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BIOTERROR! Brand New PET-2001 game (8k, 40col)

G

GreatNorthWeb

Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2011
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15
Location
Northwest Ohio
I didn't have any software for my PET-2001, so I built an original strategic simulation called BIOTERROR! Manage resource units to quarantine cities, research a cure, and eradicate infections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWNVUyuZhrk

I struggled with the limited 8k memory and had to remove a few parts of the game, but my original concept remained intact.

Let me know what you all think. I will post the D64 file if the concept is well-received.
****UPDATE - DOWNLOAD AVAILABLE****
http://greatnorthweb.com/bioterror!/

Enjoy!
 
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Maybe you can get a RAM expansion board to bring your PET to the glory of 32K. :) But please post or upload your game to some archive, e.g. Zimmers FTP (well perhaps not through http but good old ftp).
 
GreatNorthWeb said:
I didn't have any software for my PET-2001, so I built an original strategic simulation called BIOTERROR! Manage resource units to quarantine cities, research a cure, and eradicate infections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWNVUyuZhrk

I struggled with the limited 8k memory and had to remove a few parts of the game, but my original concept remained intact.

Let me know what you all think. I will post the D64 file if the concept is well-received.

Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Awesome! Who says the art of writing non-trivial programs in 8K is dead!

Great video too; wonder how many of us were screaming at the screen, "NO, NO; that's an H, not a T, you idiot!!!!! AArghhh!!! Ahhh-Finally!" ;-)

Well thought-out concept too; Really nice work!

mike
 
That is awesome!

You say that you only have the letters of the keyboard for graphics. Is that true for the map over U.S.A ?
 
pontus said:
That is awesome!

You say that you only have the letters of the keyboard for graphics. Is that true for the map over U.S.A ?
Click to expand...
I think what he meant is that the PET does not have 'real' pixel-addressable graphics, just the set of special graphic 'characters' that are shown on the front of the keys of the keyboard below; remarkable what you can draw with such a limited set of crude symbols.
IMG_0355.JPG

(Hope Lutiana doesn't mind my borrowing his picture).
 
Aha, just like the extra characters on the C64. And yes, I'm impressed with what can be drawn with them.
 
The character graphics (PETSCII) actually consists of the exact same symbols from the PET to the C128. The only thing added with VIC-20, C64 and later models were colours.
 
>>Well thought-out concept too; Really nice work!

That's pretty funny considering that I made the game as I went along. There was no forethought at all...I just kept bashing away (just like when I was a kid) until something playable came out of my keyboard.

I need to squeeze another 40 bytes out of the game so I can put my name in it. I know...I am sacrificing functionality for vanity, but hey, this might end up in an archive that people are still discussing in another 35 years. The D64 file will be coming soon.
 
GreatNorthWeb said:
>>Well thought-out concept too; Really nice work!

That's pretty funny considering that I made the game as I went along. There was no forethought at all...I just kept bashing away (just like when I was a kid) until something playable came out of my keyboard.
Click to expand...
Well, thinking is an on-going process by definition after all ;-)

I need to squeeze another 40 bytes out of the game so I can put my name in it. I know...I am sacrificing functionality for vanity, but hey, this might end up in an archive that people are still discussing in another 35 years. The D64 file will be coming soon.
Click to expand...
Any possibility of packing text into 5 bits and gaining enough net space to make (un)packing worth while? If there's a lot of text that used to be one of my favourite tricks in low-memory situations.
 
Do you have a version for cassette owners? My pet 2001-8 has the original roms, so no disk support. (not like I have a ieee drive laying around anyway.)

Later,
dabone
 
MikeS said:
Well, thinking is an on-going process by definition after all ;-)

Any possibility of packing text into 5 bits and gaining enough net space to make (un)packing worth while? If there's a lot of text that used to be one of my favourite tricks in low-memory situations.
Click to expand...

That might be possible, but it is beyond my current skills. I wrote this in PET Basic 1.0, btw. My version does not have seem to have the Bill Gates easter egg, though.
 
dabone said:
Do you have a version for cassette owners? My pet 2001-8 has the original roms, so no disk support. (not like I have a ieee drive laying around anyway.)

Later,
dabone
Click to expand...

I don't have a cassette version (yet), but you can try something that I tested before my transformer burned out. You can convert a tape image to a wav file, and then play it through your computer's sound card.

I connected my PC to my pet with one of these:
mp3_cd_cassette_player_adapter.jpg

and I was able to record a test program to/from my PET.
 
GreatNorthWeb said:
I connected my PC to my pet with one of these:
...
and I was able to record a test program to/from my PET.
Click to expand...
No, no, we don't want to record, we want to play your program ;-)

Can't VICE create a tape/.WAV file that you could post somewhere?

ISTR that there were two people asking in another thread about transformer problems; are you getting anywhere with that?
 
perhaps you are busy, I would be overly eager and happy to assist you and adapt your source to IBM 8088/8086 if you were so agreeable =) I want to play it! =P
 
For what it is worth, the PETSCII and "IBMSCII" graphics sets are not identical, so even a crude port to BASICA on an early IBM PC would require some redrawing of the map, perhaps even move into some high resolution mode to plot pixels.
 
GreatNorthWeb said:
you can play it on the VICE: PET emulator...I placed a file on my site.
Click to expand...
That's not very helpful for someone not familiar with the Commodore scene... ;-)

Are there step-by-step instructions anywhere for downloading, installing, configuring and using VICE to run a .D64 like this? If not, and you want people like JDT to play with and enjoy your most excellent program, then some instructions about how to play it on a PC would probably be most welcome.
 
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