Programming Retro Games in Python | 80s Usborne Computer Coding Book
Please note, this video is not intended as a programming tutorial, it's just to show me having a go at converting the games. Hopefully seeing this will inspire others to have a go themselves :)
Today join me as I have another go coding some retro 80s computer games. This time I'm typing in games from the Usborne book: "Computer Battlegames", using my BBC Micro Computer from the 1980s. Then I convert the games to work in the computer language Python.
And don't worry, you don't need retro hardware to try the original BASIC language out yourself, as you can easily recreate this with an emulator. For the BBC Micro, my favourite emulator I like to use is "BeebEm" ( www.mkw.me.uk/beebem ).
As mentioned, for those who haven't seen, here is a link to my previous "Coding games like it's the 80s" video ➡️ • Coding games like it’s...
Usborne website link (with book downloads) below ⬇️⬇️⬇️
usborne.com/gb/books/computer...
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When I was younger I always found the artwork was vastly more impressive than the game.
That was one of the criticisms of Atari, and is why Nintendo released their first releases as the "Black Box" series, with pixel art on the cover showing an accurate representation of what you could expect from the game.
That's how they sold the games.
Indeed, when newcomers complain how modern games prioritize graphics over a good gaming experience (implying this is a recent thing) they obviously weren't around in the eighties when horrible games were sold with box art.
The childhood trauma of coming home having blown all your chore money, geeked to pop in your new Atari VCS game only to realize you'd bought a total stinker... 😝
@@catsaregovernmentspies Activision was more honest IIRC. At least on the cartridge label.
As a 49 year old, it is refreshing to see someone so young interested in retro micros!
I still have my ZX81. Wish I'd kept my Commodore now.
@@miroslaw5615 old enough to have used the BBC Micro at school and seen the release of the ZX Spectrum!
Hell, as a 29 year old, it's still refreshing for me.
@@OneAndOnlyMe yeah I wish I still had my Commodore 64 setup too.
It's good to see that younger generations are keeping older systems alive.
The artwork in those books is amazing. Somehow the style always reminded me of the movie parodies in MAD Magazine
Those books got me started. I never looked back. Today I'm an enterprise systems architect.
Why so bored ? You should create again, post it here ! enterprise systems, why that ?
@@lucasrem Natural progression from systems analyst to enterprise architect, from starting in small companies to big corporate and government enterprises.
Just found this channel yesterday, seeing such a young person interested in our yesterday is brilliant and so are you 😇
Well said.
At 48 years old, being a dentist, I remember writing those programs in Atari Basic (it is what was strongest here in Chile), "thanks" to the pandemic I decided to return to programming and learned Python, not yet enough to dedicate myself to this passion for programming, but I do like being able to "convert" those programs from Basic to Python and see them work again. Thank you very much Kari for the endearing content you generate. Greetings
Wait, Chile!? Wena conchetumare :D Yo tenia entendido que tener acceso a productos como el C64 era casi imposible en los 80
@@bluesoystercultist7164 wena !!!! de echo yo tenia Atari por que el Commodore ese si que era escaso, solo unos pocos tenían ese compu. Hasta hoy tengo el 65XE y el 800XL, busco la consola Atari 2600
Worth noting that the `msvcrt` module is only available on Windows systems so if you are using Linux or Mac you can use the 'keyboard' module.
Thanks - I probably should have mentioned that in the vid👍
10:35 thought you had 3 hands for a second 🤣 good video, keep em coming!
I remember programming games like this in class when I was a kid in the early 90s. I love how the artwork during those times sparked your imagination and basically created the graphics and sound of the game in hour head haha.
I did not know you could get those books online for free - thank you! I had so many of them when I was a kid which was, sadly, when the BBC Micro was contemporary.
These books started my journey in to programming on the ZX Spectrum+ back in the 80's.
Ace days typing in the progs from the magazines back then.
@@Urko2005 Me too into my ZX81
54 year old BBC Micro owner here. That start-up sound at 1:10 brings back so many memories. 😍😍😍
💯
You learned coding, why care how old it is ?
Reminds me of when I first got into microcomputers way back in the late 1970s. So much effort, so much fun.
It's great to see you getting into rhe gateway drug that got so many of us into programming back in the day 💯
So the, 90's when I was a child, felt like and endless landscape of constantly improving technology. I'm fascinated with the 8 and 16 bit era, since it was just out of my reach (being an infant lol)
Oh man, the ART in the background of all the game code pages! My favorite part about retro materials was the immense effort put into the artwork to kind of "help along" the reader imagine what the boxes and symbols represent, lol. Loving this channel! I'm 31 and know JS about this and FA about where to get any of these original products!
Thanks Kari I have enjoyed all your videos, takes me back to my youth and my ZX81 and Spectrum days, please do keep the content coming.
Awesome stuff. I used to have these books back in the day, the artwork stoked my naive young mind and I honestly imagined graphics akin to the artwork in the book!!
Great idea for a video! Really fun to watch how far we have come.
I love the Usborne books, not only these computer coding ones but others too, great to see them being put to use!
This is how I learnt to start understanding different codes/scripting. Still couldn't make anything on my own but pretty confident these days when editing what exists
Thanks for yet another great video! Looking forward to see more retro themed coding content!
I really like how you re-program these games in python. truly amazing.
I thoroughly enjoyed this video. A nice trip down memory lane and I learnt a bit of Python too. Great work and I can’t wait to see more! Cheers! 🇨🇦
What a lovely channel, Kari. Please keep making your good content.
I had those books when they came out (I'm showing my age). When I saw that Osborne made them available for downloading I also had the idea of rewriting them for Python but didn't get round to it. Your walk-through here is fantastic!
Great to see a 00s CompSci generation programmer playing with old tech and reinventing old code for other Python newbs. I've a classroom idea forming. Keep up the good work!
Wow... With so many retro computer channels on here now, it's refreshing to see something a little different. The old programming books, particularly those aimed at children, may be the most overlooked aspect of retro computing. I had one such book in the 80s, and I read it over and over again, and typed in the programs that were in the back. I've spent recent years collecting many books. Maybe this will encourage me to do a little exhibition of a neat little program or two.
I love your videos! You have only come up on my feed and love them! I watched the 3D print one of et and Mario. I'm a school teacher and totally going to do that with my students. Thanks for your awesome content. Great work 👍
Love seeing younger people loving the stuff i used to do in my teens in early 80s. The BBC was a very upmarket machine in its day.
UK only machine !
Amazing video, Kari! Combining old tech with new is what i love doing also! Great T-Shirt of Robocop. Love the movie too. Keep up your great work!
Thanks so much!
@@karilawler Always welcome. I am a Software-Developer reaching back to the 80's. Love that you have chosen this topic.
Thank you so much for this video! This was really a brilliant idea. Now I want to go check those vintage programming magazines too XD
I had this book! so many memories, thank you!
This brings back so many memories, using my dads TRS-80 with similar programming books, writing my first basic programs. Cool to see people today still find fun in it :)
Kari, love the show and your content. Reminds me of early 2000’s late night shows on tech tv
This brought back memories. My Dad subscribed to these and would program quite a few of these. I remember flipping through the pages and helping him pick what games to program.
"over 40 years ago". Don't mind me crying over here
5 years old in 2008, too. I'm only 29 and that still made me feel old.
I am 46 and used to use those old BASIC programs in magazines and the nostalgia hit hard. This was fantastic to watch.
Awesome job, just went through using your video and created it to using Python. Then posted it to github, adding credits to you and linking your video in the code. Along with the link to the Usborne page. Great job, lots of fun!
Hey Kari, I think you are great! And great content, looking forward for more :)
Kari your BASIC to Python skills are really smooth! :D My Python knowledge of libraries is flaky at best and you absolutely sail it.
I had that book as a child of around 8 years old in the 90s. By that time it was already pretty retro, but we had an old DOS computer with Basic on it. I didn’t know how to code (I mostly just liked to look at the pictures) but I just typed the words in and sometimes it worked, but normally it didn’t. But those rare moments it did work were like magic! And the very few times I was able to modify small bits to customise the game were genuinely transcendent experiences and set me on the path to ultimately becoming software engineer. Great to see that book again!
Oooh that's the shootout game I did from this book as a child, before becoming disenchanted with it sadly. It was years before I dipped my toe into programming again. Great video as always!
I like your tshirt . I find your videos entertaining and relaxing .
Love your Chanel, keep up these videos!
