What do you on your VIC?

Pedro Lambrini · Post by **Pedro Lambrini** » Tue May 28, 2013 4:41 am

I'm a sad old geezer. I don't really do anything on my VIC other than play games. I vaguely try to do a little 'coding' but I think I'm just to daft to get my head around it to produce anything of worth! I do, however, play my VIC games a least a few times a week so the thing never gathers dust. I suppose that's something. It does make me jealous when I see all these cool new games coming out on the C64 though!

So, what do you lot do on your VIC? How often do you use it? Do you try to set aside time VIC pursuits?

Share with us.

English Invader · Post by **English Invader** » Tue May 28, 2013 1:52 pm

When I first got into the VIC, I had this grand vision of learning how to program and designing my own games, but it didn't work out that way. The reality is that learning to program takes a lot of time and dedication and most of us just don't have what it takes.

I still like gaming on the VIC from time to time, but there are far more fruitful areas from both a gaming and a collecting point of view. Right now, I'm in Sega Saturn mode. Let me know when someone manages to port Metal Slug to the VIC.

pallas · Post by **pallas** » Tue May 28, 2013 2:10 pm

From my point of view, a Vic-20 basic game is probably the simplest type of game to make.
That's because the hardware is simple and the language has few easy instructions.
And, being limited by the available ram, especially in unexpanded mode, forces to work on simple projects.
On the 64 it's much more difficult to make even a decent game by the standard.
But, as with gardening or any other activity, programming is not for everybody

About myself, there are times I want to program because it's much fun, but sometimes I revert to gameplay in order to relax a bit.

Witzo · Post by **Witzo** » Tue May 28, 2013 2:33 pm

Mostly for taking pictures of what I made in VICE.

freshlamb · Post by **freshlamb** » Tue May 28, 2013 11:58 pm

For me it has always been more about programming although I think I may have worn out my Loderunner cart. I used my vic less and less until I packed it away in 2002. Around 2006 I started to use the VICE emulator and slowly, as I had more time got back into it. I had a great year so far and programmed 2 games I am very happy with, and another 2 that I finished. (I hope to share them with you soon!). I always find that summer is a bad time for programming, and although I have a project on the go I'm not sure I will finish it till it gets colder again.

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Wed May 29, 2013 1:22 am

Witzo wrote:Mostly for taking pictures of what I made in VICE.

Hexagons... Can't wait...

As for me, I used to program in the past (BASIC RPGs/strategy, with some conversions from the C64), co-operating with others (mostly with Mike), but I don't have time anymore

Now, it's only a matter of playing some old classics in VICE, every once in a while.

lordbubsy · Post by **lordbubsy** » Wed May 29, 2013 3:58 am

I got into the VIC-20 since November 2011 and my interest is more hardware oriented. I now have two modded 2-prong VIC-20's, one PAL and one NTSC. One of them is always connected to a Trinitron TV set and most of the day it's turned on. So my C64 and C128 are sitting on the shelf and looking a bit (pun intended) envious at their little brother.

With little baby steps I learn more and more about the VIC-20. This in turn helps me understand the C64 and even the C128.

In the future I'll try to post some (simple) schematics of hardware modifications for the VIC-20. Hopefully they will be verified and if necessary corrected by the hardware guru's her on the forum.

Stormcrow · Post by **Stormcrow** » Wed May 29, 2013 11:39 am

Back in '82 or so there was a program in The Dragon called The Dungeon Master's Familiar, which kept track of AD&D characters, ran combat, and rolled dice for you. I never actually needed it, but I always wanted to see it in action. However, it was written for the TRS-80, and while I could easily convert it to Commodore BASIC, it was too big for my unexpanded VIC.

Recently I learned about VICE and entered the program into a fully expanded, emulated VIC-20. I had to tweak some of the code to fit the small screen real estate of the VIC, but eventually I had it! I now have a nice, emulated version of The DM's Familiar for the VIC-20.

Knowing much more about BASIC now than I did back in the day, I'm pretty sure I could completely rewrite this program to fit on an unexpanded VIC. It's mostly a matter of moving the long blocks of DATA statements into a separate file that's read during initialization. I haven't actually written anything yet, but it's been gnawing at the back of my mind.

I still won't actually use it for gaming, but it was be satisfying just to write it.

Witzo · Post by **Witzo** » Wed May 29, 2013 12:27 pm

Stormcrow wrote: Recently I learned about VICE and entered the program into a fully expanded, emulated VIC-20. I had to tweak some of the code to fit the small screen real estate of the VIC, but eventually I had it! I now have a nice, emulated version of The DM's Familiar for the VIC-20.

Being a D&D enthusiast, I'd like to try this conversion you made!
Can we download it somewhere?
Just today I finished "The Complete Book of Wargames", published in 1980, which announced the future of gaming to have exactly such tools on microcomputers. And mentioning the need for memory expansion above the standard computer models of the day.
Next thing is that we use those tools on a tablet. I've made an Android dice roller and Basic D&D character generator for that purpose.

Stormcrow · Post by **Stormcrow** » Wed May 29, 2013 1:19 pm

Try downloading the PRG here (I think I made this file correctly): DUNGEON MASTER'S FAMILIAR

The interface is a bit awkward, but that's not my design; it's what was in the original program (Dragon Magazine, #80). You have to write a character file and then load it before you can use the automated combat routine or display a character. It assumes you've got a floppy drive on device 8.

Witzo · Post by **Witzo** » Wed May 29, 2013 2:40 pm

Thanks!
Looks nice & straightforward. But my favourite die, D12, is missing!

If my old Android tablet would run the VIC emulator Pallas made, I would probably use it during games.

Z0rb · Post by **Z0rb** » Thu May 30, 2013 4:43 am

Witzo wrote:Thanks!
Looks nice & straightforward. But my favourite die, D12, is missing!

If my old Android tablet would run the VIC emulator Pallas made, I would probably use it during games.

Heh you can always remote desktop to a machine running VICE like I did here. Its a bit like getting out of a car through the tailpipe but it accomplishes the task

Stormcrow · Post by **Stormcrow** » Thu May 30, 2013 8:12 am

Witzo wrote:But my favourite die, D12, is missing!

Easy enough to add a few lines to include it.

pallas · Post by **pallas** » Thu May 30, 2013 8:31 am

Z0rbVIC wrote:
Witzo wrote:If my old Android tablet would run the VIC emulator Pallas made, I would probably use it during games.
Heh you can always remote desktop to a machine running VICE like I did here. Its a bit like getting out of a car through the tailpipe but it accomplishes the task

hehe you must do it, that's so funny! and real vic love

Witzo · Post by **Witzo** » Thu May 30, 2013 8:44 am

Didn't know there were iPad apps for a remote Mac desktop, am going to try that.