Here's a small sampling of QuickBasic 4.5 programs. QB 4.5 can now be found here. Many of these also work in QBasic (which used to come with DOS and early versions of Windows). The ones that don't work in QBasic usually just require a simple hack for mouse support: by adding this "int86old" function: moushack.txt. I selected programs that have the most historical value to me, and also ones that are easiest to explain. I had to apply small hacks to some programs to make them run well on current hardware. When doing this, it destroys the original file date. In the following chart, I have done my best to find the original file dates, or the time when the program was fully implemented on the hardware it was designed for.
Download all QB programs here:
KENSQB.ZIP (155,484 bytes, 12/28/2006)
| Filename: | Date: | Requires: | Description: |
| GUESSER.BAS | 04/23/1989 | - | Yet another number guessing game with bells & whistles. |
| ONO.BAS | 07/30/1989 | - | Uno-99 card game simulator (originally developed on HP Series 200). |
| ATOMS.BAS | 10/22/1989 | - | This atom simulator helped me study for chemistry class (originally developed on HP Series 200). |
| TICTAC.BAS | 10/22/1989 | - | Tic-tac-toe game with computer AI written the long way. Use keypad to move. |
| IMPOSQUE.BAS | 11/10/1989 | - | A silly game with impossible questions.. years ahead of "Deal or No Deal" : ) |
| BOWL.BAS | 11/24/1989 | - | A bowling game, based on a similar game I saw on the Apple II. |
| SNATCH.BAS | 12/09/1989 | - | Protect the garden! Blow away squirrels, etc.. sorry, no graphics : P Inspired by my dad's gardening hobby. |
| MONOP.BAS | 12/23/1989 | - | Monopoly board game (originally developed on HP Series 200). |
| SLIME.BAS | 01/13/1990 | - | Interesting animation - no interactivity. All done with code. |
| GOLF.BAS | 01/20/1990 | QB 4.5 | A 2D minigolf game. Press space bar 3 times to swing. The 2nd press controls distance. Hit a 3rd time when the swing meter crosses the top of the blue for best direction. |
| XGAME.BAS | 02/18/1990 | - | Solitaire board game: pick up points then touch the end. Controls: Arrows:ESDX, Diagonals:WRZC. |
| HUNTMNST.BAS | 03/20/1990? | - | Clone of Hunt the Wumpus on TI-99 4/a. Use Arrows to move; Space+Arrow to shoot. |
| MONEY.BAS | 0?/??/1990 | QB 4.5 | A silly game where you must pick up money before the monster does. Control fully with mouse (no buttons). Always exit room to the right. (originally developed on HP Series 200) |
| SEARCH.BAS | 07/12/1990? | - | Find the treasure: a PC equipped with VGA graphics! (Sorry, Mac users..) Oddly enough, this is a clone of a similar game I saw on the Apple II! |
| LOGO.BAS | 08/21/1990? | QB 4.5 | My first programming environment! Based on logo from the Apple II, this supports most of the fundamental syntax, including 'repeat' and sub-functions. It also has a built-in text editor! (Press Alt+F to toggle text editor). |
| HANGMAN.BAS | 02/14/1991 | - | Hangman game to help study word lists for english class. |
| SURVIVE.BAS | 08/09/1991? | - | 7th grade english project: a text adventure based on the book "Island of the Blue Dolphins". Originally written on the Kaypro II. When it came time to demo my project, I forgot the secret code! (which btw, is 'K','J','S') Use capital E,S,D,X as arrows to move. |
| WASTER.BAS | 08/28/1991 | - | Text adventure with grid. Type '0' to get past the initial prompt. The rest should be self-explanatory. (originally written on Kaypro II, then HP Series 200, then PC) |
| TREAS.BAS | 06/27/1992? | - | Treasure hunt text adventure originally written on Kaypro II (1985-6?). Use E,S,D,X to move. (added graphics when porting to PC) |
