QB Express: Issue #9

Letters

Letter From Joseph Burke

Hey Pete,

Thanks for accepting my review.

I'm sorry to hear that your site was spammed. I suppose it is an unfortunate reality that there are some incredibly sad and twisted hackers out there. And they haven't just targeted your site. For instance, one of my favourite Sonic fan game sites, sfghq.emulationzone.org, was hacked recently. This dude took over the messageboard, and then threatened to destroy the site if the webmaster (Smidge) didn't make him a moderator. Smidge backed up his site, told him to get stuffed, and deleted sfghq.emulationzone.org in its entirety. Bloody sad.

So, death to hackers.

I said in my last email that I would give you an update of sonicx, so here it is. In the limited spare time I have had, I have been focusing on some presentation issues. In every commercial sonic game, levels start with a black screen that only has the level name shown. As the level loads, the screen fades from black and the level name text is taken off the screen. This was partially implemented in sonicxV9, but the text always read "icecap zone". I have now fully implemented it for sonicxV10, and the text displayed can be anything the level designer wants.

The other major presentation touch up relates to the score screen which appears when the level is finished. This is now implemented and calculates a ring bonus and time bonus which it adds to the score.

There has also been some further work with the scripting engine. It can now process variables like ChangeSignPath, Nextsign, CreateTempSignPath, DeleteTempSignPath, CreateObject, ChangeObject, DeleteObject, IsSonicLeft, isSonicRight, IsSonicUp, IsSonicDown, IsSonicClose, IsSonicFar, DoesItTouchSonic and DoesItTouchAnotherObject. These variables are calculated relative to the object calling the variable. Basically what this means, is that an object can move along a certain path, and change paths depending on where the sonic sprite is. It can also create new objects depending where the sonic sprite is. So SonicX can have heaps of virtually autonomous interacting objects.

About my scripting engine, this is what scripts look like:

66 24 59 67 68
66 25 59 25 51 67 1
63 25 59 67 3 64 25 59 67 1
63 25 59 67 1 64 35 59 ring1.wav
63 25 59 67 2 64 35 59 ring2.wav
66 1 59 1 51 67 1
66 2 59 67 100 51 2
65

It is activated when a ring is picked up. It actually means:

Execute varpointer% = 68
Execute var1!(varpointer%) = var1!(varpointer%) + 1
If var1!(varpointer%) = 3 then var1!(varpointer%) = 1
If var1!(varpointer%) = 1 then PlaySoundFx ring1.wav
If var1!(varpointer%) = 2 then PlaySoundFx ring2.wav
Execute rings! = rings! + 1
Execute scoring! = 100 + scoring!
End

Regards,
Joseph Burke

Thanks for the scoop on SonicX! Your game is really popular around the Qmunity, so I'm sure the readers will be glad to find out about it.

As for the hacking and spamming, yeah, it really sucks. It's annoying as hell. A few weeks ago, I was fixing my site literally every night because of either hackers or spammers. But I guess there's not much I can do about it except secure my site better, since the number of spammers, hackers and other lamers visiting my site is only going to go up.

-Pete

Letter From Lachie Dazdarian

Greetings Pete,

After few weeks I finally found time to read the last issue of QB Express and to write this email. I was mostly busy working on my entry for Nek's Space Invaders competition. It's called Evil Baron Lachie. :P Check it in QbasicNews forum.

I also downloaded ALL the issues of QB Express released so far so I checked some of the articles I missed in the past issues. Since I share you interest in QB community history I quite enjoyed reading the article about Qlympics. Very interesting stuff. Especially now when I'm working on my QBasic Games Directory project(84 games in a MQL database so far!). Elysian Fields contains so much disgusting self-boasting that it makes me sick.

Anyway, after reading issue #8 I realized that all the things you said in the editorial of the mentioned issue is absolutely true and not exaggerating. Definitely the best issue of QB Express so far, by quality and quantity. No one could predict such growth of the magazine. It's wonderful to see what QB Express has done to the community. I can't thank you enough for being such a positive force. It's not only the fact you release new issues so regularly and the quality of your editing. It's the way you comment things and your whole positive approach. You rule man.

There are some things I really liked so if you don't mind I would like to point them out.

Letters section. Absolutely wonderful, interesting and funny. Loved the letter from Lurah about QBasic being alive or not and your response to it. Beating a dead horse. Heh. I was amused.

News Briefs section. I'm amazed how that section is detailed and covers practically every event happening in community. Great work!

"What QBasic Means To Me" article by Michael J. Wyldman. I'm so in the same track with this guy. I absolutely hate people who can help but are not helpful and in the same time find time to be obnoxious. I remember when I was looking for XMS routines I needed for my project and some guy responded to my post(in QBasicNews forum) with a question: "Do you know at all what XMS is? I can't help you if you don't know what you are looking for." Wanker. If you can't help don't be an ass!

"ASCII Ain't Goin' Anywhere And It Will Live Forever" article by Lurah. Brilliant. The way he delivers the idea why ASCII is superior...just great. Sentence "Do you see just some boring thing up there?" is for the anthology.

Third chapter of Na_th_an's IF Tutorial. Can't wait for the examples in the next issue. I was kind of disappointed to find out that hard coding exceptions is bad since LONG code is filled with hard coded exceptions. Mainly because I thought that was the only way to code them. :P And I'm still not sure how Na_th_an's scripting language or whatever goes around that. Still, this language can't be simple. More exceptions there is, more complex this language has to be. Well, that's what me stupid thinks. I better wait for the next chapter of the tutorial.

Antoni Gual's article about FreeBasic. Finally someone decided to write a tutorial about starting in FreeBasic. Table with differences between QB and FB is a complete hit. EXACTLY what I needed. Still, it didn't said that DEF SEG statement is not supported. I was kind of frustrated with that since I can't load sprites made in Pixel Plus 256 in a program compiled with FB. And many other things I need(like a gif loader). Being a game designer I don't even have a slightest idea how to replace code which uses DEF SEG statement with something else.

Gustav's FreeBASIC Allegro Tutorial 1. Very smart, detailed and easy to understand step by step tutorial. The idea to show the equivalent code in C++ is just great. Can't wait for the next issue.

I did not like ALL the content in this issue but I think it's more constructive to discuss that with the very authors of these articles or tutorials.

What this issue succeeded is to finally turn me on the dark side(:P), FreeBasic. Yes, I'm officially switching to FB. LONG will not be finished in QB. My first program in FB will be Evil Baron Lachie, or in other words, I'm porting it to FB. I'm sincerely hope that during this porting I'll learn all the routines and libraries I need to substitute my current way of coding. Loading, storing and displaying sprites and background images and similar. I so don't won't to abandon Pixel Plus 256. I also want to implement sound in my games so I need to find good sound routines/library. It will be a painful transition since mainly I'm a game designer. Switching compilers to a game designer....well, it hurts.

My contribution to this issue is another review. This time it's the review of Larry The Dinosaur 2. For the next issue I hope I'll be able to compile a review of TerraScape by Pieslice Productions. That game is a brilliant achievement. Definitely the best 3D QB game and one of the best QB games overall. I'm also planning to start some sort of column for very unknown or relatively unknown QB games. Still not sure about the column title. Something like "Unknown gem or not?" or maybe "Should you be knowing about this?". Maybe you can help me. I already have two games for the first two editions of this column, Astral Worlds and Star Trek: The Capture. The idea is that the column won't be a classic review but more an article about the game. I'm going to be such a busy man.

Uh, I kind of went overboard with this email. Just keep up the outstanding work. :)

Best Wishes, Lachie D.

I love getting long, insightful emails about what QB Express is doing well -- they really help me figure out what you, the readers want. So thanks a lot for that (and your other submissions).

I'm pumped about your project to collect the important and influential QB games, and your plan to write about overlooked QB games that people have been released. I definitely share your interest here. A column on unknown QB games is a great idea. I'm really looking forward to your future articles. Also, keep us up to date on your QB game collection. When it's finished, it will be a phenomenal resource for the Qmunity.

-Pete

Letter From MystikShadows

Hi Peter,

Well, I don't wanna sound like a broken record but hey, all I can see about QB Express is that, like you said, it really does seem to have nowhere to go but up. You mentioned in your intro to Issue #8 that the quality of that issue was second to none and I can't help but agree with you on that. I think people are putting the effort into their writings two ways, the first is in the selected topics which I've noticed the contributors seeem to be attacking the right subjects to make QB Express a better magazine for the casual reader as well as the programmer looking for solutions to his programming needs alike. QB Express is definitaly broadening it's horizons and still manages to keep the essence of being "A magazine by the QB community, for the QB community!".

This tells me that:

The reader base is definitaly growing like you mentioned. I don't need to see the traffic stats of the magazine to know that.
The list of contributors to the magazine is gaining alot of experience in searching and finding the right things to talk about or teach to the readers.
The users are reaching programming directions (in their projects) that need more and more specialized knowledge at hand to help them complete their project.
The community is definitaly more alive than ever, and more kicking than ever before too.
The community is evolving and expanding too. More people doing more things tend to do that to a programming language and a community but it's great news to see that it IS happening in the QB Community.

I think it's great to see this happening before our very eyes. Victor gave us the tool (FreeBasic) but that wouldn't be anything without the users actually doing things with that tool. So to see all that's happening right now, is refreshing to me. And it's very motivating to me to continue pushing that momentum forward because it's far from over from what I can see. Take me for example, I just came out of the hospital yesterday, when I got home, I finished one of my contributions to the next issue. And ideas, unlike when I started contributing to your magazine, seem to flow right out of head and into document form. This is just an example of what momentum can do I think and I think it should definitaly be mentionned. I'm sure I'm not the only one that's been like this in the mast 2 months or so.

