--- title: "Treasure Hunt" id: 55215 type: "computer_media" slug: "treasure-hunt" url: "http://localhost/computer_media/treasure-hunt/" markdown_url: "http://localhost/computer_media/treasure-hunt.md" published_at: "2024-06-20T11:49:58+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-30T21:46:06+00:00" author: "David Anderson" featured_image: url: "http://localhost/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/20230809-041332.jpg" excerpt: "Explore a procedurally generated cave network, collect treasures, and battle demons in this six-difficulty-level adventure with joystick and keyboard support." category: - name: "Archived Media" slug: "archived-media" taxonomy: "category" url: "http://localhost/category/archived-media/" post_tag: - name: "Downloadable" slug: "downloadable" taxonomy: "post_tag" url: "http://localhost/tag/downloadable/" - name: "TS 2068" slug: "ts2068" taxonomy: "post_tag" url: "http://localhost/tag/ts2068/" model: - name: "Timex/Sinclair 2068" slug: "ts-2068" taxonomy: "model" url: "http://localhost/model/ts-2068/" indiv: - name: "Butch Weinberg" slug: "butch-weinberg" taxonomy: "indiv" url: "http://localhost/indiv/butch-weinberg/" - name: "Paul Sherwood" slug: "paul-sherwood" taxonomy: "indiv" url: "http://localhost/indiv/paul-sherwood/" genre: - name: "Game" slug: "game" taxonomy: "genre" url: "http://localhost/type/game/" media_contents: - id: 55220 title: "Long Island Sinclair Timex (LIST) User Group Library Tape #7" type: "computer_media" url: "http://localhost/computer_media/long-island-sinclair-timex-list-user-group-library-tape-7/" media_type: "Program" programmers: - name: "Butch Weinberg" slug: "butch-weinberg" taxonomy: "indiv" url: "http://localhost/indiv/butch-weinberg/" - name: "Paul Sherwood" slug: "paul-sherwood" taxonomy: "indiv" url: "http://localhost/indiv/paul-sherwood/" download_url: "https://archive.org/download/timex-sinclair-software-archive/Treasure%20Hunt%20%281985%29%28Weinberg%2C%20Butch%3B%20Sherwood%2C%20Paul%29%28US%29%28TS2068%29%28US%29%28Program%29.zip" mediadate: "1985" images: - url: "http://localhost/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/treasurehunt1.png" - url: "http://localhost/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/treasurehunt2.png" article_media: - id: 20160 title: "Treasure Hunt" type: "article" url: "http://localhost/article/treasure-hunt/" media_type_tags: "Game" --- # Treasure Hunt This is a cave exploration treasure hunt game in which the player navigates a network of 20 interconnected rooms, collecting treasures and fighting demons while avoiding hazards. The cave map is encoded compactly in the string variable B$ (lines 200–230) as pairs of ASCII characters whose CODE values, offset by 57, yield room connection numbers — a space-efficient adjacency table. Room graphics are procedurally generated using random block-graphic characters (chars 128–143) and UDGs, and the screen border is filled with solid-block strings built in C$ and D$. The game supports both joystick (via the STICK function) and keyboard input, selectable at startup, with