GratedTopping

This was originally from "COMPUTE!'s TI Collection, VOLUME II" (1986). It was originally called "Macro/Micro Maze". I didn't like the title, so I changed it. There really isn't anything weird about the actual mazes. The new name relates to how you can see the mazes. You're trapped in a complex maze and there are three representations of it: - the 'minimaze' is a 23x31 character maze that takes up the entire screen; it's randomly constructed during the setup of the game - the 'macromaze' is a nine-character zoom-in of the original maze; you play here, as the walls move around you - the 'micromaze' is a 4x3 character representation displayed above the 'macromaze' to assist you If you choose to not see the maze being built, you will have more times to view the 'minimaze'. This also applies to if you select to not have the 'micromaze'. The object is to move through the 'macromaze', pick up five green squares, and exit by the yellow square. Programmed in standard BASIC, I added instructions and adapted it to Extended BASIC by combining lines (for example). It's still slow, but at least it's a little faster now. Also, I added some changing words or random sounds to let you know it's still doing something. This is especially useful if you don't choose the option of seeing the maze being created. Expect to wait around 6 minutes for the maze to be completed. A stopwatch had it at about 5:45. If you didn't choose to see it being made, the maze will appear when it's created for just a bit. Another half-minute or so will be needed, the colored squares will appear, and the gameplay will begin. So, waiting a bit might be annoying, but I think it is interesting when you get there. UPDATE: Watching the maze being built + choosing to have the micromaze resulted in a stopwatch time of 9:24. In the program, it had a message telling you to wait about 15 minutes. I changed that to "5-10" as a more accurate estimate. When I made the changes in the late 1980s, it probably did take about that long when the game was in BASIC and I must have assumed it was the same time when in XB. WAZES.zip

I think I may have the cassette only somewhere, but it might have been one of the programs where, once I backed it up to disk, I felt I didn't need the tape any longer. Of course, that's not really a backup if you only have the copy -- but I was a 9 year old kid and didn't know. I know I have some original tapes, though, including NOT POLYOPTICS "Ant Wars" (I really like that game) and something called B1 NUCLEAR BOMBER in the too-large box. I'll look around... * Does anybody have any ideas about the PRINT 'problem' I mentioned?

I guess I never knew fully until today that CALL FILES(0) wouldn't work on a regular TI. The game was cassette only as far as I know and I suppose it was meant for just a really bare-bones system (the TI and cassette player).

Here's an oldie I found on an equally-old disk. I think it's pretty rare. Has anybody else ever seen this before? Have you heard of programs from this company or know where other software from them is? ***** Word-challenge Game: In this 1983 release from "Parallel Systems, Inc.", you have to guess the computer's secret word (or word chosen from a list of ones you entered). I'm not sure of the store I was in, but I somehow remember that I chose this game from the ones available even though there surely were games that had some action. Nobody wanted me to specifically get an 'educational' type of program, so it was what sounded appealing to me. I was curious and I actually did like it. PROGRAMMING INFO: Transferring it for use with the "Classic99" TI emulator, I was surprised to see that it wouldn't run in BASIC. It locked-up the TI with a multi-colour pattern. It was obviously a standard BASIC program (since it used character set 16, for example, which Extended BASIC can't without special coding)...so why would it have lines that were greater than the four line-length limit (which Extended BASIC can handle, but not standard BASIC)? I was confused at first, but I realized that I must have tried to lengthen PRINT statements back in the day --- which was the extent of my attempt to adapt it to Extended BASIC. It was RESequenced by increments of 1, which is what I always liked. I must have really known little about XB when I got this game. If it was later, I would have combined lines in XB, used the CALL CHAR statement to redefine up to four characters at a time, and used a routine that would have allowed me to use character sets 15 & 16 in XB. Anyway, I loaded the program in "Classic99" BASIC, 'pasting' program lines and only portions of the super-long PRINT lines. Then, I RESequenced the program to give me more space for inclusion of new lines to complete the long PRINT statements, RESequenced by ones (RES 1,1), and saved the game. NOTE: To try this, you will need to use the CALL FILES procedure... - CALL FILES(0) <ENTER> - NEW <ENTER> - OLD DSK1.WC-GAME <ENTER> That frees-up some memory; without doing it, you'll get a memory-full error. Don't forget: that's *ZERO* in the CALL FILES. This is a memory-hog and using the normal CALL FILES(1) wasn't enough. There was an out-of-memory error a little after the rules were displayed. ***** In addition to the WORD CHALLENGE...here's a little PROGRAMMING CHALLENGE for others. It's something I can't seem to figure out and maybe others can. At the area where you select the level, the screen would look better if it was scrolled-up a couple lines. However, no PRINT statements or additions of ":" at end of the displays' final PRINT statement has any effect. It might have a simple solution, but I am confused. Line 85 is the one I was trying to add more ":" to. Also, when it was resequenced differently, I tried to add a single PRINT in a new line and it had no effect. Any ideas on why the screen wouldn't scroll? WC-GAME.zip

