Revs: How Geoff Crammond squeezed a Formula 3 sim racer into just 32KB on the BBC Micro
533Revs for the BBC Micro is clever for more reasons than you'd expect. In addition to code in the sky and pioneering the idea of sim racing, it also took an approach to building tracks which would set the racing game template for more than a decade. I get deep into the detail explaining just what it is that Revs does and why it's so clever.
Also I find a game that is remarkably playable for something of its era.
As mentioned, this video would not exist without the excellent research at https://revs.bbcelite.com/
Further thanks to @RMCRetro for the images and video of their vintage-correct BBC Micro and Microvitec CUB setup, and @RoseTintedSpectrum for organising the actual process of getting it to me because I am rubbish at asking for help.
IBM BIOS font recreation by VileR, https://int10h.org/ (CC-BY-SA 4.0)
Many hardware images from Evan Amos and Stuart Brady were used, or at least saved to a directory at some point in the production process.
Stock footage and images from Pexels.
Map of the circuit:
0:00 Games with things in common
0:30 But first, nostalgia
1:15 The BBC was for posh kids
1:40 Hat-bashing moral wasteland
2:20 Period-correct cultural references
3:11 The BBC was respectable
3:50 Winding up the real hardware crowd
4:42 Scared of being a simulation
5:36 Revs 4 Tracks
5:58 Keyboard delights and horrors
7:26 Non-BBC Revs
8:34 One planar tracker too far
9:08 About that code in the sky thing?
9:38 Talking graphics and memory layouts
10:32 Yes that's not technically a "screenshot"
11:24 Beam racing in your racing game
11:49 Breaking down the screen
13:44 A lot of conversations about blue
14:33 Code in the sky! Finally!
15:00 The track is also clever
15:55 Track-like properties
17:28 How nearly every driving game did 3D
18:25 Oh, and it's flicker-free
20:14 Outro, further reading and that
Games shown:
Revs (BBC Micro)
Geoff Crammond's Formula One Grand Prix
Elite Plus
Granny's Garden
Revs Plus (BBC Micro)
Hard Drivin' (ZX Spectrum)
Wheelie
Revs (C64)
Revs Plus (C64)
Network Q RAC Rally Championship
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Bonus fact: While both Revs and F1GP feature fake driver names, the ones in Revs have both an element of humour and an indication as to what to expect from each driver - Miles Behind is, as you might expect, often to be found languishing at the back of the grid.
#bbcmicro #revs
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