BASIC inspired Sky Diver!

[Mr SQL]

Creative computing October 1979

Thoughts?

 

BASIC is always talked about as a stepping stone to Assembly language but it can work the othe way around with Assembly programmers inspired to do ports of creative BASIC games. The 2018 BASIC programing contest is a good recent example with inspiring games and amazing programming techniques.

[jaybird3rd]

I always thought it was inspired by the 1978 Atari arcade game of the same name (well, almost the same name; it was spelled "Skydiver" instead of "Sky Diver").

[R.Cade]

Yeah, that is probably not right. Not sure how old the BASIC game is, but it's just text.

Edited March 19, 2018 by R.Cade

[Mr SQL]

I always thought it was inspired by the 1978 Atari arcade game of the same name (well, almost the same name; it was spelled "Skydiver" instead of "Sky Diver").

 

I think it is but Creative Computing's BASIC game inspired the arcade too, this listing of Splat is from The Best of Creative Computing Volume 1 (1976):

 

https://www.atariarchives.org/bcc1/showpage.php?page=268

 

The gameplay sounds similar, I wouldn't be surprised if they gave it a graphical overhaul before 1978 as well.

[jaybird3rd]

It's entirely possible that the original BASIC game served as an inspiration for games that were later (re)-implemented in machine language. Intellectual property laws as we know them today did not exist at the time, so I'm sure there was a lot of cross-pollination of ideas.

 

I also wouldn't be surprised if BASIC was used for what we would now call "rapid prototyping." To cite one example, I remember the Mattel handheld game engineers discussing their design process as a combination of "simulation coding" and "production coding." The "simulation coding" stage was done on (I think) an Apple ][ and consisted of refining and simplifying the game design until it was feasible to implement on the tiny chips that would be used in the final product; "production coding" would then involve translating that design to the target hardware.

[Mr SQL]

It's entirely possible that the original BASIC game served as an inspiration for games that were later (re)-implemented in machine language. Intellectual property laws as we know them today did not exist at the time, so I'm sure there was a lot of cross-pollination of ideas.

 

I also wouldn't be surprised if BASIC was used for what we would now call "rapid prototyping." To cite one example, I remember the Mattel handheld game engineers discussing their design process as a combination of "simulation coding" and "production coding." The "simulation coding" stage was done on (I think) an Apple ][ and consisted of refining and simplifying the game design until it was feasible to implement on the tiny chips that would be used in the final product; "production coding" would then involve translating that design to the target hardware.

 

Agree about the IP - interesting to see in the article that Creative Computing was proud to have Atari model Sky Diver after Splat. That mindset certainly changed by the time Pacman inspired KC.

 

Agree about the cross pollination of ideas too, influential books and computer magazines full of type-in BASIC games permeated the timeframe.

[MissCommand]

 

Agree about the IP - interesting to see in the article that Creative Computing was proud to have Atari model Sky Diver after Splat. That mindset certainly changed by the time Pacman inspired KC.

 

Agree about the cross pollination of ideas too, influential books and computer magazines full of type-in BASIC games permeated the timeframe.

 

And I spent a lot of hours typing in those listings with my Commodore 64! Whew...

 

It was also a good way to learn BASIC.