BASIC on CART Contest (BoCC)

[+OLD CS1]

Based upon the disassemblies of Microsoft's BASIC on other platforms, and the assumption that MS did the same tricks with TI BASIC, I would concur with your assessment.

 

Thanks! Although, the fact that TI BASIC creates new strings all the time and there is a garbage collector, that is not theory, I have observed this (use Classic99's debugger and watch near the top of VRAM ). The theory is more whether numeric variables or any other temporary data also use this temporary space.

 

Ah. You know, I never really looked at that part. I was always more concerned with string manipulations. BBSs do not handle a whole lot of numbers like that except for security levels and timers. I would assume the same, that numbers do not need that kind of waste generation and hence garbage collection since they are always the same length in memory.

 

 

Yeah, I know and rate those classic processors by design and use like this

 

1. 68000

2. 9900

3. Z80A

4. 6502

 

 

I am familiar with the Z80, but never got into assembly programming so I do not know about its register capabilities. The main engine of my computers other than the TI was the 6502, which the exception of my Amiga. I know a lot of people who very much love the Z80. And, yeah, three registers to work with can be the absolute pits, but I think it builds character much like programming in less than 16k of off CPU-bus RAM!

 

 

Was shooting for 33. And I don't really have a "won game" sequence - prints congrats and ends.

 

A "Still Alive" musical performance??

 

It has it - go play!

 

I will. Haven't played it in a few weeks, since the last FSU game (a sad, sad event.) Are you updating the first post or do I have to find the most recent release in your thread?

[unhuman]

Was shooting for 33. And I don't really have a "won game" sequence - prints congrats and ends.

 

A "Still Alive" musical performance??

 

It has it - go play!

 

I will. Haven't played it in a few weeks, since the last FSU game (a sad, sad event.) Are you updating the first post or do I have to find the most recent release in your thread?

 

At the top of my thread (updated) and in the submissions thread... Both.

[+OLD CS1]

Was shooting for 33. And I don't really have a "won game" sequence - prints congrats and ends.

 

A "Still Alive" musical performance??

 

It has it - go play!

 

I will. Haven't played it in a few weeks, since the last FSU game (a sad, sad event.) Are you updating the first post or do I have to find the most recent release in your thread?

 

At the top of my thread (updated) and in the submissions thread... Both.

 

Then off I go! Both for your game and shooting for the record number of nested quotes in a reply.

[unhuman]

Was shooting for 33. And I don't really have a "won game" sequence - prints congrats and ends.

 

A "Still Alive" musical performance??

 

It has it - go play!

 

I will. Haven't played it in a few weeks, since the last FSU game (a sad, sad event.) Are you updating the first post or do I have to find the most recent release in your thread?

 

At the top of my thread (updated) and in the submissions thread... Both.

 

Then off I go! Both for your game and shooting for the record number of nested quotes in a reply.

 

+1

[Tursi]

I am familiar with the Z80, but never got into assembly programming so I do not know about its register capabilities. The main engine of my computers other than the TI was the 6502, which the exception of my Amiga. I know a lot of people who very much love the Z80. And, yeah, three registers to work with can be the absolute pits, but I think it builds character much like programming in less than 16k of off CPU-bus RAM!

 

heheh.. yeah, the 6502 was my first processor for assembly, too. I started on the Apple II because I didn't have the hardware I needed to do assembly on my TI. Took a couple of years before I was able to learn 9900.

[sometimes99er]

Yeah, I know and rate those classic processors by design and use like this

 

1. 68000

2. 9900

3. Z80A

4. 6502

 

I am familiar with the Z80, but never got into assembly programming so I do not know about its register capabilities. The main engine of my computers other than the TI was the 6502, which the exception of my Amiga. I know a lot of people who very much love the Z80. And, yeah, three registers to work with can be the absolute pits, but I think it builds character much like programming in less than 16k of off CPU-bus RAM!

True. True.

