InfernalKeith

Love the backstories! I interviewed Michael Capobianco a few years back -- he was one of the principals of Not-Polyoptics, a third-party software company for the 99/4A from the early days until the late 80s. Their games were listed in TI's official software catalog and they advertised heavily in 99'er Magazine, the main print information source for the TI back then. He told me that their biggest sellers, by something like a 10-1 ratio, were cassette games for the unexpanded TI in BASIC. Even making a 16K Extended BASIC game would chop sales of that title down to a fraction, and games requiring disk drives or memory expansion were scarcely worth the effort to put out, sales-wise. I think a lot of the reason the TI community that we have exists today is the proliferation of "fire sale" hardware after the axe fell in 1983. I imagine a lot of the "fresh from the attic" consoles we see still surfacing on Ebay are from people whose families bought them heavily discounted, played with briefly, and put away. Meanwhile, those frustrated by the high retail price of the expanded systems were quick to grab up that old stock when the big stores started clearance-ing it out. (As a side note to this, I'd theorize that the cassette software probably sold better to isolated TI users back in those days of slow modems and inconvenient copying. More people with disk drives would likely be part of a larger scene or a user's group, where disk copying was more common, so ironically that higher-quality, more advanced software was easier to pirate and sold even fewer copies.)

Earthworm Jim 'Pocket Rocket' in the (rather worn) box. Includes the handlebars and windshield. Stickers are included and have NOT been affixed to the bike yet. Also included, an Earthworm Jim figure with two handheld weapons and Snott. I can ship Monday via Priority Mail which should get it there for Christmas within the USA. Shipping's gonna probably run two pounds.

bump

Bump. Found still more of these in the garage. I have three lots of the five games, $25 each plus shipping takes them. Also, I found ONE sealed/boxed Incredible Wizard. The box has some crushing on the top but the seal is not broken. $10 for just Incredible Wizard, or $30 for that plus the other five games. Thanks! Keith

The official TI Color Monitor is smaller and lighter than some of the other monitors of the day, like the Commodore models. Maybe they planned for the light one but not the standard size?

Might be the first actual photo of one of those I've seen outside a drawing in a Myarc ad. Awesome!

I had some Tigercub disks and enjoyed his writing. At some point in the early 90s I sent him a disk of programs I'd written and he made a point to write back and compliment them, singing out a couple specific features he enjoyed. That was one of the most meaningful interactions I had with anyone in the TI community back in those days, and I appreciate him taking the effort to write back. A class act all the way.

Thanks again for the hard work and initiative on this one, Owen! Love seeing so much creativity being unleashed here in the group.

