"Checkers" by John Collins (1979)

I ran across a neat post on the Atari Archives Site that discusses very early computer versions of Checkers. Kevin Bunch mentioned a version of the game on the Bally Astrocade system that was by John Collins. I've converted other programs by Collins and other programs for the Astrocade system. The system had limited memory, about 4K. It was one of the first early video game systems to also include a version of BASIC (a reasonably good one for a machine without a keyboard). Those limits seem to have inspired high levels of programming cleverness among coders. In the late 70s these pioneers created very memory efficient games with AI features within the extreme limits of 4K. Their skill can be easily leveraged to obtain programs that can run on the 4K MC-10 as well. I converted a very powerful Othello game with a strong AI by Clyde Perkins called O-Jello, which works in only 4K. And Collins made a very clever but fairly extensive text adventure Bally's Alley in only 4K.

Collins' Checkers source code is preserved on the Archive as a printout listing from the Arcadian newsletter:

https://archive.org/details/ballyalley_Source_Code_Checkers_by_John_Collins

Bally BASIC is not that hard to work with.  It has a few differences from the Microsoft of the MC-10, but they are not hard to adjust to--  Semicolons for separating commands on the same line.  No OR or AND Boolean operators.  It uses # for "not equals" instead of <>.  The biggest challenge is that it uses a graphic coordinate system which starts at the centre of screen, instead of the upper left corner and therefore uses negative numbers.  I'll put my version up on the Internet Archive, so if people want to play the game, it might be a little easier than using a Bally emulator, since input for that system was only by controllers with numeric keypads and overlays for functions and alpha input as with the old telephone key pads.

https://archive.org/details/CHECKRBA

I also have been making a few graphic fixes to some of my old programs.  I rejigged the splash screen and the menu operations of my Micro Color Trek. This version is from some Coco version I acquired back in the day. I think I typed it in from an old BBS, since the MC-10 Micro Color Compact didn't have download capabilities.  I had to list it to my thermal printer and then type it in by hand.  Then I modified it a bit.  It survived the years on tape and I converted it to a WAV sound file early in the 2000s and then converted to emulator format.  So I thought I would give it a little bit of a touch up from my old hacked version.

I also finally liberated from one of those old tapes a "Crap" game demo program from the MC-10 User Manual.  Like Trek, I had added some simple SG4 graphic dice, instead of just numbers.  Back in the day these kinds of edits felt like monumental "computer hacking" to the teen me.

In the spirit of such hacking, I decided to modify a version of a Santa Claus graphic program from Family Computing magazine.  I never liked the version of the chimney presented in that program, so I decided to make something better.  I used the SG4 graphic editor to come up with something I felt looked more like bricks.  Here is the original version:

Here is my updated version:

I also updated my port of the classic game "Switchbox" from Compute! Magazine, March 1986. I used the Atari ST source code for my port. But I updated the animation of the switches and added some more speedups to the code (e.g. converting to single character variables, using periods instead of 0s, combining lines).  The idea for the animation update came from: https://youtu.be/nZTqwJLJo-Y?si=A2of9-eoOkXpfBQI

Finally, I made some edits to Family Computing's New Years program.  It was limited to the year it was published (1984, if I recall).  I thought it would be nice to update it so a date for any year (at least those up to 9999) could be input.  That way, the program will be functional for many years to come.  Who knows, people might need their MC-10 to function in the year 2100...

Enjoy!

"Meteorite" by Kenta Cho (1989)

This is a recode of a game from the NEC PC-6001 computer to the TRS-80 MC-10 using Micro Color BASIC. The original game, published in Mycom BASIC magazine in September 1989, used machine language to move the meteorites, but I just use a large string array, which I scroll through using variables and the MID$ command to create the effect of falling meteorites. Then I use VARPTR to POKE those meteorites out of existence if hit by an explosion.

The keys used to position your explosions are the following:

2 3 4 5 6 7

W E R T Y U

S D F G H J

Z X C V B N

As you can see, the programmer chose (no pun intended) to use a slightly staggered arrangement rather than simply following the diagonal left line of a QWERTY keyboard.  I think this makes more tactile sense as it fits better with the actual up and down orientation of the grid of shots.

I have played the game a little now. It is easy to settle in to using only the bottom row with 3 fingers from each hand.  I suspect the original game plays a little differently.  It might be faster, but you also seem to have the ability to launch multiple explosions at the same time, a byproduct of the use of machine language and the ability of the NEC to run sound in the background. So I think my program is not a completely accurate rendition of the original gameplay.  But I think it does present some of its challenge within the limitations of a fully BASIC variation of the game. My version has only 2 levels of ground above the three bases you are trying to protect, rather that the 3 from the original: _ - =

This decrease perhaps makes up (somewhat) for the lack of speed of my version.  And of course, since you can have only one explosion going at time, it requires the player to (perhaps) be more selective when choosing targets.

The original programmer Kenta Cho seems like a really interesting fellow.  He is described as an "indie programmer" and he has been responsible for some recent game hits like "Paku Paku." Here is some information on the original programmer: https://blog.gingerbeardman.com/2024/02/10/interview-kenta-cho-indie-game-developer/. But his programming career began back in the early 80s on the NEC PC-6001 home computer and using BASIC. From the interview, he credits some of his earliest inspiration as a programmer to playing games originally programmed in BASIC, like Heiankyo Alien, which I have also ported, and their creative game techniques and narrative premises.

If you want to see the original being played, look here: