N.A.N.Y. 2014 Special: gaioNiBBLES, old DOS game

[Jibz]

New Apps for the New Year. Out with the old in with the new. New, new, new, all this focus on new .

As a counterweight (and because I didn't manage to come up with a good idea for this year, but don't tell mouser), I decided to release this little DOS 16-bit game, which I wrote roughly 15 years ago!

It's a fairly simple clone of the classic Nibbles game. It features two-player and deathmatch modes, AdLib music, and (broken) IPX networking.

I thought the source was lost in a computer upgrade at some point, but I recently found a CD with a backup that contained this game, among other relics .

In order to assemble the game itself you will need TASM. The level and music data files can be assembled with NASM.

To run the game, I recommend using DOSBox. If you are on 32-bit Windows, you might be able to run the executable directly, but the graphics and sound will most likely be off compared to the result you would get with DOSBox.

[TaoPhoenix]

New Apps for the New Year. Out with the old in with the new. New, new, new, all this focus on new .

As a counterweight (and because I didn't manage to come up with a good idea for this year, but don't tell mouser), I decided to release this little DOS 16-bit game, which I wrote roughly 15 years ago!

-Jibz (December 16, 2013, 10:42 AM)

That's a cute little game Jibz!

Old Apps unite! A couple years ago I released an old app for a nany.

I found "slow speed" harder because the "tail" seemed to grow far faster somehow.

I "just ran it"; there was no music.

But it's cute! Do you feel like making any mods to the code? I would appreciate a "laser lock mode". Being the blind old bat I am, I keep getting stuck being off by one line for eating the numbers, then I have to waste tons of space with the tail to fix it. It might be cute to know you "locked on". Even at the risk of changing the precise strategy, go one step further, and have a "lock on" feature that locks the path to the number for you, allowing you to concentrate more on high level playing. In other words, like all the scifi shows, you get close to approach, hit "lock on", and it doesn't miss. So you get your "number nibble", and can spend your strategy worrying about your tail, and not that you were one line off the whole time! Just a thought.

Maybe by next year I'll have enough funds to commission something else for nany.

P.s. the font use is hysterical! 15 years ago did you think that was Da Kewlness? Heh it's like my chess nany app, it showed the tail end of my adoration of the Matrix etc. Ah, I miss the Old Days when computing was fun!

[Jibz]

I found "slow speed" harder because the "tail" seemed to grow far faster somehow.

I "just ran it"; there was no music.

-TaoPhoenix (December 16, 2013, 02:33 PM)

I tried running it directly on a 32-bit WinXP box here, and it was kind of hard to control because the sync between the graphics and the keyboard were off. And the music won't work, since it requires something AdLib compatible like an old SoundBlaster card. DOSBox emulates the SB16 and the graphics vsync works.

But it's cute! Do you feel like making any mods to the code? I would appreciate a "laser lock mode".

-TaoPhoenix (December 16, 2013, 02:33 PM)

It sounds like a good idea, but I am afraid it would take a while to figure out how the code works again, and even longer to remember all the 16-bit DOS programming details. It would probably be easier to rewrite it in Windows -- who knows, maybe next year .

P.s. the font use is hysterical! 15 years ago did you think that was Da Kewlness? Heh it's like my chess nany app, it showed the tail end of my adoration of the Matrix etc. Ah, I miss the Old Days when computing was fun!

-TaoPhoenix (December 16, 2013, 02:33 PM)

Hahaha, yes, I probably thought that was pretty cool back then. Also, it was one of those "my friend is making a nibbles game, well I am going to throw together an even better one, with networking!" late night coding things .

[Jibz]

Here is a short video of single player:

And a two player game (where my son does a fine job of blocking me ):

[kyrathaba]

Nice work, Jibz. Glad you resurrected this code.