German Magazine - Type-Ins - Compute Mit
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Didn't trust my eyes :-)
Thank you very much for choosing my game to your No. 1 favorite!tokra wrote:My favorites of the ones posted so far (first year):
1. ROBIN AT RAVENWRECK
While I was chatting with some guys some days ago about the "good old times", I remembered the (probably) first money I ever made with programming and soon had the idea to type in the game's name into google, found this forum and your post and just want to say "thank you"!
I'm pretty surprised, my 1985 game can be found on the web in the year 2011 (Jesus! How old I got...) and that there are guys out there who still are interested in that beautiful machine.
I'll now have a closer look to the forum and I'm very glad to have found this place.
Welcome indeed! I remember back in 1986 (as a 13-year-old) I was mostly a little disappointed with type-in-games. But since those were the only ones I could get for the VIC, I typed them in anyway, always hoping for the odd gem.
Your game really has it all: Multiple levels, good gameplay,nice graphics (love the blinking diamonds) and most of all high replay-value since the difficulty is just right and the game is always fair. What more could you want for paying 2,80 Deutsche Mark for a magazine from your pocket money.
Oh, and you really CAN find anything on the web. I remember last year I found an old C128-disk from 1993 with programs of mine on the web. I vaguely remember sending it to one or two Public Domain companies back then, from there it must have found its way to a Commodore-CD-collection and from there someone did the website where the images from that CD could be downloaded.
Your game really has it all: Multiple levels, good gameplay,nice graphics (love the blinking diamonds) and most of all high replay-value since the difficulty is just right and the game is always fair. What more could you want for paying 2,80 Deutsche Mark for a magazine from your pocket money.
Oh, and you really CAN find anything on the web. I remember last year I found an old C128-disk from 1993 with programs of mine on the web. I vaguely remember sending it to one or two Public Domain companies back then, from there it must have found its way to a Commodore-CD-collection and from there someone did the website where the images from that CD could be downloaded.
Yes, why not? It tastes good to know you're all still there... 
To refresh my own memory, I first installed the VICE emulator and downloadad the files, tokra gave us (GREAT job, btw!). I played the game some rounds (next surprise: it worked immediately, although I used some tricks like writing keystrokes with POKE commands into the keyboard buffer and so on - the emulator creators did a great job, too!) and 3rd surprise: I made it into level 3 or 4 of stage 2 - but I didn't remember all the traps I once included and stepped into one afer another!
Well, however, I then grabbed out my old ring binders and found a print out of the source code, dated October, 27th 1985 - which means, I had just became 16 years old, when I finished that game (I used to make a printout of the source code, when I finished a program).
The game used some assembly code for some time critical stuff like descending the time line or checking the joystick's position. Here's a typical page of the print out (I think, I owned a 7 dot Seikosha printer at that time) of the assembly code:
(The german comments I made at the righthand side of the code say (from top to bottom): "Highscore ermitteln" = "calculating highscore", "Zeitleiste" = "time line", "Interrupt aus" = "Interrupt off", "setzt Farben auf Bildschirm" = "set colors to screen")
I'm not quite sure, how the name was born, AFAIR it was an idea from my elder brother. We were both metal heads (well, at least I still am
) and "Ravenwreck" was the title of a song of San Francisco's metal band "Brocas Helm" -- I just looked it up: It was a song from 1984, so I think, it is very likely the inspiration to the game's name. I wanted an alliteration, so the hero was named "Robin".
I really have no idea any more, how long it took me to write the game. I was still a student at that time and spended hours every day on my VIC (which was named VC-20 (without the "I") in Germany, as you probably know), but it must have been weeks and months. I remember, that "Robin At Ravenwreck" were my first steps into 6502 machine code programming. Later on I wrote complete games in assembler... some of them never to be published.
Although my big hero of that time was the british programmer Jeff Minter (who made those beautiful games like "AMC - Attack Of The Mutant Camels" for the C64 and looked so cool with his long hair he could sit on), Robin At Ravenwreck was inspired by Brøderbund's game "Lode Runner".
As I had problems putting the player onto a ladder w/o a sprite function, I replaced the ladders by elevators.
