Game Design Novice

Inside BASIC Games (1981, Richard Mateosian) is probably the best book on text game programming ever written. Instead of being a simple listing of games in BASIC, it teaches game programming techniques from the ground up. One of the more interesting things about Inside BASIC Games is that it details a form of universal pseudocode called Free BASIC. The techniques are then taught mostly in Free BASIC.

Back Cover

Go beyond just playing computer games — learn to design your own…

INSIDE BASIC GAMES

Makes it easy to learn to design your own elegant, error free games programs. Fourteen different computer games described and analyzed in detail show you the right way to construct interactive computer games and teach you BASIC, the most popular computer language.

Programs are presented in BASIC with specific version for PET/CBM, TRS-80 and Apple II.

"A fun and play approach to teaching the subleties of computer programming…" — L.A. Times

"…a helpful way of learning to program small computers." — Powerconversion International

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. S. Richard Mateosian's involvement in the design of small-scale computer systems goes back to the first appearance of minicomputers in the 1960s. He has been systems development manager for several San Francisco Bay Area firms, a lecturer in Medical Information Science at U.C., San Francisco, and an independent computer systems consultant.

Dr. Mateosian holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from U.C. Berkeley.

Contents

• Preface
• Introduction

1. Arithmetic Games

• Addition Drill
• The Addition Drill Program
• Arithmetic DRill
• Possible Additions and Changes
• Summary

2. Guessing Games

• General Form of Guessing Games
• Four
• A Sample Game
• The Guessing Game Program
• The Hangman Program
• Possible Additions and Changes
• Summary

3. Time Games

• The Pet Clock
• Clock
• The Clock Program
• Card Memory
• The Card Memory Program
• Ten-Key Flicker
• Timer
• Summary

4. Date Games

• Birthday
• The Birthday Program
• Calendar
• The Calendar Program
• Summary

5. Taxman

• Instructions for Taxman
• The Taxman Program
• Suggestions for Improvements and Additions
• Summary

6. Programming With Free BASIC

• Program Design Techniques
• Free BASIC
• Translating from Free BASIC into BASIC
• Free BASIC Structured Programming and Pascal
• Summary

7. The Match-Up Game

• The Game-Building Phase
• The Playing Phase
• The Match-up Program
• Changes and Improvements
• Summary

8. Craps

• Instructions for Craps
• The Craps Program
• Suggested Additions and Improvements
• Summary

9. Alien Life

• Alien Encounter
• The Rules of Game of Life
• The Alien Life Program
• Improvements and Additions
• Summary

• Appendix A - The ASCII Character Set
• Appendix B - TRS-80 BASIC Listings
• Index