VOLUME 3 VARIOUS BASIC E GAMES AND PROGRAMS NUMBER SIZE NAME COMMENTS CATALOG.3 CONTENTS OF CP/M VOLUME 3 VOLUME3A.DOC COMMENTS ON SOME PROGRAMS VOLUME3B.DOC COMMENTS ON OTHER PROGRAMS 3.1 2K ACE.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.2 4K AMAZE.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.3 2K ANIMAL.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.4 2K BAGELS.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.5 6K BAGELS2.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.6 7K BIOPRINT.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.7 11K BLKFRI.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.8 10K BLKFRI2.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.9 6K CANNONS.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.10 3K CHASE.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.11 2K CHOMP.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.12 1K COMBINE.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.13 1K CORE.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.14 1K CORETEST.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.15 4K CRAPS.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.16 1K EUCLID.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.17 1K FIB.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.18 1K FIT.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.19 4K FORMAT.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.20 1K FORMAT.FMI INSTRUCTIONS FOR FORMAT.BAS IN FORMAT CODE 3.21 5K HANG.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.22 5K HELLO.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.23 7K KENO.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.24 5K LANDER.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.25 8K LANES.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.26 7K LEM.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.27 3K LOAN.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.28 2K LOVE.BAS BASIC-E GRAPHIC 3.29 2K PLOT2.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.30 4K POET.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.31 6K README.FMI ANOTHER FORMAT SOURCE WITH NOTES ON THE AUTHOR, ON ML80 AND ON SPAT 3.32 5K S/TREK.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.33 4K STARS.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.34 27K STARTREK.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.35 7K STORY.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.36 4K STRIKE9.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.37 7K TREKINST INSTRUCTIONS FOR STARTREK.BAS 3.38 7K TTT.