| SNAKE.BAS | 06/27/1993 | - | Smooth panning vertical scoller in text! Runs best fullscreen. Controls: Arrows&Space or Left/Right shift. This is a clone of an old game I saw on the Apple II. |
| KPIPE.BAS | 11/20/1993 | - | Pipe dream clone. Press 'K' to begin the game. Using any other key will result in a very short game! : P |
| HARDMAZE.BAS | 12/10/1993 | QB 4.5 | High resolution maze generator. Uses VESA driver. Navigate with arrows. Press Space bar to show solution, and Enter to re-generate maze. |
| POOL.BAS | 05/15/1994 | QB 4.5 | A buggy 2D pool simulator, inspired by my stay in Texas. |
| CUBES.BAS | 12/28/1994 | - | An early test program for what later became the Cubes5 engine. |
| ANTIX.BAS | 04/06/1995? | - | A clone of an old game made by the same guys who created tetris. |
| SHORPATH.BAS | 07/30/1996 | QB 4.5 | Find the shortest path between 2 points inside a concave polygon. I was seeing if I could improve the AI for Duke3D's bots. Draw CCW polygon with space bar, enter to finish, shift+enter to optionally draw an inner loop (be sure to draw inner loop CW), then space again to select starting point. I never got around to adding wall thickness. For the Duke bots, I ended up using a much simpler hack which simply assumed polygons were convex. It turned out to be sufficient in most cases. |
| PLANORB.BAS | 01/11/1997 | - | Planetary orbits in 2D. I was testing Kepler's laws (proper elliptical orbits) for my Globe program. |
| KCALC.BAS | 05/23/1997 | - | A utility for expanding and simplifying polynomial expressions. For example, "(x-y)(x+y)" results in: "+x*x - y*y". |
| POLFILL.BAS | 07/25/1997 | QB 4.5 | Fast concave polygon filling routine. Uses similar techniques to the Build engine by grouping lines together before the sort. |
| VESAMODE.BAS | 08/16/1998 | QB 4.5 | A quick VESA test program (segmented modes only). |
| SOLAVATE.BAS | 09/03/1998 | QB 4.5 | A test program to find the best angle to mount solar panels. They would have been installed wrong if I hadn't written this program! |
| LIGHTFIL.BAS | 06/01/2000 | QB 4.5 | Fast 2d visibility/lighting algorithm. Uses a cool palette trick to clear the screen quickly. |
| KBLOBS.BAS | 09/26/2000 | QB 4.5 | Metaball demo. Use Ins/Del to insert/delete points, mouse to drag points, left button+mouse up/down to change amplitude. |
| TRIANGUL.BAS | 10/27/2000 | QB 4.5 | Fancy triangulation algorithm. Draw polygon with space bar; finish loop by plotting on first point. Press Enter to toggle fill. Rare glitches killed this project. |
| VORONOI.BAS | 10/02/2001 | - | Tests the speed of 5 different methods for calculating a voronoi diagram bitmap. |
| P3COMP.BAS | 11/11/2001 | QB 4.5 | Expression compiler for SSE instructions (branching not supported). If you uncomment line 13, it will run alternate code showing the accuracy of the RCPPS/RSQRTPS instructions. |
| 18WHEELR.BAS | 12/14/2004 | QB 4.5 | 18-wheeler truck simulator for turning and parallel parking. Mouse=steering wheel, Ctrl=gas pedal, Alt=Brake |
| SUDOKU.BAS | 07/18/2005 | - | Sudoku solver, written within 3 hours after discovering the puzzle in the newspaper. |
| TRIANGU2.BAS | 08/01/2005 | QB 4.5 | Another triangulation algorithm. This one is a bit simpler: it splits the polygon into horizontal trapezoids. Used by Polymost for 2D textured map view. Controls similar to TRIANGUL.BAS. Press 'F' to show filled triangles. |
| KDEFLEX.BAS | 04/10/2006 | QB 4.5 | GUI and AI for "Deflexion" board game. (a.k.a. "The Laser Game"). Use Arrows&Space to select piece; ',' and '.' to rotate piece, and Enter to move piece. |