This is a two-player dice game (you against the computer). The first to achieve a score chosen at the start of the game is the winner. Both of the dice have #1 replaced with a frown (groan). As long as no frown appears, the roller builds a running score & can roll again or pass. If one frown appears, the current tally is lost. If you get two frowns, everything is lost and the player goes back to zero. This was originally in standard BASIC, published in the book "32 BASIC Programs For the TI-99/4a" by Tom Rugg, Phil Feldman, and Raymond Alen (dilithium Press; 1984). I modified it sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s to my liking. Some changes included... - gave the pips on the dice an appropriate shape (changing the character code of the asterisk) - the dice originally were a different color each time they appeared; I chose to keep them always black and the background white - added some delays - compressed lines; combined CALL CHAR statements - centered the coin-flip animation...where the dice appear...and the location of some of the text (which I altered by removing or adding words, too) - added a keypress for when it's your time to roll; there was too-much that was automatic and I wanted it the player to feel like they were doing something - added a "PLAY AGAIN?" option It's certainly not the greatest, but I thought it was a bit enjoyable. GROAN.zip GROAN original BASIC version.zip

Ah, thanks....but I think that NOW it's worthy of a 'good job' and seems to be really fixed. Here's what I changed.... Line 150: the mini FOR/TO delay is gone; it seemed to have no effect at all, actually, and the instruction screen for the second part of the game just went by without waiting for a key press At the end of the game, the final congratulations screen also just went by without letting you choose to play again or quit. The program stopped and was in the loop of where it was like the ENTER key was just being pressed over and over; nothing could be typed. I added a new statement: CALL LOAD(-31788,224) in line 84. The command, from what I've read, returns the TI to normal operation -- and it worked. Both the second screen of instructions + the final comments at the end of the game can be read and there is the correct wait for a press of a key. So, that seems to be it. It was a program with pointless CALL LOADs. I think one could have fixed it by deleting all the CALL LOADs + the sound of the autos in line 61 and changing what I spoke of about the SPGET command. To add another CALL LOAD to fix what the others were evidently messing up? Silly....unnecessarily complex...but fun programming for an ol' nerd. (-: FROGVENT.zip

