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Donkey – A computer game included with early versions of PC DOS

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Re: Donkey – A computer game included with early versions of PC DOS

#151

Post by madaxe_again »

segmondy wrote: post #112

Why are people complaining that the game is bad? Really? Can we see what you wrote in 1982? Games like this were quickly hacked together to show the capabilities of the machine. It was done in BASIC for owner's of those machines to play with. If this was a commercial product, it would be written in assembly. If anything, this was likely a demo of Microsoft BASIC, let's not forget that Bill Gate's first product was no…

This was the progenitor of other such classics as gorilla.bas. I liked that it was "poorly" written, as it made it accessible - and I made the leap from c64/amiga/acorn to ms-dos because I knew there was at least one language (basic) on there that I could use.

Promptly after switching I learned c and never looked back, but there's a lot to be said for what these early open-source (ykwim) games unlocked.

Hell, I started coding because I wanted to play games, and could only do so by copying them into a micro from a magazine (storage media was prohibited) - and fairly promptly wanted to cheat - and before I even really realised, was writing my own games and finding holes in the micro's interpreter that could cause entertaining crashes (I still fondly remember the look of panic on the geography (that was the nearest thing to computers, I guess?) teacher's face on coming into a lab (air raid shelter) full of vdus displaying a garbled mess).

So yeah, "bad" code can be great to learn from at an early level.

Comment complete, please proceed to downvote.

Re: Donkey – A computer game included with early versions of PC DOS

#152

Post by [deleted] »

johansch wrote: post #147
SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did Bill Gates personally write Microsoft Bob? I got the impression OP was referring to late 70s / early 80s Microsoft when Gates was still very much doing the coding himself, as opposed to the much bigger 90s Microsoft when he was a few layers removed.

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2483957/microsoft-windo... "'We were just ahead of our time, like most of our mistakes,' Gates says of personal agents like the notorious Clippy character." "Gates has a personal connection to Microsoft Bob -- more than it being just another product launched on his watch -- as his wife, Melinda French Gates, was a marketing manager on the Bob project."

[deleted]

Re: Donkey – A computer game included with early versions of PC DOS

#153

Post by Keyframe »

eggy wrote: post #51
MawNicker wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meh. Sort of. He mostly sounds like someone with experience on both platforms who is surprised by the dominance of the one that he considers inferior. His prominence as a developer isn't relevant. I trust that his ability is sufficient and that his experience with the platforms is actual. He is a suitable person to comment on the contrast between them.

I agree, and I think that is a common problem with purely technical people. They don't include all of the other important factors: affordability, support (by the company and number of people around you familiar with the system), and many others. The Amiga sound and graphics chips blew other systems out of the water technically, and did good with the consumer offerings like the A500, but aside from a niche in the vide…

Funny memory. We bought an SGI machine for when clients were around (doing 3D graphics and video compositing). In the backroom we did it all on Amigas and Lightwave. Clients thought it was all done on SGI/Softimage - so it must be good! It would've been (better) if we could afford as much workstations and application seats as we would've wanted. I still have two SGI's that work. It feels like owning a vintage Ferrari or something, even though nowhere near the monetary value.

Re: Donkey – A computer game included with early versions of PC DOS

#155

Post by sctb »

WayneBro wrote: post #28
Jerry2 wrote: post #16

Andy Hertzfeld recollects how Macintosh team dissected the new IBM PC and what they thought of donkey.bas: http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story...

Andy Hertzfeld sounds like a sore loser. Why should anyone care what he thinks about games? Macs suck for games and they always have. Every piece of software he's written has been a second rate failure.

This comment violates the HN guidelines. Please don't do this here.

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Re: Donkey – A computer game included with early versions of PC DOS

#156

Post by dahart »

arviewer wrote: post #31
cosenal wrote: post #8

Context here (Jeff Atwood's blog post dated 2007): https://blog.codinghorror.com/bill-gates-and-donkey-bas/

I love that right rear view mirror attached to the left front wheel! ;-)

Some race cars used to have the mirror attached at the wheel!

http://s3.amazonaws.com/scardigest/wp-content/uploads/Aston-...

https://i2.wp.com/farm7.static.flickr.com/6190/6095678527_cc...

http://sportscarcraftsmen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/MGA...

Re: Donkey – A computer game included with early versions of PC DOS

#157

Post by kragen »

johansch wrote: post #148
kragen wrote: post #146

https://robhagemans.github.io/pcbasic/ is a GPL3-licensed implementation of the BASIC language this game is written in. PC-BASIC is written in Python. Supposedly it can run this game, although I haven't tried it. A couple of interesting features of the game (quotidian to those of us around at the time, but...) 1. The "PLAY" statement is barely used; the sounds are mostly done with the SOUND statement, maybe in part b…

PC-BASIC is a great re-implementation of GWBASIC. I tried it on some of my old gems from the late 80s and they still worked. :)

Are you going to put them on Github?

Re: Donkey – A computer game included with early versions of PC DOS

#158

Post by city41 »

JugMarker wrote: post #99
screensquid wrote: post #4

Playable here: http://www.pcjs.org/devices/pcx86/machine/5150/cga/64kb/donk... "The above simulation is configured for a clock speed of 4.77Mhz, with 64Kb of RAM and a CGA display, using the original IBM PC Model 5150 ROM BIOS and CGA font ROM. This configuration also includes a predefined state, with PC-DOS 1.0 already booted and DONKEY.BAS ready to run. And now that PCx86 automatically saves all your changes (subje…

I find it hilarious, when you don't hit a donkey and it says "Donkey lost".

seems like a win-win situation to me.

Re: Donkey – A computer game included with early versions of PC DOS

#159

Post by zeveb »

wmil wrote: post #98
WayneBro wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Andy Hertzfeld sounds like a sore loser. Why should anyone care what he thinks about games? Macs suck for games and they always have. Every piece of software he's written has been a second rate failure.

Dark Castle was pretty impressive in 1986. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjtjVS7VFFY

> Dark Castle was pretty impressive in 1986.

Honestly, I think that it's still impressive. There was a beauty to those old black-and-white bitmaps that modern engines just don't capture. Same with the icons from back in the day. We've gained an awful lot, but we've also lost something.

Re: Donkey – A computer game included with early versions of PC DOS

#160

Post by Narishma »

busterarm wrote: post #107
Narishma wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disagree about the Ataris. They were very popular gaming platforms at the time.

Not the ST, which would be the competition we're talking about vs the C64, etc.

The ST was competing with the Amiga, not the C64.
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