Transformable Arcade Zone for TI-83

by Patai Gergely

patai.gergely@freemail.hu
http://www.extra.hu/cobb (note: there is no TI stuff here)
http://eclipse.sch.bme.hu/~cobb


About the game

This is a historical game for two reasons. The first one is that TRAZ was one
of my favourite games for the C64 with its great variety of levels and its
beautiful graphics. The second one is more important: writing this game was
actually my first major Z80 project. You can criticise it if you want, but
please consider that I was actually learning Z80 asm while making this
program.

TRAZ is a breakout-type game. The goal of the game is to clear the level by
hitting all the blocks with the ball. If the ball falls into the water, you
lose a life.


Controls

menu:   up-down: choosing option
          enter: used for every option except for difficulty
     left-right: setting difficulty

game:       2nd: abandoning game
            del: pause
     left-right: controlling bat


Specific features

The program is slowed down using HALT, just to save some power. :)

Two bat speeds: "normal" is slow, but it gives the opportunity to control
the ball more efficiently than with double speed, where every keystroke
triggers a two-pixel displacement.

The bat is not straight, it has a convex curvature, therefore the speed
of the ball depends on where it touched the bat.

The score awarded for hitting a block increases if you keep a ball
longer in game. More exactly, the score for a block starts from 5,
and is increased by 5 every time the same ball hit 10 blocks, until
it reaches 50. If you lose the ball, the value drops back to 5.

CHEAT: Type 1982 while the ball is moving. You'll proceed to the next
level, but you will lose your points as well.

Closing words

Have fun with TRAZ and drop me a message if you like it. I'm not going
to make any improvements, as I regard this project to be finished,
although I planned to make a high score saver some time ago. However,
I don't think it's worth the effort now that I have more ambitious
projects for the TI-83.