A programming game is a computer game where the player has no direct influence on the course of the game. Instead, a computer program or script is written in some domain-specific programming language in order to control the actions of the characters...
developed in 1991 by Blue Cow Software for the Apple Macintosh where players design and code adaptable battling robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
Robot Battle is a programming game for Microsoft Windows where players design and code adaptable battling robots. Robot Battle takes strategy rather than reflexes, accuracy, or timing to succeed. What differentiates one robot from the next is its programming, for which the player is responsible...
. The concept of the game was invented by Toby Smith in a BASIC
BASIC
BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....
program "when people with 512K of RAM and two floppy drives were power-users", as he states in the game manual.
The game consists of a battleground and two robots. Before the game starts, each robot is preprogrammed using a BASIC
BASIC
BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....
-like language called RIPPLE ("Robot Instructional Programming Language"). 0–99 humans can also be placed into the battleground to throw the robots with hand grenades. The programs are checked for syntax and the game starts. The robot to survive the longer is the winner.
The RIPPLE language programs consist of logic commands, such as flow of control statements; and action commands, that actually make the robot perform an action, such as fire a weapon. To perform one action command takes the same time as to perform 99 logic commands.
An example RIPPLE program:
equip 1 1 0 0 0 435
let h = 0
10 humanscan 0
20 if range > 0 then gosub 1000
30 if YCOORD < 8 then gosub 2000
40 swivel 10
50 goto 10
1000 zap
1010 zap
1020 return
2000 if HEADFACING > 315 then gosub 3000
if HEADFACING < 45 then gosub 3000
return
3000 if h <> 1 then launch
if h <> 1 then let h = 1
return
External links
[ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/mac/games/robobattle11.sit Demo version of Robot Battle] as a StuffIt
StuffIt
StuffIt is a family of computer software utilities for archiving and compressing files on the Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms: it was originally produced for the Macintosh. An old version for Linux and Sun Solaris 2.7 or later is also available...
FUNET is the Finnish University and Research Network, a backbone network providing Internet connections for Finnish universities and polytechnics as well as other research facilities. It is governed by the state-owned CSC – IT Center for Science Ltd. The FUNET project started in December 1983 and...
's FTP archive of old Macintosh games
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
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