Need help translating game to 8-bit...

[ppanks@juno.com (Paul Allen Panks)]

Hello,

As some of you may know, I have been hard at work for a number of
years translating one of my Windows/DOS based adventure games
("Westfront PC: The Trials of Guilder") into formats for the Amiga,
Atari, Apple, Commodore, Sinclair, DEC Rainbow, and other 8/16-bit
machines of the time:

>>> website: http://www.geocities.com/dunric/wftrans.html <<<

So far, I have versions of my popular Windows/DOS game for the
Commodore 64,128,Plus/4 and Vic-20. But I'd like to next work on
versions for the Apple, Atari and Spectrum (Sinclair) machines.

For comparisons, the C64/128/+4 versions are available at:

>>> http://www.geocities.com/dunric/c16.html <<<

The Atari, Apple and Sinclair Spectrum versions should be somewhat
similar to the Commodore 64 version (dubbed "Westfront 64"). However,
as you can see on the first linked page way above, the goals for the
game vary on the built-in/cartridge/disk based BASICs available to
each machine.

On the Atari 400/800 series, I would prefer to squeeze it into 24K or
less. Most people using the Atari machines have 24K or more memory
available to BASIC. 16K is too paultry for such tasks. I'd also like
to get multiple colors on screen at once, in text mode, both I'm not
sure which "Graphics" mode to use. Having programmed "just a tad" on
the Atari machines, the strings always frustrated me because they were
vastly different than the Commodore 64 BASIC's version of them.

On the Apple, I would prefer to make it as Apple IIc/IIe compatible as
I can. Few (if any) people still use the original Apple's from the
1970s, and the success of both the IIc and IIe as commercial products
convinced me to do a version for the Apple computers. I believe the
original Apple II used a different version of BASIC than both the II+
and IIe (correct me if I am wrong, of course).

Finally, on the Spectrum, I'd like to use the Speccy 128's BASIC for
the game, simply because of more memory, better graphic capabilities
(think of "Retarded Creatures and Caverns", a Quill game), and more
dialogue possible.

The Speccy version could easily slam the Commodore 64/128 version's
butt, and would be a nice project for any "anti-Commodore" fellows out
there (just throw in a demo at the beginning of a "Commodore Logo"
crashing in flames, followed by Clive Sinclair in a Red Baron circa
bi-plane).

The Commodore versions are already complete, so check them out and see
if translation to your favorite machine is something possible:

>>> http://www.geocities.com/dunric/wftrans.html <<<

Sincerely,

Paul Panks (a/k/a "Dunric")
dunric@yahoo.com
ICQ# 12234336
http://www.geocities.com/dunric/westfront.html