BDS Software




When I was a kid ... Well, um, No. ... When I was a kid, personal computers hadn't even been invented yet.

(Ahem)... When I was a young adult ... Well, um, No. ... When I was a young adult, you still couldn't have a personal computer; not unless you built your own from a pocket full of components, or unless you built a kit like the Imsai 8080.

(Sigh)... When I was middle aged (I was 40 in 1985) if some kids wanted to play a game on the computer, they first had to develop and write the game themselves. Desire (if not necessity) was indeed the mother of invention.

This was true for kids of all ages (including middle aged kids of 40 or more) and, not infrequently, the fun of developing and writing the game exceeded the fun of playing the game.

As technology advanced, the games became faster and faster-paced, with exotic graphics and animation, and with lots of gratuitous violence. But, even then, there were still games that required you to stop and think, and to carefully plan your strategy and tactics. It was those kind of games that I appreciated more than any others.

Today, many kids play video games; quick RPGs (Role Playing Games), FPSs (First-Person Shooters), and other tests of daring and hand-eye coordination; all of which is good. But, they're not developing the deep-thinking muscles they'll need to become true computer professionals; individuals who love their jobs because of the joy of the challenge and the satisfaction of accomplishment.

So, now being retired after 30 years as an Engineer, followed by 10 years as an IT Consultant, I've decided to build games, puzzles, simulations, and other software to both entertain and challenge the minds of my grandchildren (and yours too).

But I'm not just developing and writing these games and other software, I'm also exposing all the code so you can see how I designed it and put it together *, and can hopefully learn some things that will help you design and build your own games and other software. This code is all free for your using (See the New Software License).

I don't pretend to be a perfect programmer. In fact, some of my code may even be rather inefficient in spots. But it pretty much all works (if you spot any bugs, please let me know so I can make repairs).

If you're a kid beginning to explore coding (or if you're a parent or grandparent who wants to make some mind-bending games to challenge your kids and grandchildren), I hope what I'm providing here will be at least a little helpful.


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What's New?

      As of 2024/07/06: Updated the Raspberry Pi Magazine Database. See the Databases page.

      As of 2024/04/21: Color Computer Games: Malky's Warren 1.0.1 and Bippi's Cave 0.0.1 (A Work in Progress) have been added to the CoCo page. Also added are Printer Operations Routines for the ML Foundation System, as well as Three Simple Little Tools to Ease MLF False Disk Linear Sector Checking, and some Preliminary Thoughts on a Stack Engine.

            Enjoy!

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If you wish, you can also visit my Theology site.

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M. David Johnson
info@bds-soft.com
2023/11/28



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*You can see much of the code on a page simply by right-clicking the page, and then clicking on "View Source" (in Firefox; other browsers are similar).

    Some of the mechanical page-control code is hidden because that hiddeness makes that code re-usable on many pages. I make copies of that code available in text files for your convenience.

You can go explore that code here.


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SECURITY AND PERSONAL PRIVACY NOTE:

If your browser is telling you this site is not secure, be sure to use "https://" instead of just "http://".

Also, this site doesn't collect or store any information about you whatsoever.

Nor does it place any cookies of any kind on your machine at any time.

In fact, if you're visiting this website, I have no idea who you are, and I never will; unless you specifically tell me.

I certainly would appreciate your thoughts and ideas!

So, if you WANT me to know who you are, please go to my Contact Page and send me an email.


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