Need help in a BASIC program crash

[RobertB]

Hi, everybody,

     Our club member Lenard typed in the C64 programs from the book, Bible Computer Games volume 2. In section 1 of the book, he dutifully typed in all the games that were there. From the main menu, you choose one of 9 games listed. However, one game, “The Church Growth Game,” crashes when you play it. You begin with the game asking for how many members are in the church; you input a number and it says that your guess is too high or too low; then you input another number and it says that your guess is too high or too low. Then it crashes with the message, “?REDO FROM START”.

     Both Lenard and I have gone through the BASIC listing but have not found any typos. So, we think there is an error or errors in the programming. Can anyone help us out in catching and correcting any program errors?

     I have attached a .D64 of Bible Games (which also comes with Bible Scramble). The Church Growth Game is selection 8 on the main menu of Bible Games.

 

          Thank you for any help,

          Robert Bernardo

          Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm

bible.d64

Edited January 20, 2021 by RobertB

[carlsson]

?REDO FROM START occurs when you have a numeric INPUT G statement but type in something non-numeric like a text string.

 

In this case, the string on line 4530 contains one space too many, meaning once the message THE CHURCH IS GROWING has been printed, it effectively combines this line with the next screen line into one logic line, which confuses INPUT as it sees a non-numeric string (TOO LOW) following the user input. Whether it is an original typo or if you miscounted the number of spaces is another matter. Generally the programmer really seems to like semicolons to combine printing on the same line, cursor movement and padding out things with spaces.

[RobertB]

     Thank you, thank you very much!  I have e-mailed Lenard with the news of this simple correction.

 

You wrote:

 

> Generally the programmer really seems to like semicolons to combine printing on the same line, cursor movement and padding out things with spaces.

 

     Right!  The book that had these type-in programs was from 1984, and so, the programming is not very "modern". 

     With my limited skills, I've been trying to improve the programs, like standardizing and proofing the menus and terminology.  The query, “Are you ready?”, is one that needs improvement. When you press Y, the program continues on. When you press N, nothing happens. In fact, in the BASIC code, there is no programming for a key press of N. That’s not right!  I may just change it to say, "Press C to continue".

     The black text against a white background is boring! I'm trying to change the color of text lines and/or change the color of the background.

     More complicated would be the incorporation of music. It would be nice to have some music while playing the games and/or reading through the menus (e.g., J. S. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring”).  Or if that is too hard to do, maybe just more sound effects.

     Finally, the main menu needs some spicing up. A cross made of PETSCII characters would be a nice touch. Such a cross could go in the corner of the screen. 

 

          Truly,

          Robert Bernardo

          Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm

          Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan

Edited January 20, 2021 by RobertB

[carlsson]

The Commodore BASIC demo (on the C64 Test/Demo disk, I believe) M2_Synthesizer implements Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. If you dig into HVSC, there are a few more BASIC versions of various kinds that one could extract PRG from SID and then listing from PRG.

 

Or I suppose if you want to be a little edgy, why not a rendering of Personal Jesus? ?

Edited January 20, 2021 by carlsson

[RobertB]

     Thanks for the hints on where to find music to incorporate into the BASIC. 

 

          Truly,

          Robert Bernardo

          Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm

          Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan