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Wanted: Seven Games from Compute!'s Creating Arcade Games


ballyalley

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I'm looking for the following seven games from "Compute!'s Creating Arcade Games on the TI-99/4a" by Seth McEvoy:

 

1) Martian Attack
2) Martian Revenge
3) Riverboat    
4) Shark    
5) Mushrooms
6) Hobo Party
7) Moneybags

 

Here's the book's cover:

 

1753839295_Computes_Creating_Arcade_Games_on_the_TI-99-4a_01_Cover.thumb.jpg.92fd25636df90fd264fa3568d8595b94.jpg

 

A pdf of the book is here:

 

https://archive.org/details/tibook_creating-arcade-games-on-the-ti994a/mode/2up

 

Here's the book's table of contents:

 

1331057307_Computes_Creating_Arcade_Games_on_the_TI-99-4a_04_TOC.thumb.jpg.3da564f1ee7aa7e69b71fc048a2ae5ad.jpg

 

I've looked around for these TI BASIC games, but I can't find them.  I'd like to try them.  I know that they'll be simple, but I'm curious about what this book hopes to teach the reader.  Did anyone here use and read this book?

 

Does anyone have some or all of these seven TI BASIC games on tape or disk?

 

Adam

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The link on archive.org also has the full text. It's not without some OCR errors but with referring to the PDF, these could be corrected. Probably none of the listings are too long to fix up and use. Copy/paste into notepad, edit, then paste the corrected listing into Classic99.

 

Spoiler

10 REM MARTIAN ATTACK

15 LET GC=16

20 LET GR=23

P 25 CALL CLEAR

„ 30 CALL SCREEN(l)

 

81

 

iViartiasij Attack

 

35 CALL COLOR( 1,5,1)
40 CALL COLOR(4,13,l)
45 CALL COLOR(2,7,l)

 

Edited by Ed in SoDak
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8 minutes ago, Ed in SoDak said:

The link on archive.org also has the full text. It's not without some OCR errors but with referring to the PDF, these could be corrected. Probably none of the listings are too long to fix up and use. Copy/paste into notepad, edit, then paste the corrected listing into Classic99.

 

Thanks for the suggestion... but I've done my fair share of typing and/or correcting BASIC listings.  I'll wait until I can download the files in either tape of disk format.  I'm sure these programs from a popular Compute! book are out there someplace.  I bet that someone will come forward who has these programs on tape or disk.  Heck, these programs have certainly already been imaged; I just haven't been able to find them.

 

Adam

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41 minutes ago, Ed in SoDak said:

Tsk. Where's your spirit of adventure? Getting old programs to work by hook or crook is good for the soul!

 

Ah, there was a time when I believed that... heck, to some extent, I still believe it: typing in BASIC programs has become nearly a lost "art."  I'm sure that the seven programs from the Compute! book are out there just waiting to be uncovered.  I just have to wait for them to pop up.  I'm in no hurry.  The TI is "new" to me and I've got plenty of other software for it to play around with while I wait.

 

Back in the 1980s, when I did spend lots of time typing in BASIC programs (and, back then, in the beginning at least, I didn't have much of an idea what any of the BASIC commands were doing), I spent plenty of time with the programs that I entered into my Commodore 64.  Now that wouldn't be the case at all.  I've a curiosity about BASIC on the TI-- especially TI BASIC with all of its limitations, and the Internet, with it's many resources, will probably allow me to try some, most or possibly even all of the games that were in "Compute!'s Creating Arcade Games on the TI-99/4a."

Adam
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On 10/19/2020 at 11:34 PM, HOME AUTOMATION said:

O.K. ...Don't forget that you owe me, "MONEYBAGS".:lol: [Here is the disk for the books: arcadegame.dsk]

 

This seems to be the disk I was looking for.  Here are the contents viewed using Ti99Dir:

 

1367251153_Computes_Creating_Arcade_Games_on_the_TI-99-4a_(Seth_McEvoy)(1984)_Disk_Contents.png.710d0097bbe2fea9cd0d3e8ef014f54f.png

 

It seems that all seven games are on the disk.  I'll try playing some of these games this week.

 

You saved me tons of typing... which, let's admit it, I never would have done.

 

Adam

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On 10/19/2020 at 11:34 PM, HOME AUTOMATION said:

O.K. [here's the disk with the 7 games] ...Don't forget that you owe me, "MONEYBAGS".:lol:

 

I put the disk image onto my NanoPEB and played each of the Compute! BASIC game briefly on real hardware.  From what I've learned about TI BASIC, the games offered about what I expected.  They were simple and painfully slow.  None of the games are fun, but that's okay; they're only meant to be learning examples.  I had some issues because my TI Atari joystick adapter doesn't allow my known-working Atari joystick's fire button to work.  To fix this, I ordered some hardware from Arcade Shopper:

 

1) TI-99/4a to Atari Joystick Adapter - Hopefully it's my old 1980s adapter and not my TI computer that's the issue with the fire button not working.  I'll find out soon enough.
2) FinalGROM99 SD with case, label, manual and a preloaded card - It will be fun to try some of the fast cartridge games.  Of course, I've played many of these under emulation already.
3) NTSC composite video cable - I currently have "stolen" my composite cable from my Atari 130XE .  Now I can have one for a dedicated TI setup.

 

I'll probably get this hardware by next week.

 

Maybe I'll make a video of some of these Compute! games from the "Arcade" book.  If anyone is interested in seeing them, then let me know.

 

Adam

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On 10/19/2020 at 11:10 PM, Ed in SoDak said:

The link on archive.org also has the full text. It's not without some OCR errors but with referring to the PDF, these could be corrected. Probably none of the listings are too long to fix up and use. Copy/paste into notepad, edit, then paste the corrected listing into Classic99.

