"[...]but now he has managed to accomplish something previously thought impossible: A grayscale RPG written in BASIC[...]"

I still think this is impossible. The greyscale routines are asm. Asm will always be superior to basic. :)

I don't understand why Michael still uses Basic, although he has learnt asm. This game could compete with games like joltima or desolate if it wasn't that slow and overseized.
Don't get me wrong, this game is great, I'm just wondering. Basic is a language for beginners (as its name says), and Michael is clearly too skilled for being one.

Kevin, not Michael :)

Just because BASIC means, " Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code" it doesn't nessesarily mean it's only for beginners. I enjoy it because you can code it anywhere.

It's funny that people would put so much pain staking work into using BASIC for large software applications, when the ASM version would be much easier to write, result in better quality, and tutorials to learn ASM are readily available for free. I mean, BASIC is great for simple functions or small games, but a program as complex as an RPG would be so much easier to write using assembly language. And then, even easier using C, but that obviously isn't available for the z80 calcs (I'm getting a bumper sticker that says, "I [heart] MY TI89").

There's z88dk, which could be used just as Kevin used BASIC: write the game logic and main program in it and use assembly helper routines.

Even with the sub-optimal size and speed of a compiled C program for Z80, the program would be much faster and probably a lot smaller too than the BASIC version. It also wouldn't be much harder to write with C (probably even easier than TI-BASIC).

I think that instead flaming this guy for using BASIC. We should all recognize that (even if he relies massively on ASM lib) he has done a great job. Bravo!

* I haven’t played the game however (I own a 68k).
* Québec Power ;)

There's a difference between flaming and contructive criticism.

Flaming is "you know, ASM is much better than BASIC". Constructive criticism is "I've looked through your code, and here are some optimizations you could make by porting it to ASM". He was flaming.

I don't think he was flaming. Flaming would be something like "Hey you f*cking moron, use asm, basic sucks"

I agree that flamming was maybe a too strong word, I think that 'unconstructive criticism' was more accurate in this case ...

Maybe he just likes the challenge of writing something that big in BASIC and still making it usable. :-)

OK, what's the last ASM program you wrote?

The game is no doubt cool, and is pretty cool how he combined BASIC and the greyscale package, but I am unsure if I would say qoute: "Kevin has once again raised the bar of excellence in BASIC programming!". I just do not think it is fair to call it BASIC when it uses that many ASM utilities. It is just a hybrid between BASIC and ASM that has ASM graphics but slow BASIC code. Pretty cool. Revolutionizing? I personally do not believe it to be. That is just my opinion.

Hmm hybrid. Basic + Asm = Basim?

How about ASMIC? Then we can add ORG to the beginning, 'cause that's a cool name.

Who would like to use something called ORG ASMIC? :-)

I think that it remains a BASIC game, because the programmer hasn't written a single line of ASM (of what I know of).

I don't say that BASIC is a good thing. I just say that the language used to make a game is not a good criterion to evaluate it. You can make good things in any language (except maybe COBOL - that's flamming :D).

damn, i didn't know that there were grayscale possibilities on a 83/84...

can this grayscale be implemented in fps's like gemini? That would really rule!!!!!!

ot: nice work, how many hours would you need to finish this game?

While this is a very good game as the graphics go, I think that stability is an issue (next update?).

What happened:
1. I installed the game on my TI-84+ SE.
NOTE: It had 8673 bytes RAM free and 1138K bytes ARC free. The only file that was in the RAM besides those from the REUBEN installation was RESID.

2. I then chose AREUBEN from the PRGM menu.

3. Pressed [ALPHA] at the splash.

4. The game crashed before I was more than two maps away from home. The picture began to distort and disappeared at the top of the screen.

5. Barely saw a ERR:MEMORY message. pressed [ENTER]. pressing [2ND][^] or [2ND][\/] restored original contrast.

Buy a TI-83+SE

As good as the game might be, I don't feel like shelling out 80-120$ for another calculator. Yes, I really think that this is a great game, but even the best 3d computer games don't cost more than 60$.

Plus, my dad monitors everything that I buy, and it would be a bit of an insult to him if I bought or asked for another calc (he gave me the 84+ SE as a present).

I'm wondering why it wouldn't work on an 84+... Hmmm. I think it may have something to do with FG or XLIB compatibility...