Back on the QL!

[Sebright]

Hi there, just a quick (maybe) word to introduce myself. I'm Alan Pemberton, who some of you may remember from the late 80's to mid 90's on the QL scene.

My first computer was a UK101 back in 1979 I think it was, which gave me an introduction to BASIC programming (I never could get my head around anything more complex). Later my girlfriend got a Spectrum to play games (we loved The Hobbit) but I kind of took it over after that to try my hand at writing programs, mostly text adventures.

Then I bought a QL when Dixons had them on offer and found it a vast improvement to program with. I had my fun with it, and expanded it with Trump/Gold cards and floppy drives in due course, but after time the enthusiasm waned and I moved on to other things. However, if I ever needed to do some quick and dirty programming to work out stuff that I couldn't easily work out how to do on a spreadsheet, then I reverted to SuperBASIC, running on Q-emulator.

Fast forward to the end of last year, and my 7 year old grandson was showing me how he was coding games on his dad's laptop, using Scratch. He was interested to hear that I also coded games back in the day, so I decided to get a working QL system to demonstrate what things used to be like. Unfortunately my original QL is long since dead, but I am now running the latest version of Q-emulator on an old Windows 7 netbook, giving me the ultimate portable QL that I could only dream of in the old days.

I've been downloading various games and text adventures and will have some retro fun over the coming weeks, as well as re-familiarizing myself with SuperBASIC. I've also been toying with the idea of coding another adventure game, but annoyingly I didn't transfer my copy of Quill adventure writer before my QL died. I might just use the Spectrum version, which is now PD, or use another system.

Anyway, that's all for now...

Cheers,
Alan

[martyn_hill]

Welcome back, Alan!

I'm sure like me, many here will well remember your name-of-old!

Good luck and fire away with any questions - we're a fairly friendly bunch...

[dilwyn]

Nice to see you back, Alan.

[Sebright]

Thanks guys. I'm sure I will have plenty need of help in the days ahead!

[Sparrowhawk]

Hi Alan,
long time no see! Great to hear that you’re back on the QL.

I think I may still have your letters from when you Q-Liberated early versions of Dreamlands for me.

Funnily enough, I was playing From the Tower of Valagon just the other day and wondered what you were up to.

[Sebright]

Hi Jean-Yves,

Great to hear from you too. I remember Dreamlands well, and went back to it a few years ago. Got close to completing it that time but not quite as I remember. Definitely my favourite QL adventure

Cheers,
Alan

[Sparrowhawk]

If you’re angling for a free beer, you’re going about it the right way!

It’s not a patch on, say, Beano, but that’s kind of you.

As an aside, I played it recently too and failed to complete it. Ho ho.
A couple of parts are too hard. Maybe I’ll release a patch to make them easier.

[tofro]

As an aside, I played it recently too and failed to complete it. Ho ho.
A couple of parts are too hard. Maybe I’ll release a patch to make them easier.

Solved it and made cheat sheet - It's on Dilwyn's page under Games (Adventures).

[Derek_Stewart]

Hi there, just a quick (maybe) word to introduce myself. I'm Alan Pemberton, who some of you may remember from the late 80's to mid 90's on the QL scene.

My first computer was a UK101 back in 1979 I think it was, which gave me an introduction to BASIC programming (I never could get my head around anything more complex). Later my girlfriend got a Spectrum to play games (we loved The Hobbit) but I kind of took it over after that to try my hand at writing programs, mostly text adventures.

Then I bought a QL when Dixons had them on offer and found it a vast improvement to program with. I had my fun with it, and expanded it with Trump/Gold cards and floppy drives in due course, but after time the enthusiasm waned and I moved on to other things. However, if I ever needed to do some quick and dirty programming to work out stuff that I couldn't easily work out how to do on a spreadsheet, then I reverted to SuperBASIC, running on Q-emulator.

Fast forward to the end of last year, and my 7 year old grandson was showing me how he was coding games on his dad's laptop, using Scratch. He was interested to hear that I also coded games back in the day, so I decided to get a working QL system to demonstrate what things used to be like. Unfortunately my original QL is long since dead, but I am now running the latest version of Q-emulator on an old Windows 7 netbook, giving me the ultimate portable QL that I could only dream of in the old days.

I've been downloading various games and text adventures and will have some retro fun over the coming weeks, as well as re-familiarizing myself with SuperBASIC. I've also been toying with the idea of coding another adventure game, but annoyingly I didn't transfer my copy of Quill adventure writer before my QL died. I might just use the Spectrum version, which is now PD, or use another system.

Anyway, that's all for now...

Cheers,
Alan

Hi Alan,

Great to see to again.

The aurthor of QUILL sometimes logged on here.

See message thread: viewtopic.php?t=4853

[Derek_Stewart]

Hi Alan,
long time no see! Great to hear that you’re back on the QL.

I think I may still have your letters from when you Q-Liberated early versions of Dreamlands for me.

Funnily enough, I was playing From the Tower of Valagon just the other day and wondered what you were up to.

Dreamlands was excellent, maybe we need a sequel to Dreamlands...