six difficulty levels controlling the demon encounter probability (DD) and the death-penalty threshold (DDL). A special treasure room (PR=21) features a bouncing UDG sprite and a trap-movement subroutine at line 2160 that rotates the sprite’s direction vector when it hits a wall attribute. Treasure Hunt was written by Paul Sherwood for T/S1000 16K, published in TS User Mag. #4. Modified by S.J. (BUTCH) Weinberg for T/S2068 Aug. 1984. *** ## Program Analysis ### Program Structure The program is divided into clearly labeled sections via `REM` statements. Execution begins at line 10 but immediately jumps to the setup routine at line 1460 (line 250: `GO TO 1460`). The main game loop runs between lines 510 and 710, with subroutines for firing (line 940), demon movement (line 1320), the treasure room (line 1850), the trap/bouncing sprite (line 2160), and input handling (lines 2460–2670). 1. Lines 10–250: Initialization — dimensions, string building, map data 2. Lines 260–430: Cave plot and room rendering 3. Lines 440–510: Demon placement 4. Lines 510–710: Main hero movement loop 5. Lines 740–930: Room transition logic 6. Lines 940–1310: Arrow firing subroutine 7. Lines 1320–1440: Demon movement subroutine 8. Lines 1450–1580: Start/intro screens 9. Lines 1590–1730: Entrance hall / score banking 10. Lines 1740–1820: Death handling 11. Lines 1830–2140: Treasure room 12. Lines 2150–2270: Trap/bouncing sprite subroutine 13. Lines 2280–2300: End-game scoring 14. Lines 2310–2450: Difficulty and control selection 15. Lines 2460–2670: Joystick and keyboard movement/fire input subroutines ### Room Map Encoding The 20-room cave network’s adjacency data is stored in the string `B$` (lines 200–230) as a sequence of ASCII characters. Each room uses three characters: the two neighboring rooms accessible from north/south exits plus a third connection. The room number is extracted by `CODE(R$)-57`, mapping printable ASCII starting at `9` (ASCII 57) to room number 0, `:` to 1, and so on. This is a compact, branchless way to embed a lookup table in a BASIC string. ### Procedural Cave Rendering Each room is rendered procedurally at lines 280–390. `RANDOMIZE (PR*10+NOW)` seeds the random number generator with a combination of room number and a session constant, so the same room always looks the same within a session but differs between sessions. Block graphics characters 128–143 are placed randomly using `CHR$(128+RND*2)` and `CHR$ 142`, and UDGs are used for the treasure (`\f`) and demon (`\g`) sprites. The border walls are drawn using the pre-built solid-block strings `C$` and `D$` assembled in lines 70–120. ### STICK Function Usage The program uses the TS2068 `STICK` (rendered as `|`) function throughout for joystick input. Movement reads `|(1,1)` for port 1, direction bits: 1=up, 2=down, 4=left, 8=right. Firing direction is captured at lines 2520–2590 by waiting in a loop until a non-neutral joystick state is detected, then decomposing the direction into `MX`/`MY` components and a sprite-type flag `ST` (1, 2, 4, or 8). ### Difficulty System Six difficulty levels set two