A new Apple II game collection

[youxia]

I'm preparing a long overdue update to this collection, but it will be a mainly cosmetic one - just rearranging the structure and cleaning up stuff a bit. I'm sure there have been some new games discovered since the last release but I don't have time atm to do a proper search and comparison.

 

One thing I'd really like to sort out though would be turning the .wav-only software present in the collection into disk versions so more people can access it easily. This is what we have been discussing here previously in 2022. Thanks again to @Newsdeeand other folks for help with getting me started but frankly my Apple II skills are just too low to handle this stuff and I was also too busy with other, higher priority projects, to have made any real progress bar converting a handful of programs. No I'd like to try again and I wonder:

 

-can anybody advise how to turn Binary programs into working ones? When I use CiderPress with methods described above ITT they just fail to boot.

-I've been in touch with Antoine from Brutal Deluxe (host to all these wonderful cassette files) asking about this and he said that "BASIC programs load at $801. Binary files are loaded in the range set by the R command:

200.2000R will load from $20 to $2000

800.8FFFR will load from $800 to $8FFF"

I don't know how to put it in use though.

-he shared a collection with some of these wavs already converted to .po disk format. I don;t know how to run them though in an emulator (AppleWin shows something about Prodos missing) and not sure how to extract them via CiderPress into individual bootable disks

-are there any volunteers willing to help converting BASIC programs? This can be done according to the template made by @Newsdeeabove and is pretty straightforward, but rather time consuming. (also, am not sure what to do about programs with multiple files - some seem to convert and work fine but maybe later on crash?)

[CJtheRetro]

I'm taking the Plunge and downloading it! Just started, 45 minutes to go! 😄

[youxia]

Long overdue...

Quote

V1.0 (03-2024) is the second release which:
-adds some games previously only available as .wav files
-reorganizes the structure
-adds A-Z version
-cleans up some minor errors, duplicates, etc[

It's mostly housekeeping, seeing as this is a low-priority project for me, and the to-do tasks are either beyond my skills or too big in scale. Even so, the collection should be much more usable now (also, a little bird tells me that eXo of eXoDOS fame is working on one for Apple II, so it should be rather interesting).

 

Big thanks to @Newsdee for helping out with .wav file transfer, thus making some truly ancient software available for the first time as .dsk files.

Edited March 25 by youxia

[Pluvius]

Nice to see that this project isn't dead.  I discovered it a couple of weeks ago and decided to help out with converting the WAV files and separating out the comps that have been included in the main folders.  I've completed 1977-1979, though I haven't done a deep dive into the 19xx folder yet.  I actually found this thread while looking for information on 3-D Star Fire, the first game in the 1980 list.  I had no problem getting it to work (no copy protection, just needs to be loaded in at $30) but it's identical to another game I saw earlier that I can't remember the name of.  But whatever.

 

Attached is a list of the changes I've made so far.  Since I've obviously been working with v0.1 of the project, it doesn't necessarily follow the current folder structure and might have some redundancies in it.

changes.txt

[Pluvius]

Found the other copy of 3-D Star Fire--it was an obvious bootleg in one of the compilations called "Star Wars Part ][."  I've removed that from my updates.

[youxia]

10 hours ago, Pluvius said:

Nice to see that this project isn't dead.  I discovered it a couple of weeks ago and decided to help out with converting the WAV files and separating out the comps that have been included in the main folders.  I've completed 1977-1979, though I haven't done a deep dive into the 19xx folder yet.  I actually found this thread while looking for information on 3-D Star Fire, the first game in the 1980 list.  I had no problem getting it to work (no copy protection, just needs to be loaded in at $30) but it's identical to another game I saw earlier that I can't remember the name of.  But whatever.

 

Attached is a list of the changes I've made so far.  Since I've obviously been working with v0.1 of the project, it doesn't necessarily follow the current folder structure and might have some redundancies in it.

changes.txt 23.6 kB · 2 downloads

Hi mate, thanks a million for looking into this. The timing is actually quite a wild coincidence, since I also had an impulse to finally try to sort out the .wavs a couple weeks ago. Wish I knew about your work, it'd save me a lot of time

I also managed to convert most of the BASIC software, as you can see in the update, but I suppose your stuff is better than my hacky attempts. Antoine from Brutal Deluxe also had some advice for the BINARY files - which went well over my head, since I know zilch about AII coding - but also got a few games converted (like 3-D Star Fire).

 

I'd love to look at your update files if you could upload them somewhere?

 

Also, here's the list of BINARY games which still needed converting at teh time of the 1.0 release (I can see you already did some - most? -  of them though, awesome!).

