8,732
edits
Changes
→Hard To Predict
Though the clouded crystal ball, most presidents see their groups continuing and growing for at least the short run. "I anticipate a minimum of three years," Mills says, "but who can predict in all honesty what the computer world is going to be like in
three years?"
'''— LB'''
=Sentiment wasn't the reason=
B-1 Nuclear Bomber, the first game converted by Avalon Hill for the Tl99/4A, was also "the first (computer) game we ever marketed," says Mike Cullum, director of the game maker's software development company, Microcomputer Games Inc.
However, the decision to market Bl Nuclear Bomber for TI was not solely for such a sentimental sounding reason.
"It's one of our better-selling games," Cullum says. "Also, it's 16K, and the original game is all text so it was an easy conversion."
The game "plays the same in all versions," according to Cullum, except that there are graphics on versions for the Atari, Apple and Commodore computers.
B-1 Nuclear Bomber was programmed in BASIC for the TI because "without using graphics it was easier and our market research showed there are a lot of people without Extended BASIC," Cullum says.
B-1 Nuclear Bomber was brought out to test the TI market, Cullum says.
Galaxy, a science-fiction fantasy game in which as many as 20 players compete for control of up to 40 solar systems, will test the TI market with Extended BASIC, according to Cullum. Galaxy is expected to be on the market by March.
There's not much difference in programming in BASIC between the TI and other computers, such as the Commodore 64 or Atari home computers, Cullum says.
"The BASICs are all close. It's just a matter of getting familiar with the machine. We find it easy to go back and forth in BASIC," Cullum says of his in-house staff of programmers, each of whom specializes in a particular brand of computer.
Cullum says he cannot specifically recall how long it took to translate B-1 Nuclear Bomber for the TI. However, he notes, it takes from four to six months "to write and debug a BASIC program that size."
Comparing computers from a programmer's standpoint, he says that the TI is "not one of the easier ones to write an assembly code on." However, he notes that the graphics are better compared to a machine such as Radio Shack's TRS-80. Programming sound effects is easier on the TI than the Commodore 64, he says.
Avalon Hill's Microcomputer Games, including those for TI, are distributed through computer stores, retail stores and large distributors. They may also be ordered directly from Microcomputer Games Inc.
'''— LB'''
