Mark Miller
1:: Atari 8-bit version of "Samples of surfaces in space" (Turbo Basic) (no sound)
16.09.2021 · 09:00:23 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· Original version written in GW-Basic for the PC by Francesco Petroni.
https://www.digitanto.it/mc-online/PDF/Articoli/037_083_088_0.pdf
This version runs in Turbo Basic XL on the Atari. I wrote just enough GW-Basic emulation to run this demo, keeping Petroni's program logic almost the same as the original.
It produces ten 3-D designs, based on polar coordinates.
I list the code at the end, but I've also put up a version on GitHub:
https://github.com/marktmiller/atari-8-bit-projects/tree/main/graphics-without-input-mcmicrocomputer
I realized after putting up this video that even though it worked, the code was kind of a mess. I cleaned up the implementation for the GitHub version.
2:: Robot Odyssey on Apple II
19.11.2012 · 07:46:31 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· Unfortunately the audio on this came out REALLY LOUD. You will probably want to turn your volume WAY down to avoid blowing out your eardrums! Sorry.
Robot Odyssey by Mike Wallace and Leslie Grimm, The Learning Company, 1984.
Program robots using logic gates to pick up essential items and get through mazes. Use them to get through levels. It was the sequel to a similar game called "Rocky's Boots." It was a simulation environment, an amazing thing for its time.
I show excerpts of me playing the game, getting through some of the introductory puzzles. I don't show everything. All of the robots come preprogrammed to do something. It shows me changing their programming for a couple puzzles.
3:: The Halley Project on Atari 8-bit
16.11.2012 · 10:34:19 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· The Halley Project, by Omar Khudari and Tom Snyder, Mindscape, 1985.
This is the first mission: Just going from Halley to Earth, and back.
4:: High Fidelity Dreams demo on Atari ST
16.11.2012 · 10:33:22 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· High Fidelity Dreams, by Aura, 1992
5:: Flight Simulator I on Apple II
16.11.2012 · 10:32:32 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· Flight Simulator on Apple II, by subLogic, predecessor to Flight Simulator II, later purchased and developed by Microsoft.
I take you on a "scenic flight" (of what little scenery there was), and then come in for a landing. It was possible to "go to war", which would cause "enemy planes" to take off and attack you. I never figured out how to use it in that mode, so I didn't do that here. But I do take you by the enemy airfield.
No sound in this video, since the simulator had no sound.
6:: "Superchase" on Atari 8-bit
16.11.2012 · 10:30:59 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· Superchase, by Anthony Godshall, published in Compute! Magazine, October 1982.
I'm playing a treasure hunter, running through caverns, being chased by a monster. The monster follows a trail of footsteps I leave behind, so I try to misdirect it by going into some dead ends, and backtracking out. I have to try to get all the treasure on a level before the monster eats me!
7:: "Laser Chess" on Atari 8-bit
16.11.2012 · 10:27:43 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· The original Laser Chess was written by Mike Duppong, and published in Compute!'s Atari ST Disk & Magazine in 1987. Compute! Magazine published ports of the game in June 1987 for the Commodore Amiga, C-64, Apple II, and Atari XL/XE. This demo is of the Atari XL/XE version, translated by Rhett Anderson, Assistant Editor at Compute!.
8:: Depth Charge - Creative Computing 1976
11.05.2012 · 19:03:25 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· I received a request to do a port and a play-through of a game from the magazine Creative Computing, called "Depth Charge." I got it out of the "The Best of Creative Computing Volume 1," published in 1976.
http://www.atariarchives.org/bcc1/showpage.php?page=251
I adapted it to Atari Basic, and added some sound effects. It's a "guess my number" game in 3 dimensions.
At the start, I select the size of the "playfield." It's a "cube" of water, and the submarine is somewhere within it. All the dimensions are the same. To launch a depth charge I enter 3 coordinates for where I want it to blow up. The 1st number is East-West (lower numbers go West, higher numbers East), 2nd number is North-South (lower numbers South, higher numbers North), and the 3rd number is depth (lower numbers shallower, higher numbers deeper). As I play the game it's difficult for me to keep this straight!
In the first version I play through, the submarine stays in the same location throughout the game, and the game sets how many tries I get, based on the size of the playfield. Part of the article challenged the reader to modify the game so that the sub is able to move one grid point in any direction after each depth charge. To make the game fair, it said to let the player choose how many tries they get. I do this in the second version I load, called "depthch2."