The more stubborn (lurah for example ;-) ) are converting to freebasic not because of lack of choice but because they are seeing the new possibilities that are there for them. So I know that more and more people are going to see this and convert, i'm not even worried about that.

I can't wait to see what people will do with their newly found power (freeBasic) combined with their inner powers (imagination and creativity). I for one strongly believe that we haven't even begun to really "create" things yet except for games. we're still at the stage of making the computer do what we don't want to do, in the corporate world too and we're not out of it yet so there's plenty of room for creativity to manifest itself and we're all on the forefront of that creativity. :-).

Anyways, I gotta get back to writing some more, so I'll end this letter by saying congratulations once again, and let's see what the future holds for FreeBasic and it's users.

MystikShadows
Stephane Richard

Another one of your gushing letters, man. You've got to be QB Express's #1 fan -- and contributor. Nobody has submitted more tutorials than you have -- and they're all phenomenal quality. The readers might like to know that I actually held off on SIX of the TEN tutorials that you submitted this month, because I didn't want the magazine monopolized entirely by Mr. Stéphane Richard. :)

But seriously, thanks a lot for the great feedback. And sorry again this issue is late (I know how much you've been looking forward to it). Talk to you next month (I'm sure I'll hear from you :) ).

-Pete

Letter From Lurah

Hi Pete.

Gee, what a issue #8 was? Great, huge, big, awesome...lol...i dont wana waste whole letter just to describe different synonyms. And as i did say on QBNews forum, i print issues and that last one, literally killed my printer :D

It was nice to notice that my project was mentioned there too...(do I feel a pressure...) :D And our new site, www.ascii-world.com was great to see mentioned there.

Summer is coming, and even here in cold northic Finland, snows are almost melted away. Does it mean that even "nerds" can turn off pc's and go out? Is it only me, or has there been happened a some sort of quiet down thing on forums etc.? Well, in spring time, peoples usually have lots of to do and world outside of doors is pretty interesting thing :D

I was hoping that i could release new and more extended demo of my project before this issue but...well, i quote myself "...in spring time, peoples usually have lots of to do." Practically, only thing that i have moved on is linux version of it.

But before every one is goin out to enjoy for that summer... ...there is a demo contest starting on this precisely minute at ascii-world.com And of course, as you probably can guess from url, it's a ASCII-Demo contest. Summer is coming, so what could be better theme for that contest?

And price for winner, beside of all that glory and honor, a nice "summerlike" t-shirt with some , not so summerlike, but ASCII like words. :D

But, because MystikShadows has allready emailed accurated details of that contest to you, I'll end up here and give to readers a free way to see what you have this time on issue #9.

Regards. Lurah

You're crazy, man...printing this magazine out is ridiculous. One of the reasons why it's always so big and I include just about everything is because it's an Internet magazine -- not a print magazine! With this medium, there's little need for conciseness. I can go on for pages and pages and pages and pages and pages and pages and pages and pages and it costs me next to nothing. Ink and paper, now that's another story.

Anyway, I've featured your competition in this issue. Readers, if you're interested, click here to check out the ASCII-World competition. I hope it's a big success!

-Pete

Letter from Rattrapmax6

QBE Suggestions...

Hmm,.. I liked noticed, and you've said, that its hard for you to put it together every month, the mag...

Well, I think you might have a Deadline problem,. You say its the 15, and yet you can still send in if the mag is not out yet.. When I first read this I was really like: "What?!"

Possible solution: Have a submission Date, and a Release Date:

Lets say, Deadline to submit is the 15th of the month,. no more submissions are allowed, or any taken after that will go into the next mag..

Then give yourself a deadline to compile the mag, say the 20th of the month.. or what ever you estimate you need... and since nomore submitions are coming in,. you can freely make the mag with less hasle..

Just a thought,. anyways.. Wink ..see ya around..

-Rattrapmax6

Thanks for the suggestions...but they're not going to help.

It's not that I get lots of submissions that holds back this magazine, it's that I have to write my own articles. Formatting and adding other people's articles takes me a very small amount of time. What takes forever is: The News Briefs, the Gallery, the Competition sections, the Awards and the Blast From the Past! (if I do one). Adding someone else's article takes maybe 5 minutes, meanwhile each news brief usually takes more than 5 minutes to research, write and format. And I do dozens of those.

I encourage people to keep on sending in articles up until the bitter end of when I release an issue. Honestly, the only reason why I have a deadline for submissions is to remind and motivate people to submit articles. It's not that I really need them far ahead of time.

-Pete

Have a letter for the editor? Send all your rants, raves, ideas, comments and questions to pberg1@gmail.com.

News Briefs

News from all around the QB community, about the latest games, site updates, program releases and more!

QB Site News

Todd Seuss Launches Data Components GUI Reviews

On March 27th, a new QB GUIs site launched: Data Components Software Development GUI Reviews. Already, this site is probably the biggest QB GUIs site I've ever seen, with no fewer than 53 GUI reviews (I counted). All of them feature screenshots, information about the developer, and a thorough text description. It's amazing that a site this big just popped up overnight. Since the March launch, Todd Seuss has done regular updates, and there's no signs of slowing down. Check it out!

QB45 Celebrates Tenth Anniversary?

A while ago over at QB45, Jofers posted the following message:

Well, I'm not really sure when Jorden started the site. The wayback machine only goes back to 1999. But I know it was '95, and I figure, why not have it on International Joe Day. Or Easter, whichever is your preference.

So here's to you, qb45. Kept unnaturally alive with a forum like a braindead woman on a feeding tube for over 10 years, you provide us all with wasted time at our expense. Cheers!

Wow, I can't believe the Qmunity is getting that old. Whether or not late March is Future Software / QB45.com's tenth birthday, you have to give it props -- it's been around just about forever in Internet time.

QBasicLab Launches, ASCIIQUEST Editor Coming Up

Jace Masula / momoguru has been pretty busy in the last month. Not only has he launched a great site called QBasicLab, he has also released a lot of information about his upcoming ASCII adventure game maker "ASCIIQUEST Editor". With this program, he's working on a few games, such as Dragon Quest v1.0. I suggest you check out the site and read up on these exciting programs. (I mean, look at this editor!):

Nekrophidius Resigns as V Planet! Editor

Since Vance Velez passed on his position as managing editor of V Planet! to Nekrophidius early last year, the site has seen only a handful of small updates and has really fell into disrepair. There hasn't been a new review added to the site since Nekrophidius took over, and the latest Gaming Gold Awards just seemed to fizzle out due to lack of interest. Instead of working to update the site in the past year, Nekrophidius has been working to create a dynamic, PHP backend that will make maintaining the site easier.

Well, he was... until last week. Here's a message he posted at QBasic News on May 2nd:

I had planned to have the new V Planet up about two weeks ago. Because of lack of time plus some file corruption (FAT32 going nuts over mass file deletion), I was unable to put up the finished new site. The immediate future doesn't look so promising either, especially since I would have to start over at the 25% completed point. So getting straight to the heart of the issue...I'm resigning my position as V Planet editor to whoever wants the job. Whoever takes on this responsibility needs to have the kind of time I did not have to maintain the site as well as develop a new PHP-based version of the site. You will also have to take on an entirely new staff, as every member of the old staff is now basically vapour with the exception of Jofers. I will give you the domain and will allow the site to be hosted on our server for as long as you wish. Anyone interested in this offer, please email me at the soonest possible time at dave@nodtveidt.net so I can transfer control of the site to whoever is most fit for the job. I'm only looking for someone with a lot of available time and a love of the scene, PHP and QB/FB coding, and a good sense of style when it comes to designing websites.

With this done, my last responsibility to the Qmunity is complete. I will be taking my permanent leave. I grew sick and tired of all the infighting ages ago, the only thing keeping me here has been my responsibilities to the legacy of V Planet. Since I can no longer do this, I have nothing else to offer the Qmunity.

Well... that was quite a shocker, though everyone doubts Nek will be gone for long. The next day, he posted the following news:

A new V Planet owner has been chosen. Joe King and Fishstix will be the new owners, effective immediately.

Neither FIDO nor FBXL will be released as-is; neither were past the prototype stage and neither are very useful in their present state. I may work on them again some day but it's doubtful, as I have other responsibilities now.

Since Joe King and Fishstix were put in charge, there have been no changes made to the V Planet! website. Here's hoping that they're able to return the former QB mecca to its former glory. And also, here's hoping that Nek was just having some type of midlife crisis and will be back. QB Express will keep you updated on the latest developments.

x.t.r.GRAPHICS FreeBasic Site Launched

Rattrapmax6 has opened a sister site to his former QB website, which specializes in FreeBasic. But as far as I can tell, there's not much of a difference between the two sites -- they have almost exactly the same content, just a different logo and newer news on the FB site. Anyway, you can compare them if you'd like: x.t.r. FB site and x.t.r. QB site.

Project News

Blitz's Text Mode Space Shooter

Last month, Blitz released a very fun ASCII-based text shooter. It has some of the coolest ASCII explosions I've ever seen and it runs really well on my Windows XP box -- sound and all -- without any tweaking or emulation. I got nearly 11,000 frames per second, and had fun doing it. I highly recommend you download it.

