Quasar

by: Jonathan Dubman

Publication date: 1983

Topics: Apple II games, Action games

Publisher: Aristotle Software

Language: English

Quasar is a video game for the Apple II computer, created by Jonathan Dubman and published by Aristotle Software in 1983. The game was written in Assembly Language for the 6502 micro processor used in the Apple II.

The object of Quasar is to earn points by surrounding and eliminating your opponents, the "light-cycles". You control an orange line with a "cycle" in front of it that can move up, down, left, or right. Wherever you go, you leave an orange trail.

If you crash into anything, your cycle is "zapped", even if you crash into your own trail.

The other cycles: violet, green, and blue, also move in a similar way. They are just like you except that the computer controls them. Likewise, if they crash into anything, they disappear. They leave trails, too. If one cycle crashes, the others remain until they are trapped and crash, one by one.

To make them disappear, you must restrict the area in which they move by surrounding them. If they get boxed in, they will spiral to their own demise. Don't let them cut off your area and box you in.

Some points are awarded for mere survival, but many more are awarded for such things as eliminating opponent cycles, completing a level, and eating apples, which will be discussed later.

Every 5000 points, you will get a bonus cycle, which means you will get one more chance to play before the game ends.

Apples, After completing the first level, all successive levels will have apples on the screen, colored just like the Apple logo. If you run into an apple, you can earn lots of points. As you eat it, there is a little "bleep" and the apple disappears. The other cycles are not interested in the apples, and will not eat them.
Wormy Apples, As you rise in level, you will soon see some apples that have little worms inside. These apples are POISONOUS and must not be eaten! Watch out, and look carefully.
Balls, Watch out for little, round, white balls that bounce haphazardly about the screen. They are fatal to the touch. Up to four balls can appear on the screen at one time, depending on your level.
The Caterpillar, At level six, a green caterpillar finds his way to your monitor screen and slithers around. Steer clear of this seemingly harmless creature. He gets longer and faster as the game progresses
The Butterfly, The pink butterfly appears after the second ball. He flutters and flies like lightning and will home-in on you, trying to sting you with his venomous bite. Just staying away from him won't do the trick. There are many tricks that you may learn to avoid the butterfly, but you will have to figure them out for yourself. Up to four butterflies can appear, but not until very late in the game.
There are 6 different speeds that the game can be played at. Beginners are best off at the lower speeds (1,2) and experts are best off at the medium speeds (3,4). The upper speeds (5,6) are for daredevils and Apple dealers who want to show how fast Apple's graphics can be.

Every eighth level there is a "bonus board" in which you can earn many bonus points by lasting long and then killing off your opponents. In the bonus board levels, you and your opponents are snakes. You can only last so long before you run out of air.

When all of your cycles crash, the game is over and a finale tune is played. If you then hear 3 sirens, you have a new high score. Type your name, letter by letter and press RETURN. (Wikipedia)

Notes

Disk info for quasar.dsk:

File Name: a2_asimov_quasar/quasar.dsk
Disk Name: DISK VOLUME #254
Physical Size (bytes): 143360
Free Space (bytes): 91136
Used Space (bytes): 52224
Physical Size (KB): 140
Free Space (KB): 89
Used Space (KB): 51
Archive Order: DOS
Disk Format: DOS 3.3
Total Sectors: 560
Free Sectors: 356
Used Sectors: 204
Tracks On Disk: 35
Sectors On Disk: 16

Disk directory for quasar.dsk:

a2_asimov_quasar/quasar.dsk DISK VOLUME #254
* A 010 HELLO
B 130 QUASAR
DOS 3.3 format; 91,136 bytes free; 52,224 bytes used.

Text found in quasar.dsk/HELLO.bas:

