Opry99er Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 I saw some Moonbeam games on eBay today. Anyone have info about available Moonbeam titles? What language are they programmed in? How many are currently available online? Are there any hard to find titles? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfernalKeith Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 I saw some Moonbeam games on eBay today. Anyone have info about available Moonbeam titles? What language are they programmed in? How many are currently available online? Are there any hard to find titles? The ones I've found so far are Extended BASIC arcade-style games. I don't usually see them in the original packaging -- I just got a few, and paid too much for them, which may be why Ernie decided this week to put that batch of them up. My take on them, based on the ones I've played so far, is that they're very nice-LOOKING games, that are so slow and unreponsive as to be unplayable. The ones I've seen are very simplistic, relying on the most rudimentary "turn and shoot the sprite" or "don't hit the sprite" action in the main game loop, yet the input response is still so sluggish that the game ends up being pointless. I haven't spent a LOT of time with them yet, though. And again, they look awesome; whoever did the graphics for them knew what they were doing. I seem to remember a story (on the Timeline, maybe?) of Moonbeam going whole hog into the TI market and spending a lot of money, and winding up losing a small fortune. I do know that they bought a lot of really nice-looking full-color ads in 99'er, and their packaging looks very nice for the time, too. My verdict would be: neat as collector's items, but nothing you're gonna load in to play twice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted October 31, 2010 Author Share Posted October 31, 2010 I'd love to buy the lot Ernie has up, but I'm afraid I won't be able to afford them if they get too high. The "cave" type game looks especially good... It's the only one in the lot that comes on diskette, the others are cassette. If I DO win the lot, I'll make the code for these games available on my website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfernalKeith Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 I'd love to buy the lot Ernie has up, but I'm afraid I won't be able to afford them if they get too high. The "cave" type game looks especially good... It's the only one in the lot that comes on diskette, the others are cassette. If I DO win the lot, I'll make the code for these games available on my website. I'd like to have that one, too, it's one of the ones I don't have. I'm planning to release the code for the ones I have now when I get reviews of them up. My laptop troubles are putting a dent in that whole project right now, unfortunately. I think I have a couple of the others already. I'll probably leave Ernie's lot alone unless I really can't resist it -- I spent quite a bit on 'collection' stuff last month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted October 31, 2010 Author Share Posted October 31, 2010 Well Keith, if I do win it-- I will sell it to you for the same price I paid for it after I post all the code, if you're interested in it for collection purposes. I just want to play these games--- resurrect them from the depths of the "abandonware" dungeons. I have little to no interest in collecting any TI games not on cartridge--- but I would definitely like for someone to win this lot who will share the code for the community. So, assuming I win, you let me know in the future if you want to buy or trade for the lot--- I won't upcharge it or anything... Just dime for dime. That offer goes to anyone, assuming YOU don't want them. Here's hoping that whoever wins will be generous enough to dump the code to the Internet. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jchase1970 Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 Here are 9 moonbeam games that are already on the WEB, including caver quest. It's in .dsk format so change to .TIDisk for win99 or use tidir to pull the files out and place in classic99 disk directory Moonbeam_Software_Games_(19xx)(Moonbeam_Software)req._PHM_3026.zip 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted October 31, 2010 Author Share Posted October 31, 2010 Wow, thanks John!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 Cavern Quest was not too bad. I always used to like MoonBeam's stuff, though this was the only one I actually played as opposed to just seeing pics of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfernalKeith Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 Cavern Quest was not too bad. I always used to like MoonBeam's stuff, though this was the only one I actually played as opposed to just seeing pics of. I love the looks of their games - the graphics are great. I remember seeing them in 99'er ads years after the fact, and wishing I could get them all. I bet if they were compiled, or rewritten in assembly, all the ones I've played so far would be spectacular "twitch" games -- turn off brain and just shoot/dodge. It's just that the response time can't keep up with the games. To be fair, I only loaded the keyboard versions of each of the ones I recently tried. I dunno if the joystick ones will somehow work better, but I doubt it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted October 31, 2010 Author Share Posted October 31, 2010 Very cool stuff!!! I am excited to play Cavern Quest tonight... Always neat to play a game you didn't know existed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jchase1970 Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 Cavern Quest was not too bad. I always used to like MoonBeam's stuff, though this was the only one I actually played as opposed to just seeing pics of. I love the looks of their games - the graphics are great. I remember seeing them in 99'er ads years after the fact, and wishing I could get them all. I bet if they were compiled, or rewritten in assembly, all the ones I've played so far would be spectacular "twitch" games -- turn off brain and just shoot/dodge. It's just that the response time can't keep up with the games. To be fair, I only loaded the keyboard versions of each of the ones I recently tried. I dunno if the joystick ones will somehow work better, but I doubt it. Has anyone used Harrison's XB Compiler? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted October 31, 2010 Author Share Posted October 31, 2010 I haven't.... The only compiler I've eve used is the Wilhelm offering you have already used successfully on Bouncing Babies. Unfortunately, as you know, it does not handle SPRITEs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jchase1970 Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 I haven't.... The only compiler I've eve used is the Wilhelm offering you have already used successfully on Bouncing Babies. Unfortunately, as you know, it does not handle SPRITEs. Wilhelm help on harrison's. It's not a true compiler, what it does is runs through the XB code and then sub assembly routines that are faster for native XB routines. It supports sprites and from the examples on the disk does a nice job speeding up XB. It's no where near assembly speed because the XB is still only capable for processing so many lines a second. While it's doing a assembly routine that part is very fast but then it most have XB send it to the next statement. here is the disk for it and a source code disk as well Harrison\'s_XB_Compiler_(1995)(Bruce_Harrison)(PD).zip Harrison\'s_XP_Compiler_Source_Code_(1995)(Bruce_Harrison)(PD).zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unhuman Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Moonbeam games were either Basic or XB. They had titles of both... I tended to like them pretty well. As far as Harrisons "compiler"... I'd be curious to know if anyone has docs on it's usage. -H I haven't.... The only compiler I've eve used is the Wilhelm offering you have already used successfully on Bouncing Babies. Unfortunately, as you know, it does not handle SPRITEs. Wilhelm help on harrison's. It's not a true compiler, what it does is runs through the XB code and then sub assembly routines that are faster for native XB routines. It supports sprites and from the examples on the disk does a nice job speeding up XB. It's no where near assembly speed because the XB is still only capable for processing so many lines a second. While it's doing a assembly routine that part is very fast but then it most have XB send it to the next statement. here is the disk for it and a source code disk as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jchase1970 Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 the docs are on the disk for it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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