A little bit of history

I started writing this when I was about 11 back in school, using BBC basic - this was on an RM Nimbus PC-186 with some kind of BBC Micro emulator (that wasn't really an emulator, it didn't run any machine code, just simulated BBC Basic to run educational games).

It progressed for the next couple of years, getting a level editor at some point. It was quite popular in school at the time, probably because it was the only game the network manager would let us play on the network

In 2004, I resurrected the old game disc, and tried to get a working emulator image of it. This involved tracking down the old emulator (as it saved files in its own weird format) and running it using "runpc186" off a boot floppy! Also a lot of pruning and optimising to make it work on a real BBC.

...and here is the result. It's pretty basic, and some of the level designs are just hilariously awful, but it's still moderately playable. It even runs fine on an electron. No way is it good enough for any kind of release, I present it here for your amusement, really. Enjoy.

(Note slightly non-standard BBC keys - Z X ; and . )

Wow. It's surprisingly addictive.

I found the fact that it allowed you to wait for a key press let you study the level which made it a lot easier than if you were thrown straight into the level.

I got to level 13, but that one's a bit unfair as you have to keep trying the transporters and just hope that one of them will send you to the exit ... and not into the nettles like it did with me ... :/


What is bouncy mode? I didn't figure that out ...

I remember some games from school (tho I only typed them in, rather than actually wrote them myself!) that were popular, and know what the nostalgia factor is like. Cheers for sharing.

Sam.

Oh yes, that level's stupidly unfair. If you press option 3 on the main menu there are lots of level sets by various people - here's a level that's even more random and annoying:


"Nicko easy set" levels, level #10 - I just tried it and it took me 28 teleport attempts to get me to the right place


"Public set", level #7. You'll need nerves of steel to get through this one!

In the standard mode, your player stops when he hits the edge of the screen, giving you an opportunity to think and plan your next move. In bouncy mode, he bounces the other way after hitting the side, making life a lot more difficult.

Looks good, going to have a go later