THE DARK - The ZX Spectrum's Greatest FPS | Kim Justice

[@Kim_Justice]

Check out the NEW TRAILER for the FPS: First Person Shooter documentary & celebrate the launch of their Indiegogo campaign! Join us for a sneak peek of 45+ gaming legends in our 3+ hour documentary on the greatest games ever made. www.indiegogo.com/projects/first-person-shooter-the-definitive-fps-doc/reft/29068680/kj-ref

[@kjellvb1979]

If I am not mistaken was that not Dolph Lundgren's version of He-man, and Frank Langella's Skelator, on the intro screen to that Spectrum game?

[@jamesmartinandbbccontinuities]

@@kjellvb1979 0:00 that music part was from the bbc video logo

[@hdestotallyunoriginalgamin3555]

I still marvel that anyone was able to make this work on a 48K Speccy. There are some truly genius level coders out there.

[@Larry]

I've always wondered what if you could go back in time and submit this as a game to the likes of Ocean, what they would have made of these more modern games.

[@seamusoblainn]

Indeed; it might have impacted the evolution of games, and even hardware. Look at that Amiga Doom-clone, such as Dread.

[@jimmy21584]

Re. Dread: graphics academic papers which allowed FPSes (ie BSP trees) had not even been written when these machines were released. So they would have needed to be theorical computer science geniuses as well, if anyone had managed this at the time. One can only dream…

[@seamusoblainn]

@@jimmy21584 yeah, I've read it wasn't till '89 or' 91 the seminal paper on that topic was published

[@aboriginalmang]

@@jimmy21584 atari 8 bit computers ran a bunch of fractal 3D games in the early 80s already with impressive speed and graphics. They were some of LucasArts earliest creations. And don't forget WayOut, Midi Maze XEGS, Alternate Reality, and the legendary Elite. If those games could exist, why not FPS games?

[@jimmy21584]

@@aboriginalmang that’s actually a good example; the math behind fractal computer graphics was largely complete by the start of the 80s. The front-to-back BSP paper was only published in the 90s. So it would be as exceptional as if some random coder discovered the Mandelbrot set image in the 60s or 70s before any mathematicians did.

[@ArcturusDeluxe]

Really impressive stuff! I love how they've built around the limitations, everything is clearly 8x8 tiles but the fades into black makes it less noticable, for example. It's also nice to see a project like this actually seen through to completion and being a complete feeling game and not just a tech demo. I will take issue with the "C64 wouldn't be able to do anything close to this" - there are some examples of decent first person engines on C64, like one called MOOD which is fairly impressive. It's chunky and not as polished as this seems, but it works and is playable. I know the 64 has less CPU grunt and thus is less suited to a game like this, but coders for these old systems are absolute wizards these days.

[@djcsdy2]

It's not really true that the C64 has less CPU grunt. They're about the same in practice. People seem to think so based on the clock speeds and/or based on some benchmarks that are floating around that were written in Pascal. The problem is that those benchmarks give a significant advantage to the Spectrum becuase the 6502 family of CPUs is terrible for compiled languages. For anything written in assembly language by a sufficiently experienced coder, the performance is about the same.

[@understyled]

Legitimately impressive. Love your content, big ups

[@swishersnaaake8208]

The dithering on the wall tiles to approximate diagonals is smart. Very impressive piece of work.

[@bulldogdel8073]

1:18 the background with the skeleton, the bloody Doom title at top of the screen is super cool.

[@retrorobbins]

Another fantastic video Kim yes I've played them both when they first come out, however it has to be said about the whole box experience , not only do you get the cassette a poster a CD Rom and soundtrack but I really nice set of screenshots in a clear window on the back of the box , making them a really collectible item, which indeed are now even more collectible because there's no way anybody will be getting one of them soon , thanks to the Politics of Russia of course ,

[@greenhowie]

Love stuff like this, getting a FPS to run and play well on a Spectrum is like a robot working out how to disintegrate a mountain with two AA batteries.

