Thin Ice Redux (TI BASIC game) - in development

[InfernalKeith]

I'm working on a TI BASIC game called Harridan Bay, formerly known as High Seas, which I hope to have finished in a week or two.  I plan to release it on cassette tape in another limited physical package, and I wanted to add a second BASIC game for side B of the tape.

 

I decided to rework "Thin Ice," the game I submitted back in 2010 for the 30-line programming contest held here.  That game was in XB and used sprites and multi-statement lines to compact the code.  Not limited by code length, but unable to use sprites, and mindful of speed and memory limits, I decided to add a few factors to make the game more interesting.

 

You are Polar Penguin, as seen at the top left in the screenshot below.  You have to retrieve your treasure chests and make it to the other side of the screen before the ice melts and you fall in the water.  Each chest you pick up gives you points; however, three have keys in them.  You need a key to unlock each of the barriers in the brick walls, and you must have all three keys before you can set foot on dry land again.

 

Every time you move on the ice, it sets off a new round of cracks, and gradually, areas of water will form.  You cannot pass those areas (you never learned to swim, too busy hoarding treasure) and it's possible to find yourself unable to reach all the chests, or the next doorway.  You have to balance moving fast and carefully looking for the keys with the urge to go back for more treasure as the ice gets ever more treacherous.

 

You get a bonus for each move you make on the ice, further tempting you to stay out longer than is safe.  And unlike the original, if you make it to the other side, you can play more levels, each with more unstable ice and less time to make it across.

 

There might be a way to bridge the water and shift some ice around to create a pathway when you're otherwise trapped, but I haven't decided exactly how to do that yet.  Right now there's movement and cracking ice but no scoring or working barriers yet.  I hope to have this up and running this weekend.  It'll be a nice little bonus for side B of the main game and probably the last pure BASIC thing I'll do for some time.