Back in the day, computer magazines used to also include programs like this you could type in - games, utilities, neat demos, etc. Mostly they'd be in BASIC, but sometimes for faster arcade games they'd actually include a block of raw machine code in hex format you'd have to painstakingly type in!
love your videos they're awesome! and that robocop tee 'chefs kiss'
Love your videos, Kari! I had those books even though I'm only 33. My school library were getting rid of old books, and they were going to throw them away so I took them. Had to get emulators for the old computers they were designed for since I couldn't find any of them locally in Australia.
Love this idea. Using old magazine listings then porting them sounds like a good time to me. 😁
Awesome this book, I have never seen that and already love!
Very similar to “Compute!” Magazine in the US which was based for the Commodore series of PC. Lots of programs! And they also included an MLX complier programs as well (machine language) which were awesome to sit and punch in programs included in the magazine for hours. Lol.
omg i have that book in my loft somewhere! i am feeeling old was 13 when i used to type that into a VIC20!
Loved! I love retro text games. Your video inspired me to study Python.
Oh my...I didnt remember that book but when I waychwd the video it triggered so many memories...thanks a lot❤
Great job!!!! Congratulations 🎉🎉🎉
Just restored my family BBC Micro a few months ago. I had to replace some old power supply filter caps after they produced the magic white smoke. Now playing many games from the 80's from a nice SSD card kit you can buy.
I had that exact book back in the day (along with a couple of other programming books). I used to love looking through the book at the pictures to choose a game to type in.
Very interesting videos. I actually love them. Subscribed
Nice, it really brings back memories. I had the C64. Quick tip for Python when checking a number range: you can just write if 4
Glad i discovered you, these are things i expect from a youtuber
This was great. Please do more videos like this.
Great video Kari ❤ you just get new fan here 😊
As someone who typed in 100's of BASIC programs from magazines in my youth, and also as someone who enjoys Python, this was a great video! Thanks!
You should program all the games of that book! make a youtube series of programing it! would love to watch all of them, keep on the good work, you are amazing.
Hi Kari, great video, I'm impressed with your knowledge of these old systems, I love watching these videos, I get fully absorbed 🙂 thanks for your time here. Oh yeah, I bought a t-shirt from postees because of you, maybe they could be a sponsor? Robocop 👍🏻💜
I had the BBC Electron! Awesome content, tvm!
I have this Battle Games book.. “borrowed” it from the school library in 1985 when I was 10.. so it’s a bit late being returned 😅 And yes we had a singular BBC Micro in the hallway on a trolley.. used to use it every lunchtime ☺️ Unfortunately I never did become a programmer.. Great videos, really cool seeing you enter these programs 👍
I have a book of dinosaurs loaned in 1977. OMG I'm on the run, as the late return fine will be massive.
@@Inaflap Careful... with inflation how it is, some governments might see library overdue fines as a way to solve budget problems 😂
A few months back I converted several games from a copy of "Practise Your Basic" I still had from when I was in grade 7 in the late 80s. I did a little googling, but I couldn't figure out a way to make ia python equivalent of inkey work. Thanks for digging up msvcrt! Super useful! I've added that to my personal python cookbook document!
It's fantastic that Usborne made these books available! I'm trying out the Space Games (in Python) now thanks to this video.
I am currently working on a new game for the BBC Micro. This made me smile.
Very cool! I have done this too, converting old BASIC games into C. It's a good way to learn the differences and similarities between languages, and to think about how to structure your code which becomes useful when you do other things in your own programs later.
Love it. This was one of my activities during 2020 when I was stuck at home and recovering from pneumonia. I managed to get a Compute! 1987 Amiga fractal mountain routine running in Pygame. Much more educational than just playing a game.
Great videos! I love your enthusiasm for old technology. If I can make one small suggestion, please make the text editor font bigger in future videos so it's easier to read in a small window. Otherwise, perfect.
Thank you so much for this video! I've re-coded Vital Message in C#. I'm an amateur, and this was a nice exercise!
Hey Kari, cool project. As a child, I programmed some games for the C16 from a magazine :) That inspired me to become a computer scientist. I think this is also a good way to learn python. cheers.
Just found your channel. This is so great :) I remember there was a radio show here on Thursday nights where they actually played back a most annoying beeps and squeaks sounds from the old days. I used to record them from the radio broadcast with a tape recorder and then load the program on the C64. Those were the days. Would love to see you replicate in python the stuff you could do in the days with ‘sprites’ on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.