Here's one I had back in the old days on tape, purchased from the author. It's a really strong TI BASIC game (modified here to run in XB) that takes the 'snake' game concept, turns it into a strategic turn-based game, and adds some sneaking baddies that are invisible unless moving. The presentation is beautiful and it looks great. Title screen I'm the castle on the left, the computer AI is playing the one on the right. We can move 1-5 tiles per turn and can't hit trees, the lava or an already built wall or bridge. The monsters move two tiles per each player turn, and are invisible unless moving. Staying clear of them while trying to box in one's opponent is the main challenge, and one I failed at here. The author, Allen Salomon, sold his wares under the name "TImagination." I wrote to him in the late 80s, after seeing an ad in an old 99'er, and wound up buying this game, another called Zombie Mambo, and a third, multi-part game, Psyborg. (I can't find Psyborg, but I recall it being a really fun and atmospheric multi-part game that totally tanked it with a terrible finale). Enjoy! 1 REM UTILITY TO ALLOW YOU TO RUN A TIB PROGRAM IN XB EVEN THOUGH CHARSETS 15 AND 16 HAVE BEEN USED 2 REM MODIFIED VERSION OF VDPUTIL2 BY JOHN BEHNKE : MODIFIED BY RICHARD HEATH 3 CALL VDP 100 GOTO 2140 110 RN=INT(3*RND)+1 120 L=0 130 ON RN GOTO 140,260,200 140 CX=X1 150 NX=X1 160 CY=Y1 170 NY=Y1 180 C=96 190 GOTO 310 200 CX=X3 210 NX=X3 220 CY=Y3 230 NY=Y3 240 C=112 250 GOTO 310 260 C=104 270 CY=Y2 280 NY=Y2 290 CX=X2 300 NX=X2 310 L=L+1 320 W=ABS(CX-AX)+ABS(CY-AY) 330 Z=ABS(CX-BX)+ABS(CY-BY) 340 IF Z<W THEN 450 350 IF W<Z THEN 380 360 Z=INT(2*RND)+1 370 IF Z=1 THEN 450 380 IF CX>AX THEN 410 390 IF CX=AX THEN 420 400 NX=NX+2 410 NX=NX-1 420 IF CY>AY THEN 520 430 IF CY=AY THEN 530 440 GOTO 510 450 IF CX>BX THEN 480 460 IF CX=BX THEN 490 470 NX=NX+2 480 NX=NX-1 490 IF CY>BY THEN 520 500 IF CY=BY THEN 530 510 NY=NY+2 520 NY=NY-1 530 CALL SOUND(400,-5,20) 540 CALL GCHAR(NY,NX,Z) 550 CALL GCHAR(CY,CX,W) 560 CALL HCHAR(CY,CX,C) 570 FOR T=1 TO 9 580 NEXT T 590 CALL HCHAR(CY,CX,C+1) 600 FOR T=1 TO 9 610 NEXT T 620 CALL HCHAR(NY,NX,C+1) 630 CALL HCHAR(CY,CX,W) 640 CALL HCHAR(NY,NX,C) 650 CALL SOUND(1,-7,1) 660 IF Z<>120 THEN 680 670 KL=1 680 IF Z<>128 THEN 700 690 KL=2 700 CALL HCHAR(NY,NX,Z) 710 ON RN GOTO 720,760,800 720 X1=NX 730 Y1=NY 740 IF KL=0 THEN 840 750 RETURN 760 X2=NX 770 Y2=NY 780 IF KL=0 THEN 840 790 RETURN 800 X3=NX 810 Y3=NY 820 IF KL=0 THEN 840 830 RETURN 840 IF L=DF THEN 830 850 ON RN GOTO 140,260,200 860 FOR N=1 TO 24 870 CALL HCHAR(N,5,109,24) 880 NEXT N 890 CALL HCHAR(2,13,98) 900 CALL HCHAR(2,14,99) 910 CALL HCHAR(2,15,100) 920 CALL HCHAR(2,18,98) 930 CALL HCHAR(2,19,99) 940 CALL HCHAR(2,20,100) 950 CALL HCHAR(3,13,101) 960 CALL HCHAR(3,14,102) 970 CALL HCHAR(3,15,103) 980 CALL HCHAR(3,18,101) 990 CALL HCHAR(3,19,102) 1000 CALL HCHAR(3,20,103) 1010 CALL HCHAR(4,12,98) 1020 CALL HCHAR(4,13,99) 1030 CALL HCHAR(4,14,100) 1040 CALL