[@HalfBlindGamer]

Having very limited experience with the Speccy myself, I'm still left quite impressed with this one, especially with how smooth it plays! Did not expect something of this polish from the system, awesome stuff! Thanks for the introduction to this amazing piece of software, always quality content to be found here!

[@bloodrunsclear]

This is fascinating!

[@dave1the1deer1hunter]

These games look absolutely amazing, I can't believe that they look that good and run that smooth on the old zx

[@steelcurtain187]

This is fascinating. Greta job covering it

[@magitek09]

The power of passion and dedication will never cease to amaze me

[@JohnSTF72]

This is an impressive achievement on the good ol' Speccy. Hard to believe it runs on 48K mode as well. Thanks for showing this!

[@simplesimonhadapie]

Nice work as always Kim and no !sumo to throw you off today! This looks great I love my fps games and the old school ones are refreshing these days and what a coding achievement this is

[@TwiddleFingersDB]

The Spectrum never ceases to amaze me.

[@Asobitech]

It really is incredible the games that modern day developers are making for retro hardware. Making the old systems we never thought would be possible at the time.

[@Thunderpuddle]

I love your videos Kim. I never knew about this FPS, never knew the spectrum had FPS made for it, until watching this!

[@Jayce_Alexander]

Interesting video, Kim. I spent quite a lot of time in Russia as a kid in the 1990s, and even settled down there for a while on my own in the 2000s. Back in the mid to late 90s clone systems were everywhere in Russia. Most folks didn't have the money to buy a proper, officially licensed console or a modern computer, and I can't even remember actually seeing PS1s or N64s being sold. Meanwhile some of the pirated clone systems even had proper advertising in regular publications or in some cases even on national TV. They were available in regular stores, along with lots of pirated games. Some clone systems even had their own store chains, most famously Dendy, the most popular Russian famiclone, which also had a show on national TV for a while. The speccy definitely seemed like the most popular microcomputer clone, although there were also C64 clones. Russia and Ukraine were kind of the wild west when it came to intellectual property back in the day, but it resulted in a really unique gaming scene that really can't be compared to anything else I know of around that time (perhaps the thing that comes closest is the bedroom coder boom of the early 80s in the West, but Russia's was a scene essentially controlled almost entirely by pirates). It was an interesting time, and this game is certainly an interesting product of that era.

[@joedent3323]

Russia sounds like a massive impoverished dump.

[@PlayingGilly]

The code must be extremely tight, the sheer amount of optimisation on show here is astonishing.

[@Peter-MH]

My goodness, what an achievement! That running on a 48k speccy is incredible - possibly the most impressive I’ve ever seen on the system!

[@peterpereira3653]

This is a huge achievement considering it runs on a 48k ZX Spectrum. Amazing what some can do with this computer these days.

[@jamesaitchison9478]

I owned a 128k+2 back in the 80's and i loved playing it. Never played anything anywhere near the presentation quality of this game. I remember waiting on the Tapes loading one line at a time with that multi tone electronic screeching noise. Good times.

[@thebigchecka]

this is amazing! thanks @KimJustice

[@jasonblalock4429]

The way the walls are made up of tiled sprites reminds me of the 90s game Dragonview - which somehow managed an entire open-world first-person RPG on the *Super Nintendo,* but by using a whole lot of sprite tricks rather than any actual scaling, aside from the ground texture.

[@mrb2354]

As kids growing up in the 80s, I was the commodore kid (VIC20>C64>Amiga) and my friend was the Spectrum and later Atari Kid. Obviously this led to a bit of which system was best rivalry, much like the Sega or Nintendo wars of the day, but even as the Commodore guy.... this would have blown me away. What an amazing programming achievement.

[@TheStuffMade]

Check out The Keep for the VIC20, running on a standard VIC20 with 3.5k RAM.

[@skijumpnose]

So there could of been a respectable port of Doom on the Speccy! This will be great. Thanks, Kim!

[@pedroamaralcouto]

The Dark is simpler.