Perhaps that was Datarama. That was a regular radio show in 1983 that broadcast code (typically 30 seconds long). I think Micro Live on BBC television did the same during the end credits sometimes. They also did a thing with a flashing square in the top-right of the screen, but you needed a light pen taped to your television screen (over that area of course).
Remember entering these games by hand in my Vic-20! What a blast from the past. I've downloaded these PDF's before, after hearing about Usborne releasing them for free back in an old Ars Technica article. I haven't tried entering the programs again though. Cool to see them still around.
Wow... I have my old (1982) "Writing BASIC adventure programs for the TRS-80" book that teaches you how to make text adventure games. I had an idea that maybe it could be made in some modern language like python or java, and learn a bit about the language (I dropped out of programming long time ago). Now the idea came back and nudges me :D Nice keyboard by the way :)
Excellent video! I still actually have my copy of that book, along with its sibling Computer Spacegames, which I remember my mum buying from the school bookclub for my Spectrum-owning older brother. I wonder what the authors would say if they knew people were still looking at thier programs over 40 years later!
It's so awesome hearing you say bbc
This is cool. I have some of those books and was interested in re-implementing some of the games in Python with my daughter.
Clever clocks, digging the computer laboratory you have there
These are quite clever little programs showing particular functionality to provide the basics of a game, but leaving it open to the home user to add to it, adding ASCII graphics, 'Play again?' features and even levels if they have the patience to do so. I'd forgotten this sort of thing from back in day!
Hi Kari i just love ❤ to see you code, love the shirt even more😊
The BBC Micro is nice to type on. In my school we had a couple of model B but mostly Master 128. I installed new backup batteries in the Master 128s, using AA battery packs at my secondary school, they were still working in 2001.
Very cool covering this topic. I think I might still have that book :) I remember trying to type a lot of those games on my Commodore 64 and couldnt get them to work.
Yes did all the typing out of games from the magazines in the early 80's and was always underwhelmed. Enough so it put me off coding. So I became an IT Project Manager instead. Excellent channel.
I HAD THAT BOOK and used it on the ZX Spectrum!!!! Wow, the algorithm has done me proud!
Thanks for another great video! Loved these old books. Incidentally, in Python, you don't have to do "D >= 4 and D
Even nicer, and more pythonic, you can just use range(), like the loop, to check membership within a range of numbers. Obviously remember that range is half open and includes the start but excludes the stop. So providing you initialize D to an invalid value first, all you need is: while D not in range(4,11): D = int(input("DIFFICULTY (4-10)")) No if statement required, no loop break, super slick.
@@samwalker7567that’s lovely!
And not as super readable as her implementation.
Hi Kari, pressing all my nostalgia buttons with these books!! They used to write them in the most vanilla BASIC and then include special variations where the individual machines' own flavours of BASIC were different. That's why you'll find STOP in this listing (as it was required in some variants of BASIC), where END would be more normal on the beeb - I think STOP is mainly used in BBC BASIC for debugging, as it always returns an error message. IMHO, BBC BASIC was the most advanced BASIC of its day as it has elegant loops (REPEAT.... UNTIL something) and nice procedures (DEF PROCsomething.... ENDPROC).
in high school we had IBM 386 machines all over camups. In computer class we were allowed to play around with basic and vb and the such. There were games (snake, gorillas, etc) that we could get into and modify. it was so much fun. Such a great video. thank you.
Omg that BBC start sound. What a childhood memory boot.
Arrr the 80’s good gaming years in fact the best ever. Watching this makes me want to add python to my coding bow. 🙇 great vid and interesting to watch. 🎉
Our family had a BBC micro when I was about 5 in the 80s and loved it.
Coding micro computers in the 80s. Learnt so much - miss those times and the computers.
I had the aesthetic pleasure of watching of the video!
Awesome! Now I want to dig out my old Basic game books and Pythonize them :) My mind, instantly went to modifying the Message game to start at level '4' and progress thru level '10' to win....with a randomize function to generate the message. I might just have to try it! 🙂
oops. *embarrassed* it does randomize the message.
Wow loved the video ❤
Just found this channel and wow this is cool
I love how most of your videos have some tone of ''this is an old thing from 35+ years ago: i've used it as a toy when i was younger, so here's everything about it." Keep up the good work, awesome video, as always 😊
ohhh perfect pc, perfect artwork book, perfect youtuber!