Skip past logotype.

My entries to Minigame 2002

Here are my three simple entries in the Minigame 2002. The task was to write a game for an eight-bit computer in a maximum of one (1) kilobyte. Since my attempts at writing games in assembler failed miserably, these three entries are all written in BASIC.

The three programs described on this page are released according to the GNU General Public License, version 2.

I have also written an article about the event for ABC-Bladet the magazine for members of the Swedish computer club ABC-Klubben.

To those of you using text based browsers: Due to the use of CSS these pages do not display correctly in text based browsers. Links and W3M are the ones that work best, but even they displaya the line numbers in the wrong place.

Connectris

[Screenshot from “Connectris”]

Instructions

This is an implementation of the game Connectris, an idea I got from the wonderful on-line gaming website It's Your Turn. It's a two player game which combines the well-known Connect Four game and the ever-popular Tetris.

The two players, blue and red, take turns in dropping their "chips" into the play field. You can only select which column to place your chip in, it will always locate itself at the bottommost free row. The player that first get four chips in a row, either horizontal, vertical or diagonal, you win.

The twist is that whenever the bottommost row is completely filled, it gets removed from the game, and all chips are shifted one step downwards!

Requirements

This game plays in the Commodore C128 80 column mode, and is written entirely in BASIC 7.0.

If started from 40 column mode, it will prompt you to switch modes, and wait for a key to be pressed. If started from anything else than a C128, it will display an error message and exit.

I got the question why this game is running in the C128's 80 column mode when it is not even using 40 columns. There are two reasons: The first is that I can mix lower/upper case letters (the dialogue with the user) with upper case letters/graphics (the game board), the second is that the game speed is double in 2MHz compared to 1MHz, even though it is way too slow... :-/ (If run with a SuperCPU it operates at an acceptable speed, however...)

The program can be fetched here.

Commented source code listing
Entry point
1
GOTO90
Jump to the main program
Select colours and print the title
2
COLOR6,6:
Green background
COLOR5,2:
White text
PRINT"{clear}{ct b}{ct n} C o n n e c t r i s {130}":
RETURN
Write who are playing (at the top of each screen)
3
PRINT"{down}{light blue}{ct n}"a$" {black}vs {red}"
b$"{black}.{down}":
RETURN
Print the board
10
PRINT"{142}{white} a b c d e f g h
Column labels
11
FORy=.TO7:
 FORx=.TO7:
  PRINT"{black}{sh -}";:
Frame
  COLOR5,p(x,y):
The board contains colour data
  PRINT"●";:
A circle
 NEXT:
 PRINT"{black}{sh -}":
NEXT
12
PRINT"{cm z}{sh asterisk}{cm e}{sh asterisk}{cm e}{sh asterisk}
{cm e}{sh asterisk}{cm e}{sh asterisk}{cm e}{sh asterisk}{cm e}
{sh asterisk}{cm e}{sh asterisk}{cm x}":
Lower frame
RETURN
Retrieve a move from the player
20
DO:
 DO:
  COLOR5,c:
C = player's colour
  PRINT"{down}{ct n}"c$", your move? {142}{black}";:
C$ = player's name
  GETKEYx$:
  x=ASC(x$)-65:
Translate A-H to column numbers
  PRINTx$:
 LOOPWHILEx<.ORx>7:
Check that the column is valid
LOOPWHILEp(x,.)<>6:
Check that there is place left (=6=green)
PRINT"ok
21
FORy=7TO.STEP-1:
Find the lowest free spot
 IFp(x,y)<>6THEN
  NEXT
22
p(x,y)=c:
Drop the disc
FORx=.TO7:
Is the lowest row full?
 IFp(x,7)<>6THEN
  NEXT:
  GOSUB30:
Yes! Empty it
  RETURN
Cannot win now
23
GOSUB40:
Check winning position
RETURN
Remove lowest row and shift everything down one row
30
FORx=.TO7:
 FORy=7TO1STEP-1:
  p(x,y)=p(x,y-1):
 NEXT:
 p(x,.)=6:
6=green indicates an empty spot
NEXT:
RETURN
Check winning position
40
FORy=.TO7:
 FORx=.TO4:
  IFp(x,y)+p(x+1,y)+p(x+2,y)+p(x+3,y)=c*4THEN50
Horizontal winning position
41
 NEXT:
NEXT:
FORx=.TO7:
 FORy=.TO4:
  IFx<5THEN
   IFp(x,y)+p(x,y+1)+p(x,y+2)+p(x,y+3)=c*4OR
     p(x,y)+p(x+1,y+1)+p(x+2,y+2)+p(x+3,y+3)=c*4THEN50
Vertical or diagonal winning position
42
  IFx>2THEN
   IFp(x,y)+p(x-1,y+1)+p(x-2,y+2)+p(x-3,y+3)=c*4THEN50
Diagonal winning position
43
 NEXT:
NEXT:
RETURN
Say who won
50
GOSUB2:
Title line
COLOR5,c:
Player's colour
PRINT"{down}{ct n}You win, "c$:
PRINT:
GOSUB10:
Print the board
GETKEYz$:
RUN
Restart
Ask for name
60
PRINT"{down}{ct n}What's your name, "n$;:
INPUT" player";c$:
RETURN
Startup routine
90
IFINT(.1+.9)<>1THEN
Test BASIC 7
 PRINT"{reverse on} c128 mode ":
 END
92
IFRGR(0)<>5THEN
Check 80 column mode
 PRINT"{reverse on} switch to 80 columns ":
 GRAPHIC5:
Switch to 80 column mode
 GETKEYz$
100
FAST:
Double speed...
GOSUB2
Title line
120
n$="blue":
Get name of blue player
DO:
 COLOR5,15:
 GOSUB60:
LOOPWHILEc$="":
a$=c$
130
n$="red":
Get name of red player
DO:
COLOR5,3:
GOSUB60:
LOOPWHILEc$=""ORc$=a$:
b$=c$
140
DIMp(7,7):
Board
FORx=.TO7:
Empty board
 FORy=.TO7:
(fill with green discs)
  p(x,y)=6:
6=green=background=empty
 NEXT:
NEXT
Huvudslinga
200
c=3:
3=red player (blue starts)
DO:
 ONc/8+1GOSUB210,220:
Switch current player
 GOSUB2:
Title line
 GOSUB3:
Who are playing
 GOSUB10:
Draw board
 GOSUB20:
Fetch a move
LOOP
Pick blue as current player
210
c=15:
c$=a$:
RETURN
Pick red as current player
220
c=3:
c$=b$:
RETURN