Here are my observations...changes...additions on "Frog Venture": - deleted the CALL LOAD(-31878,25) from line 100 (now 5); it was for turning off the first 25 sprites, yet the game uses virtually all of them so this seemed useless - in line 635 (now 61), the CALL LOAD(-31806,32) shuts-off the sound chip; the CALL SOUND statement that followed had a duration of 1 and was to simulate the sound of the passing vehicles; putting the CALL LOAD after the CALL SOUND instead of before made a difference; originally, after being hit by a car, the frog wouldn't move...there was a high-pitched noise...and breaking the program left with the sound just continuing - deleted the CALL SPGET("!",A$) in line 110 (now 6); in line 675 (now 66) after the frog was hit by a vehicle, the word 'splat' appeared and there was an attempt to CALL SAY("",A$)...but that resulted in the TI just saying something unintelligible and multiple UHOH's; I had the TI just use a CALL SAY("UHOH"); I squished my frog multiple times and it worked fine: I get flattened, the computer says UHOH, and the next frog begins with the car sound and no lockup (as mentioned above) similarly, I modified lines for the second part of the game that behaved the same I don't know why there was a use of SPGET; just having a CALL SAY("!") results in an UHOH...but it takes a bit longer to process a character not in the vocabulary instead of just the CALL SAY("UHOH") anyway - changed CALL CLEAR statements to DISPLAY ERASE ALL; fixed seven spelling mistakes - changed line 120 (now 7); the routine of the 'moving' dots on the title screen took too-long and I shortened it - added a mini delay to line 150 (I forget what the original line # was) there was a time when the instruction screens for the second part went by quickly, as if the TI was detecting a phantom key-press; it didn't interfere with controlling the frog in that second part, but it was a bit annoying --- and when I halted the program, it was stuck as if I was pressing the ENTER key and I needed to reset; I had a thought that if I added a delay when it was checking for the press of a key, it might help; I don't know why I thought it -- or why it seemed to help -- but there you go; with those CALL LOAD statements, well, I suspect they were the culprit and I can't say that this minor problem won't still happen - there were four instances of a CALL LOAD(-31806,0) in the program; the purpose is to enable sprite motion, QUIT key, and the sound chip...but it's only being used for control of the sound chip; I tried to find just a single CALL LOAD to enable the chip, but no luck - added some REMark statement at the beginning to identify the title of the game - RESequenced 1,1 (I always like programs to look organized that way) Yeah! That was fun. My first time really trying to debug/work on a TI program in ages. I wonder....what if it was all for naught and it played as it was on a real TI? **** NOTE: GET BETTER VERSION FURTHER DOWN *** FROGVENT.zip

Thanks, "Ox." I never saw the FV 'Frogger'-alike before. It seems to lock up in "Classic99". I read up on the CALL LOADs used in the game and it seems like they acted on stopping sprite motions or disabling the sound chip. I deleted all those statements and it worked better until I made it to the top of the screen. There, it kept speaking 'uhoh' and there was no frog to move. Looks like I have a new program to mess-around with and modify. (-:

I heard of something called "Frog Venture" but haven't been able to find it. It's apparently on the whtech, but I can't seem to make a connection. "Duck Leader" is something I only had an incomplete version of (for some reason). Does anyone have either of these? If so, thanks in advance if you might share 'em or direct me to a download.

"I wish I had as much free time as Dr. Science." There was a lot of documentation to wade through and I had to get my facts straight, so it took months (with a bit done at various times). This question left the floor open for fakes. I'm surprised that I made it in time. Dr. Science is trustworthy. http://drscience.com/wordpress/

