Tanrunomad

I had Space Vikings listed, but not the rest. I was surprised I didn't have Muse's ABM on there yet! But that's how it goes, one game at a time. What I really need to do at this point is add these games to a google spreadsheet and just share it with the Apple II community so they can add new games and complete/correct the info on the rest (and that includes you, Keatah!) As to your point about what constitutes a game, that is definitely a grey area. I listed all the public domain stuff including my own games under the publisher "Homebrew" so those can be easily included (or excluded) as needed. Only educational "games" will be included in here, but of course that in itself needs to be defined. I definitely want to include all disk magazine games as individual entries such as games from Softdisk and Uptime. I haven't even begun to include type-in games, but those definitely need to be included. I think I just have one at this point, a post-apocalyptic survival BASIC game called Atom 20 written back in 1977 for a CDC CYBER Mainframe and made available as a type-in in 1979.

1,677 and counting. I've been adding games to my Apple II Games database for about a year: http://tanrunomad.com/vintage-computer-collection/apple-ii-games/ Eventually I'd love to add screen shots, graphics mode, RAM requirements, genre, rarity, you name it, but right now I've just been adding the basic info as I find them. The real challenge is finding the time to research these games, right now I just only update it once or twice a month maybe. Based on my research thus far, I do not think there were 10,000 published Apple II games, although I still have a ways to go in getting educational games and games from disk magazines.

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the original version. The android port is a complete re-write in java, but I made sure to preserve the Apple II look and feel.

My 2013 Apple II game has been ported to Android. Now you can blast away hoards of wolves, yetis, and aliens on-the-go. Google play listing:https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tanrunomad.lambchopsgame Gameplay:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkbsAJXVco0

Great blog post. I really enjoyed that and wouldn't change a thing! My first computer was also an Apple II variant and nostalgia is what pulled me back into the Apple II community a while back after an almost 20 year hiatus. This game was a lot of fun to write and I'm glad that translated into the game play experience.

Better than a demo, the full game image is free and available through http://tanrunomad.com/official-games/ It's available for purchase for those interested in owning a physical copy with manual and zip loc bag just like the good old days.

Made some small, but needed updates to the disk image, so grab the latest copy (e.g. expanded your movable range, refined the rat hit detection, removed some pixel residue that sometimes occurred in the UV stage, stuff like that). For buyers of the game, I plan to ship them out hopefully tomorrow and will of course include the latest and greatest image. Thanks all. Apple ][ Forever!

Introducing a new hi-res arcade game for the Apple II. For this game I teamed up with programmer and friend Brandon Bogle of retroswitch.com (some of you may know him as the creator of the Flyer Internet Modem for the 8-bit Commodore line). In the game you play as a retro computing enthusiast trying to add to their collection. Objectives include collecting the computers from a recycling center, fixing them in a repair shop, and protecting them from the yellowing effects of the sun! Standing in your way is an evil businessman who only wants the computers to resell on ebay for inflated prices. You'll also need to avoid reckless drivers, overgrown lab rats, and your angry wife who wants you to sell your "junk". This game has it all! The disk image is 100% free so please try it out (and report any bugs!). I'm also making a physical version available for purchase that includes the 5.25" disk, a quality manual, and a genuine zip lock baggy. You can obtain it here: http://tanrunomad.com/official-games/ Retro Fever will run on any Apple II with 64k memory. Keyboard and Joystick both supported. Enjoy! Game play video:

I completely agree. It's one of my favorites along with the Sacred Armour of Antiriad (c64 version).

Sometimes they did, but not in the case of Ghosts N' Goblins. Awesome as it is, the c64 theme is not original, it is a remix of Chopin's Prelude No. 20 in Cm, Op. 28.

I ended up using Merlin 100% for programming my first game, Lamb Chops. I'm now co-developing a 2nd game with a friend and it's going to be awesome. This time we're programming in C with Visual Studio for most of the game.

Actually, yes, I was thinking of putting some more up sometime in the future. Datamost, DataSoft, and Sierra would probably be in the queue. And Synapse published one of my favorite games of all time, Drelbs!

What really annoys me about this video is that it's all from a North American perspective (no video game crash in Europe or Asia), yet all the dates they're providing are from the Japanese release dates like SMB3 (1988). I'm like, "No, I remember waiting in line at Toys r Us getting that game the week it came out and it was not in 1988!"

Nice catch! Silas stated this in his keynote speech at Kfest back in 1992. Here's a link to the audio track, his Robotron quote starts at 30:45 http://www.kansasfest.org/2010/12/old-timers-muse-software/ I guess even the great Silas could be mistaken. Castle Wolfenstein was officially released in 1981. According to wikipedia, Robotron wasn't released until a year later. I agree Berzerk seems to fit both in appearance and that time period.

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks! Silas stated in an interview that one day in 1980 he was at a 7/11 and saw someone playing Robotron and instantly knew he needed to adapt that style of game play for a computer game, but add more depth to it. Then he saw the movie "The Guns of Navarone" and Castle Wolfenstein was born.

I just love researching the history of early game developers and Muse is no exception. Hope you enjoy.

Sierra by a long shot.