10 REM MENU PLUS BY CHARLIE KONG
15 TEXT : ONERR GOTO 500
20 D$ = CHR$(4): PRINT D$;"NOMON C,I,O"
25 DEF FN A(X) = PEEK(X) + PEEK(X +1) *256: DEF FN M(X) = X - INT(X/256) *256
30 I = FN A(175) -460:M = FN A(977) +1485: CALL I: CALL M -162
35 N = PEEK(253):P = PEEK(I +4):Z = PEEK(31)/N:Z = INT(Z) +1 -(Z = INT(Z))
40 A$ = "LETTER=RUN 0=RESTART 1=LOAD 2=LOCK 3=UNLOCK 4=DELETE 5=RENAME 6=VERIFY 7=BSTAT ESC=END... "
45 VTAB 24
50 HTAB 1: PRINT LEFT$(A$,39);:A$ = MID$ (A$,2) + LEFT$(A$,1):K = PEEK( -16384): IF K <128 THEN FOR X = 1 TO 63: NEXT X:K = FRE(0): GOTO 50
55 GOSUB 405: IF K >127 THEN 45
100 B$ = "RUN": HTAB 1: CALL -868: IF K = 0 THEN 30
105 IF K <1 OR K >7 THEN 210
110 PRINT " PRESS 'LETTER' YOU WISH TO ";: IF K = 1 THEN B$ = "LOAD"
115 IF K = 2 THEN B$ = "LOCK"
120 IF K = 3 THEN B$ = "UNLOCK"
125 IF K = 4 THEN B$ = "DELETE": FLASH
130 IF K = 5 THEN B$ = "RENAME"
135 IF K = 6 THEN B$ = "VERIFY"
140 IF K = 7 THEN B$ = "BSTAT"
200 PRINT B$;: CALL -198: NORMAL
205 GOSUB 400: IF K >127 THEN 205
210 IF K <17 OR K -16 > PEEK(31) -N *(P -1) OR K -16 >N THEN 45
215 H = 38 *N *(P -1) +38 *(K -17) + FN A(25)
220 IF PEEK(H +1) = 194 AND (B$ = "RUN" OR B$ = "LOAD") THEN B$ = "B" +B$
225 FOR X = H +6 TO H +36:B$ = B$ + CHR$( PEEK(X)): NEXT X
230 IF LEFT$(B$,2) < >"RE" THEN 255
235 FOR X = H +36 TO H +6 STEP -1: IF PEEK(X) = 160 THEN B$ = LEFT$(B$, LEN(B$) -1): NEXT X
240 HTAB 9: PRINT MID$ (B$,6);: CALL -868
245 HTAB 1: POKE 34,23: POKE 35,1: INPUT "NEW NAME? ";K$: TEXT : IF K$ = "" THEN 45
250 B$ = B$ +"," +K$
255 HTAB 1: CALL -868: PRINT B$;: VTAB 23: PRINT : IF LEFT$(B$,2) < >"BS" THEN PRINT D$;B$: GOTO 30
300 X = M -162: POKE M, FN M(X): POKE M +1, INT(X/256): PRINT D$;"BLOAD"; MID$ (B$,6)
305 VTAB 16: CALL -958: PRINT : PRINT B$: PRINT : PRINT TAB( 10);"DECIMAL"; TAB( 22);"HEX"
310 PRINT "START = ";:X = M +1766: GOSUB 350:Y = X
315 PRINT "LENGTH = ";:X = M +1748: GOSUB 350
320 PRINT "END = ";:X = X +Y -1: GOSUB 355
325 GOTO 525
350 X = FN A(X)
355 POKE 254, FN M(X): POKE 255, INT(X/256)
360 PRINT X; TAB( 22);: CALL I +430
365 PRINT : RETURN
400 K = PEEK( -16384): IF K <128 THEN 400
405 POKE -16368,0: IF K = 155 THEN HTAB 1: CALL -868: PRINT "PROGRAM ENDED": POP : GOTO 535
410 IF K < >136 AND K < >149 THEN K = K -176: GOTO 430
415 IF K = 136 THEN P = P -1: IF P <1 THEN P = Z
420 IF K = 149 THEN P = P +1: IF P >Z THEN P = 1
425 POKE 35,23: POKE 255,P: CALL I +224: TEXT
430 RETURN
500 E = PEEK(222): IF E = 8 AND FN A(218) = 30 THEN CALL I +144: CALL M -162
505 TEXT : VTAB 18: CALL -958: PRINT : PRINT B$: PRINT
510 PRINT "<>"
515 IF E = 0 OR E >15 THEN CALL I +442: GOTO 535
520 X = M +886: POKE 254, FN M(X): POKE 255, INT(X/256): CALL I +437: PRINT
525 IF FN A(M) = M -162 THEN X = M +229: POKE M, FN M(X): POKE M +1, INT(X/256)
530 PRINT : PRINT "PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE";: GOSUB 400: GOSUB 425: GOTO 45
535 POKE 216,0: END