

A disc drive would be right  up  our  street.  It would remove so many
constraints on what we could do.  With  Fairlight II we had to squeeze
and cram it into 128K or have two loads on the 48K machine.
We wouldn't have to spend so much  time cramming stuff in. It's things
like graphic detail that really use up  Ram, with a disc drive we'd be
able to keep graphic data on disc until it was needed.
  It should be possible to find  a  way  of  using the disc for multi-
tasking as well, so that more data is loaded whilst you are playing.
Under the Softtechnics label we already do  a lot of material that has
been designed to be used with virtually all the disc drives available.
With a  standard  disc  drive  it  would  be  possible  to  have  very
sophisticated graphics programs, even  things  like  page make-up with
the disc holding alternative  fonts  and  even  having different point
sizes.
  The key thing for such a machine  is  price. It has to be under ú200
and if the rumours of an Atari ST for under ú200 are true it will have
to be closer to ú150.

@5 John Heap
@2 ( Denton Designs ) @1

I am working on arcade  adventures  at  the moment, doing something in
128K for the +2. With a disc drive  you  stop having to put a limit on
what you can do. 128K games will  take absolutely ages to load in from
tape, especially with the problems of over using hyperloads on the +2,
so a disc drive is becoming almost vital.
  Aside from the sheer extra data  room,  the other thing you could do
with a disc drive  is  storing  inputs  to  customise  the game and do
things like instant  action  replays  of  events  in  the  game.  I am
definitely keen on the idea of  the  machine, it just depends on there
being a decent amount of support for it.

@5 David Ward
@2 ( Ocean ) @1

Well, a disc drive on  a  Spectrum  is  less  of an innovation that it
might have been.  It  would  have  been  more  significant  if  it had
happened in the 48K  days,  with  128K  I  doubt  that  there is a big
advantage from increased data space.
  I think it will have some effect  on software, though the real point
is that you can interact with the  program,  an action in the game may
actually change the information on the disc. This is where the idea of
interactive fiction comes in  -  for  example,  adventure games can be
designed to respond in a considerably  more personalised way - keeping
track of your previous  actions.  The  other  point  is random access,
which lets you structure the program in more interesting ways.
  A Spectrum with a disc  drive  could be significant, Commodore sales
over christmas had caught up  with  Sinclair  ones  and I think a disc
machine could develop a new market distinct from the existing one - it
largely depends on whether the +2  would continue to be sold alongside
any new machine. Certainly we  would  support such a machine, probably
beginning with conversions some of the Commodore disc only software we
already have.

@5 Geoffrey Heath
@2 ( Mastertronic ) @1

I don't think we would be able to support disc software for a Spectrum
at the existing price bands - ú1.99 or ú2.99, but it would be the sort
of thing we might put out under the Melbourne House banner.
We would have to wait and see  any  new machine and a lot would depend
on it but I think one way or another we would produce software for it.
It'll be excellent for loading  speed,  access time and for multi-load
products.

@5 Mike Singleton
@2 ( Programmer )
@1
Obviously a disc drive effectively gives you extra Ram.
It means that you can switch things in  and out as they are needed, it
will be particularly  good,  for  example,  for  things like digitised
speech and graphics or digital music tracks. With a disc drive you can
have as much of the disc will hold which should be plenty.
  For my personal interest, a disc  would  make  it a lot easier to do
things like play by mail. More generally  it could lead to such things
as customised programs, both  in  the  sense  where adventures respond
more closely to your exact  inputs  and  offering arcade games you can
alter yourself.
  One area I've been interested  in  is  the  idea of 'recording' live
action into Ram i.e. Using Ram  like  a laserdisc to store sections of
animated action. Obviously with a disc  that idea could become so much
more effective, you could save a  much  longer sequence of actions and
have them introduced at particular points in the game.

@5 Greg Follis
@2 ( Gargoyle ) @1

We hear news of a  Spectrum  +3,  and  built  in disc drive, with some
emotion, if not to say, mild  hysteria.  You  see, at Gargoyle, 99% of
all game development is  done  on  Amstrad  PCW8512's, with the object
code  ported  to  the  target  machine  via  an  RS232  or  Centronics
interface. All development, that  is,  except  for  the images for the
poor old  Spectrum  -  no  matter  how  much  we  try  to  emulate the
Spectrum's visual 'capabilities'  on  other  machines,  we can't quite
capture the unique  feel  of  the  original.  Therefore,  all Spectrum
artwork is executed directly  onto  an  old  48K  Speccy  (we like our
rubber keys) and stored on a microdrive.
  Yes, complex games can be presented on  a machine with built in disc
drive but to think of developing a  game without the strain imposed by
the ever-imminent demise of a Microdrive, brings  a tear to the eye, a
hoarse cry to the lips.