parameters: `DD`, the base probability per game-loop iteration that a demon will move toward the hero (line 690: `IF RND"5" OR F$<>"6" OR F$<>"7" OR F$<>"8"` is always true (a value cannot simultaneously equal all four strings), so the `GO TO 2600` is never bypassed and line 2670’s `RETURN` is unreachable. - Line 640 uses an unparenthesized compound condition mixing `AND` and `OR`, which in Sinclair BASIC evaluates left-to-right without precedence, potentially causing unintended logic when `PR=21`. - Line 1480 polls `INKEY$=""` to wait for a keypress but does not check for a specific key (“C” as instructed on screen), accepting any keypress. ## Source Code ``` 10 REM Treasure hunt Writen by Paul Sherwood for T/S1000 16K from TS User Mag.1#4 Mod by S.J. (BUTCH) Weinberg for T/S2068 Aug.1984 Final mod. & complete game assembly 2/25/85 20 BORDER 0: PAPER 7: INK 0: CLS : PRINT AT 10,9; PAPER 2; INK 6; FLASH 1;"STOP THE TAPE"; FLASH 0: PAUSE 300: POKE 23617,0: POKE 23658,8 30 PAPER 7: CLS : DIM D(3,2): DIM T(20) 40 DIM T(20) 50 LET Z$="You are in the entrance hall" 60 LET LR=0 70 LET C$="\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::" 80 LET D$="\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::" 90 LET C$=C$+"\::\::\::\::\::" 100 LET D$=D$+"\::\::\::\::\::" 110 LET C$=C$+"\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::" 120 LET D$=D$+"\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::\::" 130 LET ARR=5 140 FOR I=1 TO 20 150 LET T(I)=1 160 NEXT I 170 LET PS=0: LET S=0: LET TR=0 180 RANDOMIZE 190 LET NOW=INT (RND*5000) 200 LET B$="9;>9:?9=@9D>?E?@F@AG" 220 LET B$=B$+"BHJCHIDIMEFKFGL" 230 LET B$=B$+"EKMHJNIMNGJL9KL" 240 LET R1=0: LET R2=0: LET R3=0 250 GO TO 1460 260 BORDER 6: OVER 0: CLS 270 REM cave plot 280 BORDER 6: RANDOMIZE (PR*10+NOW) 290 FOR I=0 TO 20 300 LET IY=RND*16+2 310 LET IX=RND*27+2 320 PRINT AT IY,IX;"\:'"; 330 IF RND>.5 THEN PRINT AT IY-1,IX-1;CHR$ (128+RND*2); 340 PRINT AT IY,IX+1;"\:."; 350 PRINT AT IY+1,IX;CHR$ (128+RND*2); 360 IF RND>.6 THEN PRINT AT IY+1,IX+1;CHR$ 142; 370 PRINT AT I,0;"\::";AT I,31;"\::"; 380 NEXT I 390 PRINT AT 0,1;C$;AT 20,1;C$; 400 PRINT AT 0,17;R1;AT 20,17;R2; 410 LET N=11: LET M=1 420 IF T(PR)=1 THEN PRINT AT IY,IX+1;"\f"; 430 LET T(PR)=0 440 REM demon plot 450 LET DEM=INT (RND*4) 460 FOR I=1 TO DEM 470 LET D(I,1)=INT (RND*19+1) 480 LET D(I,2)=INT (RND*30+1) 490 PRINT AT D(I,1),D(I,2);"\g";: BEEP .02,-10 500 NEXT I 510 REM hero run 520 PRINT AT N,M;"\e": BEEP .02,10 530 IF CONT=1 AND |(2,1)=0 THEN GO TO 590 540 IF CONT=2 AND INKEY$<>"F" THEN GO TO 590 550 IF ARR=0 THEN GO TO 590 560 LET ARR=ARR-1 570 GO SUB 940 580 PRINT AT 21,0;"ARROWS ";ARR; 590 LET N1=N: LET M1=M 600 IF CONT=1 THEN GO SUB 2460 610 IF CONT=2 THEN GO SUB 2490 620 IF ATTR (N,M)=58 THEN GO TO 1740 630 IF ATTR (N,M)=57 THEN GO TO 1740 640 IF ATTR (N,M)=62 AND PR=21 OR ATTR (N,M)=62 AND TR<50 THEN LET TR=TR+10: BEEP .02,30 650 IF ATTR (N,M)=60 THEN GO TO 740 660 IF ABS (10-N)=10 THEN GO TO 1740 670 IF PR=21 THEN GO TO 720 680 IF DEM=0 AND RND<.03 THEN LET DEM=1 690 IF RND21 THEN GO TO 800 780 LET PR=INT (RND*19+1) 