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NEW YORK, New York, May 7th, 2024/Chainwire/-- Spectral is excited to announce its participation in Hugging Face's Expert Support Program. Spectral is collaborating with deep learning experts from Hugging Face to advance open-source models, datasets, and applications for the Onchain Agent Economy. How To Use Hugging Face Hugging Face plays a critical role across Spectral's organization. Through the Expert Support Program, Spectral regularly meets with the Hugging Face team to plan new use cases, strategize dataset construction, and develop training strategies. Earlier this year, Spectral launched Syntax, which is composed of a fine-tuned LLM orchestrator that routes queries between several tools, including search, Foundry, and an open-source model to generate Solidity code. Building Syntax required custom datasets for both finetuning and RAG, an original Solidity evaluation dataset written by elite smart contract developers, and experimentation across a wide range of open and closed-source models. Spectral's approach to dataset preparation, training, routing, and evaluation has drastically improved during this process, largely due to help from Hugging Face experts. Regular discussions on Spectral's approach mean that the company always receives impartial feedback on its decisions and can reevaluate its strategy as needed. This was important for both the finetuning and evaluation steps, which have now gone through several rounds of improvement thanks to the Hugging Face team. Spectral also relies on Hugging Face for inferences in production through dedicated Inference Endpoints. The fully managed infrastructure allows Spectral to iterate on new models quickly, easily update container and hardware configurations, autoscale with demand, and keep production costs low. Over the coming months, Spectral is excited to continue to open-source its work with onchain datasets and models that interact onchain through Hugging Face. Users can view Spectral's training dataset for the credit scoring challenge and follow its progress here. The Onchain Agent Economy Syntax is pioneering the accessible onchain Agent Economy, inviting users to select agents tailored for their specific tasks. Users can either interact with the foundational agent to generate solidity code or opt for one of the specialized agents, each adept in distinct tasks. For example, we recently launched Syntax MoonMaker, an agent that launches a memecoin project end to end and are soon launching Syntax- TestMachine, an agent that detects vulnerabilities in your smart contracts. Many such agents are currently in production, and upcoming releases of our product will allow users to create their own agents and monetize them on the Syntax network. This system relies on a vast suite of functions available to language models, open-source models for tasks like classification and image generation, fast and reliable blockchain infrastructure, and a trustless system to execute and verify each step. To solve these problems, we've begun developing the Inferchain, optimized to serve the rapidly growing demand for agents and verifiable inferences. Hugging Face Users Joining The Onchain AI Community The importance of open collaboration cannot be overstated. Like many other projects, Spectral would not exist without the work of open-source contributors. Spectral is greatly indebted to everyone who makes this work possible and believes this positive impact should be recognized. As part of this engagement, Spectral is focusing specifically on users powering the AI community. The top individual and small organization contributors on Hugging Face, measured by likes and downloads of their models and datasets, are eligible to register to claim a share of SPEC tokens starting the week of May 6th. Users can check eligibility by signing in with their Hugging Face account here. A snapshot of activity was taken last month, and eligible users will not need an existing wallet to claim. This airdrop is designed to recognize users for their critical work and enable new functionality for the next generation of AI tools. Criteria Spectral reviewed all individual contributors from organizations with less than 10 members that published models or datasets. From these, Spectral took a combined measure of activity from likes and downloads for both models and datasets. Then, Spectral identified the users with the most combined activity from both model and dataset publishers (11298 in both categories) which resulted in a final list of 20,004 unique huggingface users. Spectral is looking forward to engaging further with the open-source community and building the future of AI x web3! https://claims.spectrallabs.xyz/ About Spectral Spectral, a pioneer of the agent economy behind Syntax, is at the forefront of integrating AI with blockchain to democratize development in Web3. Spectral's mission is to simplify the creation and deployment of decentralized applications through autonomous Onchain Agents. Syntax, Spectral’s flagship product, translates natural language into Solidity code, enabling both novices and experts to build on the blockchain effortlessly. With a commitment to transparency and user empowerment, Spectral is shaping a future where anyone can participate in the blockchain revolution. Join Spectral in making this vision a reality and explore the potential of autonomous agents. For more information, visit https://spectrallabs.xyz. For more information, users can follow Spectral on Twitter and Discord. Contact Spectral Labs Team contact@spectral.finance This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. NEW YORK, New York, May 7th, 2024/Chainwire/-- Spectral is excited to announce its participation