125 replies to this topic

[Opry99er]

So I began writing a game for the SSGC... just to submit one for the final compendium--- not as an entry, you understand.  Anyway, I just found the code in a file and I thought I would share it here. The game is not really even a game yet... It's just some ideas in code.  Since the goal was 30 lines or less, I pretty much kept this thing bare bones and didn't bother with much graphically.... I quit work on it very early on so I wasn't able to accomplish much or even to limit the number of lives you can lose.

Below is a screenshot of the game in action and I have also pasted the XB code below that. I no longer have any need to keep it under 30 lines, so it can grow to whatever we would like it to!!  Anyway, please take this and run... I want the credit for the game to go to those in the Atariage UG who wish to contribute--- Let's get crazy!

GAME PREMISE--- Don't die by drowning, don't get eaten, score high--- collect treasure chests to reach next level.

*** Note... the game elements are still up in the air... I would like to see more random octopi... maybe even sharks or something.  =)




***NOTE*** This code is updated regularly, so keep checking in!!

**CODE BELOW**

Spoiler

REM "CALIMARI CARL" AN OPRY99ER GAME (2010)
REM GRAPHICAL CONTRIBUTIONS BY SOMETIMES99ER
REM CODE HAS BEEN CUT INTO MOSTLY SINGLE LINE STATEMENTS FOR ASSEMBLY CONVERSION[/b]

[b]
REM TITLE SCREEN

REM SET UP SCREEN AND COLORS FOR TITLE SCREEN

100 CALL CLEAR
101 CALL SCREEN(6)
102  CALL COLOR(2,16,1,3,16,1,4,2,1)

REM CHARACTER DEFINITIONS FOR TITLE

110 CALL CHAR(33,"6090906")
120 CALL CHAR(40,"00071F3F3F7F7F7E00FFFFFFFFFFFF0000FEFEFEFEFEFE00007E7E7E7E7E7E7E")
130 CALL CHAR(44,"007E7E7E7E7E7E007E7E7E7E7E7E7E7E007F7F7F7F7F7F0000E0F8FCFCFEFE7E")
140 CALL CHAR(48,"007F7F7F7F7F7F7E00FFFFFFFFFFFF7E7EFEFEFEFEFEFE7E7E7F7F3F3F1F07")
150 CALL CHAR(52,"7E7F7F7F7F7F7F007EFEFEFEFEFEFE007E7E7E7E7E7E7E")
160 CALL CHAR(56,"0080C0C0C0C0C0C0FFFFC0C0C0C0C0C0FFFF000000000000C0C")
170 CALL CHAR(60,"7F3F000000000000C0C0C0C0C0C0C0C00301")

REM DISPLAY "CALIMARI CARL" **DESIGNED BY SOMETIMES99ER
180 DISPLAY AT(4,3):"()*8 +,8  	,8()*8   +8"
190 DISPLAY AT(5,3):"-9:; -9;  	<;-9:;   -="
200 DISPLAY AT(6,3):"-= ./-+01/./(*+8-= ./(*-="
210 DISPLAY AT(7,3):"-= 02-----02-9-=-= 02-9-="
220 DISPLAY AT(8,3):"3)*4566666456=6=3)*456=6="
230 DISPLAY AT(9,3):">::::::::::::;<;>:::::;<;"

REM CHARACTER DEFINITIONS FOR DIVER

240 CALL CHAR(88,"00000101030707077FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF80C0E0F0F8F8FEFF0707070707030F11")
250 CALL CHAR(92,"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFEFCF060F87C7F3F3F0F0000000001FFFFFF1F")
260 CALL CHAR(96,"111F0FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFCFCFFFFFFE0E0D8641800F8FEFF7F7F7F7FFFFFFF")
270 CALL CHAR(100,"FFFFFEFCF8F0E0E0FF87000000000000FFFFFF1E00000000FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFE")
280 CALL CHAR(104,"C0C0C080000000000000000000000101011F7F7FFFFFFFFEFEFEFEFEFE7E7EFE")
290 CALL CHAR(108,"030307070F0F1F1FFEFCF8F0F1F1F1F1FEFEFFFFFFFFFFFF3F3F3F3F3F3F3F1F")
300 CALL CHAR(112,"F1E1E1E1E1E1C0C0FFFFFFFFFFFFFEFC")

