Arena of Octos

This is a straight copy of the source code of the Apple II/TRS-80 game Arena of Octos, as published in a 1981 issue of SoftSide magazine.

My uncle, Alan Johnston, was co-creator and wrote the TRS-80 version. This was the only program he ever had published. He passed away in January, 2016, so this is my homage to him.

SoftSide, the publishing company and owner of the game, has long been out of business, so I am assuming I am not breaking any copyright laws by publishing this. If I am please get in touch and I will gladly remove the code.

Working Example

https://portugly.com/meowsus/octos

Known bugs

• cannot die, players are immortal (discovered at Level 3, error line 2610)
• when Octons occupy the same space, one will disappear until it's turn

Explanation of Variables

Variable	Description
AN	Out-of-arena flag
A$	INKEY$ variable
BD(14,14)	Board array. (Defines out-of-arena, pit, and stone positions)
C(8,8)	Octon array. (Contains Octon positions and status: strength, number of moves left, etc)
CL	Number of Octon moves left
CX,CY	Octon's present position
DD	Practice flag
DS	Distance from Octon to human
DX,DY	Difference between Octon and human positions
F$(25)	Fire string
FG	General utility flag
G$	Plural string
GG	Message variable
HD	Human-shielded flag
HL	Number of human moves left
HM	Number of human moves (10)
HS	Human strength
HT	"Human's turn" flag
HX,HY	Human's position
I,J,K,L,M,N	Iteration variables
LF	Number of Octon's left
M$	Message string
MM	Message number
MV	Move (1 - 4 or 6 - 9)
NC	Number of Octons
NX,NY	New location
PX,PY	Present location
P$	Player string
RN	Random number
SB	"Struck before?" flag
WK	Weakest Octon's strength
X1,Y1	Temporary X and Y locations
X,Y	Graphics variables