#classic-games — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

popgeeks.com @[email protected] · 2026-09-04 · 21:24 UTC

SNES JRPG Terranigma To Be Released In The US For The First Time https://popgeeks.com/snes-jrpg-terranigma-to-be-released-in-the-us-for-the-first-time/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #Terranigma #SNES #JRPG #VideoGames #ClassicGames

#terranigma #snes #jrpg #videogames #classicgames

popgeeks.com @[email protected] · 2026-09-04 · 21:24 UTC

SNES JRPG Terranigma To Be Released In The US For The First Time https://popgeeks.com/snes-jrpg-terranigma-to-be-released-in-the-us-for-the-first-time/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #Terranigma #SNES #JRPG #VideoGames #ClassicGames

#terranigma #snes #jrpg #videogames #classicgames

popgeeks.com @[email protected] · 2026-09-04 · 21:24 UTC

SNES JRPG Terranigma To Be Released In The US For The First Time https://popgeeks.com/snes-jrpg-terranigma-to-be-released-in-the-us-for-the-first-time/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #Terranigma #SNES #JRPG #VideoGames #ClassicGames

#classicgames #videogames #jrpg #snes #terranigma

Ramin Honary @[email protected] · 2026-08-31 · 01:55 UTC

@jhlagado was saying most software engineers can point to a computer game they played as a child that inspired them to learn everything about computer programming, he asked us (me and @screwlisp and @alexshendi ) what game that might be for us.

For me it was Scarab of Ra, an early Macintosh game from 1987. Nowadays it would be classified as a 2.5D first-person turn-based rogue-like with an ancient Egyptian theme… (Are all rogue-likes turn-based?) Anyway, you explore a procedurally-generated maze, collect items you need to proceed to the next level, and fight monsters that appear at random times (lions, mummies, etc.) You get hungry and need to find food, your lamp can break and your vision can be obscured by darkness. You are in a pyramid so each next level grows the maze. You can sometimes find a map in each level which presents an overhead view of the maze, but you must otherwise navigate maze as you see it rendered in a first-person view.

I tried to recreate this game in Microsoft QuickBasic for the Macintosh. I remember poring over the manual (this book here), and how excited it made me whenever I discovered a function or feature I could use in my program. To this day, when I start learning a new programming language or framework, I like to look through the API reference and try to guess, just from the name of the functions, what I can do with it, just like I did when I was a kid with this QuickBasic manual.

Nowadays, after decades of professional software engineering experience, I could probably recreate this game in Microsoft QuickBasic without difficulty. But at the time I came to believe that QuickBasic was too limited and sought advice from others on how I could write my game. Some of my fellow computer nerds at school pointed me in the direction of C++. I tried first with Semantic C++ (my parents actually bought me a copy as a Christmas gift) and then a few years later, with Metrowerks C++ which came free on CD-ROM with the purchase of a software catalog. So C++ was the second programming language I learned. I skipped over C, only learning it later on.

It was hard, because living in a small town in the middle of nowhere, USA, there were no adults I knew who I could ask for help. I remember giving up and coming back to it several times. In retrospect, I should have sought out computer enthusiast groups at the university or the local library, but that never occurred to me or my parents. Eventually I started learning from the Internet as well, once we actually had access to the Internet. So I was completely self-taught, until I went to college myself and got some formal training in software engineering.

(CC @mdhughes ) https://archive.org/details/ScarabOfRaMacintosh

#tech #software #retrocomputing #ClassicGames #RogueLike #Macintosh #AppleComputers

#applecomputers #classicgames #macintosh #roguelike #retrocomputing #software

Ramin Honary @[email protected] · 2026-08-31 · 01:55 UTC

@jhlagado was saying most software engineers can point to a computer game they played as a child that inspired them to learn everything about computer programming, he asked us (me and @screwlisp and @alexshendi ) what game that might be for us.

For me it was Scarab of Ra, an early Macintosh game from 1987. Nowadays it would be classified as a 2.5D first-person turn-based rogue-like with an ancient Egyptian theme… (Are all rogue-likes turn-based?) Anyway, you explore a procedurally-generated maze, collect items you need to proceed to the next level, and fight monsters that appear at random times (lions, mummies, etc.) You get hungry and need to find food, your lamp can break and your vision can be obscured by darkness. You are in a pyramid so each next level grows the maze. You can sometimes find a map in each level which presents an overhead view of the maze, but you must otherwise navigate maze as you see it rendered in a first-person view.

I tried to recreate this game in Microsoft QuickBasic for the Macintosh. I remember poring over the manual (this book here), and how excited it made me whenever I discovered a function or feature I could use in my program. To this day, when I start learning a new programming language or framework, I like to look through the API reference and try to guess, just from the name of the functions, what I can do with it, just like I did when I was a kid with this QuickBasic manual.

Nowadays, after decades of professional software engineering experience, I could probably recreate this game in Microsoft QuickBasic without difficulty. But at the time I came to believe that QuickBasic was too limited and sought advice from others on how I could write my game. Some of my fellow computer nerds at school pointed me in the direction of C++. I tried first with Semantic C++ (my parents actually bought me a copy as a Christmas gift) and then a few years later, with Metrowerks C++ which came free on CD-ROM with the purchase of a software catalog. So C++ was the second programming language I learned. I skipped over C, only learning it later on.