REM DISPLAY DIVER

310 DISPLAY AT(13,14):"XYZ" 
311 DISPLAY AT(14,14):"[\]"
320 DISPLAY AT(15,12):"^_`ab"
321 DISPLAY AT(16,14):"cdef"
330 DISPLAY AT(17,14):"gh"
331 DISPLAY AT(18,12):"ijk"
340 DISPLAY AT(19,12):"lmn"
341DISPLAY AT(20,12):"opq"
350 DISPLAY AT(19,12):"lmn"
351 DISPLAY AT(20,12):"opq"

REM BUBBLE ANIMATION AND KSCAN FOR MOVING INTO MAIN GAME

360 W=RND*20+15
361 A=A+1
362 IF A>6 THEN A=1
370 CALL SPRITE(#A,33,16,98,142,-4,SGN(RND-.5))
380 CALL KEY(0,K,S)
381 IF S<>0 THEN 400
390 W=W-1
391 IF W<0 THEN 360 ELSE 380

REM PREPARE SCREEN AND CHARSETS FOR GAME

400 CALL CLEAR
410 CALL DELSPRITE(ALL)
420 CALL CHARSET
430 CALL CLEAR
440 CALL SCREEN(8)
450 CALL MAGNIFY(3)

REM CHARACTER DEFS AND COLORS

460 CALL CHAR(128,"0000010303071FFF")
470 CALL CHAR(129,"00408080C0E0FCFF")
480 CALL CHAR(112,"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF")
490 CALL COLOR(11,8,1,13,8,1)
500 CALL CHAR(96,"00010305071F3763CD09091B121200000080C0A0E0F8ECC6B39090D848480000")
510 CALL CHAR(100,"00042011084003131303400811200400002004881002C0C8C8C0021088042000") :: CALL CHAR(88,"18245ABDBD5A2418")
520 CALL CHAR(108,"0000006031190F1F704000000000000000000000E0EEFFEEA050280000000000")
530 CALL CHAR(116,"0000000031111F7F400000000000000000000000E0EEFFEEA050280000000000")

REM DRAW WAVES AT TOP OF SCREEN

540 FOR LW=1 TO 31 STEP 2
550 CALL HCHAR(1,LW,128)
560 NEXT LW
570 FOR RW=2 TO 32 STEP 2
580 CALL HCHAR(1,RW,129)
590 NEXT RW

600 REM 	**INIT VARIABLES**

REM PLAYER'S LOCATION

610 PY=160
620 PX=16

REM LIVES

630 L=3

REM OXYGEN

640 OX=20

REM POINTS

650 POI=0

REM SET SPRITES AND PUT THE ENEMIES IN MOTION

660 CALL SPRITE(#1,108,2,PY,PX)
670 CALL SPRITE(#2,96,5,32,200,0,18,#3,96,5,64,180,0,16,#4,96,5,96,86,0,20)

REM SET UP THE OXYGEN TANK AND CHECK FOR "IN BOUNDS"

680 TY=INT(RND*22)+2
690 TX=INT(RND*30)+2
700 IF TY>20 THEN TY=20
710 IF TY<4 THEN TY=4
720 IF TX<2 THEN TX=2
730 IF TX>30 THEN TX=20
740 DISPLAY AT(TY,TX):CHR$(88);

REM PLACE IMPORTANT VALUES ON SCREEN

750 DISPLAY AT(24,2):"BREATH "&STR$(OX);
760 DISPLAY AT(24,13):"POINTS "&STR$(POI);
770 DISPLAY AT(23,2):"LIVES "&STR$(L);
780 DISPLAY AT(24,8):CHR$(112);
790 DISPLAY AT(24,19):CHR$(112);
800 DISPLAY AT(23,7):CHR$(112);

