SoftSide BASIC games

[Atari_Ace]

Softside, November 1980 had four relatively simplistic games, but hey, it's 1980, and developers were still learning about the capabilities of the Atari.

Meteor Storm, by Roy Harper
50 lines yields a simple dodge and shoot game using only text characters.

meteor.bas

Engineer, by James Hagani.

A 100 line port of the TRS-80 cover game from September, 1979. A unique game where you build a bridge beam by beam constrained by an inspector who insists you never build above his feet.

engineer.bas

Trench, by Tim Hays of Sebree's Computing, which published some early games for the Atari.
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-trench_19675.html
90 lines comprise this Star Wars infringing game. AtariMania is missing the image.

trench.bas

Boing! by James Garon
60 lines for a text trampoline game. Oddly soothing to play.

boing.bas

[Atari_Ace]

Softside coverage on AtariMania.com is improving, but there remain some gaps as we move into 1981.

March 1981

Flags, by William Morris and John Cope
100 lines for a simple quiz game on the flags of 36 countries.

flags.bas

April 1981

Convoy, by William Morris and John Cope
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-convoy_1338.html
Almost 300 lines long, a conversion from the January issue of a simulation of running a convoy to Russia during WW2, with several mini-games.

convoy.bas

Strategy Strike, by Rich Bouchard.
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-strategy-strike_5094.html
A conversion of the Apple game from March in 150 lines. It appears to be a Stratego clone for two players.

strategy.bas

[ballyalley]

I got some Atari disks a couple of days ago from a large collection.  Most are just pirate software, but a few were originals.  I pulled an original disk out at random.  It's SoftSide, Issue #37.

 

 

I dumped the file to an ATR using Prosystem with my USB2PC and a standard 1050 under Windows 7.

 

SoftSide_Issue_037_Atari_Disk_Side_01.ATR

 

This disk doesn't contain DOS.  I tried the BASIC "Car Race" game and it works okay.  The menu, called "COVER," works and runs, but it might have corrupt graphics, but I'm not sure.  The LOG file from ProSystem said:

 

[Drive 1] 1 Side(s), 40 Tracks, 18 SPT, 128 BPS
[Drive 1] Operation Complete

 

No errors were reported.  I did notice that the contents of the disk don't match the same issue of SoftSide magazine I found on Archive.org.

 

A friend stopped by today and I gave him all of the disks and disk boxes, except for the few originals and some disks from software libraries.  Allan, if you're reading this, then send me an email and maybe you can tell me who to send these disks off to to get dumped.

 

Adam

[ballyalley]

I used ProSystem for Windows with my SIO2USB again to dump SoftSide #34.  This one is double-sided and Side 2 is weird.  Maybe it's not a regular DOS format?  Both sides had read errors.  Here's what we've got:

 

Screenshot from Altirra:

 

 

I tried load load Player and I get a SYNTAX error.

 

Here is disk side 1:

 

 

Here is the disk image and log:

 

SoftSide_Issue_034_Atari_Disk_Side_01-ProSystem_Dump.ATR

 

SoftSide_Issue_034_Atari_Disk_Side_01-ProSystem_Dump.LOG

 

Here is side 2 and the log:

 

 

SoftSide_Issue_034_Atari_Disk_Side_02-ProSystem_Dump.ATR

 

SoftSide_Issue_034_Atari_Disk_Side_02-ProSystem_Dump.LOG

 

I'd appreciate if anyone can look at this and let me know if these disks are usable.   For all I know, they may be dumped somewhere already, but I have not spotted them.

 

I have also have SoftSide Issue #36.  I'll try to dump that disk too, but first I'd like to know if anyone has any luck with these two sides of Issue 34.

 

Oh, and if anyone can get these disks to work, then it would be neat to see a video of the music playing.

 

Adam

[ballyalley]

I used ProSystem for Windows with my SIO2USB again to dump SoftSide #36.  This one is double-sided and Side 2 is, again, weird.  Since it's FigForth, maybe it's not a regular DOS format?  Both sides had read errors.  Here's what we've got:

 

Screenshots from Altirra:

 

 

 

Here is disk side 1:

 

 

Here is the disk image and log:

 

SoftSide_Issue_036_Atari_Disk_Side_01-ProSystem_Dump.ATR

 

SoftSide_Issue_036_Atari_Disk_Side_01-ProSystem_Dump.LOG

 

Here is the disk image, ATR and log:

 

 

SoftSide_Issue_036_Atari_Disk_Side_02-ProSystem_Dump.ATR

 

SoftSide_Issue_036_Atari_Disk_Side_02-ProSystem_Dump.LOG
 

Rather than wait for feedback on these not 100% perfect dumps, I figured that I'd dump this last SoftSide disk that I have, as who know when I'll hook up my dumping hardware again.

 

I did play Munchkin Attack; it's simple but not too bad.

 

Adam

 

 

[ballyalley]

I dumped a couple of more disks with SoftSide programs last night.  I discovered that using SmartDOS 6.1D is great for archiving programs, but it's not ideal for running all programs (MyDOS has this issue too).  I decided to use Atari DOS 2.0s today to see if I could avoid some problems I was having with the SoftSide menu system, called COVER, on the disks.

