Writing a QBasic game from scratch -- Snake game example

In this video, a game is created in Microsoft's QBasic, from scratch. You see me type every line.
The background music has been created by me with the exception of the last song, which is created by Skaven / Future Crew. The S3M player (both of them) have been also written by me, though I created them long before making this video.

Microsoft QBasic was shipped without extra charge with MS-DOS versions 4 through 5.
It was a popular programming platform for beginner programmers back then. Even today, it remains one of the easiest platforms to start programming something visual. In this video, I go a step further and demonstrate that it is even possible to play modular AdLib music (S3M files) with QBasic.

The source code (and the script I used for reference when creating this video) can be found at:
http://bisqwit.iki.fi/jutut/kuvat/programming_examples/qbasicsnakegame.pdf

The QBasic S3M player can be found at:
http://bisqwit.iki.fi/source/fmengineqb.html

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• qbasic
• dos
• basic
• live
• computer
• programming
• snake
• game
• example
• s3m
• music
• adlib

[blodseker2]

i know somethings but it isn`t enought :(

[Bisqwit]

@blodseker2 Programming languages are highly formal. A single letter spelled wrong may and often does change the meaning of a program: it is often the difference between a properly functioning program and a program that does not work.

I suggest that you first improve your spelling and grammar. Written ability in natural languages (such as English or Serbian) is correlative with programming potential, and it _can_ be improved.

[ProjectZeus]

Is this the best for ASCII games? I wanted to learn programing but only to do stuff in ASCII, im a huge fan of games like Dwarf Fortress and Rogue =)

[Bisqwit]

@ProjectZeus Definitely one of the easiest approaches, if you don't mind the fact that it's an obsolete platform. For a more modern platform (for ASCII games), I recommend trying Lua or Python.

However, both have the issue that they both run on a wider variety of terminals (i.e. input & output devices) than just a DOS prompt. Line input and text output are trivial, but achieving _colors_ already requires making assumptions on what the program is being run on. Which may or may not be a factor.

[bomovies1]

@blodseker2 те ут Българиа ле се?

[blodseker2]

znam da pisem u programu,al neznam engleski bas najbolje

xDDDDDDDDDD

[blodseker2]

ok.aj me sad nauci :)

[blodseker2]

u r the best!i wont to be like u.ehhh. :(

plz teach me

[Bisqwit]

@InspectorCarnbarn Oh, and also, do note that you need to set up at least one channel as an AdLib channel (such as A1). Otherwise, all of them are PCM channels (such as L1 or R1), and no adlib sounds can be played.

[NoFak3rs]

@ProjectZeus

Pascal is a good language for that as well.

But Basic will be easier to learn.

[brutaka359]

LOL this is something like TRON! xD