t.

The graphics are good for this type of game and the sounds are more than acceptable, I think it would be asking too much for a sound track to play
along with the game play, as I would think the machine is already maxed out displaying all the graphics! the question is does it really need a
soundtrack, Slap on a cd turn out the lights and then the TV sound up to
loud and your all set!

A brief information screen appears once at the start, then after you press
fire your launched straight into the game, once all live are lost you just start again , no menu screen is shown on subsequent starts of the game.
The gameplay is just as good as the game itself! You just have the right amount of hardness curve (if that's the right term) truly the standards bar
has been lifted some way with this release!

Program file:
github.com/SvenMichaelKlose/pulse/blob/master/pulse.prg?raw=true

Source code:
github.com/SvenMichaelKlose/pulse

SCORES

Graphics: 7/10
colourful and incredibly speedy
Sounds: 6/10
just in game shots and explosions
but fitting for the game
Gameplay: 9/10
wow
Overall: 8.5/10
unbelievably quick game for the VIC

SUMMARY

Wow this is an unbelievably quick game for the unexpanded VIC, one or two
small glitches, but the speed and playability of the game are just unbelievable, a must have download for any VIC user



*************************************
REVIEW: PANICMAN
For the VIC 20
By Commodore Free
*************************************

Name: Panicman
Authors: Dane Bills,
Jeff Messner
Released: March 2, 2014
Requirements: VIC20 with +3k or +8k,
joystick (developed on
NTSC)

Description: A maze game clone of a well known 80s game written in
assembly

INFORMATION

Both versions should load and you can type 'run' from the basic prompt
after loading. e.g.: load "panicman3k.prg",8

There is no difference between the 3k and 8k version other than a splash
screen to show the authors on the 8k. I just thought it might be nice to
have the 8k executable for someone to run on the real iron if they didn't
have a 3k cartridge. The 3K has received the most testing on real
hardware.

+3k version:

drive.google.com/file/d/0B0VOPYWAvrJHZjJBQW1uVWVYcDg/edit?usp=sharing

+8k version:

drive.google.com/file/d/0B0VOPYWAvrJHSHhBd0hJbHg5RE0/edit?usp=sharing

discussion thread:

sleepingelephant.com/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6870

So then pack man, just for the one person who doesn't know, you are a
yellow man and must collect dots, you must avoid the ghosts if you touch
them they will kill you, the larger dots turn the ghost blue so you can eat them.

Right, well not much to add really a very competent version for the VIC,
with just a 3k expansion, it's all here; the secret break in the maze to
shoot off one side and return on the other, and the fruits that appear in
the lower of the screen to boost your score. The ghosts are a little on
the dim side in logic, but that means more playtime if your not very
dextrous or nimble on the joystick. The graphics are very faithful to the original and the sounds take you back to the 80` all over again, (not sure
if that's a good or bad thing really, flashbacks of mullets are affecting
my judgement)

Well executed, you sort of start thinking "what's happening on the VIC with
the community" the amount of software appearing it's amazing, both in the quality, playability and the dedicated programmers showing the machine is
far from dead.

This version is fast and almost glitch free, I am just amazed at the
quality and can't wait to see what releases will be churned out for the VIC next, I think if you sat someone down and said you're playing the Commodore
64 version, I don't think anyone would notice!

SCORING

Graphics: 9/10
faithful to the original
Sounds: 9/10
again faithful to the original
Gameplay: 8/10
maybe just a touch to easy
Overall: 9/10
very faithful conversion

SUMMARY

Wow what can I say a faithful version of Pacman on the VIC, with the fruits
and secret tunnels to either side of the screen. Brilliant, an almost a perfect conversion.



*************************************
THE ASSEMBLY LINE
$02: Binary Numbers
By Bert Novilla (satpro)
*************************************

Last time out we looked at the hardware registers in the 65x family of processors. Today we will discuss the format your computer expects all
code and data to be encoded with - binary. Knowing the fundamental
structure of a byte is absolutely invaluable, and you will want to know how
to fluently read, write, and convert to (and from) binary format in order
to be successful writing programs in assembly language. If binary numbers
are new or seem confusing, then today's topic is for you.

THE POWER OF 2

When we talk of numbering systems it is crucial to remember that the CPU
uses numbers in binary format exclusively; that is, the CPU understands
only binary digits 0 and 1. No fractions, no number 2. And that's it.
The CPU understands the binary format and moves data around between memory
and devices using this format. There. See? That's all there is to the
world of Binary.

In this binary world everything is always exactly one of two ways - on or
off, enabled or disabled, high or low, true or false, set or reset - it is
this one simple fact which will factor into every programming choice you
make - ever. Other programming languages deal with this fact, too, and
have developed concepts such as if-then, for-next, case, and so on, but
these concepts represent many instructions encoded in binary format and
placed in a coherent order for the CPU to execute with expected results.
The concepts are meant to make a programmer's life easier. In assembly language you are working with the computer at a much more fundamental level
- the bit, nybble, byte, and flag level - and the CPU expects all data to
be in binary format. For you the assembly language programmer, if-then statements become a series of loads, stores, loops, comparisons, branches,
and flags.

THE BIT

A basic unit of measurement in the computer world is the byte. While this
is true, a byte is actually made up of something smaller still - a set of 8 individual components called bits. Bits are simple on/off switches. The
state of any bit is always either set (= 1) or reset (= 0). You write a
binary number just as you write a decimal number; that is, least
significant digit on the right, all larger digits to the left. The
difference is, in binary you only have two digits -> 0 and 1.

THE BYTE

An 8-bit CPU such as the 6502 is called an 8-bit processor because it is
able to process eight data lines at a time, or in programming terms,
process one byte of data (eight individual bits, each connected in parallel
to the computer's data bus, together representing a byte). The byte is the standard frame of reference in programming. Although individual bits are sub-parts of a byte, they are not directly addressable, and are instead manipulated in the A Register using specialized instructions such as OR,
AND, EOR, and others. An entire byte is moved to or from memory at a time,
so all eight bits go at once.

THE WORD

The 6502 needs to make two separate memory accesses in order to modify a
16-bit value (aka word). It only knows 8-bit quantities, so a double byte
must be attended to as two individual bytes working together as a single
16-bit entity. Addition and subtraction instructions rely heavily on the
state of the Carry flag in a multi-byte operation.

The 65816 can access 16 bits, or two bytes, per memory access. The first
byte, commonly called the low byte, contains the lower 8 bits, while the
byte directly after, aka the high byte, contains the upper 8 bits. So,
it's two adjacent bytes, 8-bits each, with least significant byte first in memory (even though we write numbers high-byte first in source code). Each more significa

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