IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

TRACK STAR

by JOHN WEBER

Indoor athletes may think it easy to become a track star, but I challenge them to complete three laps of this crosscountry course. You guide your runner with the joystick, dodging rocks, trees and potholes as you race from upper left to bottom right and back again. When you get good at this you can add in the hurdles for extra points, and you'll need them to get the highest rating - Track Star!

Your first task is to touch the flag at the lower right, then get the flag that appears at upper left; this marks one lap. Trees and rocks impede your way, but potholes are almost lethal - hitting one puts you back to the start of the lap, and hitting two of them disqualilies you. Beware of shortcuts; though they are possible, your score is decreased if you use them.

Each successive lap is more difficult. Your running speed increases, and more potholes are placed in the course. Hitting a pothole puts your runner back at the start of the lap you are on, and the timer keeps tickting all the while.

At the end of the run, you will receive one of five ratings according to your track abilities. To get the highest rating, not only do you have to be fast and agile, but you also have to accumulate points by jumping the hurdles. There are six of them located at the bottom half of the track. You can jump over them while running either left or right. Simply hold the joystick left or right and press the fire button. Only one hurdle at a time can bejumped, but you should be able to jump all three in the same row without falling down. Five points are awarded for each successful jump. Once a hurdle has been jumped you will not receive extra points by jumping it again while you are in the same lap.

Since there are six hurdles and three laps to cover, a total of 90 points is possible. The track can be run in any pattern, but as in any race, if you cheat and take a shortcut through the trees, you will be penalized by losing all your points. You will know this has happened when you hear two low tones. If you take a break during the race, or otherwise exceed the five minute time limit, the race automatically ends.

A time of less than 110 seconds, plus at least 80 points (16 hurdles), without falling into a pothole earns you the statues of Track Star.

So put on your running shoes, take a few deep breaths, and don't look back.

Listing: TRAKSTAR.BAS Download

THE PROGRAM

60-90 Control initialization.
100-180 Main loop.
---105-120 Determine which direction to face runner.
---125 Up the clock.
---130-160 Calculate new position and test for collisions.
---165-180 Running sound, go to top of loop.
200-299 Right hurdle jump routine.
---215-225 Test for collision or safe jump.
---240 If safe jump, continue jump.
---260-275 Unsuccessful right jump routine; crash and bounce.
300-399 Left hurdle jump routine.
---310-325 Test for collision or safe jump.
---330 If safe jump, continue jump.
---360-385 Any bad jump routine; crash and bounce.
400-430 Displays points received on screen after a good jump.
460-470 Common sound routine.
500-560 Any collision during the run (except during jumping) bounces you back a little.
600-650 Increase potholes after each lap.
700-770 Fall into a pothole routine. Position runner back to start. Add to fall counter, Reset position of flags.
800-849 Hit bottom flag.
850-895 Hit top flag routine. Increase speed of runner, reset all hurdles that have been jumped so points can be gotten again.
900-980 Find rating for run.
1000-1099 Title page and ending stats page.
2000-2063 Download char. set and redefine new chars.
2070-2085 Set graphics mode, initialize variables.
3000-3080 Position rocks on the screen.
4000-4040 Posirion trees, potholes, flag on screen.

LIST OF PROGRAM VARIABLES

SCORE --- points accumulated by jumping hurdles
LAP ----- number of lap being run
FAST ---- speed control uses a FOR/NEXT loop during laps
JUMP ---- determine if you jumped a hurdle
WW ----- which way, i,e, which direction you are running
FALL ---- counts number of times fallen in pothole
BOT ----- switch set indicating if bottom flag has been hit
S0 ------ equate with location 53760, a sound register
S1 ------ equate with location 53761, a sound register
DV ------ distortion/volume used to set a sound reg.
HI ------- used to control sound
LO ------- used to control sound
TONE ----- used to control sound

PEEK VALUES OF REDEFINED CHARACTERS

right runner------ 1
left runner------- 2
up & down runner--3
fallen runner------5
hurdles-----------4+192
potholes----------7+128
rocks-------------8+64
trees-------------9+128
flags-------------10