[@unbearifiedbear1885]

My brother had a Spectrum (the one with the on board tape deck).. there was a Warlock game that used to scare *the hell* out of us as kids 😂 mountain of the warlock? Something like that Also have vivid memories of Trapdoor and never knowing what to do (I was about 4!) Thanks for the video - always nice coming here to touch base with true nostalgia

[@martincann5052]

You're probably remembering the computer game adaptation of the first Fighting Fantasy gamebook, 'The Warlock of Firetop Mountain', or at least, that's what it sounds like to me.

[@unbearifiedbear1885]

@@martincann5052 Yes! That's it! Little stickman who goes from stickroom to stickroom 😂 Imagination is a beautiful thing

[@TheSudsy]

I can only imagine if these had been produced back in the day (technically these would run on a 48K 1982 Spectrum) ....just reinforces that software never catches up with hardware. The hardware changes and advances that fast that software never really gets to optimisation. 8 and 16 bit systems are seeing some tremendous advances even today. Some of it I suppose is also taking the initial idea from elsewhere (which is 99% of the creation), but even stealing an idea and making the technical solution is amazing.

[@garethmoores4168]

Truly blown away by this!! these coders just seem to squeeze more and more out of the humble speccy! Imagine if this had been made back in the day?! Goes to show theres life in the old zx yet...

[@andrewholt5659]

Awesome technical achievement.

[@TheRatlord74]

I couldn't imagine how this would have affected the industry if it came out in the speccy's prime.

[@middle-agedclimber]

I can't even imagine seeing sth like this in the 80s.

[@davidspencer7254]

What a piece of work is the Spectrum, How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, In form and moving how express and admirable, In action how like an Angel, In apprehension how like a god, The beauty of the world, The paragon of 8bits. Yeah. It's impressive.

[@joedent3323]

eedjit.

[@CarDietrich]

Hope you are well Kim, love from California

[@iSuRRendeReDuK]

Can you imagine how these games would have sold back in the day....

[@yCherkashin]

This is so trippy, I love it.

[@kostyatszyu]

total eclipse was my first experience with a first person game

[@Edgar-1984]

@Kim_Justice , Now that Zosya have sadly closed their doors I was wondering if you'd consider doing a retrospective on them?

[@TheBeird]

Goddamn, that's a nice looking Speccy FPS!

[@RankAndFileGuy]

I think I might try this one out.

[@jarrodbentley903]

M.O.O.D wasn't a bad attempt on the C64 albeit I'm not sure if it was ever a full game. The Z80 may have had a faster clock but from what I've read most instructions on the C64 took less cycles to complete so a comparable game may be possible. Also as much as I love your videos I find the way you pronounce certain words grating (First came across this when you pronounced Mire Mare as mirree mar-ee). Oleg's surname Origin, at least two or three different pronunciations in one video (first one was over emphasizing the i's to sound like Oxygène, then just saying it as plain as the word origin i.e. a point here something begins). Other than that stellar work as usual...

[@Corsa15DT]

Is it better than Castle Master though?

[@dolligan]

What is the music playing at the end and over the credits?

[@Hammface]

So was this a home made spectrum game?? Did it get a physical release?

[@jimmelton5846]

Quake + Masters of the Universe.

[@arthurdaly3497]

What is the speccy's best real time ray traced game?

[@ryangosling6249]

It is really fascinating from technical perspective, but it gives me a headache xD

[@JAC3DG33K]

Wonder how this would run on the NES, Atari 7800, or GameBoy

[@fearless1000]

Just... how? This man can code!

[@TheStuffMade]

"Commodore can't do this".... hmmm... let's have a look at The Keep for the Vic20, running on a standard machine with 3.5k of RAM.

[@properjob2311]

that is amazing for an 8 bit micro

[@SuperMookles]

Great stuff, but I think there's an editing glitch around the 5 minute 27 second mark

[@Kim_Justice]

Thank you! Should be fixed soon.

[@SuperMookles]

@@Kim_Justice Super video Kim. You've made a lot of people's week, again!

[@SophiaNyx]

so rad for a speccy

[@davelister1]

The speccy had more games for it and created most game genres in the world today !

[@LordmonkeyTRM]

Even as a spectrum hater I have to acknowledge how great an achievement this is.

