pixelpedant

You may be mad for attempting it, but I respect that! And you shan't regret picking up a TI-99.

Well with so much interest, I'll almost certainly do, at some point. It would be an interesting and different sort of coding challenge, coming up with the sort of programs (and perhaps even more so, small, useful subprograms) that work well in this sort of context. Which genuinely do something interesting and useful, but in a fairly clear and comprehensible and readily explained way, so that they can stimulate useful discussion and reading.

What about a subforum for non-9900 TI products, which represents the inverse of this forum? Where folks could also talk about TI-74s or whatever else? As currently defined, this forum calls itself a Subforum for standalone non-4A systems with a 16 bit CPU belonging to the TMS99xxx processor family. Which does I think make sense. But why not have the opposite, as well? Non-TI-99 TI products (regardless of whether they share the TI-99's architecture), instead of (as this forum addresses) non-TI-99 products sharing its architecture (regardless of whether they were made by TI).

Surely some folks have ideas on practical uses for the little chunk of space inside the speech synthesizer, revealed by opening its lid. What have you kept inside your speech synthesizer, or what do you figure could take up residence there? My suggestion: an external speaker, for playing synth audio right off the chip (for cleaner output than you get, running it to the 9919).

Man. That is a pretty amazingly compelling set of commands. Still a pretty goofy novelty from a BASIC development standpoint in a world where XB exists. But I've been tempted by sillier things, I suppose.

I will admit to having pondered on that possibility (as a long term one, obviously). While there are lots of TI BASIC books out there already, most target a pretty different audience than exists today for this stuff. So I think there's room for a modern perspective on it.

That's an interesting idea. Yeah, it had occurred to me that keeping track of spaces was an issue. Then I decided not to worry about it too much, given the chance anyone would type in the whole thing struck me as negligible But the response to it (especially on Twitter) was so positive that I think I will actually explore type-in programs again at some point, maybe with more commentary and explanation. And if I do, I'll want to take a harder look at type-in program typography and (modern) best practices. Especially for any program which can actually on a more practical basis be typed in than this one (which due to its dependence on a huge collection of rather opaque DATA statements, is almost impossible to just pick up and read).

Too bad, if the loader approach doesn't work in this case. I'm curious where an additional memory cost is introduced viavaa the use of a loader in this manner, and how much is introduced. As certainly, the updated version runs via disk or cassette with CALL FILES(1) without MEMORY FULL errors, through much testing. Well, in any case, cassette is the target medium here, with support for use via disk with CALL FILES(1) being a concession to convenience I hoped to preserve. So I'm fine with those being the only reliable means of use, if that they are. Toward that end, the TIFILES version of the main game on Side A is available here: https://pixelpedant.com/hh/HALLS-MAIN

Thanks for the kind words! And that would make sense I suppose, yeah. Without CALL FILES(1), you'll always eventually get a MEMORY FULL error. Most often on Floor 3 or 4 if I recall correctly, due to the size of the DATA strings for those levels.

As nicely decorated as this one might be, I dare say a program from 99er would be an easier starting point with which to learn the ropes. So much of this one is obscure values in DATA statements. Not as obscure as it could have been though, if I'd really not cared if it was readable. Since I didn't 1) Use any of the following always-tempting one-character variable names: [ ] \ @ _ 2) In DATA strings, use the characters in the range (176-198) which may be *typed* in TI BASIC but have no *graphical representation*.

Yeah, killing the bats is mostly just about timing. Which gets tighter as levels increase.

Well, it's an interesting bugged state, at any rate, so definitely worth asking!

How odd. Does "TI BASIC READY" appear on TI BASIC start? And the > and cursor characters? Or are those invisible too?

When I released Hell's Halls, I was looking to give a bit more attention to a format that doesn't get a lot of love these days. Namely, cassette software, and TI BASIC cassette software specifically, of course. But early on in development, I'd called it a cassette/type-in program (since the parameters for developing for either one are largely the same). And so now, I'm giving the nod to the other of those two possibilities, with a Hell's Halls Type-In Edition. Because in the present day, if there's one format less practical and less used than cassette, it's a magazine type-in. In any case, I invite you to check out the eight-page type-in edition of Hell's Halls. I've done my best to make it appealing to look at, because god knows, I doubt anyone will ever actually type it in. But even so, I'm just happy to give the TI BASIC Type-In some more modern attention, long after its heyday. And if some loony does decide to type it in some day, more power to them: https://pixelpedant.com/hh/hh-typein.pdf

Awesome! Here's a copy with OCRed text: Texas Instruments Employee Sales (02-01-1984).pdf

Nice! Yeah, only a couple people selected International Surface shipping (i.e., standard bulk mail to a country other than Canada or the United States), and I was concerned those were going to take forever. So I'm glad that at least in this case, that wasn't so! And it's only fair that yours should have been quick, since you were literally order #1. The very first order for the game!

I figure no matter how long (within reason) you'd produced them for, there would have come that inevitable hour when new people were still popping up looking for them and being turned away as the licence expired. So I don't expect a couple more months (or what have you) would really have changed things there. There would always have been frustrated folks showing up at your door just a little too late.

As far as encoding level structure to bytes, the closest Hell's Halls comes to this is in its generation method. Where room dimensions are generated by randomly selecting a set of wall locations (stored as bytes). These are limited to a subset of wall sequences which 1) sum to the screen width or height, and 2) are not excessively repetitive (e.g., a row must contain at least one of each possible room width, and may contain two rooms of a given width consecutively a maximum of one time). Height and width are subject to this same general method and ruleset, but are selected independently of one another. Once in-game, though, there'd be no way to use this data while unpacking it from bytes every time, so it is stored in numeric arrays. Practically everything that happens in the game depends upon fast access to wall positions and dimensions. Every item, object, enemy, and event. So unpacking bytes to get at it would be pretty untenable.

Indeed. Always interested to see what a 99/4 goes for these days. Some folks will pay an arm and a leg for a terrible keyboard, it would seem

Finally finished that video on Hell's Halls (with various thoughts on its development):

Yes, I've been working on getting a some more up there in recent days. Partly motivated by the fact that I've been working on a YouTube video about it (should be out very soon), and I'd feel rather silly if from literally the moment it got posted, it all amounted to me saying "Hey guys! Let me tell you all about this game you can't get!" Then again, Dragon's Lair took us down that particular path in a way this game never could.

Thanks for saying! I hope there are more like it too. European 99ers in particular have been doing a great job of preserving the legacy of TI BASIC development around here. Now I'd like to see a few more modern TI BASIC games!

And the wiring can be found here: https://github.com/jedimatt42/tipi/wiki/TIPI-to-PI-Wiring

As for me, I didn't actually find anyone selling big boxes of C-15 tapes or what have you convenient to me. I found a Toronto area supplier who builds tapes to order at customer-specified lengths and tape grades (and with associated packaging, labelling, etc.) for the boutique market. All the tapes I'm shipping are 5 minutes per side, consequently, rather than any standard mass-produced length.

FYI I have been unable to resist the urge to bugfix and tweak the game(s) post-release, and both versions of the game have been updated (including in the copy publicly shared at https://pixelpedant.com/HALLS-MAIN.wav). For those who purchased one, the physical game comes with the URLs at which to get backups/updates in WAV and TIFILES format, if these are desired at any point. But for the main quest, that aforementioned public URL works too. The updated and post-release bugfixed version will be identifiable as having the first line 1 REM PIXELPEDANT 2022 V2 in both cases. Also, I finally got a shipment of new cassette supplies, so there will doubtless be new copies when I have time.