[Opry99er]

Hey all!! Returning from a month on th road--- sorry i have been so absent!!! Listen, I am going to make a small extension on the deadline---- Let's make it January 20th.... There are a few games that need a little extra time to come to fruition and I don't think anyone would mind a small extension. I will be playing the current entries when I get home... It has been a long road trip that extended from Lyons, GA to Bismarck, ND and a nice one week gig stop in Denver somewhere in between. Now that we're winding down, It has been weighing on me that I have been absent from here and I wanted to post this while we're sitting in nasty weather north of Chicago. Miss you guys, man.... It's like being away from my family.

[Tursi]

Hehe, sounds like you're having fun, Owen! You've been missed here too!

[sometimes99er]

Hey all!! Returning from a month on th road--- sorry i have been so absent!!! Listen, I am going to make a small extension on the deadline---- Let's make it January 20th.... There are a few games that need a little extra time to come to fruition and I don't think anyone would mind a small extension.

Hey, I'm sorry too. - So I got this first level going. Gotta add traps to the code and then at least 3 more levels. A few soundeffects. Some original music. And additional graphics. Man, we're talking 2 more hours of concentrated work there ... So how about giving BoCC another 3 or 4 days ? If I said it definitely, or most likely, has the letters B, E, L, R and Y in the title ? If you say no, I do fully understand. You would though have to see my ugly crying face on YouTube. And that's not a promise.

 

[+adamantyr]

Hey, I'm sorry too. - So I got this first level going. Gotta add traps to the code and then at least 3 more levels. A few soundeffects. Some original music. And additional graphics. Man, we're talking 2 more hours of concentrated work there ... So how about giving BoCC another 3 or 4 days ? If I said it definitely, or most likely, has the letters B, E, L, R and Y in the title ? If you say no, I do fully understand. You would though have to see my ugly crying face on YouTube. And that's not a promise.

 

I don't see why the contest can't be extended through the weekend. Right, Owen?

 

Adamantyr

[unhuman]

+1 I'd rather see more games! Anyone seen Willsy? He needs to tell me I won the crap game competition - but I ain't winning this one!

[Opry99er]

Anything for you, Sometimes!!

 

Yea, let's just say make it due by the 25th--- I want to see more games too...and if there's no objections--- let's do that. (and my interest is peaked, Sometimes)

[sometimes99er]

 

Thanks, mate. The 2 year old is home with me today, so I guess most plans for today are probably already down the drain. Still plenty of time ...

[Opry99er]

Okay everyone... I'm back off the road again for a week. =) My iPhone smashed badly and I have had no access to the internet for over a week, so now I'm back and ready to talk about this contest.

 

I haven't played Karsten's game yet, but just DLed it and will be playing these games heavily over the next week. So far, I'm completely blown away by a few of these games--- I had no idea this stuff was possible in BASIC when I started this contest. I truly believe that we have some of the best vintage programmers in the world right here in this community... Congrats to all of you. =)

 

I expect to have the results of the contest decided by the Sunday following this one. I'd say look for the final results by the 11th or 12th. =) Again, I apologize for my absence lately... It's hard to be steady or consistent when you are in my line of work. =)

 

 

[Opry99er]

Love the Search for Minerals game! I see alot of potential in that kind of level system! I was able to collect all the gems in the game and only had to restart 1 level. =)

 

I'd love to see a level editor---- perhaps in my RPG, I could use this game as a bit of a "training" puzzle for Beryl. =) Allow for a level up upon completion without restarting any levels.

 

 

 

 

**I'm really having fun playing these BASIC games. =) I've spent the last hour playing these games--- the previous 3 hours went into cleaning up the Beryl code and working on a system to pull character patterns and enemy statistics from diskette. =) Nice to be home... miss my TI very much. I wish I had a safe way to take one of my consoles on the road, but my CF7 is one of the early ones... very fragile and oddly shaped. I need to build a case for it.

[+adamantyr]

Contest results yet?

