A screenshot of Barbarians on the Psion Series 3a, 3c, and 3mx. The higher resolutions of some of the 16-bit machines allowed more detail in the graphics. Note the whale and the little ship off the coast. The Series 3 was the first machine to settle on the 9x9 square window onto a 16x15 square map, something used in the ZX Spectrum and MS-DOS versions too.

When #Barbarians was finished on the #OrganiserII, I moved on to the 16-bit range of #Psion computers, updating the UI for the new machines. These machines featured more memory, and had proper pixel-addressable graphics. damian.cyningstan.org.uk/downloads/21... #gamedev

A screenshot of Barbarians on the Psion Organiser II LZ. The barbarians expand in random directions, and the number of barbarians in each square swells each turn. The challenge is to get enough armies to where the barbarians are to check their expansion, until you can get reinforcements there to finish the enemy off.

A final limitation was partly down to the #OrganiserII. Despite #Barbarians being single player, there was no AI as such. The computer moves at random, but these random computer decisions are still a challenge. damian.cyningstan.org.uk/downloads/21... #barbarians #gamedev

The main map screen of Barbarians on a Psion Organiser II with a 2-line, 16-character display. Whether the map is 20x12 locations, or 16x15 as on this machine, the total number of locations is 240.

#Psion #OrganiserII OPL had no facility to write binary data files, so the game data had to be compatible with the Organiser II's database file format. The 240 limit for many elements is from this. damian.cyningstan.org.uk/downloads/21... #barbarians #gamedev

The Psion Organiser II, the platform for which Barbarians was originally designed. All of the Organiser II machines featured this 36-key alphabetic keyboard, which is well designed and surprisingly easy to get used to. Pictured is a model LZ, which has 32k of RAM and a 20x4 character display.

The #Psion pocket computer for which the game was designed was the Psion #OrganiserII that came in several models, from the CM with its 8k RAM and 16x2 character display, to the LZ64 with 64k RAM and a 20x4 character display. damian.cyningstan.org.uk/downloads/21... #gamedev

Images of the Mattel Aquarius, Amstrad NC100 and Psion Organiser II XP.

Today’s #RetroTrio offers you‪ the #‬Psion #OrganiserII XP, #Mattel #Aquarius and #Amstrad #NC100. ‪Which will you keep, gift to a friend and delete forever? #RetroComputing #ComputerHistory #RetroGaming #VideoGames‬