Angel Martin - Classic Games Documentation Part 2 - PDF FOCAL Games

[Gene]

107 FOCAL games and documentation included in the attached PDF. A couple of the games included **assume** rom calls to routines that are in the games roms in the 41CL library, so those need to be amended. The HP 67 FUN rom games should also be included, but have not yet.

Thanks Angel!


From the introduction:

his compilation includes a large amount of information on the subject of Games for the HP- 41. Most of the games described here (and then some more!) are included in one of the Games Modules available in the CL Library; you can refer to the CL Modules Reference section for a relationship of the specific programs of interest.

The sources of the material included are very diverse: HP Museum, ***** Archive, PPC Calculator Journal, Data File Issues, Prisma Magazine, HP User program Library, Swap Disks (that huge heap of mostly undocumented stuff...), and finally different individual contributors’ web sites. Collecting all this material hasn’t been trivial, and necessarily introduces small inconsistencies in form and structure – but nevertheless the descriptions should be sufficient for a working implementation of the games.

The compilation is divided into three main sections, plus a final CL module reference as detailed below. You can use the hyperlinks to go directly to your area of interest, or use the index in the next pages to access the individual program.

1. MCODE Games
2. FOCALGames
3. Adventure Games
4. CLModulesReference

With the exception of the Adventure games (a class on their own for obvious reasons), there’s no category, subject, topic or other criteria used to structure the compilation (Brain teasers, Casino, Puzzles, Board, Mazes, Simulations, etc). Broadly speaking, the games are structured in a “from more simple to more complex” sequence. This of course is not the same as “from worse to better”, as this is largely a personal choice. Some of the most enjoyable games are small in size but require quick reflexes; and conversely some of the more elaborate simulations are a tad too long and the player may become disinterested after a few runs.

The way original authors documented their programs varies immensely, some are really minimalistic in the sketches, whereas others use a more verbose description of the game instructions with prolific program details.

So all in all, here you have a comprehensive representation of the Games on the HP-41 platform that can provide many days of enjoyment to the user. At the very least, it should contribute by providing easy access to a ton of documentation only available using obscure sources difficult to locate.