How to Make a C64 Game in BASIC Ep.1 [HOW2] | Nostalgia Nerd

BASIC Programming... it's a skill we think is long forgotten on today's youth. In reality, we can still do it, it's just not as abundant as it was in the 80s. It was the default landing page of everyone who turned on their home computer in that era, so there was little choice but to learn it, especially if you had no games. But this was where creativity blossomed, it's where the surge of 1980s game development came from... the bedroom coders, the school kids and even the adults switching career path in favour of their latest hobby. To make a game today you usually buy a piece of software which does most of the work for you... some kind of RPG maker or FPS creator which has layers upon layers of code, slowing down the whole process and really not making the most out of the lightning fast processors of today. Most games were coded in a few kilobytes in the 80s. Today, you can't even fit an email into that space. BASIC Programming did more than allow you to make games. It was a true creative outlet where you could do pretty much ANYTHING you wanted. Your logic was tested to the max, as you figured out the best way to code up a particular routine, all whilst using your problem solving skills to cram it in as little space as possible.

In this series, I'm aiming to bring a little bit of that back, by teaching you how to make a game in BASIC. I'm specifically targeting Commodore BASIC here, as it seems the most accessible, and it's one I spent a good time using back in the early '90s. This episode is an introduction to making a BASIC Game, so I'm taking a gentle introduction to programming in BASIC, with some key elements, but over the coming episodes the goal is to create a fully functional game in C64 BASIC, which you can then tinker and develop to your heart's content. Hopefully if I can get one person to dust off their trusty C64 and get tinkering, then I'll be happy.

This episode is looking at creating a simple guessing game, using random numbers.

Here's the final listing;
10 print "*Insert Clear Screen Character*"
20 let x=int(rnd(1)*6)
20 print "The Computer has chosen a number between 0 and 5. Can you guess it?"
40 input G
50 print "*Insert Clear Screen Character*"
60 If G=X then print "Well Done.":Goto 90
80 print "Tough Luck - You're Wrong."
90 Print "Do you want another go? If so, please type Y and press the return key."
100 Input A$
110 If A$="Y" Then Goto 10
120 Goto 100

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First and Last tracks are Night Drive Turbo and Reflection of Paradise by the amazing Rad Universe -   / raduniverse  

Commodore 64 Image courtesy of Wikipedia/Wikimedia

HOW2 BG Intro from '90s kids programme HOW2 courtesy of Scottish Television Enterprises. Nostalgia at it's finest.