Between 1983 and 1984 I was consumed by the mission to write my own text adventures for the Commodore VIC 20 Home Computer. During this time I completed two adventures, and partially completed another four.
#1 – Pirate House -> released #2 – Sunken treasure -> released #3 – Escape from Alcatraz #4 – Search for the Golden Eagle #5 – Rebel Fighter #6 – House of Terror *
With two being released I was on my way to creating a collection of text adventures that would fit in the unexpanded memory of the VIC 20. But as I was learning the art of writing a text adventure and making it fit into the limited 3.5K memory of the VIC was lucky enough to receive a Commodore 64 for Christmas.
Deciding that the VIC 20 was too limited I moved over to the C64 and started coding bigger games and in the process, I sold the VIC 20 to buy a Commodore 1541 Disk Drive. So that was the end of the VIC 20 text adventures, although to did write several other types of games for the VIC.
Of special note was adventure #6 – House of Terror. For this game I also wrote a short story which lucky for me has survived 37 years in storage and it makes me wonder whether I should sit down and create the game that never was.
It was 1989 and the Atari ST series of home computers were selling very well in Australia (also the UK) and I was having a great time learning to program the ST (1040 STFM) using STOS.
For a little history, I was working at Pactronics (The User-Friendly Company) as Area Manager for NSW, Australia. Pactronics was one of the largest distributors for software for the booming home computer market with games and applications for Amstrad CPC, PCW, Commodore 64/128, Atari ST, Amiga and the new PC market.
While working at Pactronics I become good friends with a co-worker and huge Amiga fan Neil Miller and we both loved coding, me on 8 bits and Atari and Neil on the Amiga.
During a late afternoon conversation, Neil mentioned that he wanted to write a Text/Graphic adventure for the Amiga or Atari. These types of adventures were very popular at the time and Pactronics having a very good relationship with Atari Australia Pty Ltd he thought there would be a great opportunity to get them on board.
Neil knew that I had written a few tex adventures and had them published but these had been old-school verb/noun but he really wanted to have a multi-word parser. You should have seen the look on his face when I mentioned that I had already developed such a parser back in 1986 for the Kaypro (using SBASIC).
Kaypro II – CPM + SBASIC
Skip forward a month or so and we decided that on a game title (or series of titles) called the Ryan Rookaby Adventures, with title number one to be called “The South American Adventure”.
I converted the original Kaypro multi-word parser over to STOS, fully debugged while Neil worked on the storyline, puzzles etc… and then we set about coding the adventure and before long it started taking shape and by mid-1990 it was looking pretty good. but things quickly came to an end.
Firstly I left Pactronics for another company and grew tried of the Atari ST as AMOS for the Amiga had been released and to be honest, looked far more promising than the Atari market which began to slow down. With support for a text/graphic adventure for the Atari looking less likely to get the green light for production we called it quits on Ryan Rookaby’s adventures.
Recently I’ve been working through my old coding and game development notes and came across the original STOS coded multi-word parser and game notes for “The South American Adventure”.
I’ve scanned in the source codeand will publish it soon for anyone interested. It would be easy to convert to another language or maybe you’d be interested in trying it out in STOS either on a real Atari ST or an emulator.
I’ve been exploring an old box of paperwork, handwritten notes, maps and source code from back in the early 1980s. Initially, I went looking for my old VIC 20 text adventures and found much more material that I’d forgotten about and thought it would have lost to time by now.
Well, lucky for me I discovered a treasure trove of items, and when I get around to sorting them out, I’ll post them here in the blog.
Tonight’s discovery was the original C64 source code for Sunken Treasure, written in Commodore BASIC v2.0 and coded in 1984. This release is the version I submitted to Personal Computer Games for publication as a type-in listing but unfortunately, the magazine folded before it got to print.
The following year this version was was released on disk 10 of the GOSCOM Commodore Users Group software library and made available to new club members.
Original source code for Sunken Treasure C64 version 1.0, 13th January 1985
There were several revisions made to Sunken Treasure over the years, with 1986 version 2.0 got an all-new title screen with sprite logo but the rest of the code reminded the same. Version 2 was released and through Mailsoft Pty Ltd and sold via mail order and small outlets.
In 1987 I converted this adventure to The Quill. Only a few things were changed. The Quilled version was known as version 3.0 and was released and sold in Australia by Entertainment Software. This release also received a new bitmapped title screen.
Well as I mentioned in my last post that if I found some time, I would re-create Pirate House for the Commodore VIC 20.
I was rummaging through another old box of paperwork the other night, and I located my original notes, maps and handwritten code (yes handwritten) for Pirate House.