New QBasic Drawing Program: DosDraw Artist

Jarrard Software, a QBasic developer that I hadn't heard of until just a few days ago, released a new drawing program called DosDraw Artist. This program, along with DosDraw Artist Viewer, allows you to draw pictures in DOS, Paint style, and then load them back up again to view. It's not a sprite editor like most QB art programs, but an image drawing program. While you're at the site, you should also check out Jarrard Soft's other programs, "Psyco Alarm," "Star-Clock," "Star Pilot Alarm" and "Color Mixer."

New FreeBasic IDE: "BE"

A chap at the Sourceforge.net forum by the name of Roland posted about a new FreeBasic IDE that he just created a few weeks ago: "I have programmed a nice small editor which now supports FreeBasic directly (before it was made for PowerBasic only). The editor's name is simply 'BE' (BasicEditor). I hope You like the IDE. It supports function/sub/macro toggling to single lines, syntax coloring, auto case correction, can export the listing as RTF file, can directly cooperate with a resource editor and so on." I haven't had time to check it out, but I thought I'd pass along the good word. Here's the forum post and here's the download link.

Red Jumpy Ball!

Ryan has released an awesome FreeBasic arcade/puzzle game called Red Jumpy ball that I recommend everyone check out. Here's the description of RJB from the Readme: "In the game, you control a red jumpy ball. Surprise! The object of the game is to complete the course with as many points as possible. The courses are generated randomly depending on the game type you choose. They are filled with random bricks and bonuses. The map will scroll continuously unless you're stuck behind bricks. But fear not, this red jumpy ball comes equipped with a laser to blast through those bad daddies. The game still only uses one key for game play. Having more would just complicate matters."

This is a really fun, challenging game that I enjoyed for quite some time. Visit Ryan's Site or just download Red Jumpy Ball. Also, you can check out this review that Delta Code did of the game just a few weeks ago.

SPY -- The ASCII Puzzle/RPG/Shooting Game

Kaboom Code (D.S.) released a cool ASCII game called SPY this April, which you can check out at his website, The Home of SPY on the Net. Here's a description of the game:

This is a text based shooting/puzzle/RPG game I created. In it, you play a spy that has been hired to infiltrate a evil scientist's laboratory. To do this, you must first survive the evil black forest, and then journey to the scientist's underground laboratory!!

I tried out SPY briefly and found it to be a very cool game, with some very neat stealth elements. Definitely worth a look!

Bill Sindel's Memory Editor

William W. Sindel ("Bill") uploaded a new Memory Editor program to Pete's QB Site last month called, simply, MEMEDIT.bas. It's a program that can read and edit the first megabyte of memory in the PC: "The program accesses memory as 16 blocks of 64k addresses for a total of about 1.088 megs or so. Changing the segment address will let you select different blocks of memory as the segment address is added to the 64k block address to form the pointer into memory." Cool.

The Legend of Aquarius begins development

MystikShadows and anarky have teamed up to make a FreeBasic RPG called The Legend of Aquarius. They've just started, so right now it's vaporware -- but they have a story and some cool features in mind, which you can read about on their website: LegendOfAquarius.tk.

The FreeBasic Slot Machine

Gambling fans: Dr_D posted an impressive screenshot of his upcoming FreeBasic slot machine game...complete with 3D slots.

Here's his description:
"It has >15,000 polygons, and it runs without a hitch! I made one in QB that had less than 2000 polygons, and it ran, well, it crawled like a turtle. Btw, when you win, it shoots balls out of the bay at the bottom that collide with the machine, and each other."

Check out the FreeBasic.tk thread where the announcement was made.

Squares!

Xerol released a little puzzle / arcade game called "Squares!" this month. There have been three versions so far, and the latest is available here. This game is pretty difficult to get the hang of, but it's not too bad once you figure it out. The object is to destroy the squares, while keeping your ship intact for as long as possible (not that that means anything if you haven't seen the game). Give it a shot if you've got some time to kill.

The Hungry Jocke Game by Ryan

Jocke The Beast stars in Ryan's newest ASCII adventure, The Hungry Jocke Game. Ryan's announcement at this FBTK thread was as follows: "I made a little ascii mini-game starring everyone's favorite action game hero, Jocke the Beast. You have to direct him to eat all the food on screen (boy is he hungry!) while blowing up monsters with bombs. Yes, Jocke has bombs. Don't mess with him." It's a very fun, addicting game that I highly recommend. So...go play it!

FreeBasic v0.13b Released

V1ctor released the latest version of FreeBasic on April 14th, which you can find at www.freebasic.net. A lot of small features were added or fixed, which you can read about here. V1ctor and Lillo can't be thanked enough for keeping the FreeBasic updates coming. They rock.

Side-Scroller Creation System (SSCS) by Atom Ant

Atom Ant posted about a platform game level designing program he's developing that looks pretty nice. Check the thread for some more info and a gigantic screenshot. Now, the next step is to create a game engine that will load the levels you design in this utility. :)

Some other Releases

A lot of cool QB and FB programs came out this past month and a half. Here's a quick look at a few more of them:

"Better Looking Calculator" by Rattrapmax6. The GUI looks just like a real calculator -- complete with solar panels.
Jark's Rayracer ported to FB by Antoni Gual. Whooo!
400x400 Scrolling ASCII Map Editor by Ratrapmax6. It uses the SCREEN 14 engine found here.
FreeBasic Package Downloader and Installer by Z!re and Zap. This program helps you manage the downloading and installation of various components and add-ons for the FB compiler. Useful!
Quest For A King 1.5 by SJ Zero. A new demo of SJ Zero's RPG has been released -- now being made in FreeBasic. This is the first demo in over a year.
3D FreeBasic Chess Program by Garvan. "This is an experiment in using OpenGL with FreeBASIC fbgfx libraryScreen Shot. The front end of the program is coded in FreeBASIC with the chess engine (an adaptation of gnu chess 3.1) coded in BCX and linked as a static library." This is looking really good, and definitely worth a look.
FBIde 0.4 WIP by VonGodric is in progress. Some work in progress screenshots were released.
QBasic to FreeBasic tutorial by mennonite -- a witty little tutorial that helps QBers make the switch to FB. I enjoyed it.

Gallery

Written by Pete

This issue, I didn't get any real submissions for the Gallery, so I decided to put screenshots and information of a bunch of upcoming games. I kinda like this format, so let me know if you want me to keep it or go back to the old one-game-per-issue method.

SpaceMerc - Mitth'raw'nuruodo

Mitth'raw'nuruodo has been working diligently on his space shooter, SpaceMerc for a few months now. Recently, he released a new Intro/Trailer of the game, and then a few days later, another debugged version of the game.

It's looking pretty good so far, featuring several types of enemies and gunfire and smooth mouse control. I'm looking forward to seeing what Mitt is able to do with this game.

You can find Mitth'raw'nuruodo on the Pete's QB Site forum.

Inspiration Engine - Wallace Software

In honor of the one-year birthday of Wallace Software's FPS Contact, Wallace released another demo of his excellent Inspiration engine. In the last two months, new features including bloodspatters and bloodstains have been added, guns and crosshairs have been re-added to the engine, and a new sprite importing routine has been incorporated. Check out the often-updated Wallace Software for the latest information.

Larry The Dinosaur 3 - Delta Code

Radical Raccoon, the lead developer of Larry The Dinosaur 2, has revealed some new informaton about the upcoming game. The game engine now features sloped surfaces (which you can see in the shot to the right). Here's part of the Delta Code post that accompanied this screen:

"I got slopes working! This means the levels can now have more depth to them. Now it doesn't feel like you're trapped inside a grid of squares. Like the graphics? They are all 100% mine. I still need to touch up some areas and add some stuff here and there, but for the most part this game is starting to kick butt! I also redrew the graphics for Larry. He now looks 10 times cooler and has full body animation.

Anyways, I'm working on making that forest level more into a jungle level. So far I don't have any good idea for a story. I was thinking of just dropping Larry off into the jungle and have him blast his way to the end. But if I don't have any story or foundation for one the game can fall apart later down the road. Here are some ideas I came up with:

New alien race attacks earth. Larry must stop them!

Some enemy from the previous game becomes the main badguy and seeks revenge on Larry, so he captures his friends and family. Larry must save them!

Satellite photos uncover strange activity in the jungle. Larry must investigate.

Or maybe a starting jungle level is too cliche'? Unless somehow I can make it look different than the other 500 games out there. Maybe I'll come up with some interesting plants or something."

Nightlife - SBM Productions

SBM Productions just released a demo of their upcoming first person shooter called Nightlife. This game is still in early stages of development, but it's really starting to come together. Here's some info from the programer:

"This has been in development for about 7-8 months, although obviously not constant. Most of that time was spent optimizing and trying to get a fast perspective tmapper using uglpset. Imagine my shame when I realized I should've just got Blitz's attention, though I thought ugl24 wouldn't come out anyway. This program uses a bsp tree for collision detection, but displaying stuff is just a standard z-sort(which is why you have dumb sorting glitches). I wanted to release this with at least 2 mins of gameplay(I had big plans for this) but unfortunately I didn't have time, and I couldn't get sound to work. Of course now I won't be able to code till maybe near the end of the year, as I have my A-levels then hopefully get into the uni course I want. Then I'll write a decent ogl engine in fb...."

You can download the demo at this address. But first, you should check out this thread for some instructions.

