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Influential QBasic Programs

Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2007 12:06 am
by Stoves
List a QBasic program or two that did any of the following for you:

(along with a screenshot, a link to the source code, and a brief explanation if at all possible please!)
  • *Inspired you to start programming

    *Impressed you about what can be done in QBasic

    *Amazed you about the skills of the programmer

    *Taught you an especially helpful programming technique

    *Encouraged you to start programming again after quitting for a while

    *Revealed a whole new aspect of programming in QB
The idea is that if the program inspired or taught you something valuable, it might do the same for other people.

Balloon X

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 1:42 am
by Stoves
Image
Balloon X

Author: Manny Najera
Link to Source Code: https://ia803006.us.archive.org/view_ar ... ion%5D.zip
Description: I can't say enough about this program. Manny Najera is a genius. Back in 1996, Balloon X introduced me to page flipping in screen 7 to speed up and smooth animation, using timers to manage real-time action, implementing collision detection, utilizing sine and cosine functions to create explosions, storing images within the source code, and several other nifty techniques.

Wetspot

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2007 2:43 am
by Stoves
Image
Wetspot

Author: Angelo Mottola
Link to Source Code: https://ia903006.us.archive.org/view_ar ... zle%5D.zip
Description: Wetspot was one of those games that really got me excited about the graphical and gameplay capabilities of QBasic. The smooth graphics and two player options were very impressive especially considering this was Angelo's first game written in QBasic. (according to the source code comments) Another classic from 1996.

Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 9:35 pm
by Nodtveidt
Monospace.
http://www.qbasic.com/classic/files/monospac.zip

by Milo Sedlacek, aka "Gradius".

Monospace is an excellent example of a dynamic shooter. Unlike the pitiful attempts at the time, Monospace features a scripted enemy system, finite state machines, and pixel-perfect collision. Milo, the author, was an amazing programmer; highly intelligent and very friendly, always willing to help anyone with their QB needs. It was from his work that I learned proper scripting techniques, and the Monospace code was my first real exposure to FSMs. Unfortunately, Milo died of leukemia on September 24th, 1998, leaving behind only his legacy as a master QB and assembly programmer and a few of QB's top games, some of which have never been superceded.

Milo Sedlacek memorial page by Logic Lord
Still online after all these years.

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:02 am
by NaTeDoGG
Red Baron by Adam Stanchos was a very polished game. It showed me what good programming was. Adam personally gave me a few tips on programming and I feel that my interaction with him and his QBasic software contributed greatly to my love of programming. I was 12 years old at that time, and I am now 27. I am a Senior Software Engineer and have worked professionally since I was 19. I skipped college to work at Microsoft as a developer and have had many other jobs since, all programming. It has been a long time, but I haven't forgotten my roots!

Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 8:17 pm
by DaveUnit
Image
Mysterious Song by Darkdread.
download: http://qbasic.parkdalien.com/homes/qb/Q ... usSong.zip

To this day this game remains the one freeware rpg I've played all the way through. It wasn't too complex, bosses were challenging, and graphics for the most part were well done. I could power level in that game for hours. I loved the optional boss battles such as Ogien and the dragon.
This is my favorite QB game of all time.
It makes me wanna go code something whenever I play it.
I'm currently playing through it again.

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 3:47 pm
by Lachie Dazdarian
Larry the Dinosaur 2. A wonderful mixture of platform, action and adventure genre featuring wacky and unconventional story about sentient dinosaurs. A somewhat short game, but compared to other QB games of the same genre, one of the best. Definitely the most fun platform QB game by my book.

Download: http://qbasic.parkdalien.com/homes/qb/Q ... osaur2.zip

Image

DreamScape. I could probably point out Wandering Hamster or Kids of Karendow, but DreamScape is much more interesting to me as an inspiration because of its truly brilliant graphics.

Download:
http://qbasic.parkdalien.com/homes/qb/Q ... mscape.zip

Image

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 1:50 pm
by BadMrBox
Essentially everything that came from Darkness Ethereal.

Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 6:50 pm
by sid6.7
old real time text dailup/mainframe game from the 70's ealry 80's...

http://www.hp3000.empireclassic.com/

this is the newer graphic version image rather then text version...


Image


old images maps and units use to be in a grid format and alphanumeric...
like this...

Code: Select all

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dots were land...stars mts...blank was sea...