It was hard, because living in a small town in the middle of nowhere, USA, there were no adults I knew who I could ask for help. I remember giving up and coming back to it several times. In retrospect, I should have sought out computer enthusiast groups at the university or the local library, but that never occurred to me or my parents. Eventually I started learning from the Internet as well, once we actually had access to the Internet. So I was completely self-taught, until I went to college myself and got some formal training in software engineering.

(CC @mdhughes ) https://archive.org/details/ScarabOfRaMacintosh

#tech #software #retrocomputing #ClassicGames #RogueLike #Macintosh #AppleComputers

#applecomputers #classicgames #macintosh #roguelike #retrocomputing #software

Ramin Honary @[email protected] · 2026-08-31 · 01:55 UTC

@jhlagado was saying most software engineers can point to a computer game they played as a child that inspired them to learn everything about computer programming, he asked us (me and @screwlisp and @alexshendi ) what game that might be for us.

For me it was Scarab of Ra, an early Macintosh game from 1987. Nowadays it would be classified as a 2.5D first-person turn-based rogue-like with an ancient Egyptian theme… (Are all rogue-likes turn-based?) Anyway, you explore a procedurally-generated maze, collect items you need to proceed to the next level, and fight monsters that appear at random times (lions, mummies, etc.) You get hungry and need to find food, your lamp can break and your vision can be obscured by darkness. You are in a pyramid so each next level grows the maze. You can sometimes find a map in each level which presents an overhead view of the maze, but you must otherwise navigate maze as you see it rendered in a first-person view.

I tried to recreate this game in Microsoft QuickBasic for the Macintosh. I remember poring over the manual (this book here), and how excited it made me whenever I discovered a function or feature I could use in my program. To this day, when I start learning a new programming language or framework, I like to look through the API reference and try to guess, just from the name of the functions, what I can do with it, just like I did when I was a kid with this QuickBasic manual.

Nowadays, after decades of professional software engineering experience, I could probably recreate this game in Microsoft QuickBasic without difficulty. But at the time I came to believe that QuickBasic was too limited and sought advice from others on how I could write my game. Some of my fellow computer nerds at school pointed me in the direction of C++. I tried first with Semantic C++ (my parents actually bought me a copy as a Christmas gift) and then a few years later, with Metrowerks C++ which came free on CD-ROM with the purchase of a software catalog. So C++ was the second programming language I learned. I skipped over C, only learning it later on.

It was hard, because living in a small town in the middle of nowhere, USA, there were no adults I knew who I could ask for help. I remember giving up and coming back to it several times. In retrospect, I should have sought out computer enthusiast groups at the university or the local library, but that never occurred to me or my parents. Eventually I started learning from the Internet as well, once we actually had access to the Internet. So I was completely self-taught, until I went to college myself and got some formal training in software engineering.

(CC @mdhughes ) https://archive.org/details/ScarabOfRaMacintosh

#tech #software #retrocomputing #ClassicGames #RogueLike #Macintosh #AppleComputers

#tech #software #retrocomputing #roguelike #macintosh #classicgames

Ramin Honary @[email protected] · 2026-08-31 · 01:55 UTC

@jhlagado was saying most software engineers can point to a computer game they played as a child that inspired them to learn everything about computer programming, he asked us (me and @screwlisp and @alexshendi ) what game that might be for us.

For me it was Scarab of Ra, an early Macintosh game from 1987. Nowadays it would be classified as a 2.5D first-person turn-based rogue-like with an ancient Egyptian theme… (Are all rogue-likes turn-based?) Anyway, you explore a procedurally-generated maze, collect items you need to proceed to the next level, and fight monsters that appear at random times (lions, mummies, etc.) You get hungry and need to find food, your lamp can break and your vision can be obscured by darkness. You are in a pyramid so each next level grows the maze. You can sometimes find a map in each level which presents an overhead view of the maze, but you must otherwise navigate maze as you see it rendered in a first-person view.

I tried to recreate this game in Microsoft QuickBasic for the Macintosh. I remember poring over the manual (this book here), and how excited it made me whenever I discovered a function or feature I could use in my program. To this day, when I start learning a new programming language or framework, I like to look through the API reference and try to guess, just from the name of the functions, what I can do with it, just like I did when I was a kid with this QuickBasic manual.

Nowadays, after decades of professional software engineering experience, I could probably recreate this game in Microsoft QuickBasic without difficulty. But at the time I came to believe that QuickBasic was too limited and sought advice from others on how I could write my game. Some of my fellow computer nerds at school pointed me in the direction of C++. I tried first with Semantic C++ (my parents actually bought me a copy as a Christmas gift) and then a few years later, with Metrowerks C++ which came free on CD-ROM with the purchase of a software catalog. So C++ was the second programming language I learned. I skipped over C, only learning it later on.

It was hard, because living in a small town in the middle of nowhere, USA, there were no adults I knew who I could ask for help. I remember giving up and coming back to it several times. In retrospect, I should have sought out computer enthusiast groups at the university or the local library, but that never occurred to me or my parents. Eventually I started learning from the Internet as well, once we actually had access to the Internet. So I was completely self-taught, until I went to college myself and got some formal training in software engineering.

(CC @mdhughes ) https://archive.org/details/ScarabOfRaMacintosh

#tech #software #retrocomputing #ClassicGames #RogueLike #Macintosh #AppleComputers

#applecomputers #classicgames #macintosh #roguelike #retrocomputing #software