[CSDb]

Maggot

[Screenshot from “Maggot”]

Instructions

This is the famous "Masken" ("Snake" in English). I was first exposed to this game idea with Luxor's Masken for the ABC-80. You are a worm (or maggot, in this case), and your aim is to eat as many targets as possible. Whenever you eat a target, the worm grows. If you run into the walls or yourself, the game is over.

The game is controlled with the numbers on the numerical keypad: 8 for up, 4 for left, 6 for right and 2 for down. Any other key makes the worm stop, which means instant Game Over!

Requirements

This games plays in the Commodore C128 40 column mode, and is written entirely in BASIC 7.0.

If started from 80 column mode, it will automatically switch over to 40 column mode for you.

Updates

Version 1.1 - 2002-08-13:
  • Fixed bug that would cause the game to fail on first run. Seems like DEFined functions will not survive the program relocation done by the GRAPHIC command.
  • Fixed a spelling mistake.

Maggot is a variant of the famous Masken (Snake) theme. I first saw Masken on a Luxor ABC-80, and that game was written entirely in BASIC. Now, ABC BASIC is fast, contrary to Commodore's BASIC, so I thought it would be an interesting challenge to write a version of Masken in Commodore BASIC, in graphics mode, which at least was not unplayingly slow. It succeeded partly.

The program can be fetched here. Observera! VICE version 1.9 and 1.10 are buggy and cannot handle this program properly. It works in version 1.8.

