tibasic Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Hello, I am on a mission at the moment to release a handful of ti basic games I have developed over the years. Here is my latest game. It is a ti basic version of lunar lander. The idea is to first guide your lander to a location above the landing pad by adjusting horizontal and vertical speed. Then once in position the view zooms in and you have to gently land the spacecraft by adjusting the thrust of the engine. If your descent speed is low during the final phase then the ground will rise up to meet the lander's feet a pixel at a time! It is important once the lander is over the pad (during the initial descent) that the lander has zero sideways speed (it will turn from red to white when this occurs) and has a low vertical speed (the landing pad will turn while when this occurs). Some realistic physics are used. A variety of planets are presented for landing on. Points are scored by landing the spacecraft and bonus points are awarded depending on the amount of fuel that is left. The game should be in a playable form now but I have some plans to refine it slightly. XLANDER.zip 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sometimes99er Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Very nice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwantgames:) Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Looks cool. I'll have to check it out after work 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 Very nice It is difficult however to judge velocity without some kind of a readout, particularly when landing. The color change is ingenious, but not sufficient in my opinion. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 I think it's kind of neat to see what people can do with the limitations of TI-BASIC. The fact that anyone manages to get anything useful out of it has always amazed me. Back in the day TI-BASIC frustrated me so much, I was forced to cancel a date with a girlfriend so I had the money to buy Extended BASIC cartridge. Ever since my early arcade days Lunar Lander has always been a favorite. On the TRS-80 it was quite chunky, but hey, it worked! Even today I keep a version on my PC... Now on my favorite computer of all-time the TI-99/4A (of course) I like the version by Vorticon... Anyone know of any others? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 Anyone know of any others? Any other landers at all? I think there must be thousands! I've got a really stripped down one for the original Gameboy here: http://harmlesslion.com/software/lander This one looks pretty cool -- it's nice to see TI BASIC pushed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tibasic Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 Thanks for the comments. Latest version attached. I reflected on Vorticon's comments and decided to display the descent rate during the final phase of the landing. During the initial descent phase I think it might be possible to move the lander around the screen more smoothly (by using CALL CHAR). XLANDER_170516.zip 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tibasic Posted May 20, 2016 Author Share Posted May 20, 2016 Below is some code that appears to create a nice impression of acceleration. The lander free falls for a few seconds before switching on its engine and shooting upwards. I'll incorporate the code into X-lander and see how it goes. 100 REM LANDER DEMO110 REM TIBASIC 210516120 REM 130 CALL CLEAR140 GRAV=0.1150 A$="7E7E3C7E7E5A42E7"160 Z$="0000000000000000"170 FOR I=1 TO 8180 B$(I)=SEG$(A$,I*2-1,(18-I*2))190 C$(I)=SEG$(Z$,1,(9-I)*2)200 IF I>1 THEN 210 ELSE 220210 C$(I)=C$(I)&SEG$(A$,1,I*2-2)220 NEXT I230 YPOS=9240 Y_CHAR=INT(YPOS/8-1)+1250 CALL CHAR(42,B$(1))260 CALL CHAR(43,C$(1))270 V=V+GRAV+THRUST280 YPOS=YPOS+V290 IF YPOS<9 THEN 430300 IF YPOS>150 THEN 310 ELSE 320310 THRUST=-10*GRAV320 OLDYC=Y_CHAR330 Y_CHAR=INT(YPOS/8-1)+1340 FINE=8-(YPOS-Y_CHAR*8 )350 IF OLDYC<>Y_CHAR THEN 360 ELSE 370360 CALL VCHAR(OLDYC,16,32,3)370 CALL CHAR(42,B$(FINE))380 CALL CHAR(43,C$(FINE))390 CALL HCHAR(Y_CHAR+1,16,42)400 IF Y_CHAR>1 THEN 410 ELSE 420410 CALL HCHAR(Y_CHAR,16,43)420 GOTO 270430 END 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sometimes99er Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 You could consider using one longer string instead of two (A$ and Z$). Also you could consider presetting characters before the actual descend - to avoid the relatively expensive CALL CHAR in the display routine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tibasic Posted May 21, 2016 Author Share Posted May 21, 2016 oh yeh good points ..... thanks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1980gamer Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 one of the machines I put the most quarters in as a kid. This is looking good! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tibasic Posted June 9, 2016 Author Share Posted June 9, 2016 Thanks 1980gamer. I learned to program on the TI in the UK. It was lots of fun. I eventually switched to the BBC micro which we learned to program on at school. This lander game is progressing ok. There are a couple of gameplay dilemmas I am pondering over at the moment. Latest version of the game attached. The smooth vertical animation of the lander is working nicely at low descent/ascent speeds which I'm pleased with. XL2805.zip 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tibasic Posted June 16, 2016 Author Share Posted June 16, 2016 I have reformed the game a little bit.. I have removed the second zoom in screen. A feature of this screen was the smooth animated graphics when at low speed. Now the lander on the main screen does that quite nicely I found the zoom in screen a bit distracting. A velocity scale is now included along, with the fuel gauge, which helps to judge the descent speed. New instructions added to the program. XL1606.zip 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tibasic Posted June 21, 2016 Author Share Posted June 21, 2016 (edited) Here's the latest version. Fixed a few small things like ... 1. Speed indicator now shows a '>' sign when descending at greater than 20 m/s 2. Feet now touch the pad when landed (before it sometimes hovered one pixel above the pad) 3. There is a beep when you land! 4. Fixed the collision detection for crashing on a mountain. I had somehow removed that in previous versions. 5. Some other small things. One or two more iterations and I think it'll be good to play. XL2006.zip Edited June 21, 2016 by tibasic 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sometimes99er Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Very nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 This is shaping up to be a very nice game! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tibasic Posted July 31, 2016 Author Share Posted July 31, 2016 Think it's nearly finished. Updates: I have allowed for 3 ships per game so you can repeat a landing if you fail to land at some point. The gravity increases, i.e. you move onto another planet, and the flight time decreases when you progress to the next level. I might add a few embellishments and then move on to the next project. XL3107.zip 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.