InfernalKeith

I can't believe I almost missed out on this! That'll teach me to come around more often. I'm absolutely gonna need to take some notes if I ever hope to finish the several out-of-memory BASIC games I've got languishing.

My dad survived a major tornado in the southern USA in the early 2000s. The mobile home park next to his house was destroyed, and his house was shifted on its foundation. A few years later another one came within blocks of my sister's house. Over a decade later, much of that neighborhood is still empty and uninhabited, they never rebuilt the houses. It's a little scary to think how temporary all of our material things are.

I should be clear, I meant issues with the .zip file itself. I'm not running tech support for a 1983 game.

Here it is! Lacking a better way to do it, I saved all 11 separate programs to cassette from my PEB, then from cassette to my CF7+, then to my PC and a .zip file. Let me know if you have any issues with it. Lastly, a small and petty request. I can't tell anyone what to do, but I'd like to put up a Youtube video this weekend with the 'rescue' story and some gameplay, so if you wouldn't mind giving me first crack at that, I'd appreciate it. Like I said before, it doesn't seem to be the most complicated game, but I still haven't played it too much yet. Enjoy! moonbright.zip

Ah man, this is exciting! I'll try to get the files up for you all tomorrow. I hadn't even realized it would run in 16K. It's a set of linked standalone programs, I'm not sure what (if any) data they pass back and forth via files, I didn't have long to play it yesterday.

Just came across a disk from "Cinquedea Software" for an adventure game called Moonbright Tower. It's disk-based and comprised of multiple files, and looks to be a fairly primitive text adventure. I'm not finding any info about it online or any mentions of it here on the forum, apart from one ad in the Nov. 1983 99'er. Does this one need resurrected from my disk copy, or is it already archived elsewhere and I'm just missing it?

I'm working on a TI BASIC game called Harridan Bay, formerly known as High Seas, which I hope to have finished in a week or two. I plan to release it on cassette tape in another limited physical package, and I wanted to add a second BASIC game for side B of the tape. I decided to rework "Thin Ice," the game I submitted back in 2010 for the 30-line programming contest held here. That game was in XB and used sprites and multi-statement lines to compact the code. Not limited by code length, but unable to use sprites, and mindful of speed and memory limits, I decided to add a few factors to make the game more interesting. You are Polar Penguin, as seen at the top left in the screenshot below. You have to retrieve your treasure chests and make it to the other side of the screen before the ice melts and you fall in the water. Each chest you pick up gives you points; however, three have keys in them. You need a key to unlock each of the barriers in the brick walls, and you must have all three keys before you can set foot on dry land again. Every time you move on the ice, it sets off a new round of cracks, and gradually, areas of water will form. You cannot pass those areas (you never learned to swim, too busy hoarding treasure) and it's possible to find yourself unable to reach all the chests, or the next doorway. You have to balance moving fast and carefully looking for the keys with the urge to go back for more treasure as the ice gets ever more treacherous. You get a bonus for each move you make on the ice, further tempting you to stay out longer than is safe. And unlike the original, if you make it to the other side, you can play more levels, each with more unstable ice and less time to make it across. There might be a way to bridge the water and shift some ice around to create a pathway when you're otherwise trapped, but I haven't decided exactly how to do that yet. Right now there's movement and cracking ice but no scoring or working barriers yet. I hope to have this up and running this weekend. It'll be a nice little bonus for side B of the main game and probably the last pure BASIC thing I'll do for some time.

Just went through my stuff and I actually already own this on cassette (slaps forehead). Guess I'm not as organized yet as I thought I was...!

Let's see if there is one to be had in the States, so the shipping isn't so expensive, but if not, I will PM you and we will work something out! Thanks!

There's a .PDF of the manual on PixelPedant's website.

I meant "boxed" in this way, in an original cassette shell. I believe all the NP games were produced like this with manuals in plastic bags. Thanks for the heads up on the file, I added the CALL VDP from another old BASIC game to it and got it to run in XB.

