A game about the Spectrumists

02 December 2023

A game about the Spectrumists

Game mechanics

The offline part of the game is 1990-2000 (some events are scripted). Designed for 2 weeks of gameplay.
During this time, you need to make your computer a standard.
The game shows the popularity of different models of computers (circulation, average power, possibly the number of software).
You need to monitor these parameters so as not to lose.
The playability of all the branches should be calculated automatically (generating the correct sequence of actions with a small randomness). At the same time, the parameters of the "fun" should be calculated:

the minimum number of new elements seen per hour, with a schedule (we will review and debug the first 15 minutes of the game manually);
the complexity of the game (the narrowness of the permissible randomness) should increase with emissions in 1992, 1994, 1997, 2000.

The game should be easy to patch to add new graphics, music, items, locations, quests, menus, settings settings, without losing the savestates.

We can configure the playability using the following parameters:

number and strength of random enemies in the city;
number and strength of random friends;
effectiveness of correspondence for reproducing software and spreading average power;
price of correspondence;
coefficients for different devices on specific computers when calculating the power of a computer, as well as prices for them for each computer;
higher/lower requirements according to the scenario.

Battles (with the help of a computer going with you, graphically designed as a neko girl, and also, possibly, friends):
You can bind the following parameter to each device (except mouse, watch, programmer, modem, printer):

+memory - health in battles;
+speed - in battles, the speed of mana accumulation for a strike;
+graphics - impact force in battles;
+sound - in battles, time of enemy's shock after a hit.

Super-blows with software are also possible. If this is used against you, then you are offered the opportunity to write similar software at home.

Endings

ATM wins, Profi is brought by manufacturers to be compatible with it (screens 640x200/multicolor and 320x200/16C), Scorpion too (thanks to GMX). We need to have time to make ATM and Profi compatible before 1994, for this we need to make ATM the most popular machine (and it is the most expensive!). It is necessary to provide maximum software for ATM by any means (yourself, friends, correspondents, the press). The initial strategy is to earn money (there will be no problems with money later - ATM is stronger than anyone else in fights until the appearance of sophisticated Pentagons) and a massive attack. The software targeted for ATM must be the most widespread in 1994, and in 1997 (when GMX is being made, and the number of software for the Pentagon is already large), and in 2000. And you need to have at least one high-quality release at the Pentagon in order to become known to the Pentagon users. As a result, the Pentagon is being modified to meet the standard. The mistake is to buy ATM before October 1992 (when ATM2 was advertized as such - technically it was already in May, but they also continued to sell ATM1), then you urgently need to switch to the Pentagon branch, otherwise you will not have time to save up money for ATM2 again.
Profi wins, they made a colour per pixel mode (screens 512x240/multicolor and 256x240/16C), ATM is made compatible with it by manufacturers, Scorpion too (thanks to GMX). You need to have time to make ATM and Profi compatible before 1994, for this you must get the colour per pixel mode for Profi, which requires you becoming the main developer for Profi (you need a lot of your releases for Profi and at least one high-quality one! You dont have to write for other computers). The initial strategy is farming. By 1997, you need to have a maximum of software for the Profi - when GMX is being made, and the number of software for the Pentagon is already large. By 2000, too (and you need to have at least one high-quality release at the Pentagon in order to become known to the Pentagon users). As a result, the Pentagon is being modified to meet the standard. The deadly mistake of this branch can be forgetting about the upgrade and write software only for the unexpanded Profi, as a result the Pentagon becomes the coolest (more powerful).
Scorpion wins, in GMX they made a colour per pixel mode (screens 640x200/multicolor and 320x200/16C), ATM and Pro are brought to compatibility with them on the snot. To do this, you need to have Scorpion and be the most famous developer by 1994 (manufacturers meeting), then the Profi gets compatibility with Scorpion. The initial strategy is self-promotion. From 1997 (GMX) to 2000, it is necessary to farm more software for the colour per pixel than for ATM.
Pentagon wins, they made a colour per pixel mode (screens 512x192/multicolor and 256x192/16C), ATM and Profi are made compatible with them using wiring, GMX is also made compatible. To do this, you need to make the Pentagon the most powerful computer: upgrade it with all possible devices. By 1994, you need to have time to promote 512K (you need a lot of software for 512K) in order to defeat Scorpion. By 1997 (the appearance of GMX) it is necessary to write more software for devices (i.e. from the moment they are connected) than for ATM and Profi (how to control the number of software for devices? show progress bars for each?). To do this, you also need to upgrade your friends and correspondents (you cant do it alone). Until 2000, you need to have more software for colour per pixel than software for ATM and Profi. The initial strategy is upgrade.
Losing. There is no standard (at least 2 competing models remain), confusion and vacillation.
Bandit passage. Background: your brother was killed by PC users. All that was left of him was a Spectrum in a box from a block of Java cigarettes. Revenge will be terrible. "Java" will become the standard, it will be in all phones and browsers. And writers will write software for it. In slavery.
A clone called "Java", expands with chains, spikes and weights. Memory capacity and so on don't matter. Friends like Vovan, Kolyan, and Sery dont write software themselves; software is written by slaves. "Java" became a standard already in 1994, we ourselves came with our friends to the mentioned conference, and they decide there. We can ride a bicycle (it only goes left and right, otherwise the bicycle is over your head, you can hit someone with it). For example, if a place is full of nasties and they wont let you pass, you use it as a battering ram.

