MISSILES

Emulator: Atar800MacX version 5.0.1
Programming Language: Atari BASIC
Program File: m4.bas.lst
Controllers Needed: none, this is a keyboard game
 ______________
/How to set up/

Install Atari800MacX. Download and configure the ROMs, etc. Configure the
emulator for Atari OS/B (48KB), 2x Scale, Default Width, Normal Scaling,
400/800 GTIA Artifacting. Copy m4.bas.lst in the HardDrive3 folder. For example,
I installed Atar800MacX in /, so copy m4.bas.lst to /Atari800MacX/HardDrive3.

 ________________________________
/How to load and run the program/

From Atari BASIC, type

ENTER "H3:M4.BAS.LST"

When the program is loaded, type

RUN

 ____________
/How to play/

When the game starts, the clock and score are on the first line. Below the clock
are the targets. The missile is shot from the right side of the screen. See the
picture below:

 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890
+----------------------------------------+
|CLOCK:100                     SCORE:0   |
|                                        |
|0|)))  |                                |
|1|)))  |                                |
|2|)))  |                                |
|3|)))  |                                |
|4|)))  |                                |
|5|)))  |                                |
|6|)))  |                                |
|7|)))  |                                |
|8|)))  |                                |
|9|)))  |                                |
+----------------------------------------+

You start out with 100 ticks on the clock and a score of 0. The clock
immediately starts to count down by 1 until it reaches 0. The game is over when
the clock reaches 0.

While the game is in play, the targets (parentheses) on each row grow and
shrink, that is parentheses are added and removed. The number of targets
fluctuates between 0 and 5. Press the number key on the keyboard to fire a
missile on the same row as the number key you pressed. A missile "-=+ >" will
fly across the screen from the right edge to the the left toward the targets.
When the missile reaches the targets, the targets explode and the number of
targets destroyed is added to your score. Then the missile and targets are
reset and you may fire another missile.

When the game is over, a game over banner is printed to the screen and the
program ends and returns Atari BASIC back to immediate mode.

Believe it or not, the origin of this missile game came from my bus ride to a
marching band competition. I spent the whole bus ride writing this game on my
Sharp pocket computer in BASIC, complete with beeps and animation on a single
line character display.

I wrote this port for Atari BASIC and added 9 more target rows. The original
had a limit of how many missiles, but did not limit the time.