 

Adamantyr

[Opry99er]

I decided last night. Let me do a write up and I'll post everything tonight.

[matthew180]

Okay everyone... I'm back off the road again for a week. =) My iPhone smashed badly and I have had no access to the internet for over a week, so now I'm back and ready to talk about this contest.

 

Define "smashed". If you are referring to only the glass, you can get repair kits from iFixIt.com for about $65.00!! I replaced my daughter's iPhone3G glass with their kit. They do an excellent job with price, materials, step by step instructions, and complete videos of the repair. Anyway, sorry for the off-topic reply, it just seems like I'm doing a lot of repair lately.

[Opry99er]

Hey Matthew... I've replaced the glass once before. =) It's more than that, this time... glass PLUS the touch sensor... it's shot. =)

 

Stay tuned, everyone... working on the write-up for the contest now. =)

[unhuman]

Write faster! I'm hitting reload.....

[Opry99er]

Well, it was, once again, an eye-opening contest. Somehow, you all managed to get some really cool games out of console BASIC!! It was really a tough challenge, and you all stepped up to the plate!!

 

I particularly liked Sokoban and Bloxotiz for their strategic challenges... These games are real "thinkers" and I found myself getting lost in them for hours at a time.

 

-Bloxotiz really blew me away when I finally figure out how to play it. =) I watched some vids of other versions of the game and this version is spot on. It really took alot of love (and pain and sweat) to get this game up and running, and Howie should be quite proud... this game will make an excellent addition to any game collection.

 

 

-Sokoban was tough... I have played versions of this game before--- this version is now my favorite... I got to level 5 and had to quit... took me about an hour to get there though. hehe... Great job, Lucien. I very much liked reading your code

 

Dedalus was very VERY cool.. Seeing your maze drawn in front of you and then having the lights turned out... =) Hearing the sound of the Minotaur as he got closer and closer... Another fantastic game by Walid, here. I only wish the recursion could have been faster on the machine... This game made me happy, because I love dark dungeons and Minotaurs. =) Walid has, once again, made a wonderful game for the TI library... for those of you who haven't yet, please play his "Gravity Run" game. =)

 

The Beryl Mineral game was also pretty awesome... in a similar way that Sokoban was... it's a great puzzle game and I found it very quick for BASIC... somehow it was faster than I thought it was going to be. It ran great on my TI and I very much liked how clean it was. Sometimes99er has a knack for writing code in BASIC and XB that is very fast... CoSZ from the SSGC was this way as well. Well done, my friend.

 

Smart Ball was unique... first of all, the game looks amazing... and using some nice tricks, the author was able to implement some really interesting elements into a BASIC game... it was even released with a mini-mem version. =) Really cool. I also like the fact that Alessandro made this CS1 loadable as well. Nice touch. I think the cleanliness of the documents, the overall packaging of the files and descriptions of operations were excellent. I was very glad to play this game.

 

 

The winner, however... is Aperture. I can't say enough about this game. I've played it and played it and I've come to the conclusion that it truly transcends the language. For this contest, I asked for games that ran well on real hardware... Of all these games, The Beryl Mineral game and Aperture were the fastest and cleanest on my TI... Aperture has taken another step, as far as I'm concerned, from BASIC games of the past. This game will make an excellent cartridge and is truly the cream of the crop.

 

Congratulations to Adam, the winner of this contest... he came very close to winning the SSGC as well with "Dark Maze"... Dark Maze is still one of my favorite TI games ever, and it's in 30 lines of XB code! I am sad to say we missed out on John Chase's ROGUE game and Keith's games in this contest... would have made for an even more robust competition!

 

Great job to everyone... you all amaze me with your talents. We are blessed in the TI world to have such creative minds, and I am very VERY excited for the future of our community.