Review of Larry The Dinosaur 2 by Delta Code, 2002

Written by Lachie Dazdarian

The release of Larry The Dinosaur 2(LD2), a cool mixture of platform and adventure genre with very good graphic and sounds, passed rather silent in QBasic community. I only remember one thread about it in QBasicNews forum and nothing more than that. We can blame the designer for not being pushy enough or the community for being in terribly groggy period but LD2 definitely deserves to be remembered. Therefore this review.

Graphics

Game graphic is very good and done very professionally. LD2 looks like any other commercially released, quality platform game from the period of early nineties. The tiles are well shaded and varied and characters nicely animated(in the limits of the game concept). Lighting, a very important part of the game graphic, makes LD2 really shine. Also, some cool effects, like flying body parts, increase my overall impression. Still, the graphic is not perfect thus the score 4. There are few small details, tile or two I didn't liked and the lack of cinematics. It's nothing so relevant to decrease the overall quality of the game graphic but leaves space for improvement.

⁴/₅

Sound/Music

Unfortunately I was not able to play this game with sound turned on. I tried both in DOS and Windows XP and failed. There is a warning in readme file that starting LD2 with sound is a problem in Windows XP. How can I score the sound then? Well, all the sound effects and music files can be heard with Winamp or some other player outside the game. What I can conclude from there is that they are very good and probably work great inside the game. I'm not happy I have to score this section like this but I can help it.

⁴/₅

Gameplay

LD2 gameplay is a smart mixture of platform, action and adventure elements. Delta Code completely succeeds in combining various genres into one game. During this game you'll encounter many monsters which you can kill using different weapons. These weapons will need specific ammo which you have to find and load your weapon with it. Also, during this game you have to find objects, use them on proper places or even combine them. LD2 is played in a building with 24 floors. Some floors feature smaller maps and some bigger but what is sure is that you'll be doing a lot of walking and jumping in order to finish this game. Game controls and interface are designed very nice, on a user-friendly way, while the game physics remind me of Giana Sisters which makes LD2 very enjoyable to play. If I would have to point out something bad about the gameplay I would say that none of the specific genre elements are used to their full potential. Action part is not enough challenging or varied, puzzles are too obvious(game could use more objects and places where you need to use) and the jumping part is never difficult(there are not pits in which you can fall or similar obstacles).

⁴/₅

Story

I wasn't sure if I should give LD2 more in this section. There are several things I didn't liked in the game story. First of all, the story begins a bit strange. We don't actually know what Larry and his friend Steve are doing in the building where the game starts. I suppose they work in it but that is not told to us. There are few more loop holes in the plot which are not explained to us. What is good is that the story develops while you play the game and it develops rather surprisingly. There is also a nice amount of quality humor in the dialogues which is another plus. LD2 is placed in the age of dinosaurs(same as the part one) and assumes that dinosaurs were highly evolved and civilized.

The actual plot of this sequel begins when Larry's friend Steve falls unconscious after drinking a cola. Larry runs to get help and finds the nearby Janitor. Both of them run back to unconscious Steve after what Janitor gets eaten by an alien and now the game really starts. Later you'll learn that the building has been taken by aliens. Like I said, the plot develops much more interesting than it starts.

³/₅

Replay value

Well, I finished LD2 only once and still don't feel an urge to do it again. It's hard to tell what is the problem regarding the replay value of this game. The shortness of the game, lack of real challenge, the fact that there is no a save game option or something else. There is also the question of how much the replay value is relevant in this type of game. LD2 is not really a game that's meant to be played over and over. Nevertheless, the game is not so short that playing it again, once you finish it, makes no sense. After few months, or maybe a year, why not?

²/₅

Challenge

I was tempted to give LD2 even a lesser score in this section. The action part of the game is terribly easy. At least to me. The main problem I see with it is that you can ignore most of the aliens/monsters and run away from them. Another problem is that you start the game with 5 lives which is way too much. What would help are more difficult enemies, placed on tricky parts, and more available ways to kill them. Like throwing or placing bombs. I only found the end boss somewhat challenging to kill. I can say nothing bad about the adventure part of the game. Well, almost nothing. The building is big enough and you'll spend a lot of time wandering through it looking for various objects. Still, when you find an object that is not ammo or extra health you'll know immediately or very soon where and how that object needs to be use. You'll need about 4-5 hours to finish LD2(when you play it for the first time) if not more. The action part does require concentration but like I said, it's really difficult to lose ALL of your lives playing LD2.

³/₅

Fun factor

I know I'm getting boring with giving 4 in this review but maybe that's the most accurate score for the entire game(4 out of 5). LD2 reminds me on the old days of Amiga 500, when save game option was something exotic and finishing the game during one day something normal. I wouldn't be fair asking for more content since Joe King(the developer) done a very big and nice job in creating and designing the building floors. What is obvious is that this game failed to be more challenging and to have a save game option. With these two things corrected LD2 would offer plenty more hours of play time.

⁴/₅

Total Score

²⁴/₃₅
Good: Excellent mixture of different genres. Enjoyable game physics. Very good graphic and sounds.
Bad: Shortness of the game. Lack of real challenge. No save game feature.

Review by Dean Janjic(Lachie Dazdarian)

Extra notes: If you are wondering about Larry The Dinosaur part one it's a pseudo-platform game(you don't actually jump on platforms) with very bad, buggish and flickerish game engine but strangely addictive gameplay. Similar to LD2, the story develops while you play the game and if you manage to get pass the awful code and poor graphic the first part of Larry The Dinosaur can also be a fun to play.

Visit Delta Code or download Larry The Dinosaur 2 or Larry the Dinosaur 1.

Review of Robo Raider by Rattrapmax6

Written by Zap

INTRODUCTION

In this game you are put in charge of a series of robots, on at a time, and your mission is to control them through mazes, in order to either fetch some items, explore ruins, get out alive, and some other things. Also you must not bump into the walls, since in doing so you will get fired by the doctor who hired you for these missions.

This game is a single player game, programmed in qbasic. Source code is include. In fact, it's the only thing included, as the game is too large to compile in qb (authors words).

STORY

The story that caries you through Robo Raiders is catchy and well told. There is an overall story introduction to the game, as well as a short text before each mission telling you where you are, what robot you will be controlling, as well as what you are actually supposed to do.

Story Rating:
⁸/₁₀
It's catchy. It excites me.

LEVEL DESIGN

Now bad stuff is sneaking in. The levels are boring. In the first three missions you go through EXACTLY the same level, only differences are that some of the walls turn into water (...) and in the third you have to pick up some items. This makes me think that the author just wanted to have some more levels in his game, without offering too much for it.

Later on it gets even worse. Ok, they change now, that's something, except shortly after you cheer for that, you find out that they are freaking huge! This would be cool, but it isn't, for reasons which I shall mention later on in the review.

Also the levels consist of lines, only, which could be alright, had they not been placed in such a boring way. Mostly you will encounter only either a straigth way across the screen, a crossway, or a T-way.

Level Design Rating:
¹/₁₀
More ingenuity is required in this area.

GAMEPLAY

The idea is original. Sadly, it has not been carried out very well. The robots drive waaaay too slowly, and it can drive only in 4 directions, with no animation what so ever when changing direction, it just happens. POOF. This might have been good enough for any other type of game, but for a driving game, it just doesnt work. Same goes for using INKEY$ for key detection. Having to wait a second from you press the key to change direction till the car does anything really ruins the illusion.

There are no hints of physics either, no acceleration, and no decceleration. Without a slow decent to a stop, it's no challenge to avoid hitting the walls...

I have no words to describe how anoying it is to drive through monotonic tunnels for 3 minutes, only to find out that you have to go all the way back again. I found myself staring out the window while playing some missions of this game.

Gameplay Rating:
⁵/₁₀
The idea draws it up, excecution takes it back down again.

GRAPHICS

Robo Raiders can't boast of its graphic side. The levels are drawn using green lines, and it seems rediculously zoomed in. Sometimes you just drive on a "road" that goes from bottom screen to top screen, only to get moved on to another just as boring passage. The game doesnt have any hint of scrolling either, when yuo move from one part of a level to another, it's just drawn on the screen, with no transistion what so ever.

Another very disturbing thing is how the screen modes are changed between each story-passage and mission, when it seems that both could have been done in the same screenmode.

The only good parts to say about the graphics in this game are the robots, they are fine.

Graphics Rating:
¹/₁₀
It's getting the point for the robot.

SOUND & MUSIC

None. Would have been great with some sound effects, and especially music since the game environment is well set up by the story. I was listening to soundtracks from Lord of the Rings at some points while playing, and it was good.

Sound & Music Rating:
⁰/₁₀
It doesnt have any, but it would've been nice if it had.

CONCLUSION

The idea and concept of this game is really good, and if it was carried out properly, this game would rock. It needs physics, proper controls, sound and music, and some kickass graphics.

Overall Rating:
25%
This game could have been good, the idea and story is really cool. I'm hoping someone will redo this game.

Download Robo Raider at the x.t.r. GRAPHICS QB / FB Site.

Where Are They Now?
Jorden Chamid

Written by anarky

Welcome to QB Express' newest column, "Where are they now?" I go and have a chat with QB programmers of days gone by. Some you may have heard of, some you may have not. This month, Jorden Chamid - formally of Future Software (www.qb45.com) and now of www.mobileringtonez.com - spares a few minutes of his hectic business schedule to sit down and have a chat with me.

