Demon Racer

Desperate ACTION! commute through the Twilight Zone.

Demon Racer is a fast-scrolling ACTION! game for one player that forces you to steer your car through roads filled with all sorts of devious obstacles. The program workes on 8-bit Atari computers with at least 32K memory, disk drive. You also need the ACTION! programMING language--unless you use the special runtime version of Demon Racer on this month's Antic Disk.

The daily commute has finally gotten out of hand. You endured some messed-up streets before this, but today is the worst you've ever seen it. In desperation, you try taking that backroads route home, the one through the delta that oldtimers still tell stories about. And boy, are you sorry! Drawbridges, detours and truly impossible turns have made the drive home a nightmare, and you're not sure you didn't drive right into the Twilight Zone! Didn't that detour sign point left last time you went by?

Demon Racer is programmed in the fast, high-powered ACTION! language. This challenging driving game for one player is full of fast-scrolling thrills as you skid and crash through the tortuous course. If you beat the clock, you might get home in time for dinner--but your first objective is simple survival.

GETTING STARTED

Type in listing 1, RACER.ACT, and Listing 2, SCREEN.ACT, and save a copy of each to disk before you start the game.

Antic Disk users don't need the ACTION! language cartridge to use Demon Racer. A runtime version, RACER.EXE, is on this month's disk. (Runtime ACTION! translations are nearly always too long for printing as type-in listings.) Copy RACER.EXE to another disk that has been formatted with DOS 2 or DOS 2.5, and make sure the disk contains a DOS.SYS file. Rename RACER.EXE to AUTORUN.SYS. To start racing, turn your Atari off, insert your RACER.EXE disk, remove all cartridges (XL and XE owners press [OPTION]) and turn on your computer. Demon Racer will load and run automatically.

After the title screen is displayed, press [START] or your joystick button to begin. You have three cars with which to complete this demoniacally difficult course.

Move the joystick left and right to steer your racer. Move the joystick forward to speed up. To slow down, move the joystick back or press the button. You can also press the spacebar to pause the game. Pressing any other key will resume play.

If, against all odds, you complete the course, the demons will become angry and cause a thunderstorm with lightning to appear. If you wish to play again, press the [START] key.

OBSTACLES:

The following obstacles must be avoided to complete the course:

Drawbridges open and close periodically. If you try to pass through an open drawbridge, you'll crash.

Land mines will appear periodically and must be avoided or you'll crash.

Gates and Barricades open and close, while detours force you to maneuver around them. Also, detours move, so you must time your passage carefully.

If you happen to crash at some point (more than likely), you will be sent back to the beginning of your current lap, with a new car and a three-second penalty. Remember, yow only have three cars, and you'll probably need them all. Good luck, Commuter.

Jon Peterson lives in Concord, California. This is his first appearance in Antic.

Listing: RACER.EXE Download