HCHAR(4,19,98) 1050 CALL HCHAR(4,20,99) 1060 CALL HCHAR(4,21,100) 1070 CALL HCHAR(5,12,101) 1080 CALL HCHAR(5,13,102) 1090 CALL HCHAR(5,14,103) 1100 CALL HCHAR(5,19,101) 1110 CALL HCHAR(5,20,102) 1120 CALL HCHAR(5,21,103) 1130 CALL HCHAR(6,13,98) 1140 CALL HCHAR(6,14,99) 1150 CALL HCHAR(6,15,100) 1160 CALL HCHAR(6,18,98) 1170 CALL HCHAR(6,19,99) 1180 CALL HCHAR(6,20,100) 1190 CALL HCHAR(7,13,101) 1200 CALL HCHAR(7,14,102) 1210 CALL HCHAR(7,15,103) 1220 CALL HCHAR(7,18,101) 1230 CALL HCHAR(7,19,102) 1240 CALL HCHAR(7,20,103) 1250 CALL HCHAR(11,8,144) 1260 CALL HCHAR(11,9,145) 1270 CALL HCHAR(11,10,146) 1280 CALL HCHAR(12,8,147) 1290 CALL HCHAR(12,9,138) 1300 CALL HCHAR(12,10,148) 1310 CALL HCHAR(13,8,106) 1320 CALL HCHAR(13,9,107) 1330 CALL HCHAR(13,10,108) 1340 CALL HCHAR(11,23,152) 1350 CALL HCHAR(11,24,153) 1360 CALL HCHAR(11,25,154) 1370 CALL HCHAR(12,23,155) 1380 CALL HCHAR(12,24,130) 1390 CALL HCHAR(12,25,156) 1400 CALL HCHAR(13,23,106) 1410 CALL HCHAR(13,24,107) 1420 CALL HCHAR(13,25,108) 1430 CALL HCHAR(20,15,114) 1440 CALL HCHAR(20,16,115) 1450 CALL HCHAR(20,17,116) 1460 CALL HCHAR(20,18,117) 1470 CALL HCHAR(21,15,115) 1480 CALL HCHAR(21,16,116) 1490 CALL HCHAR(21,17,115) 1500 CALL HCHAR(21,18,116) 1510 CALL HCHAR(22,15,116) 1520 CALL HCHAR(22,16,115) 1530 CALL HCHAR(22,17,116) 1540 CALL HCHAR(22,18,115) 1550 CALL HCHAR(23,15,118) 1560 CALL HCHAR(23,16,116) 1570 CALL HCHAR(23,17,115) 1580 CALL HCHAR(23,18,119) 1590 RANDOMIZE 1600 X1=INT(7*RND)+13 1610 Y1=INT(5*RND)+2 1620 X2=INT(7*RND)+13 1630 Y2=INT(4*RND)+10 1640 X3=INT(3*RND)+15 1650 Y3=INT(3*RND)+20 1660 SA=0 1670 SB=0 1680 AX=9 1690 BX=24 1700 XB=4 1710 YB=-4 1720 W=J 1730 GOSUB 5000 1740 J=J-1 1750 IF J=1 THEN 1770 1760 J=2 1770 GOSUB 5000 1780 J=W 1790 SA=100 1800 SB=100 1810 CALL HCHAR(12,9,139) 1820 CALL HCHAR(13,9,149) 1830 CALL HCHAR(12,9,140) 1840 FOR T=0 TO 30 STEP 15 1850 CALL SOUND(-99,-7,T) 1860 NEXT T 1870 C=145 1880 FOR AY=12 TO 14 1890 CALL HCHAR(AY-1,9,C) 1900 CALL GCHAR(AY,9,C) 1910 CALL HCHAR(AY,9,120) 1920 FOR T=0 TO 30 STEP 15 1930 CALL SOUND(-99,500,T,1625,T,3375,T) 1940 NEXT T 1950 NEXT AY 1960 CALL HCHAR(12,24,131) 1970 CALL HCHAR(13,24,157) 1980 CALL HCHAR(12,24,132) 1990 FOR T=0 TO 30 STEP 15 2000 CALL SOUND(-99,-7,T) 2010 NEXT T 2020 C=153 2030 FOR BY=12 TO 14 2040 CALL HCHAR(BY-1,24,C) 2050 CALL GCHAR(BY,24,C) 2060 CALL HCHAR(BY,24,128) 2070 FOR T=0 TO 30 STEP 15 2080 CALL SOUND(-99,1000,T,3250,T,6750,T) 2090 NEXT T 2100 NEXT BY 2110 AY=14 2120 BY=14 2130 RETURN 2140 CALL CLEAR 2150 CALL SCREEN(2) 2160 DATA 96,0098BCDAFCE6FEC3,97,193D5B3F677FC300,98,04044E5FE5F1533F,99,081C1C3E0908A0E2 2170 DATA 100,02474FE2FA485C1C,101,397C7CFEFE383800,102,7277FFFF2F220200,103,3E3E7FFF9C1C0000 2180 DATA 104,FFE72400C381993C,105,666600C381993CFF,106,0080F0F0FFFFFFFF,107,0000000000FFFFFF 2190 DATA 108,00010F0FFFFFFFFF,109,FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF,112,7EFF99DBFF81DB7E,113,7EFF99DBFFFFFF7E 2200 DATA 