(I did originally intend this interview to be longer, but I ran out of things to ask in time. Such is life. Perhaps I'll follow it up a bit further down the track.)

A> What got you interested in programming in the first place?

J> One of my close friends started programming QB on his PC. He showed me a demo fractal and it immediately got me interested. We both started creating textbased-games, and soon I was starting doing all kinds of things in QB. I really liked to have some power over the PC.

A> How old were you when you were hit by this inspiration?

J> I was 12 at that moment.

A> When your name is mentioned, people think of Future Software. When did you open the site to the public and did you think it would take off like it did?

J> At first I had a lot of horrible names for the "company" (No, I'm not even naming one of them!), but when I got some better at programming I decided to pick Future Software as the name. In the beginning I was looking into BBS'es through my dads modem to find some example sourcecode. Soon Internet starting coming off the ground and my dad took a subscription. Internet wasn't so famous yet, but started getting popular real soon. The same guy who got me into QB challenged me to make a site about QB. So I put my files online and started learning HTML (no fancy WYSIWYG editors back then!)

I soon got to know the Neozones website at GeoCities.... it was really awesome, Tek ran it.

I really loved it but there weren't so many updates on it. I decided I could do better than that, so soon I was allowing people to submit their games. :)

I think it was 9 years ago when the site was opened, all on free addresses, which we moved from often... GeoCities, Angelfire, Xoom, Hypermart, and some more. :P

A> At what point did you notice a community of programmers who called Future Software "home"?

J> I think it took up to 1998 or so, I vaguely remember the site existing for 3 years when I got some popularity. We had a forum back then, and it suddenly became fun to read all new messages. And ofcourse the archive was becoming huge!

A> Do you feel you started a trend? Or did other sites beat you to it?

J> Well I don't really know if we did. With Future.Library Michael (Smoky) made a lot of people happy, but of course DirectQB (Angelo Motolla) did that too.

At least I think we were a nice place to distribute all those great applications and games to a big bunch of people. I think we owe a lot to Smoky, Future.Library surely added to the popularity of qb45.com and the Future Software games as well.

In addition, I personally also owe a lot to Andreas Nagy (I think that was his name, could also be Andy), who made a kickass design in the beginning and added a perl search engine (Q-Finder!) to the site. Because I started rebuilding his layout and search engine. I also got better at designing and my first steps in perl were done.

A> What was the best program you personally ever made?

J> I think BomberZone (The Bomberman clone) was getting to be the best, but we've never finished it.

A> What was the best program that someone else had made at the time?

J> The best program in my opinion was the Future.Library. The best game is a hard question, although I really liked (how boring) Wetspot 2. That game was fabulous.

A> And the worst overall?

J> Well the worst programs weren't added to the website, they went straight to the recycle bin. ;) There might have been some textgames which weren't so good in my opinion but some other people loved them.

A> While we are on that topic, what was your favorite text game?

J> I wasn't a fan of text-based games, so I can't really name a favorite.

A> Have you had much of a chance to look at some of the work being released today? For example SJ Zero's Quest for a King?

J> I haven't seen any new QB games for years now... not since I've sold the site, that generally was at the moment that I completely had lost my interest.

A> The site seemed to go downhill from that point, and went through a number of other owners and numerous facelifts. If you had the time, would you take back control and give it the popularity it once had and thus still deserves?

J> Well, it's always been a hobby of mine, but at some age you can lose interest in a hobby. I haven't programmed in QB for a few years, don't even remember how to do it. I absolutely enjoyed the site in the main days, but if I'd have to do the same thing now it would be impossible to enjoy.

A> A little while ago you put the site up for sale and moved on. You have mentioned losing interest in a hobby, but would you care to elaborate about how all that came about, and what made you move into the ringtone business?

J> When gsm's became popular, I bought a Nokia 3210 and loved how you could make your own jingle. Soon I started looking up ringtones on the internet and got to know www.totalgsm.net I loved the site, but thought "I can do that" and started a GSM-website with free ringtones. After only 3 months this site became more popular than the qb45.com main site. This made a new challenge for me, and soon it was possible to sell those ringtones and make money with it. At that moment I really started getting an income from my website (in the past, only a few $$$ from advertisements) and had to decide to quit all other sites that only pay back the costs, and focus solely on ringtones. At this time I am still glad I made that decision, being one of the bigger ringtonewebsites of the Netherlands (and quite famous in USA and some other countries too).

Later on I bought www.totalgsm.net, and also bought www.polyphonic.nl / www.polyphonic.net which are doing quite well too.

A> Wow, you've been busy!

J> I also own one of the biggest gamesites in the netherlands too, www.coolegames.com; 20.000 unique visitors daily, and am now trying to get a nice position in the hosting-market of Holland and Belgium with www.totallyhosted.nl

A> Ok, now you're boasting! :) Would you like to go back programming one day, just for the memories?

J> Well I "program" PHP and MySQL daily. Rarely I use VB for some tasks, but those are only small tasks, so I don't really miss it.

A> Any words of advice for the budding QB programmer out there?

J> Just keep programming. :) It will help you if you ever want to learn another language if you know (q)basic programming.

A> Thank you for your time, Jorden.

Jorden Chamid now runs a number of sites, including the very popular www.mobileringtonez.com

NEXT MONTH: Perhaps you have heard of 1000101, aka Eric Cowles. Perhaps you haven't. Perhaps you have heard of FARQB? "Is that a game?" you ask? No. File Archiving Routines for QB. Piptol used it in Ghini Run. I am unsure where else it was used. Beside the point, next month I have a chat with Eric Cowles. We'll see what he got up to in the days when QB was IT and FreeBasic wasn't even a thought in anyone's head yet.

Until then, folks.

>anarky

Review of The Quest for Opa Opa by Na_th_an and aetherfox

Written by Joseph Burke

With the arrival of freebasic onto the qb scene, many excited observers have been salivating at the prospect of seeing what talented qbasic programmers can do with 32 bits of uninterupted power. Goodbye screen 13, they said, as we now have access to the beautiful DirectX and OpenGL graphics modes. Why use 256 colours with no page flipping, when the power of 32 bit colour is at the fingertips of the Freebasic programmer. AetherFox and na_th_an thought so. They have used the power of freebasic to highlight the high contrast colour intensities that only a Zork style text adventure can show off. Their game, the quest for Opa Opa shows off the high contrast black and white display in fine style. This is the kind of project that only freebasic has the power to pull off. Or is it...

Graphics

It doesn't take long for AetherFox to really impress onto the player what a great artist he is. While other less talented artists would try to use pictures to convey the point of the story, AetherFox will have none of this. I really respect this position, as he is relying totally on the story to keep players interested. This is admirable, and brave, but as there are no graphics I must, for the purpose of this review, give a score that reflects this.

⁰/₅

Sound/music

For those that don't know, AetherFox believes he is a talented musician. On his blog, he notes that he has just begun to teach his first student the guitar. I have a friend who was able to teach people guitar music at a music store. She only knows three chords, but boy can she use them...Despite my better judgement, I think it is really cool that he used his talent not only to teach, but also to create some Mp3 music for the game. This music is really not bad at all. In fact, I have made a CD of it, and it is nice to listen to while I'm driving. As a classically trained pianist, I mean this. Yet the music, while an impressive mix of new age ambience and Jazz, doesn't really suit the game. It would be great in a first person shooter, if you were entering a piano store. But in a text adventure, it just seems lame and showy. Out of respect for the quality of the music though, I feel the game deserves a point here.

¹/₅

Gameplay

This is a text adventure, so there really is not much gameplay except where you type commands. In this respect, playing this game is a bit like programming. Personally, I like programming. My continued work on sonicX reflects this. But, I would rather program than play this game. This is partly because I don't really like to program just for the sake of programming. It is also partly because I find the story boring.

¹/₅

Story

If you are going to make a text adventure, it pays to make it interesting. It also pays to make the main character someone that a player would want to portray. Pretending that I am the inbred son of a lumberjack not only doesn't interest me, but the fact that he was born in a place called wankerville absolutely repels me. I played this game for a good twenty minutes despite the abhorrent backstory, yet the plot development still didn't hook me in. As the game is so dependant on the story, and it didn't seem to contradict itself, I shall be generous dispensing points here.

²/₅

Replay Value

The game is pretty boring, but the music is quite nice to listen to. Frankly, I feel like recompiling the game so that it shows the story, automatically scrolling, and plays the music in the background, shuffling the tracks as it scrolls. This way there would be some replay value.

⁰/₅

Challenge

This game does present quite a formidable challenge, but not in the way that AetherFox and Na_th_an would expect. The difficulty comes in the form of the player ignoring his or her own boredom and deciding to play on. I suspect that few players will be taken in by this form of challenge. I certainly wasn't.

⁰/₅

Fun factor

The quest for Opa Opa is not fun. Reading a story, without it being interactive, can be fun if the story is interesting. Reading a story that is boring is never going to be fun, no matter how interactive it is.

⁰/₅

Total

As a game created in freebasic, a text adventure is always going to find it difficult to impress. In fact, it is disapointing to find that this game was coded in freebasic at all. I can't really think of a reason why this was not made in screen 12 of qbasic 1.1. If it were,then AetherFox and Na_th_an would have had an excuse for absent graphics.The quest for Opa Opa, as it is, seems to be a waste of freebasic's resources. It has also been a waste of 20 minutes of my life that I am never going to get back. But, at least the music was pleasant. I think that the authors of this game should focus on their music, and start an ensemble, or something. I don't think they have much of a future in the programming world.

