12-14-2024, 09:42 PM
In my previous blog entry, I mentioned how much I enjoy playing those quaint basement/bedroom games that were developed by the "Average Joe" computer hobbyists. Back in the day, most of those games were only available to me via the magazines that were published at the time. Yes, I did have a floppy disk "trading" buddy at school, but that resource was still pretty limited until I went off to college. And until I landed my first real job after college, my spending money was pretty limited. I couldn't really afford to spend much on retail boxed games. I did, however, have a few spare dollars every so often to spring for a copy of Compute! or Run magazine. This is where my enjoyment (and appreciation) for magazine type-in games began.
To be able to simply type in a few (sometimes hundreds) lines of code printed in a magazine onto my C64 and get a game I could actually play was amazing to me. Sure, the games are probably not what many would consider to be masterpieces, but they did provide some entertainment. Sometimes it took me a few evenings to finish typing in the game code, depending on how complicated/elaborate the game was. So, I was motivated to spend more time playing it, than if it was just another game on floppy disk I "traded". These magazine published games were a great way to build a video game collection when you were short on cash. I think they deserved a lot more love, than what they typically got.
I'd like to share some of my favorite typed-in games from those days, which I still find myself playing and enjoying every so often.
First up, one of the earliest ones I typed in for myself: Space Dodger, by Kevin Mykytyn.
This game was published in Compute! Magazine, issue #60, May 1985. Link to Article...
Compute! printed versions of the game for the C64, VIC-29, TI, Apple II, and Atari home computers. In this game, you simply have to avoid the obstacles by flying your ship up or down for as long as you can. It's colourful and quite addictive. I really liked the sound effects, as you flew your ship between lanes. Sometimes I would load up this game and let it run, just to have the "spacey" droning sound running as background/white noise.
The program listing was about 150 program lines, mostly DATA statements; but wasn't too bad, as magazine type-in games went. Compute! had a "spellcheck" program that you could run to help you ensure you typed in the lines of code correctly, which helped a lot.
[attachment=378] [attachment=379]
My next favorite typed-in games that I've spent a lot of my spare time playing is the game, Spiders, by Joe Rocke and Tim Victor.
This game appeared in Compute! magazine, issue #54, back in 1984 and was originally written for the VIC-20, but had versions developed for the C64, Apple II and PC.
It's difficult for me to recall, but from the date of publication, I would say that Spiders was my first machine language typed-in game. Actually, the game has two parts (which was common for VIC-20 games of the time); the first part was in ML and the second was a short BASIC program to get the game going. You first load in the ML portion, using ,8,1, then NEW, and then follow up by loading the second BASIC program and RUN that to launch the game.
Spiders is a pretty good Galaxian-style game, in which you have to blast the "space spiders" hovering above you, as "fighter" drones dive bomb you. Once all the fighters are defeated, the two "officer" squadrons hovering above descend upon you. Blast them for bonus points.
The thing about this game is that, if your "robot" fighter ship gets destroyed (of which you have three), a full formation of fighters appear and you have to take all of out again before moving on to the next level (a.k.a. "web", as the game calls it). When one of your ships get taken out, there's a cool swarming routine in which all of the remaining fighters descend down to the bottom of the screen. Then the level starts over again. I thought it was nice touch to the game. The sound effects are not so bad, either.
For a typed-in game from a magazine, I thought Spiders was a pretty good space shoot-em-up. It's also not all that long of a listing to type in. I probably did it in one sitting, back in the day, using the MLX editor.
[attachment=380] [attachment=381]
This next game in my list of favorite typed-in games isn't here because it's a particularly good game, but it does hold a special place in my memories because it's one of the very first games I sat down and typed in to my C64. The game is called Demon's Lair and it was published in the book, "Using the Commodore 64 In The Home", written by Hank Librach and Bill L. Behrendt back in 1983. This was the book that got me going with programming in BASIC and I typed in just about every program that it contained. This was also the time when I had no storage device for my C64. So, I actually typed in a few of these games several times until I got my 1541.
Demon's Lair was my first dungeon crawler adventure game on the C64. Before this, I had Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Misty Mountain on my Intellivision. It was (and still is) one of my favorite dungeon crawling games, so programming my own was an extra treat for me.
By today's standards, it's a pretty dull and rudimentary adventure game, even for BASIC. But, there is a particular charm to it, at least for me. You're on an adventure to collect treasure and battle monsters. The maze is revealed to you as you move about, using the H, J, N, and U keys. When you encounter a monster, you have very little time to use either S (for sword) or K (for knife) to slay the creature before your energy level hits zero.
There's no sound in the game, but there is a short tune that is played on the title screen. Yes, this game actually has a sprite generated title screen. All of the rest of the graphics are PETSCII.
