When I got Atari XEGS video games system for Christmas around 1989 I
was about 9 years old and I remember this feeling that I was a part of
something futuristic.
I had a computer with a keyboard, a cartridge
slot, a light phaser and a tape deck that was living
in my bedroom!
It was definitely a time of wonder for me as I
discovered a new world of video games fun using my black and white TV..
Yes, I owned a black and white TV at the time that my mum and dad got
me. Looking back it was madness but I was playing
Steve Davis’ Snooker by Blue Ribbon on a Black & White TV!
You
couldn’t make it up could you!?
It wasn’t long before I got a colour TV for my
Birthday and I was fully set up for the brave new world of computers. I
was totally hooked even though the pack in games were woeful (Bug Hunt
& Flight Simulator II).
It was the fact that these pack in games were so
bad that led me and my dad to experimenting with the type in games that
were included in the manual.
It was magical to think that Dad and I could take
it in turns to write out this long raft of code and we would be
presented with a playable video game.
Looking back on it now I think I saw my dad as a
super hero at the time. Not only had he (and mum) purchased this awesome
machine for me (even though I wanted a Speccy) he was also a cool
enough dad to type in the games with me!
It was around the time of the bedroom coder
stories that were on BBC News and I think that these stories had maybe
captured my Dad’s imagination. I remember at the time dad mentioning to
me that he thought coding would be something that
might interest me so maybe he was thinking of a coding future for me?
What I do know is it took us an absolute age to type up those games listings !
It was one finger typing at its best and meant that our speed and accuracy were relatively poor BUT we enjoyed it
(sort of)
Of course we all know that in BASIC you don’t know
whether that long list of incomprehensible words will work until you
type that RUN command and then it throws back a syntax error in your
face!
Hours of work up in smoke and for the one finger
typist that would often cause the end of proceedings. But then there was
the option to save your work on a tape to be revisited another day.
Saving work to a tape blew my tiny 9 year old
mind as I felt like James Bond as I saved my secret work to a data tape
(a C-90 TDK) and then filed it in my tape cassette holder.
These were truly pioneering times for me and I wish
I had kept going with BASIC and learned how to program full games of my
own but I think my time being a one finger programmer left its mark on
me to this day and I am still in awe of those
who do make a full video game.
Maybe that’s why I respect the Indie Dev community
so much and we focus heavily on these awesome dudes with the frozen
pages of GamesFreezer.
One thing I do know though is that the listings in video games magazines of the time made me so excited to get the next issue!
The magazines were a double whammy of cover tape
(normally with 3 or 4 demos or sometimes full games) and then as you
delved deep into the pages you were presented with more games to type
in.
Looking back, this was almost the Steam of its
time. A repository video games that everyone with a computer could gain
access to…
With that in mind I have just scoured the internet
for some of the best games code listings that you can try out on your
BASIC capable machines in your own homes.
Here's 5 places to go and get some awesome BASIC codes listing to type in your very own games!
Let me know how you get on and which website is your favourite.
RUN
SYNTAX ERROR
"STAY FROSTY!"
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