You can have several computers and upgrade them. You can buy and sell them on the radio market.
You can have friends with their own computers and fight battles with their help.
Computers are upgraded with software, devices and battles.
You can have correspondents by mail: this is how we make releases (also on the radio market and on networks), they can farm software for your computer. You can also receive magazines and software at the post office.

At the beginning of the game, enemies only have Radio-86RK, BK-0010, Vector-06C.
Then PC and Amiga users appear, but you can defeat them only by having a cool computer with a HDD.
Dendy users can be defeated with a small upgrade (disk drive).
Sega users are more difficult, you need to have advanced graphics.
You can be friends with PC users, but this may deprive you of some other friends.

The protagonist has the following parameters: health, money, coder experience, artist experience, musician experience, hardware repairman experience?
Friends also have different experiences, they help to write software as a team (what does this look like? We go to a friend, take graphics/music from him, and at home we put together a release with them?)

Inflation in Russia by year: 1991 - 2021 (Rosstat data, percentage)

1991 - 160.4
1992 - 2508.8
1993 - 840.0
1994 - 214.8
1995 - 131.6
1996 - 21.8
1997 - 11.0
1998 - 84.5
1999 - 36.6
2000 - 20.1

In connection with the monetary reform in Russia in 1993, the circulation of Soviet rubles was stopped on July 17, 1993, and the coupon-karbovanets became the exclusive monetary unit of Ukraine (not counting the shadow economy, which was dominated by the dollar).

Average exchange rate of the national currency of Ukraine to foreign currencies (1992-1995 - karbovanets, since 1996 - hryvnia): 1 US dollar in 1992: 208, in 1993: 4539, in 1994: 31700, in 1995: 147307, in 1996: 1, 8295, in 1997: 1.8617, in 1998: 2.4495, in 1999: 4.1304.

In 1990-1991, you can get money from your parents. Later you have to earn money (trading software and hardware, collecting bottles and scrap metal, fighting).

Each friend also has a "friendship" parameter, which grows when software is copied to him (a PC user can also take Spectrum software) and falls otherwise, faster if there is a PC user among his friends.

Scripted events

1990 - August: Inforcom founded (although the advertisement says 1989), November: first Pentagon 128K advertisement
1991 - July: first ATM advertisement (delivered in set 4/7-91), October: book by Larchenko and Rodionov, December: destruction of the USSR (at the same time, money from parents runs out and racketeering begins - although in reality it existed in the spring of 1990 - eponymous article in "Pionerskaya Pravda")
1992 - May: first ATM2 advertisement (put into set 05/13/92, prices for the 2nd quarter), August: first Profi advertisement (can be counted from March 11 - KiiAinfo), December? (technically it was ready in summer): Scorpion went on sale
1993 - January: first advertisement for Scorpion ("600 games" book)
1994 - February: Spectrofon #1, July: first advertisement for Scorpion-turbo (book by Larchenko and Rodionov 3rd ed.)
1994 - December: meeting of manufacturers of Spectrum-compatible computers (before this point, ATM and Profi must be made compatible)
1994 - September 3: TV show "Dendy - New Reality"
1995 - August: competition for the best demo "MuSinc 95" (MusicSinclair 95) (Cheboksary), September 30: competition of musical demonstrations of Speccy magazine (Chelyabinsk)
1995 - May 20: TV show "Ot vinta!" (advertising PC games)
1995 - August: ZXNet is founded in Moscow (initially 3 BBSes). In May 1996, ZXNet connected to the INTERNET
1995 - November: ZX-Format #1
1996 - October: first General Sound advertisement (Maximum newspaper)
1997 - May: first GMX advertisement (Fido), June: first Sprinter advertisement (Fido)
1998 - August: sovereign default, prices of PCs increased 4 times
1999 - April 26: the CIH virus destroyed data on the HDD and BIOS of many computers
1999 - September: first eZ80 advertisement
2000 - August 27: Fire at the Ostankino TV tower in Moscow

