"New" Speed Demon Game

[8BIT 1337]

I decided to take an old basic game that was published in one of the magazines and 'convert it' to Turbo Basic XL, just for the learning opportunity that looking at someone else's code would give.

 

The one I chose was Speed Demon, originally published in Antic vol. 1 no. 4. My updated version is attached.

 

http://www.atarimagazines.com/v1n4/speeddemon.html

 

It starts up faster (thanks to TBXL's move command ), I changed the level select screen to be more visually obvious, I changed the track to look (IMO) cleaner, I changed the info pane to look (again, IMO) cleaner, I fixed what I think was a bug with turning (there was code there to make a specific sound while turning, but I don't think it was called), and I changed the crash animation to stop after a couple of rotations. I also changed the start/finish line graphics just because I thought it looked cooler. But it's really fundamentally the same game

 

I might still tinker with it to add a high score table, and I did have a version with two cars running (it looked like the original author may have intended that based on his choice of variable names), but it was too slow and I am too lazy to try to make that work at this point

 

FWIW, enjoy.

 

(And if there's some etiquette I should follow regarding the original author and getting permissions or something please let me know. I just figured that since this was published in a magazine 30+ years ago that nobody would much care if I tinkered with it for fun and uploaded it for people to play if they cared to. But my thanks do go out to the original author as it was fun looking at the code, learning from it, and adding my own flavour)

 

 

 

 

Speed Demon.atr

[+CharlieChaplin]

Hmmm,

 

if the version with two cars is too slow, how about compiling the code ?!? Afaik, compiled TB XL (CTB) runs 3-5 times faster than TB. And then you may use the CTB-Linker to link the Runtime and Autorun.CTB into one single *.XEX file... just a thought.

Edited June 8, 2016 by CharlieChaplin

[Dmitry]

Hey 8bit, I have done a similar thing except doing the rewrite in assembler and the original author had challenged the readers to make improvements, so I didn't have to worry as much about etiquette, although maybe I should have anyway I'm known to make remarks like... Well finally fixed the game after 33 years . Lol but I don't really mean it. You picked a fun game to fix.

[Dmitry]

Yesterday I played speed demon several times. The older games like speed demon and like the snake game I recently ported, really punished you for any mistake in a sharp and merciless way. My thoughts on the game is the best improvement would come from a complete rewrite. Actually I have been wishing I have done the same for my port....

 

But anyway, I am thinking larger, more detailed car, which in turn makes the track larger, which in turn means horizontal and vertical fine scrolling, like rallyx.

 

About making sure the less skilled driver puts in a slower time than the practiced...that can be subtle, not so game interrupting and harsh. This game really slaps the user across the face...I think hay bale displacement would be awesome. Loose controls, tear up the track, but get back to the action... Trackball game. This could be a great game. It'd be a similar concept. I bet the original author was thinking about what he could do in basic, not the limits of the machine

[8BIT 1337]

Yesterday I played speed demon several times. The older games like speed demon and like the snake game I recently ported, really punished you for any mistake in a sharp and merciless way. My thoughts on the game is the best improvement would come from a complete rewrite. Actually I have been wishing I have done the same for my port....

 

But anyway, I am thinking larger, more detailed car, which in turn makes the track larger, which in turn means horizontal and vertical fine scrolling, like rallyx.

 

About making sure the less skilled driver puts in a slower time than the practiced...that can be subtle, not so game interrupting and harsh. This game really slaps the user across the face...I think hay bale displacement would be awesome. Loose controls, tear up the track, but get back to the action... Trackball game. This could be a great game. It'd be a similar concept. I bet the original author was thinking about what he could do in basic, not the limits of the machine

 

Maybe someday I'll get ambitious and tackle something along those lines, but for now I'm content with what I did.

 

Really I'm just looking forward to next year's NOMAM 10 liner contest, and playing around with code is just a way to stimulate the brain once I get there.

 

I do appreciate the kinds words and suggestions for sure though. And I'm happy to see it's been downloaded a few times, as that was the whole idea of posting it in the first place (letting someone else play it rather than hogging it to myself LOL )

[Dmitry]

Understandable, the 10 liner looks like fun.