I’m writing everything in BASIC. I use lots of comments, but mainly to identify sections of code. These might come out later if memory becomes an issue. Since all variables have global scope, it is important to keep track of how and where variables are used. Things might become a mess if you accidentally reuse a variable. I keep a running Word document open to keep track of what the variables are being used for.
I recently developed some tools that run on Windows for working on the T100 programs. They are MTRenum, MTVarConcor and MTLineRef. They can be found at my GitHub page, (www.github.com/LEJ-Projects <http://www.github.com/LEJ-Projects> ). There are also two games I’ve written for the TRS-80 Model 100 (or NEC8201). They are Star Merchant and Dungeon Warrior. Star Merchant was a rewrite of a game that I originally wrote for Creative Computing (August 1981). Dungeon Warrior was a new game generated from an earlier self-published version I wrote for an Ohio Scientific Challenger 2. I like to think of Dungeon Warrior as the prequel to Wizard War that I developed with Fred Saberhagen. I’m currently doing the development with bitchin100.com/CloudT. I’ll try it later with a real M100. I might also have a separate NEC8201 version. I’ll put lots of game development notes in the pdf of new game I’m working on. It will be like the documentation I provided for Star Merchant and Dungeon Warrior, but maybe more so. Lloyd From: M100 <m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com> On Behalf Of Gary Wilkinson Sent: Saturday, May 20, 2023 9:51 AM To: m...@bitchin100.com Subject: Re: [M100] interesting It’d be amazing if you could document the process of creating a game for the T100. The T100 is a bit different from other computers as everything sits in memory and it’s hard to know where in memory to locate the game and how much memory is free for the game. I’d be really interested in how a T100 game is built. Sent from my iPhone On 20 May 2023, at 13:14, lloydel...@comcast.net <mailto:lloydel...@comcast.net> wrote: Those are indeed the games. We had several more that we were considering but our publisher (Jim Baen) decided to get out of the software gaming business and that more or less ended that. Fred and Joan Saberhagen continued to market them and their other games for a few years after. It was fun. I still stay in touch with Joan from time to time. Fred died of cancer in 2007. I am currently working on a new game for the TRS-80 Model 100 that will reference the Berserkers (with Joan’s permission). It might be a few months, but when it is done, I will share it with this group. (Assuming I complete it.) Using REXCPM for external storage does provide some interesting ideas. When I wrote Wizard Wars, I was concerned about fitting into the available memory. I had only 64K of RAM and DOS and BASIC ate much of it. Wizard War consisted of 4 programs, an Intro, Main, Battle, and End. Most of the time the game would switch between the Main program and the Battle program and would use a data file for sharing data. I don’t own REXCPM (yet), but some very complex programs could do something similar and not be limited to the 29K or so that is available. Lloyd From: M100 <m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com <mailto:m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com> > On Behalf Of Ben Wiley Sittler Sent: Friday, May 19, 2023 11:31 AM To: m...@bitchin100.com <mailto:m...@bitchin100.com> Subject: Re: [M100] interesting Nice! Are these perhaps Wizard War and Berserker Raids? Those seem like they could be fun on the m100 too if only storage space were available. Maybe with REXCPM it is? On Fri, May 19, 2023, 09:16 <lloydel...@comcast.net <mailto:lloydel...@comcast.net> > wrote: I’m intrigued. The two games I worked on in the early 80s with Fred Saberhagen were developed on an original IBM PC that had a motherboard fully populated with 64K and later a memory board that added an additional 512K. I had 4 floppy drives connected to it but no hard drive. If I want to play these games anymore (and every few years I do), I fire up the DOS box emulator. It might be fun to run it on a machine dedicated to mimicking the capabilities of the old IBM PC. The novelty might wear off soon followed by some buyer’s remorse. But then again, it does sound cool. Lloyd From: M100 <m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com <mailto:m100-boun...@lists.bitchin100.com> > On Behalf Of Russell Flowers Sent: Friday, May 19, 2023 10:15 AM To: m...@bitchin100.com <mailto:m...@bitchin100.com> Subject: Re: [M100] interesting That is an unusual product. I wonder how it came to be? Hobbyist pulled the lever and went into production? Could they be just-in-time and/or built to order? On Fri, May 19, 2023 at 10:02 AM Paco <zx4e...@gmail.com <mailto:zx4e...@gmail.com> > wrote: Very interesting computer, using real expansión board 8 bits. El vie, 19 may 2023, 15:01, Stephen Adolph <twospru...@gmail.com <mailto:twospru...@gmail.com> > escribió: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005534146618.html Concept is neat but I think the execution was bad. Apparently the BIOS was modified and used without following the author's license. (FYI BIOS author requesting that no one purchase this until the license issue is resolved) Made me think of a 2nd generation M100 work alike.