 

I've determined that the menu requires Atari DOS 2.0s.  Well, maybe it doesn't require it, but it works with it.  Using Atari DOS gets rid of the corrupt player/missile graphics on the meny.  Also, the menu program presumes that the disk is in Drive 1.  Once I used Atari DOS and loaded the SoftSide COVER menu from D1:, then the original disks (from what I've tested so far), run as expected.

 

Adam

[ballyalley]

On 6/13/2016 at 9:14 AM, Atari_Ace said:

Trench, by Tim Hays of Sebree's Computing, which published some early games for the Atari.

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-trench_19675.html
90 lines comprise this Star Wars infringing game. AtariMania is missing the image.

trench.bas 8.66 kB · 48 downloads

 

Seebrees Computing, Tim Hays, originally wrote his BASIC software on the Bally Arcade/Astrocade in 1978/1979.  "Trench" was released for the Bally Arcade first as "Down the Trench."  Most of the programs that Seebrees Computing released for the Bally Arcade are here:

 

https://ballyalley.com/program_downloads/300_baud_programs/Sebrees_Computing/Sebrees_Computing.html

 

Back in February 2017, we played "Down the Trench" for teh Astrocade High Score Club:

 

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/262779-hsc02-round-2-star-battle-down-the-trench/

 

I would like to see Tim Hays interviewed, as I think he wrote the first 3D program on the Atari in 1980.  I read this in a 1980 issue of Byte, I think.  I tried to track him down with no luck.

 

Okay, back to the topic of SoftSide.

 

Adam

[www.atarimania.com]

Thanks for dumping the disks!

[ballyalley]

1 hour ago, www.atarimania.com said:

Thanks for dumping the disks!

 

Sure; I've always had a "soft spot" (ugh!) for SoftSide magazine.  I think it's because in the early-to-mid 1990s, when I began collecting Atari 8-bit hardware, I picked up an issue of SoftSide with some Atari programs in it.  I continued to look for other issues of this magazine, but it was elusive and not easy to find like Antic or Analog (at least for me).

 

I've dumped four more SoftSide disks, but I've not posted them here yet.  These aren't original disks.  These four disks are compilations of SoftSide programs from AACE (Albuquerque Atari Computer Enthusiasts).  Today, I've been dumping these using my Indus GT drive with APE under Windows 7.  These have all dumped perfectly.  Seven of the eight sides of the disks have programs.  The eighth side is formatted, but it's only has a menu; no programs are one it.

 

Adam

[Atari_Ace]

2 hours ago, ballyalley said:

 

Sure; I've always had a "soft spot" (ugh!) for SoftSide magazine.  I think it's because in the early-to-mid 1990s, when I began collecting Atari 8-bit hardware, I picked up an issue of SoftSide with some Atari programs in it.  I continued to look for other issues of this magazine, but it was elusive and not easy to find like Antic or Analog (at least for me).

I lived outside of Boston when SoftSide was being published and was able to buy the magazine monthly from B. Dalton (IIRC) for a couple of years (late 1982 till they ended in early 1984).  I suspect because they were local (published from New Hampshire) they'd managed to get distribution into the booksellers near me.  I also had a soft spot for them, and rarely missed an issue.

 

I remember being curious why they shut down when they did.  COMPUTE! at the time significantly reduced their page count (I still remember the huge December 1983 issue), but it seemed like computer magazines were doing well enough, with plenty of advertisers.  Apparently that wasn't entirely true, but the ones I bought regularly (COMPUTE!, ANTIC, Analog) survived long after SoftSide disappeared though.

[ballyalley]

On 5/28/2021 at 5:50 PM, Atari_Ace said:

I also had a soft spot for them, and rarely missed an issue.

 

I'm not overly familiar with SoftSide magazine's games.  I have played a few over the years, but it seems that many of the type-in programs are adventure games.  I don't think I've ever tried playing one of theirs, other than loading a couple of them up over these last few days while checking that my disk dumps are okay.  The games appear to use two-word parsers, which is just fine by me, as my first experience with a text adventure game was in about 1984 on the Commodore 64 playing a PD game called "Adventure" (unrelated to the famous game from the 1970s).  Revisiting the "simpler" time of the two-word parser might be a fun experience.  I put "simpler" in quotes because, often, these simple games were overly tough, had unfair puzzles, strange logic and flaws that are hard to get past now.  Still, it could be enjoyable to light a torch and walk into some castle or dungeon with the full understanding that I just might get frustrated with the weird encounters that I'll across in these lines of BASIC code.

 

Adam

[Atari_Ace]

3 hours ago, ballyalley said:

 

I'm not overly familiar with SoftSide magazine's games.  I have played a few over the years, but it seems that many of the type-in programs are adventure games...

I must have skipped over the adventures.  Instead, I recall playing a fair amount of Flip It (a Reversi clone); Hopper (a Frogger clone) impressed me for a free game; Mini-Golf was fun for a diversion; and their Solitaire game cleverly used text graphics.  I was most appreciative that the listings tended to be annotated and understandable.  I was interested in following how these programs worked, and the SoftSide ones were easier to take apart than many others.