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S 3.39 9K WUMPUS.BAS BASIC-E PROGRAM. SEE DOC'S ZOSO'S SOFTWARE REVIEW FORMAT.BAS THIS IS A CLEVER LITTLE PROGRAM FOR TEXT JUSTIFICATION. IT IS SLOW AND MOST UNFORTUNATELY IT DOES NOT SAVE JUSTIFIED COPY ON DISK. THIS PREVENTS IT FROM BEING USEFUL FOR PRODUCING MULTIPLE COPIES OF A SINGLE LETTER. IF SOMEONE WERE TO ADD FILE CREATION TO THIS PROGRAM IT WOULD SURELY EARN ZOSO'S 'CUM- LAUDE' AWARD. STILL IT IS NICE FOR ONE OR TWO COPIES OF THE SAME THING. WHEN YOU RUN THIS PROGRAM DO NOT ASSUME THAT YOUR DOS HAS DIED; AS MENTIONED ABOVE, IT IS QUITE SLOW. ITS SPEED IS INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL TO THE LENGTH OF THE FILE IT IS FORMATTING. STRIKE9.BAS BASED ON THE ERSTWHILE TV GAME SHOW, 'HIGH-ROLLERS', THIS REPRESENTS ITSELF AS A 'GAME YOU CAN'T WIN'. THIS IS TRUE, SINCE LOGICAL TRAVESTIES IN THE PROGRAM INVALIDATE YOUR WINNING MOVES. A TYPICAL END-GAME POSITION MIGHT BE: 'YOUR ROLL: 4 5 [TOTAL 9], ONLY THE '9' REMAINS; WHAT NUMBER TO REMOVE ?... IF YOU FEEL THAT YOUR ROLL OF 4 & 5 TOTALS 9, BE ALERTED TO A VERY 'C'RUDE AWAKENING. THIS GAME REQUIRES INTEGER ADDITION OF THE SUM OF TWO DICE - IT WILL CERTAINLY REJECT AN HONEST WINNING MOVE... SMALL WONDER THAT IT IS AN 'UN-WINNABLE' GAME. IF YOU FEEL LIKE A DOWNTRODDEN SOT, PERHAPS THIS GAME WILL FUEL YOUR EGO PERFECTLY. LANES.BAS WHY WOULD SOMEONE WRITE A CLEVER GAME LIKE THIS AND IGNORE INSTRUCTIONS ? WHEN THIS GAME SIGNS ON IT ASKS IF ANY OF THE PLAYERS WANT RULES, IT THEN PRINTS "SORRY, NO INSTRUCTIONS AVAILABLE NOW" ON THE CONSOLE. DESPITE THIS QUITE A FEW PEOPLE HAVE PLAYED AND ENJOYED THIS GAME, WITH NO ONE HAVING THE SLIGHTEST IDEA WHAT THE OBJECTIVE WAS OR HOW TO STRATEGICALLY PURSUE SAID OBJECTIVE. DESPITE THE FACT THAT I LIKE THIS GAME, I FEEL THAT IT IS AN EXECRABLE PRACTICE TO SUBMIT UNDOCUMENTED SOFTWARE. NOBODY LIKES TO TYPE, BUT NOT EVERYONE HAS A COMPLETE LIBRARY OF ALL THE MAGAZINES IN WHICH GAMES LIKE THIS WERE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED. P.S. THE RULES FOR THIS CAN BE FOUND IN JUNE '77 INTERFACE AGE. COMBINE.BAS PLOT2.BAS FIT.BAS EUCLID.BAS FIB.BAS I CANNOT GET PLOT2 TO RUN - SO WHAT. FIT IS A CURVE FITTING PROGRAM. FIB IS A FIBONACCI NUMBER GENERATOR FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO NEED ONE. EUCLID DOES JUST WHAT YOU THINK. ALL THINGS ARE SUBJECTIVE, BUT THIS REVIEWER ABHORS THE SORT OF PROGRAM THAT IS MORE SUITED TO THE POCKET CALCULATOR. THESE FOUR MOST CERTAINLY QUALIFY. << LATE FLASH >> COMBINE.BAS: THIS IS THAT EVERYDAY UTILITY WHICH TELLS THE USER HOW MANY COMBINATIONS EXIST OF [N] NUMBERS TAKEN [R] AT A TIME. WERE IT NOT FOR THE PROBLEM OF 8 BIT OVERFLOW, ONE COULD DE- TERMINE JUST HOW MANY WAYS THEIR GRADUATING CLASS