Unfortunately, there are no letters from the publisher left, but I remember, that I was paid 440,- DM/german marks (about $300 USD) for it, as they paid 120,- DM per printed page and the code was almost 4 pages long. A pretty amount of money for a 16 year old boy - and I was very proud of it.
Between the levels, the game showed a more or less senseful message to the player, one of those messages included my telephone number (well, in fact, the number of my parents, as I had no telephone line of my own). In the months after the game was published, I got lots of calls from people, who told me their high scores, asked for hints or just wanted to say "hello"... none of those contacts did hold fpr a longer time, but it was a very interesting experience in those pre-WWW times.
What else? I stored the editon of the magazine, in which the game was published:
Jesus Christ on roller skates, what a journey into time! Hope, I didn't bore you too much![/url]
To refresh my own memory, I first installed the VICE emulator and downloadad the files, tokra gave us (GREAT job, btw!). I played the game some rounds (next surprise: it worked immediately, although I used some tricks like writing keystrokes with POKE commands into the keyboard buffer and so on - the emulator creators did a great job, too!) and 3rd surprise: I made it into level 3 or 4 of stage 2 - but I didn't remember all the traps I once included and stepped into one afer another!
Well, however, I then grabbed out my old ring binders and found a print out of the source code, dated October, 27th 1985 - which means, I had just became 16 years old, when I finished that game (I used to make a printout of the source code, when I finished a program).
The game used some assembly code for some time critical stuff like descending the time line or checking the joystick's position. Here's a typical page of the print out (I think, I owned a 7 dot Seikosha printer at that time) of the assembly code:
(The german comments I made at the righthand side of the code say (from top to bottom): "Highscore ermitteln" = "calculating highscore", "Zeitleiste" = "time line", "Interrupt aus" = "Interrupt off", "setzt Farben auf Bildschirm" = "set colors to screen")
I'm not quite sure, how the name was born, AFAIR it was an idea from my elder brother. We were both metal heads (well, at least I still am
) and "Ravenwreck" was the title of a song of San Francisco's metal band "Brocas Helm" -- I just looked it up: It was a song from 1984, so I think, it is very likely the inspiration to the game's name. I wanted an alliteration, so the hero was named "Robin".I really have no idea any more, how long it took me to write the game. I was still a student at that time and spended hours every day on my VIC (which was named VC-20 (without the "I") in Germany, as you probably know), but it must have been weeks and months. I remember, that "Robin At Ravenwreck" were my first steps into 6502 machine code programming. Later on I wrote complete games in assembler... some of them never to be published.
Although my big hero of that time was the british programmer Jeff Minter (who made those beautiful games like "AMC - Attack Of The Mutant Camels" for the C64 and looked so cool with his long hair he could sit on), Robin At Ravenwreck was inspired by Brøderbund's game "Lode Runner".
As I had problems putting the player onto a ladder w/o a sprite function, I replaced the ladders by elevators.
Unfortunately, there are no letters from the publisher left, but I remember, that I was paid 440,- DM/german marks (about $300 USD) for it, as they paid 120,- DM per printed page and the code was almost 4 pages long. A pretty amount of money for a 16 year old boy - and I was very proud of it.
Between the levels, the game showed a more or less senseful message to the player, one of those messages included my telephone number (well, in fact, the number of my parents, as I had no telephone line of my own). In the months after the game was published, I got lots of calls from people, who told me their high scores, asked for hints or just wanted to say "hello"... none of those contacts did hold fpr a longer time, but it was a very interesting experience in those pre-WWW times.
What else? I stored the editon of the magazine, in which the game was published:
Jesus Christ on roller skates, what a journey into time! Hope, I didn't bore you too much![/url]
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Mike
- Herr VC
- Posts: 4841
- Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2004 1:57 pm
- Location: Munich, Germany
- Occupation: electrical engineer
Hi, Dusty, and welcome to Denial!
And there are still new programs being written: witness the 'Software releases' threads of 2008, 2009, and 2010 (hmm ... 2011 still needs to be opened).
Maybe you rejoin the club of active programmers for the VIC-20?
