Newbie wants to share his creation

PhilRanger · Post by **PhilRanger** » Thu Aug 25, 2011 8:56 pm

Hi,

I'm new to VICE and emulation, but did lots of programming on the VIC20 in the '80s. Here's my first game on the emulator. All in straight basic, not fancy but a bit addictive. It's called "No Trees" because the objective is to avoid the trees. Can you reach level6?

Have fun.

http://www.box.net/shared/diabbfb21qvhfh30xb40

Comments welcome (but don't be to hard on me please!)

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 8:32 am

You didn't mention the controls, but looking at the listing before playing, I could see you need the cursor keys. Now, while that's good for emulation playing, anyone wanting to play on a real Vic20 is going to have real difficulty. May I suggest altering the program slightly to make it joystick control instead? Then it would suit both real and emulation playing (most people emulate the joystick with the cursor keys).

Because you need the control. Level 5 was bad enough, I want to see if anyone can actually survive that long on level 6

Aside from that, not a bad little program and it certainly can run fast enough heh...

PhilRanger · Post by **PhilRanger** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 1:40 pm

Hi Mayhem,

Thanks for the comments. The idea of the game is to force you to use an odd controller, namely the keyboard. Otherwise, it is too easy on a joystick andthe game loses its challenge.
I almost went through level 6 this morning. Maybe I'll need to port the main loop to assembly language to make level 7 faster!

Best regards

Kweepa · Post by **Kweepa** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:17 pm

Mayhem's point is that cursor controls on a real VIC are cumbersome - the cursors are on two keys and the other two directions are Shift + <cursor key>.
ZXOK or QAOP might be better choices

PhilRanger · Post by **PhilRanger** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:19 pm

Thanks, I didn't remember this (my real Vic has been in a closet for years). I'll look into it and correct soon

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:48 pm

Yes, that's precisely what I was getting at. Trying to play the game on a real Vic as it stands would be very hard

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:56 pm

Hmmmm... If you are using a real vic, you are used to move around the cursor with the shift key, so I don't think it's much of a problem.

PhilRanger · Post by **PhilRanger** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 2:58 pm

My original was probably "IJKM", I'll use "YGHB" to be more centered on my laptop

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 5:02 pm

Boray wrote:... you are used to move around the cursor with the shift key

How true! I recall getting C16 afterward and actually *struggling* with the individual cursor arrow keys. Of course, if they could have been arranged like a modern PC keyboard, well . . .

PhilRanger · Post by **PhilRanger** » Fri Aug 26, 2011 8:44 pm

Reprogrammed!

Same link: http://www.box.net/shared/diabbfb21qvhfh30xb40 , I flushed the old file.

Restructured for better readability, added a splash screen with instructions and is now useable on a real Vic 20.

Thanks for the constructive comments.

Best regards, and long live to the Vic 20!

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 6:47 am

Thanks Phil - this is in the true spirit of early VIC games, and magazine type-ins. I like the title screen, too

.

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 8:02 am

rhurst wrote:
Boray wrote:... you are used to move around the cursor with the shift key
How true! I recall getting C16 afterward and actually *struggling* with the individual cursor arrow keys. Of course, if they could have been arranged like a modern PC keyboard, well . . .

The Plus/4 had the best positioned arrow keys of all 8 bit Commodores:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... Plus_4.jpg

The buttons are a bit strange but at least they are very logical and naturally mapped.

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 9:10 am

Is the game still called "No Trees" despite the new title screen? Just thought I'd ask before I added it to Gamebase20.

PhilRanger · Post by **PhilRanger** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 10:15 am

I prefer "Don't eat the trees" but was afraid it would be too long for a file name.

Don't forget to send me my royaltees, I wanna retire soon

Jokes apart, I'm flattered you think it's good enough to share outside this forum, I was expecting more negative reviews!

Best regards

Post by **Jeff-20** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 10:17 am

I love the title screen.