[Coco] [SPAM] Re: How I "Ported" Planet of Death to Coco
Steve Batson
steve at batsonphotography.com
Tue Apr 14 12:55:18 EDT 2015
I have done that in the past and recently. I'm just wondering how many
people besides the people behind these projects are using them.
:)
> Steve, if you "google" text adventures" I'll bet
you'll be suprized at the
> number of websites deditcated to the subject.
> There's also java, perl, activex, (and many other) engines for making
text
> adventures on a modern computer.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Bill Pierce
> "Today is a good day... I woke up" - Ritchie Havens
>
>
> My Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
> https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
> Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for CocoPedia
> http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
> E-Mail: ooogalapasooo at aol.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
From: Steve Batson <steve at batsonphotography.com>
> To: CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts
<coco at maltedmedia.com>
> Sent: Tue, Apr 14, 2015 12:03 pm
> Subject: Re: [Coco] How I "Ported" Planet of Death to
Coco
>
>
>
>
>
> I've always liked the idea of a Text Adventure Engine, but I
haven't
> tried
> using one. I've considered writing my own, but just haven't spent
> the time. For
> Resource constrained systems such as 16K CoCo or what's
> normally available to
> RS-DOS Basic, probably makes more sense to write
> something from scratch
> optimized for the CoCo, same with the MC-10 or
> other systems. Obviously, basic
> would be more portable, but an Assembly
> Language engine called from basic could
> be much more compact
> and be faster. Not even sure I'd want to tackle that
> one.
>
>
>
> Besides some Classic Computer Fans, is there even enough interest
in
> Text
> Adventures with this world of high res graphics? And I'm not
talking
> about
> money, but behind the sense of accomplishment and personal
enjoyment,
> I
> wonder how many people of modern systems including phones and
tablets
> would
> have an interest in text adventures.
>
>
>
>> I used the same adventure engine back
> in the early 80s to
> "attempt" to
>
>> write a large adventure in BASIC. I
> eventually ran out of memory on
> my 16k
>
>> Coco 2and abandoned the project.
>
>> I
> got the "Tower of Mystery" listing from:
>
>>
>
>> "COMPUTE!'s Guide to Adventure
> Games"
>
>>
>
>> by Gary McGath and published in 1984. I think it was a
collection
> of
> their
>
>> articles so the "Tower of Mystery" was probably in
> "Compute!"
> magazine as
>
>> well.
>
>>
>
>> The info in that book was invaluable to me in
> learning BASIC
> programming
>
>> as I had to convert the listing to be compatible
> with the Coco.
>
>> I have a scan of the book that could be upoloaded.
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
> Bill Pierce
>
>> "Today is a good day... I woke up" - Ritchie Havens
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> My
> Music from the Tandy/Radio Shack Color Computer 2 & 3
>
>>
> https://sites.google.com/site/dabarnstudio/
>
>> Co-Contributor, Co-Editor for
> CocoPedia
>
>> http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
>
>> E-Mail:
> ooogalapasooo at aol.com
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>
>>
>
>
From:
> jimgerrie <jimgerrie at ns.sympatico.ca>
>
>> To: coco <coco at maltedmedia.com>
>
>>
> Sent: Tue, Apr 14, 2015 10:31 am
>
>> Subject: [Coco] How I "Ported" Planet of
> Death to Coco
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> Steve,
>
>>
>
>> I don't work from binaries only text source
> (BASIC,JAVA,C, etc.)
>
>>
>
>> scavenged from the Net or magazines (if you know of
> any good
> prospects
>
>> let me
>
>> know). In the case of POD, someone had ported
> the original game
>
>> to C so it
>
>> could be run on one of the old TI calculators
> (or something
>
>> like that). I
>
>> came across it while researching POD. It had
> all the
>
>> objects, messages,
>
>> locations, and responses nicely typed out in
> neat
>
>> strings and a numeric table
>
>> of the room motions (luckily in a
> pretty
>
>> standard format of room numbers for
>
>> N,S,E,W,U,D for every room). I
> just
>
>> plucked these, and then plunk them into a
>
>> pretty flexible BASIC
>
>>
> two-word parser engine from Compute magazine (I think),
>
>> called "Tower
>
>> of
> Mystery "(which Neil Morrison of the Yahoo group sent me
> and
>
>> which I
>
>> have
> tweaked with a 32 character word wrap routine, so it fits
>
>>
>
>> everything
> neatly onto an MC-10/Coco screen). Then it was just
> reading
>
>> and
>
>> watching
> various walk-throughs to tweak the "Tower of Mystery
>
>> engine to
>
>> provide the
> right responses to all the verb object
>
>> combinations needed.
>
>>
>
>> I
>
>> forgot
> to mention, another ZX derived game of mine is FESQUEST
> (which
>
>> is a
>
>> homage
> to the Coco Fest Chicago events). It is a rehash of a port
>
>> to the
>
>> MC-10 of
> "Pit with Monsters" by Jim Enness for either the
> ZX81
>
>> or Spectrum
>
>> (can't
> recall which), which I typed in from a Brit computer
>
>> mag many years
>
>>
> ago.
>
>>
>
>> If you look at my
>
>>
> http://faculty.cbu.ca/jgerrie/Home/jgames.html
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> programs marked with *
> are completely new programs. Ones marked with
> +
>
>> are
>
>> either remakes
> (drawing inspiration from or possibly code as in
> the
>
>> above
>
>> case) or more
> straightforward ports of BASIC source modified to
>
>> run on the
>
>> MC-10 (and
> then later further modified to work in Color
>
>> BASIC for the Coco
>
>> and
> Dragon).
>
>>
>
>> --
>
>> Coco mailing
>
>> list
>
>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>
>>
> https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco
>
>>
>
>>
>
>>
>
>> --
>
>> Coco mailing
> list
>
>> Coco at maltedmedia.com
>
>>
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>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Steve
> Batson
>
> Website:
> http://www.batsonphotography.com
>
> Facebook:
> https://www.facebook.com/pages/Batson-Photography/313748145356
>
> Gallery:
> http://gallery.batsonphotography.com
>
>
>
> --
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> list
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>
>
>
> --
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>
--
Steve Batson
Website: http://www.batsonphotography.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Batson-Photography/313748145356
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