REM CALL REST OF COLORS FOR GAME

810 CALL COLOR(13,8,2,11,8,1,8,16,1,2,2,8,3,2,8,5,2,8,6,2,8,7,2,8,4,2,8)

REM GAME LOOP START

REM CHECK FOR SPRITE COINC

820 CALL COINC(ALL,M)
830 IF M<>0 THEN GOTO 970

REM KSCAN FOR JOYSTICK

840 CALL JOYST(1,X,Y)

REM SET AUTO MOTION FOR PC SPRITE

850 CALL MOTION(#1,(-Y*2),(X*2))

REM SECOND CHECK FOR SPRITE COINC

860 CALL COINC(ALL,C)
870 IF C<>0 THEN GOTO 970

REM CHECK FOR TANK COLLISION

880 CALL COINC(#1,TY*8,TX*8,12,K)
890 IF K<>0 THEN GOTO 1100

REM INCREASE COUNTER AND DECREASE OXYGEN

900 CO=CO+1
910 IF CO=2 THEN OX=OX-1
920 IF CO=2 THEN CO=0

REM DISPLAY CURRENT OXYGEN LEVEL

930 IF OX<10 THEN DISPLAY AT(24,8):CHR$(112)&CHR$(112)&STR$(OX);
940 IF OX>=10 THEN DISPLAY AT(24,8):CHR$(112)&STR$(OX);

REM IF OXYGEN IS 0, THEN GOTO LOSE LIFE SEQUENCE

950 IF OX=0 THEN GOTO 970
960 GOTO 820

**************************************************
******* A COLLISION HAPPENED WITH AN ENEMY*******
**************************************************

REM DELETE SPRITES AND DISPLAY MESSAGE ONSCREEN

970 CALL DELSPRITE(ALL)
980 DISPLAY AT(10,10):"OCTOPUS FOOD";

REM DELAY LOOP #1

990 FOR DL=1 TO 300
1000 NEXT DL

1010 DISPLAY AT(10,10):"WHAT A SHAME";

REM DELAY LOOP #2

1020 FOR DL=1 TO 300
1030 NEXT DL

REM CLEAR MESSAGE AND EXISTING OXYGEN TANK

1040 DISPLAY AT(10,10):"		  	";
1050 DISPLAY AT(TY,TX):" ";

REM DECREASE LIVES, RESET OXYGEN TO 20

1060 L=L-1
1070 IF L<0 THEN GOTO 1160
1080 OX=20

REM RETURN TO GAME LOOP

1090 GOTO 660
********************************
*A TANK WAS RETRIEVED**********
*SO INCREASE POINTS AND OXYGEN*
********************************
1100 CALL SOUND(100,220,1,440,1,659,1)

REM INCREASE POINTS AND OXYGEN
1110 POI=POI+100
1120 OX=OX+10

REM OXYGEN LIMIT IS 50

1130 IF OX>50 THEN OX=50
1140 DISPLAY AT(TY,TX):CHR$(112);

REM RETURN TO GAME LOOP

1150 GOTO 680

*********************************
*YOU ARE OUT OF LIVES, GAME OVER*
*********************************

REM CLEAR SCREEN AND SET COLORS

1160 CALL CLEAR
1170 CALL SCREEN(9)
1180 FOR X=1 TO 12
1190 CALL COLOR(X,2,1)
1200 NEXT X

REM DISPLAY MESSAGE AND HOLD

1210 DISPLAY AT(10,8):"YOU LOSE, YA WANK!";
1220 GOTO 1220

Edited by Opry99er, Mon Nov 8, 2010 6:08 PM.

[sometimes99er]

Nice graphics and nice game as is. Your game loop seems to work fine. Maybe some upper and lower limits for the diver. And maybe double the speed overall. I guess checking for breath is the only thing missing in the game loop. Adding harpoons would probably be too much for XB. You can have whatever effects outside game loop as when you die and then checking if there's no more lives. Maybe cyan border instead of black, this would "release" the text at the bottom. Maybe adding a font. Maybe lowering the waves and adding a cyan ship that just sails along. And of course adding "prescan".

