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Author Topic: Childhood games  (Read 4789 times)

Edvard

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Childhood games
« on: July 03, 2014, 03:45 AM »
I wish I could find my old notebooks, I'd do the same...
Mexico City, 1984. There and then I was 12 years old, dreaming of creating computer games. I already knew how to program in BASIC, but I didn't have a computer. So I just took a pencil and a notebook, and wrote down my games.
...
Almost 25 years later, I re-discovered the old notebook with my first hand-written games. It was dusty but still readable (unlike the floppy disks). Thrilled by this encounter, I decided to write new games based on those original ideas.


Anybody here ever tried to do the same?


from RunMe.org

TaoPhoenix

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Re: Childhood games
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2014, 04:43 AM »
Sadly, the first games I wrote were also my last. The types of peeks and pokes he used are what crushed me when I had a C64 at almost that age. A couple more years and much cleaner basic from the C128 at least let me make sprite-and-line maze games. And I copied a few of those old magazine games.

It's amazing, people writing code without having a comp and almost getting it right! Look how clean his line numbering is. I was thoroughly unable to write without huge gaps like 1000 1100 1200 1300 2000 2100 2200 2300 2400 when then filled in with stuff like 2500 2530 2540 2541 2543 2600 2630 2631 2632 2640 2650.

Computing only got harder, way too fast for me. (So did science, once you left Chem 101 that I could almost handle; I then took one look at Orgo in the next year's book and changed majors.)

I ended up in Accounting, where the rate of being able to pay rent vs mind pulverizing concepts was much more in my favor!

The only similarly important nod to my childhood I made was getting rather lucky to track down the book that made my screen handles (there was one earlier one before this one) what they are today.

But imagine the pre-1999 difficulty of that! "Some child's book from the 1950's aka decades out of print, about a Phoenix with a title I don't remember and an author I couldn't even pronounce!"

But I got lucky twice. First, by 2001 Safe-For-Work material was finally getting to be added to sites that search engines were getting around to indexing, (after the Non-Safe stuff was notoriously there first.)

And in 2000 a small publisher meanwhile was being deluged with so many fond memories like mine from her friends, that she *re-published it*! Well now, that's a whole new story. Brand new edition, that meant it was actively for sale, when search engines were starting to get the handle of getting past spammers.

All it took about 2004 was some brilliantly inspired long sequence of browsing, and suddenly I had it!

And now in our Wiki-led age, with all its Notability problems, I give to you:

David and the Phoenix
http://en.wikipedia....avid_and_the_Phoenix

skwire

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Re: Childhood games
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2014, 07:37 AM »
Anybody here ever tried to do the same?

  • I still have graph paper from elementary school where I drew designs and wrote out all the commands for Apple Logo on the Apple ][.
  • I still have working floppy disks of programs I wrote as a kid (as far back as an old Atari 130XE) and in school (Pascal & VB).  I recall in high school naming all my programs after fighter jets.  *snort*
  • I also still have pages and notebooks of maps, notes, etc., I wrote whilst playing computer and console games.  For instance, I drew out every dungeon in Phantasy Star on graph paper.  This was long before the internet and gaming FAQ sites.   :P

theGleep

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Re: Childhood games
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2014, 01:51 PM »
I did something like that - my first "Game" (of course, never finished) was a text-based RPG, written in 6502 assembly (or was it 8086?  I don't really remember) - in an accounting ledger book.

It was a GREAT way to stay awake in church. :D
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Edvard

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Re: Childhood games
« Reply #4 on: August 05, 2014, 04:38 PM »
Nice, but did you ever find your old notebooks and try to revive it again? 
A challenger appears...  :P

theGleep

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Re: Childhood games
« Reply #5 on: August 05, 2014, 05:26 PM »
They are *LONG* gone...

But I still think about how I'd do it if I did it over.  So far (mentally) I've done it in C, C++, C# and Javascript/HTML

:)
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