I didn’t own a printer back in 1983 so would write code out my hand for Pirate House along with another 5 or 6 text adventures.
So now that I have all my old notes, I’ll start keying in the code and making Pirate House a working VIC 20 test adventure over the coming months and record the journey here for those interested.
Towards the end of 1983, I wrote several text adventure games for the Commodore VIC 20. Inspired by the classic Commodore released cartridge-based text adventures by Scott Adams, especially AdventureLand and Pirate Cove, I started programming my series.
I had grand plans to release dozens of text adventures and started drawing maps, planning gameplay and puzzles and learning to code, but soon I realised that fitting a text adventure into 3.5K of memory was hard, very hard. I thought it would be impossible.
After a few months, learning to code and trying everything I could to fit a game into such a small amount of memory I finally completed two games, although I started work on a 3rd but gave up on the VIC and moved to the C64 and released Ship Wrecked a few years later.
Adventure #1 – Pirate House Adventure #2 – Sunken Treasure
I released both of these titles limited numbers via mail order but never kept a fully working copy. As time went on the only thing that remained were my handwritten notes, code scribbles and sketched maps.
For many years now, I’ve wanted to re-create these all but forgotten relics of the past. With the release of THE64 (full-size replica of the Commodore 64 and VIC 20), I thought now was a great time to do so.
So I started translating my handwritten notes, coding them into the VIC and of course, fixing the now apparent errors that weren’t so obvious 37 years ago I ended up with a complete re-creation of Sunken Treasure.
I used only 94 lines of BASIC code fitting into the VIC 20’s 3.5K memory, with only 11 bytes free. It was a real challenge when I was much younger, and even now working with such tiny amounts of memory is like working on a very complicated puzzle.
Using the popular verb/noun input of the time and only working off the first three letters in each word the interpreter handles a vocabulary of just 14 words.
You play by typing English words (list above) into the input field, such as NORTH to move north, INV to see what you are carrying, QUIT to end the game etc.…
It might have taken 37 years, but I’ve finally released my VIC 20 text adventure, and for anyone interested it’s freely available for download here where you can run it on an emulator, THE64 (replica) or even a real VIC 20.
And you never know, if I get some more free time I’ll re-create Pirate House as well, then I’d like to complete the other never released titles.
A couple of years ago Retro Games released TheC64 mini. Basically a little C64 without a working keyboard. It was a lot of fun, especially playing some of the built-in games and of course adding some old favorites.
For Christmas this year Retro Games released TheC64 ‘Maxi’, basically a full-size C64 lookalike with a new microswitch joystick, more USB ports, and a fully working keyboard.
So what are the benefits of TheC64 ‘Maxi’?
Well for starters Retro Games has overcome the biggest problem from the mini, this being the full-size working keyboard which feels pretty close to an original C64. With the special PETasic keyboard symbols on the front and all keys mapped correctly.
Next, the joystick, and yes you will see many people online who are not at all happy with the new joystick but for me, this is a great improvement. This time they have created a joystick with microswitches. Some users have mentioned that the joystick is a little stiff to use but I expect that this will change with time, just like those on arcade cabinets.
Thirdly, more USB ports. While three would be great, one for a USB stick (extra programs) and two for joysticks but a forth has been added for those who rather use an external modern keyboard.
Lastly, something that I have really enjoyed in recent weeks is the VIC-20 mode. See long before the C64 the VIC-20 was Commodore’s first truly home computer, with all of its 5k of memory, single joystick and the ability to write your own programs. My first computer was a VIC-20 so I have a real soft spot for these wonderful little machines, and I can remember the hundreds of hours of enjoyment I had playing games and writing them back in 1981.
So with a working keyboard, there was only one thing left to do and that was to fire up a good old text adventure, so I grab an old D64 image for one I wrote way back in 1986 called ‘Ship Wrecked’ and see whether I could remember how to play it.
Ship Wrecked, release in 1986
Sunken Treasure, release 1984
Then after some texting, I got stuck into playing a few of my old favorites like HERO, and PITFALL and of course the builtin VIC-20 version of Gridrunner.
All in all a great retro experience, plug the micro USB power cable, HDMI and that’s it.
Why was the Commodore VIC 20 such a fabulous computer to learn to program?
When you look back at the release of the VIC 20 in 1981 the word computer wasn’t in the vocabulary of the average person. Outside of a few lucky school kids, no one had a computer. And yes I realise that the VIC 20 wasn’t the first home computer. It came about four years after the trinity (TRS80, Apple II, and Commodores own PET) responsible for starting the home computer industry.
The VIC started life known as the “The friendly computer”, and sold in large department stores and Toy retailers. It was going head to head with Atari’s home console the VCS.
