So you want to be a programmer, eh?

Interon · Post by **Interon** » Sat Feb 28, 2004 10:16 pm

It can be a tedious, boring job for those new to it. You need lots of patience and persistence if you are ever to do anything useful with it. To make DOS games, try QBasic. It is easier than C++ and Assembler and is a great way to get started.

Here, take some code from me to get you started. This is a simple trivia game. Replace the questions and answers with what you want to use.

This code might help you learn QBasic.

Code: Select all

1 CLS
CLEAR
GOSUB QUESTION1
GOSUB QUESTION2

QUESTION1&#58;
LOCATE 1, 1&#58;INPUT "What is the capital of Canada?", Q$
IF UCASE$&#40;Q$&#41; = "OTTAWA" THEN CLS
IF UCASE$&#40;Q$&#41; = "OTTAWA" THEN LOCATE 1, 1&#58; PRINT "Correct!"
IF UCASE$&#40;Q$&#41; = "OTTAWA" THEN LOCATE 2, 1&#58; PRINT "Press any key to continue . . ."
IF UCASE$&#40;Q$&#41; = "OTTAWA" THEN DO&#58; LOOP WHILE INKEY$ = ""
IF UCASE$&#40;Q$&#41; = "OTTAWA" THEN RETURN
LOCATE 1, 1&#58; PRINT "WRONG!"
LOCATE 2, 1&#58; PRINT "Press any key to continue . . ."
DO&#58; LOOP WHILE INKEY$ = ""
RETURN

QUESTION2&#58;
LOCATE 1, 1&#58;INPUT "What color is coal?", Q$
IF UCASE$&#40;Q$&#41; = "BLACK" THEN CLS
IF UCASE$&#40;Q$&#41; = "BLACK" THEN LOCATE 1, 1&#58; PRINT "Correct!"
IF UCASE$&#40;Q$&#41; = "BLACK" THEN LOCATE 2, 1&#58; PRINT "Press any key to continue . . ."
IF UCASE$&#40;Q$&#41; = "BLACK" THEN DO&#58; LOOP WHILE INKEY$ = ""
IF UCASE$&#40;Q$&#41; = "BLACK" THEN RETURN
LOCATE 1, 1&#58; PRINT "WRONG!"
LOCATE 2, 1&#58; PRINT "Press any key to continue . . ."
DO&#58; LOOP WHILE INKEY$ = ""
RETURN

donkeydude · Post by **donkeydude** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 12:54 pm

yeah, got qbasic.

Is it just regular BASIC, or is it different?

Interon · Post by **Interon** » Mon Mar 01, 2004 8:40 pm

It is a more complicated version of BASIC. It uses most of the old BASIC commands so that you could open a BASIC file in QBasic and about 99% of the time it should run. However, QBasic has lots of extra stuff that BASIC doesn't. It's like comparing Windows 3.1 to Windows 95.

donkeydude · Post by **donkeydude** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 2:52 pm

what, like more commands? sounds good...

Interon · Post by **Interon** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 3:09 pm

Yeah, that, and separate subroutines, and higher limits. It is a relatively new Basic, by Microsoft, a major player in the Basic programming language versions.

Icedragon · Post by **Icedragon** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 7:13 pm

QBasic is cool. I like downloading the games like nibbles and gorrila, and screwing with the colours.

laogaming · Post by **laogaming** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 7:49 pm

AHHHHH!!! QBASIC AHHHHH!!!!!!! man i hated basic when i started it, i love c

ripster88 · Post by **ripster88** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 12:56 am

Where do you get Qbasic????

Post by **emmzee** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 2:03 am

You can download QBasic as part of the "old DOS" package, right from Microsoft's FTP site:

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/olddos.exe

Nixon · Post by **Nixon** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 4:52 am

Ya should get Qb 4.5 or higher cause you can make .exe with it.

try searching in google cuase I'm to lazy to find a link.

I been programmingin Qb for a few years, but firsat I started In zzt.

ripster88 · Post by **ripster88** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 1:33 am

I managed to find Qb 4.5. Thanks guys, I'm gonna try it out now.

