Hi all,
One other note to anyone who uses VirtualT to help write / debug BASIC
programs. I discovered that using the BASIC LPRINT command is really
useful for debugging. You can use it one of two ways.
The first is to configure the LPT port to connect to a virtual FX-80
using Virtual Paper and then "print" you debug output at any time. This
will only show your debug output when you select "Print Now" from the
pop-up printer menu by clicking on the printer icon in the bottom window
border.
The second (more useful) way is to use either socat on Linux/Mac or
com2com on Windows to create a virtual null-modem serial-to-serial
connection. Then use minicom (Hyperterm for Windows) to connect to one
of the ports and then configure LPT to connect to a Host device,
specifying the other serial port. In this case, you get a real-time
logging window of your debug info as printed by your LPRINT statements
in the BASIC code.
Ken
On 5/4/17 6:31 AM, Bob Pigford wrote:
Mahjong. Right?
-----Original Message-----
From: M100 [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ken Pettit
Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2017 7:00 PM
To: Model 100 Discussion
Subject: [M100] Game idea
Hey gang,
After integrating AsciiPixels into TextSweeper, it got me thinking about
another game idea using AsciiPixels. I spent a few hours coding up a BASIC
program on the T200 (using VirtualT) to get an idea if it would work / how it
would look. It could be coded for M100 also by scrolling and showing only half
of the screen (upper or lower) at a time.
Written in BASIC, it is a bit slow, but was okay for "proof of concept". Plus
BASIC doesn't require 2x the RAM like .CO files to (one copy for the .CO and another for
the HIMEM location where it gets loaded). Maybe a full .CO implementation is the way to
go? Currently the implementation has only the ability to build and display the board and
no logic for choosing or removing pieces. Also, the board build logic is purely random
with no attempt to add game theory for determining if there is a winning solution. This
would all need to be added. The BASIC program is currenly 42 lines long (with multiple
statements per line) and is about 2K in size, plus another 1300 bytes for AsciiPixels
resources in a separate .DO file.
Anyway, I though I would share a screen capture of what I have and see if there
is any feedback on interest level. And yes, I intentionally didn't say what
type of game so that you can discover it by watching the
video:
http://www.kenpettit.com/tj.mov
Let me know
Ken
