Games that were compiled from BASIC

[Pobulous]

It would be really interesting to note games that used compilers back in the day.

I know there are some famous ones such as Frank N Stein, but it's always interesting to see what was achievable back in the day with the available compilers.

Creepy Dungeons (along with most Automata games) for instance smelt strongly of a compiled game, and sure enough, RAM from 60000 onwards is occupied by Wye Valley Compiler.

I know it might be hard to track them all but it would be interesting to be able to produce a list of known or suspected games.

[Einar Saukas]

It would be really interesting to note games that used compilers back in the day.

The page for each native BASIC compiler contains a list of programs that were compiled with them:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/8 ... Soft_BASIC
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/8 ... T_Compiler

There's also a group for each cross-platform compiler but that's not what you are looking for...

I know there are some famous ones such as Frank N Stein

Does anybody know the compiler that was used in Frank N Stein?

Creepy Dungeons (along with most Automata games) for instance smelt strongly of a compiled game, and sure enough, RAM from 60000 onwards is occupied by Wye Valley Compiler.

I just marked "Creepy Dungeons" as compiled with Wye Compiler. Any others?

I know it might be hard to track them all but it would be interesting to be able to produce a list of known or suspected games.

I'm interested too!

[Pobulous]

According to this,
https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/pag ... 04&page=92

Frank N Stein used Mcoder - original version I presume?

From the same page Nuke Lear apparently uses the Wye Valley compiler.



edited to clarify - Frank N Stein uses this compiler:
https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... iler_MMIId

Confirmed that Nuke Lear uses the Wye Valley compiler

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[Pobulous]

https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... zy_Castles
is also Wye Valley Compiled

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[Pobulous]

https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... cks_Please
Is MCoder II - https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/1 ... /MCoder_II

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[Pobulous]

https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... m/Nth_Zone
Another one for MCoderII - also seems like a fairly decent game from Automata for a change!

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[Pobulous]

More for Wye Valley
https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... m/Pi_There
https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... in_the_Sky
https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... imeval_Man
https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... z_in_Space

Another for MCoder II
https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... ce_Warrior

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[+3code]

Thanks, I'm too interested in the topic, some time ago I was adding titles to the Hisoft compiler group, all these are new to me.

[spider]

I used to think that Slippery Sid was compiled Basic at one point, but I could not really see much evidence of this. Perhaps the way it was written (nothing wrong with it)

Another one I dismissed for this was Worse Things Happen At Sea (interestingly different) once I'd taken a cursory glance at it. Then again...

[Bedazzle]

If I'm not mistaken, Heartbroken was written in compiled Basic.

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[Joefish]

While we're at it, it's clear that Pimevel Man should be marked as a (sub-standard) clone of frustrating Beeb platformer Frak!
https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... imeval_Man
http://bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=96

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[Pobulous]

I used to think that Slippery Sid was compiled Basic at one point, but I could not really see much evidence of this. Perhaps the way it was written (nothing wrong with it)

Another one I dismissed for this was Worse Things Happen At Sea (interestingly different) once I'd taken a cursory glance at it. Then again...

Slippery Sid has the word Softek in the code - and they did a compiler for 16K Spectrum, so quite possibly.

[Pobulous]

If I'm not mistaken, Heartbroken was written in compiled Basic.

Possibly, but I couldn't find any signs with a cursory glance

[+3code]

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... uture_Race

This was made with the Hisoft compiler. All the Bytemaniacos contests have entries in compiled BASIC (Hisoft, Boriel or others).

[Turtle_Quality]

PSS Light Cycles
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/2 ... ight_Cycle

used their MCoder (first version), that's where I got the compiler from to write Mazeball

https://www.spectrumcomputing.co.uk/ent ... m/Mazeball

[Pobulous]

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... uture_Race

This was made with the Hisoft compiler. All the Bytemaniacos contests have entries in compiled BASIC (Hisoft, Boriel or others).

Hmm - it's not easy to tell from glancing through the memory as it doesn't leave tell-tale messages (presumably because the later compilers don't leave the compiler code in memory)

[+3code]

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... uture_Race

This was made with the Hisoft compiler. All the Bytemaniacos contests have entries in compiled BASIC (Hisoft, Boriel or others).

