Villordsutch reviews Project ZX and chats with creator Richard Langford…
Back in 2009 the BBC aired a drama based around the rise of the British home computer market, with its two main players being Sir Clive Sinclair played by Alexander Armstrong (Armstrong and Miller, Danger Mouse) and Chris Curry played by Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, Fargo). Following the rise and fall of the industry, this and the feud that appeared between friends and colleagues on the different sides of the 8-bit fence; it was a fantastic one-off drama. It also had the classic line bellowed Sir Clive Sinclair, “Jet Set Fu*king Willy!” and it’s this line I feel spawned the below game, Project ZX.
Sir Clive Sinclair was never truly happy that his “educational” machine, in which children across Britain had coerced numerous parents to hand over their hard earn wages for the homework helper, was being used for nothing more than gaming tool. It’s this tale that Project ZX opens it first chapter to, as in a fit of rage we witness Sir Clive releasing numerous ZX Spectrum gaming icons upon the world and it’s up to you to destroy them.
Project ZX is strewn with memories of classic gaming and beautifully so. Richard Langford – of Langford Productions – has gone back through everything that made the ZX Spectrum wonderful and painted them, albeit here rather malevolently, onto the screen and turned it into a rock-solid shoot-em up!
Wearing R-Type so proudly upon its sleeve, you instantly find yourself in a Spectrum daubed world with rubber-keyed beauties circled by Microdrives, “Toast-rack” 128K Spectrum’s launch perfectly brown toast at you, as Spectrum manuals fling pages into your path. Classic box art circles around you as C60 tapes unfurl in front, “Crash Smashes” shatter everywhere causing you to swerve and dodge. Welcome to the first thirty seconds of something amazing.
I managed to speak with Richard about Project ZX and bringing it to the PC…
Richard Langford (the one wearing the shirt)Villordsutch: Where did the spark come from for Project ZX? Did you hear “Jet Set “Fu*king” Willy” – from BBC’s “Micro Men” – one to many times and think ‘There’s a game in that?’?
Richard Langford: No nothing like that haha! I’ve been wanting to do a game that pays tribute to everything Spectrum for a while. I did start a platform game first of all that was going to do just that, but I found I don’t have the level design skills for that – there’s definitely an art to it! Then the idea of a shoot ’em up happened and Project ZX is actually the second attempt I made at that.
V: Did you originally plan on bringing in so many classic ZX Spectrum icons from the start or did you have a different idea altogether and it just snowballed into the Project ZX that we see today?
RL: I think a lot of the credit for how the game actually turned out goes to John Davies and Andy Green. They’ve given me so many good suggestions as I’ve been going along. I think it may have been John’s idea to construct the levels as they are now – each one being designed around a certain Spectrum games publisher.
V: During the construction of the game what moments – for yourself – warmed the cockles of your heart, as you added them to the game?
RL: It really was fun revisiting all the Spectrum games involved. I don’t think I ever really appreciated the work that went into them before. Obviously, I was paying a lot more close attention to the graphics in all these games this time round, and the results these clever people managed to get out of quite a limited space and colour palette is amazing.
V: Was there anything that you had to remove from the game due to time/wasn’t working/the threat of men in suits that you wish you could have kept in, which you know we would have loved?
RL: Oh dear – the threat of men in suits. I’m still waiting for them to come knocking at the door! The few creators of the original games I have managed to speak to (which isn’t many) have been fine with it but I know some of the game makers whose stuff I’ve included are still very precious about their rights. I have to say…. I just thought ‘what the hell’ and went for it!
V: Have you thought of bringing this to the ZX Spectrum or would that be too much of a programming headache, due to time taken downsizing for the trusty rubber-keyed wonder?
RL: I did dabble in the famous AGD on the Spectrum some time ago. I cobbled together a couple of small games for my own amusement, but I’m not sure I’d know where to start with a large scrolling shooter like this.
V: How long did it take to develop Project ZX on the PC, and was this close to the time-scale you originally set?
RL: I can’t remember exactly when I started on Project ZX. I think it was around May/June last year. I didn’t set a time scale when I started – I’m the most unorganised games maker you’re ever likely to meet! Nothing was planned, everything was made up as I went along – any professional programmer who saw my code would likely have a heart attack! There were times when I wished I had planned a bit more carefully – most notable with the checkpoint system within each level. It’s caused me headaches since the moment I decided to include it and, even since release it seems it’s still causing me grief!
V: Finally, what’s next for Langford Productions?
RL: I have a few bits and pieces I will be doing over the next few weeks – some artwork for a website and a few video bits and pieces, then it’s time to crack on with another game. John has come up with the idea already and has been sending me all the details – we just have to see if I can now make it happen!
Project ZX is totally free to download right now from www.langfordproductions.com and if you’re not currently clicking that link then there must be really something bad going on in your home or office at this moment.
Pro’s
+ Sings of 1980’s ZX Spectrum nostalgia.
+ A totally free brilliant shoot’em up.
+ ZX Spectrum hard…be prepared.
Con’s
– It’s ZX Spectrum hard…you are not prepared.
Rating: 9/10
@Villordsutch
Originally published March 6, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
