People involved in the preparation of this issue of RetroMagazine World (in no particular order):
- Alberto Apostolo
- Dr. Andrea Q.
- Carlo N. Del Mar Pirazzini
- Daniele Brahimi
- Mic the Biker Novarina
- Francesco Fiorentini
- David La Monaca
- Leonardo Miliani
- Barbara “Morgana” Murgida
- Takahiro Yoshioka
- Roberto Del Mar Pirazzini
- Ingrid Poggiali
- Gianluca Girelli
- Giampaolo Moraschi
- Querino Ialongo
- Gianluca Alberico
- Felice Nardella
- Beppe Rinella
- Alessandro Albano
- Cover & full-page image: Giuseppe Mangini
- Cover layout: Carlo N. Del Mar Pirazzini
Editorial by Francesco Fiorentini
Leave your comfort zone!
What is the comfort zone?
Cambridge Dictionary defines the comfort zone as …a situation in which you feel comfortable and in which your ability and determination are not being tested…
Trying to transport this definition in the world of retrocomputing, we can immediately associate the comfort zone to machines, systems or games with which we are familiar. Probably we will immediately think of the systems that we used when we were children and / or with which we grew up and that have helped to form our experience as gamers, programmers or simple fans.
But what would happen if we decided to leave this comfort zone? What would happen if we decided to try to use and learn those unfamiliar systems? Certainly, at the beginning, we would pay the price of lack of knowledge. The commands that we are used to using almost mechanically and the operations that we usually do without even thinking about them, would probably not have the desired effect and we would feel a sense of frustration. And it is precisely at this moment, when our instinct would like us to abandon everything to return to more familiar contexts, that we must insist and move away from the established mental patterns.
Well, if we are able to do this, unexplored worlds will open up before us, where the joy of discovery could make us return to those children we were 30/40 years ago. All of us, when we picked up our first computer, felt a sort of reverential awe towards an unknown object. We had to read the manual or ask for help from more experienced friends to load a game, write a program or even just to connect cables and peripherals.
That same feeling I had when I decided to get involved with machines I didn’t know at all. All my certainties vanished in an instant, just to read the contents of a disc or a cassette. Indeed, for some systems, my certainties began to waver in front of the possible configurations and options in the emulator… Fortunately, nowadays we have thousands of resources from which to draw to familiarize ourselves with these worlds unknown to us.
So what are you waiting for? Get out of your comfort zone, whatever it is, and try to use systems you don’t know yet. A new world is waiting for you. A world unexplored for you, but with that richness of colors that has already fascinated thousands of users, with those games that have driven generations crazy and with those commands that have kept programmers busy for entire nights!
Leave your comfort zone and you’ll see some great things!
Summary:
- Family BASIC – a “Computer” in the Famicom
- GameBoy Advance – the (un)protections
- Unofficial add-ons for the ZX Spectrum
- ColecoVision
- RetroFighter Engine for Commodore 64
- Atari ST Basic – AES and VDI
- How to create a game in BASIC for C64 – pt. 2
- C128 in 80 column mode – part 3
- BASIC fractals in 8-bit sauce – part 4
- Interview with Andrea Contato
- Let’s take a look at Lykia – The Lost Island
- War and Videogames
- The top 10 (+1) game intros for Amiga
- Talent Scout
- Randoom (C64)
- Randominer (C64)
- Green Beret (Amiga)
- Metal Dragon (MegaDrive)
- Star Ocean (SNES)
- Attack of the Petscii Robots (C64)
- Klonoa 2 Lunatea’s Veil (PS2)
- Twinkle Tale (MegaDrive)
- Zaku (Atari Lynx)
- S.O.L.O. (MSX)
- Rogue 64 (C64)
- Sigil (PC)
- Witch n’ Wiz (NES)
- Doraemon (GameBoy)
- Ski (C64)
- Crack Down (Arcade)