 

ack-ack (1978)(programm international, inc.)
Advanced Dragon Maze - module1 (1978)(softape)
adventure 0 special sampler (1978)(adventure international)
Awari - module 5 (1978)(softape)
Blackjack - module 6 (1978)(softape)
Bomber Attack (microcomputer/Avalon)
canter downs (1979)(programma international, inc.)
Clean Sweep - module8 (1978)(softape)
Computer Baseball Strategy
don't fall (1978)(magnemedia)
don't fall (1980)(innerglo)
Draw poker (Arcade pak #2)(Microcomputer Games)
football predictions (1979)(programma international, inc.)
Hex Pawn - module 5 (1978)(softape)
hires boxing (1979)(programma international, inc.)
k7_columbiacomputersystems_jagdstaffel
k7_creativecomputingsoftware_braingames1
k7_creativecomputingsoftware_spacegames1
k7_discoverygames_migsandmesserschmitts
k7_programma_jumpout_s1_jumpout
k7_programma_laserturret
k7_programma_matchwits
k7_romca_superchess.wav
laserblast (1979)(programma international, inc.).wav
lords of karma (1980)(microcomputer games).wav
Lunar Lander - module 8 (1978)(softape).wav
lunar lander (1979)(programma international, inc.).wav
magic squares (1979)(programma international, inc.).wav
Mastermind - module 3 (1978)(softape).wav
microtrivia (1978)(speakeasy software, ltd.).wav
missile command v1.2 (1981)(urban e. soft).wav
Othello - module 3 (1978)(softape).wav
othello for apple v2.1 (1982)(hiroshi ohnishi).wav
peg jump (1979)(programma international, inc.).wav
phasor zap (1978)(programma international, inc.).wav
patient professor 24k (1980)(innerglo) - integer basic ERROR
pinball (1978)(apple computer).wav
pirates (1978)(programma international, inc.).wav
Project UFO - module 8 (1978)(softape).wav
retreat (1978)(programma international, inc.).wav
revive (1979)(hayden book company).wav
rocket pilot (1978)(powersoft, inc.).wav
saucer invasion (1978)(powersoft, inc.).wav
Saucer War module 1 (1978)(softape)
Sevens - module 3 (1978)(softape)
space maze (1978)(powersoft, inc.)
speedway (1979)(programma international, inc.)
Star War (1978)(powersoft, inc.).wav
Star Wars - module8 (1978)(softape).wav
super starwars (1978)(programma international, inc.).wav
tape measure (1979)(apple computer).wav
Towers Of Hanoi - module5 (1978)(softape)
voyager i (1982)(microcomputer games)
warlords (1978)(speakeasy software, ltd.) - integer basic ERROR

 

 

Edited March 26 by youxia

[cathrynm]

I think I prefer 'by publisher'. That otherwise there are too many games, it's that paradox of choice. Too many options makes it less attractive.  But, say, if Activision released some weird games that's more interesting because it's part of the story of the company. PUBLISHER->YEAR->GAME,GAME,GAME -- like that. Maybe there are some ambiguous ones that make this a pain, I know Mame has Publisher sorting and it's a little messy with all various mashups of companies.

[k1w1]

I am glad you are trying to do something about the quagmire that is the Apple II software collection. Other communities like Atari and Commodore have structure, naming convention and dedicated internet sites for all of their software but Apple community has only Asimov which although useful and comprehensive is an absolute nightmare to navigate.

 

it is also fantastic that you have been able to start converting the many singular WAV files that those using emulators could not access. Even those with real Apple hardware needed to muck around to use these archived gems. Between you and Pluvius I hope you can make them accessible to all.

 

Congratulations on the work you have done to date and looking forward to future releases.

[Newsdee]

Great to see this is still going!

 

Had a look at the v1.0 and some initial comments so far:

• Some of the games have both .wav and .dsk, 
  is there a reason to keep both?
   
• Similarly there are some .a2r files alongside equivalent .woz files; 
  to my knowledge .woz is accurate enough, so is the .a2r still needed? 
  (IIRC it's a file format to store magnetic information on the disk)
   
• One game ('video adventure") required additional hardware
  (= a video player controlled by the Apple 2), so maybe move it to a special folder?
   
• Really love that you've included some French obscure titles such as Muryaden I and II !
   
• Have you added the Korean games? 
  (there's at least an Ultima lookalike)
   

Keep up the good work!

Edited June 1 by Newsdee

[youxia]

On 6/1/2024 at 5:59 PM, Newsdee said:

Great to see this is still going!

 

Had a look at the v1.0 and some initial comments so far:

• Some of the games have both .wav and .dsk, 
  is there a reason to keep both?
   
• Similarly there are some .a2r files alongside equivalent .woz files; 
  to my knowledge .woz is accurate enough, so is the .a2r still needed? 
  (IIRC it's a file format to store magnetic information on the disk)
   
• One game ('video adventure") required additional hardware
  (= a video player controlled by the Apple 2), so maybe move it to a special folder?
   
• Really love that you've included some French obscure titles such as Muryaden I and II !
   