The VIC 20 didn’t look intimidating; it came in a small box and was extremely easy to set up and connect to your colour home TV. All the peripherals plugged in, by that I plugged the datasette and joystick and a cartridge game or two without any struggle.
But none of these made it easy to learn to program, although they certainly help to sell the VIC 20 into millions of households around the world.
What made the VIC such a great machine to learn to program on was the attention to detail that went into the quality manual that came with the computer. Early home computers all came with manuals, some easy to read and others not so easy but the ones that come with the VIC 20 targeted the novice, and this wasn’t so true of many others.
Staring at page one, the authors went into great detail to make the guide easy to understand, simple, clean text and lovely simple drawings to help bring things to your attention.
Within minutes you were typing BASIC code and seeing your creations come to life right there on your colour TV.
The manual was broken into chapters, which progressively tackled harder topics such as graphics, sound, and advanced strings and variables.
Day after day, you would type, list (often correct your typos) and then run your creations. Each step of the way you were growing your knowledge, improving your typing and getting a greater overall understanding of what this fantastic little machine could do.
And then came the day that you finished working your way through the manual, the friendly computer guide and you set about sourcing the VIC 20 Programmers Reference Guide. Another Commodore published book which was just as easy to follow and as clean and easy to understand as the basic guide you’d already worked through but with even more in-depth information, advance graphics and sound and then for the brave some 6502 assembly.
To help cement your knowledge, Commodore released a couple of additional products, Introduction to Basic volumes 1 and 2. With dozens of example programs accompanied by text and flowcharts, they did try to get the reader to understand how to program correctly.
While many computers followed, even more from Commodore itself, none captured the easy, friendly ground-up design of the VIC.
Over the past 5 years, I have backed via Kickstarter and purchase from specialist book publishers like Bitmap Books a number of extremely high-quality books about my favorite topic retro gaming and computers.
With each new book, I await the delivery with bated breath. The hours, days and months usually go fast and the purchase slips my mine and then out of the blue, another parcel appears on my doorstep.
This afternoon the latest such delivery appeared, just before 5 pm and probably the last delivery for the courier before heading home for the weekend. This was lucky for me as the parcel contained the latest amazing book by Bitmap Books “Metal Slug”.
My first impressions without even opening the book were the hardcover image looked awesome. Flicking through the pages I can see the quality continues, the graphics and images just amazing.
I first remember seeing Metal Slug many, many years ago and thinking it was the best looking 2D game of its type ever and while the years have passed and there have been countless games released I still have never seen such beautiful graphics like this anywhere else.
So later tonight when a get some free time I plan on sitting down and reading through the latest addition to my library.
I came back from holidays last week and found the final book in the History of Commodore Business Machines had been delivered while I was away. Commodore The Final Years by Brian Bagnall.
In only a few short days I’ve consumed the stories, thought about what might have been and wondered if there is a parallel universe would Commodore not only survived but been the Apple of today.
Over the past 6 years I’ve been reading about the history of Commodore as told by many to Brian, from the first book called On the Edge, to Commodore the Amiga Years and now the final instalment The Final Years.
For the longest time computer history of the early days never covered much on Commodore, in fact next to nothing which always surprised me as during the 1980’s they were the biggest computer manufacturer in the world, the first to sell a million computers (VIC 20) to the biggest selling single model of all time the C64 and then there was the Amiga which even today still feels cutting edge.
These books tell the stories, about the people and the machines that made Commodore but also about the problems that they faced and in the end the demise of the company which was responsible for putting computers into the hands of the masses not the classes.
If you’re into Commodore computers, want to understand what made this giant of the computing industry tick and eventually die then I highly recommend the complete series.
Having visited the Centre for computing history in Cambridge on Saturday I decided to continue driving up to Leicester to take good look at the Retro Computer Museum.
Retro Computer Museum Leicester
I’ll start with this statement, it’s totally different that Cambridge but in my humble opinion absolutely awesome. It’s like being inside a time machine and bringing dropped into the best every computer shop from the 1980’s and lucky for me it wasn’t such a shop otherwise I’d be completely out of money now.
Atari 800
There is a whole section with books, manuals and the best computer magazine collection I’ve ever seen. They even have a room with lounges so you can take a seat and read the books and magazines, just so awesome.
Besides great computers and consoles they also have a room of classic arcade cabinets and the best collection of arcade VR machines. All set to free play.
Arcade Machines
Ultra rare stuff as well, like this Amiga CD 1200. Might be the only that exists in the world.
Amiga 120 CD ROM Drive
Endless different machines, including this great example of the BBC model B complete with games ready to play.