in Hugging Face's Expert Support Program. Spectral is collaborating with deep learning experts from Hugging Face to advance open-source models, datasets, and applications for the Onchain Agent Economy. How To Use Hugging Face Hugging Face plays a critical role across Spectral's organization. Through the Expert Support Program, Spectral regularly meets with the Hugging Face team to plan new use cases, strategize dataset construction, and develop training strategies. Earlier this year, Spectral launched Syntax, which is composed of a fine-tuned LLM orchestrator that routes queries between several tools, including search, Foundry , and an open-source model to generate Solidity code. Foundry Foundry an open-source model an open-source model Building Syntax required custom datasets for both finetuning and RAG, an original Solidity evaluation dataset written by elite smart contract developers, and experimentation across a wide range of open and closed-source models. Spectral's approach to dataset preparation, training, routing, and evaluation has drastically improved during this process, largely due to help from Hugging Face experts. Regular discussions on Spectral's approach mean that the company always receives impartial feedback on its decisions and can reevaluate its strategy as needed. This was important for both the finetuning and evaluation steps, which have now gone through several rounds of improvement thanks to the Hugging Face team. Spectral also relies on Hugging Face for inferences in production through dedicated Inference Endpoints. The fully managed infrastructure allows Spectral to iterate on new models quickly, easily update container and hardware configurations, autoscale with demand, and keep production costs low. Over the coming months, Spectral is excited to continue to open-source its work with onchain datasets and models that interact onchain through Hugging Face. Users can view Spectral's training dataset for the credit scoring challenge and follow its progress here . here here The Onchain Agent Economy Syntax is pioneering the accessible onchain Agent Economy, inviting users to select agents tailored for their specific tasks. Users can either interact with the foundational agent to generate solidity code or opt for one of the specialized agents, each adept in distinct tasks. For example, we recently launched Syntax MoonMaker, an agent that launches a memecoin project end to end and are soon launching Syntax- TestMachine, an agent that detects vulnerabilities in your smart contracts. Many such agents are currently in production, and upcoming releases of our product will allow users to create their own agents and monetize them on the Syntax network. This system relies on a vast suite of functions available to language models, open-source models for tasks like classification and image generation, fast and reliable blockchain infrastructure, and a trustless system to execute and verify each step. To solve these problems, we've begun developing the Inferchain, optimized to serve the rapidly growing demand for agents and verifiable inferences. Hugging Face Users Joining The Onchain AI Community The importance of open collaboration cannot be overstated. Like many other projects, Spectral would not exist without the work of open-source contributors. Spectral is greatly indebted to everyone who makes this work possible and believes this positive impact should be recognized. As part of this engagement, Spectral is focusing specifically on users powering the AI community. The top individual and small organization contributors on Hugging Face, measured by likes and downloads of their models and datasets, are eligible to register to claim a share of SPEC tokens starting the week of May 6th. Users can check eligibility by signing in with their Hugging Face account here . here here A snapshot of activity was taken last month, and eligible users will not need an existing wallet to claim. This airdrop is designed to recognize users for their critical work and enable new functionality for the next generation of AI tools. Criteria Spectral reviewed all individual contributors from organizations with less than 10 members that published models or datasets. From these, Spectral took a combined measure of activity from likes and downloads for both models and datasets. Then, Spectral identified the users with the most combined activity from both model and dataset publishers (11298 in both categories) which resulted in a final list of 20,004 unique huggingface users. Spectral is looking forward to engaging further with the open-source community and building the future of AI x web3! https://claims.spectrallabs.xyz/ https://claims.spectrallabs.xyz/ https://claims.spectrallabs.xyz/ About Spectral Spectral , a pioneer of the agent economy behind Syntax, is at the forefront of integrating AI with blockchain to democratize development in Web3. Spectral's mission is to simplify the creation and deployment of decentralized applications through autonomous Onchain Agents. Spectral Spectral Syntax, Spectral’s flagship product, translates natural language into Solidity code, enabling both novices and experts to build on the blockchain effortlessly. With a commitment to transparency and user empowerment, Spectral is shaping a future where anyone can participate in the blockchain revolution. Join Spectral in making this vision a reality and explore the potential of autonomous agents. For more information, visit https://spectrallabs.xyz . For more information, users can follow Spectral on Twitter and Discord . https://spectrallabs.xyz Twitter Twitter Discord Discord Contact Spectral Labs Team contact@spectral.finance This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here . here here

Spectral Labs Joins Hugging Face’s ESP Program: Advancing The Onchain x Open-Source AI Community

স্পেকট্রাল ল্যাবগুলি আলিঙ্গন মুখের ইএসপি প্রোগ্রামে যোগ দেয়: অনচেইন এক্স ওপেন-সোর্স এআই সম্প্রদায়কে এগিয়ে নিয়ে যাওয়া

Spectral Labs nimmt am ESP-Programm von Hugging Face teil: Förderung der Onchain x Open-Source-KI-Community

Spectral Labs se une al programa ESP de Hugging Face: avanzando en la comunidad de IA de código abierto Onchain x

Spectral Labs rejoint le programme ESP de Hugging Face : faire progresser la communauté d'IA Onchain x Open-Source

स्पेक्ट्रल लैब्स हगिंग फेस के ईएसपी कार्यक्रम में शामिल हुई: ऑनचेन एक्स ओपन-सोर्स एआई समुदाय को आगे बढ़ाना

Spectral Labs が Hugging Face の ESP プログラムに参加: オンチェーン x オープンソース AI コミュニティの発展

Spectral Labs, Hugging Face의 ESP 프로그램에 합류: Onchain x 오픈 소스 AI 커뮤니티 발전

Spectral Labs junta-se ao programa ESP da Hugging Face: Avançando a comunidade Onchain x Open-Source AI

Spectral Labs присоединяется к программе ESP Hugging Face: развитие сообщества искусственного интеллекта с открытым исходным кодом Onchain x

Spectral Labs, Hugging Face'in ESP Programına Katılıyor: Onchain x Açık Kaynak Yapay Zeka Topluluğunu Geliştirme

Spectral Labs tham gia chương trình ESP của Hugging Face: Thúc đẩy cộng đồng AI mã nguồn mở Onchain x

