Kevtiva Interactive

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kevtiva-logo.jpg

Site URL

http://www.kevtiva.com

Founders

Kevin Mallory

Founding Date

Summer 1996

Years Active

1998 to 2003

Programmed For

TI-82, TI-83, TI-83+

Languages

TI-Basic, Assembly

Aliases

Kevtiva
Kevtiva Enterprises
Kevtiva, Inc.
Kevtiva-TI
Spleenworks

Affiliations

TI-BASIC Quality Alliance

Kevtiva Interactive (or just simply Kevtiva) was a group dedicated to providing entertainment for people. There were a few different branches of the group, including a TI graphing calculator programming division called Kevtiva-TI or KTI, which was later known as Spleenworks.

Group Significance

Kevtiva-TI was responsible for creating several advanced assembly tools that allowed TI-Basic programmers to access many of the previously unavailable functions of the TI-83+ graphing calculator.

Some of their best assembly tools included: VarHack, allows you to use all of the hidden variables on the calculator; ID Code SDK, allows you to access the calculator's serial number; Zstr, converts a string into a TI-Basic program; and ZPic, allows you to access all of the hidden picture variables on the calculator.

However, their most useful tool by far was Flash Gordon. It runs TI-Basic programs directly from Flash memory, which completely bypasses the need to unarchive them and also helps to prolong the life of the calculator (hence the name). This was a major development for TI-Basic programming because it allowed you to write large, complex games that could take advantage of the much larger ROM instead of being restricted to the limited free RAM that is available. Some examples of notable games to have taken advantage of this program were Final Fantasy: Tales of Magic 2 and the Reuben Quest series.

Besides the assembly tools, they also released several programming tutorials on advanced TI-Basic concepts and techniques, as well as a wealth of information on calculator features and hacking. They also ported some of SiCoDe's games to the TI-82.

Group Staff

Although there were seven members in Kevtiva at one point, Robert Maresh was responsible for creating almost all of the TI-related products and information that was released by the group. Tadd Nuznov was also involved with Greenfire Software.

  • Kevin Mallory — founder
  • Robert Maresh — admin
  • Kent Nelson
  • Chris St. John
  • Michael McGuan
  • Taren Nauxen
  • Tadd Nuznov

Site URLs

Kevtiva Interactive used several different site URLs over the years, along with a few different sub-domain hosting variations for Kevtiva-TI:

  • http://www.kevtiva.com
  • http://www.ikevtiva.com
  • http://kevtiva.web.com
  • http://kevtiva2000.web.com
  • http://www.homestead.com/kevtiva/
  • http://kevtiva2000.homestead.com
  • http://www3.cybercities.com/k/kevtiva/
  • http://www.kevtiva.com/calc/
  • http://calc.kevtiva.com
  • http://www.ikevtiva.com/calc
  • http://www1.kevtiva.com/calc
  • http://spleenworks.web.com
  • http://spleenworks.homestead.com
  • http://www.geocities.com/ticalcman/82.htm
  • http://kevtiva.proboards.com/ - Forums (still online as of April 2012)

Group History

Kevtiva Interactive was started in 1996 by Kevin Mallory as a general purpose group with the goal of providing fun and entertainment for people and the members themselves. There were a few separate branches within the group based on specific content that the members created, including James Bond, Mega Monster, Rantiva, Kevtiva Films, Official Diddy Kong Haters of America (ODKHA), and Nintendo Archives.

In late 1998, a new website was created for Kevtiva, and soon after, Kevtiva's TI calculator branch was started. It was originally called Kevtiva-TI, which was commonly shortened to KTI, and then it was renamed Spleenworks in 2000. Robert Maresh was the main programmer behind Kevtiva-TI, creating almost all of the programs and information himself.

Robert Maresh was originally an independent programmer with his own website (URL: http://www.geocities.com/ticalcman/82.htm) called Bob's Advanced TI-8x Page when Kevin Mallory asked him if he wanted to head up Kevtiva's TI calculator branch, and he said yes. When he was no longer able to actively maintain Kevtiva-TI due to real-life priorities including school and a job, it shutdown in late 2002 (although the now inactive forums are still online, as of April 2012, at http://kevtiva.proboards.com/ ).

Group Name

(Taken from Kevtiva home page)

In the summer of 1996, my cousins got a new computer. It was an Aptiva by IBM and was a 100 mhz. At the time it was the fastest computer out and I was in heaven playing all the cool games and doing all sorts of stuff. After a day of playing on it, I got home and since we didn't have a computer I decided to build one out of cardboard boxes. I built a monitor, a CD-ROM, a modem, and other futuristic components. I called my computer the Kevtiva 161. Ever since Kevtiva has grown to making TI-Calculator games, webpages, movies, and other electronic products. — Kevin Mallory

The Kevtiva Interactive group has used different names over the years, including Kevtiva Enterprises, Kevtiva, Inc., and simply Kevtiva. Similarly, the TI programming branch has used different names, including Kevtiva-TI or KTI and Spleenworks.

Miscellaneous

Some of the members of Kevtiva were actual real-life friends, and commonly spent time having fun and hanging out together. In particular, both Kevin Mallory and Robert Maresh lived in the same town and went to the same highschool.

Kevtiva-TI was a member of the TI-Basic Quality Alliance (TBQA), which was a campaign headed up by SiCoDe Software to release the best TI-Basic programs under one banner to increase their visibility and subsequently to get more downloads.

The DevPic TI-Basic utility program was originally released by Chris Dietz of the BAPG, and then re-released by Robert Maresh of Kevtiva. The program allows programmers to store to additional picture slots, with forty total picture slots available.