A reply from Dr. Science: That's a wonderful question, Timmy, and since I know more than you, you came to the right person. Please excuse this unusually-lengthy answer, but I am am excited to add to the history of the TI by addressing this topic. Although I didn't work on the 99/4(a) projects, I have learned a lot from exclusive access to documentation from the company. There was no specific reason for the green-screen on the 99/4. However, extensive research took place back-in-the-day to determine if it was worthwhile to keep that feature on the 99/4a. The 4a was actually ready in 1980, but was delayed a full year because TI wanted to spend more time investigating colours. I know that TI engineers didn't have Masters degrees in science, like myself, but I still applaud their efforts. In test machines, programs that started with a different shade resulted in undesirable activity from many people. For example, red stirred up feelings of anger in some subjects (much like the bull -- which, in reality, gets irritated more over 'fulvous brown'). Blue was discounted because it contributed to depression in susceptible people. Others could handle seeing the shade, yet had to deal with the agonizing "Blue Christmas" song mysteriously being stuck in their head regardless of the season. Imagine how more irritation there would have been if "Eiffel 65's" BLUE (DA BA DEE) from 1999 was around in 1981! Yellow was studied the most and was quite problematic. A yellow screen had some people (kids and adults) believe their computer was insinuating that they were chicken. With others, yellow had the bizarre effect where it made them believe that they needed to tinkle although they didn't! This would have caused the affected user to not be able to spend as much time with their machine if they were at the toilet too-often due to urges. As well, time would be lost if there were smelly accidents which occurred when a person couldn't tell if an urge to relive him/herself was real. TI had to deal with a stinky environment at times and the abundance of maids to clean things became more expensive. Needless to say, yellow was out. No company wants their products to be identified as being a contributer to increased urination, depression, or anger (with the possible exception of "Microsoft", which is used to customers getting p'od with their bug-laden products). Even though it's known that someone at Texas Instruments discovered the trick where placing a sleeping person's right hand in warm water can cause them to wet the bed --- and that many TI employees were pranksters and even WANTED the relatively non-threatening yellow screen as a gag --- it was ultimately rejected. TI wasn't blind to possibility that some colours could result in lawsuits. They considered that if a kid became despondent over seeing blue during a program, a parent could complain. They also realized that if anger was increased from the viewing of the color red, the person might destroy their machine and buy a different computer. It is true that a couple greedier employees felt that if a person ruined their machine from anger induced by an automatic BASIC red screen, he/she might have felt bad about being immature...bought another 99/4(a)...perhaps another when they destroyed that one...and the profits would skyrocket. Despite the discoveries, it was decided that no potentially 'dangerous' colours would be removed from usage in programs on 99/4a. Lawyers determined it was safe to allow them since it would always be the person's choice to have the screen change the shade; there wouldn't be frivolous lawsuits. This is America, though, so I don't know what they were thinking. I guess times were simpler and more innocent in the early 1980s. This 99/4(a) user still thinks there should have been a disclaimer in the documentation regarding the possible effects of any of the colours. I say that just in passing -- not that I actually had any incidents playing 2009's new LEMONADE STAND game that ruined my clothing or furniture from when I computed in the buff. So, in the end, TI kept the green-screen on the 99/4a when a BASIC program started. They held onto the idea that, when a kid with a lesser machine saw that a BASIC program on the 99/4a actually made the screen change COLOUR at the start of a program (unlike any other computer's BASIC), they would be 'green with envy'. The result would likely be the pestering of parents for the better computer that was seen at a friend's....and tidy profits for Texas Instruments. More 'green' in their eyes, as it were. As for why the SPECIFIC shade of green was chosen -- when there were two others built into both 99/4 and 4a systems -- one can only speculate. I do know that no other greens were tested in the process. I suspect that -- concerning 'puke green' color 13 -- TI knew from the yellow tests that a different bodily-function would be likely and smelly keys from excessive vomit could have occurred. TI probably didn't want to spend more on testing the possibility since they reasonably suspected what the outcome would be. Now, it's well-known among the 99/4a fans that they are very resilient, well-made machines. I bet the 99/4a could take anything thrown (up) at it! As a man who loves to do science, I can't resist performing my own tests. Check back on this forum in 10 years, Timmy, when my experiments will be completed so you can learn how my 99/4a machines are functioning. There's still MORE to tell, lil' buddy! I hope you're keeping up (chuck) [ha ha]. Although the idea of including the green-screen in the "Extended BASIC" cartridge did come up a little bit (another unplanned puke-reference -- sorry), it was learned that the automatic green-screen proved to be a factor in slowing things down. For nostalgic reasons, they kept it only in BASIC and the lack of it in "Extended BASIC" was an incentive to get the language. XB does work slightly-faster, as most users know and can see, but who knew it had to do with the screen not changing colour when a program began? The details I've learned seem to go on and on and I bet you stopped reading a long time ago. If not, good for you! Keep learning and you'll be well on your way to getting your own science Masters. Because the TI is no longer being made, and I received permission just recently, I will reveal a former top-secret bit of information that I received directly from an interview with a former TI employee. The cyan shade at the title screen on the 99/4 and 4(a) wasn't considered to be a type of blue and it actually was soothing to users, reminding many of a nice sky. It was always used immediately on all the 99/4(a) machines so that people would want to stay glued to the screen and its serene atmosphere. It was a business tactic and an attempt to keep people from wanting to actually move and get fresh air outside under the real sky. This is also why "Extended BASIC" stayed in cyan when a program ran! "Microsoft" could have learned something if they did colour tests. Even today, folks encounter the BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) from a major crash of the "Windows" operating system. The appearance is enough to make people swear at the bugginess. . .but the fact that "Microsoft" chose blue was a terrible idea of theirs (referring to the depression possibility stated above). Only TI was concerned enough to research potential, negative impacts of different colours on their products. The real reason the TI-99/8 wasn't released ALSO had to deal with colour! In the 99/4a's later life, the company went with the beige/grey colour for the console and accessories. There was never any reason that I am aware of for the black/silver scheme and the beige/gray variety was just what the shades of the cost-cutting plastic were. People did prefer the newer colour- appearance over the old, but it was too late and TI was losing so much money from the machines that they abandoned their 99/4a in October 1983. TI was on the right track with the grey 99/2, the precursor to the 99/4, and I think they should have always stuck with that scheme. If only they did, today we may have been enjoying the TI-99/128 or something...but I bet that would have caused confusion since the Commodore 128 is still in heavy-usage even today in 2013. This is slightly off topic, but I was just thinking that it is interesting that movies may have special effects created using blue-screen or green-screen techniques. TI was really onto something! In closing, for this TI fan, I appreciated the use of the green-screen at the start of a BASIC program. I don't know if it was overlooked by accident or done on purpose, but as a young lad this made me think of grass and partying -- which was all that really mattered anyway. Lil' Timmy, take precious care of your 'elderly' computer. Remember that TI cared about you first.