 

Thanks:

 

Walid--Dedalus

Adam--Aperture

Howie--BloxoTIz

Lucien--Sokoban

Alessandro--Smart Ball

Karsten--Beryl: Search for Minerals

[+Vorticon]

Couldn't agree more Congratulations Adam

[+adamantyr]

Thank you, Owen, and thank you, everyone.

 

I must admit, even I'm surprised at how well the game turned out. And how lucky I was that I spec'ed out all the features and the number of levels I wanted and managed to get it ALL into the 14k I had available. The only thing I ended up cutting was the fancy opening title sequence.

 

If I had any criticisms of my work, I probably should have put in a level skip option... it seems that playing all 16 levels in one sitting is a bit much to ask.

 

Also, I STILL don't know if anyone's actually finished the game!

 

Adamantyr

[Opry99er]

Thank you, Owen, and thank you, everyone.

 

I must admit, even I'm surprised at how well the game turned out. And how lucky I was that I spec'ed out all the features and the number of levels I wanted and managed to get it ALL into the 14k I had available. The only thing I ended up cutting was the fancy opening title sequence.

 

If I had any criticisms of my work, I probably should have put in a level skip option... it seems that playing all 16 levels in one sitting is a bit much to ask.

 

Also, I STILL don't know if anyone's actually finished the game!

 

Adamantyr

 

 

Dude, Level 13.... That's as far as I ever got... since then, I have spent all my "Aperture" time reviewing it for Retrogaming Times Monthly and making a video for YouTube. =) I was gonna leave those as surprises, but I'll go ahead and release the info now.

 

I'm making a big BOCC video and doing a write-up for RTM for March... All the games will be discussed and shown, but Aperture is getting some special attention... You guys will be famous. =) hehe.

 

Congrats again, everyone. I'm really happy with the results. How many TI BASIC games have been written since, say, 2001 I wonder? In this current century--- I would venture the guess that this contest represents the majority of TI BASIC programming. It's really cool... I've wanted to see what BASIC can do, and I think I know now. Every one of these games is a testament that a good programmer can make wine from water---

 

Regardless of my judgment call on Aperture as the winner, all the games are deserving of acclaim. The YouTube vid will be very cool... I've been putting some extra work into it and I think it's my best video yet. =) I need to get a bit of info on all the programmers for the video and the RTM article, though...

 

What name you want to be known by

Game programming experience

Original experience with the TI

Favorite TI game

Current Projects

 

Thanks guys, and GREAT job!!!

[unhuman]

Thank you! Since I have discovered this forum, and sort of joined the ranks, I must say these contests have really had me going (SGCC, Crap Game, and BoCC)... I've said it before and said it again, the stuff we're doing - particularly in BASIC and XB - beats anything released back in the day... I have had so much fun (and angst) and the teamwork, inspiration, and help I've received saved my game for this competition... The suggestion of characterizing the data (Adam) gave me the memory I needed to complete the game. I do declare, however, that level coding sucks. However, I must admit the sense of accomplishment upon completion is fantastic!

 

And RTM rocks. I read it every month. It'll be exciting to show friends and family how nowhere I've gone since I was 12.

 

As far as my info:

 

What name you want to be known by: unHUman - Howard Uman

Game programming experience: Informal - TI Games as a kid, ColecoVision game stuck in progress, wrote a Tetris clone on PC at some point (lost - I think). Also an Asteroids clone in Visual Basic (and re-written in C#). That article is here: http://www.codeproje...pasteroids.aspx - pretty good Asteroids implementation, without UFO's - I should go back and add them at some point.

Original experience with the TI - Hard to pick one, but I very easily remember receiving XB as a gift by one of my Dad's friends. He was the only one who really took the time to find out what I really wanted. One of the most rewarding gifts of all time.

Favorite TI game - Q*Bert.

Current Projects - None, but everyone keeps bugging me to learn assembly, so if I get some time, maybe... Just maybe. Or, if another contest pops up....

 

Thanks to all for the great time I'm having here!

 

-H

Edited February 15, 2011 by unhuman