mwenge/gridrunner

Gridrunner (1982) by Jeff Minter

Gridrunner (1982) by Jeff Minter

This is the reverse-engineered and commented source code for all known versions of Gridrunner by Jeff Minter. It is part of the llamasource project.

I wrote up my first attempt at reverse-engineering the C64 version of the game here

If you want to read more about the Gridrunner internals, take a look at Gridrunner; The Little Black Book where I try to unpack the workings and design of the various versions of Gridrunner Minter wrote.

• Play in your Browser
• Building the C64 Source Code
  • Requirements
  • Setup
  • Compiling
• Building the Vic20 Source Code
  • Requirements
  • Compiling
• Building the Atari-8 bit Source Code
  • Requirements
  • Compiling
• Building the Atari ST Source Code
  • Requirements
  • Setup
  • Compiling
• Conversion to the Nintendo Entertainment System

Play in your Browser

C64: (Ctrl key is 'Fire', Arrow Keys to move.)

Vic20: (Ctrl key is 'Fire', Arrow Keys to move.)

Atari800: (Alt key is 'Fire', Arrow Keys to move.)

Atari ST: (Mouse to fire and move.)

Building the C64 Source Code

Requirements

• VICE - The most popular C64 emulator
• 64tass - An assembler for 6502 source code.

Setup

On Ubuntu you can install VICE as follows:

sudo apt install vice

Compiling

To compile and run:

$ make

To just compile the game and get a binary (gridrunner.prg) do:

$ make gridrunner.prg

Building the Vic20 Source Code

Requirements

• VICE - The most popular C64/Vic20 emulator
• 64tass - An assembler for 6502 source code.

Compiling

To compile and run:

$ make runvic

To just compile the game and get a binary (gridrunner-vic20.prg) do:

$ make gridrunner-vic20.prg

Building the Atari-8 bit Source Code

Requirements

• Atari800 Emulator - An Atari 400/8000 emulator
• 64tass - An assembler for 6502 source code.

Compiling

To compile and run:

$ make runatari

To just compile the game and get a binary (gridrunner.xex) do:

$ make gridrunner.xex

Building the Atari ST Source Code

This unfinished and unpublished gem was written as a challenge by Minter to see what he could fit into 3.5k on the Atari ST. It's a basic gameplay demo with no sound or levels, but is very enjoyable and addictive to play.

"There was one more version of Gridrunner on the Atari ST which I shall mention for completeness - in truth I haven't seen it for years and I'm not sure if it's in the archive anywhere. I can't remember why I was asked - for a coverdisk or for a demo I guess - but I was asked to do a game in 4K. Since the dear old unexpanded Vic had been 3.5K I thought it would be natural to choose Gridrunner as the subject of the demo and so I made a little version that fit in 4K on the ST. It was super primitive but it was just about fully functional."

Requirements

• Hatari - A popular Atari ST emulator
• vasm - An assembler for Motorola 68000 source code

Setup

On Ubuntu you can install Hatari as follows:

sudo apt install hatari

You will need to download the source of vasm and compile it as follows:

make CPU=m68k SYNTAX=mot

Compiling

To compile and run:

$ make runatarist

To just compile the game and get a binary (gridrunner-st.prg) do:

$ make gridrunner-st.prg

Conversion to the Nintendo Entertainment System

I converted Gridrunner to the NES. You can try it out here.