[Opry99er]

Yea man....  And if you die more than 4 times, you get negative lives. Hehehe----  

I never got very far in the development of this game--- just the skeleton.  I will certainly add music to it by using Matthews brilliant sound player.... I was hoping one or many of you would make these suggestions and perhaps tinker with the code some.... This was a cool game idea that included treasure chests and enemies moving a bit more randomly.... It was never gonna happen in 30 lines--- I was fooling myself.   The graphics for the shipwrecks and enemies alone would eat up all my data statements and then coincidence checks for treasure, oxygen tanks, etc.....

The other thing is that this demo has some terrible bugs... The tanks sometimes don't disappear, and the oxygen counter counts by ten instead of 1.   Something stupid I'm sure. I just had many other things pop up and never debugged or finished the game. Thanks for taking a look, sometimes. . I like your suggestions!!

[sometimes99er]

The thing is, that XB can only handle so much in the main game loop, but nice things could be added to the background, and game loop sprites could be exchanged, or levels/progress could be added. An intro screen with maybe an animated diver, just legs and flippers moving, and bubbles rising. Gently moving seaweed as stacked sprites would be awesome, but that would probably have to hook on the ISR (machine code on the Interrupt Service Routine).

[Opry99er]

Wonder if there's a way to make th ship look like it is passing behind the waves.... Like the waves are in front of the ship and cover part of the hull of the ship.  A straight SPRITE would pass "over" those waves.... I suppose a pixel by pixel manual movement of the ship by using multiple patterns for characters could be possible... But that would probably be tough in XB....

[Opry99er]

sometimes99er, on Tue Aug 17, 2010 7:05 AM, said:

The thing is, that XB can only handle so much in the main game loop, but nice things could be added to the background, and game loop sprites could be exchanged, or levels/progress could be added. An intro screen with maybe an animated diver, just legs and flippers moving, and bubbles rising. Gently moving seaweed as stacked sprites would be awesome, but that would probably have to hook on the ISR (machine code on the Interrupt Service Routine).

This is a great idea.  I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do with the title screen, but your suggestion is great, thanks.   I'll start with some mockups when I get a bit of time... And if you artists on here don't beat me to it!!! (and if you DO beat me to it--- it'll probably be better than my rendering anyway, so GET TO IT!!!  )

good stuff man.   I learned when working on Honeyomb Rapture that XB is limited, but you can be quite deceptive with it too.  Make it SEEM like a whole lot more is going on than actually is.  And that's what a computer game really is, isn't it?  An illusion... XB is fun and challenging.  Makes for cool little games... Just too slow for some things.

[sometimes99er]

Well, the idea is to put a really bad performing XB game into some Strawberry jelly marmalade stuff, out comes a cartridge, and whoopsy you're millionaire !



PS. Owen, remember, your home is here.
PPS. How about doing a track about/for AtariAge. An upbeat rocker !? Is it more than 20,000 members here ?

Edited by sometimes99er, Tue Aug 17, 2010 7:29 AM.

[Opry99er]

Thanks, Karsten.  I love this place... No place ever felt like an online "home" to me except here, in our forum, talking about programming, graphics, projects and friends.  I'm curious to see how insane Calimari Carl can get... There is just about an unlimited number of ways to take that concept....

you all are extended family to me-- as far as I'm concerned.  The Yahoo group can bloody kiss my ass.... What has that list actually accomplished lately anyway!?

[retroclouds]

Opry99er, on Tue Aug 17, 2010 7:06 AM, said:

Wonder if there's a way to make th ship look like it is passing behind the waves.... Like the waves are in front of the ship and cover part of the hull of the ship.  A straight SPRITE would pass "over" those waves.... I suppose a pixel by pixel manual movement of the ship by using multiple patterns for characters could be possible... But that would probably be tough in XB....

How about if you put a wave sprite in front of the ship ?

You could move the ship very slowly, like every 3 seconds and perhaps 4 or 8 pixels at once together with the wave sprite.
As long as you don't use the automatic sprite motion (ISR) both sprites could be aligned.

Edit: I love the game title "Calimari Carl"  

Edited by retroclouds, Tue Aug 17, 2010 11:52 AM.