OF 300 COULD HAVE LINED UP FOR THEIR GRADUATION PORTRAIT. THE MIND BOGGLES. BIOPRINT.BAS WHEN FIRST I SAW THIS PROGRAM, IT PRINTED UGLY CURVES, IT WAS RIDDLED WITH GROSS LOGIC FLAWS, AND IT WAS SLOW. I TOOK IT UPON MYSELF TO RESCUE IT. IF THE ORIGINAL PROGRAM WAS STARTED ON CERTAIN DAYS, IT WOULD SKIP THE FIRST SATURDAY IT ENCOUNTERED; IF STARTED ON CERTAIN OTHER DAYS IT WOULD SKIP ALL SATURDAYS !! ALL OF THIS HAS NOW BEEN CORRECTED, AND IT NOW PRINTS PAGI- NATED BIORHYTHMS WHICH ARE FAIRLY ATTRACTIVE, AND BY PLOTTING EVERY 24 HRS. INSTEAD OF EVERY 12 HRS., THE THROUGHPUT OF THIS HAS BEEN DOUBLED. SINCE I'M RATHER FOND OF THE WHOLESALE IMPROVEMENTS IN THIS PROGRAM, I'LL GIVE IT AN 'A-'. STARTREK.BAS DESPITE SEVERAL QUIRKS WHICH ARE NOT DOCUMENTED, THIS IS ONE OF THE VERY BEST STARTREKS THAT THIS REVIEWER HAS EVER SEEN. LOOK THROUGH THE CODE, YOU WILL FIND CERTAIN ELEMENTS WHICH WERE WRITTEN INTO THE SOURCE, BUT WHICH DO NOT OCCUR IN ACTUAL PLAY. WE LEAVE IT TO YOU TO EXPERIMENT. I SUGGEST REMOVING THE PROMPT/INPUT RELATING TO INSTRUCTIONS NEAR BEGINNING OF PROGRAM. THE INSTRS. ARE TOO LONG TO MEMORIZE, AND ONCE THE GAME HAS BEGUN, THEY CANNOT BE REVIEWED. THE FILE 'TREKINST' SHOULD BE EDITED TO REMOVE ALL THE QUOTE MARKS, AND PRINTED AS HARD COPY FOR REVIEW DURING THE GAME. OTHERWISE, A WINNER !!! HELLO.BAS ANIMAL.BAS STORY.BAS THESE ARE PSEUDO-INTERACTIVE GAMES IN WHICH ONE 'CONVERSES' WITH THE COM- PUTER BY ANSWERING THE SAME QUESTIONS WITH DIFFERENT ANSWERS AND THEREBY GETTING A 'NEW' OUTPUT FROM THE PROGRAM. IF YOUR KIDS ARE OLD ENOUGH TO READ, RUN ONE OF THESE AND ENJOY 30 MINUTES PEACE. S/TREK.BAS AS THE FILENAME IMPLIES, THIS IS AN ABBREVIATED VERSION OF STARTREK. SOFTWARE JUNKIES, YOU'VE GOT A COLLECTOR'S ITEM HERE. IGNORE THE FULL-BLOWN STARTREK ON THIS DISK! IT (STARTREK) CREATES GRAPHIC REPRESENTATIONS OF SPACE COMBAT, AND IT IS SO HARD TO LEARN THAT YOU WOULD BE FAR BETTER OFF WITH THIS EASY- TO-LEARN SUBSET (S/TREK.BAS). BEFORE YOU HAVE ENTERED YOUR 20TH CARRIAGE- RETURN, THE GREAT INTRA-GALACTIC CONFLICT WILL HAVE BEEN DECIDED. THE KIDS ARE WELCOME FOR THIS ONE, AND SO IS THAT SENILE OLD AUNT THAT YOU CAN'T QUITE DECIDE WHAT TO DO WITH. STARS.BAS FIRST PUBLISHED AS 'SHOOTING STARS', A COMPACT, FUN GAME; WELL-DOCUMENTED, WORKS WELL. IT WILL NOT BE YOUR LIFE'S AMBITION TO LEARN HOW TO MASTER THIS, BUT IT IS A SMALL 'PYRAMID' CONSTRUCTED BY HONEST CRAFTSMEN. I MEAN THIS AS A COMPLIMENT. CORE.BAS CORETEST.BAS THE SOURCE CODES OF THESE IMPLY THAT ONE CAN DETERMINE VALUABLE INSIGHTS INTO THE QUALITY OF SOMEBODIES' RAM BOARDS. MIND YOU, THESE ARE WRITTEN IN BASIC-E. A HARDWARE TEST IN BASIC-E COULD, IN FACT, BE A PRECURSOR OF PORN-FLICKS