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A Modern Day '101 Basic Computer Games'?

Posted by Cliff on from the encouraging-tomorrows-coders dept.

pcraven asks: "Back when I learned how to program, I found a book called 101 Basic Computer Games by David H. Ahl. This book had a lot of simple programs that I could type into the Apple //e. It made programming interesting. I'm not sure I would have started a career in programming without it. Today I haven't found any recent equivalent to this book. I want a bunch of sample computer games that students can program that they will find fun and interesting. Something that a CompSci 101 graduate could type in and run. Does anyone know of a book or web site like this?"

7 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. try the Blender GameKit by 286 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I would recommend The Official Blender GameKit for 3d games.

    1. Re:try the Blender GameKit by JohnFluxx · · Score: 3, Informative

      Or perhaps pygame.

      I intend on getting my brother (20) to learn programming with this.

  2. Re:Children's programming books have also vanished by crisco · · Score: 3, Informative
    Add Flash to your Javascript/HTML equation. Sure, it sucks, but then again, so did Basic.

    While lots of people designing stuff in Flash are wannabe graphics artists, some of them are digging into the ActionScript and are learning some programming skills. There are a few sites out there with countless little flash apps that are nothing more than simple programming exercises and simple little games. Check out Orisinal, although the art is as good as the programming in this case.

    --

    Bleh!

  3. Re:Children's programming books have also vanished by bhtooefr · · Score: 3, Informative

    An updated LOGO type of language with 3d graphics instead of turtles, that might inspire interest again.

    Well, you still have a turtle (but you can change it's graphic), but MSWLogo has 3D support (however, much of the 3d stuff needs some CPU power - your generic old P75 rig won't work very well), and it's GPL to boot.

  4. Many Options . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
    The book "Programming in Scheme" by Mark Watson would be a decent modern equivalent -- it doesn't focus on games, but the example programs are not the usual boring stuff: http://www.markwatson.com/books/.


    A lot of the adolescent code-diddling scene has moved to php and cgi scripts.

  5. two that weren't mentioned by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    for java see:
    http://www.robocode.net/
    this assumes you have java set up properly on
    your system and allows you to program the action
    of 2D tank-like robots which can move, fire, and
    use radar - I don't know if other graphics are
    possible, but you can go nuts trying to find
    and program optimal fighting tactics

    Runtime Revolution from:
    http://www.runrev.com/index_uk.html
    this has a free evaluation edition but costs
    $100-up for a licensed commercial edition - it
    can do pretty amazing stuff - its sort of like a
    cross-platform Visual Basic - it has its own
    scripting language - the scripts can be compiled
    to stand-alone executables for windows,linux,unix
    - it does pretty general GUI
    programming and sprite graphics - you sort of have
    to download it, do the tutorials, and play with it
    to see what it is and believe it - if you join
    the mailing list, expect 70-100 postings/day.

  6. Re:That's not the book I remember.... by almightyjustin · · Score: 2, Informative

    All three of those were in the sequel "More BASIC Computer Games", which is also on that site. ;)

    --

    Omnes arx vestrum sunt adiuncta nobis.