Classic homecomputer games

==Classic home brew computer games, A small history==
 OK>Cload "cave.bas"
 OK>run 
			 
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 Player1 : Score : 120 Lives : 0
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 In the early X days of home 
 computing X much of the 
 capabilities X of the devices 
 had to be X harnessed by the user 
 by programming X the machine it self. 
 usually all you X got was the system , 
 a manual , some X leaflets and some 
 media for the X machine to store work. 
 If you were X smart you'd get yourself 
 a book about $ X programming, usually basic 
 on most Z80 X machines, and started writing 
 small pieces X of code. There where several 
 hobbyist books X on the 
 market with X various pieces 
 of code that X you then should 
 have typed in X yourself in order 
 to run it. These X programs often 
 ranged from just X several lines 
 of code to , for @</FONT> X example, simple 
 questionnaires that X $ stored data to a 
 cassette tape.Whilst X $$ most literature 
 at the time, late 70's X early 80's, tended 
 to focus mainly on the X serious applications 
 of the machines, say X accounting, business , 
 communications there did X evolve a small 
 group of people who used the X machines for entertainment. 
 Mostly these peoples where young X electronic enthusiasts 
 who enjoyed mucking around with X personal computers 
 to see what they could get X out of them. lost 
 of these youngster ended up X either running 
 multimiliondollar X software companies 
 or in the X gutter mumbling random 
 snippets $ X of basic of pascal 
 code X and how they would have 
 been X A "contender". But out 
 of X these nerd filled basements 
 and $ X attics came a new form of 
 computer X art, if you will. 
 instead putting $ X these machines 
 to use crunching Dow X Jones index 
 numbers or figuring out X how to 
 use it X to analyse medical 
 information X @</FONT> this 
 generation X of technophiles 
 build X surprisingly complicated 
 looking software just for X entertainment. 
 Some of these people made X static 
 demonstration programs X ( or demo's ) 
 to show off skill and X demonstrate 
 the maximum performance X one 
 could get out X of such a machine. 
 Others made X interactive games, 
 Due $ X to limitations, often 
 introduced @</FONT> X to cut price on 
 hardware, the X interaction 
 between dynamic X applications 
 and a user was terribly X $ difficult 
 to figure out. To X get smooth 
 results lots of X clever hacks were 
 needed to give X a program it's flowing feel. 
 Electronic games X where not new, they had been 
 around for X several years, Pong being the most 
 revered. @</FONT> XBut also Simon says, early Atari consoles 
 and lots of Xhandheld games that used circuit logic to 
 interact between X human and game where around at the 
 time. But all these XX systems were dedicated and didn't 
 offer Any creative control XX for the users. 
 The home computer changed thisX dramatically. With games coming 
 out at even increasing rates X and code sheets being swapped 
 all of the world the home X computer gaming industry 
 finally took shape. The X basis for almost all 
 the large game studios X that nowadays 
 are responsible for all X @</FONT> the big 
 multimillion dollar X $ development 
 costing games X like EA 
 or ID X find there 
 origins $ or X at $ least 
 lost of there X coders to 
 have there X roots $ $ at 
 that point X . Some 
 of these X systems 
 used to create X these 
 early pioneering X pieces of 
 software where MSX, XX Acorn BBC, 
 P2000T, Atari, Sharp XX MZ series and 
 ofcourse Spectrum Sinclair XX and commodore. 
 The Z80 systems where very popularX and with 
 the use of byte-code lots of X $ interoperable 
 programs where made. But byte-codeX lacked 
 speed and whilst interoperabilityX $ aimed at 
 a use user base, at this X time performance 
 started to be the bigger X factor in the choice 
 of computer. This XX was especially true for game 
 coders who, having $ XX reached the peak performance 
 capabilities of there XX systems over and over again 
 started writing more XX $ elaborate hacks. Writing 
 purely in machine XX code wasn't such a rare thing 
 those days. XX The small group of people, from who 
 almost XXX everybody nowadays has committed suicide 
 or Xare locked up in mental institutions, who mastered 
 this skill X could help take new software to new 
 levels on older XX machine, but eventually even this 
 wasn't enough. XX There was a cry from the 
 community for the XXX hardware developers 
 to take into account XXXX the needs of the 
 users and developers in XXXX @</FONT> certain field of 
 computing, floating point wasn'tXXX the main 
 focus for lots coders who wanted XXXX $ faster 
 easier graphics , polyphonic sound, X color, 
 sprites supported by hardware. Finally X $ the 
 new breed of systems that came out did X $ not 
 only focus on the paradigm XX of a CPU running 
 a program in order XX to run floating point 
 algorithms but also XX did complex graphics 
 and media. The Amiga and the XX Macintosh can 
 arguably be put on the sharedXX number one spot 
 as the user centric XX business machine and the 
 user centric X home machine. early games 
 Beginning $ $ X the revolution of electronic 
 game X entertainment we can't deny PONG and 
 simple concept that, X with a healthy amount 
 of imagination and several XX @</FONT> hours of psychedelic 
 game-play , could resemble X $ a tennis court and 
 two tennis players. This pioneerX meant hours 
 of fun and brain tumor inducing XX $ CRT radiation 
 for us youngsters back then. It XXX isn't all that 
 surprising that the early home XX $ brew game 
 coders started out imitating these earlyXX gems. 
 This effect resulted in a revival of X the old 
 and nearly forgotten hype in the X early 70's and 
 this shook awake the companies that, X at the time, 
 pushed this market. After all the X golden oldies where 
 imitated ad nausea on every X platform possible 
 people started to implement new X and original 
 ideas into games Tekst $ based X $ adventures being 
 the most famous. But also $ the X early simulators 
 started to appear and even $ X small endeavours in 
 multiplaying networked games $ X saw the first light. 
 at this times most games still X were sold on cassette 
 and in code form in books. One @</FONT> XX more famous concept was 
 called SKI also known as X pitfall ( not to be confused 
 with the arcade pitfall game ). X The objectives in these games 
 based on this concept varied but X that main deal was a symbol 
 for a figure, be it a skydiver, X skier of cavedweller, had to 
 be controlled through a course of X rock, clouds or skiramp. 
 During the evading process of the sidesX of the playing field 
 ( and lose objects ) there could be X several point or health 
 gaining activities going on. In the X cave explorer type the 
 player could collect money or gold and X health points. The 
 skier had to catch slaloms in order to gain XXX # points. 
 Most of these games had a notion of levels that XXX### where 
 implemented by speeding up the falling process XXXand narrowing 
 the playingfield. An increase in obstacles and ###more diffuse 
 distribution of bonus items where used to make it # harder. 
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category:Software
category:Computers
category:Games