Rescuing an old QBASIC game from 1996 and making it playable: Oval Racer gets revisited
164Can I fix the flickery mess of my first ever QBASIC driving game, from 1996? Of course. It'd be worrying if I can't. But join me as I dive deep into vintage code, show some of QBASIC's weird optimisation rules, and even find time to dabble in the realms of classic DOS fixed-point polygon rendering.
Yes, it's one of those. Have your copy of The Revolutionary Guide on standby.
Also, watch @WhatHoSnorkers: https://www.youtube.com/JamesO'GradyWhatHoSnorkers
And as promised, for anyone in need of a last-minute wedding present: https://files.timberwolf.club/RACE20.BAS
Subroutines:
0:00 I never manage to do what I'm supposed to
0:53 Anyway, here's Oval Racer and it is SHORT
1:35 Vintage code roadshow
3:04 PC speaker inbound
4:03 Timberwolf's donkey tribute
4:42 I have strong opinions about 1960s music. Again.
5:10 A new meaning for "only cheating yourself"
6:35 It gets real
7:27 Some QBASIC tricks
8:18 Unexpected bonus dog content
8:48 Reverse gear
9:13 The mandatory educational bit
10:51 Old PCs and that
12:35 This is totally how a car is made honest
12:51 But why?
13:37 My favourite type of programming: deleting code
15:10 The classic BASIC effect
16:08 Maybe it should be possible to win?
16:37 For certain values of functional
17:23 Serious expectation adjustment
18:06 Being optimistic about one's teenage self
18:21 Oval Racer is STILL short
19:35 Let's randomly diss a load of TV programmes
20:47 EXIT FOR
Games shown:
Velocity 2 SE
Velocity SE
Oval Racer (naturally)
DONKEY.BAS
Darkside
BeamNG.drive
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Bonus fact: all that music stuff refers to the battle for UK singles chart #1 4th-10th February 1965, between two cover versions of You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'. Andrew Loog Oldham, manager of the Rolling Stones, was so incensed at the poor taste of the British public (Cilla's version was ahead in the charts the previous week) that he took out an advert in Melody Maker at his own expense to point out how much better the Righteous Brothers version sounded - inadvertently coining the phrase "Wall of Sound" to describe Phil Spector's kitchen sink approach to pop music production.
Wait, wasn't this supposed to be about BASIC?