"Family fun and sophisticated graphics are built into Peter Berrecloth's two-part two-player game. He's packed a lot into the unexpanded VIC-20"
"Here's
a great family games that defies all the laws of gravity. I have made good use
of the unexpanded VIC-20 by writing Floating Four as a two-part program. Part
one sets up the 60 or so graphics and automatically LOADs the second part. the
graphics are quite effective and could easily be converted for other programs.
The object of Floating Four is to connect a line of four counters in a striaght line - vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Floating Four is a two-player game in which one player uses the joystick and the second uses the keyboard. But only three changes are needed to make it a keyboard-only game - see the hints on conversion section.
To move the counter anti-clockwise around the board, either hit any key or move the joystick. pnce in the desired position, the counter may be dropped either by pressing the space bar or the fire button. The counter will fall in the direction indicated at the bottom of the screen. It will always fall away from the side from which it was dropped and will continue to fall until it meets another counter or the edge of the board.
Scoring and checking is done by the VIC, so it's easy to play. All wins are displayed and the winner always starts the next game. If there is no winner then a random player begins. If no-one can move and a stale-mate occurs, keep on trying to drop a counter. After the warnign has sounded eight times, the board will reset but the scores will remain the same. To reset the scores, press function key one when 'HIT AND KEY TO PLAY' appears.
Note: Ensure that the tape deck is switched off when playing, or the joystick's counter will continue to circle the board."
Designed and Programmed by Pete Berrecloth
VIC 20 3.5K Published by HCW 42 (December 20th 1983 - January 2nd 1984)