Category Archives: in English

Arda'nın Türk Yazılım Veri Tabanı, in English, Retro Oyun Makaleleri

Metallic Legend, Commodore 64 (1993,1994) [TYVT]

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While I wasn’t looking, another old Turkish game has been uncovered, and it needs to be archived here as well. This time, it’s a game made by a group of young people under the name “Turkuaz Yazılım.”

A “preview” version was released in 1993, and a new version was released in 1994.

I downloaded the game from Gamebase64 and also put a copy on my server for those interested:
MetallicLegendc64 Disk64 file

As for the game, it has 4-5 layers of parallax scrolling. There is a clear influence from Shadow of the Beast, with large sprites and technically good visuals, but the colors and graphics seem a bit odd. Instead of aiming for something aesthetically pleasing, it seems they wanted to show everything they could on the screen. The game, of course, follows the unbreakable rule of being unplayably difficult. 🙂 There are cheat options in the package; run the v2 version.

Code: Erkan Dogan, Serkan Dogan
Graphics: Taner Kaya
Music: Ali Uzcelik

Downloads and Development, in English, Sinclair Zx Spectrum

New version of ZXVisionis available for windows

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zxvision5

ZXVision is a ZX Spectrum graphics viewing tool first released in 2009 under the name SpeccyView4. While the program was initially created to display SCR and MLT graphics, it can also open Snapshot types and TAP/TZX files to view graphic files within.

It intelligently determines the border color or can display in Loading Stripe mode if desired.

Along with the slideshow feature, there are several functions to manipulate loaded images. For example, after loading an SCR, choose Glow first, then SlotMask, and then Glow again from the EDIT menu. You can see the image transform into a TV display.

The program is written in .NET Framework 4. It runs on Windows 10 without requiring any additional installations.

DOWNLOAD ZX Vision V5.2 53KB ZIP file
Just extract and run. No installation or user privileges required. ZXVision works best if you associate it with SCR and MLT filetypes.

UPDATE 21/01/24: V5.3 is available here

Need some images to look at?
DOWNLOAD ZX Spectrum Random Image Pack 360KB Zip file
Unpack all the files to any folder and drag and drop a file into ZX Vision to view it.

More images? Check out zxart.ee website.

BASin/Basinc, Downloads and Development, in English, Sinclair Zx Spectrum

Basinc 1.794

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There is not much in this update. First of all, you’ll see a few improvements to the UDG Editor that DamienG requested.

Second, while making a few fixes about the SimpleCON device, a bug is also fixed.

But if you came here via BasinC’s own update check reminder, congratz (to both of us)! it’s good right =) Please leave a comment. Do you think basinc will benefit from improved internet functions? And mention your own ideas. (if you are not–don’t forget to enable update check under Tools > Basinc Options > Basinc Network).

Download latest release here:
Portable Download ZIP File, with examples and fonts etc. –Extract to any folder and run.

Download Installer Exe Automatic light install and Uninstall (InnoSetup) -Note: inno didn’t include autoback folder so you have to manually add it to installation folder or disable auto backup in options (or you get errors every 3 minutes)

In the meantime, we welcome you all to our Discord server:
https://discord.gg/UXVHCxuAWg Your Invitation

Changes:

// 1.79.4
// Added - UDG Editor Window, "Save" file option, CTRL+S, CTRL+O shortcuts, keeps track of open file and notify if there is a pixel modified as * in the title bar.
// Fixed - SimpleCON register couldn't be displayed as text because it was initialized as 0, now it is spaces.
// Changed-SimpleCON window was popping up in every character output. Now it only pops up when linefeed.


// 1.79.3
// Fixed - Profile window was showing wrong token in strings. (reported by: lippmaje)


// 1.79.2 (19.05.2022)
// Added - Basin Update Check (disabled by default, enable in Options)
Downloads and Development, in English

JPG2PDF or Image to Pdf..

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Actually, it’s just jpeg to print 😀
I needed to convert a large number of jpeg files into a pdf document and I did not want to use an online service for these tasks. But I couldn’t find a free tool for this simple process either. There must be, but I couldn’t find it. Anyway, I wrote it myself, anyone can use it.

This tool does not offer any setting mechanism as it uses the default settings of your printer. For this reason, do not forget to set your printer’s settings from the control panel beforehand.

I recommend using Microsoft Print to PDF for PDF output. It’s free and comes installed on the latest versions of windows.

Of course, you can also use other printers.

We also observed that the images on a friend’s computer were incomplete, but we could not find the reason. Good luck if you find it.

Jpeg2PNG screenshot

How to use?

1. Drag and drop images into the window.
2. If necessary, you can sort the files alphabetically (sort button)
On the 3rd side, choose a printer, preferably “Microsoft Print to PDF”
4. Print by pressing the print button.