I do two play-throughs for each version, one where the playfield is 10x10x10. The second run I do is 100x100x100.
9:: Atari Basic programming example
28.05.2009 · 10:25:36 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· A couple Atari Basic programming examples.
The second design is created by having a constant offset, and repeatedly adding it to the X and Y axes. I explain how it's done below.
Lines 25 and 27 create a right border for the design.
On the Atari the X axis runs across the top of the screen from left to right. The Y axis goes from the top to the bottom of the screen.
Line 30 sets up a loop for a variable "I" that increments it (adds to it) by 5 rather than by 1.
A loop in Basic is a construct (a way of working) where a variable starts with an initial value (in this case 0). Then a set of "bracketed" instructions is executed (another way of explaining it is it's a set of instructions that are designated to be run repeatedly). These instructions may or may not use the loop variable. Then an additive offset is applied to the loop variable (in this case what happens to I is "Take the value of I, whatever it is, and add 5 to it"). Then the same set of designated instructions is executed again. This repeats until the end value for the loop variable is reached. In this case the end value is 135.
Lines 40 and 50 create the left side of the design, beginning each line on the left side (the X-coordinate=0 (and stays constant), the Y-coordinate uses the loop variable, which increases by 5 as it goes) and drawing a straight line to the bottom of it (where the X-coordinate uses the loop variable, which increases by 5 as it goes, and the Y-coordinate=135 (and stays constant)).
So on the left side it goes:
plot 0,0:drawto 0,135
plot 0,5:drawto 5,135
plot 0,10:drawto 10,135
etc.
Line 60 changes the tone of the sound you hear as the loop progresses.
Lines 70 and 80 do the same design along the right side by beginning each line on the top (where the X-coordinate uses the loop variable, which increases by 5 as it goes, and the Y-coordinate=0 (stays constant)) and drawing a straight line to the right side of it (where the X-coordinate=135 (stays constant), and the Y-coordinate uses the loop variable, which increases by 5 as it goes).
So on the right side it goes:
plot 0,0:drawto 135,0
plot 0,5:drawto 135,5
plot 0,10:drawto 135,10
etc.
Line 90 "brackets" the instructions in the for-loop.
Line 100 turns the sound off.
The cool thing is what gets created in the middle! Kind of looks like an "eye", doesn't it?
From what I understand there's some cool math concepts going on here which probably have something to do with calculus (tangents on a curve), but I'm embarrassed to say that I wouldn't really know how to explain it at this point. This is just a computer form of something we used to do by hand on graph paper for extra credit when I was in 5th grade. In fact we did it often enough that our teacher eventually said, "Alright! No more extra credit!" It was getting too easy.
10:: Tron 2 trailer with sound effects + original music
02.05.2009 · 01:32:21 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· Combined Tron 2 teaser trailer w/ soundtrack + original music. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cqhflFY_Ak
11:: Obama on financial crisis 9-15-08 Grand Junction, CO
06.03.2009 · 07:18:29 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· What Obama thought caused the financial crisis.
12:: Toxic Plane Love
19.06.2008 · 12:02:31 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· I combined Spears's "Toxic" video with Jeffrey Osborne's "Plane Love" sound track.
I thought the two might go together, but it turned out way, WAY better than I imagined! All I did was shave a few seconds off the beginning of the video, and maybe a couple seconds off the beginning of the sound track. Other than that the video and the song are COMPLETELY UNEDITED! I cut off "Plane Love" early, because "Toxic" is shorter.
13:: "Closeout" on Atari 8-bit
15.06.2008 · 12:02:20 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· Closeout, by L. L. Beh, published in Compute! Magazine, March 1983.
I'm playing the yellow guy, as a shopper in a store shopping for bargains (the dots). There are 3 baddies who want the store to themselves. The baddies have guns from the toy section. My guy has a gun too, from the sporting goods section. I lose 25 sale items whenever I shoot (and have to have at least 25 items in order to shoot).
14:: "Worm of Bemer" on Atari 8-bit
27.05.2008 · 01:29:49 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· Worm of Bemer, by Stephen B. Fultz, published in Compute! Magazine, April 1984.
The joystick controls on this game were always iffy. It was a crapshoot whether the worm would go the direction you wanted it to go when you wanted it to do it. It was frustrating, but still fun. :)
15:: Brain Damage demo on Atari STe
05.11.2007 · 08:36:52 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· 01.01.1970 · 01:00:00 ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ··· Brain Damage demo by Aggression and Kruz, 1993