Devices (increase the power of the computer)

ATM (starting with 512K): 1024K, mouse, (2 FDD, 3 FDD), (HDD, HDD+CD-ROM), General Sound, modem, printer
Profi (we start with 128K, but you can buy a pumped one): turbo 12 MHz, (512K, 1024K), color hires, (Stereo-Covox, General Sound), (2 FDD, 3 FDD), (HDD, HDD+CD- ROM), modem, printer
Leningrad/Scorpion (we start with 48K without a disk drive, but you can buy an upgraded one): turbo 7 MHz, (128K, 256K, 1024K), (Covox, General Sound), mouse, clock, (FDD, 2 FDD), (HDD, HDD+CD-ROM), Professional ROM, GMX, programmer, modem, printer
Pentagon (starting from 48K without a disk drive, but you can buy an upgraded one): (turbo 7 MHz, turbo + cache), (128K, 512K, 1024K), (Covox, SounDrive, General Sound), 512x192, color per point, mouse, clock, (FDD, 2 FDD, 3 FDD, high density FDD), (HDD, HDD+CD-ROM), programmer, modem, printer
PC (we start with 286 without an HDD, but you can buy an upgraded one): (386, 486, Pentium), (4M, 8M, 16M), (Covox, Sound Blaster, Gravis Ultrasound), (VGA, SVGA, 3dfx), (HDD, HDD+CD-ROM, CD recorder (September 1995 $995), DVD-ROM), programmer, modem, printer. There is a collection of price lists for different years.
Amiga (starting with A1200 without an HDD no earlier than October 1992, $599): (68030 (August 1995), 68060 (May 1997)), (4M, 8M, 16M), (HDD, HDD+CD-ROM), modem, printer. It has not been possible to find out the prices yet.

PC/Amiga makes it easier to farm high-quality software (because we take graphics out of games), but slows down the work (because of procrastination). Purchasing higher upgrades (Pentium (March 1993), 16M (June 1991 $175 (May 1993 $110, then more expensive) for a 4MB stick, March 1997 $24 for a 2MB stick), Gravis Ultrasound (October 1992), 3dfx (August 1996), DVD-ROM (March 1997)) is useless for farming, good only for battles.

The programmer somehow makes the upgrade easier. But it cannot be connected to the Amiga, i.e. it requires some other computer, at least Leningrad.

You can also add TurboSound (invented in 1997 as a modification of the Pentagon), a Midi controller (it was ready for Scorpion, there were also DIY circuits)

What it should look like

City, radio market - side view with depth (this way you can diversify the buildings and create initially hidden areas!). You can take a sample from River City Ransom. The street grid is built approximately like this: streets - locations with scrolling, squares - without scrolling. There are Gorbushka, Moscow State University, Moscow State Technical University, train stations, you can add Sokolniki with chess players.

A house, a friend's house, a merchant, a post office - like a menu.
We carry computers with us in the form of animals (Spectrums are cats, PCs are doggies, Amigas are foxes, Dendies are elephants, Segas are hedgehogs).

"VideoAss" magazine may fall out of a Dendy user (it really existed).

The main game parameters should always be visible: health, money, experience in the main profession, the circulation and power of your computer, the circulation and power of the main competitor. And also the current date. The speed of the year should be equal to 24 hours. In this case, of course, there must be saves, otherwise it is very difficult to cope with such a volume at one time.

A separate computer leveling window.

When purchasing magazines, including electronic ones, you can see news that is sometimes unrelated to the matter (take from real magazines, primarily "Radio" and "ZX-Review")

The music is initially pop, changing to jazz as you level up and rock in battles. Pop music of the corresponding year can still be heard on the street (for example, at the radio market).

The online game is tied to the demoscene - we assemble teams, make demos, defeat other teams. We can add a demo creating tool and a voter. But the main thing is correspondence/chat (p2p is possible). Sample - Hero Wars.

Upgrading an artist and farming graphics are presumably "find the differences" type tasks.
Leveling up a musician and farming music are supposedly tasks in the form of a rhythm game.
Leveling up the coder and farming software - we can use the Z80 tutorial to insert missing commands into the program (but so far there are only 30 tasks). We can make tasks from ready-made programs, but there will be more than one solution - how to check the correctness? You can do many "find the mistake" tasks with one incorrect command and one answer option.

Or instead of farming, do software research, like in UFO-2?

When farming software, the menu will contain items about what exactly we are farming: disk doctor, shooting game, adventure game, puzzle game (using easy games), demo, gift (you can use a gift to increase friendship)... and what percentage is already ready. And the user himself will choose which of them to upgrade now.
And for systems you can make a whole tree of research: memory editor -> disk doctor -> boot -> viewer -> commander -> operating system, and from the memory editor you can make a monitor-debugger or a text editor -> assembler.
You can skip it if you buy it at the market or by mail.