DOWNLOAD HERE 8KB zip file (No installation necessary, just unzip and run) works on WindowsXP to Win11

Genel, in English, Oyun Tasarımı

An experiment about Turkish Wordle.

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I’m not sure this is relevant if you are an english speaker, but if you are interested, this article is about 5 letter Turkish word frequencies.

Worlde has become quite popular on social media in recent weeks. Everyone keeps posting their great success, but you can only solve one word per day. That’s why everyone is eagerly waiting for the clock to pass midnight.

The game is there: https://f.github.io/wordle-tr/

Wordle expects for you to find a 5 letter Turkish word. In doing so, it expects you use valid words. Wordle uses the Turkish tdk word library and the words you type must match the words in the library.

9971 words are registered in the 5-letter words library. If we look at the letter distribution in them;

a 6363
e 4064
k 3417
i 3266
r 2849
l 2543
n 2441
m 2289
t 2086
s 1922
ı 1915
u 1598
y 1410
o 1279
ü 1251
d 1236
b 1203
z 1099
ç 951
ş 914
h 910
g 817
p 734
v 662
f 650
c 534
ö 462
ğ 353
j 57

In this case, we have the letters AEKİR, from which we can only create ERİKA. The next letters are LNMTS, the next 5 is IUYOÜ.
Erika seems like the best opening word, but then you’re on your own.

If you want to handle the 15 most popular letters in the first three words, you have only one option:
1. ALTIN (includes 15348) (31.2%)
2. EKÜRİ (includes 14847) (29.4%)
3. SOYUM (including 8498) (17.2%)

After these three words, you will have a 78.5% chance of removing all the letters.

With just the word ERICA, you cover 41% of the letters per word. If you feel lucky, make an opening with ERİKA. Thus, you will have a chance to make a shorter prediction. Otherwise, continue with ALTIN and EKÜRİ, if you can’t find enough letters, you will continue with SOYUM.

That is all. Have fun.

I don’t know why I translated this into English 😀

BASin/Basinc, Downloads and Development, in English, Sinclair Zx Spectrum

BasinC 1.77 Release

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EDIT:This is now an old version. Check new version at -> >Basinc 1.792<

Well, this one is again just a quick update. Some bug fixes and minor improvoments.

A visible addendum is Project Notes Editor. It’s just a workaround to add remarks/comments to your project. Note that comments will only saved with BAS files.
Also I’ve added keyboard toggle options for tool windows. For more information please see the changelog below.

BasinC Emulator 1.77 – Download
A reminder: This archive does not contain basinc.ini file. You may copy your old ini file into basinc 1.77 folder or basinc will create a new ini file for you.

Happy halloween!

Version History:
Continue reading BasinC 1.77 Release →

Amiga, Downloads and Development, in English

Purebasic for Amiga Syntax Highlighter

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Last week, with a group of friends examined different development possibilities for Amiga. We were searching for small footprint (low memory usage) soultions. Then we stumbled upon -now deprecated version of- purebasic.

It worked and performed fine, yet developing under winuae with 25 year old environment was pain in the ass.

Then I decided to create a PureBasic Amiga syntax highligter for notepad++. It includes all documented commands for Amiga version of Purebasic 4.00.

Download Purebasic Amiga UDL XML file

To use this file, goto notepad++, Languages > Define Your Language > Import… and select provided xml file. RESTART notepad++ before use.

Downloads and Development, in English

An alternative screen grabber: pirateScreenShot

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Pirate Screen Shot (PSS) is a screenshot tool for happy pirates. It may be used to create series of screenshots, for example, online presentations, books or parts of a website.

PSS can remember areas of screen to capture, can click buttons to turn or scroll the page. It has a very simple scripting language to create batch captures.

Do not use this tool to create illegal backups of ebooks. To prevent hi-quality copying, this tool only saves screengrabs as JPG images.

Download here 150kb Windows Portable Exe File

(.net framework 4 installation may be required for older operating systems)

 

If you need help using PSS, please leave a comment.

 

BASin/Basinc, Downloads and Development, in English, Sinclair Zx Spectrum

Basinc Minor update, Version 1.72

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This article is obsolete. Get latest BasinC here.

This is a minor update for basinc. It fixes one bug and adds a new feature.

This package needs main basinc 1.70 (obsolete:get 1.77 instead) pre-installed on your system. Just overwrite old basinc.exe with this new executable file.

Download 1.72 update package (obsolete)  1.3MB Zip Archive
Reminder: Basinc 1.77 is out!!!
1.70 -> 1.72
Added: -dumptxt commandline parameter. Extracts and saves BASIC portion of the program. Usage: basinc <filename> -dumptxt
Added: 4x,5x,6x font sizes for hi-dpi non-zoomed screens.
Fixed: variables with 90ish numbers like a91, b95 weren’t properly tokenized.