Applesoft Action & Dogfighters of Mars


Filed under Game trail, Software showcase;
6 comments.

Brian Picchi, whose excellent software and hardware videos have graced YouTube, has recently taken a more hands-on approach to the Apple II gaming scene. In addition to commenting on other people’s games, he’s begun creating his own. The first two entries into his growing portfolio are both Applesoft BASIC games: Applesoft Action and Dogfighters of Mars.

Both titles are action games, which can be significantly harder to program than other genres. Whereas turn-based puzzle and strategy games can take their time accepting input and displaying the result, an action game is a far more immediate experience, as gameplay progresses with or without player interaction. Although I’m proud of my one Apple II game — an Applesoft adaptation of the text-based BBS door game Spaceship of Death — and I did successfully create a few action games for my graphing calculator, I doubt either experience gave me the knowledge, skills, or confidence to create anything like what Picchi has. Well done, sir!

  1. D Finnigan says:

    Nice to see people still writing old-fashioned BASIC games. My most recent game that I wrote a few months ago was Tic Tac Toe using high-resolution shapes. It’s a human player versus the computer.

  2. Wow, thanks for plugging my work here, Ken :) I did have a lot of fun writing those and did most of the work at the airport and in flight during some business travel I had lately. “Bored at the airport, write basic” :) It was my first attempt using applesoft to write a game and first use of basic in like 10 years… I wrote them after reading a book Mastering Applesoft Graphics [ISBN 067338148X -Ed]. Great read for beginners.

  3. I love the old fashioned BASIC games. It’s been a while since i played any but it does bring back memories. Thank you for keeping the spirit alive!

  4. Where to get the Dogfighters of Mars now? The download site is down :-(

  5. I’ve updated the post with a current download link!

  6. Holy smoke that was fast Ken! Thanks a L O T!