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Description
In the first half of 2023, I was challenged to design a unique ZX Spectrum game based upon the Star Wars movie The Empire Strikes Back. The idea was to create something that showed more of the movie, more faithfully than either the old Atari arcade game or the more recent - but still retro - games for the 8-bit and 16-bit consoles from Sega and Nintendo.

With the screen geometry adjusted, the play area becomes just 224x128 pixels, with 16 pixel wide scroll buffers on either side. As with the previous screen, the background is split into distinct bands for scrolling. If I was doing this 'for real', I think I'd design the AT-ATs as multiple, separate sprites - the main body, the head, the neck, the front legs and the back legs - so it's a group of smaller sprites rather than one massive one. If nothing else, it would save time drawing the legs, as I'd only need to design one set.

Description
In the first half of 2023, I was challenged to design a unique ZX Spectrum game based upon the Star Wars movie The Empire Strikes Back. The idea was to create something that showed more of the movie, more faithfully than either the old Atari arcade game or the more recent - but still retro - games for the 8-bit and 16-bit consoles from Sega and Nintendo.

With the screen geometry adjusted, the play area becomes just 224x128 pixels, with 16 pixel wide scroll buffers on either side. As with the previous screen, the background is split into distinct bands for scrolling. If I was doing this 'for real', I think I'd design the AT-ATs as multiple, separate sprites - the main body, the head, the neck, the front legs and the back legs - so it's a group of smaller sprites rather than one massive one. If nothing else, it would save time drawing the legs, as I'd only need to design one set.