Spectral Labs 加入 Hugging Face 的 ESP 计划：推进 Onchain x 开源 AI 社区

NEW YORK, New York, March 26th, 2024/Chainwire/--**Syntax takes natural language and converts it into Solidity code, enabling individuals and enterprises to ship production grade smart contracts, arbitrage agents, NFTs, rollups, and more. Syntax marks the manifestation of the Agent Economy in Web3. Today, has launched Syntax, a new LLM enabling people to ship agents that automate onchain projects and tasks, thereby manifesting their Web3 product ideas. While still in beta, Syntax’s vision is to create an open onchain Agent Economy, where developers, individuals, and enterprises can for the first time select the agents they would want to delegate their Web3 tasks, projects, and product development to. These projects and products include production grade smart contracts, arbitrage agents, NFTs, rollups, and more. Spectral Labs Scaling web3 engineering efforts and shipping new onchain products is limited by the number of solidity developers, as well as enterprises’ ability to test and ship smart contract code in a fast and effective way without burning through engineering resources. Spectral has set out to solve this with its new LLM, Syntax, a development environment designed to manifest Web3 product ideas by converting natural language into Solidity code that can be deployed instantly onchain. For professional developers, Syntax can accelerate and optimize bandwidth by writing large libraries and components. Syntax provides an Agentic experience, where users tell Syntax what they want to build, and Syntax writes and deploys the code onchain at the click of a button. Spectral defines an Onchain Agent as a set of instructions and code capable of deploying itself onchain and possessing a dedicated provisioned wallet for doing so. Loosely similar to custom instructions in ChatGPT, Syntax Agents also have their own identity and can autonomously figure out ways to interact with deployment infrastructure. With Syntax, users can compile, debug, and deploy AI-generated solidity code. Syntax gives users and the industry the ability to quickly test, ship and scale new products, as well as determining the usability and functional relevance of the code generated while also giving them control to quickly edit code snippets. Initially, Spectral’s Onchain Agents will be curated and built by Spectral, but soon every user will be able to create their own Agent and monetize it in future Syntax releases. "At Spectral, we're pioneering a future where autonomous Agents redefine what's possible onchain. With Spectral Syntax, we empower these agents to operate independently, making it simpler for everyone to bring their blockchain ideas to life." Sishir Varghese, Founder. What truly sets Syntax apart is its capability to deploy code directly onchain, executing deployments through Foundry by writing instructions that Foundry can process, including code compilation, onchain deployment, and signing transactions. Syntax is pioneering an accessible onchain Agent Economy, inviting users to select agents tailored for their specific Web3 tasks. Users can either interact with the foundational agent or opt for one of the specialized agents, each adept in distinct tasks and operations—like the Code Forker assistant, ideal for those aiming to fork and customize a codebase. Additionally, users can discern an agent's expertise and trustworthiness by reviewing its category listing and the popularity reflected through its user engagement. "Syntax by Spectral is at the forefront of merging AI with web3, pioneering the onchain agent economy and making it easier and more accessible for users to create their own blockchain products," said Josh Rosenthal, Partner, Polychain Syntax produces accurate and gas-optimized Solidity code for a variety of prompts ranging from low to medium complexity, and it outperforms baseline models on Spectral’s Solidity evaluation dataset. As Spectral’s modeling efforts continue to evolve, the company expects Syntax to deliver optimized code for increasingly complex problems. These Solidity models are explicitly designed to assist developers in writing optimized, modern, well-tested, and secure code. About Spectral , a pioneer of the agent economy behind Syntax, is at the forefront of integrating AI with blockchain to democratize development in Web3. Our mission is to simplify the creation and deployment of decentralized applications through autonomous Onchain Agents. Syntax, Spectral’s flagship product, translates natural language into Solidity code, enabling both novices and experts to build on the blockchain effortlessly. Spectral With a commitment to transparency and user empowerment, Spectral is shaping a future where anyone can participate in the blockchain revolution. Join us in making this vision a reality and explore the potential of autonomous agents with Spectral. For more information, visit /. For more information, users can follow Spectral on and . https://spectrallabs.xyz Twitter Discord Contact Spectral Labs Spectral info@spectrallabs.xyz This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here.

Spectral Launches Syntax Enabling Web3 Users To Build Autonomous Agents And Deploy Onchain Products

Introduction In the karaoke scene, it is often necessary to pull multiple streams and display the user who is speaking. We need to identify whether the user is speaking, the volume of the speech (sound wave), and display it on the UI. The SDK provides the following two methods to achieve this function： refers to the volume of a stream. The ZEGO Express SDK provides the ability to capture the sound level of a stream in real time and delivers the captured sound level data to the app client through related callbacks.  A typical use case of this feature is that you can visualize the sound level data on your app UI to indicate the current active speaker and their volume. The following picture shows an example of such use cases. Sound level refers to a series of values, each of which represents an audio signal's energy level at a point in a frequency range.  The ZEGO Express SDK provides the ability to capture the audio spectrum data of a stream in real time and delivers the captured audio spectrum data to the app client through related callbacks.  A typical use case of this feature is that you can use it to create and display an audio spectrum visualizer on your app UI, especially for those online karaoke apps. The following picture shows an example of audio spectrum visualizers. Audio spectrum Prerequisites Before you begin to use sound level and audio spectrum in your project, make sure you complete the following steps: Create a project in , and get the AppID of your project. ZEGOCLOUD Admin Console The ZEGO Express SDK has been integrated into the project. For details, see and . Integration Implementation Enable the Sound Level Callbacks To enable sound level callbacks,  call the method. startSoundLevelMonitor /// Enable sound level callbacks.
///
- (void)startSoundLevelMonitor;

