Transarctica - ice cold train combat

Transarctica - ice cold train combat

This is everything I need from computer game - strategy, tactic combat and cool (literally) setting.

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The world has come to an end, the sun is gone, the earth has turned into an ice desert. In an attempt to save the world from the Greenhouse effect, scientists detonated nuclear charges at both poles of the planet. By doing so, they created a vapour layer in the atmosphere that, instead of cooling the planet down, led to eternal winter. The nightmare of scientists and environmentalists has become a fact.
Tracker music without a tracker

Tracker music without a tracker

We (almost) don't need to use trackers to create music on retro computers. There is an easier way.

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As a musician, I have always envied demoscene artists the possibility of working with modern software. The graphic artist will prepare the image in Photoshop, than all he needs to do is to use the converter and copy the file to his retro-computer. That’s all - art for demoarty is ready. A musician’s life is not that easy. Musician has to work with trackers, whether he wants it or not.
From zero to 6502 assembly - how to teach yourself programming

From zero to 6502 assembly - how to teach yourself programming

Have you ever thought about writing your own demo or game but you don't know where to start? In this post, I've gathered resources - from the basics to advanced programming.

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Assembly language, this term alone raises mixed feelings. We admire programmers who write in low-level languages, and sometimes we see a bit of superhuman in them. Often, beginner (and even advanced) programmers are concerned about assembly languages. This also applies to me. I was never interested in programming 8-bit computers because I thought that BASIC was quite limited, and the 6502 assembly was a field completely beyond my intellectual abilities.
Atari 65XE The 8 bit computer of The Eastern Bloc

Atari 65XE The 8 bit computer of The Eastern Bloc

The 65XE was the last model of a series of eight-bit computers manufactured by Atari. This comuter has become an icon in Eastern Europe.

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The Commodore 64 is the most popular personal computer of all time to this day. In the 1980s, however, the world was divided by the Iron Curtain, and things were fundamentally different on the socialist side of Europe. The Commodore 64 was not available in the countries of the Eastern Bloc. Here market was dominated by the Soviet clones Sinclair machines and… Atari 65XE. In 1984, after leaving Commodore, Jack Tramel bought Atari.
5 NES games (including hidden gems) I would take on a desert island

5 NES games (including hidden gems) I would take on a desert island

Just 5 NES games you may not know about, but they are great.

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Have you ever thought about minimizing your game collection, so you would have only titles which you absolutely love? It may be an interesting idea if you think about it. Here is my „Top 5” but order does not matter, since every game is different and unique. DR. MARIO A highly addictive game (like drugs). This, published in 1990, tetris-like title will keep you hooked for hours and hours. Gameplay requires a little bit of creative thinking, but first and foremost – I find it very relaxing.
1K ZX Chess – a tiny game

1K ZX Chess – a tiny game

1K ZX Chess is a program that has gone down in the history of computer science. Over the years, it has been an excellent example of optimization.

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The ZX81 was one of the first 8-bit computers, in its basic version it had only 1KB of RAM. Nevertheless, it has thousands of games and programs in the form of both listings and applications distributed on tapes. The machine could be expanded with modules extending the available memory up to 64 KB. From today’s perspective, it is fascinating how much could be squeezed out of the basic 1KB version.
Goddes of Fuji – Numen for an 8-bit Atari

Goddes of Fuji – Numen for an 8-bit Atari

The most technologically advanced demo on the 8-bit Atari required as much as 130 kB of RAM to run smoothly.

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Numen by Taquart! That’s a perfect topic for the first article. Numen (Latin word for goddes) debuted in 2002 at Polish demoparty „Lato ludzików”, it took first place in demo compo. Earliest and most technologically advanced part of this demo was made already in 1997 (authors called it „Turbo vectys” and it presents 3D blocks in last part). But what it actually is? Imagine if Atari could run Doom – surrealistic, psychedelic version of Doom.