All Code No Play
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2024
- Messages
- 4
Hi all,
My name is Jeff, and this is my first post on a BBS in many years. That in and of itself is so exciting!
I'm a professional web application developer "of a certain age" (i.e., old-ish). I started my computer life on the TRaSh-80, had my own Apple //e (with 128 megabytes of memory!!!!), and did my college work on VAX/VMS systems.
The primary reason I'm here is to find like-minded people who love retro computers to see any would be interested in playing my (free) "Wizardry" knock-off, called "Stonequest".
I was a huge fan of "Wizardry" on the Apple II, and when I got to college, I essentially wrote "Wizardry" for the VAX/VMS system, even though the terminals had essentially no graphics capability at the time.
After graduating, I had this big red binder of VAX Pascal source just sitting around on top of a tall bookshelf, collecting dust and taunting me for three decades. Then, last year, I finally got sick of its puerile jibes and took it down, and typed it all in to my PC. That was, as you might imagine, very time-consuming.
Once I had the source code in text files, I set up a Virtual Alpha and build and ran the code. It worked!
Now it could just be my imagination, but it seems like there aren't as many VMS users these days as there were when I wrote the original game. So I decided to modernize it.
Being a professional web application developer (see second paragraph), I converted the original VAX Pascal code into TypeScript using the Angular framework. Instead of relying on a file system for its data, I used the Firestore database. All the while, I slavishly kept the original look-and-feel down to the original font used on the VT220 terminal and matching the terminal's green color as closely as I could.
The game is now in beta, is fully-functional, and free, and, like I said, I'm looking for users to play it. Otherwise, I'll have spent the last several months of my life for nothing.
I won't be so gauche as to past a link to my game without permission from the board admins and moderators, but I'll attach a few screenshots in hopes someone will find them interesting!
Take care,
Jeff
My name is Jeff, and this is my first post on a BBS in many years. That in and of itself is so exciting!
I'm a professional web application developer "of a certain age" (i.e., old-ish). I started my computer life on the TRaSh-80, had my own Apple //e (with 128 megabytes of memory!!!!), and did my college work on VAX/VMS systems.
The primary reason I'm here is to find like-minded people who love retro computers to see any would be interested in playing my (free) "Wizardry" knock-off, called "Stonequest".
I was a huge fan of "Wizardry" on the Apple II, and when I got to college, I essentially wrote "Wizardry" for the VAX/VMS system, even though the terminals had essentially no graphics capability at the time.
After graduating, I had this big red binder of VAX Pascal source just sitting around on top of a tall bookshelf, collecting dust and taunting me for three decades. Then, last year, I finally got sick of its puerile jibes and took it down, and typed it all in to my PC. That was, as you might imagine, very time-consuming.
Once I had the source code in text files, I set up a Virtual Alpha and build and ran the code. It worked!
Now it could just be my imagination, but it seems like there aren't as many VMS users these days as there were when I wrote the original game. So I decided to modernize it.
Being a professional web application developer (see second paragraph), I converted the original VAX Pascal code into TypeScript using the Angular framework. Instead of relying on a file system for its data, I used the Firestore database. All the while, I slavishly kept the original look-and-feel down to the original font used on the VT220 terminal and matching the terminal's green color as closely as I could.
The game is now in beta, is fully-functional, and free, and, like I said, I'm looking for users to play it. Otherwise, I'll have spent the last several months of my life for nothing.
I won't be so gauche as to past a link to my game without permission from the board admins and moderators, but I'll attach a few screenshots in hopes someone will find them interesting!
Take care,
Jeff