/// Enable the sound level monitor, supports enabling advanced features.
///
/// @note After enabled the monitor, the SDK sends out notification through the callback [onCapturedSoundLevelUpdate] to deliver the sound level data of locally captured audio, and through the callback [onRemoteSoundLevelUpdate] to deliver sound level data of remote streams.
/// @note You can call the [startPreview] method before entering a room, and together with the callback [onCapturedSoundLevelUpdate] to check whether the audio device is working properly. 
/// @note The notification interval of the [onCapturedSoundLevelUpdate] and [onRemoteSoundLevelUpdate] callbacks is the value of the parameter.
///
/// @param config The configuration to enable sound level monitor. 
- (void)startSoundLevelMonitorWithConfig:(ZegoSoundLevelConfig *)config; After the above step is completed: When you start previewing the local video (by calling the method or publishing a local stream by calling the method, the SDK will trigger the callback at an interval of 100ms to deliver the sound level data of the locally captured audio. startPreview startPublishingStream onCapturedSoundLevelUpdate /// The callback to deliver the sound level data of locally captured audio.
///
/// @param soundLevel: The sound level value of the locally captured audio, which is in the range [0.0, 100.0].
- (void)onCapturedSoundLevelUpdate:(NSNumber *)soundLevel;

/// The callback to deliver the sound level data of locally captured audio.
///
/// @note To trigger this callback, you must call the [startSoundLevelMonitor] method to enable the sound level monitor.
/// @note The callback notification interval is the value set when [startSoundLevelMonitor] is called.
///
/// @param soundLevelInfo The sound level value of the locally captured audio, which is in the range [0.0, 100.0].
- (void)onCapturedSoundLevelInfoUpdate:(ZegoSoundLevelInfo *)soundLevelInfo; When you start playing remote streams by calling the method,  the SDK will trigger the callback at an interval of 100ms to deliver the sound level data of the remote streams. startPlayingStream onRemoteSoundLevelUpdate /// The callback to deliver the sound level data of remote streams.
///
/// @param soundLevels: The sound level data (key-value pairs) of the remote streams, of which the key is a stream ID, and the value is the sound level value of the corresponding stream. Each sound level value is in the range [0.0, 100.0].
- (void)onRemoteSoundLevelUpdate:(NSDictionary<NSString *, NSNumber *> *)soundLevels;

/// The callback to deliver the sound level data of remote streams when stream playing.
///
/// @note To trigger this callback, you must call the [startSoundLevelMonitor] method to enable the sound level monitor when playing streams. 
/// @note The callback notification interval is the value set when [startSoundLevelMonitor] is called.
///
/// @param soundLevelInfos The sound level data (key-value pairs) of the remote streams, of which the key is a stream ID, and the value is the sound level value of the corresponding stream. Each sound level value is in the range [0.0, 100.0].
- (void)onRemoteSoundLevelInfoUpdate:(NSDictionary<NSString *, ZegoSoundLevelInfo *> *)soundLevelInfos; Enable the Audio Spectrum Callbacks To enable audio spectrum callbacks, call the method. startAudioSpectrumMonitor /// Enable audio spectrum callbacks
///
- (void)startAudioSpectrumMonitor; After the above step is completed: When you start previewing the local video by calling the method or publishing a local stream by calling the method, the SDK will trigger the callback at an interval of 100ms to deliver the audio spectrum data of locally captured audio. startPreview startPublishingStream onCapturedAudioSpectrumUpdate /// The callback to deliver the audio spectrum data of locally captured audio.
///
/// @param audioSpectrum: An array of audio spectrum values of the locally captured audio. Each audio spectrum value is in the range [0, 2^30].
- (void)onCapturedAudioSpectrumUpdate:(NSArray<NSNumber *> *)audioSpectrum; When you start playing remote streams by calling the method,  the SDK will trigger the callback at an interval of 100ms to deliver audio spectrum data of the remote streams. startPlayingStream onRemoteAudioSpectrumUpdate /// The callback to deliver the audio spectrum data of remote streams
///
/// @param audioSpectrums: The audio spectrum data (key-value pairs) of remote streams, of which the key is a stream ID, and the value is an array of audio spectrum values of the corresponding stream. Each audio spectrum value is in the range [0, 2^30].
- (void)onRemoteAudioSpectrumUpdate:(NSDictionary<NSString *, NSArray<NSNumber *> *> *)audioSpectrums; Obtain Data from the Callbacks The SDK delivers the sound level data and audio spectrum data of the remote streams as key-value pairs in an . In each key-value pair, the key is the stream ID of a remote stream published by another user in the same room, and the value is the sound level value or an array of audio spectrum values that stream. NSDictionary You can first obtain and save the list of remote streams published by the other users in the current room through the callback, and then use each stream ID in the list as an index to get the sound level value or the audio spectrum data of that stream from the . onRoomStreamUpdate NSDictionary The following examples show how to obtain the sound level and audio spectrum data from the callbacks. // The callback to deliver the sound level data of locally captured audio.
- (void)onCapturedSoundLevelUpdate:(NSNumber *)soundLevel {
    ZGSoundLevelTableViewCell *cell = [self.tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:0]];
    cell.soundLevel = soundLevel;
}

