Re:Star Trek 1971 Text Game (2008)
by DanielBMarkham on Tuesday April 08, 2014 @09:09PM
(#7557135)
Looking at this source code brings back memories. Star Trek was ported everywhere there was a BASIC.
When I was 16, in 1981, our school got it's first computer, a Commodore Pet. 4K of RAM! Basic! Hi-tech graphics on the keys!
We only had one, it was in the library, and you had to 1) sign up for it, and 2) get a pass to leave study hall to come to the library.
My math teacher was an easy touch, so I scored a pass every day to go to the library. Unfortunately, other students also wanted to use the computer, and there was quite a bit of hijinks involved with actually making it happen (Hint: never sign up in pencil).
I learned how to code going through the Star Trek game and figuring out how it worked.
As a side note, my nemesis at the time was Roland. So I spent the formative years of my programming life creating a game called "Kill Roland" in Pet Basic. It was mostly Space Invaders, with a little bit of Star Trek thrown in. Little Rolands ("R"s) would come down from the top of the screen, you would use the arrow keys to move your guy around at the bottom, and the space bar launched missiles. There were smart missiles, that you could control after firing, heat seekers, and so on. Of course, the Rolands just kept coming, more and more of them (at times splitting in 2)
All the other kids at the library loved that game. Roland, not so much.
Fun times. I'd love to play Star Trek in BASIC again. (Zork would be a close second)
When I was 16, in 1981, our school got it's first computer, a Commodore Pet. 4K of RAM! Basic! Hi-tech graphics on the keys!
We only had one, it was in the library, and you had to 1) sign up for it, and 2) get a pass to leave study hall to come to the library.
My math teacher was an easy touch, so I scored a pass every day to go to the library. Unfortunately, other students also wanted to use the computer, and there was quite a bit of hijinks involved with actually making it happen (Hint: never sign up in pencil).
I learned how to code going through the Star Trek game and figuring out how it worked.
As a side note, my nemesis at the time was Roland. So I spent the formative years of my programming life creating a game called "Kill Roland" in Pet Basic. It was mostly Space Invaders, with a little bit of Star Trek thrown in. Little Rolands ("R"s) would come down from the top of the screen, you would use the arrow keys to move your guy around at the bottom, and the space bar launched missiles. There were smart missiles, that you could control after firing, heat seekers, and so on. Of course, the Rolands just kept coming, more and more of them (at times splitting in 2)
All the other kids at the library loved that game. Roland, not so much.
Fun times. I'd love to play Star Trek in BASIC again. (Zork would be a close second)