• Have you added the Korean games? 
  (there's at least an Ultima lookalike)
   

Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the feedback! (also @k1w1)

About:

-keeping .wav - I usually like to include as many formats as possible, "just in case"  to cover all bases - maybe some people actually like to use wav on real machines? Not sure. Also, perhaps for sentimental value I have soft spot for tapes. They don't take that much space and users who don't want them can filter them out by using (wav) tag.

-if a2r is really redundant alongside other formats then perhaps I could clean'em out in the next revision. I really don't know much about Apple II formats.

-"video adventure" - if it's only one game, I suppose it can stay where it is...maybe just add read me explaining the situation

-adding foreign games: I simply included everything I could find, there was no selection per se. So if there are some French games it means they were in one of the sources. If you know about any other games not included (Korean?) please let me know where I can find them

Edited June 7 by youxia

[ianoid]

This is a great project. I haven't checked out what you have included yet. 

 

The most comprehensive archive of Apple II cassettes is at brutaldeluxe.fr. They also have some software and ports of their own at the site. I am a contributor. 

 

It would be ideal if software in these collections could be sorted multiple ways- by developer, by publisher, by date, by title, by genre. At this point, I'm finding myself wanting to sort by publisher because I find they have fascinating individual portfolios as they tried to satisfy their desire to market to various genres. 

[youxia]

On 6/29/2024 at 11:07 AM, ianoid said:

The most comprehensive archive of Apple II cassettes is at brutaldeluxe.fr. They also have some software and ports of their own at the site. I am a contributor. 

I believe I have included most of their content  (at least in regard to games). The problem is translating some of the wavs to dsk format, though some of it has been done already.

On 6/29/2024 at 11:07 AM, ianoid said:

It would be ideal if software in these collections could be sorted multiple ways- by developer, by publisher, by date, by title, by genre. At this point, I'm finding myself wanting to sort by publisher because I find they have fascinating individual portfolios as they tried to satisfy their desire to market to various genres. 

Sure, it would be great to have other sorting means than just name and date used in this collection, but adding tags is a fairly time-consuming operation and I'm now quite busy with some other projects. Hopefully somebody can sort out proper, TOSEC -like naming one day.

[Pluvius]

Sorry for taking so long to come back to this.  I'd have been done about two months ago if not for personal issues.

 

https://archive.org/details/expansion-pack-to-apple-ii-play-it-by-year-game-collection-v-0.1

 

This pack contains 812 games derived from cassettes and compilations.  I did not zip the games up in any fancy way since I figured you would do that when integrating them into your collection.  I probably won't be working on this again in the near future; I'm interested in looking at other systems.  But please let me know if there are any issues that need to be addressed.

[k1w1]

Great work Pluvius. Looking forward to finally being able play those converted wav files on an emulator. I’d love to own a real Apple II with cassette but there as rear as hens teeth out my way and certainly out of my price range.

 

I am an Atari person and have never understood why Apple community have never attempted to catalogue all of these antique software titles and especially convert the wav file stuff to make them more accessible. I have played a little bit in the preservation process for Apple though by making very many contributions of box covers, media pics and extras to the Launchbox database. I have also done this for the other trinity system the TRS-80 and of course my favourite Atari.

 

In fact I have been working on an eXoDOS and Commodore Dreams type project for the Atari for the last 12 months and hope to have something available for general distribution in the next 12 months. The good news for Apple though is that eXo is giving the Apple II the eXoDOS treatment. I’m unsure when that release will be but it will certainly go along way in fixing the this mess of uncatalogued Apple software.

Edited July 17 by k1w1

[youxia]

On 7/15/2024 at 2:38 AM, Pluvius said:

Sorry for taking so long to come back to this.  I'd have been done about two months ago if not for personal issues.

 

https://archive.org/details/expansion-pack-to-apple-ii-play-it-by-year-game-collection-v-0.1

 

This pack contains 812 games derived from cassettes and compilations.  I did not zip the games up in any fancy way since I figured you would do that when integrating them into your collection.  I probably won't be working on this again in the near future; I'm interested in looking at other systems.  But please let me know if there are any issues that need to be addressed.

That's simply amazing, thank you again for working on this.

 

I'm also crazy busy with other stuff, so won't have a chance to properly integrate this anytime soon (probably earliest at the end of the year). I will add a note and link to your page for now in the main description though, maybe upload the update as an extra zip  as well.

[elseniorx1989]

Hi, by any chance there are no plans to include homebrews? I think homebrews need to be collected too 🤔

[youxia]

On 9/14/2024 at 8:12 AM, elseniorx1989 said:

Hi, by any chance there are no plans to include homebrews? I think homebrews need to be collected too 🤔

Some homebrews are already included. Check out the "Modern" directory, there are about 50 games there. Bu, overall the focus of this collection is on old games.