You need to play for two weeks, 4 hours a day, thats 56 hours.
Every 15 minutes you should see a new building. In total, we
need 200 types of buildings.
In reality, there are 114,478 buildings in Moscow.
A fractal breakdown is needed so that one can distinguish a
district from a district, but also be able to navigate within
the district.
You can hit with a bench, a tire, a trash can, another person,
your neko.
Some areas will eventually be consumed by decay, so that you
cannot go there at all to stay healthy.

We save only at home or at friends' houses.

We need references to "Adventure in the Subway" (Приключение в
метро) and "Buratino" games.

The text must be kept separately. To localize into English, we
can use words from "A Clockwork Orange"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:A_Clockwork_Orange

Since it will be easy to get lost in the game and not everyone
will look for a team to write a demo, we need GTA-like bandit
missions, with a humorous Spectrum-slant, but more branched,
randomized, non-linear campaign. You will earn money on
missions. Some in-game time should be allocated for this.

There are offices scattered around the city: some sell software,
others sell Spectrums.

And so we come, and they tell us: the competing ATM is planning
to release a new ATM Turbo, while our Profi is not ready yet. We
need to disrupt the delivery of a batch of HL8 chips.

More precisely, the dialogue should be something like this:

these geeks from ATM think that they can release CP/M Spectrum
with colour per pixel before us! (blablabla hand waving, crazy
people, TV blaring)
Vovan, take this guy and solve the problem.

Missions to obtain some chips by going to the radio market or
taking them away from competitors.

Software looting:

meet the train with Kasik, and he will bring floppy disks. If
you didnt meet it, you didnt receive the software.
catch up with Kasik and take away the floppy disks.
go to fat Tony, who knows where you can catch up with Kasik,
and, threatening him with a weapon, find out where you can catch
up with Kasik.
go "behind the garages" to meet Kasik with the diskette
dealers and go behind the bush.
Weapons include a bottle, a brick and a bike chain.
NS: no, everything should look like GTA, but all gangster words
should be replaced with Spectrum ones:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pevcbhJmM64
it is necessary to use the phrases "he is selling
disks/Spectrums", "this is our area, and we are milking it."

Taking away the sources of useful programs with closed sources.

For this, we may even need to "travel" to other cities (simply
after the start of the mission we teleport on some kind of
transport to a small zone with the image of a piece of another
city), where we need to steal something (let me remind you that,
according to Chavez, he stole copper to pay for the services of
connecting the Spectrum to the TV from the TV technician).

A visit to connect the Spectrum to the TV.

Upgrade to 128k/100500k with home visit:

get the coordinates of the house;
we come, we pick up the Spectrum;
we carry the Spectrum over our heads, fighting off the gopniks
and cops with it;
we bring 128k to the place of soldering;
there it gets soldered;
we carry the Spectrum back to the owner, fighting off the
gopniks and cops with the Spectrum.

In this case, the loss of the Spectrum will be a failure of the
mission :)

The consequences of mission failures still need to be figured
out. So, for example, such a Spectrum could, for example, be
healed and sold on the radio market, losing our "job". Or it may
look like a restart before the start of the mission, like in GTA
(but time in the game continues to pass).

Some writing of software for a publisher. You come and they tell
you: to increase ATM sales you need Doom. And they give
deadlines.

When working for party organizers:

meet the train at the station and pick up the floppy disk with
the demos from the conductor, deliver the floppy disk to the
authorities before the deadline, protecting them from gopniks,
cops and YYY (who is a cop nicknamed "Khokhol").
get/steal the necessary hardware for the party.

When working for an evil boss:

find the guy who is supposed to meet the train and pick up the
floppy disks with demos, hit him and find out how to get the
floppy disks from the conductor. v1: bring floppy disks to the
evil boss, v2: bring floppy disks to yourself, dissemble and
steal effects and increase the level of coding, v3: bring floppy
disks to yourself, patch the group logo and release it as your
own.

In any case, YYY and the cops are waiting at the station and are
trying to prevent the smuggling of demos from abroad (most
likely, you just dont need to get into the visibility zone and
at the same time you need to get to the right carriage before
departure time, when YYY goes back and forth).

It is not necessary to personally take/carry your demos to the
party. They can be transferred to a train, they can be sent by
mail, and all this with the possibility of them being lost.

Characters' names (all of the real)

Loginov
Parolin
Maidokin
Anikeev
Gamaev
Myshkin
Dotov
Ogasov
Aypiev
Baitullin
Vidyakhin
Ikonnikov
Poluosmak
Slotin
Chislenko
Turbin