// The callback to deliver the sound level data (key-value pairs) of remote streams. In each key-value pair, the key is the stream ID of a remote stream, and the value is the sound level data of that stream.
- (void)onRemoteSoundLevelUpdate:(NSDictionary<NSString *,NSNumber *> *)soundLevels {
    NSInteger rowCount = [self.tableView numberOfRowsInSection:1];
    for (NSInteger row = 0; row < rowCount; row++) {
        ZGSoundLevelTableViewCell *cell = [self.tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:row inSection:1]];
        if ([soundLevels objectForKey:cell.streamID]) {
            cell.soundLevel = soundLevels[cell.streamID];
        }
    }
}

// The callback to deliver the audio spectrum data of locally captured audio.
- (void)onCapturedAudioSpectrumUpdate:(NSArray<NSNumber *> *)audioSpectrum {
    ZGSoundLevelTableViewCell *cell = [self.tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:0 inSection:0]];
    cell.spectrumList = audioSpectrum;
}

// The callback to deliver the audio spectrum data (key-value pairs) of the remote streams. Audio spectrum callback for remote streams. In each key-value pair, the key is the stream ID of a remote stream, and the value is the audio spectrum data of that stream.
- (void)onRemoteAudioSpectrumUpdate:(NSDictionary<NSString *,NSArray<NSNumber *> *> *)audioSpectrums {
    NSInteger rowCount = [self.tableView numberOfRowsInSection:1];
    for (NSInteger row = 0; row < rowCount; row++) {
        ZGSoundLevelTableViewCell *cell = [self.tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:[NSIndexPath indexPathForRow:row inSection:1]];
        if ([audioSpectrums objectForKey:cell.streamID]) {
            cell.spectrumList = audioSpectrums[cell.streamID];
        }
    }
} Disable the Sound Level Callbacks To disable the sound level callbacks, call the method. stopSoundLevelMonitor /// Disable sound level callbacks
- (void)stopSoundLevelMonitor; After the above step is completed, the SDK will stop triggering the callbacks and . onCapturedSoundLevelUpdate onRemoteSoundLevelUpdate Disable the Audio Spectrum Callbacks To disable audio spectrum callbacks, call the method. stopAudioSpectrumMonitor /// Stop listening for audio spectrum callbacks
///
- (void)stopAudioSpectrumMonitor; After the above step is completed, the SDK will stop triggering the callbacks and . onCapturedAudioSpectrumUpdate onRemoteAudioSpectrumUpdate