Looking at the final score, I have probably been a little too generous with this review. Yet, given the quality, and originality of the background music, I think AetherFox and Na_th_an deserve every point.

⁴/₃₅

Visit Los Monos del Obús, or download The Quest For Opa Opa.

Random Musings of a QBasic Game Programmer

Written by Rob Adams (Deleter)

I am going to give you an educational and formal lecture on the philosphical implications forebodingly presented by your seemingly innocent hobby....not! Rather, I am going to give a short rant on possible solutions to 'programming apathy', and tips to completing your QB/FB project.

Apathy, Merriam-Webster online defines it as "2: lack of interest or concern: Indifference". Quite obviously, when we start out on a project we have a lot of interest and are very concerned about its future. Then, why is it that we get this hated apathy? To try and understand this, we should first consider why we so desire to make this game in the first place that we dedicated our physical and mental condition to a grueling, filled with countless hours, debugging, brain cramming process. Why? Because this game HAS to be made. Why? Hopefully because it will present a fun idea that people will enjoy. Of late it seems that the entire computer game developing force, all the way from QB to ID(the doom guys, you know), has been focusing on making games cool, in other words, out-neating each other. The problem with a neat game, is that usually it fails to be a fun game. Yes, thats right, dynamic shadows don't mean crap. I'll play Diablo 1 anyday over doom 3. Why? Because its FUN! Fun first (usually involves gameplay), graphics second. This urge to make cool looking things demoralizes the qb community more than any other, because (with freebasic threatening this) a Basic FPS(usually most technologically advanced) is going to look like crap, there is no way around it.

So, now that I've slammed QB and its followers alike, lol, whats the solution? Well, its time we reorient our priorites. Put fun above neat. Do you really need a pixel by pixel scrolling engine with 321 sprites, over 100 effects, a dynamically updating sprite vortex....ok I'm making that up(i hope, lol)...but the fact remains. Instead of sacrficing countless hours of your time tweaking your pixel pushing techniques, put the gameplay and fun first. If adding this or that only makes it a small amount funner, cut it. Instead of seeing what the most you can cram into your uber-engine, see what the least is, then add only the things that add enough fun for the effort it takes to implement them.

Now, you may be wondering why I am saying not to spend more time on graphics, even when its not conflicting with making it fun. If not, thats good, if you are, here's why: When its all said and done, you want your work to reward you. Now, a game is only worth its weight in fun. If you spent hours doing something like 10x more animation sprites, and then you go to play the game and you don't get any more fun out of it, you're going to get demoralized, there's no question about it. So, my advice here is cut everything that doesn't carry its weight in fun.

Hopefully, I've gotten my point across to you. Perhaps one of you might decide not to include dynamic lights and accurate physics simulation for the sake of time and fun. Anyway, here are some general tips to follow which ought to help get your game out the .....port. :)

Plan small - its easier to start too small and have it grow, than to start too big and be forced to cut

Keep it simple - Both you and I know that some of the funniest games(still!) are quite simple in every aspect.

Keep it fun - For every thing you plan/implement, you should keep in mind why its vital to the fun of the game.

If its fun to program, its fun to play - I translated this from writing, where's its most definitly true, so it might not be true in all cases. However, I think it remains true enough. If you have fun while your programming your game (another reason not to do brain mashingly complicated things), people are going to have fun while playing your game.

Send all proceeds to my address at......no, just kidding, actually send any and all comments/thoughts/counter-rants/and insults to my email barbarian_roleplayer@yahoo.com.

Thanks for reading! (Look below for a challenge based on this article!)

The Challenge

In reflection to my own words, an idea hit me, make a competition! Instead of other competitions, where hot gphx + sound will help you win, in this they might actually bring you down! The idea is to make the funnest game (best gameplay + usability + game FLOW) regardless of how simple. You can make anything from a textt-based adventure(not recommended, though) to a dynamically lit 3D - FPS, to a 2D RTS, I don't care so long as its fun. No, good graphics won't mark you down, but if one game beats another in gameplay but not graphics, gameplay will definitly win. If you win, you get the Anit-Apathy Award of Programmer Creativity (cool picture soon to follow!) send all entries to my email - barbarian_roleplayer@yahoo.com (no, an RPG won't score you brownie points =P)

This article was reprinted from this address.

I.F. Games Chapter 4:
"Let's Code!"

Written by Na_th_an

At last, after three (boring) chapters full of theory and advices, we are ready to begin coding. It's said (it's true!) that before coding you have to do some brainstorming, planning and designing, and we have had enough of that. So let's code this. It's about time, ain't it?

Looking at the big picture

Basicly we have to code three main parts and then the game loop. Those three main parts are the three we have already discussed: location manager, objects manager and parser. It's good practice to be a bit tidy and use a different module for each, and then a main module to contain your game (which will be reduced to a "main loop" as the exceptions are gonna be parsed from a function in the parser module).

This is where we have to put special care. We don't want to create a bloaty, untidy bunch of functions which need a tad of inter-module globals. Instead of that, we are gonna create module-level globals (which are shared among the functions and subs in the same module) and functions/subs which export just the things we want outside the modules. For example, all the interaction we'll have with the location manager is a function to tell it which location to load and then a couple of functions to get the description and the exits. Those will be the only functions which will be "exported" (so to call it) to the .BI file. Get it? TIDY! Why export symbols that we are not gonna use? Imagine that we are using a SUB to trim the whitespace of the data read from the file in the location manager. Why we would like to export it outside the SUB if it is not needed?

This may sound a little puzzling, 'cause maybe I'm jumping from intermediate to advanced BASIC coding. Let's try to break this into pieces.

As you may know, a program can be composed of several modules. A module is just a BAS file which contains a bunch of SUBs and FUNCTIONs, some global variables (which are global just to those SUBs and FUNCTIONs inside the module), constants and type definitions which are only valid inside that module. Basicly, everything that's inside the module can be called/used from within the module, but not from outside. WTF? Then, what's the use of this if we can't call them from outside? Well, we can, but for that we have to "export" what we want to use. And we "export" this using BI files which can be included from other modules. That is, if you DECLARE a SUB in the BI file and you include that BI file from another module, you'll be able to call that SUB from that module.

You don't have to include all your DECLARE SUBs/FUNCTIONs in the .BI file, just the declares to the SUBs/FUNCTIONs which are gonna be called from the outside. Other auxiliary funcions don't need to be included 'cause they are only gonna be called from within the module, and this way you keep a clean namespace.

For example:

main.bas

'$include: 'library.bi'

foo "hello"

library.bas

'$include: 'library.bi'
Declare Sub prntStr(a As String)

Sub foo (a As String)
   prntStr Ucase$(a)
End Sub

Sub prntStr (a As String)
   Print a
End Sub

library.bi

Declare Sub foo (a As String)

Note how we don't add a declare for prntStr to library.bi, as we consider it is an "inner", auxiliary function which won't be ever called from outside. That's called "encapsulation", at least to a degree. We are not in an object oriented language, but the OO approach can be used to a degree using procedural code.

This is very important 'cause an IF engine can become really complex if we keep adding stuff. And for that reason, it's better to have a clean design from the beginning.

Coding the Location Manager

Let's remember: the Location Manager just reads the location from the file and updates exits and descriptions. It also reads static objects.

So here's what we need: principally, we need a small parser which reads the locations file and extract the info from there. Basicly, our Location Manager will remember the last read location. We'll have special functions to retrieve this info from another modules.

We have also to decide what are we gonna do with the static objects. As we explained in previous chapters, static objects are things that can be considered part of the location's background. All you can do with them is examining them. Another special feature is that these objects exist only in the ambit of the current location, this means that they are created when you enter the location and destroyed when you exit.

We can do two different things with this kind of objects:

Deal with them separately. That means that they have to be stored in the Location Manager and that the Objects Manager would have to access this data when the player attempts to examine a static object.
Let the objects manager deal with them as if they were "only examinable" objects. If we go this way, we have create these objects and then destroy them in the objects manager, so we need a couple of SUBs which do this.

I've tried both, and I prefer number 2. Going this way, you can do this in a really simple way: As you will be storing all the objects in a static array which is defined in the objects manager, just reserve the last slots in this array for the static objects. That way, when you are coding the objects manager, if the object id is greater than a certain value, you know it is a static objects and you act consequently.

So we are gonna act that way.

First of all, let's define some constants and global variables:

LM.bas

Const MAXEXITS = 10       ' Max number of exits in a location.

' Type for exits:

Type ExitType
     w as String * 2            ' Exit name ("n", "nw", "up", "dw", etc...)
     go as integer              ' Which location this exit connects to.
End Type

Dim desc As String              ' Current location description.
Dim X(MAXEXITS) As ExitType     ' Current location exits.

This is the minimal stuff we need for now. At a later time we'll be adding things as we need them. For now, let's stay simple.

Note how the exits are described: a two characters array and a integer number. The two characters string holds the direction: n for north, s for south, e for east, w for west, nw for northwest, ne for northeast, sw for southwest, se for southeast, up for up, dw for down, en for enter, ex for exit. The integer number contains the lid of the room that exits connects to.

As you see, we just defined two constants (it's easier to modify stuff afterwards if you use constants), a type to describe the exits, and two globals: the location descriptions and exits.