Say, does any of you know where I could get some games so I can play around with them??? (I've already got the one above)

Interon · Post by **Interon** » Wed Jul 07, 2004 3:42 pm

Invaders 1978 contains the source code

Game master pro · Post by **Game master pro** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 3:41 am

You can download QBasic as part of the "old DOS" package, right from Microsoft's FTP site:

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/mslfiles/olddos.exe

I cant download it, it says "the page cannot be displayed thing" are you sure you got it right

barok · Post by **barok** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 11:12 pm

This site offers all versions of qb, including some vb downloads.

http://www.download-qb.tk/

if you wish to start qb, the site i recommend is this:

www.qbasic.com

a good site to show you what can be made in qb:

www.vplanet.cjb.net

btw interon, your program is horribly inefficient. you do way too many of the same checks over and over.

1 CLS
CLEAR
GOSUB QUESTION1
GOSUB QUESTION2

QUESTION1:
LOCATE 1, 1:INPUT "What is the capital of Canada?", Q$
answer$ = ucase$(Q$)
IF answer$ "OTTAWA" THEN CLS
LOCATE 1, 1: PRINT "Correct!"
LOCATE 2, 1: PRINT "Press any key to continue . . ."
DO: LOOP WHILE INKEY$ = ""
RETURN
endif
LOCATE 1, 1: PRINT "WRONG!"
LOCATE 2, 1: PRINT "Press any key to continue . . ."
DO: LOOP WHILE INKEY$ = ""
RETURN

QUESTION2:
LOCATE 1, 1:INPUT "What color is coal?", Q$
answer$ = ucase$(Q$)
IF answer$ = "BLACK" THEN CLS
LOCATE 1, 1: PRINT "Correct!"
LOCATE 2, 1: PRINT "Press any key to continue . . ."
DO: LOOP WHILE INKEY$ = ""
RETURN
endif
LOCATE 1, 1: PRINT "WRONG!"
LOCATE 2, 1: PRINT "Press any key to continue . . ."
DO: LOOP WHILE INKEY$ = ""
RETURN

furthermore you continually use do: loop while inkey$ = "". to make the code easier to read, easier on the fingers and to minimize syntax errors, you should create a waitkey subroutine that waits until a keypress.

Interon · Post by **Interon** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 1:45 pm

Yeah, despite making 4 games, I'm still kind of an amateur.

barok · Post by **barok** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 2:24 pm

4 games isn't very many. Darkdread has over a dozen under his belt. Pity he's lost his interest in programming (again). He's starting to sound like micheal jordan. retires, comes back. retires again, comes back, etc. etc.

Being a good enough programmer to make a zelda quality game isn't easy either. I've been working on my game for what, two months? And it's still only a walkaround engine with scripted npc's. Currently i'm stuck with the bounding boxes for npc to npc collisions. It's very confusing.

Btw, i'd like to take a look at your games.

Post by **Dogbreath** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 3:00 pm

Speaking of Darkdread, did he ever finish Curby/Curty/Curly/whatever the hell it was/ 3 and Mysterious Song 2? I remember playing the demo and being rather impressed, but his site went down shortly after that.

Interon · Post by **Interon** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 3:25 pm

All 4 of them can be found on http://www.dosgamesonline.com

They are called Diamond Grabber 1, Diamond Grabber 2, Cribbage Solitaire, and Letter Targets. Source code is included in all 4 of them (released under the GNU GPL version 2).

Lots of spaghetti code with little or no comments. Also, I did not use the SUBs because I was in no mood to learn them.

However, the games work as I planned them (except for a tiny mathematical bug in Cribbage Solitaire that I could never fix, but I tried very hard).

barok_lazee · Post by **barok_lazee** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 9:04 am

you're talking about secret of cooey 3, right?

Do you have the mysterious song 2 demo? Think you could upload it somewhere or email it to me? I can't find it.

if you can, here's my email address. [email protected]

Darkdread's games

legend of lith
legend of lith 2
secret of cooey
secret of cooey 2
secret of cooey 3 (unfinished)
mattress warrior (not what you think!)
lianne in: the dark crown
black rhino
mysterious song
mysterious song 2 (unfinished)
distant promises (demo)
in the nocturne
legend of grimtold (unfinished)

there's probably more that i'm missing...

Post by **Wally** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 7:04 pm

if they were more detailed like commander keen they would be awesome

seeing a ^ run everywhere in diamond grabber isnt that exciting