The game is 30 blocks in size, so it is a pretty long game to type in. But it being in BASIC also helped me to learn some interesting programming techniques and inspired me to learn more about all of the fun things I could do with my C64. On those rainy days when I have a desire to take a trip down memory lane, I'll load this game up for a quick play.
[attachment=382] [attachment=383] [attachment=384]
D64 Disk
To be able to simply type in a few (sometimes hundreds) lines of code printed in a magazine onto my C64 and get a game I could actually play was amazing to me. Sure, the games are probably not what many would consider to be masterpieces, but they did provide some entertainment. Sometimes it took me a few evenings to finish typing in the game code, depending on how complicated/elaborate the game was. So, I was motivated to spend more time playing it, than if it was just another game on floppy disk I "traded". These magazine published games were a great way to build a video game collection when you were short on cash. I think they deserved a lot more love, than what they typically got.
I'd like to share some of my favorite typed-in games from those days, which I still find myself playing and enjoying every so often.
First up, one of the earliest ones I typed in for myself: Space Dodger, by Kevin Mykytyn.
This game was published in Compute! Magazine, issue #60, May 1985. Link to Article...
Compute! printed versions of the game for the C64, VIC-29, TI, Apple II, and Atari home computers. In this game, you simply have to avoid the obstacles by flying your ship up or down for as long as you can. It's colourful and quite addictive. I really liked the sound effects, as you flew your ship between lanes. Sometimes I would load up this game and let it run, just to have the "spacey" droning sound running as background/white noise.
The program listing was about 150 program lines, mostly DATA statements; but wasn't too bad, as magazine type-in games went. Compute! had a "spellcheck" program that you could run to help you ensure you typed in the lines of code correctly, which helped a lot.
[attachment=378] [attachment=379]
My next favorite typed-in games that I've spent a lot of my spare time playing is the game, Spiders, by Joe Rocke and Tim Victor.
This game appeared in Compute! magazine, issue #54, back in 1984 and was originally written for the VIC-20, but had versions developed for the C64, Apple II and PC.
It's difficult for me to recall, but from the date of publication, I would say that Spiders was my first machine language typed-in game. Actually, the game has two parts (which was common for VIC-20 games of the time); the first part was in ML and the second was a short BASIC program to get the game going. You first load in the ML portion, using ,8,1, then NEW, and then follow up by loading the second BASIC program and RUN that to launch the game.
Spiders is a pretty good Galaxian-style game, in which you have to blast the "space spiders" hovering above you, as "fighter" drones dive bomb you. Once all the fighters are defeated, the two "officer" squadrons hovering above descend upon you. Blast them for bonus points.
The thing about this game is that, if your "robot" fighter ship gets destroyed (of which you have three), a full formation of fighters appear and you have to take all of out again before moving on to the next level (a.k.a. "web", as the game calls it). When one of your ships get taken out, there's a cool swarming routine in which all of the remaining fighters descend down to the bottom of the screen. Then the level starts over again. I thought it was nice touch to the game. The sound effects are not so bad, either.
For a typed-in game from a magazine, I thought Spiders was a pretty good space shoot-em-up. It's also not all that long of a listing to type in. I probably did it in one sitting, back in the day, using the MLX editor.
[attachment=380] [attachment=381]
This next game in my list of favorite typed-in games isn't here because it's a particularly good game, but it does hold a special place in my memories because it's one of the very first games I sat down and typed in to my C64. The game is called Demon's Lair and it was published in the book, "Using the Commodore 64 In The Home", written by Hank Librach and Bill L. Behrendt back in 1983. This was the book that got me going with programming in BASIC and I typed in just about every program that it contained. This was also the time when I had no storage device for my C64. So, I actually typed in a few of these games several times until I got my 1541.
Demon's Lair was my first dungeon crawler adventure game on the C64. Before this, I had Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Misty Mountain on my Intellivision. It was (and still is) one of my favorite dungeon crawling games, so programming my own was an extra treat for me.
By today's standards, it's a pretty dull and rudimentary adventure game, even for BASIC. But, there is a particular charm to it, at least for me. You're on an adventure to collect treasure and battle monsters. The maze is revealed to you as you move about, using the H, J, N, and U keys. When you encounter a monster, you have very little time to use either S (for sword) or K (for knife) to slay the creature before your energy level hits zero.
There's no sound in the game, but there is a short tune that is played on the title screen. Yes, this game actually has a sprite generated title screen. All of the rest of the graphics are PETSCII.
The game is 30 blocks in size, so it is a pretty long game to type in. But it being in BASIC also helped me to learn some interesting programming techniques and inspired me to learn more about all of the fun things I could do with my C64. On those rainy days when I have a desire to take a trip down memory lane, I'll load this game up for a quick play.
[attachment=382] [attachment=383] [attachment=384]
D64 Disk