My ZX81 Tic-Tac-Toe May Not Look Pretty, but You Can Win
As June winds down, I find myself reminiscing about writing month’s program. 34 years later, I still remember the glow of the TV as it lit the notebook in my lap. Although I have fond memories of Tic-tac-toe, time isn’t as kind to it. Let’s dig in.
Would you like to play a game…
Posted Jun 25, 2017 by Steven
6 min read
Can You Get the High Score in the Worst ZX81 Dice Game
Okay, although not the worst ever, Dice Game is pretty dull. With only two dice, no strategy, and no replay value, you might think this an odd program of the month. But for the young teenager that wrote it, it was pretty cool in 1983. Let’s dig in and see why.
It’s all about the code…
Posted May 28, 2017 by Steven
7 min read
Bet and Win in Stud, a Simple ZX81 Poker Game
For March’s program of the month, I offer up Stud. Written in 1984, it was my first computer card game. Calling it a card game is disingenuous as Stud is a simple high/low betting game. There are no rules or even a deck of cards. Yet simple can be fun in this random poker game.
An infinite deck of …
Posted Mar 24, 2017 by Steven
3 min read
Pictures Are Pretty, How to Make a ZX81 Draw
Sometimes one function can do a lot. For February’s program, picture uses a line drawing routine to draw a pretty picture. Okay, pretty is in the eye of the beholder. But, nonetheless, it is a picture. The fun, though, is in watching it draw.
A computer and a boat, together are art…
Posted Feb 25, 2017 by Steven
4 min read
Can you hack the computer and save the world?
“Agent 51, your goal is within reach, but there is a problem.”“Understand,” you reply. Professional as always, you only allow a hint of annoyance in your voice. “Explain.”“Well, the plans are in the room in front of you, but the floor is a trap…
Posted Jan 22, 2017 by Steven
5 min read
Can you guess the right code to win?
I used to play Mastermind when I was a kid, a simple code breaking game. One player would set up a sequence of colored pegs and the other would have to guess it in a set number of turns. My version, called ZX Master Mind, has the computer creating the code…
Posted Dec 22, 2016 by Steven
4 min read
Can You Avoid Death in the ZX81 Game Stick Shift?
Dodging games were the rage back in the early ’80s. Wanting to add my own take on the genre, I created Stick Shift, November’s program of the month. The goal is simple. Dodge other cars, oil spills and spikes while not crashing into the wall. Mess up? Well, it’s game over for you…
Posted Nov 24, 2016 by Steven
3 min read
Bugers Will Kill You in October's ZX81 Program of the Month
While working to improve the way I display my ZX81 programs, I ran across one that didn’t have a picture. Finding that odd, I did some research and found that I’d written a page for it back in 1999. To my surprise, I’d never uploaded it…
Posted Oct 25, 2016 by Steven
3 min read
Trail Blazer is my ZX81 Tribute to Tron’s Light Cycles
One of the coolest movies when I was a young teenager was Disney’s Tron. What geeky kid didn’t want to watch a movie about computers and video games? Sprinkle in some computer animation and how could I not fall in love.
