Has anyone remade Atari 2600 Adventure in BASIC?

[madscijr]

Just wondering - the technology used for Adventure was simple enough that just about any 8-bit home computer or newer should be capable of emulating it. 

I'm wondering if anyone has done it in BASIC (maybe compiled, or with some minor ML routines, or using some BASIC expansion library, for more speed etc.) ? 

It would be cool to have such a code base to work with, making it easy to modify and create custom adventures... 

 

Edited November 23, 2020 by madscijr
tags

[R.Cade]

I wrote one for the VIC-20 when I got one back in 1983, but unfortunately it's lost. It was pretty easy to do with PETSCII character graphics, and being so simple I didn't need a lot of knowledge of game design at all.

 

I remember getting pretty far into the development of it, never 100% completed though, like all my projects.

 

 

Edited November 23, 2020 by R.Cade

[Preppie]

Never tried it but it would be simple enough to do especially if you used FastBasic.

[zzip]

I'm pretty sure I have a version of Adventure written in BASIC for the Atari 8-bit.   I've never tried to modify it though.

[madscijr]

Thanks everyone for your replies!

 

  

On 11/23/2020 at 2:23 PM, zzip said:

I'm pretty sure I have a version of Adventure written in BASIC for the Atari 8-bit.   I've never tried to modify it though.

Oooh, any chance you might be persuaded to share the code? I promise you it would not be used for monetary gain  

 

On 11/23/2020 at 1:38 PM, Preppie said:

Never tried it but it would be simple enough to do especially if you used FastBasic.

I'm new to Atari 8-bit and hadn't heard of FastBasic - I looked it up and it is intriguing. Simple, easy, and fast are good attributes for a development language here! 

 

On 11/23/2020 at 1:19 PM, R.Cade said:

I wrote one for the VIC-20 when I got one back in 1983, but unfortunately it's lost. It was pretty easy to do with PETSCII character graphics, and being so simple I didn't need a lot of knowledge of game design at all.

 

I remember getting pretty far into the development of it, never 100% completed though, like all my projects.

My condolences, I'm sure 37 years has removed the sting, but I know the pain of losing one's work. 

PETSCII graphics can definitely reproduce the look of the backgrounds, but the player, dragons, objects, etc. would need to be sprites, to recreate the smooth motion of the Atari VCS version. I know it's not exactly the most advanced game, but I would like the look and feel to be as true to the original as possible. 

 

PS However, I might be interested in a option for a scrolling playfield, rather than the flip screen of the original. Maybe even a split screen game where 2 players can interact in the same world. The thing I wouldn't know how to do would be smooth scrolling of character-based (ie tile) graphics, in a window (the top half for player 1, the bottom half for player 2, or maybe right/left, or maybe 2x2 for 4-player split screen, and maybe a non-scrolling area at the top or bottom displaying score, and other attributes). That kind of thing sounds like it would need interrupts and machine language - stuff that is a little daunting, a little too much work - at least on a C64 which I am most familiar with. Maybe the Atari 8-bits have flavors of BASIC that can do that kind of thing easily and quickly? The scrolling is just a nice to have though, I just thought I'd throw that idea out there. If there is no easy way to accomplish it, forget I mentioned it! 

 

PPS I think my main idea and desire would be to create an EASILY modifiable Adventure game / engine. Kind of an "Atari 2600 Adventure Construction Set". 

 

Thanks again everyone

Edited November 24, 2020 by madscijr

[madscijr]

2 hours ago, madscijr said:

I might be interested in a option for a scrolling playfield, rather than the flip screen

Thinking about it, the flip screen version would be fine, but the screen would still need to be redrawn pretty quickly when you move to a new one. On the C64 at least, this would mean reading the new screen data (the whole world would be loaded somewhere in high memory where it won't be overwritten by BASIC) and copying the visible portion to the screen, which would be slow without a ML routine of some sort. I'm not sure what BASIC extensions might have features that would do this quickly, otherwise it would mean writing some assembly or hoping the compiled program runs fast enough so you don't have to wait too long for the screen to be drawn.

[zzip]

19 hours ago, madscijr said:

Oooh, any chance you might be persuaded to share the code? I promise you it would not be used for monetary gain

It's not my code, do as you wish :)    I've attached the ATR.

 

at the ready prompt,

LOAD "D:\ADVNTRE2.BAS"  should load it.

 

when you run it, it has a prompt looking for a number, I don't know if this is a seed or level select, but once you input it, you will see the familiar Adventure screens.

 

It is kinda slow,  maybe something like Turbo Basic can help here.

Adv2600.atr

[madscijr]

18 minutes ago, zzip said:

It's not my code, do as you wish I've attached the ATR.

Thanks so much! 

This might help other budding programmers too. 

[madscijr]

In case it helps anyone, I found another implementation for the TRS-80 MC-10. 

Some videos of it running: 

Atari Adventure in BASIC: Alpha Version - YouTube

Atari Adventure in BASIC: Lucky Chalice Placement and Easy Win! - YouTube

Atari Adventure In BASIC Spelling Fix - YouTube

 

Try it in this online MC-10 Javascript Emulator  (choose ADVNTR from dropdown and type RUN <ENTER>).
 

Here's the page with a link to the downloadable sound file of the program on cassette(!) and a link to it emulated online:

Type-in Mania: Programming in BASIC on the TRS-80 MC-10: RetroChallenge 2018/09: Atari Adventure in BASIC Beta Release

 

More info: Atari Adventure in Basic Lost Sword

 

There is a download link here for the game and the emulator it runs in:

Jim Gerrie's TRS-80 MC-10 Games by JimGerrie - Play Online - Game Jolt

 

I was looking for a utility to convert the program listing on the cassette image to a plain text file, maybe it's in this MC-10 archive (has the emulator and more stuff):

TRS-80 Color Computer Archive - MC-10
 

A thread about the MC-10 here on atariage: Remember the TRS-80 MC-10? - Tandy Computers - AtariAge Forums

 

[zzip]

57 minutes ago, madscijr said:

Thanks so much! 

This might help other budding programmers too. 

also take a look at the other basic programs on that ATR I attached,  looks like there are tools to help you edit the game.