32-bit acorn software: classic games • Re: New: fully documented source code for Lander

I've added an update to the Lander repository that some of you may find interesting (I know I like it, anyway!).

The repository now includes a BBC BASIC version of the source that will build Lander (and BigLander) on an Archimedes and Risc PC:


I suspect that Lander hasn't been compiled on real hardware since David Braben did it in 1987, as the source has never been released, and the RISC OS version simply wrapped the original Arthur binaries rather than rebuilding them. Read on to find out how you can recreate a bit of history on your own machine.

Here are links for the sources: the source code for Lander, and the source code for BigLander.

You can download these text files, convert them to BBC BASIC using Edit (or your preferred converter), and the resulting BBC BASIC file should run on your Archimedes to produce a working game binary (called GameCode) that you can double-click to play Lander. Full instructions can be found in the repository and on the website.

There are some things to note.

• BBC BASIC doesn't allow colons in comments (well, it does, but it treats them as statement separators, which causes chaos if you have colons in comments), so the Archimedes source contains semicolons instead.

• Also, unmatched brackets and double-quotes in comments give warnings in BASIC and break the conversion from text, so I have replaced brackets with square brackets and double-quotes with single-quotes in comments.

• The use of REMs for comments outside of the assembly part does make some lines wider than 80 columns.

• As BBC BASIC doesn't support comma-separated EQU values, some of the code layouts are less than perfect (e.g. the ship blueprints).

But overall, this is a fully buildable and fully commented source code for Lander and BigLander that builds on an Archimedes. As long as you have enough memory (your Next slot needs at least 832K to build Lander, and at least 904K to build Big Lander), then you can build it yourself.

Also, for BigLander, the source produced by the build process includes the landscape dimensions specified in the make command, so if you are so inclined, you can generate Archimedes source for any landscape you like.

I hope you like it!

Mark

Statistics: Posted by MarkMoxon — Wed Mar 06, 2024 12:18 pm

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