Re: Tetris in Basic

["winston19842005@yahoo.com" <winston19842005@yahoo.com>]

On Mar 9, 8:13 am, Nama <forums6...@mac.com> wrote:
> On Mar 9, 5:27 pm, "winston19842...@yahoo.com"
>
>
>
> <winston19842...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > On Mar 9, 2:46 am, Nama <forums6...@mac.com> wrote:
>
> > > On Mar 9, 4:34 pm, "winston19842...@yahoo.com"
>
> > > <winston19842...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > > On Mar 9, 1:54 am, Nama <forums6...@mac.com> wrote:
>
> > > > > I'm looking for a listing of Tetris in Basic. It doesn't have to be
> > > > > Apple basic, but a classic 80's basic (not anything modern like visual
> > > > > basic) would be great.
>
> > > > I could supply one in TI Extended Basic! But realize, like many of
> > > > Apple's contemporaries (i.e. C64) it uses character-cell based
> > > > graphics.
>
> > > Thanks ,
> > > However I don't want to sound ignorant, but what is 'character-cell
> > > based graphics'
> > > I'm planning on porting this to a version of tinybasic for a very
> > > obscure computer. Do you think this version will be a good candidate?
>
> > You know what a character is, right? On old computers, CHR$(0) through
> > CHR$(255).
>
> > Character-cell based graphics (also called tile-based) is utilizing
> > these characters, redefining them (choosing which pixels are on and
> > off) and setting their color attributes. This is much different from
> > the Apple whose graphic modes are line-based (set a pixel, draw a
> > line, etc).
>
> > Yes, I think it would be a good candidate. TI Extended Basic "graphic"
> > commands are merely printing characters to the screen. The TI does
> > have sprites, but I'm pretty sure they were not utilized in this game,
> > as Tetris is a tile-based game.
>
> > And unlike many of the computers of the era whose programs were chock-
> > full of pokes and peeks (C64 is a good example), the TI uses built-in
> > commands to do most things, so you won't find many Basic programs that
> > use poke (CALL LOAD on the TI) or peek (these two commands were not
> > even available in the TI Basic that was installed in the console).
>
> > The version I have was modified to play music in the background, but
> > this can be easily stripped off. It added some subprograms to load
> > sound lists into memory to be played by the console interrupt routine
> > (the only peeks and pokes you will see in the program).
>
> Ok, I thought that was what character-cell based graphics meant. I
> just wanted to makes sure as I hadn't heard that exact expression
> before. Coming from the Sinclair world, I have always called them
> UDG's or 'user definable graphics', however maybe I have the
> terminology confused.
>
> Well, yes indeed, the TI basic does seem  like a good candidate for my
> port. Would it be possible for you to email me a listing of the game?
> Just incase you want to know what computer it is for, you can see the
> page on the Aamber Pegasus here:
>
> http://web.mac.com/lord_philip/aamber_pegasus/Aamber_Pegasus.html
>
> Thanks again
> Philip

Well, I need to say "mea culpa" here... It "looked" like it used
character-cell totally, but it does use a sprite. The falling object
*is* a sprite, but it moves it 8-pixels at a time (which is the size
of a character!).

It could have been done totally using character, but it may be done
this way so the program doesn't have to erase the old characters after
placing the new.

I'm sure to have a Tetris somewhere that uses all characters, but I
will send this to you just so you can have a taste of TI Extended
Basic.