114,000107133E6F3BFF,115,DDF7BE6ECBF95E6C,116,22B7EE7A47EC96A3,117,80A0F0D8F0B4F8EE 2210 DATA 118,773F2D0F1B0F0501,119,FFDCF67CC8E08000,120,0002044830304800,121,007B7B7B00DEDEDE 2220 DATA 128,FFBFDFEDF3F3EDFF,129,FFC3663C3C66C3FF,141,FFFFE7C3C3E7FFFF,142,FFA5C38181C3A5FF 2230 DATA 143,6681810000818166,130,FF81BDBDBDBDBDFF,131,FF81818181FFBDFF,132,FF81818181818181 2240 DATA 144,6B7F77773E3E3637,145,00000000000066FF,146,D6FEEEEE7C7C6CEC,147,3F3F3736373F3F3F 2250 DATA 148,FCFCEC6CECFCFCFC,149,7E7E7EFFFFFFFFFF,13,4,4,2,10,4,15,16,11,13,16,7,16,2,11,2 2260 RESTORE 2160 2270 FOR N=1 TO 29 2280 READ X,G$ 2290 CALL CHAR(X,G$) 2300 NEXT N 2310 FOR N=1 TO 9 2320 READ X,G$ 2330 CALL CHAR(X,G$) 2340 CALL CHAR(X+8,G$) 2350 NEXT N 2360 FOR N=9 TO 16 2370 READ X,Y 2380 CALL COLOR(N,X,Y) 2390 NEXT N 2400 FOR N=1 TO 8 2410 CALL COLOR(N,16,1) 2420 NEXT N 2430 DIM A(,B( 2440 RESTORE 2450 2450 DATA 0,0,0,4,4,4,4,0,4,-4,0,-4,-4,-4,-4,0,-4,4 2460 FOR N=0 TO 8 2470 READ A(N) 2480 READ B(N) 2490 NEXT N 2500 TA=0 2510 TB=0 2520 J=2 2530 GOSUB 860 2540 TA=0 2550 TB=0 2560 J=INT(2*RND)+1 2570 DATA 8,10,12,121,121,121,32,87,65,76,76,83,32,121,121,121,9,14,4,32,65,78,68,32 2580 DATA 10,9,14,129,129,129,32,66,82,73,68,71,69,83,32,129,129,129 2590 DATA 15,11,10,32,67,79,80,89,82,73,71,72,84,32,16,12,8,32,49,57,56,51,32,66,89,32 2600 DATA 17,10,13,32,84,73,77,65,71,73,78,65,84,73,79,78,32 2610 DATA 24,6,15,80,76,65,89,69,82,83,40,49,32,79,82,32,50,41,58 2620 DATA 24,6,18,68,73,70,70,73,67,85,76,84,89,40,49,32,84,79,32,51,41,58 2630 DATA 24,6,20,83,69,67,84,79,82,32,77,65,82,75,83,40,89,32,79,82,32,78,41,58 2640 DATA 24,6,21,65,68,86,65,78,67,69,32,76,73,77,73,84,40,49,32,84,79,32,53,41,58 2650 RESTORE 2570 2660 FOR N=1 TO 6 2670 READ Y,X,Z 2680 FOR W=X TO X+Z 2690 READ C 2700 CALL HCHAR(Y,W,C) 2710 NEXT W 2720 NEXT N 2730 Q=0 2740 Q1=0 2750 FOR N=1 TO 4 2760 READ Y,X,Z 2770 FOR W=X TO X+Z 2780 READ C 2790 CALL HCHAR(Y,W,C) 2800 NEXT W 2810 CALL KEY(3,X,S) 2820 IF S=0 THEN 2810 2830 CALL HCHAR(Y,W,X) 2840 ON N GOTO 2870,2910,2950,3020 2850 CALL SOUND(100,110,1) 2860 GOTO 2810 2870 IF X>50 THEN 2850 2880 IF X<49 THEN 2850 2890 K=X-48 2900 GOTO 3050 2910 IF X>51 THEN 2850 2920 IF X<49 THEN 2850 2930 DF=X-48 2940 GOTO 3050 2950 IF X=89 THEN 3000 2960 IF X=78 THEN 2980 2970 GOTO 2850 2980 CALL CHAR(109,"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF") 2990 GOTO 3050 3000 CALL CHAR(109,"FFFFFFE7E7FFFFFF") 3010 GOTO 3050 3020 IF X>53 THEN 2850 3030 IF X<49 THEN 2850 3040 LM=X-48 3050 CALL SOUND(100,2000,1) 3060 NEXT N 3070 IF Q1=1 THEN 5250 3080 GOSUB 860 3090 IF J=1 THEN 3110 3100 J=0 3110 J=J+1 3120 Q=Q+1 3130 IF Q<10 THEN 3160 3140 Q=0 3150 Q1=1 3160 N=Q+48 3170 N1=Q1+48 3180 KL=0 3190 RN=1 3200 L=DF-1 3210 GOSUB 140 3220 RN=3 3230 L=DF-1 3240 GOSUB 200 3250 L=DF-1 3260 RN=2 3270 GOSUB 260 3280 RESTORE 3290 3290 DATA 82,79,85,78,68,58 3300 FOR X=12 TO 17 3310 READ C 3320 CALL HCHAR(1,X,C) 3330 NEXT X 3340 CALL HCHAR(1,18,N1) 3350 CALL HCHAR(1,19,N) 3360 CALL