How to Implement Sound Waves in iOS by Using ZEGOCLOUD SDK

This will be my first review, where I will cover a single game released for multiple computer platforms and compare each version accordingly - in this case, I will be taking a look at the 1988 budget game for the main trinity of 8-bit home computers in the West: the (which is the lead platform), the and the . This game is a childhood favourite of mine, as I remember playing it on my ZX Spectrum and trying to get a high enough score to enter my name. multiplatform Codemasters Super Stuntman ZX Spectrum Amstrad CPC Commodore 64 Premise The premise of this game, according to the cassette/disk inlay, is that the player assumes the role of a stuntman in a major motion picture, requiring their talents in order to accomplish a series of increasingly elaborate and dangerous vehicular acrobatics. However, as with many games of this era, the plot is merely a means to an end. On all versions of the game, the player must traverse through seven (7) scenes which need to be completed within a strict time limit, and you are given three (3) lives or for each scene. The scenes in question are: VERY “takes” Desert Speedboat Chase/Boat Race Forest Jump Over the Grand Canyon (Press the fire button to activate a turbo booster at the right time) City Car Chase White Water/Rapids Boat Chase The Grand Finale Main Menu Comparison All three versions showcase the eponymous daredevil standing outside his car, which appears to be a Ferrari/Porsche hybrid. The main menu of each version offers a jaunty little theme tune by David Whittaker using each computer’s respective sound chip (the “beeper” speaker for the Spectrum since this is a 48K only game with no 128K version, the AY chip on the CPC and the SID chip on the C64). The Spectrum version also offers a choice of keyboard controls, the option to redefine them, or a joystick interface of the player’s choice (if you read my review, then you will get a brief description of the Spectrum’s various joystick interfaces and how they work). For this review, I will be playing with the Kempston joystick interface, which is arguably the most popular interface for the Spectrum, using my custom-made 2-button arcade stick. Zythum The Spectrum and C64 only recognize a single fire button due to them using the antiquated standard, while the CPC can support two (2) separate fire buttons using an joystick, although not all games were coded with this ability in mind. Atari 2600 MSX The Game This is what we get when the game starts up - a time limit, score, and a visual damage indicator, which is mainly for show and has no actual bearing on the player vehicle’s functionality (except for the C64 version, which excludes the vehicular mugshot). The goal of each scene is to get to the finishing line at the end before the countdown timer reaches zero (0). On all scenes except for Scene 4 (The Grand Canyon), the player’s vehicle (a car in all but Scenes 2 and 6, where the player controls a speedboat) is equipped with what appears to be a front-facing cannon, since pressing the fire button on the joystick fires a cannonball, which can be used to destroy computer-controlled enemy vehicles (which are controlled with a very simplistic - they just seem to charge forwards indiscriminately and occasionally block the player’s path while shooting at anything in their way). The player will also have to avoid rocks (which block your path) and fireballs (which will cost you a life - on the water-based scenes, the player must avoid crashing into the land, which will yield the same result). AI The sole exception to this rudimentary gunplay mechanic is, as mentioned, on Scene 4, where the player’s cannon is replaced with a turbo booster, which be activated at the correct time in order to successfully jump across the Grand Canyon and reach the finish line at the other end. Engage it too early or late and the player will fall to their death. MUST Oddly enough and possibly unique to this game, the player is awarded points for losing lives or “takes”, gaining 1,000 points in the form of what the game calls , presumably as a sort of reward for showcasing their inner daredevil. You can do this up to twice per scene (your takes are reset at the beginning of a new scene) - if you crash a third time, then the game ends. “Amazing Action” Cheat Mode All 3 versions of this game have a built-in cheat mode, which gives the player infinite time and lives, and given the rather clumsy controls and haphazard level design (we’ll get to that later on, when I’m comparing the 3 versions against each other), it would be wise to enable it as soon as possible. To do this, the player must first get a high enough score to enter their name on the high score table, entering a specific word as their name and confirming it (see the table below): Game Version Name to Enter ZX Spectrum BIG SCORE Amstrad CPC LIVEWIRE Commodore 64 CHEAT (Press key to skip to the next scene during gameplay) Tab Super Stuntman Review and Comparison Presentation The ZX Spectrum version is the original version of this game, and as such, has a decent amount of content and presentation, along with a cool-looking image on the main menu. This look and feel is carried over to the Amstrad CPC port, which improves the visual and auditory aspect, as is to be expected for a multipurpose computer like the CPC. The C64 version is sadly lacking in these elements, and has a much more basic menu. The game’s content is barebones but sufficient to keep the player interested, if only for a limited time, given