The first thing we'll code is the small parser which reads the locations file looking for a concrete location id (from now on "lid", as it will be a number) and fills in the globals desc and X() and calls the objects manager to create the static objects. This function will be exported in the BI file as we need to call it from the main module everytime the player moves. It just takes a parameter: "lid".

What this does, for the first stage, is looking for a line in the file that contains two "#" and then the corresponding location number. For example, if the lid is 6 the SUB will search for a line in the locations file that contains "##6". That is the mark that tells us that the description for location 6 begins in the file.

LM.bas

Sub LM.LoadLocation (lid As Integer)

    Dim fH As Integer      ' File handle.
    Dim f As Integer       
    Dim linea As String    ' To read from file.
    Dim obName As String
    Dim i As Integer
    Dim idxPt As Integer   ' index pointer when filling "X".

    ' First we seek for ##lid in the file.

    fH = FreeFile
    Open "desc.txt" For Input as #fH

    f = 0: While Not f

        If eof (fH) Then
           Print "** FATAL ERROR ** lid ="; lid; " not found in file!"
           End
        Else
            Line Input #fH, linea
            linea = Ltrim$ (Rtrim$ (linea))

            If len (Linea)>2 Then
               If Left$ (Linea, 2) = "##" Then
                  If lid = Val (Ltrim$ (Rtrim$ (Right$ (Linea, Len(Linea) - 2)))) Then
                     ' Found!
                     f% = -1
                  End If
               End If
            End If
        End If

    Wend

    ' Now we've found the location in the file and the file pointer
    ' is correctly placed...
    ' Then we read desc, fill the X array and create the fixed objects.

    ' Clear exits:

    For i = 0 to MAXEXITS
        X(i).w = ""
    Next i

    ' Clear fixed objects: (see notes below)

    OM.ClearFixedObjects

    ' 1.- Read desc:
    '     As we discussed in earlier chapters, the description can be split
    '     into several lines. We just read and concatenate until we find a
    '     line that contains just "}":

    desc = ""

    While linea <> "}"
        If eof(7) then Print "** FATAL ERROR ** Unexpected EOF when reading desc.": End

        line input #fH, linea
        linea = Ltrim$ (Rtrim$ (linea))
        if linea <> "}" Then desc = desc + linea + " "
    Wend

    ' 2.- Read exits:
    '     Exits are in the file in a list that is terminated once again by a
    '     "}". To make things simple, we have every exit in two lines: one containing
    '     the "direction" (this is, "n" for north, etc.) and another containing the
    '     "lid" it connects to:

    idxpt = 0
    f = 0: While Not f

        If eof(fH) then Print "** FATAL ERROR ** Unexpected EOF when reading exits.": End

        line input #fH, linea
        linea = Ltrim$ (Rtrim$ (LCase$ (linea)))        

        If linea <> "}" Then
            If idxpt > MAXEXITS then
                Print "** WARNING! ** Too much exits at lid =";lid;". Ignoring "+linea+"."
                line input #fH, linea
            Else
                X(idxpt).w = linea
                If eof(fH) then Print "** FATAL ERROR ** Unexpected EOF when reading exits.": End
                line input #fH, linea           
                X(idxpt).go = Val (Ltrim$ (Rtrim$ (linea)))
                idxpt = idxpt + 1
            End If
        Else
            f = -1
        End If

    Wend

    ' 3.- Read fixed objects.
    '     Objects are described in a list again terminated by a "}". Each object
    '     takes two lines: one for the object name and another one for the object
    '     description. Once we've read both fields we call the objects manager
    '     to create that object.

    f = 0: While Not f

        If eof(fH) then Print "** FATAL ERROR ** Unexpected EOF when reading fixobjects.": End

        line input #fH, linea
        linea = Ltrim$ (Rtrim$ (LCase$ (linea)))

        If linea <> "}" Then
                obName = linea
                If eof(fH) then Print "** FATAL ERROR ** Unexpected EOF when reading fixobjects.": End
                line input #fH, linea
                linea = Ltrim$ (Rtrim$ (linea))

                OM.CreateFixObject obName, linea
            End If
        Else
            f = -1
        End If

    Wend

   ' And we are done! Close the file:

    Close #fH

End Sub

As you may realise, the code is nothing very fancy. We are just parsing a text file (with the format described some chapters ago) and filling our data structures with which we stract from the file. Note that we have placed error checking all over the place. As we are developing, those things will help heaps to find bugs. The locations file format can be somewhat puzzling for the eyes as we have focused our efforts on having a simple format that can be parsed FAST. That's why it's very easy to forget a } or something like that, hence the tons of error checking. If you are a speed freak you can take away all the error checking once you have finished coding the game.

Well, now that we have the main function which reads a new location from the file, we just need a couple of functions to retrieve exits and descriptions so they can be used in the main module. This is pretty straightforward:

Function LM.GetDescription () As String
    LM.GetDescription = desc
End Function

This function just returns the current location description. Note how modularized code works: "desc" is global to this module. If we want that info outside this module, we just create this function and place the declaration in the BI file, so we can call LM.GetDescription from any module that includes this BI file. See how it works?

The next funcion will be used to watch the exits. The best way is to have a function that takes a "direction" and returns the lid that direction connects to, -1 if there is not such an exit. For example, if we need to check if we can exit to the northeast, we'd call LM.GetExit("ne"). If it returns "-1" we know that there is no exit to the northeast. If it returns another number, we know that there's an exit to the northeast which connects with a location which lid is the returned number. Clever, uh? ;)

LM.bas

Function LM.GetExit (whichExit As String) As Integer

    Dim i As Integer
    Dim res As Integer

    res = -1               ' Assume not found by now.
   
    For i = 0 to MAXEXITS
        If Ltrim$ (Rtrim$(X (i).w)) = whichExit Then
            res = X (i).go
            Exit For
        End If
    Next i

    LM.GetExit = res

End Function

And we are done, for now, with the location manager. We don't need anything else by now. The fixed objects will be handled in the objects manager. All we have to do is creating the BI file. Let's call the files LM.bas and LM.bi.

LM.bi

' ********************************
' * Location Manager export file *
' ********************************

Declare Sub LM.LoadLocation (lid As Integer)
Declare Function LM.GetDesc () As String
Declare Function LM.GetExit (whichExit As String) As String

If you want to test it right away, just comment the calls to the object manager (they are in the LM.LoadLocation Sub in the last section where it loads the objects) and create a simple test.bas file like this:

test.bas

' Testing the location manager

'$Include: 'LM.bi'

LM.LoadLocation 1
Print LM.GetDesc ()

' add more tests if you like

If you work in QB, just open it and type test.bas, the select "Load Module" and load LM.bas. Compile. If you work in fB, just copy all the files to an empty folder and type:

fbc test.bas LM.bas

Remember that you have to comment out the lines where the LM.LoadLocation Sub calls the object manager, which is not yet coded.

Now, to try this, you can use a locations file like this:

desc.txt

##1
You are in a graveyard. The sun is still low and it throws
long shadows over the wet fathom. Everything is full of 
mushrooms which throw a strange smell. To the north you can
see a strange stone arc. To the southwest, the hideous path
that leads to your house.
}
n
2
sw
4
}
fathom
Wet and somewhat muddy.
mushrooms
Populating all over the place.
}
##2
In front of you, scarily present, a huge stone arc. While it
looks terribly ancient, this is the very first time you
have noticed its presence. Everything is beginning to look
suspicious to you. You feel an overwhelming disenchantment,
and an urgence to get away from here as soon as possible.
}
s
1
}
arc
Made of stone.
}
##4
You are in front of the gateway to your house. It's very
strange: the door is closed and your key doesn't turn into
the lock. You are beginning to think that this is a really
bad joke. What's happenning here?
}
ne
1
}
house
Your house is very small but really comfortable.
door
A thick, wooden door made of old oak.
lock
Special security lock made of a strange aleation of iron and gold.
}

Place your generated test.exe and this desc.txt file in the same folder and run test.exe. You should see the description of location #1. If you don't whether you or me made a tremendous mistake.

Next chapter we'll code the parser module. We'll discuss different kinds of approaches and you'll learn how to make the player think that the game really understands natural language ;)

Cheers.

Visit Los Monos del Obús or contact Na_th_an.

ACCEPTED DOS/CONSOLE COLOR USAGE

Written by Stéphane Richard (Mystikshadows)

INTRODUCTION:

In the course of many decades, programmers have tried just about any combination of the 16 colors available in DOS. There was a point in time when each program (application or game) that came out pretty much invented their own color combinations either to seperate themselves from the rest of the existing programs or simply because the author thought that his color combination was better than the the rest of them. When you create a program, the colors you decide to use will ultimately impact what users think of your application or game. And in the course of these decades of DOS/CONSOLE development, we can see that a certain standard has formed. Not a standard per se, but more of a popular and accepted set of color combinations so to speak.

In this document, we'll see what these combinations have come to be and I'll try to explain why these colors were chosen as well as alternate colors since there are some popular alternate color combinations that were almost as widely accepted. Please note that this is not a study on the psychological effects of colors on the human mind but rather a study on what color combinations became the most popular choices and why. Another quick note is to say that this pertains more to applications than games, sure some games can follow these if you want, but this is aimed more at application development.