790 GO TO 830 800 IF N=0 THEN LET PR=R1 810 IF N=20 THEN LET PR=R2 820 IF PR=0 THEN BORDER 4: CLS : GO TO 1590 830 PRINT '''TAB 2;"You are in the tunnel"''TAB 2;"between ";LR;" and ";PR'''TAB 2;"You have ";ARR;" arrows"'''TAB 2;"Your score is ";TR+S: FOR I=1 TO 500: NEXT I 840 IF PR=21 THEN GO TO 1850 850 LET R$=B$(PR*3-2) 860 LET R1=CODE (R$)-57 870 LET R$=B$(PR*3-1) 880 LET R2=CODE (R$)-57 890 LET R$=B$(PR*3) 900 LET R3=CODE (R$)-57 910 IF R1=LR THEN LET R1=R3 920 IF R2=LR THEN LET R2=R3 930 GO TO 260 940 REM fire 950 IF PR=21 THEN GO SUB 2160 960 IF RND<.5 THEN GO SUB 1320 970 IF CONT=1 AND |(2,1)=1 THEN PRINT AT 21,20;"F": FOR E=1 TO 60: NEXT E: PRINT AT 21,20;" ": IF PR=21 THEN GO TO 1010: GO TO 940 980 IF CONT=1 THEN GO TO 1010 990 IF CONT=2 THEN LET F$=INKEY$ 1000 IF CONT=2 AND F$="F" OR F$="" THEN PRINT AT 21,20;"F": FOR E=1 TO 60: NEXT E: PRINT AT 21,20;" ": IF PR=21 THEN GO TO 1010: GO TO 940 1010 LET Y1=N 1020 LET X1=M 1030 IF CONT=1 THEN GO SUB 2520 1040 IF CONT=2 THEN GO SUB 2600 1050 LET X1=X1+MX 1060 LET Y1=Y1+MY 1070 IF ABS (15-X1)=15 OR ABS (10-Y1)=10 THEN GO TO 1310 1080 IF ATTR (Y1,X1)=58 THEN GO TO 1150 1090 IF ST=1 THEN PRINT AT Y1,X1;"\a";: BEEP .02,20: FOR E=1 TO 10: NEXT E 1100 IF ST=2 THEN PRINT AT Y1,X1;"\c";: BEEP .02,20: FOR E=1 TO 10: NEXT E 1110 IF ST=4 THEN PRINT AT Y1,X1;"\d";: BEEP .02,20: FOR E=1 TO 10: NEXT E 1120 IF ST=8 THEN PRINT AT Y1,X1;"\b";: BEEP .02,20: FOR E=1 TO 10: NEXT E 1130 PRINT AT Y1,X1;" "; 1140 GO TO 1050 1150 LET DHIT=DEM 1160 FOR I=1 TO DHIT 1170 LET Y=D(I,1) 1180 LET X=D(I,2) 1190 IF X<>X1 OR Y<>Y1 THEN GO TO 1270 1200 IF ST=1 THEN PRINT AT Y1,X1;"\a";: BEEP .05,-20 1210 IF ST=2 THEN PRINT AT Y1,X1;"\c";: BEEP .05,-20 1220 IF ST=4 THEN PRINT AT Y1,X1;"\d";: BEEP .05,-20 1230 IF ST=8 THEN PRINT AT Y1,X1;"\b";: BEEP .05,-20 1240 LET S=S+5 1250 LET D(I,1)=D(DEM,1): LET D(I,2)=D(DEM,2) 1260 LET DEM=DEM-1 1270 NEXT I 1280 IF PR=21 THEN LET FX=X1 1290 IF PR=21 THEN LET FY=Y1 1300 PRINT AT Y1,X1;" "; 1310 RETURN 1320 REM demon run 1330 FOR I=1 TO DEM 1340 LET X=D(I,2) 1350 LET Y=D(I,1) 1360 PRINT AT Y,X;" "; 1370 LET Y=Y+SGN (N-Y) 1380 LET X=X+SGN (M-X) 1390 PRINT AT Y,X;"\g";: BEEP .02,-10: FOR E=1 TO 50: NEXT E 1400 IF X=M AND Y=N THEN GO TO 1740 1410 LET D(I,1)=Y 1420 LET D(I,2)=X 1430 NEXT I 1440 RETURN 1450 REM start 1460 BORDER 5: CLS : PRINT ''" This is treasure hunt!"''"You are in a network of caves."''"You are looking for gold."''"If you are careful you may reach"'"the treasure room, but beware:"''"there are monsters which will"'"eat you: "''"To touch anything red or"'"blue means instant death.": FOR E=1 TO 5: BEEP .05,3: BEEP .05,6: BEEP .05,9: NEXT E 1470 PRINT ''TAB 6; PAPER 6; INK 1; FLASH 1;"TOUCH C TO CONTINUE"; FLASH 0 1480 IF INKEY$="" THEN GO TO 1480 1490 BORDER 5: CLS : PRINT ''"To score you must pick up"''"the treasures (\f)=10 points"''"or kill the monsters(\g)=5 points"''"You can only colect 5 "''"treasures before going back"''"to room 0 the ENTRANCE HALL."''" GOOD LUCK!": FOR E=1 TO 5: BEEP .05,3: BEEP .05,6: BEEP .05,9: NEXT E 1500 PRINT ''TAB 6; PAPER 6; INK 1; FLASH 1;"TOUCH C TO CONTINUE"; FLASH 0 1510 IF INKEY$="" THEN GO TO 1510 1520 GO SUB 2310 1530 PRINT ''''z$ 1540 PRINT ''"Choose cave 1,2,3 or 4?" 