8-Bit Show And Tell | Code Review a Novel? C64 BASIC in The Impossible Fortress @8_Bit | Uploaded December 2022 | Updated October 2024, 12 hours ago.
The Impossible Fortress is a novel by Jason Rekulak about the (mis)adventures of a 14-year-old Commodore 64 programmer in 1987. Each chapter opens with a snippet of C64 BASIC code from the video game he's writing, with the help of a friend he meets during the story. I get the dumb idea to type in, comment upon, and when reasonable, fix the code from all 34 chapters in one stupidly long video. It's almost like a live stream, but I actually edited out over 30 minutes just to make it less painful. Honest. My editing software says I made 2259 edits, but who would believe that?
To support 8-Bit Show And Tell:
Become a patron: patreon.com/8BitShowAndTell
One-time donation: paypal.me/8BitShowAndTell
2nd channel: youtube.com/channel/UCAgWzEh5c8391eJnELDy9OA
Links mentioned:
Jason Rekulak's website: jasonrekulak.com/impossiblefortress
The Impossible Fortress web game: jasonrekulak.com/game
Into The Vertical Blank: intotheverticalblank.com
Foone's analysis of The Eternal Castle hoax: twitter.com/Foone/status/1081746182425071616
Index:
0:00 A Novel
2:14 An excerpt from the novel
6:23 C64 BASIC as a literary device?
8:27 Ch. 1 - Welcome Screen
12:27 Ch. 2 - Establishing Difficulty
15:43 Ch. 3 - Transfer Character Set
18:45 Ch. 4 - Play Theme Music
21:45 Ch. 5 - Introduce Variables
26:51 Ch. 6 - Instructions
29:47 Ch. 7 - Draw Hero Sprite
33:40 Ch. 8 - Draw Guard 1 Sprite
36:07 Ch. 9 - Control Hero
39:10 Ch. 10 - Draw Princess Sprite
41:08 Ch. 11 - Draw Guard 2 Sprite
43:12 Ch. 12 - Advance Countdown
47:25 Ch. 13 - Error Buzzer
50:19 Ch. 14 - Assign Ranking$
53:18 Ch. 15 - Boost Score
55:14 Ch. 16 - Out of Time
57:24 Ch. 17 - Hero Attacks
1:00:30 Ch. 18 - Bonus Life
1:03:12 Ch. 19 - Victory Screen
1:06:11 Ch. 20 - Victory Theme Music
1:08:44 Ch. 21 - Pause Game
1:10:54 Ch. 22 - Fortress is Breached
1:13:31 Ch. 23 - Alarm Sound
1:15:53 Ch. 24 - Captured By Guards
1:20:53 Ch. 25 - Reset Score To Zero
1:22:41 Ch. 26 - Clear Memory
1:25:42 Ch. 27 - Draw New Hero
1:27:18 Ch. 28 - Start Bonus Level
1:29:45 Ch. 29 - Draw New Guards
1:31:01 Ch. 30 - Draw New Environment
1:34:22 Ch. 31 - Draw New Fortress
1:37:26 Ch. 32 - Repeat Siren SFX
1:41:11 Ch. 33 - Game Over
1:44:11 Ch. 34 - Play Again??
1:46:55 A Note About The Code & Acknowledgments
1:49:09 The Eternal Castle: Inspired by The Impossible Fortress?
1:56:29 In Conclusion, Thanks, & Credits
2:00:01 The Impossible Fortress Gameplay
The Impossible Fortress is a novel by Jason Rekulak about the (mis)adventures of a 14-year-old Commodore 64 programmer in 1987. Each chapter opens with a snippet of C64 BASIC code from the video game he's writing, with the help of a friend he meets during the story. I get the dumb idea to type in, comment upon, and when reasonable, fix the code from all 34 chapters in one stupidly long video. It's almost like a live stream, but I actually edited out over 30 minutes just to make it less painful. Honest. My editing software says I made 2259 edits, but who would believe that?
To support 8-Bit Show And Tell:
Become a patron: patreon.com/8BitShowAndTell
One-time donation: paypal.me/8BitShowAndTell
2nd channel: youtube.com/channel/UCAgWzEh5c8391eJnELDy9OA
Links mentioned:
Jason Rekulak's website: jasonrekulak.com/impossiblefortress
The Impossible Fortress web game: jasonrekulak.com/game
Into The Vertical Blank: intotheverticalblank.com
Foone's analysis of The Eternal Castle hoax: twitter.com/Foone/status/1081746182425071616
Index:
0:00 A Novel
2:14 An excerpt from the novel
6:23 C64 BASIC as a literary device?
8:27 Ch. 1 - Welcome Screen
12:27 Ch. 2 - Establishing Difficulty
15:43 Ch. 3 - Transfer Character Set
18:45 Ch. 4 - Play Theme Music
21:45 Ch. 5 - Introduce Variables
26:51 Ch. 6 - Instructions
29:47 Ch. 7 - Draw Hero Sprite
33:40 Ch. 8 - Draw Guard 1 Sprite
36:07 Ch. 9 - Control Hero
39:10 Ch. 10 - Draw Princess Sprite
41:08 Ch. 11 - Draw Guard 2 Sprite
43:12 Ch. 12 - Advance Countdown
47:25 Ch. 13 - Error Buzzer
50:19 Ch. 14 - Assign Ranking$
53:18 Ch. 15 - Boost Score
55:14 Ch. 16 - Out of Time
57:24 Ch. 17 - Hero Attacks
1:00:30 Ch. 18 - Bonus Life
1:03:12 Ch. 19 - Victory Screen
1:06:11 Ch. 20 - Victory Theme Music
1:08:44 Ch. 21 - Pause Game
1:10:54 Ch. 22 - Fortress is Breached
1:13:31 Ch. 23 - Alarm Sound
1:15:53 Ch. 24 - Captured By Guards
1:20:53 Ch. 25 - Reset Score To Zero
1:22:41 Ch. 26 - Clear Memory
1:25:42 Ch. 27 - Draw New Hero
1:27:18 Ch. 28 - Start Bonus Level
1:29:45 Ch. 29 - Draw New Guards
1:31:01 Ch. 30 - Draw New Environment
1:34:22 Ch. 31 - Draw New Fortress
1:37:26 Ch. 32 - Repeat Siren SFX
1:41:11 Ch. 33 - Game Over
1:44:11 Ch. 34 - Play Again??
1:46:55 A Note About The Code & Acknowledgments
1:49:09 The Eternal Castle: Inspired by The Impossible Fortress?
1:56:29 In Conclusion, Thanks, & Credits
2:00:01 The Impossible Fortress Gameplay
