Dodgems - Julian Wood (Your Computer-May 85-Page 121)

You control a white car running around a track of fives lanes, trying to col-
lect the yellow dots while avoiding the red computer controlled car. Every so
often the red car will drop a steering wheel - worth 50 points when collected.
However, if you aren't quick enough, the red car will pick it up again. A dot
is worth five points.
 To make the game slightly more difficult, you have a limited amount of fuel.
Once your fuel has run out, your car stops and it is only a matter of time be-
fore the red car crashes into you. When you crash you lose one of your three
lives and when you have lost all your lives, a short tune is played, the game
ends and you are invited to have another go. There is a high-score facility.
 The amount of fuel changes from 500 to 400 to 300 units with each level com-
pleted. After three levels you receive a bonus number of points, the fuel re-
turns to 500 units and the game becomes slightly harder. A level is completed
when all the dots have been collected. At the beginning of each level, and al-
so when you receive a bonus, the computer plays a short tune.
 To enter Dodgems, first type in the Basic program in listing 1. Then enter a
line 1 Rem followed by the letter "a" 384 times - or 12 lines' worth. This is
used to hold the machine code. Then Run 9990 and carefully enter the decimal
values in listing 2. In the left-hand coloum are the addresses and on the 
right-hand side, in brackets, are the checksum values. If you make a mistake,
enter -1 and enter that line again.
 After entering a line of five numbers, check the checksum value before ente-
ring the next line. When you have finished entering the machine code and are
sure that everything is correct, delete lines 9990-9995 and save the program
using
        SAVE "DODGEMS" LINE 15
 When the program is run, there is a short pause while the user-defined grap-
hics are set up and then the game starts. I moves your car in a lane, O moves
it out a lane. You can move in or out up to two lanes at once, as can the red
car.
 The program uses four machine code subroutines:

23760 - prints a certain number of dots used in setting up the display.
23807 - the explosion sound-effects routine.
23848 - moves the white car, and also decreases and prints amount of fuel.
24011 - moves the red car.

 The routines use two Rom subroutines:

 8141 - executes a #2, thus allowing printing in the upper half of the screen
        #n can also be achieved by: LD A,n: CALL 8143
 6683 - prints a decimal number in the range 0-9999.

TYPE: Arcade


This info file was typed by Michael Bruhn