WHAT COLORS ARE WE TALKING ABOUT:

Just what are these 16 colors that we are talking about? In DOS text mode applications, all you have are those 16 colors which limits the combinations you can make to give an intelligent visual aspect to your applications. These colors are:

	0 - Black		8 - Grey
	1 - Blue		9 - Light Blue
	2 - Green		10 - Light Green
	3 - Cyan		11 - Light Cyan
	4 - Red		12 - Light Red
	5 - Magenta		13 - Light Magenta
	6 - Brown		14 - Yellow
	7 - White		15 - Bright White

And there they are, these 16 colors are the only colors you can choose from in the design of your screens as you might imagine, some colors, when combined with other are close to unreadable for most of us. Avoiding those obviously bad combinations is already a step in the right direction to make sure the colors you select are clear and crisp for the eye to see.

WHAT ARE THESE POPULAR COLOR COMBINATIONS:

To answer this question I would suggest you take a look around at the widely spread application programs you can find on the internet. In essence they all have certain things in common and they can be seperated in intelligent roles. These colors combinations are usually on a per screen role basis and as I mentionned, over the years, people started to accept/expect as standard or close to it. So then, let's take a look at these different screen roles as well as what color combinations have been selected for them shall we?

Free Style Text Editing Screens: [7 - White / 0 - Black or 1 - Blue]
Here you have your text editors, word processors and other application that would allow any type of free styled text entry. The suggested color combination above was selected because they are not to harsh on the eyes. Since chances are the user will produce fairly large files from these applications a soft combination of colors like those suggested were best due to the long amount of time that would be spent by the user in front of his computer.

Tabular Data Screens: [7 - White / 0 - Black or 1 - Blue]
Here you have your spreadsheet programs, database applications and the likes. In many database applications the user will find himself at a list of things when he or she starts the application. For the same reasons as the text editing screens, the same color combinations were accepted mainly due to the amount of time, in a day, that the user would find himself in front of that tabular data screen.

Data Entry Screens: [0 - Black / 7 - Gray]
Again in the database applications mainly. Typically, users, when they select something from a list, a screen showing all the details of the given selected record would appear allowing them to view or edit the contents of the data itself. This color combination was selected because mainly it gave good contrast with the main tabular data screen while still remaining fairly easy on the eyes. Specific fields would have a Gray or Cyan Background color to visually show the user where data entry is expected on the screen. The main keyword here is that Data Entry screens were screen that affected the physical data in a database file.

Database Interrogation Screens: [0 - Black / 3 - Cyan]
These screens would typically give the users a means to search for a specific information in a database. They would offer different fields where the user could enter his or her search criteria. A cyan Background was selected to help the user differentiate a screen that affected the data with a screen that did not even though the same field names would typically be used when inquiring for a search criteria.

Generated Report Screens: [0 - Black / 7 - Gray]
Accounting Software, Financial Analysis Tools, Statistical software, Mathematical software and database reporting software. When an interrogation to the database was made, or when a specific business report was asked for by the user, the results would usually be shown in this color combination because it was a good immitation of a printed report on paper. That was the main reason and it had the intended impact on the user in that they assumed that the report they were seeing would be something they could view as if it was print.

Help And Information Screens: [15 - Bright White or 14 - Yellow / 3 - Cyan or 2 - Green]
Pretty much any applications but mostly database related applications. Help and user feedback were usually in these colors as well as a Magenta background because again of the contrast with the blue or black background of the typical Main Tabular Data Screens but also because these colors seemed to give the impression that help is on the way. Note that these screens only gave somekind of information to the user and were usually mean to make the user correct his mistake or change the whole field values to the valid expected possible values.

User Assistance Screens: [15 - Bright White or 14 - Yellow / 5 - Magenta]
This particular type of screen wasn't found very often. But it did exist. Assistance screen typically instruct the user into the steps to follow and direct them through the given process. For example, this color was used in interactive tutorials that used the given environment or program to show the required steps live in front of the user. Purple known to be a color of wisdom and knowledge and I personally believe that it's the reason why it was selected for such a role.

Error Message Screens: [15 - Bright White or 14 - Yellow / 4 - Red]
Red was the chosen colors mainly based on the traffic light principal of Red means Stop. This combination stands out from any other color combinations quite easily and can definitaly catch the attention of the user very easily.

SPECIAL COLOR CONSIDERATIONS:

By considerations I mean of course care for your users here. There are color combinations that simply don't make sense at all. The most obvious is of course having the same foreground and background color (which makes text unreadable as they cannot be seen). Another is for example, any low shade colors (left column in the color chart above) in combination with any other low intensity colors except black, these will be very hard to read. The same goes for the high intensity colors (right column in the color chart) in combination with any other color than 9 - Dark Gray. Again they might be easier to read in some cases but they would probably be to harsh on the eye which would tire the eye alot quicker.

I would say that common sense is important here. We're all different as individuals but our eyes pretty much work the same as the next person. If your eyes like what they are seeing regardless of the chosen color, maybe it's not a bad combination. If you have to look away from the screen when you are looking at a combination, well everyone else just might feel like looking away too. So use your logic and common sense and I'm sure you'll select at least a halfway decent color scheme for your application without too much of a problem.

IN CONCLUSION:

As a final word, I would have to say to remember that the combinations listed here are not standard, they just came to be the popular chose for the given screen role. You could try other combinations if you want in your applications, maybe you'll like the outcome of those selection. For example a Yellow Text on a brown background isn't all that bad to look at, it just seems that the majority of users simply did not like that combination for all types of reasons. So go ahead and experiment with your colors. See if you can find something that doesn't look too bad to the eye, if you can read clearly, chances are so will your users.

Color is a matter of personal taste and that's the reason why alot of applications come with the option to change the colors of any and all parts of a program. If you want to experiment with color combinations, perhaps giving the users that ability to change those colors wouldn't be a bad idea especially when you think about the color blind people that might not see reds or greens as well as you might. You can always email me (see my signature below for my email) to give me comments and suggestions about this or other articles and techniques I've written. I write these in the hope that they will be useful in some way to whoever reads them and that is my first goal when selected the subject of my articles and techniques.

MystikShadows
Stéphane Richard
srichard@adaworld.com

Download a copy of this tutorial.

Answer	Votes	Percent	Graph
In a class	21	16%
From a book	31	23%
An online tutorial	21	16%
From a friend / mentor	9	7%
The QB Help File	19	14%
From looking at code	26	19%
Other	7	5%
135 Total Votes

	anarky This traditional Space Invaders clone by anarky looks and feels just like the original 1978 arcade game by Taito. And it's a blast to play, too. It captures all the fun and intensity that make Space Invaders one of the most popular game franchises in history. Download this entry. (48 KB)
	TheDarkJay TheDarkJay entered more of a joke entry than anything else -- he claims this took him only two minutes to make, and that "If mine gets one vote I will eat my hat." This game features tiny monochrome sprites and one non-attacking alien spaceship that you must shoot before it crash lands into you. Download this entry. (1 KB)
	dumbledore Dumbledore's Space Invaders game has two modes -- "classic" and "present-day". One is a traditional SI clone set in space, and the other has you play as George Bush trying to shoot down an infiltration of Saddam Hussein heads with a giant rifle. Download this entry. (921 KB)
	Lachie Dazdarian Lachie Dazdarian outdid himself with his entry, entitled Evil Baron Lachie. In addition to the traditional Space Invaders action, this game features a cut scene story of love and deceit, bosses, power-ups, multiple types of fire, an awesome menu screen, all original graphics and a whole lot of polish. Download this entry. (103 KB)

QB Express

Issue #9 ~ May 10, 2005

In This Issue

From The Editor's Desk

Written by Pete

Submit To QB Express

Letters

Letter From Joseph Burke

Letter From Lachie Dazdarian

Letter From MystikShadows

Letter From Lurah

Letter from Rattrapmax6

Express Poll

How did you first learn QBasic?

News Briefs

QB Site News

Project News

Gallery

Written by Pete

SpaceMerc - Mitth'raw'nuruodo

Inspiration Engine - Wallace Software

Larry The Dinosaur 3 - Delta Code

Nightlife - SBM Productions

Review of Larry The Dinosaur 2 by Delta Code, 2002

Written by Lachie Dazdarian

Graphics

Sound/Music

Gameplay

Story

Replay value

Challenge

Fun factor

Total Score

Review of Robo Raider by Rattrapmax6

Written by Zap

INTRODUCTION

STORY

LEVEL DESIGN

GAMEPLAY

GRAPHICS

SOUND & MUSIC

CONCLUSION

Where Are They Now? Jorden Chamid

Written by anarky

"Remake Space Invaders" Competition Results

Organized by Nekrophidius and Pete

The Entries

The Results

ASCII-WORLD Launches Its First Competition

Organized by Lurah and MystikShadows

Cue Basics

Written by Mike Wechsler

Review of The Quest for Opa Opa by Na_th_an and aetherFox

Written by cha0s

Review of The Quest for Opa Opa by Na_th_an and aetherfox

Written by Joseph Burke

Graphics

Sound/music

Gameplay

Story

Replay Value

Challenge

Fun factor

Total

Random Musings of a QBasic Game Programmer

Written by Rob Adams (Deleter)

The Challenge

Monthly Awards

Written by Pete and Z!re

Site of the Month

Programmer of the Month

Comics

Written by Rattrapmax6

I.F. Games Chapter 4: "Let's Code!"

Written by Na_th_an

Looking at the big picture

Coding the Location Manager

ACCEPTED DOS/CONSOLE COLOR USAGE

Written by Stéphane Richard (Mystikshadows)

INTRODUCTION:

Where Are They Now?
Jorden Chamid

I.F. Games Chapter 4:
"Let's Code!"