4 ms·

You know what's also an open-ended programming game?! Programming.

by irfanka 10y ago

sanxiyn 10y ago
True, but as a game, it's a bit too open-ended for my taste.
dschuetz 10y ago
Limited resources and means, you know, promote creativity. Programming a modern standard computer nowadays is quite available to average Joe and Jane. That's why we have tons of crapware. But, forcing them to program a less common, sophisticated, complicated or limited architecture forces them to adapt and into being more creative. This serious game is quite a good example, and, I suppose that was also the intention behind it.
- tluyben2 10y ago
  I prefer actual old hardware for that (60-70-80s), that way the results really give some strange satisfaction. Personal ofcourse.
  - speeder 10y ago
    Actual old hardware has a problem though: might me impossible to find. For example I live in Brazil, I learned to code trying to port MSX Basic games to a 286 GWBASIC, because I never saw a msx in person. Also, some other hardware I would love to fool around and never saw one: C64, Amiga, Sega Saturn, 3DO, PC Engine, non-Intel Mac, a real NES (I owned a clone once), programmable calculators.
    - panic 10y ago
      That's what emulation is for! I know VICE in particular is a very accurate C64 emulator.
    - tluyben2 10y ago
      MSX's are hard to find in Brazil? I thought it used to be very very popular there. I see many of them here [0] for prices I would definitely pay; here it is very hard to find them for those prices still. I would buy stuff like this [1] or [2] blindly. If you buy it I will pay you more + shipment to me :) C64s are still ok to get in other countries; MSXs are getting scarce. I managed to collect over 100 of them luckily as it is my favorite computer (nostalgia sure, but I also find it important that young people can see how it used to be). I have all the computers you name there, several of each; I can trade you for a working Gradient or Hotbit. Or just pay you :) Personally I like the ZX Spectrum & MSX the best to code on, because I was raised on Z80 assembly. After that the Amiga, but I already find that a bit too advanced; MSX is so limited (a little over 3 megahertz & usually 64-128 kilobytes! of RAM) it really is a game to get things working at some speed. But people are still doing it; for me the highlight is [3] which I find far more impressive than the latest JS-soup framework :) Then again, this [4] is impressive! [0] http://lista.mercadolivre.com.br/msx http://lista.mercadolivre.com.br/msx [1] http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-791538729-console-msx-gradiente-11-_JM http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-791538729-console-msx... [2] http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-792461786-msx-expert-11-c-teclado-funcperfeito-revisado-ccaixa-_JM http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-792461786-msx-expert-... [3] http://www.symbos.de/ http://www.symbos.de/ [4] http://webmsx.org/ http://webmsx.org/
qwertyuiop924 10y ago
You know that multiple games can go in different directions with one concept, right? Sometimes you just want to write asm for an architecture that's far to bizzare to possibly be real. Is that so wrong?

You know what's also an open-ended programming game?! Programming.

by irfanka 10y ago

You know what's also an open-ended programming game?! Programming.

sanxiyn 10y ago

True, but as a game, it's a bit too open-ended for my taste.

dschuetz 10y ago

Limited resources and means, you know, promote creativity. Programming a modern standard computer nowadays is quite available to average Joe and Jane. That's why we have tons of crapware. But, forcing them to program a less common, sophisticated, complicated or limited architecture forces them to adapt and into being more creative. This serious game is quite a good example, and, I suppose that was also the intention behind it.

tluyben2 10y ago
I prefer actual old hardware for that (60-70-80s), that way the results really give some strange satisfaction. Personal ofcourse.
- speeder 10y ago
  Actual old hardware has a problem though: might me impossible to find. For example I live in Brazil, I learned to code trying to port MSX Basic games to a 286 GWBASIC, because I never saw a msx in person. Also, some other hardware I would love to fool around and never saw one: C64, Amiga, Sega Saturn, 3DO, PC Engine, non-Intel Mac, a real NES (I owned a clone once), programmable calculators.
  - panic 10y ago
    That's what emulation is for! I know VICE in particular is a very accurate C64 emulator.
  - tluyben2 10y ago
    MSX's are hard to find in Brazil? I thought it used to be very very popular there. I see many of them here [0] for prices I would definitely pay; here it is very hard to find them for those prices still. I would buy stuff like this [1] or [2] blindly. If you buy it I will pay you more + shipment to me :) C64s are still ok to get in other countries; MSXs are getting scarce. I managed to collect over 100 of them luckily as it is my favorite computer (nostalgia sure, but I also find it important that young people can see how it used to be). I have all the computers you name there, several of each; I can trade you for a working Gradient or Hotbit. Or just pay you :) Personally I like the ZX Spectrum & MSX the best to code on, because I was raised on Z80 assembly. After that the Amiga, but I already find that a bit too advanced; MSX is so limited (a little over 3 megahertz & usually 64-128 kilobytes! of RAM) it really is a game to get things working at some speed. But people are still doing it; for me the highlight is [3] which I find far more impressive than the latest JS-soup framework :) Then again, this [4] is impressive! [0] http://lista.mercadolivre.com.br/msx http://lista.mercadolivre.com.br/msx [1] http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-791538729-console-msx-gradiente-11-_JM http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-791538729-console-msx... [2] http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-792461786-msx-expert-11-c-teclado-funcperfeito-revisado-ccaixa-_JM http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-792461786-msx-expert-... [3] http://www.symbos.de/ http://www.symbos.de/ [4] http://webmsx.org/ http://webmsx.org/

qwertyuiop924 10y ago

You know that multiple games can go in different directions with one concept, right? Sometimes you just want to write asm for an architecture that's far to bizzare to possibly be real. Is that so wrong?