[@davidspencer7254]

Sometimes the absence of a single trick stops a system being turned into a one trick pony.

[@vuurniacsquarewave5091]

"Spectrum hater" lol while I agree that games on this computer often seem like an afterthought because they actually are, I don't think there's a reason to hate it. It is what it is. By that logic I think the "stretched pixels" mode on the C64 is ugly in its own way.

[@HappyCodingZX]

Technically marvelous indeed, hats off to the coder, but my question would always be whether non-Speccy fans would have the patience to play it for more than a couple of goes, and I have to say the answer to that is 'not really' - they'd spend about the same amount of time as you would watching an impressive tech demo. Demos are rightly judged on what the coder can do, but ultimately games are judged on what the player can do.

[@Will45_]

This man could put Minecraft on a Sega 32x.

[@Codetapper]

I'm not sure I agree with your comment that the Commodore 64 couldn't have done a game like this. After all, if you were willing to use the same technique of 8x8 character blocks for the majority of the graphics then it would just be another Chris Butler style "into the screen fake 3d" game like Thunderblade, Space Harrier or Powerdrift. The only difference being that the C64 could have used chunky pixels and had 4 colours instead of 2 (and used sprites for the hand/gun/weapon etc). And you can run the game extremely fast if you're just setting characters on the screen rather than having to draw a full bitmap display.

[@jasejj]

It's not the screen updates that take the time here though. Write to eight screen locations or to one makes very little difference. It's the calculations that take the time and a Z80 at 3.5Mhz is around double the speed of the 6502 at 1Mhz. The C64 I'm sure could do it, but it does lack the raw processing grunt of the Z80 machines (and indeed other 6502 systems like the Ataris or the BBC which ran at 2Mhz).

[@oldguy9051]

@@jasejj The Atari 8-bit computers have a clock frequency of about 1,8 MHz but its graphics chip "ANTIC" halts the CPU to get bus (=memory) access. For a hi-res modes (pixel or character modes) this eats up about 40% of its CPU performance so the Ataris are basically only "1,1 MHz" machines. Yes, this is quicker than a C64 or unenhanced Apple II but you wouldn't notice a difference.

[@jasejj]

@@oldguy9051 Escape from Fractalus.

[@oldguy9051]

@@jasejj You mean "Rescue on Fractalus". I don't know the C64 conversion but the original Atari version uses half the vertical resolution for the 3D window (on the planet surface). This means it needs about half the necessary frame memory compared to the C64 which should give a significant speed increase (not twice as fast, though).

[@jasejj]

@@oldguy9051 Well the C64 version is half the speed. Again though, the time taken to write to the screen is a tiny fraction of the time taken to calculate the screen updates in the first place (any of these old machines can shift a full screen buffer many times per second) . The Freescape games were the same - C64 much slower than either the Spectrum or CPC despite the latter having double the video memory. The 64 was dog slow as a basic computer, it got away with it because of the hardware acceleration.

[@samusvikerness661]

Next they'll be porting Doom to the Commodore Pet.

[@johnlewisbrooks]

Old school whupass at its best!

[@djcsdy2]

I guarantee the Commodore 64 could do this. The Z80 in the Spectrum might be clocked faster than the 6510 in the C64, but its performance per clock is much worse. In practice, they perform about the same on average. The C64 also has an advantage for graphics in this style, because its display hardware implements a character matrix, whereas the Spectrum's display is a bitmap. That means it takes 8 times as many memory writes for the Spectrum to update an 8x8 pixel character on the screen as it does for the Commodore 64. Assuming you can fit all the tile graphics in a single 256 character character set (which may admittedly be a stretch), the C64 should be able to update the screen faster. People seem to believe that the Spectrum's CPU outperforms the C64's either based on a naïve assumption based on the clock speeds, or based on some rather dubious benchmarks that are floating around online. The problem with some benchmarks I've seen is that they're implemented in Pascal, which gives a huge advantage to the Spectrum because the 6502 family of CPUs are terrible for compiled languages. This doesn't matter in practice because games for the Spectrum and C64 are almost always written in assembly language. For an example of a fairer benchmark written in assembly language, see Matt Heffernan (Slithy)'s videos where he implements a Mandelbrot renderer on various 8 bit platforms.