SOUND(100,260,5,262,1,264,5) 3370 CALL SOUND(100,347,5,349,1,351,5) 3380 CALL SOUND(100,438,5,440,1,442,5) 3390 CALL SOUND(200,521,5,523,1,525,5) 3400 CALL SOUND(100,438,5,440,1,442,5) 3410 CALL SOUND(900,521,5,523,1,525,5) 3420 FOR X=12 TO 19 3430 CALL HCHAR(1,X,109) 3440 NEXT X 3450 FOR T=1 TO 300 3460 NEXT T 3470 IF J=2 THEN 4070 3480 J=1 3490 S=LM+1 3500 S=S-1 3510 IF S=0 THEN 3610 3520 CALL SOUND(30,-7,1) 3530 CALL HCHAR(AY,AX,S+48) 3540 FOR T=20*DF TO 60 3550 CALL JOYST(1,X,Y) 3560 NEXT T 3570 IF X<>0 THEN 3610 3580 IF Y<>0 THEN 3610 3590 CALL HCHAR(AY,AX,121) 3600 GOTO 3500 3610 S=S-1 3620 YA=AY-Y/4 3630 XA=AX+X/4 3640 IF YA<25 THEN 3660 3650 YA=1 3660 IF YA>0 THEN 3680 3670 YA=24 3680 IF XA<29 THEN 3700 3690 XA=5 3700 IF XA>4 THEN 3720 3710 XA=28 3720 CALL HCHAR(AY,AX,109) 3730 CALL GCHAR(YA,XA,C) 3740 CALL HCHAR(AY,AX,121) 3750 CALL HCHAR(YA,XA,120) 3760 AX=XA 3770 AY=YA 3780 IF C=109 THEN 3980 3790 CALL HCHAR(AY,AX,141) 3800 CALL HCHAR(AY,AX,142) 3810 CALL HCHAR(AY,AX,143) 3820 FOR W=1 TO 30 3830 CALL SOUND(100,-5,W) 3840 NEXT W 3850 CALL VCHAR(20,29,94,4) 3860 SB=SB+1 3870 GOSUB 5000 3880 CALL SOUND(200,521,5,523,1,525,5) 3890 FOR L=1 TO 3 3900 CALL SOUND(50,521,5,523,1,525,5) 3910 NEXT L 3920 CALL SOUND(200,521,5,523,1,525,5) 3930 CALL SOUND(225,438,5,440,1,442,5) 3940 CALL SOUND(250,521,5,523,1,525,5) 3950 CALL SOUND(1000,696,5,698,1,700,5) 3960 CALL VCHAR(20,29,32,4) 3970 GOTO 3070 3980 FOR W=0 TO 30 STEP 15 3990 CALL SOUND(-99,500,W,1625,W,3375,W) 4000 NEXT W 4010 SA=SA+1 4020 IF S>0 THEN 3610 4030 GOSUB 110 4040 IF KL=0 THEN 4070 4050 J=KL 4060 ON J GOTO 3790,4730 4070 J=2 4080 IF K=2 THEN 4430 4090 G=0 4100 S=0 4110 W=1 4120 L=DF*LM 4130 CALL SOUND(30,999,1) 4140 CALL HCHAR(BY,BX,63) 4150 FOR N=1 TO 8 4160 Z=0 4170 Z=Z+1 4180 XB=BX+Z*A(N)/4 4190 YB=BY-Z*B(N)/4 4200 IF YB<25 THEN 4220 4210 YB=YB-24 4220 IF YB>0 THEN 4240 4230 YB=YB+24 4240 IF XB<29 THEN 4260 4250 XB=XB-24 4260 IF XB>4 THEN 4280 4270 XB=XB+24 4280 CALL GCHAR(YB,XB,C) 4290 IF C<>109 THEN 4370 4300 T=ABS(YB-Y1)+ABS(XB-X1)+ABS(YB-Y2)+2*(Z-1) 4310 T=T+ABS(XB-X2)+ABS(YB-Y3)+ABS(XB-X3) 4320 IF T<W THEN 4360 4330 W=T 4340 S=Z 4350 G=N 4360 IF Z<L THEN 4170 4370 NEXT N 4380 IF S<LM THEN 4400 4390 S=LM 4400 X=A(G) 4410 Y=B(G) 4420 GOTO 4550 4430 S=LM+1 4440 S=S-1 4450 IF S=0 THEN 4550 4460 CALL SOUND(30,-6,1) 4470 CALL HCHAR(BY,BX,S+48) 4480 FOR T=4*DF TO 12 4490 CALL JOYST(2,X,Y) 4500 NEXT T 4510 IF X<>0 THEN 4550 4520 IF Y<>0 THEN 4550 4530 CALL HCHAR(BY,BX,129) 4540 GOTO 4440 4550 S=S-1 4560 YB=BY-Y/4 4570 XB=BX+X/4 4580 IF YB<25 THEN 4600 4590 YB=1 4600 IF YB>0 THEN 4620 4610 YB=24 4620 IF XB<29 THEN 4640 4630 XB=5 4640 IF XB>4 THEN 4660 4650 XB=28 4660 CALL HCHAR(BY,BX,109) 4670 CALL GCHAR(YB,XB,C) 4680 CALL HCHAR(BY,BX,129) 4690 CALL HCHAR(YB,XB,128) 4700 BX=XB 4710 BY=YB 4720 IF C=109 THEN 4910 4730 CALL HCHAR(BY,BX,141) 4740 CALL HCHAR(BY,BX,142) 4750 CALL HCHAR(BY,BX,143) 4760 FOR V=1 TO 30 4770 CALL SOUND(100,-5,V) 4780 NEXT V 4790 CALL VCHAR(20,4,94,4) 