Commented source code listing
Entry point
0
GRAPHIC1,1:
Switch to graphics mode
FAST:
Speed up initialization (and blank the screen)
DEFFNr(x)=INT(RND(.)*x):
Create integer random numbers in [0,X)
DEFFNn(x)=x+1+zz*(x=z):
Increase X wrapping at Z
GOTO10
Go to main initialization
Move the maggot
5
LOCATEx(h),y(h):
Move the graphics pointer to where we are heading
IFRDOT(2)THEN100
If there is anything there we die
6
GETa$:
See if we pressed a key
IFa$<>""THENGOSUB9
If we did, we change direction
7
DRAW1:
Move the maggot
DRAW.,x(t),y(t):
t=FNn(t):
Calculate next index for the tail
IFti>pTHENGOSUB93
Time to move the target?
8
RETURN
Change direction
9
r=4*((a$="4")-(a$="6")):
4=left, 9=right
d=2*((a$="8")-(a$="2")):
8=up, 2=down
RETURN
Initialize the game
10
COLOR0,7:
Blue background
COLOR1,4:
Cyan graphics
COLOR4,9:
Orange frame
WIDTH2
All graphics two pixels wide
11
CIRCLE,40,40,8:
Target is a filled circle
PAINT,40,40:
SSHAPEt$,32,32,55,53:
Save as a sprite
GRAPHIC1,1:
Empty the screen
SPRSAVt$,1
Define the circle as sprite image 1
12
FORi=1TO7STEP2:
 BOX1,i*2,i,319-i*2,189-i:
Draw frames around the screen
NEXT:
COLOR1,14:
Light green colour
CHAR,0,24,"{ct n}Score: 0
Score counter
13
COLOR1,2:
White colour
CHAR,20,24,"{ct n}www.softwolves.pp.se":
And some advertising...
COLOR1,4
The maggot is cyan
20
z=1024:
Maximum length is 1024
zz=z+1:
Help variable for FNN
DIMx(z),y(z):
FORi=.TO9:
 x(i)=18+i*4:
Start position (100,18) - (100,36)
 y(i)=100:
 DRAW,x(i),100:
Paint
NEXT:
h=9:
Head at index 9
t=.
Tail at index 0
21
GOSUB93:
Prepare first target
SLOW:
Show screen
r=4:
Moving to the right
d=.
Not up
Huvudslinga
30
DO:
 DO:
Loop for moving left/right
  o=h:
Rember last head index
  h=FNn(h):
Calculate next head index
  x(h)=x(o)+r:
Move right/left
  IFx(h)<15ORx(h)>304THEN100
Check screen borders
31
  y(h)=y(o):
  GOSUB5
Move
32
 LOOPWHILEr
40
 DO:
Loop for moving up/down
  o=h:
  h=FNn(h):
  y(h)=y(o)+d:
Move up/down
  IFy(h)<8ORy(h)>181THEN100
41
  x(h)=x(o):
  GOSUB5
42
 LOOPWHILEd:
LOOP
Hit registered
90
COLLISION2:
Deactivate detection
SPRITE1,1,1:
Make the target black to indicate hit
s=s+BUMP(2):
Increase the score and nullify the collision
COLOR1,14:
CHAR,6,24,STR$(s):
Print the score
COLOR1,4
91
e=FNr(5)+3:
Randomize how much to increase the maggot's length with
DO:
 o=h:
 h=FNn(h):
 IFh=tTHEN
Have we reached the maximum?
  h=o:
If so we stop increasing
  EXIT:
 ELSE
  x(h)=x(o):
Otherwise we do increase its length
  y(h)=y(o):
  e=e-1:
LOOPWHILEe
92
SPRITE1,.:
Hide target
MOVSPR1,.,.:
Move it away from the screen
p=30+FNr(60):
Randomize time for return (0.5-1.5s)
GOTO94
Clear the timer
Randomize a target
93
x=FNr(269)+42:
Randomize coordinates for the target
y=FNr(156)+59:
MOVSPR1,x,y:
Move the target there
COLLISION2,90:
Enable hit detection
SPRITE1,1,FNr(5)+2,.,.,.,.:
Enable the sprite
p=360+FNr(360)
Randomize time until the target is moved (6-12s)
94
ti$="000000":
Clear the timer
RETURN
Game over
100
CHAR,18,24,"{ct n}Game over! Play again?":
Tell player the game is over
GETKEYz$:
IFz$="y"THENRUN
Restart if we want to
101
GRAPHIC.:
Restore text mode
SPRITE1,.:
Remove target
COLOR.,1:
Black background
COLOR4,1:
Black border
PRINT"{clear}{ct n}{white}You caught"s"target";
Show score
102
IFs<>1THENPRINT"s";
(in plural)

[CSDb]

None Shall Pass

[Screenshot from “None Shall Pass”]

Instructions

This is a simple "educational" game, in which you only may pass the horrible ogre (display on-screen as a rather ugly figure-head) if you can answer its quiz correctly. In this case, the quiz is made up of mathematical problems.