NEW LINK TO YouTube PLAYBACK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwTepiBb2_w ** NOTE: PROGRAM SOUNDS BETTER ON THE REAL TI **

Hey, "Opry99er"! Looking over your profile at the ATARIAGE forum, I read that you were a musician. So, to hear your approval was even better than I expected. We were just around 18 then, but thought it sounded alright. Hmmm...in the playback of the program in the YouTube video, I was surprised to see that the 'leap lines' disappeared at 58 seconds. That's not what happens in the program, so it looks like I'll record and upload again.

Hey, thanks. I'm glad to see that some have liked it enough to comment. I spoke to Mr. Maalouli of the "TI Game Shelf" and, even though it's not a game, he's agreed to put it on his website during a future update. I also recorded and uploaded its playback to youtube.

K-POWER pages appeared in FAMILY COMPUTING. I had an ENTER subscription and I recall that that eventually became a tiny part of 3-2-1 CONTACT. When that started coming, my folks didn't want to continue paying and I didn't mind.

I have that book (purchased many years after TI left the market) but I never got around to typing anything in. This seems interesting, but I wonder if there's something amiss. I recall a couple moments where the character would disappear (but I could still move). Off topic: referring to that page of TI books, it was funny to see the "Itty Bitty Bytes Of Space" and I recall that I once had that. Also, those "K-power" books ("Computer Monsters", "Computer Olympics") reminded me I had the 'monsters' one...plus one that wasn't there. It was called, I think, "Computer Craziness" and had a drawing on the front resembling a circus clown or something. Anybody ever have any of the "K-power" books? They were really basic, but something about them appealed to me as a kid.

I remember that was in the last season. The theme was faster and updated, which was cool, but a lot of the focus was different and a bit disappointing. I know that the creator wrote once he wouldn't have the character become famous people, yet that happened a lot in season five in order to, I imagine, boost ratings. Elvis...Lee Harvey Oswald...and I really hated the Marilyn Monroe episode. In the end, he was a bodyguard for her -- and his purpose was so she could could be alive to create her final movie, THE MISFITS. Yet it had already happened in reality and it was a pointless episode; there was nothing to fix that 'once went wrong'. Same with the too-long, multi-episode Oswald one: in the 'original' history, the show stated Jackie Kennedy died as well as the President -- but that wasn't reality's history. It was boring and it was like they were making their own QL reality where real-life tragedies that didn't happen needed fixing. At least in the one with Brooke, it was a more-standard episode. She was presented as an actress and it's based on her "Blue Lagoon" movie/setting, but she wasn't known as being famous to Sam and was just an everyday person.