I've read that shape tables are 6 times faster when run through assembly over BASIC. I think the game speed is fine for what it is, but anxious to hear how others feel. Please let me know your feedback once you have a chance to play on a real Apple IIe!

Update: Just fixed lots of small bug fixes (and a couple big ones!), so re-download the latest version if you already have a copy. So I didn't actually test my game on real hardware until today (I know, I know, shame on me) and I discovered 2 big problems: 1) The random number generator I'm using does not work on my IIGS or IIc Plus (it works on the IIe and others though). So I'll need to rewrite that so it's compatible with all Apple II's, shouldn't take long. 2) I noticed my joystick was not reading my directions correctly when playing on real hardware. At first I thought it was my joystick, even though I just calibrated it, so I tested with 2 others and still had the same problem. The problem is a phenomenon known as "Paddle Crosstalk" in which you need to provide a substantial about of delay between the reading of the vertical paddle and horizontal paddle otherwise the timers don't have time to reset to zero and the readings get all screwed up. It's an issue that doesn't exist under emulation (I use the term emulation loosely since it's clearly not emulating 100% . Anyways, I repositioned some code to lie in between the two readings and that resolved it, so all is well in Lamb Chops land!

Just replaced the disk file. I put in lots of small refinements. Happy gaming!

I own the hard copy of Assembly Lines ( I bought it for about $15), but only had a PDF version of Apple Graphics and Arcade Design. The latter book definitely got me out of a couple jams when I hit a wall and couldn't find the answers elsewhere. Definitely recommend it to any Apple II programmer. Where I deviated from that book was with my character design. It mostly talked about bitmap graphics, but I stayed in my comfort zone using Apple Shape Table (vector) graphics which I've used many times before in BASIC. With them, I could more easily create my "sprites" and plot them against the screen and rotate them as needed. Another big reason I used them was because of their built-in collision detection (location $EA), but unfortunately it isn't 100% fail proof so I had to use other means as well. For a simple game like this where no more than 5 characters are moving on the screen at once, shape table graphics work okay, but if I need to design a more complex and busy game, I'll need to use bitmap graphics for their speed.

Oh yes, many adventures indeed! On a whole it was very fun. You have so much more control at this level and the file size is wayyy smaller than with BASIC programming. I read the book "Assembly Lines" by Roger Wagner just prior to writing this program (incidentally Roger lives about 10 minutes away from me, at least at the time of writing this book!). It was a very nice introduction and drew many parallels to BASIC to help readers like me understand the concepts. I also was reading certain sections from "Apple Graphics and Arcade Design" which helped me deal with some of the more technical information needed as I got deeper into my program. On a whole, 6502 is not really difficult, at least not for developing this sort of game, it's actually very similar to BASIC in many ways. My biggest challenge was dealing with the memory layout of the Apple II (and with Merlin) as well as the odd way the color graphics behave. I ended up having to split my source in 4 parts so Merlin's HIMEM didn't cause issue. Another fun challenge just last night was having to disassemble and modify the music player routine I used from Electric Duet so that you can use keyboard controls without it ending music and sounds effects prematurely. I used Apple's mini-assembler to do this. A few friends from the Apple II community also helped me with some newbie questions I had.

Greetings gamers, Last month I mentioned I'd be taking the dive into 6502 assembly (I've previously only programmed in BASIC). I have my first game just about finished, but at this stage I'd love to get some help beta testing. What do I need tested? Everything! But the big things would be collision detection and making sure no pixel residue remains after bullets or characters make contact with one another. It doesn't have to be perfect (it won't be, but at least fair). But really, the more scenarios you can test for the better. Also, if you own a real Apple II, please test it there too. It'll run on any Apple II with 64k RAM. About the game: It's an arcade game probably best described as a cross between Robotron and the hunting section from Oregon Trail. You're a sheep farmer and your flock has escaped from their fencing. Armed with a shotgun, you must protect them from the natural (and unnatural) forest inhabitants as they make their way home. Things to know: You lose a life by touching any creature except for the sheep or by losing three sheep per stage. An extra man is awarded every 1,000 points. After each boss stage (alien stage), you get a 500 point bonus. Both joystick and keyboard input are supported, but joystick is recommended. The difficulty increases until level 20, where it remains for as long as you can survive (but a cool ending scene awaits if you make it that far!) Thanks up front for testing. I'll be updating the link below to always have the latest version of the game as I finish it up. Also remember, this is my first assembly game so slight performance slowdowns and some flicker are to be expected. http://tanrunomad.com/wp-content/uploads/disks/LAMBCHOPS.do

Looks like their fans of each others work! http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2013/10/dmx-awkward-encounter-apple-ii-creator-steve-wozniak-talk-planning-robbery/

Well it made it so the Apple II was still a viable platform 10+ years after it first launched by allowing the user to continue to add memory, accleration, networking, modem, sound capabilities, hard drive solutions and more to keep up with the evolution of technology. However, where I think it really made the difference was in the creative expansion cards that hobbysts and businesses made like having the Apple II control a train set, a robot, produce the synthesis engine for earliest digital synthesizers, video overlay, and even manipulate robotic lego bricks with the Lego Logo! Even today, it seems most of the new developments from the II community are not software, but hardware-related.