It is quite remarkable you kept your notes over that long time span. Which monitor did you use to assemble the code?Dusty wrote:Well, however, I then grabbed out my old ring binders and found a print out of the source code, dated October, 27th 1985 ...
Indeed emulators have advanced quite a lot over the last years. At least since 2002 VICE forms an essential part in my tool-set for cross-developing for the VIC-20.I first installed the VICE emulator and downloadad the files, [...] the emulator creators did a great job, too!
And there are still new programs being written: witness the 'Software releases' threads of 2008, 2009, and 2010 (hmm ... 2011 still needs to be opened).
Maybe you rejoin the club of active programmers for the VIC-20?
Despite we're getting a little bit off-topic, don't we? -- haha, you guys really still write software for the VIC-20? Great!! Probably I might add with some old stuff first... but in advance I have to find a possibility to read me old 5.25" CBM-formatted disks on a PC or vice versa - or to establish some other kind of connection between both machines.
After a friend already soldered (<-word? took it from dict.leo.org for "löten") me a video cable last night and after having found a cable suitable for the floppy disk, I was able to read the 25 year old disks on my VIC-20 (and they were all readable... it's so amazing!), but now I need a solution to read 'em in a PC.
As I still know, Commodore used the so called GCR (group code recording) for coding the bits onto floppy disk, the PC uses MFM (modified frequence modulation). To me, the GCR was more intelligent than the MFM, and I think, it might be difficult to impossible, to read GCR coded data from an MFM coding device, because the normal PC FDD (de)codes the data already inside a chip (hardware sided), AFAIK.
But I'm sure, there are suitable solutions for the data transfer, err?
If I got such a possibilty, I'll gladly post some more stuff here!
After a friend already soldered (<-word? took it from dict.leo.org for "löten") me a video cable last night and after having found a cable suitable for the floppy disk, I was able to read the 25 year old disks on my VIC-20 (and they were all readable... it's so amazing!), but now I need a solution to read 'em in a PC.
As I still know, Commodore used the so called GCR (group code recording) for coding the bits onto floppy disk, the PC uses MFM (modified frequence modulation). To me, the GCR was more intelligent than the MFM, and I think, it might be difficult to impossible, to read GCR coded data from an MFM coding device, because the normal PC FDD (de)codes the data already inside a chip (hardware sided), AFAIK.
But I'm sure, there are suitable solutions for the data transfer, err?
If I got such a possibilty, I'll gladly post some more stuff here!
Sorry, completely forgot to answer your questions... Right at the moment, I can't remember the name of the machine code monitor I used, although I found it last night on one of those disks... "something-mon" ... I'll have to look it up once more. But it was a very popular monitor, first published by "CHIP" for the C64 AFAIK, 1K or so of size and it came with (for the time) good developping tools.
And yes... if I ever kept s.th. together in life, it were my memories to those great times! To be true, I am not very organized at all, but the things, I *HAVE* organized, are well done - "german style" so to say
And yes... if I ever kept s.th. together in life, it were my memories to those great times! To be true, I am not very organized at all, but the things, I *HAVE* organized, are well done - "german style" so to say
Yes, the VIC-20 scene is very much alive! Regarding data transfer from and to PC there are multiple solutions.
I'm using an uIEC device. This you can connect to your VIC-20 like a floppy drive using a serial cable and use standard SD-cards with it it either as a large 2GB floppy drive or with .d64 images (which is a data-format for whole disk-images). There are also tools to copy disks from and to it.
Or you can use the new Zoom Floppy to connect an old Commodore drive via USB to your PC.
But it doesn't end there, there are beautiful ViC-20 expansion-carts like the MegaCart or the Final Expansion which was even developed by a fellow german in 2009. This one includes a 512 KB memory expansion which can be configured to any VIC-20 expansion configuration plus banking and an uIEC-like-device for use with SD-cards all in one neat cart.
Emulation with VICE is fantastic. Most VIC-20 programmers are probably using this right now, allowing for cross-development. There are so many advantages using VICE in development (hold processor, watch rasterlines, set watchpoints and so on) that many things have been realized on the small machine that would have been unthinkable back then. Heck, there is even a Doom-port in the works.
