INMC News

Two games had a “Space” theme. One was “Space Invasion”, a game very similar to that seen in many amusement arcades. Very entertaining, and a game that gets progressively more difficult as you improve. We did manage to discover a way of cheating, but we’ll keep quiet on that one.

The other space game was “Moon Lander.” This game has appeared many times on one computer or another, and we have seen several versions written for the Nascom. This version, however, we decided had a little extra and you will find a full description of it, and machine code listing elsewhere in this issue.

After each game we each awarded it points out of ten. At the end of the evening we added them up. The totals clearly indicated the winner as “Moon Lander,” entered by Nick Ray but written by Arthur Norman and Chris Webster, with help from Philip Gladstone, Jim Cownie and Nick Ray. To them we will be sending a Zeap package. (We were thinking of sending them 4K of Zeap each, and not telling them who has got which bit!).

We also decided that, as Marcus Parker-Rhodes had got two games in the final list, he should be awarded a prize also, so a Super Tiny Basic set goes to him. Finally, to all those listed below we will be sending a selection of programs from the INMC library.

Thank you everybody for an entertaining evening.

Games Competition Winner – Moon Lander

Reproduced below is the object code listing of the winner of our games competition.

The aim of the game is to land a spacecraft on the moon’s surface with a vertical velocity of less than 30, as near to the target (as indicated by the Distance parameter) as possible. However, you must not land on a boulder.

/