Retrospec

Retrospec is an internet based collective of coders, graphics artists and computer musicians. They specialise in taking popular games from the eighties and rewriting them using the extra power that is available in more modern computers, whilst attempting to stay true to the feel and gameplay of the original game. Such a game is generally known as an enhanced remake.

Retrospec was formed on the 10th February 1999 after a discussion in the comp.sys.sinclair newsgroup. A post the day before by Jeff Braine, one of the founders, called for like-minded programmers, graphic artists and musicians to express their interest in a formalised group working towards remaking classic computer games. The name Retrospec was suggested by Richard Jordan, another of the founding members.

The first game released under the Retrospec banner was "Klass of '99" (an unofficial sequel to "Skool Daze" and "Back 2 Skool"), released on 14th August 1999. This was accompanied by a number of other remakes ("Manic Miner PC", "Jet Set Willy PC", "Splat PC") which had already been previously made available prior to the formation of Retrospec. A steady stream of new games has been released ever since.

Retrospec's favoured platform for original games is the ZX Spectrum, although remakes based upon games from several other platforms have been written too. The remade games are available without the need of emulation for Microsoft Windows, Linux, Apple Macintosh and BEOS. All Retrospec's games are released as freeware.

Some notable example of games that have been remade by Retrospec are "Manic Miner", "Jetpac", "Head over Heels" and "Atic Atac". Additional games have been released that have build on the concepts of earlier games, such as "Klass of '99" (an enhanced version of "Skool Daze)" and "Highway Pursuit" (an enhanced version of "Spy Hunter)".

Over the years, Retrospec has had the following members: Neil Walker, Allan Bentham, Graham Goring, Andy Noble, John blythe, Jeff Braine, Dan Condon Jones, Adam Dawes, Peter Hanratty, Russell Hoy, Richard Jordan, Peter Jovanovic, Tomaz Kac, Arif Majothi, Ignacio Perez Gil, Matthew Smith (no relation to Matthew Smith (games programmer) of "Manic Miner" and "Jet Set Willy" fame), Andrew Zariffis, John Dow, Tero Turtiainen, Chris Wilde, Darren Salty.

External links

* [http://retrospec.sgn.net/ The Retrospec homepage]
* [http://groups.google.co.uk/group/comp.sys.sinclair/browse_frm/thread/5c0a9bb90a834c7c The formation of Retrospec]