it is a budget game, and the C64 version actually uses its custom hardware to try to make the in-game world look more lively. Overall Winner: Tie between ZX Spectrum & Amstrad CPC Graphics (Detail & Colour) Graphically, the game looks adequate on all 3 platforms, although each version has some features unique to that particular release. For example, the original Spectrum version has a higher resolution than the CPC and C64, so it wins out in the detail department - you can see what each in-game sprite is supposed to be, although the red fireballs on the Spectrum and C64 are recoloured to blue on the CPC, presumably to prevent them from blending in with the environment (thanks to its low-resolution, 16-colour mode, this is no Spectrum port, something which plagued many CPC games back in the day). My personal favourite colour palette is on the Amstrad CPC, with its vibrant -esque colours and sprite design, although the muted colours on the C64 also work, giving the game a bit more atmosphere. I also like how the water in Scenes 2 and 6 is animated on the C64, while the Spectrum and CPC simply have white spots on a blue background. Sega Overall Winner: ZX Spectrum (Detail), Tie between Amstrad CPC & Commodore 64 (Colour) Sound (SFX & Music) The Spectrum version has what sounds like digitised flatulence due to its single-channel “beeper” speaker, and the vehicular engine noises do not sound at all like a car or a speedboat’s motor bursting into action, although the player does get to hear a noise when the countdown timer goes below 10 seconds, warning them to hurry up (they lose a take if they run out of time). CPC version probably has the best balance of sound effects and music (the main title theme would later reappear in the CPC-exclusive , which I also reviewed on this site recycling music from their previous games seemed to be a Codemasters trademark). C64 version has dire sound effects, worse than the Spectrum version, although the engine sound can be increased in pitch depending on how fast the player goes, which can provide some amusement, and less-than-perfect music. tick-tock Turbo Chopper Simulator - Overall Winner: Tie between ZX Spectrum & Amstrad CPC (SFX), Amstrad CPC (Music) Controls The controls of any videogame can make or break the experience, and in this game, it is certainly a very polarising affair. The game’s controls are very strange in the sense that the player’s vehicle is limited to 45-degree turns in either direction, as if the car or speedboat is standing in the middle of a 180-degree (a device used for measuring angles) and can only rotate within its range. The C64 version also suffers from a case of sudden loss of momentum, meaning if the player’s vehicle hits any kind of obstacle, then they will stop moving immediately, requiring the player to back up (which costs time) and reaccelerate all over again (costing more time), while the Spectrum and CPC versions keep the vehicle at full speed even when hitting a rock or some other obstacle. Firing the cannon is also a bit of a pain, since only a single cannonball can be fired at any time. The C64 version also suffers from slippery controls, while the Spectrum and CPC version’s controls are too stiff. protractor Overall Winner: Draw Super Stuntman Gameplay Review The most important element of this game is also the weakest, sadly - all 3 versions have the exact same game mechanics and there is no exclusive feature for any of them, meaning that if you’ve played one version, then you’ve essentially played them all. I will find, however, that the Spectrum and CPC versions are the most forgiving in terms of difficulty and have a greater margin for error than the C64 port, which appears to be a rushed conversion evidenced by the fact that it has no ending sequence upon completing the last scene of the game (Scene 7), and the game repositions the player just behind the final finishing line, to repeat the process until they run out of time or lives (the Spectrum and CPC versions at least have the courtesy to congratulate the player). The Spectrum and CPC versions have the exact same level layouts and stage designs, while the C64 port tries to redesign the scenes and make them more linear but only ends up cluttering the already chaotic scenery, and the time limit ticks down faster in that version compared to the Spectrum and CPC. Overall Winner: Tie between ZX Spectrum & Amstrad CPC Overall is far from a super game. Codemasters were synonymous with quality games back in this era, although this release from 1988 seems to be a chink in the armour, released during a time when the 8-bit computer era was coming to an end and the 16-bit computers in the form of the , and Japan-exclusive were beginning to hit their stride. A sequel of sorts, entitled , would hit stores 3 years later in 1991 for both 8-bit and 16-bit machines and improve upon this rather problematic first attempt. If I must recommend which version to play, then I suggest either the original ZX Spectrum version or the surprisingly decent Amstrad CPC conversion, which uses that computer’s expanded capabilities with a lower resolution but with the added benefit of additional colours and faster (but less smooth) controls and gameplay. Avoid the C64 port. A somewhat disappointing game, but for a budget title, it could have been worse. Super Stuntman Atari ST Commodore Amiga Sharp X68000 Sky High Stuntman Final Score: 2 out of 5 (ZX Spectrum), 2 1/2 out of 5 (Amstrad CPC), 1 out of 5 (Commodore 64).

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