BASIC computer games, running on Atari?

[elviticus]

Just recently ordered this (and a couple other!) BASIC game books by David H. Ahl that I THOUGHT I remembered using with my Atari 800 in the early 80s. I guess not, because the BASIC is not Atari Basic, and the conversion section doesn't even recommend trying on the Atari 8 bits!

 

Anyway, I especially remember playing "Hammurabi"... Maybe it was from another book? On another computer?

 

Down to my question: these games look like fun and I'd like to try them on my Atari 800.... Any advice? Would Atari Microsoft BASIC work? Are there Atari versions of these books out there?

 

 

[kenjennings]

I have these books too. Microsoft BASIC on the Atari is likely closest to the BASIC in these books.

 

However, most of the programs are not that complex and porting them to Atari BASIC (or my preference, BASIC XL) is not unreasonably difficult, especially since almost none of those programs actually do "graphics", because most originate on computers that used teletypes. The first book has a big section discussing porting programs to many flavors of BASIC. Atari BASIC is left out, because the computer didn't even exist when the first book was published.

 

Back in the 80s I had a fantasy of redoing all those games in the book for the Atari with graphics and sound. And then when I looked at them closely I found that many of the programs (most notably the "sports" programs) were just exercises in random number generation. User input was sometimes superfluous.

 

I definitely recall doing Awari and Acey Ducey. It is possible I did more. Been looking for those floppies in my mountain of old disks for a while. They're around here somewhere.

[JamesD]

The biggest issue with some of the games may be that they may require more that 40 columns on the screen.

I did port a lot of the TRS-80 versions to the CoCo when I was a kid, which is only 32 columns.

There was one I had some issues with but I can't remember which one.

[+slx]

I recall trying some conversions as a teenager and I think the most difficult part was string handling. That shouldn't be an issue with MS BASIC.