Project number: 322 (number in database). Original project name: Breakout Game. Development type or programming language: Assembly. Platform designed for/with: ZX81. Year of most recent major modification: 1983.
The ZX81 was an early home computer, released in 1981, and intended as a very cheap way to get started with computers. It had a Z80 processor and 1K (you read that right) of RAM, a membrane keyboard, a cassette tape for storage, and output video to a TV. I had the luxury of the 16K expansion pack, which gave it a million times less memory than my current Mac (which itself doesn't have a huge amount by modern standards).
Most people programmed this machine in BASIC, but that was too slow for games so I wrote the classic "Breakout" game in machine code, by poking hexadecimal values into memory. Now that's real programming!
The game was so fast it was unplayable, so I made the bat the whole width of the screen and let it clear all the bricks in about a second! To be able to play it, I introduced a massive loop to waste enough time between moves that the played could have some hope of winning.
If you need any further information about this project please contact me.
I usually write a blog post about once a week. The latest post can be viewed here: Think for Yourself: In the end, everything is just an opinion. Be skeptical, and think for yourself! (posted 2026-04-25 at 21:12:02). Or go to the Home Page of My Blog to choose a post to view.
I do podcasts too! You can listen to my latest podcast, here: OJB's Podcast 2026-04-25 Think For Yourself: In the end, everything is just an opinion. Be skeptical, and think for yourself! Or subscribe to my podcast RSS feed, on my RSS Feeds page.
Latest Site News and Notifications (Desktop): You are currently viewing OJB's web site, version 2.4 which has some major changes, and possibly errors! Please report any problems to ojb@mac.com.
PROJECTS PAGE