



TI994a

In 1980, before the Texas Home computer was released, I registered with TI as a developer. From 1980-1983 I developed primarily game programs for the TI994a.





Cory Burr has written a very good simulator for the TI994a Win994s that runs on almost any PC. All of my games run well on the latest version v3.008. Others have converted many of the TI disks and Cartridges to PC files that the emulator can load.





Download Simulator Bursoft Win994a download



I stumbled upon SubOceanic on http://www.tigameshelf.net/ which is managed by Walid Maalouli. He had converted a version of one of my programs into a format that could be run on the Bursoft Win994a simulator. I downloaded the simulator and the Suboceanic and found it ran very well.

It was quite a nostalgic trip. I had published this program as "Bang Bang Sub" thru my own company Data Force Corporation in 1983. This SubOceanic version was submitted to TI thru the developers program for publishing in a cartridge. TI never published it and by 1985 TI was in trouble with its Home Computer and losing a lot of money.



TI fans might remember I had 3 arcade games on the TI994a.



Published by Data Force Incorporated. Bang Bang Sub, Space Station I, Kippy's NightMare



If you do download the simulator and SubOceanic, do to a quirk the download has an extension of .dsk which must be changed to .tidisk to run with the Win994a simulator.



Execute Simulator, Cart menu insert TI Extended Basic, Disk menu insert floppy SubOcean. Pressing any key should bring up simulated cartridge menu.



Use Caps on and S,W,E,R,F,C,X,D keys to control sub and enter to fire.



I contacted Walid Maalouli at togameshelf.net and have sent him my other games, which he says he will convert and post online.



Much of the TI software isn’t competitive today, and some wasn’t competitive in 1982. BUT I believe my games were competitive to major arcade games of that area, and while they are DATED they are still competitive to many of the Java games being published today.



I had been wondering ho long to hold on to this old stuff and the old hardware to run it, now it is available in simulation guess I can clean out my closet.











SubOceanic Download

Thanks to Walid Maalouli at http://www.tigameshelf.net/ for converting

If you use win994a change suffix to .TiDisk and place in the Bursoft/Disks directory.



Kippy Download



Download Space Station I

>

Download Simulator Bursoft Win994a download



> Download Simulator



COMPUTE! ISSUE 39 / AUGUST 1983 / PAGE 132

Space Station I For The TI





Tony Roberts, Assistant Managing Editor





Space Station I mixes the sprite movement and sound abilities of the TI-99/4A with an interesting space-attack scenario to produce a fluid and challenging arcade-quality game.





The program, available on disk or cassette from Data Force, requires that your TI be equipped with Extended BASIC and extra memory.











The action takes place in the year 2020. An invisible alien force has attacked and defeated a secret military outpost orbiting Saturn, and has turned its attention to Earth, which you must defend. The battle at Saturn, however, took its toll on the alien force, weakening its fire-power, damaging its tactical computers, and making its drones visible 99 percent of the time.





Once the battle began, the Saturn outpost lasted only 34 seconds, but during that time, the station's tactical defense computer was able to transmit information back to Earth. The computer's report, which is printed in the instruction pamphlet, includes clues for developing the strategy you'll need to stave off the attackers.







Watch Battle On Scanner





On your scanner screen, you see Space Station I, orbiting quietly. Two green boxes are drawn around it. Press ENTER, and the sprite display begins. The alien drones, attacking in groups of three, swoop in; misguided missiles and bombs fly past; an orange alien command ship may appear from out of nowhere.





Using the keyboard or a joystick, you bring your target beam into play. Place it over an alien ship or missile and fire a torpedo. The torpedo, which is released from the bottom of the screen, flies to the point designated by the target beam and detonates. The beam can be moved to a new target before the first torpedo detonates.





Most of the alien missiles are harmless. Those released by the drone ships or the command ship, however, are not. Your main concern is stopping the drones. They attack in groups of three, and sometimes hide off the edges of the screen. You'll learn to listen for the characteristic sound that tells you the drones are nearby.





The drones will fire only from within the inner green boundary, and once a missile is fired, the drones are helpless until the missile hits Space Station I or flies past the boundary area. If a missile is off course, it is best to attack the drones while they are helpless, then drop back on defense. Your station can survive five hits before the game ends.

The green targeting beam is used to zero in on the aliens in Space Station I.





The Command Ship





Your other concern, the command ship, has neither lost its invisibility nor its long-range firing ability. It must become visible to launch an attack, but after it fires, it disappears again. The command ship's foghorn-like sound, however, is its weakness. When you hear it coming, search for it with your targeting beam (you'll see its shadow if you find it), and fire.

Space Station I starts out rather slowly, giving you a chance to find your way around. But with each 10,000 points you accumulate, the aliens step up the attack. If you manage to accumulate 100,000 points, your hit counter will be reset to one, giving you four chances to play at high speed.





To play the game successfully, you'll have to develop a sound strategy, and you'll have to be capable of reacting to assaults from all parts of the screen. It's quite a challenge.





Space Station I

Data Force Incorporated



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Labels: Data Force Incorporated, Dominic J Melfi, ti994a