4800 SA=SA+1 4810 GOSUB 5000 4820 CALL SOUND(200,438,5,440,1,442,5) 4830 CALL SOUND(200,347,5,349,1,351,5) 4840 CALL SOUND(200,438,5,440,1,442,5) 4850 CALL SOUND(225,521,5,523,1,525,5) 4860 CALL SOUND(250,438,5,440,1,442,5) 4870 CALL SOUND(275,521,5,523,1,525,5) 4880 CALL SOUND(1000,696,5,698,1,700,5) 4890 CALL VCHAR(20,4,32,4) 4900 GOTO 3070 4910 FOR W=0 TO 30 STEP 15 4920 CALL SOUND(-99,1000,W,3250,W,6750,W) 4930 NEXT W 4940 SB=SB+1 4950 IF S>0 THEN 4550 4960 GOSUB 110 4970 IF KL=0 THEN 3480 4980 J=KL 4990 ON J GOTO 3790,4730 5000 IF J=2 THEN 5050 5010 X=29 5020 TB=TB+SB 5030 S=TB 5040 GOTO 5080 5050 X=4 5060 TA=TA+SA 5070 S=TA 5080 DATA 83,67,79,82,69 5090 RESTORE 5080 5100 FOR Y=9 TO 13 5110 READ C 5120 CALL HCHAR(Y,X,C) 5130 NEXT Y 5140 S1=INT(S/1000) 5150 S=S-(1000*S1) 5160 S2=INT(S/100) 5170 S=S-(100*S2) 5180 S3=INT(S/10) 5190 S=S-(10*S3) 5200 CALL HCHAR(15,X,S1+48) 5210 CALL HCHAR(16,X,S2+48) 5220 CALL HCHAR(17,X,S3+48) 5230 CALL HCHAR(18,X,S+48) 5240 RETURN 5250 IF TA=TB THEN 5670 5260 DATA 80,76,65,89,69,82 5270 RESTORE 5260 5280 FOR X=14 TO 19 5290 READ C 5300 CALL HCHAR(5,X,C) 5310 NEXT X 5320 DATA 79,78,69 5330 DATA 84,87,79 5340 RESTORE 5320 5350 IF TA>TB THEN 5370 5360 RESTORE 5330 5370 FOR X=15 TO 17 5380 READ C 5390 CALL HCHAR(7,X,C) 5400 NEXT X 5410 DATA 87,73,78,83 5420 RESTORE 5410 5430 FOR X=16 TO 19 5440 READ C 5450 CALL HCHAR(9,X,C) 5460 NEXT X 5470 W=300 5480 FOR N=1 TO 4 5490 W=W+100 5500 CALL SOUND(W,330,1,392,1,523,1,-1,1) 5510 FOR Z=3 TO 8 5520 CALL COLOR(Z,2,16) 5530 NEXT Z 5540 CALL SOUND(W,349,1,440,1,523,1,-1,1) 5550 FOR Z=3 TO 8 5560 CALL COLOR(Z,16,2) 5570 NEXT Z 5580 NEXT N 5590 FOR W=1 TO 100 5600 NEXT W 5610 FOR W=30 TO 1 STEP-1 5620 CALL SOUND(-100,392,W,523,W,659,W,-1,W) 5630 NEXT W 5640 FOR W=1 TO 500 5650 NEXT W 5660 GOTO 2520 5670 DATA 84,79,85,82,78,65,77,69,78,84,73,83,32,65,68,82,65,87 5680 RESTORE 5670 5690 FOR X=12 TO 21 5700 READ C 5710 CALL HCHAR(5,X,C) 5720 NEXT X 5730 FOR X=15 TO 18 5740 READ C 5750 CALL HCHAR(7,X,C) 5760 NEXT X 5770 FOR X=15 TO 18 5780 READ C 5790 CALL HCHAR(9,X,C) 5800 NEXT X 5810 GOTO 5480 32600 SUB VDP :: CALL INIT :: CALL LOAD(8194,37,194,63,240) 32610 CALL LOAD(16368,80,79,67,72,65,82,37,58,80,79,75,69,86,32,37,168) 32620 CALL LOAD(9530,2,224,37,20,3,0,0,0,2,5,48,48,2,6,37,2,205,133,2,134,37,17) 32630 CALL LOAD(9552,17,252,4,192,2,1,0,1,2,2,37,1,2,3,18,0,212,131,4,32,32,20) 32640 CALL LOAD(9574,208,4,9,80,2,32,3,0,2,1,37,2,2,2,0,8,2,7,11,0,2,8,7,0,193) 32650 CALL LOAD(9599,1,192,193,193,180,97,133,145,135,21,1,113,136,6,198,145) 32660 CALL LOAD(9615,135,21,1,113,136,210,70,10,198,177,137,220,198,2,131,37,10) 32670 CALL LOAD(9632,17,240,4,32,32,36,16,6,2,224,37,20,3,0,0,0,4,32,32,32,4) 32680 CALL LOAD(9653,192,216,0,131,124,2,224,131,224,4,96,0,112) :: SUBEND 32690 SUB CHAR(A,A$) :: CALL LOAD(9500,A) :: CALL LINK("POCHAR",A$) :: SUBEND 32700 SUB COLOR(A,B,C) :: CALL LOAD(9492,8,15+A,(B-1)*16+C-1) 32710 CALL LINK("POKEV") :: SUBEND 32720 END