IN ML-80... GRUNT, WHEEZE..... LEM.BAS LANDER.BAS YOUR SPACE CAPSULE IS IN A GRAVITY-FIELD, AND YOUR FUEL IS FINITE; MAKE A SMOOTH LANDING - DON'T BET ON IT - THESE ARE AMONGST THE MOST WIDELY CIRCULATED GAMES WHICH EXIST. BOTH ARE GOOD, DAMNED GOOD IN FACT, COMPARED TO ALMOST ANY OTHER IMPLEMENTATION OF EITHER OF THESE WHICH HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY SUBMITTED. ONCE AGAIN, GOOD PROGRAMMING MAKES THE DIFFERENCE. KENO.BAS TO FIND OUT JUST HOW OVERWHELMING THE ODDS AGAINST WINNING THIS GAME REALLY ARE, A SABBATICAL TO NEVADA IS RECOMMENDED. UNLESS YOU ARE DRIVEN BY FORCES THAT YOU CAN'T EXPLAIN, YOU WILL PROBABLY GIVE UP BEFORE YOU HAVE EVER WON EVEN TEN DOLLARS. IT SURE COULD USE A TRIO AND SOME SHOWGIRLS TO LIVEN THINGS UP A BIT. POET.BAS THIS IS A (SHORT) POEM GENERATOR. GET HIGH, RUN IT SEVERAL TIMES, THEN MOVE ON TO THE NEXT ONE. HANG.BAS TTT.BAS UNDOUBTABLY, WHEN YOU GOT YOUR BASIC-E DISKETTES, THESE WERE AMONGST THE 'FREEBIES' THAT WERE INCLUDED. HANG.BAS NOW WORKS. THE WORD YOU MUST GUESS WILL BE TRULY RANDOM; BUT, BE HONEST, HAVEN'T YOU ALMOST MEMORIZED ALL THE WORDS IN THE DATA TABLE.... NO CHALLENGE (ANYMORE). TTT.BAS - TO PARA- PHRASE CHURCHILL, "NEVER HAS SO MUCH CODE GIVEN SO LITTLE TO A 3 BY 3 MATRIX GAME". IT MAY SEEM CLEVER THAT 'TTT' SEEMS SO CYBERNETIC, BUT IN IMMINENT RELEASES, YOU MAY WELL SEE AN EXCELLENT 'OTHELLO' (NO, NOT THAT SHORT VERSION THAT WAS RECENTLY PUBLISHED) OR PERHAPS A POKER GAME THAT PLAYS WELL TO START, AND IMPROVES ITS LOGIC CONTINUOUSLY DURING PLAY. THESE ARE MENTIONED BECAUSE EACH OCCUPIES THE (APPROXIMATE) SAME AMOUNT OF SOURCE AS DOES 'TTT.BAS'. CRAPS.BAS A NICE RENDITION OF THIS GAME. LIKE KENO IT STILL NEEDS A BEVY OF BUXOM SHOWGIRLS TO PUT IT OVER THE TOP. BAGELS.BAS MY REVIEW OF THE SOFTWARE ON ANOTHER DISK INDICATED MY FONDNESS FOR THAT VERSION OF THIS GAME. THE SAME APPLIES HERE. YOU'VE SEEN IT ONE HUNDRED TIMES, BUT THIS IS PROBABLY BETTER THAN WHAT YOU'VE SEEN BEFORE. CANNONS.BAS AIM YOUR ARTILLERY AT A STATIONARY ENEMY. SOUNDS LIKE A TURKEY-SHOOT, DOESN'T IT? THE PERSISTANCE TO MASTER THIS GAME PERHAPS REPRESENTS THE MAJOR DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ENJOYING A THANKSGIVING FEAST OR BEING THE MAIN COURSE AT SAME. SHELLS AWAY..... FINALLY WHEN IT COMES TO THE PROBLEMS OF SOFTWARE EXCHANGE I AM REMINDED OF THIS: "THE DOER AND THE THINKER, NO ALLOWANCE FOR THE OTHER....." - YOU DOERS ARE DOCUMENTING YOUR PROGRAMS, AND YOU THINKERS ARE MAKING ME CON- TEMPLATE THE PURCHASE OF A MUCH LARGER TRASH RECEPTACLE. HAPPY TRAILS... ZOSO ZOSO'S SOFTWARE REVIEW - INSTALLMENT 2: CHOMP.BAS - THIS IS A CLEVER GAME WHICH INVOLVES THE LOGICAL ATTACK UPON