 

  Hide contents

10 REM MARTIAN ATTACK

15 LET GC=16

20 LET GR=23

P 25 CALL CLEAR

„ 30 CALL SCREEN(l)

 

81

 

iViartiasij Attack

 

35 CALL COLOR( 1,5,1)
40 CALL COLOR(4,13,l)
45 CALL COLOR(2,7,l)

 

Unfortunately, even today, you cannot get decent program listings from OCRed PDFs. No matter how good the scan, you still get too many errors. Until some better tech comes along, it's still better to type out the listings verses trying to correct OCRd listings.

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1 hour ago, Allan said:

Unfortunately, even today, you cannot get decent program listings from OCRed PDFs. No matter how good the scan, you still get too many errors.

 

Hey, Allan, what are ya doing in the TI sub-forum?  Are you a TI fan as well as a an Atari mega-fan?  Please, don't tell me that you archive documentation and programs for this system too...?!?


Adam

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1 hour ago, Allan said:

Unfortunately, even today, you cannot get decent program listings from OCRed PDFs. No matter how good the scan, you still get too many errors. Until some better tech comes along, it's still better to type out the listings verses trying to correct OCRd listings.

I had scraped these from WHTech...

 

d1-2.thumb.JPG.f401052cc7dd9f2990163d705c264bf7.JPG

 

d3.thumb.JPG.ff735ae07dfa1073bb782e0e763f9f34.JPG

 

...from this directory:

 

http://www.whtech.com/ftp/emulators/pc99/pc99 dsk collection/Numbered/

 

BASIC#2.ZIP

BASIC#3.ZIP

3076.ZIP

;-)

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I own this book, typed several of them in myself in the old days. They definitely aren't fast. :)

 

On another interesting note, the author Seth McAvoy also wrote a junior fiction series called "Not Quite Human" about an android Chip who is built by his creator and sent to school as his "son" to test him out. Disney turned out a couple TV movies based upon it as well in the late 80s / early 90s.

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9 hours ago, ballyalley said:

 

Hey, Allan, what are ya doing in the TI sub-forum?  Are you a TI fan as well as a an Atari mega-fan?  Please, don't tell me that you archive documentation and programs for this system too...?!?


Adam

I am a fan of all computers from the Eighties. I do not archive TI stuff. It's to dangerous to start archiving for other computers. I have to force myself to stick to Atari 8-bit.

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3 hours ago, Allan said:

I am a fan of all computers from the Eighties. I do not archive TI stuff. It's to dangerous to start archiving for other computers. I have to force myself to stick to Atari 8-bit.

I'm pretty sure that Klaus, Ciro, and I are the insane TI-99 documentation archivers.  :)  :)  :)

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4 hours ago, Allan said:

I am a fan of all computers from the Eighties. I do not archive TI stuff. It's to dangerous to start archiving for other computers. I have to force myself to stick to Atari 8-bit.

 

Uh-huh, I get that; that's why I chose to "just" document for the Bally Arcade/Astrocade.  For that reason, many people believe it's my favorite 8-bit system, but that's not true.  It very interesting indeed, but I'll give pretty-much any 8-bit system a spin.  The Atari 8-bit is still my "fave."  When I'm playing around with a "new" computer, such as the TI-99/4a, I try to find what I like about it.  Sure, it has flaws, but beyond the flaws, what makes the system successful enough that there is still an active community.

 

Adam

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7 hours ago, adamantyr said:

I own this book, typed several of them in myself in the old days. They definitely aren't fast. :)

 

[...] Seth McAvoy also wrote a junior fiction series called "Not Quite Human"

 

Yeah, slowness is the order of the day for TI BASIC.  While that surely isn't a "feature," since it is the BASIC that's built into the TI, I'm sure it's the most used BASIC on the system.  In fact, how successful was Extended BASIC?  Did "everyone" have it, or did just hardcore programmers pick it up?

 

I remember the "Not Quite Human" TV show from the 1980s.  I thought it was terrible.  It was on for several seasons, I think; someone must have liked it.  Wasn't there another TV show from the mid-80s that had a little girl who was a robot?  (Yeah, feel free to ignore that question that could derail this thread!)

 

Adam

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11 hours ago, sometimes99er said:

That would be nice [... to see video of some of these Compute! games from the "Arcade" book.] :)

 

It would be a fun video to make covering the example games, although it would be easier (by a long shot) if I had the physical book to work from during the video.  There are a few other long example programs from the "Compute!'s Arcade" book that might be fun to try out.  For example:

 

Chapter 5: Keyboard and Joystick Control - Flutters (Two-page short game where you catch a butterfly)

Chapter 6: Sound - Sound Parade (three-page sound-creation program)

 

There are probably floating around the Internet too.  Has anyone seen this game and sound program?

 

Adam

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13 hours ago, HOME AUTOMATION said:

I had scraped these from WHTech [...] from this directory:

 

http://www.whtech.com/ftp/emulators/pc99/pc99 dsk collection/Numbered/

 

That seems like an enormous amount of software.  I'll have to dig into this list and, at random, I guess, pick a few programs/games.  I'll wait until my joystick adapter arrives to try any more games.  Is there a list of published BASIC software for the TI?

 

Adam

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8 hours ago, ballyalley said:

 

That seems like an enormous amount of software.  I'll have to dig into this list and, at random, I guess, pick a few programs/games.  I'll wait until my joystick adapter arrives to try any more games.  Is there a list of published BASIC software for the TI?

 

Adam

One of our fellow users here on AtariAge (@OX.) built a wonderful TI Gamebase. I'm not sure what the current download link is though, as it is a big file and it moves around.

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