[Opry99er]

Thanks for the reply!   My drummer actually came up with the name.  We were sitting around one night, doing what guys in bands do--- and I showed him my game.  He laughed and said "Octopus Owen!!!"  then I came up with "Kalimari Kevin," and he said "Calimari Carl." Don't ask...  

Anyway, i'm really not at a place to put any real time into working on this game.... Which is mostly why I posted it... Perhaps others could add some chunks to the code--- a title screen, maybe fix up the bugs, add some limits to the gameloop.  I will continue to make small updates and modifications as they are suggested... The screen color thing and such... But this code belongs to the Atariage group now.  Anyone can make changes and improve it--- once it's the wickedest EVER XB game, we will release it to the community at large and post it to the Reef and the web. Anyone up for it?  Who wishes to take up the banner?   I bet with all these programmers and artists on here, this could morph into something way above and beyond what it currently is.  

[Bones-69]

I came in after the SSGC concept. We so need to do this again!

[Opry99er]

Bones--- just wait.... There's some stuff in the works for a wicked googlie coming down the pipe.   Itll be a doozie.  Just need to figure out a first prize---- Sometimes99er has been talking with me about some ideas he has.  Should turn put pretty sweet. In the meantime--- any interest in working with us on Calimari Carl?  

[sometimes99er]

An idea for intro screen ...  

100 CALL CLEAR :: CALL SCREEN(6) :: CALL COLOR(2,16,1,3,16,1,4,16,1,5,16,1)
110 CALL CHAR(33,"6090906")
120 CALL CHAR(40,"00030C183020606000F038180800000000000000003EC6861878181818181918")
130 CALL CHAR(44,"606000000061E76100000000009CA6C7000000000070981800000000001F6343")
140 CALL CHAR(48,"00000000000C3D0E0606000000E63E260000000000000000000718306040C0C")
150 CALL CHAR(52,"00E070301000010100000000007C8C0C000000000033F4381878181818989898")
160 CALL CHAR(56,"6060607030381C0700000000081121C0860E3646868E96E7181818181818987F")
170 CALL CHAR(60,"61616161616161FFC7868686868687E7181818181818189E43071B2343C7CB73")
180 CALL CHAR(64,"0E0C0C0C0C0C4CBF260606060606061F0000000000000080C0C0C0E06070380F")
190 CALL CHAR(68,"01000000112343810C1C6C8C0C1C2DCE38303030303030FC981818181818187E")
200 CALL CHAR(72,"0700000000000000C000000000000000E7000000000000007F")
210 CALL CHAR(76,"FF00000000000000E7000000000000009E0000000000000073")
220 CALL CHAR(80,"BF000000000000001F0000000000000080000000000000000F")
230 CALL CHAR(84,"8100000000000000CE00000000000000FC000000000000007E")
240 CALL CHAR(88,"00000101030707077FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF80C0E0F0F8F8FEFF0707070707030F11")
250 CALL CHAR(92,"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFEFCF060F87C7F3F3F0F0000000001FFFFFF1F")
260 CALL CHAR(96,"111F0FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFCFCFFFFFFE0E0D8641800F8FEFF7F7F7F7FFFFFFF")
270 CALL CHAR(100,"FFFFFEFCF8F0E0E0FF87000000000000FFFFFF1E00000000FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFE")
280 CALL CHAR(104,"C0C0C080000000000000000000000101011F7F7FFFFFFFFEFEFEFEFEFE7E7EFE")
290 CALL CHAR(108,"030307070F0F1F1FFEFCF8F0F1F1F1F1FEFEFFFFFFFFFFFF3F3F3F3F3F3F3F1F")
300 CALL CHAR(112,"F1E1E1E1E1E1C0C0FFFFFFFFFFFFFEFC")
310 DISPLAY AT(5,7):"()*+,-./01234567" :: DISPLAY AT(6,7):"89:;<=>?@ABCDEFG"
320 DISPLAY AT(7,7):"HIJKLMNOPQRSTUVW" :: DISPLAY AT(13,14):"XYZ"
330 DISPLAY AT(14,14):"[\]" :: DISPLAY AT(15,12):"^_`ab" :: DISPLAY AT(16,14):"cdef"
340 DISPLAY AT(17,14):"gh" :: DISPLAY AT(18,12):"ijk"
350 DISPLAY AT(19,12):"lmn" :: DISPLAY AT(20,12):"opq"
360 FOR A=1 TO 6 :: CALL SOUND(RND*800+500,110,30)
370 CALL SPRITE(#A,33,16,98,142,-4,SGN(RND-.5)) :: NEXT A :: GOTO 360

