Why in the heck did I create this game? Well I didn’t create it, instead I using my memory reversed engineered it, and made it for the iOS architecture
History
This was an interesting project, there is more to this then meets the eye. Yes it is a very simple game, however, what I did was create a virtual computer on the iPhone.
Actually trying to discribe this while my Daughter is playing Zombie 3 on the Alexa music pod is rather difficult. I’m noticing my figures are tapping out the letters at the beat of the music. Aaahh,
Ok back to what I did to program this game. Like a few portable games from the 70’s, they didn’t have very complex displays, They mostly used LED’s. Which at the time was really cool, and surprising what they where able to do with this tech.
However, these displays where everywhere, from games to watches to calculators. If you didn’t have a TI 30: well, you just weren’t cool. I used to where this on my belt when going to school, that quickly stopped when I realized how stupid I looked, however I did have it with me, and I remember when we first got it. My dad at the dinner table went through the manual and looked at all the things you could do with it. It was pretty amazing actually.
However what we mostly did with it was make it go through endless loops by dividing by zero and spelling out swear words on the display and giggling at them.
So when writing this game, I tried to replicate the original as much as possible by creating a display the showed a matrix of LED’s which would light up when the either the offense or defense occupied that space. Then create logic where the defense would track the runner. When they occupied the space the runner was tackled. All in all it is rather simple logic. However, for the type of cpu’s they used it is amazing, they had to control the LED’s, the movement, keep track of the scores and game play. On the iPhone it is simple, but on a 4 bit machine, amazing.
Game Play
After starting the game, you do this by pressing the start switch.
If you are playing by your self, you start automatically as offense.
Starting the play press either the ST or SC button, this tells the game it’s time to start, you press these button each time the down is over and want to start new down or set of downs.
To move your player press the direction keys, once the play starts these are enabled and you can move the player up, down, or forward.
If you have not converted to a first down you need to punt, or if you are close enough you can kick a field goal.
Depending if you have scored Defense now takes to the field to score. If you are playing another person, you switch playing when the set of downs are over or the current offense has scored.
Hints:
If you want to have a few people watch the game play you can actually hook up to an AppleTV and display it on a larger display.
To move your player, it is best to move up or down first, this start the defense to move forward, if there is a clear lane, go forward as fast as you can.
Program 2 is a much faster game, the defense reacts much faster and they can catch much quicker, make sure you are pretty good at program 1, before moving to program 2.