First you enter your age, which selects the skill level, and then you are presented with the questions. You must answer all questions correctly to be allowed to pass!

If the questions are too hard, try lying about your age! :)

Requirements

This game plays on any Commodore 8-bit machine equipped with BASIC version 2 or later. It automatically adapts its output to fit your screen, no matter if it is a VIC 20 or an C128 in 80-column mode.

I'm not really sure if I really want to classify this as a game... I got the idea one night after going to bed and couldn't get it out of my head, so I went up and wrote the game down on my C128. What made me send it to the competition was the fact that I adapted the program to run on any Commodore machine with BASIC 2. To be sure, I tested it on PET 3032, VIC-20, C64 and C128... I was happy to see that it didn't finish last... (I wonder who was, ehm, kind enough to give it a ten out of ten score?) The idea of three questions to pass a bridge I got from the movie Monthy Pythons and the Holy Grail.

The program can be fetched here.

Commented source code listing
Entry point
0
DEFFNr(r)=RND(.)*r+1:
Random number generator
GOTO10
Go to the main program
Line break a text and print it
1
IFLEN(z$)<=wTHEN
Does the text fit on the line?
 PRINTz$;:
If so print it directly
 RETURN
2
FORi=wTO.STEP-1:
 IFMID$(z$,i,1)<>" "THENNEXT
Find a strategic space character
3
PRINTLEFT$(z$,i):
Print up to the space
z$=MID$(z$,i+1):
Cut the string
GOTO1
And start over
Main program
10
PRINT"{clear}{down}{left}";:
Figure out the width of the screen
w=POS(.)
11
PRINT"{home}{reverse on} none shall pass! {down}":
Print the title
PRINT" /\/\  {cm m}":
Advanced graphics...
PRINT"/\/\/\ {sh @}":
PRINT"\ \/ /":
PRINT" \  /":
PRINT"  \/{down}
12
DIMa$(99):
Numerals
FORi=1TO19:
Get words for 1-19
 READa$(i):
NEXT:
FORi=20TO90STEP10:
 READa$(i):
Get tens
 FORj=1TO9:
  a$(i+j)=a$(i)+a$(j):
Construct numerals for each ten
 NEXT:
NEXT
20
z$="none shall pass unless he answers me right. tell me your age":
GOSUB1
21
INPUTa%:
Get age, i.e difficulty level
IFa%<2ORa%>130THEN90
Check if the answer is reasonable
22
m=10:
Lowest difficulty level only has single digits
n=m:
IFa%>11THEN
 m=20:
Next level has up to
 n=12:
twelve's multiplcation table
  IFa%>15THEN
   m=99
Next level has all numbers
23
y$="what is ":
Query text
IFa%<8THEN30
Lowest difficulty level does not have multiplication
25
f1%=FNr(m):
Question 1
f2%=FNr(n)
26
z$=y$+a$(f1%)+" times "+a$(f2%):
Multiplication
GOSUB1:
INPUTp:
IFp<>f1%*f2%THEN90
30
t1%=FNr(m):
Question 2
t2%=FNr(t1%):
IFt2%=0THEN30
Make sure we are not subtracting zero
31
z$=y$+a$(t2%)+" from "+a$(t1%):
Subtraction (answer is always positive)
GOSUB1:
INPUTs:
IFs<>t1%-t2%THEN90
35
a1%=FNr(m):
Question 3
a2%=FNr(m):
IFa1%+a2%=0THEN35
36
z$="tell me the sum of "+a$(a1%)+" and "+a$(a2%):
Addition
GOSUB1:
INPUTa:
IFa<>a1%+a2%THEN90
Win
80
z$="you may pass!":
Congratulations, you won!
GOSUB1:
END
Lose
90
z$="that's not correct!":
You lost
GOSUB1:
END
Numerals
100
DATAone,two,three,four,five,six,seven,eight,nine,ten,
    eleven,twelve,thirteen,fourteen,fifteen,sixteen,
    seventeen,eighteen,nineteen
101
DATAtwenty,thirty,fourty,fifty,sixty,seventy,
    eighty,ninety

[CSDb]

[HTML 4.01!] [Any browser is fine with us!] $Date: 2020-10-11 14:36:41 $ | peter@softwolves.pp.se

Back to Softwolves' Commodore page | Peter's home page