[Opry99er]

Brilliant.  =)  I'll add that to the code and re-post it to the first post... I gotta add a CALL KEY though... "Enter" should be sufficient.  =)

[Opry99er]

Just slapped these together... Didn't really have time to test it out much or mess with it... but I think there's an issue with LINE 370... I'll have time to debug when I get done with this crazy day I have coming up today.  But I bet someone beats me to it. =)  Thanks Karsten!

**check the first post in the thread for the newly thrown together code.  Again... It throws a SYNTAX error at me at line 370, so I don't have a working demo to show... Anyone care to fix it for me? =)  

I would do it, but I'm LATE LATE LATE!!!!  Gotta jet.  =)

[Opry99er]

I see the problem with the code.  I'm not near a computer right now to fix it.... But it's an interesting problem... The SPRITEs keep regenerating--- to have that work and have a CALL KEY, I will need to re-think the "link-up" between these two programs.... Perhaps RUN the game from the title screen... Link the two up or something.     Having the CALL KEY in the "A" loop is tricky..... The loop can be unresolved.

Edited by Opry99er, Wed Aug 18, 2010 9:58 AM.

[Opry99er]

In thinking about this... we could implement a "battle mode", wherein you, "Carl," have the ability to battle the octopi... It could be a first person shooter or a 3rd person blaster like Parsec.  The MG Smart Programmers Guide to SPRITEs shows some very cool ways to make a "shooter" in XB without missing coincidences and whatnot.  Very cool stuff....

Perhaps if Carl hits an octopus, a battle mode could be engaged, and then we could have some real fun... since the coincidence checks for the octopi will not be occuring, we could set it up to shoot harpoons and check for THAT coincidence... In a first person environment, it could certainly be possible to do it... 3rd person, just as simple and perhaps more fun to play. =)  What say you?

**edit**

Maybe levels.... Maybe this game could be "beatable" and not just a high score game... 7 levels of increasing difficulty... more enemies and FASTER enemies--- higher degree of difficulty in the battle sequences...  It would be pretty simple to do, just take a bit of time.  =)

Edited by Opry99er, Wed Aug 18, 2010 10:08 AM.

[marc.hull]

Opry99er, on Wed Aug 18, 2010 10:03 AM, said:

In thinking about this... we could implement a "battle mode", wherein you, "Carl," have the ability to battle the octopi... It could be a first person shooter or a 3rd person blaster like Parsec.  The MG Smart Programmers Guide to SPRITEs shows some very cool ways to make a "shooter" in XB without missing coincidences and whatnot.  Very cool stuff....

Perhaps if Carl hits an octopus, a battle mode could be engaged, and then we could have some real fun... since the coincidence checks for the octopi will not be occuring, we could set it up to shoot harpoons and check for THAT coincidence... In a first person environment, it could certainly be possible to do it... 3rd person, just as simple and perhaps more fun to play. =)  What say you?

**edit**


Maybe levels.... Maybe this game could be "beatable" and not just a high score game... 7 levels of increasing difficulty... more enemies and FASTER enemies--- higher degree of difficulty in the battle sequences...  It would be pretty simple to do, just take a bit of time.  =)

Hey hillbilly......  

This game has a pretty easy and straightforward premise (for now....)  Seems a good candidate for an assembly write and/or conversion.  You have to get your feet wet sometime my boy   Come on ya know you wanna come over to the dark side.....

Redneck....

PS...  Was in your neck of the woods last week and have a question.  Why the hell did I have to drive 10 miles north of the hotel to buy a beer ?  You guys got something against drunks ...

[Opry99er]

Haha!!  Yea, it's a dry county, but you can go into restaurants and drink beer.  