 

But what I remember most now was the odd simulators.  Dairy Farming, Leyte Gulf, Convoy, International Bridge Contractors...  I borrowed many earlier magazines and was baffled by the odd games being published.  I still typed in many of them though...

[www.atarimania.com]

I always found it fascinating they ventured into commercial software territory and released all those different text adventures each month. Some of the regular type-ins were pretty good as well.

[ballyalley]

I used SmartDOS 6.1D with my SIO2USB and APE to dump more SoftSide programs.  These programs are from the Albuquerque Atari Computer Enthusiasts disk library.  This is AACE Disk #091A and B - "SoftSide Games."

 

A picture of the disk, side A:

 

 

A picture of the disk, side B:

 

 

Here's what we've got according to the menus (there are some misspellings here, I think):

 

Side A:

 

1) Baseball Game - Aug 80
2) Stratoblaster Outpost - Aug 80
3) Checker Challenge - Move to other Side
4) Code Master - Mastermind Game
5) Double Canon - Two Players
6) Engineer - Build Bridge Game
6) Flags of World - Mar 81
8) Masters Golf Game - 1 to 4 Players - Aug 80
9) Meteor Storm
10) Number Battle - Mar 81
11) Octadraw with Joystick - Oct 80
12) Speedello - An Othello Game - Dec 80
13) Computer Sleuth - Word Game - Sep 80
14) Space Dodge Game - Dec 80
15) States - Guess State's Capitols - Dec 80

 

Side B:

 

1) Convoy - Text Adventure Game
2) Dairy Farm Simulation
3) Number Race
4) Trivia - A Text Game
5) Shooting Star - Shoot-em-Up Game
6) Boing - A Bouncing Game    - Nov 80
7) Hopper - A Frogger Type Game
8) Quest - A Text Adventure Game

 

Screenshots from Altirra:

 

Menu - Side A

 

 

Menu - Side B

 

 

Screenshots from a few of the games:

 

Baseball:

 

 

Checkers:

 

 

 

Hopper:

 

 

Speedello:

 

 

 

Master Golf:

 

 

Here is the disk image for side A:

 

AACE Disk 091A - SoftSide Games.ATR

 

Here is the disk image for side B:

 

AACE Disk 091B - SoftSide Games.ATR

 

Hopper looks pretty good; does anyone have any memories of playing these games?
 
Adam

[Valence]

Thanks for posting the ATR images.

I remember some but not all of the games included.

[rra]

My brother and I used to get Softside along with Antic, ANALOG, COMPUTE!, Creative Computing, and occasionally even BYTE for Atari BASIC games, reviews, news, information, and the advertisements.   I remember typing in and playing Hopper.  That was such a great BASIC game for the time!   My favorite Softside type-in was a game called Sabotage that is available on AtariMania.  It didn't have great graphics, but the gameplay was really fun and the game is similar to Berzerk.

[ballyalley]

8 hours ago, rra said:

I remember typing in and playing Hopper.  That was such a great BASIC game for the time!

 

Upon reading your recommendation, I gave "Hopper" a try this afternoon.  "Hopper" is the main game for the November 1982 issue of SoftSide.  I can see why.  It's fun.  Here's the cover of the magazine:

 

 

I stitched together pages 28 and 29 to show more of the B&W illustration that was made for the game.

 

 

You can read the complete issue of SoftWide here:

 

https://archive.org/details/softside-magazine-50/mode/2up

 

I played "Hopper" on my real NTSC 600XL with 64K RAM.  I loaded the game from my SIO2SD.  I checked the BASIC program, and this appears to be the version for the GTIA (a quick look showed that the CTIA changes from the magazine were not made).  It looks much better when the color artifacting is seen on a real CRT TV compared to seeing the game run under emulation.  Here's a screenshot of the game playing on read hardware (it looks much "blockier" without the fuzziness introduced my composite video; also, the game is in B&W without "artifacting" turned on under Altirra):

 

 

I played the game about eight times.  I managed to reach level three with a high score of 10,920  Here's the high score page:

 

 

Does anyone want to battle it out for the high score?  Trust me, my score is a pushover.

 

Are there any other memories of the games on this most recently uploaded SoftSide disk?

 

Adam

[playermissile]

On 6/5/2021 at 2:54 PM, ballyalley said:

Upon reading your recommendation, I gave "Hopper" a try this afternoon.  "Hopper" is the main game for the November 1982 issue of SoftSide.  I can see why.  It's fun.  Here's the cover of the magazine:

I just hit Hopper in the latest episode. It's my favorite type-in BASIC game that I've encountered for the podcast so far. It's got limitations like any BASIC game, but there's a lot of stuff moving on the screen and the gameplay is good. Definitely recommended!

[ballyalley]

4 hours ago, playermissile said:

I just hit Hopper in the latest episode. It's my favorite type-in BASIC game that I've encountered for the podcast so far. It's got limitations like any BASIC game, but there's a lot of stuff moving on the screen and the gameplay is good.

 

That's a nice coincidence.  I can't wait to hear the episode, Rob!

 

Adam