A COMPUTER GENERATED 'COOKIE' (SO HELP ME GOD). THIS GAME WAS PUBLISHED EARLIER IN ONE OF THE COMPUTER MAGAZINES. THAT VERSION (MAGAZINE) WAS IN A WORD, PITIFUL, BUT IT HAD INSTRUCTIONS. THIS REINCARNATION IS, BY COMPARISON, EXCELLENT; HOWEVER, THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH DIRECTIONS TO ACQUAINT A NEOPHYTE PLAYER WITH THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS GAME. AMAZE.BAS - GENERATES A MAZE... I'LL BET YOU'VE SEEN THIS ONE BEFORE. NOTICE THAT THE DIMENSIONING STATEMENTS ALLOW FOR A 25 BY 25 CELL MAZE. NO DOUBT SOME OF YOU WILL NOT HAVE ENOUGH MEMORY TO DO THIS. IT IS 'IMPRESSIVE' TO GENERATE COMPUTERIZED MAZES; HOWEVER, AFTER HAVING DONE A FEW IN BASIC, IT BECOMES OBVIOUS THAT THEY TAKE MORE TIME TO GENERATE THAN TO SOLVE. PERHAPS THEY SERVE BEST AS PACIFIERS FOR 'COMPUTER WIDOWS' AND CHILDREN. CHASE.BAS - A GOOD RENDITION OF A GAME AUTHORED BY HERMAN DE MONSTOY. IT WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN AN EARLY KILOBAUD. THE GAME HAS IMPROVED IN ITS PRESENT INCARNATION, BUT WHERE ARE THE (FULL) INSTRUCTIONS ? BLKFRI2.BAS - A WINNER BY ALL ACCOUNTS. IS TITLED BLKFRI2 SIMPLY BECAUSE THERE IS AN EQUALLY GOOD RENDITION OF THE SAME GAME: 'BLKFRI.BAS' AND I FEEL THAT BOTH ARE EQUALLY WORTHY OF YOUR ATTENTION. LET'S AWARD THEM BOTH WITH OUR HIGHEST ACCOLADE: VERY GOOD , FUN TO PLAY , AND FOR THE AS- PIRING PROGRAMMER, A PROJECT AS WORTHY OF THE EFFORT OF FUTURE ENHANCEMENT AS ALL THE MYRIAD IMPROVEMENTS WHICH HAVE HAVE BEEN VISITED UPON 'STARTREK'. LOAN.BAS - THIS PROGRAM CALCULATES THE INTEREST RATE ON A LOAN. THE USER CAN INPUT %RATE, NUMBER OF PAYMENTS PER YEAR, AND PAYMENTS PER YEAR. IS IT SIMPLE INTEREST OR IS IT COMPOUND INTEREST ?; AND MOST IMPORTANT DOES ANYONE CARE? SOME WOULD PREFER PENCIL & PAPER TO FIRING UP THE COMPUTER FOR THIS ONE. WUMPUS.BAS - IF I WERE IN CHARGE OF THE WORLD, I WOULD CERTAINLY PUT TO DEATH THE INDIVIDUAL WHO CONCEIVED THIS PARTICULAR GAME (AND ALL THE VAR- IETIES OF 'HURKLE' WHICH USUALLY SURFACE IN THE SAME SOFTWARE COLLECTIONS), HOWEVER, THIS 'WUMPUS' IS PROFESSIONALLY DONE. THE PERSON WHO ADAPTED THIS FOR BASIC-E HAS NOT YET BEEN ADEQUATELY REWARDED FOR THEIR PATIENCE. BAGELS.BAS - AN EXCELLENT VARIANT OF A SHOPWORN IDEA. AN EARLIER RELEASE (ALSO CALLED BAGELS) WAS A 4 DIGIT GAME; THIS IS ONLY A 3 DIGIT GAME, BUT IS STRUCTURED SO THAT IT IS MORE CHALLENGING (IN GENERAL). A WINNER, BUT TRY THE OTHER 'BAGELS' ALSO. ACE.BAS - PLAYS 'ACEY-DEUCY' (WITH NO PENALTIES FOR NON-WAGERING). IF THIS HAS BEEN COMPUTERIZED, CAN THE FLIP OF A COIN BE FAR BEHIND? ENOUGH SAID. ENJOY YOURSELVES IF YOUR RECENT LOBOTOMY HAS NOT YET HEALED... 'TIL WE MEET AGAIN... ZOSO