Two questions: 1. anyone have a .dsk they can throw up here for me quick? 2. anyone have an original boxed cassette (preferably with manual but would take one without) for sale or trade? Keith

The problem with dipping out of the forums for long periods of time and then coming back, is that you tend to entirely miss some developments. I'm not sure how I missed one as big as Isabella, but I was pretty scarce for a while. I've got some catching up to do (and some code to revise)!

I actually came here tonight to ask what people's thoughts were on a Legends-style game with multiple modules, written in XB. I was trying to cram a game into one BASIC program so I could compile it, but I am debating expanding each piece of it and creating 4-5 separate programs that share data files. Since 99% of gameplay would not be on real floppies, disk access speed is not really a practical issue. It's not an action game, though if I expand each aspect of it I could add an action sequence I had considered. To get back on topic, I would definitely cast my vote for Legends. I would also mention the multi-part TI BASIC games from TImagination (Zombie Mambo and Psyborg) - though they were more self-contained games with a common theme, the idea was the same, even if its implementation on cassette was necessarily primitive.

Just a reminder that these are shipping! Thanks to everyone who's bought copies so far. At least a few colored disks left, plus plenty of regular black floppies. $15 plus shipping gets you the game disk with label, color cover sheet, 8-page manual, and 1-inch Orphantech button! DM me for info. Thanks!

It's finally ready!!! This is a physical release of three games - Dicecrash, Sixxit, and Dice Rack - on 5 1/4"floppy. It comes with a disk with color label, 8-page manual, color cover sheet, and a 1" Orphantech button. Limited to 100 copies. About half of them are on various colored disks, the rest are standard black floppies. I'll try to accommodate color requests if you have a preference. $15 plus shipping. Total cost for one copy is $19 in the USA, $29 in Canada, or $32 anywhere else on earth. Payment link at www.paypal.me/orphantech or you can DM me for info (or to buy multiple copies). Thanks to Ciro for buying the very first one!

Just a quick update, I've got everything in place except the manuals (I'm learning more than I ever wanted to know about what I thought was a simple print job). My daughter just went in the hospital yesterday with kidney stones, and will be in for a few days, so I'm going to wait till that's all resolved and she's back home to open up orders, just so there's no chance of delays in getting anyone's packages out.

I may have squealed like a little girl when the labels arrived. Almost done!

I wasn't checking the forums much these last few months and missed this thread entirely, but thank you for doing this! This is right up my alley. I'm going to be grabbing all of these this weekend and checking them out.

The diskette labels are due in Thursday, and I should have the manuals done and everything ready to bag up by then. I'll probably just wait till I'm 100% finished and then just open orders, rather than try to mess with reservations or pre-ordering. I doubt I'm in any danger of selling out of them. But the interest has been a big morale boost! Thank you so much. I hope to have some pics and video of my new game to show you by next week as well. Here's the disk label.

I'm happy to announce that I'm finally releasing DICE PAK 1, three dice games for the TI, as a limited physical package. The game will come bagged, with color cover, 8-page manual, floppy disk with color label, and a bonus 2" button. There will be 100 hand-numbered copies made. I just got the art finalized, the disks are being assembled, and I'm waiting on buttons and bags. I will be selling these directly for $15. I'm not taking reservations or orders until they're ready to ship, but I'll post information as soon as they're ready to go. I've had more TI time again lately and it's been nice to catch back up - I have a couple more projects almost ready to go after I get this one finished up. I hope you're all doing well and that you've held up in these chaotic times. Keith

I'm not seeing the buy-it-now Bally systems for $250? A search for Bally Arcade and Bally Astrocade each turns up the same two, both of which are $400 and "worked last time I hooked it up five years ago." I'll contact Allen, thanks! The last one I had I took a chance on, it worked fine, but I was frustrated at my lack of progress in setting up my war room and had briefly decided to downsize. Big mistake!

Sold my Astrocade a couple years ago and have regretted it, and I'd like to pick up another system. I know they're going for a chunk of change and I don't mind that, but I'm leery of dropping that kind of money on an "untested" or "it worked five years ago when I put it in the attic" Ebay gamble. If you've got one you've actually fired up and played some time this century, and could provide pictures or video of same, I'm interested. As long as I'm wishing, if you're within a 2-3 hour drive of Toledo, Ohio, I'd much rather pick it up than ship.