Compute!

[kainemaxwell]

For those of us with fond memories of the C=64 and it's library of games, did anyone find enjoyment programming their own games with the programs in the back of the Compute or other magazines?

[ManekiNeko]

I had fun doing this... even though I wasn't a big C64 fan. I wanted one when I was a kid, but once Commodore released the Amiga I became far more interested in getting one of those.
Compute! and other magazines had the occasional VIC-20 program listing, but as the C64 got more popular, less and less space was devoted to the VIC. I remember getting frustrated when I'd see programs in these magazines designed for every system BUT the VIC-20. One time, I took matters into my own hands and wrote my OWN VIC translation of a clever Breakout clone called Hit or Miss when Family Computing failed to offer one.

JR

[6502]

I enjoyed reading Compute! though I never subscribed (had to rely on my parents for stuff like that back then and they thought I already had enough subscriptions to various Atari mags). I also used to read Family Computing, Antic (my favorite), A.N.A.L.O.G. (the Atari magazine, not the sci-fi one), and Atari Explorer.

One thing that kind of sucked about Family Computing's program listings is that they didn't have any kind of checksum program like Compute! and Antic had to verify that you typed a line in correctly. Which of course led to many frustrating hours trying to figure out why your program wouldn't run. FC's programs were kind of crappy too though I guess that's because they had to run on so many different systems.

Type-in programs were actually a major source of the games I played back in the early and mid 80s

[kainemaxwell]

One my friends would program alot of the games from those, and ones I would find in my old 3-2-1-Contact magazines too. if I can find the disks floating around with many of them on it, I'll name off some games.

[video_game_addict]

Does anybody collect these old magazines? I've got a crapload of old Compute! and RUN magazines that I'd like to trade for other vintage gaming mags like:

Blip
Electronic Games
JoyStik
Video Games
Sega Visions
Turbo Play/Force

[newcoleco]

My first contact with Commodore magazines was : Ahoy!
A few years later I receive some Compute! for one of my birthday anniversary.

I enjoyed only the BASIC programming, the C64 graphics contest, the tips and tricks sections. All the hexadecimal coding was not funny to reproduce code by code to be able to play a particular game.

The only way I enjoyed the hexadecimal coding was with a particular game (I don't remember the name). In the Ahoy!, a game like Joust. There was no "flap" sounds so I decided to add one after checking the coding with the primitive ASM viewer included with the FastLoad cartridge. Modifying a program is something I enjoy because I can learn (imagine) how a program was build.

[scooterb23]

I would love to have some kind of compilation of those magazines...BASIC is still the only programming language I "get."

And as I have a C64, I'd love to get back into the programming aspect of it...

I only ever could find Family Computing (had a complete collection, from issue #1 until they dropped the Family part of the mag altogether)...I used to have 2 issues of Ahoy! (Loved that one)...

Now you've gone and got me all depressed and nostalgic >sniff sniff<

[congobongo]

I was a little too young to do the actual programming in those days but my brother used to have me read the code out while he would key it in.

Ahh gee wow that sprite just walked across the screen, neato!

[kainemaxwell]

Ok, i found some my old C=64 disks. beside shaving classics like Dig Gud, beachhead, the 3 I meantioned in another post, Top Gun, Rescue on Fractulus and BMX Racers, I had these from Compute! and some other magazines. Any them sound familiar?

Raceway
Brick Wall
Ringside karate
Idol of Orion
Deflection
Race Ace
Wawkmen of DinDrin
Eagles & Gators

[Lady Jaye]

The only kind of type-in programs I ever did like that were for the TI 99/4A. My dad bought a book published by Compute! that had different programs including Type Invaders and some music-making program. We still have the book, the computer (in its box!) as well as the program tapes. I remember that my dad tried to teach me TI Basic back in the mid-80s, although I remember next to nothing about it.

Hell, I didn't even remember that my dad bought a Sinclair computer until he showed it to me a few months ago.

He's keeping both computers more for curiosity than anything else (I did tell him about TI emulation, but that didn't seem to appeal much to hiim). I guess he prefers his Mac now.