Depends on the weight. Media Mail is a flat rate for up to one pound. If you go over 8 ounces, media mail is likely cheaper (and I've had no problems with delivery time on it, though I've heard horror stories secondhand). If I was mailing out cassettes, I'd use a "Jiffy" padded mailer. The standard size #0 is one that fits a CD, DVD or standard size paperback book. I just mailed a cassette out today in one, the weight was 3 ounces, and the online price for First Class shipping was $2.04. Cardboard box is more durable but weighs more, and puts the shipping cost per item up higher.

Brave soul. I'm still terrified of non-turn-based games in XB because of the speed issues. I have a couple vague ideas for more action-y games but they're far down on the to-do list right now.

Come on, Tursi, the only acceptable answer to "SPEECH! SPEECH!" after this contest is: CALL SAY ("HOW HOW HOW")

There'll be AI. There are four players (plus the non-aligned tiles, which more or less makes for a 5th NPC). I don't know how sophisticated I can make the AI, but I at least want to vary each computer player's level of aggression vs construction (how many turns they spend building vs attacking).

Spent some time tonight removing code I didn't need yet because I got ahead of myself, plotting the map more accurately for the start of the game (no villages or cultivated fields at the start), and doing a LOT of work on paper. The combination of string handling and less robust IF-THEN statements is killing me. But I think I have it sorted how I'll approach the game turns. Unlike Risk, where your turn can last as long as you have armies to fight, CotA will give you a finite amount of moves per turn. Your terrain and the morale of your population will affect your number of turns. You must then divide those turns up between terraforming the land, planting crops, moving populations, and attacking. In addition to the other players, there are "non aligned" populations (shown in black on the map). Depending on your morale levels and battle odds, they may join your side without a fight when you attack their tiles. They may also align with you for a payment of food, if you have surplus. Similarly, you may lose areas to mutiny if people aren't being fed or morale otherwise takes a beating. Also unlike Risk, you can fight "to the last man," or abandon territory you own, if consolidating your position makes more sense. Still not sure if the object of the game will be to just outmatch everyone or to defend a home base. I'm gonna try to get the main turn loop done over the next few days and then see how playing the game feels. I may be in over my head on this one, but I'm gonna do my best to rise to the challenge.