Hmm - it's not easy to tell from glancing through the memory as it doesn't leave tell-tale messages (presumably because the later compilers don't leave the compiler code in memory)

The author said it in the manual (PDF).

[bluespikey]

I always thought that Ground Attack and Orbiter by Silversoft were, especially since Orbiter comes with its odd loading instructions of needing to enter Clear Address and then Load ""Code to get it to work. How does one tell?

[MatGubbins]

I do recall reading that Disposable Heroes https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/1 ... ble_Heroes
was written and compiled using HiSoft Colt - looking through the code at 54080 and 55072 will reveal some text relating to 1985 DC Threlfall.
At 59384 there is the compiler text message - HiSoft Colt Integer Compiler 1.0 1985 Threlfall and Hodgson, along with the compiling lines text.

[MatGubbins]

A list of my own stuff that has been compiled with the HiSoft Colt compiler

Escape II - Some Years Later - https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/2 ... ears_Later
Gunfright - The Map Editor - https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/2 ... Map_Editor
Laser Squad - The Map Editor - https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/2 ... Map_Editor
Martianoids - The Map Editor - https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/1 ... Map_Editor
Nightshade - The Map Editor - https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/2 ... Map_Editor
RebelStar - The Map Editor - https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/2 ... Map_Editor
Super Sudoku Solver - https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... oku_Solver
[CSSCGC] One Life Invaders - https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... e_Invaders


[CSSCGC] Clint and da Crabs - it's in the download zip but not listed in the games. It's named Clint48only.tap
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/2 ... ition_2015

[Matt_B]

I always thought that Ground Attack and Orbiter by Silversoft were, especially since Orbiter comes with its odd loading instructions of needing to enter Clear Address and then Load ""Code to get it to work. How does one tell?

Games that load and run with LOAD "" CODE have nothing to do with compilers. It works by overwriting the return address on the stack so that, once the ROM routine has finished loading, it'll instead jump to the start of your game. This also works with BASIC programs and can be used to work around the MERGE "" hack that would otherwise allow you to look at the source. The CLEAR command ensures that the stack is at a particular location in memory, which may be an issue if the machine has been turned on for some time or has additional hardware plugged into it.

It's unlikely for a 16K game to be written with an early compiler because you needed to have both the interpreted and compiled versions in RAM at the same time, plus the compiler, which wouldn't leave you a lot to play with, maybe just a couple of kilobytes. Making a non-trivial game that small would be a severe coding challenge, to the extent that it'd probably just be easier to learn assembler and program it that way.

It's possible to do much better with the more advanced compilers, where you've only got a small runtime library resident and can compile source from tape/microdrive/disk. Then again 16K games weren't much of a thing by the time they came out, so there still probably aren't a lot of them.

[TMD2003]

Robber (Virgin Games, 1983) explicitly states in the inlay card that it uses the Softek compiler - no indication of whether it was the integer or floating point version, though.

I see Martin Lewis was responsible for these two 48K compilers and the 16K Wye Valley compiler - is it safe to assume that the Softek compilers are updates on the Wye Valley compiler?

[Pobulous]

Robber (Virgin Games, 1983) explicitly states in the inlay card that it uses the Softek compiler - no indication of whether it was the integer or floating point version, though.

I see Martin Lewis was responsible for these two 48K compilers and the 16K Wye Valley compiler - is it safe to assume that the Softek compilers are updates on the Wye Valley compiler?

It doesn't look compiled, tbh, a quick glance through memory looks all BASIC. Softek released some stuff that added features to BASIC - I wonder if it uses that to disable BREAK and not much else.

[Pobulous]

I always thought that Ground Attack and Orbiter by Silversoft were, especially since Orbiter comes with its odd loading instructions of needing to enter Clear Address and then Load ""Code to get it to work. How does one tell?

If it's using Wye, or MCoder I or II, look about 5K down from top of memory (60000 or 27000), for the compiler messages.
Some of the newer compilers don't leave the compiler or obvious text in memory so are harder to spot - I presume they will have some libraries that we could search for, but that's less trivial.

Some 16K games likely use a lot of ROM routines so end up feeling like compiled code, even if they aren't.

[Alone Coder]

Call Me Psycho?

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