ZX Spectrum: Past & Present Market, hardware and software Games, ELITE

1. John Laibach
2013
ZX Spectrum Universe

2. Agenda
 Part I: ZX Spectrum
– The birth of a UK classic
– Specifications
– Peripherals
– Not intended for games
– Later models
– Software
– Market
– Games
 Part II: ELITE

3. Part I: ZX Spectrum

4. The birth of UK classic
 ZX Spectrum was released on 23 April 1982
 The first personal computer under £100
– ZX Spectrum 16K for £125 (later reduced to £99)
– ZX Spectrum 48K for £175 (later reduced to £129)
 Its working title was “ZX82” but
later changed to “ZX Spectrum”
 It was the Big One.
The machine which revolutionized
home computing

6. Specifications
 The hardware design is by Richard Altwasser of
Sinclair Research Ltd.
 16 color graphics, 256x192 pixels
 One channel beeper sound with 10 octaves
 Memory 16 kB (16x1024 bytes) or 48 kB
 Zilog Z80A CPU running at 3.5 MHz
 Designed to use TV set as display and cassette
tape for loading/saving software

7. Peripherals
 Sinclair Research followed it up with a few
peripherals:
– ZX Printer
– ZX Interface 1: allowed you to connect a vast range of
add-ons
– ZX Interface 2: had two joystick ports and a ROM
cartridge slot
– ZX Microdrive: magnetic tape data storage system
– Kempston joystick interface: allowed joysticks complying
with the de facto Atari 2600 standard
 Everything they designed had a stylish look

9. Not intended for games
 Sinclair Research was a cutting-edge technology
company doing serious, world-changing work
 ZX Spectrum was sold as a mainstream computer
for education and home use
– BASIC programming language in ROM
– Keyboard with built-in BASIC operators/functions
 Rapidly became a gaming platform
 Clive Sinclair didn't much like the ZX Spectrum

10. Keyboard

11. Later models
 ZX Spectrum+ (June 1984)
 ZX Spectrum 128 (1985-1986)
 Amstrad models:
– ZX Spectrum +2
– ZX Spectrum +2A
– ZX Spectrum +2B
– ZX Spectrum +3
 A lot of clones in the USSR (80th-90th)
 Speccy2010

12. Sinclair models
ZX Spectrum 16K / 48K ZX Spectrum+
ZX Spectrum 128K

13. Amstrad models
ZX Spectrum +2
ZX Spectrum +3

14. Speccy2010

15. 30th anniversary in 2012!
 St.George + ZX Spectrum in a Google Doodle 

16. Software
 Strong hardware limitations
 More than 24000 titles till now
 Diverse of software library:
– Programming languages
– Assemblers
– Databases
– Word processors
– Drawing and painting tools
– 3D modeling software
– Demos
– Games

17. Market
 It looks dated now, but it was the business in
1982
 Established the UK mass market
 Established a huge market in software
development
 Provided an ecosystem for peripheral
manufacturers
 Responsible for development
of home PC market

18. Games
 The first ZX Spectrum games weren‟t too
inspiring
 A lot of them were written in BASIC, but machine
code quickly increased in popularity
 Sequels, arcade, simulation, strategic games, etc
 Later game development in the ex-USSR
 Most of the >24000 titles are games
 It‟s hard to believe now that Clive Sinclair had
always intended it to be a business machine!

19. Games
 There were loads of games on ZX Spectrum…

35. Games
 No end of games 

36. Part II: ELITE

37. ELITE the game
 Written by David Braben and Ian Bell on
BBC Micro computer in 1984
 In 1985 appeared on ZX Spectrum, and this
version was a bestseller
 The game's popularity became a national
phenomenon in the UK
 The breakthrough title that defined the modern
space flight simulation genre
 1985: “Best Game Overall” and “The best game
ever” for the BBC Micro, many other awards

39. ELITE: influence
 Elite is influential upon gaming as a whole:
– The first truly open-ended game
– Named #1 “Top Retro Game” and #1 “Best game of the
1980s”
– Opened the door for future online persistent worlds such
as Second Life, World of Warcraft and EVE Online
– It opened people's eyes to the very idea of epic,
free-roaming open world titles in general
– One of the most popularly requested games to be
remade

40. ELITE: gameplay
 Player initially starts with a lightly armed ship
called “Cobra Marked III”
 Travelling to various star systems and trading
with their inhabitants
 Military missions, bounty hunting, asteroid
mining and even piracy
 Upgrade ships, equipment, weapons
 Earn ranks to reach the rank „Elite‟

41. ELITE: technical innovations
 3D wire-frame graphics
 Procedurally generated 8 galaxies with 256
planets each (2048 planets)
 Braben and Bell checked all generated names for
profanity

42. ELITE: sequels
 Official sequels
– Frontier: Elite II (1993)
– Frontier: First Encounters (1995)
– Elite: Dangerous, recently was crowdfunded through a
Kickstarter campaign
 A lot of unofficial clones and similar games

43. ELITE: now
 “Elite: Dangerous” has been pushed to the
Kickstarter project by David Braben
– Launched on 5 Nov 2012 with the goal £1.25 million
– Ended on 4 Jan 2013 with more than £1.5 million
– Sets the Record for Highest Kickstarter Goal to Be
Successfully Funded
– 21st century sequel to ELITE is currently expected to be
ready to fly in March 2014

44. Summary
 ZX Spectrum was released in 1982
 Became the most popular home computer despite
of limited hardware capabilities
 Not intended for games but became the very
gaming platform
 ZX Spectrum has a vital impact on software
market
 Many game titles are living nowadays

45. Questions

46. Thank You!
Copyright © 2013 SoftServe, Inc.
Contacts
E-mail: john.laibach@gmail.com