1993: A favourite show of mine, "Quantum Leap" (featuring Scott Bakula as Sam Beckett and Dean Stockwell as Al Calavicci), ended its fifth and final season on a terrible note with one of the worst finales ever in history. QL dealt with a "time travel experiment that went a little ca-ca." In order to prove his theories or lose funding, "Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the QUANTUM LEAP accelerator...and vanished." Something unexpected takes place and Sam ends up actually 'leaping' into other people's lives. He becomes them and, during the leaps, the leapee is at the QL program in the future. Once Sam puts "right what once went wrong", he leaps and is someone else. At the start, it seemed that it was his aura/spirit changing places. Later, it became known that he was physically changing places in time. I think it would have been cooler and more sensible for just the soul/essence to be changing and it was stupid and confusing in a final season episode (for example) where -- even though he became a Veteran who had lost his legs -- he was able to stand up. Anyway, Dr. Beckett is "hoping each time that his next leap...will be the leap home" (the opening narrative states). The ending of the show? Crappy words on the screen saying that "Dr. Becket never returned home." What a horrible thing to do -- and they couldn't even spell their own character's last name correctly! In September of that year, a relative and I created a tribute to the show. The music was arranged by him using the "Music Maker" cartridge. Using that data and seeing the musical notes on-screen, CALL SOUNDS for the program were created. I typed in the program in Extended BASIC and designed the graphics based on a photo of Sam Beckett 'leaping'. Of interest is that the music is seamless and the notes flow together (without the mini-pauses normally encountered). As well, I understood the use of the officially undocumented use of turning the pre-scan on/off to get programs to start faster. I know that I uploaded the program to two 'bulletin boards' in 1993 or 1994. The "Music Maker" data has never been sent anywhere. I also wrote to the "MICROpendium" magazine at the time and let them know and that letter was published. I recall that, many years ago, I inquired on some TI forum on the internet if anybody out there might have the program since I couldn't locate it. No luck....until 3.6.2013. I discovered recently two big boxes of disks with TI software in the basement. I thought I had all my TI stuff with me in the apartment, so I was quite surprised. Trying out other disks I had in the last few years, I believed that I had accidentally erased the files at sometime or just lost the disk. Of the newly-found batch, I had a 'feeling' on which of the disks I actually saved the software on and there it was. Along with it was the "Music Maker" data and everything loaded without a hitch. Those disks were in the basment for almost 10 years at least! After almost 20 years, I get to upload the file again. Although Sam is lost in time out there, this ultimately wasn't. In memory of him and an awesome show, I am pleased to be able to make a little something right that once went wrong. "Oh boy!" NOTES: * Please let me kow what you think. I never knew if anybody in the past got to see it and I suspect those bulletin boards were gone not long after the program was there. * The music sounds better on the real TI, but it's certainly not bad. * "QL" is the Extended BASIC program; "QUANTUM" is the data for the "Music Maker" cartridge * MINI-MODIFICATIONS... - deleted CALL CLEAR statements and put DISPLAY ERASE ALL in their place; this statement does the same thing and uses a little less memory - changed the names of the subprograms from "QL" to "QLSCREEN" and "SET" to "COLORSET"; changed the statements that would CALL those to their new names - defined a new character, changing the "@" to "-" so I could have a dash between "time travel" since I thought it looked better that way - increased the delay after the appearance of the screen; I didn't want the music to begin as quickly as before - of utmost importance, I added the REMark (!) statement that mentions this was modified 3.10.2013! (-; QUANTUM LEAP.zip

Thanks. So, you're the first person I know has seen it and that's the first review outside of the family. It feels just cool to be able to share this after such a long time. Thinking about my TI collection and other items I've downloaded over the years, I realize that I have never seen any other "Music Maker" data/songs. I just found, too, that we started on the theme from "MacGyver" -- but only made it up to a portion of the song in "Music Maker". I didn't have any recollection of that being worked-on.