My comb-bound copy came from a guy in Norwalk, Ohio, about an hour from here. I don't remember how I got in touch with him but he was selling off his system and I drove out there to pick it up. I got a speeding ticket within sight of his exit. He hadn't used his TI in years but was pretty into it when it was new, and he had a lot of printed out listings and programs saved to cassette. I got some of the other books in my collection from that haul, in addition to this one, and I think of him every time I sit down to work because his dot-matrix address label is on the front cover. That's one of the things I like about cobbling together a collection from so many sources over the course of years. Each piece of the puzzle has its own story.

If sending them to me wouldn't add extra time this close to the holidays, I'd volunteer to ship 'em out for you. I still sell a lot of books, records and CDs on Amazon and Discogs so I print postage from my PC daily. I've never used the online postage printing right from the USPS website but I imagine it's not too hard, and then you can skip the dreaded line and just deposit your packages right in the mailbox or hand them off to a clerk.

Part of me loves seeing pristine copies of stuff like that... but I also love my beat-to-crap copy with the margin notes on every page that the previous owner cut and comb-bound so it'd lay flat... that's the one I want in the trenches with me when I'm hammering out this code. Someday I'll have the space and money for both!

Shipping a 5-8 ounce package anywhere outside the USA (besides Canada) is $12.33. If you go over 8 ounces, you're up to $14.40. If you buy postage at the post office, it'll be a little more than this -- $12.33 is the online price. The service you want is "First Class International." The USPS site is designed to try to upsell you to priority options, which don't save you much time and cost a ton more. For small packages, this is the way to do it. Also, for domestic stuff, First Class Mail and Priority Mail go in the same bags and take the same amount of time. You'll spend a couple extra bucks per package for nothing if you ship a small package via Priority.

I didn't do a lot of playing around with the 'adjust controls' stuff, once it worked at all I kind of ignored it. I appreciate the notes, I am jotting stuff down for an eventual update. (I may clean up the code a little, try to shrink it down a couple K, and make a small run of them on cassette for real iron, but that won't be for a while).

I use GCHAR to keep tabs on the map data, but there's other information about each tile I'm keeping in strings. My main time hangup right now is at the map generation part -- I still don't have it doing all that it needs to do, and we're over three minutes from hitting ENTER on RUN to seeing the finished map and being able to interact with it. That's not unheard of by 1982 standards (the "please wait" before a dungeon or map spawns) but I'm trying to be realistic about anyone actually sitting through that in 2015. Plus, I want to be able to manipulate the map and its data a lot between turns. This'll be a good way for me to get my feet wet with the compiler, and I can bless Overdrive mode while I'm testing it before it's ready to compile.

Now that I'm back in the habit of programming daily, I want to try sharing a project from the ground up again. This is my new game, "Conquest of the Aftermath," which I plan to have finished by December 31. CotA is inspired by Risk, with additional elements borrowed from other games. Gameplay takes place on a map of 20x28 tiles, which are randomly distributed among four players, neutral territory, and water. Each tile has a terrain type -- in the beginning, inhospitable lands like mountains, forests and swamplands. Each tile also has a population, refugees from the war that destroyed the old cities and scattered your faithful followers across the land. In a finite number of turns each round, players can move population, terraform the land to grow food, and attack other tiles to gain territory. Population increases and decreases depending on the amount of food, access to water and villages, and morale of the populace. Morale and food also factor into battle statistics and can give one player an advantage. Excess food can be used to bribe neutral populations to join your ranks, while shortages can lead to mutiny and the defection of populations. Weather and natural disasters (including aftershocks from the nuclear attacks) may also play a part. I have not yet decided the object of the game, or whether each game may be set to one of several options (total victory, biggest gains in a preset time period, or the defense of a 'home city' tile). Right now we're REALLY early on. I'm just figuring out how to display the map and store all these variables. I'm using strings and speed is already a factor. I'm writing the code with simple, line-number-only IF-THEN statements, in anticipation that I will compile this game when it's completed. All the program does right now is create the map and set up variables, and allow the user to browse each tile's attributes. Over the weekend I plan to puzzle out the rules for number of turns, and figure out the balance the player must strike between terraforming, cultivating and conquering. Wish me luck! I have an idea how I want it to all come together, but there's a lot in flux right now.

Love it! I've never played the other platforms' version of this game, but you've captured the atmosphere of that mid-80's Speccy/Commodore type of game. No one who sees this would think of such games as "out of your comfort zone" at all. Great work.

Thanks Walid! It's an honor to be part of the collection.

That looks amazing, man. I want to start exploring that town. I need to get up to speed before this is ready to play and log some time with Legends and Tunnels of Doom.

Put me down for one of the green ones.