Bay 12 Games Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Author Topic: Bye-Bye 1983  (Read 956 times)

slink

  • Bay Watcher
  • Crazy Cat Dwarf
    • View Profile
    • Slink's Burrow Online
Bye-Bye 1983
« on: October 30, 2012, 03:18:24 pm »

Today, as I was cleaning old magazines out of a closet full of manuals and reference books, I threw out my very first computer magazine.  It was a 1983 issue of Micro, which was devoted to the Radio Shack TRS-80.  I did not have a TRS-80, but I did have a Heathkit Z-80 CP/M computer which ran Microsoft BASIC.  The languages were close enough that I could make the TRS-80 BASIC programs work on the Heathkit.  The very first computer game that I ever typed in came from that magazine: D&D.  It was an ASCII dungeon-crawl game.  I also typed in a Lotus 1-2-3 knock-off spreadsheet and something Zork-like.  But D&D is the one I played all the time.  The man who later became my husband also played it on my computer, when he visited me back then.  A shared fond memory went out in the trash today.  *sniffle*

But I have Dwarf Fortress to console me.  *grin*
Logged
There is only one cat, and all cats are that cat.
Almost losing is sometimes fun.

Flying Dice

  • Bay Watcher
  • inveterate shitposter
    • View Profile
Re: Bye-Bye 1983
« Reply #1 on: October 30, 2012, 03:20:54 pm »

But I have Dwarf Fortress to console me.  *grin*

My hat's off to you. That was a beautiful pun.
Logged


Aurora on small monitors:
1. Game Parameters -> Reduced Height Windows.
2. Lock taskbar to the right side of your desktop.
3. Run Resize Enable

RedKing

  • Bay Watcher
  • hoo hoo motherfucker
    • View Profile
Re: Bye-Bye 1983
« Reply #2 on: October 30, 2012, 03:21:30 pm »

I remember typing in programs in Commodore BASIC from Family Computing. God, the PEEK and POKE statements and their inscrutable arcane magic....good times.
Logged

Remember, knowledge is power. The power to make other people feel stupid.
Quote from: Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Science is like an inoculation against charlatans who would have you believe whatever it is they tell you.

MonkeyHead

  • Bay Watcher
  • Yma o hyd...
    • View Profile
Re: Bye-Bye 1983
« Reply #3 on: October 30, 2012, 03:23:07 pm »

I miss POKE's. Many a wasted hour was spent typing those in by hand. Now its all "Up, Up, Down, Down, O, X, O, X, infinite lives".

kaijyuu

  • Bay Watcher
  • Hrm...
    • View Profile
Re: Bye-Bye 1983
« Reply #4 on: October 30, 2012, 03:25:24 pm »

I have a bunch of old magazines I'll never throw out, like Computer Gaming Monthly. Lots of interesting old debates and such concerning the state of the industry back then, like whether online gaming would ever pick up.
Logged
Quote from: Chesterton
For, in order that men should resist injustice, something more is necessary than that they should think injustice unpleasant. They must think injustice absurd; above all, they must think it startling. They must retain the violence of a virgin astonishment. When the pessimist looks at any infamy, it is to him, after all, only a repetition of the infamy of existence. But the optimist sees injustice as something discordant and unexpected, and it stings him into action.

Levi

  • Bay Watcher
  • Is a fish.
    • View Profile
Re: Bye-Bye 1983
« Reply #5 on: October 30, 2012, 03:27:22 pm »

I remember my dad typing out those games from magazines for our C64 when I was a little kid.  :D
Logged
Avid Gamer | Goldfish Enthusiast | Canadian | Professional Layabout

RedKing

  • Bay Watcher
  • hoo hoo motherfucker
    • View Profile
Re: Bye-Bye 1983
« Reply #6 on: October 30, 2012, 03:38:16 pm »

I did a lot of demos (back before I knew there was such a thing as a demo scene). Of course, mine were elementary (spirograph-type randomized graphics with 3-voice waveform audio) and my mind was blown by the professional demo coders in Finland, whose stuff I'd find bundled with the hacked games I got via sneakernet, using Fast Hack'em or some such.

Oh, and saving money by buying single-sided, double-density floppies and then just using a hole punch to make them double-sided.  :D


While we're taking a trip down Amnesia Memory Lane, here's a 1983 Sears Catalog.
« Last Edit: October 30, 2012, 03:45:44 pm by RedKing »
Logged

Remember, knowledge is power. The power to make other people feel stupid.
Quote from: Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Science is like an inoculation against charlatans who would have you believe whatever it is they tell you.