By Steve McCrea
Genre: Elevator Operator Emulation
Did you ever wonder what it would be like to be an Elevator Operator? Spending the day in the exciting company of strangers, giving & receiving wisdom and getting the odd tip here and there. No? Well, me neither, but in Steve McCrea’s second entry we get the chance to live that dream! As far as I know there aren’t many lift attendants in the UK and Steve informs me the US (where the EOE was created) is the same. So this emulator is even more important than we realised – it’s preserving a declining vocation.
Delving deeper, EOE is a very well organised BASIC program (certainly better than I could do) and I’m quite jealous of the masking technique used. The use of BEEP is good and the gameplay has similar qualities to Tapper. EOE is crap don’t get me wrong, it’s just there are so many good ideas behind it. If only Steve could use his powers for the force of good…
Genre: Elevator Operator Emulation
On loading we get a 35 second DATA loading pause. This is achieved by a slightly flabby FOR NEXT loop that includes a spot of math and PRINTS a “.” for every byte. So I’m about to play a game about being an elevator operator and it pisses me off further with unnecessary delays. This is how you get bonus points in the CGC.
It seems we have another open ended game here, the purpose is to meet the demands of the ‘elevatees’ by getting them to the correct floor in good time. Do well and you get a tip, go slowly or make a mistake you get a demerit. 9 demerits and you’re fired. You have completed the game when…erm, not sure…perhaps when you’ve completed an 8 hour shift? (Though I must say I haven’t played it that long yet).
It’s not just up and down though, you have the pleasure of opening and closing the doors too.
I find playing this game quite haunting. The slow moving hand, the dark surroundings, the maddening repeating task to perform and the long pauses waiting for something to happen. Brrr.
Tipshack: Don’t press the emergency or callout buttons (unless you want to get fired, which you might).
HACK PACK: Infinite thanks: at the start of line 600 put LET msg=13
Why does it say Loading when it quite clearly isn't?
ReplyDeleteSome nice BASIC programming there, a lack of gameplay and a hefty dose of crapness. Well done! The Best Lift game since Elevator Action!
I'd go a step further: it's the best Elevator Emulator I've EVER played.
ReplyDelete