1993: A favourite show of mine, "Quantum Leap" (featuring Scott Bakula as Sam Beckett and Dean Stockwell as Al Calavicci), ended its fifth and final season on a terrible note with one of the worst finales ever in history. QL dealt with a "time travel experiment that went a little ca-ca." In order to prove his theories or lose funding, "Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the QUANTUM LEAP accelerator...and vanished." Something unexpected takes place and Sam ends up actually 'leaping' into other people's lives. He becomes them and, during the leaps, the leapee is at the QL program in the future. Once Sam puts "right what once went wrong", he leaps and is someone else. At the start, it seemed that it was his aura/spirit changing places. Later, it became known that he was physically changing places in time. I think it would have been cooler and more sensible for just the soul/essence to be changing and it was stupid and confusing in a final season episode (for example) where -- even though he became a Veteran who had lost his legs -- he was able to stand up. Anyway, Dr. Beckett is "hoping each time that his next leap...will be the leap home" (the opening narrative states). The ending of the show? Crappy words on the screen saying that "Dr. Becket never returned home." What a horrible thing to do -- and they couldn't even spell their own character's last name correctly! In September of that year, a relative and I created a tribute to the show. The music was arranged by him using the "Music Maker" cartridge. Using that data and seeing the musical notes on-screen, CALL SOUNDS for the program were created. I typed in the program in Extended BASIC and designed the graphics based on a photo of Sam Beckett 'leaping'. Of interest is that the music is seamless and the notes flow together (without the mini-pauses normally encountered). As well, I understood the use of the officially undocumented use of turning the pre-scan on/off to get programs to start faster. I know that I uploaded the program to two 'bulletin boards' in 1993 or 1994. The "Music Maker" data has never been sent anywhere. I also wrote to the "MICROpendium" magazine at the time and let them know and that letter was published. I recall that, many years ago, I inquired on some TI forum on the internet if anybody out there might have the program since I couldn't locate it. No luck....until 3.6.2013. I discovered recently two big boxes of disks with TI software in the basement. I thought I had all my TI stuff with me in the apartment, so I was quite surprised. Trying out other disks I had in the last few years, I believed that I had accidentally erased the files at sometime or just lost the disk. Of the newly-found batch, I had a 'feeling' on which of the disks I actually saved the software on and there it was. Along with it was the "Music Maker" data and everything loaded without a hitch. Those disks were in the basment for almost 10 years at least! After almost 20 years, I get to upload the file again. Although Sam is lost in time out there, this ultimately wasn't. In memory of him and an awesome show, I am pleased to be able to make a little something right that once went wrong. "Oh boy!" NOTES: * Please let me kow what you think. I never knew if anybody in the past got to see it and I suspect those bulletin boards were gone not long after the program was there. * The music sounds better on the real TI, but it's certainly not bad. * "QL" is the Extended BASIC program; "QUANTUM" is the data for the "Music Maker" cartridge * MINI-MODIFICATIONS... - deleted CALL CLEAR statements and put DISPLAY ERASE ALL in their place; this statement does the same thing and uses a little less memory - changed the names of the subprograms from "QL" to "QLSCREEN" and "SET" to "COLORSET"; changed the statements that would CALL those to their new names - defined a new character, changing the "@" to "-" so I could have a dash between "time travel" since I thought it looked better that way - increased the delay after the appearance of the screen; I didn't want the music to begin as quickly as before - of utmost importance, I added the REMark (!) statement that mentions this was modified 3.10.2013! (-; QUANTUM LEAP.zip

I'd like to check them out. By 'release', you mean you would be trying to sell them? Ones dealing with the past sound most-interesting to me (and if there's anything with a time-travel scenario).

I downloaded the file that was attached to the post yesterday. - I need to read more of the comments; I can't understand the purpose of all the numbers above the maze and maybe it's explained. - "To fix this in the text version supplied... change 4930 GOTO 14 :: REM SHOULD BE LINE 16 !!! BUT I KINDA LIKE IT!" The text only goes up to line 4040 and there is no line 14. Is the wrong file attached?

I have found something called "Oil Derrick" from a list of TI disks on www.theoldcomputer.com. However, it seems to identical to a TI FORTH disk [same three files; same names & lengths]. It says that it's from the "Tigercub" library, but the listing of programs/disks in the library don't list that. However, there is "The Crude Game" (disk #1414). Was there ever an "Oil Derrick" game in Forth?

Thanks, 'matthew180'; I never did learn any assembly/CALL LOAD information back in the day and such information is interesting.

Yes, that was a typo of mine in line 10. That line, and line 8, were added by myself anyway. Line 12 was the key to the problem and was apparently printed incorrectly in the magazine.