It can be a little overwhelming getting back into this at first, but boy, what fun
I'm using an uIEC device. This you can connect to your VIC-20 like a floppy drive using a serial cable and use standard SD-cards with it it either as a large 2GB floppy drive or with .d64 images (which is a data-format for whole disk-images). There are also tools to copy disks from and to it.
Or you can use the new Zoom Floppy to connect an old Commodore drive via USB to your PC.
But it doesn't end there, there are beautiful ViC-20 expansion-carts like the MegaCart or the Final Expansion which was even developed by a fellow german in 2009. This one includes a 512 KB memory expansion which can be configured to any VIC-20 expansion configuration plus banking and an uIEC-like-device for use with SD-cards all in one neat cart.
Emulation with VICE is fantastic. Most VIC-20 programmers are probably using this right now, allowing for cross-development. There are so many advantages using VICE in development (hold processor, watch rasterlines, set watchpoints and so on) that many things have been realized on the small machine that would have been unthinkable back then. Heck, there is even a Doom-port in the works.
It can be a little overwhelming getting back into this at first, but boy, what fun
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English Invader
- Vic 20 Scientist
- Posts: 1193
- Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2009 3:51 pm
I have an X1541 cable that I've never had occasion to use. It was a freebie from someone on this forum and I'm quite happy to pass it on to someone who can make use of it.Dusty wrote:But I'm sure, there are suitable solutions for the data transfer, err?
If I got such a possibilty, I'll gladly post some more stuff here!
The X1541 cable goes between the 1540/1541 drive and your PC's parallel port (if you have a PC that's old enough to have one). You also need a program called Star Commander which is available as freeware.
This is quite a dated and time-consuming form of file transfer (or so I'm led to understand), but it's available if you're looking for an option that won't cost any money.
Hey, that's a great offer, english invader, I appreciate that very much and would be glad, if you could send me that cable -- I'll send you an PM immediately and will thank you with some more old (game) stuff for the VIC-20 of mine
For sure, I'll take all shipping costs... it really looks a nice place here... glad to have found you!
Do you (or someone else) probably know, if the x1541 cable will work only with a 1541 or probably with other commodore compatible FDDs, too? Right now, I just got a C128d and a 2-disk-drive from a 3rd party company... I'd like to give it a try, and if it shouldn't work, I can look for a 1541 at ebay or give the cable to the next one here who asks!
For sure, I'll take all shipping costs... it really looks a nice place here... glad to have found you!
Do you (or someone else) probably know, if the x1541 cable will work only with a 1541 or probably with other commodore compatible FDDs, too? Right now, I just got a C128d and a 2-disk-drive from a 3rd party company... I'd like to give it a try, and if it shouldn't work, I can look for a 1541 at ebay or give the cable to the next one here who asks!
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English Invader
- Vic 20 Scientist
- Posts: 1193
- Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2009 3:51 pm
I'm not sure about that. Can someone please confirm whether an X1541 cable will work with third party floppy drives or not?Dusty wrote:Do you (or someone else) probably know, if the x1541 cable will work only with a 1541 or probably with other commodore compatible FDDs, too? Right now, I just got a C128d and a 2-disk-drive from a 3rd party company...
Dusty, I should warn you that 1541 drives can be quite expensive; especially if you have to import them from other countries. If you're spending that kind of money, the digital solutions would be a much better investment.
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English Invader
- Vic 20 Scientist
- Posts: 1193
- Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2009 3:51 pm
Just asked some people on Lemon 64. It depends on the drive; some third party drives work with an X1541 cable, some don't; the only way to find out is to give it a shot.Dusty wrote:Do you (or someone else) probably know, if the x1541 cable will work only with a 1541 or probably with other commodore compatible FDDs, too? Right now, I just got a C128d and a 2-disk-drive from a 3rd party company... I'd like to give it a try, and if it shouldn't work, I can look for a 1541 at ebay or give the cable to the next one here who asks!
I shall visit my local post office and get an estimate and then you can decide if it's worth the risk or not.