Ink War

What You’re Building

Two players. One board. 64 cells. Control the majority to win.

Ink War is a territory control game where you and your opponent take turns claiming 8×8 attribute cells. Each cell you claim changes colour to show your territory. When the board is full, whoever controls more cells wins.

Why This Game?

The ZX Spectrum’s attribute system is what made Spectrum games look distinctly Spectrum. Each 8×8 pixel block shares one foreground colour and one background colour. This creates the infamous “colour clash” when sprites overlap.

But here, the constraint becomes the game. Our board is made of 8×8 cells. No clash — just strategy.

Four Phases

Each phase builds on the previous. By Phase 4, you’ll have a polished game worthy of a cassette release.

What You’ll Learn

Phase 1 (Available Now):

• Attribute system — how colour works in 8×8 cells
• Z80 assembly — registers, instructions, control flow
• Keyboard input — reading the keyboard matrix
• Game state — turns, valid moves, win conditions
• Simple AI — building a strategic opponent

Phases 2-4 (Coming Soon):

• Custom character sets
• Animation and visual effects
• Tournament and campaign modes
• Advanced AI techniques
• Distribution packaging

Prerequisites

This is Game 1. No prerequisites — just enthusiasm and a willingness to learn Z80 assembly.

You’ll need an emulator (Fuse) and the sjasmplus assembler.

Time Investment

Each unit takes 60-90 minutes. The full game is 64 units across 4 phases:

• Phase 1: ~16-24 hours
• Full game: ~64-96 hours

Every unit produces something that works. By the end of Unit 1, you’ll see the game board and move a cursor with the keyboard.

Ready?

The board is empty. The ink is ready. Let’s claim some territory.