I could probably do this in assembly relatively easily.... The thing that is getting me with assembly is the SPRITE tables and character def tables.... I've seen it done so many ways and every book I've got describes it differently....  I don't know if you ever saw the scroll routine I wrote for LoBR, but it was pretty much a bare bones routine--- but it worked.   Matthew drastically improved the concept and wrote an awesome version of it.  Give me a bit, let me try something out.   thanks for a kick in the aZZ buddy.  

[sometimes99er]

Opry99er, on Wed Aug 18, 2010 8:12 AM, said:

Just slapped these together... Didn't really have time to test it out much or mess with it... but I think there's an issue with LINE 370... I'll have time to debug when I get done with this crazy day I have coming up today.  But I bet someone beats me to it. =)  Thanks Karsten!

**check the first post in the thread for the newly thrown together code.  Again... It throws a SYNTAX error at me at line 370, so I don't have a working demo to show... Anyone care to fix it for me? =)  

I would do it, but I'm LATE LATE LATE!!!!  Gotta jet.  =)

Maybe this would do

360 W=RND*20+15::A=A+1::IF A>6 THEN A=1
370 CALL SPRITE(#A,33,16,98,142,-4,SGN(RND-.5))
375 CALL KEY(0,K,S):: IF S<>0 THEN 390
380 W=W-1 :: IF W<0 THEN 360 ELSE 375

edit:
Seems to work. Much more responsive having call key in the wait loop. Any key continues.  

Edited by sometimes99er, Wed Aug 18, 2010 2:45 PM.

[Opry99er]

Great stuff man!!  Thanks.  I'll test it and update the code in the morning.  In the meantime--- tune in to cowboybillskw.com to watch us play tonight!!!  We're in Key West playing at Cowboy Bills and tonight us sexy bull riding night.... Mechanical bull.   there are two cameras, one on the stage and one on the Bull.  Please check us out.  (my self-indulgent rant is over... Back to Carl the octopus food)

[marc.hull]

Opry99er, on Wed Aug 18, 2010 1:00 PM, said:

Haha!!  Yea, it's a dry county, but you can go into restaurants and drink beer.  

I could probably do this in assembly relatively easily.... The thing that is getting me with assembly is the SPRITE tables and character def tables.... I've seen it done so many ways and every book I've got describes it differently....  I don't know if you ever saw the scroll routine I wrote for LoBR, but it was pretty much a bare bones routine--- but it worked.   Matthew drastically improved the concept and wrote an awesome version of it.  Give me a bit, let me try something out.   thanks for a kick in the aZZ buddy.  

It may seem confusing as there are many means to an end here but there is really only one char table, one sprite attribute table and one sprite def table (although you can move them around.)  Just start with a program that flashes the intro screen. You will be surprised at how easy it can be if you do one small task and build from there.  Now quit being a pussy and start assembling

[Opry99er]

You know it man.... I'll get on it asap.... But that truly means "as soon as POSSIBLE".... Busy as hell these days man.  That's why Beryl Reichardt hasn't moved in a month....

[Opry99er]

Well--- here's the latest... I will be updating the code as soon as I get home... If you've tried out the graphics I defined, there is a secret one in there that I have not used in the game yet.... At least I'm pretty sure it's in there.   Ill be getting off the road about noon today.... 23 hour drive from Key West to Elizabethtown KY straight through.... Then I turn right around on Thursday and travel to Georgia for a 3 nighter... THEN--- I will be able to focus on some TI work again.  I've been on the road for almost 2 months..... It's pretty disorienting really... But hey--- we all
work, right?  

Hope to have something to show on multiple fronts soon... Again--- if anyone wants to update this game code with some new updates and whatnot, your contributions will be listed in the great book of the gods and gold will fall like rain from the heavens and trumpets will sound.....
((sorry... I've been awake for 20 hours driving... I am quite delirious.   hehe))

[Opry99er]

I have got quite a bit done on the game tonight... Solved the oxygen display problem, the "leftover" oxygen tanks, the "Octopus Food" lingering text, and implemented Karsten's intro screen transitional code.  Starting to feel pretty cool.  . I'll update the code tonight or tomorrow.