Needless to say, Tron was the inspiration for more than a few of my programs…
Posted Sep 18, 2016 by Steven
6 min read
Electon is August’s ZX81 Program
I painted more borders on the ZX81 than just about any other shape. An easy way to confine movement, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Electon starts by building a box. And before you ask, this month’s ZX81 program isn’t another version of snake…
Posted Aug 22, 2016 by Steven
7 min read
3D Image is July’s ZX81 Program
Not everything I wrote on the ZX81 was a game, although I did write a lot of those. In fact, some of my first computer programs did nothing more than print pictures. 3D Image, a badly named program, is one of my experiments in animation on the ZX81…
Posted Jul 20, 2016 by Steven
4 min read
Vargen Crown is June’s ZX81 Program
“Jealous of Vargen’s accomplishments, a rival kingdom has attacked and kidnapped your king. As head Knight, you mount a quest to return the King, hidden somewhere in the forest by his captors. But hurry! The King's ransom has a time limit. Can you find the King in time and restore the Vargen Crown…
Posted Jun 27, 2016 by Steven
9 min read
Up Is Down in Faller, May’s ZX81 Program
Walls and creatures always make for a nice game and Faller, our program of the month, has both. It takes a bit of imagination, but watch the icky spider climb up the wall towards you. Their goal, of course, is to knock you off and claim the wall for themselves…
Posted May 21, 2016 by Steven
6 min read
Laser Blast is April’s ZX81 Program of the Month
April is close to wrapping up and I was able to find time this weekend to type in another ZX81 game. Laser Blast, this month’s program, has you saving the world. Kind of cliché I know, but hey this was 1984. George Orwell’s novel didn’t come true, but at least we could blast alien’s with lasers…
Posted Apr 27, 2016 by Steven
9 min read
Computact is March’s ZX81 Program
Ah, spring time. As winter melts away, the weather goes haywire and it’s time to enjoy the bouts of sunshine, rain and the occasional thunderstorm of hail. Perhaps it’s fitting that in the middle of this meteorological mayhem that Computact came back to life…
Posted Mar 22, 2016 by Steven
7 min read
February’s Program: Telaport
Digging through my listings, I struggled deciding what to offer for February. The first one I found was an adventure text game. Too close to last month's program, I decided against it for now…
Posted Feb 27, 2016 by Steven
5 min read
January’s Program: Star Probe
Wow, 2016 and I’m still digging programs out of my stack of print outs. Kicking off the new year, I’m grabbing a story based program. I wrote Star Probe, our program of the month, in the style of a Chose Your Own Adventure book—and yes, I actually owned most of them…
Posted Jan 26, 2016 by Steven
5 min read
December’s Program: Monkey Maze
Time to close out the year with another classic remaking. Back in 1983, I decided to try my hand at recreating Nintendo’s fan favorite: Donkey Kong. My version, cryptically called Monkey Maze, is December’s Program of the Month…
Posted Dec 29, 2015 by Steven
3 min read
November’s Program: Dragon’s Lair
One of my favorite video games as a kid was a rather unlikely one. It wasn’t the coolest graphics or excellent control. It was about story and animation. It was, of course, Dragon’s Lair. The odd laser disc game by famed animator Don Bluth…
Posted Nov 29, 2015 by Steven
2 min read
October’s Program: The Haunting
It is Halloween and October’s Program of the Month is right on time. When I pulled the listing for The Haunting from my stack I knew it would be perfect. Although short, I knew I’d be challenged as this program of the month requires something I hadn’t needed before. That something was sound.
Fortun…
Posted Oct 31, 2015 by Steven
4 min read
September’s Program: Input Two
To my surprise, I was thumbing through my old printouts and discover that I actually wrote an Input Two program. I covered Input One as March’s Program of the Month. For September, however, it is Input Two’s opportunity to shine.
Input Two is a very different program though…
Posted Sep 20, 2015 by Steven
2 min read
August’s Program: Canyon Raider
While reading through my old programming notebook last month, I wondered about using them on my website. From my earliest programming days, the notebook has a number of programs that never made it to my stack of printouts. Canyon Raider, August’s program of the month, is one of those programs.
A si…
Posted Aug 22, 2015 by Steven
3 min read
July’s Program: A Story
July’s program is indicative of the BASIC programs you’d find in early programming manuals. Most books start out with pretty basic commands such as PRINT and INPUT. A Story mimics these early programs in a creative way…
Posted Jul 23, 2015 by Steven
2 min read
June’s Program: Fly
Fly is a simple program that, in the end, is both baffling and intriguing. Looking at first like a simple shooter, it acts very differently then one and, if you don’t know the rules, will make you crazy. Once you do know how to play, though, Fly becomes simple and repetitive…
Posted Jun 28, 2015 by Steven
5 min read