I was going to post this on what have you photographed lately but thought it was out of context … Amazing what you find rummaging in the loft!!!
4 Likes
Crikey, Elite for the BBC micro B. Proper hard core
I still have my C64 in the loft. Still works so I can get my Pitstop 2 on when I feel the need for speed.
2 Likes
Make sure it doesn’t get too dusty 
Sadly my ‘beeb’ is no longer with me but there are emulators to remind me of the good 'ole days.
I moved on to an Atari ST and then on to PCs …
I have an Atari 1040ST up in the attic. First affordable home computer with 32-bit processing via its Motorola 68000 CPU (along with the Commodore Amiga). Haven’t switched it on for 20 years so probably only good for a doorstop now. There’s a full set of the games it came with back in the late 80s which ironically are probably worth more than the computer.
Mine was the 512, I swapped it for a VHS player in the early 90s. Carrier Command & Space Harrier were my ‘goto’ games.
1 Like
Elite is still around, although called Elite Dangerous Horizons/Odyssey these days, and you’d recognise some of the features, ships and gameplay from the original…which I used to play back in the '80s
Been playing the current version on and off for a few years now with my sons and nephews…
1 Like
Dare I look to see … many an hour disappeared from my teens playing this 
Saved they don’t do a Mac version by the looks …
In 1984 whilst in the Army we would all sit round a chaps BBC micro B and spend hours and hours fighting over who was next to play. Next day on parade we would be half await and then… at “naffi break” we could be found back in the barrack room playing a bit more. Good times
3 Likes
I used to spend hours playing Lemmings when I was younger.
2 Likes
Had an interesting conversation with a developer who explained why the lines never quite joined up on the ship graphics, you can see it quite clearly in that grab. They employed an approximation of the line projection which massively improved the performance of the game. It was pretty ground breaking for the 1980s.
1 Like
my first computer games were sopwith, karateka and Spiderman by Questprobe an adventure/rpg game on dos. First pc was a borrowed time at my uncles office after work hours, had a monochrome green screen and a 5.25 floppy drives. my first pc was an amstrand 1512 (with 512kb of memory) CGA screen and I originally had two 5.25 floppy drives (one for dos and one to load programs). I later upgraded to I believe either 10mb or 30 mb hardrive 
I did learn some programming on basic but most I liked adventure games especially the sierra adventure games (leisure suit larry, kings quest, space quest, hero quest, iceman etc I had them all)
I never got to the end of “Adventure”… I must try again – harder.
David
The old games were the most difficult ones. “Save well, save often” was the moto of the “adventure” gamer … All the new adventure games you literally cant get stuck because you have done something wrong or die and cant progress. The mouse cursor basically gives you a hint of all the interactive items. In the past you literally had to type the commands you wanted your character to do… You definitely got your moneys worth on those games
Now its mostly sim racing with mates on the ps5. Project Cars 2 is what we usually play, we have dabbled with AC, ACC, and GT sport. I was so disappointed with GT7 that I kinda dislike anything to do with the game these days.
Ah, the BBC Model B, and “Elite” … Those were the days!
Believe it or not, I used to hard-code presentations (before MS Powerpoint) and carry around my Beeb in a suitcase. It needed a special interface to the monster projectors of the day. I also had a co-processor, to speed things up.
Today, I am a flight sim enthusiast and build my own computers for the purpose!
Being retired, time is no longer a problem.
Oh I have played the new one. So difficult to understand. A few years ago people from the forum used to hook up and play gran tourismo with mx5’s. Would love to do that again. It was fun.
2 Likes
There is also an open-source version, here, which is multi-platform. Snazzier graphics than the original but pretty faithful to it, and more expansion packs than you can shake a stick at.
Between Elite, Wing Commander, and Rogue, it’s amazing I ever got anything done back in the day.
1 Like
The “Adventure” game I play originally came with my Kaypro CP/M computer. It is the Colossal Cave game, and I managed to find a version that works on the PC. I like it because to proceed you have to start over and remember what works and what doesnt, so it keeps the brain oiled.
David
I never knew the bbc micro versions (though both my primary and secondary schools had us using the computers) so my memories are of the Acorn/Archimedes version.
There’s a rumour that Windows 1.0 was delayed due to the devs at Microsoft wanting to finish playing all the levels
And in the 90s Unreal Tournaments development computers kept having random crashes when ever the boss walked in due to the devs playing doom (may have been quake - forget which) and hitting the reset button.