- Core War
- Programming Games
- Robot Arena
Robot Arena is an educational programming game for the Research Machines 380Z written by Peter Jowett and published by Software Production Associates in 1985, priced £29. The aim of the game is to design a program in the Logo-like ROBOL programming language to control a virtual robot. Robot Arena was marketed as an educational game and supplied with a teachers booklet and pupils workbook.
Specification
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
' | The remainder of this line is a comment |
forward(<n>) | Move forward <n> steps |
backwards(<n>) | Move back <n> steps |
rotate(<n>) | Turn <n> degrees |
head(<n>) | Turn to face in the direction <n> degrees |
repeat <n> times … again | Repeat a section of code <n> times |
repeat forever … again | Repeat a section of code indefinitely |
exit | Leave the innermost repeat loop |
if <cond> then … | If <cond> is true then execute the first section of code Otherwise execute the optional second section |
to <name>(<var>) … return | Define a new word |
radar(<n>) | Scan at <n> degrees and return range and object |
launch(<n>) | Fire a missile in direction heading with range <n> |
laser(<n>) | Fire a laser in direction <n> |
shield(ON / OFF) | Switch the defensive shield on / off |
<var> ← <n> | Assign a value to a variable |
| System Variable | Description |
|---|---|
range | Distance to object found by radar |
object | Object found by radar (ROBOT / FLASH / MISSILE / WALL) |
heading | Current heading |
xpos | Current x-coordinate |
ypos | Current y-coordinate |
damage | Damage status |
armed | Missile armed and ready to fire? (TRUE / FALSE) |
XMAX | The maximum x-coordinate |
YMAX | The maximum y-coordinate |
others | The number of other robots in the arena |
References
- . "Shape up." The Times Educational Supplement 3675 (5 Dec 1986): 31.
- . "Robot Arena from SPA." read using: Research Machines National User Group Journal 17 (July 1986): 15-18.