Prepare submission

Makefile

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-all: decman.tap listing.txt
+all: decman.tap listing.txt decman.wav
 
 listing.txt: decman.tap
 	echo "DEC-Man Listing for the 2026 BASIC 10Liner Competition (PUR-80 Category) by mcphail (btl AT mcphail.uk)" > $@
@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@ listing.txt: decman.tap
 decman.tap: pac.bas
 	zmakebas -l -i 1 -s 1 -n DEC-Man -a 1 -o $@ $^
 
+decman.wav: decman.tap
+	tape2wav $^ $@
+
 clean:
-	rm -f *.tap listing.txt
+	rm -f *.tap listing.txt *.wav
 
 .PHONY: all clean

instructions.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+ ___      ___     __        ___ ___   ____  ____  
+|   \    /  _]   /  ]      |   T   T /    T|    \ 
+|    \  /  [_   /  / _____ | _   _ |Y  o  ||  _  Y
+|  D  YY    _] /  / |     ||  \_/  ||     ||  |  |
+|     ||   [_ /   \_l_____j|   |   ||  _  ||  |  |
+|     ||     T\     |      |   |   ||  |  ||  |  |        by mcphail
+l_____jl_____j \____j      l___j___jl__j__jl__j__j           btl AT mcphail.uk
+                                                  
+   - An exciting arcade game for the ZX Spectrum
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+You are DEC-Man and must search the haunted castle for delicious protein pills
+whilst avoiding "Stinky", the terrifying ghost who will ruin your day! Use the
+magical teleporter to zip to the other end of the main corridor to escape his
+spectral clutches. If you survive, you get to come back another day!
+
+---Controls-------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+        Up - "E"
+      Down - "D"
+      Left - "O"
+     Right - "P"
+
+---Features-------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    - Exciting action!
+    - Several colours!
+    - Thrilling* sound!
+    - An intelligent enemy who will hunt you down!
+    - Working teleporter!
+
+    * - not actually thrilling.
+
+---Loading--------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+The "decman.tap" file can be loaded in any standard ZX Spectrum emulator, of
+which there are many. I recommend FUSE, which is available for Windows, Mac
+and Linux. Alternatively, the "decman.wav" file can be played through the tape
+socket of an original ZX Spectrum and loaded with 'LOAD ""' in the usual way.
+The game will auto-run when loaded.
+
+---Listing--------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Press "CAPS-Shift"+"SPACE" (Shift and Space on an emulator) to BREAK into the
+program then type "LIST" (using the 'K' key) then "ENTER" to see the listing.
+It can be seen that all lines are maximum 80 characters. For convenience, a
+full listing is included in the "listing.txt" file which accompanies this
+game. This has been produced using the "listbasic" utility from the FUSE
+suite of tools. Note that line 1 has 4 extra colour-control characters added
+which are represented in the listing as € symbols, to prove the 80-character
+limit has not been exceeded.
+
+---Submission-----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+This game is being submitted for the 2026 BASIC 10Liner competition. It has
+been written by me, mcphail, and is all my own work. No AI has been used in
+the production of this game. I can be reached at "btl AT mcphail.uk".
+
+It uses standard Sinclair BASIC, as shipped on the original 16 and 48K
+ZX Spectrum computers in the UK.
+
+I believe this submission meets all the criteria for the PUR-80 category.
+
+---Notes----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+This game was written in VSCode using my "speccydev" dev container. The source
+code and build system is available at:
+                       https://boarstone.mcphail.uk/mcphail/BASIC10Liner2026 .
+I used the "zmakebas" utility to build the code into the .tap file.
+
+Sinclair BASIC is a poor choice for this competition due to its verbose
+keyword structure, and the Spectrum is a tricky target as there are no subtle
+ways to print characters to the screen without using lengthy "PRINT" commands.
+Furthermore, there is no "ELSE" keyword so an "IF...THEN" construct
+effectively ends a line. On the other hand, "DATA" statements can be placed
+anywhere in the program and function definitions can be made before or after
+the function is actually called. This allows the creative programmer to move
+some data and logic to the dead spaces at the end of lines.
+
+I only use 2 "IF...THEN" statements in the program. Most of the logic is
+constructed using boolean comparisons as part of "LET" assignments. This saves
+a little space and prevents premature line closure.
+
+Most of the graphics are created by POKEing the screen attribute area to make
+coloured blocks. It isn't pretty, but it is character-efficient and the
+squares can be PEEKed for collision detection.
+
+Lines 1-3 create the play board. The coordinates of the walls in the upper-
+left quadrant are read in and mirrored to the other 3 quadrants. As there was
+a little spare space in these lines, the defined function "b" is located here.
+This will be described later.
+
+Line 4 creates the teleport squares and starts the main game loop.
+
+Line 5 reads the keyboard input. If a direction key is pressed, it uses
+defined function "a" to check if that direction does not contain a wall and
+sets the new intended character direction if that is the case. Line 6 will
+keep the player going in the original direction if there has not been a valid
+change in direction.
+
+Line 7 teleports the player to the other end of the main corridor if they are
+on the teleport square and prints the player at the new location.
+
+Line 8 will move the ghost up or down to match the player's row if there is no
+wall in the way. If the ghost cannot move up or down, it will try to move left
+or right towards the player (calling defined function "b" to do this as there
+was no space left on this line), again if there is no wall in the way. The
+algorithm is a bit 'loose', which creates emergent behaviour where the ghost
+will sometimes branch away from a pursuit and try to head-off the player at
+the next corner, which is quite fun!
+
+Line 9 will cause the ghost to back up a square if it cannot move towards the
+player due to walls. This keeps the ghost in motion at all times. A check is
+made for a player-ghost collision and the game restarted if that is the case.
+
+Line 10 increments the pill counter if one has been eaten, and either restarts
+the game loop or plays the victory sound if the board has been cleared. The
+defined function "a" is stuck on the end here, and is used multiple times in
+the program to check for wall collisions by player or ghost.
+
+DEC-Man is, of course, a play on Pacman and "DEC" for "10", in the spirit of
+the competition.
+
+---Have fun and thanks for the opportunity to make this!----------------------