[@aboriginalmang]

There are fps games for the unaccelerated C64. Look around. Though yes, theyre all tech demos, nothing that's as polished as The Dark. And its true, the 6510 is a beast in the hands of skilled assembly programmers. The instructions are a lot more clock efficient than the ones in Z80 or something. Though I wonder why the sega master system is faster and displays more colours than the snes. I guess its down to the graphics controller rather than the CPU alone.

[@avenginglettuce]

Really interesting stuff, thanks for sharing. Somebody did actually take up this challenge and released something of a tech demo for the base C64 called M.O.O.D (kzbin.info/www/bejne/jmSyoq1rjM93hqs) a few years back. It's an incredible achievement and it's a shame the project wasn't continued so we could see how close to something like The Dark it could have got. For me, what really distinguishes The Dark isn't just the speed, but the sheer number of enemies / sprites it can handle on screen at any one point. It really is a bonkers achievement on base hardware. Hopefully this vid and perhaps even your comments can inspire members of the C64 dev community to take up the challenge laid down by Kim in this video.

[@djcsdy2]

@@avenginglettuce there are a couple of significant technical differences between Mood and The Dark. In The Dark the player can only turn in 45 degree increments, which means they can only face one of 8 directions. This really simplifies raycasting across a grid since 4 of the 8 directions are the cardinal directions of the grid and the other 4 directions can be optimised with a simple look up table. By comparison Mood lets the player face in any arbitrary direction and so raycasting must be performed in real time. The other difference is that Mood renders in 8x4 pixel chunks whereas The Dark effectively renders in 8x8 pixel chunks but with clever use of predefined graphics to make the effective resolution look higher. So Mood is really quite a bit more advanced than than The Dark. The fact that it even comes close to The Dark in performance is a strong indication that the C64 should be able to do at least as well as the Spectrum.

[@avenginglettuce]

@@djcsdy2 Interesting stuff, thanks for that Daniel. I'd say The Dark devs have made the right compromises given how well the game plays, as I say, be interesting to see if any C64 devs are interested in putting these theories into practice. :)

[@djcsdy2]

@@aboriginalmang I assume you meant NES not SNES 🙂. The difference between the Master System and the NES is indeed almost entirely down to the graphics hardware. The NES CPU probably outperforms the Master System CPU by about 50% judging by the clock speeds and the usual performance per clock ratio between the 6502 and the Z80. I am aware of the various FPS games for the C64 but none of them are directly comparible to The Dark in terms of the specific compromises The Dark makes in favour of performance.

[@gamerdedicado]

Cool

[@dave1the1deer1hunter]

could Aliens be classed as a FPS game?

[@micklee5152]

I guess it kind of was. It used to scare the hell out of me as a kid

[@inlikeflynn7238]

This came out in 1997 while Daggerfall came out in 1996. Daggerfall looks considerably better, has smooth gameplay, and is way bigger (the largest game in the world for a couple decades). I suppose what separates them is the size of both the development and the game. Daggerfall is around 900 MB and The Dark is less than 1 MB, Daggerfall was developed by a small team of artists and programmers while The Dark was developed by a single guy named Oleg.

[@deku812]

Small note, given what is going on right now reffering to Ukraine as 'The Ukraine' is using the Soviet/Russian reference to the area, and suggests its part of Russia. Just Ukraine would do.

[@stuartdocherty2004]

It looks better than the snes Doom 🤣 in all seriousness. These guys that programmed these game are actual artists. 48k! It's ridiculous what can be done!

[@HoosierCallin]

this really moistens my game hole

[@ian_b]

Wow, I might be first! Hi Kim!

[@AzumiRM]

Look at the colors! eww! There's boxes around the enemies too. I don't see what people see in the Spectrum. All games have really really REALLY bad color and sound. It's got to be one of the worst home computers of the 80's.

[@Spacemutiny]

I never grew up with the zx spectrum and I respect it a lot for its history and impact but goddamn were the games ugly as sin