1550 INPUT PR: PRINT ''''"You have chosen ";PR: PAUSE 160 1560 IF PR<1 OR PR>4 THEN GO TO 1550 1570 LET LR=0 1580 GO TO 840 1590 PRINT ''Z$ 1600 PRINT ''"Your treasure is safe here."''"your score is ";S+TR 1610 PRINT ''TAB 0;"You have ";ARR;" arrows."''"Are you going back in?": FOR E=1 TO 50: NEXT E 1620 INPUT Q$ 1630 IF Q$="NO" OR Q$="N" THEN PRINT ''"You scored ";S+TR: GO TO 2290 1640 LET S=S+TR 1650 LET TR=0 1660 PRINT ''"How many arrows do you want?"''"They are 4 points each." 1670 INPUT F 1680 IF F*4>S THEN GO TO 1720 1690 LET S=S-F*4 1700 LET ARR=ARR+F 1710 GO TO 1540 1720 CLS 1730 PRINT ''"You cant afford them": GO TO 1660 1740 REM death of a hero 1750 BORDER 2: CLS : PRINT AT 5,1;"Unfortunatly you have perished."''" You scored: ";S+TR: FOR E=1 TO 300: NEXT E 1760 IF DDL=1 AND S+TR<50 THEN GO TO 2280 1770 IF DDL=2 AND S+TR<50+PS THEN GO TO 2280 1780 LET S=S-15 1790 LET PS=S+TR 1800 PRINT ''''" You played well"''" I shall deduct 15 points"''" for damage to the body"'''" You may continue.": PAUSE 500 1810 BORDER 4: CLS 1820 GO TO 1590 1830 REM treasure room 1840 PRINT AT 0,0; 1850 CLS 1860 FOR I=-10 TO 10 1870 LET AI=ABS I 1880 PRINT TAB 0; INK 1;D$( TO AI); 1890 PRINT TAB (30-AI); INK 1;D$( TO AI) 1900 NEXT I 1980 PRINT AT 0,10; INK 1;D$( TO 10) 1990 PRINT AT 20,10; INK 1;D$( TO 10) 2000 PRINT AT 10,0;"\::";TAB 29;"\::" 2010 LET DEM=1 2020 LET QW=INT (RND*4) 2030 FOR I=1 TO QW+1 2040 PRINT AT 12+I,12+(RND*2);"\f\f\f"; 2050 NEXT I 2060 LET N=10 2070 LET MY=-1 2080 LET MX=0 2090 LET K=18 2100 LET J=7 2110 LET M=2 2120 LET FX=J 2130 LET FY=K 2140 GO TO 510 2150 REM trap 2160 IF ATTR (J+MX,K+MY)=56 THEN GO TO 2220 2170 LET AD=MY 2180 IF AD=0 THEN LET MY=MX 2190 IF AD=0 THEN LET MX=0 2200 IF AD<>0 THEN LET MY=0 2210 IF AD<>0 THEN LET MX=0-AD 2220 LET J=J+MX 2230 LET K=K+MY 2240 PRINT AT K,J;"\.'"; 2245 IF ATTR (FY,FX)<>56 THEN GO TO 2120 2250 IF RND>.5 THEN PRINT AT FY,FX;"\.'" 2260 IF RND<.25 THEN GO SUB 1320 2270 RETURN 2280 PRINT ''"Sorry you have perished but"''"your final score is ";S+TR+(ARR*4): GO TO 2300 2290 PRINT ''"Sorry you don't want to"''"try for a larger score."''"Your final score is ";S+TR+(ARR*4) 2300 BEEP .20,17: BEEP .20,17: BEEP .20,17: BEEP .15,5: BEEP .20,14: BEEP .20,10: BORDER 7: STOP 2310 CLS : PRINT " \.'\.'\.'\.' TREASURE HUNT \.'\.'\.'\.'\.'"''" Chooze your dificulty level"''"from 1 to 6 (small # are easier)"''" Dificulty: "; 2320 INPUT DL: PRINT DL 2330 IF DL=1 THEN LET DD=.03: LET DDL=1 2340 IF DL=2 THEN LET DD=.08: LET DDL=1 2350 IF DL=3 THEN LET DD=.1: LET DDL=1 2360 IF DL=4 THEN LET DD=.05: LET DDL=2 2370 IF DL=5 THEN LET DD=.1: LET DDL=2 2380 IF DL=6 THEN LET DD=.3: LET DDL=2 2390 IF DL<1 OR DL>6 THEN GO TO 2320 2400 PRINT ''TAB 10;"Now chooze "''" 1. Joystick"''" 2. Keyboard arrows"''" touch # then ENTER" 2410 INPUT CONT 2420 IF CONT=1 THEN PRINT '"You will be using the Joystisk.": PAUSE 200: CLS : GO TO 2450 2430 IF CONT=2 THEN PRINT '"You will be using the arrows.": PAUSE 200: CLS : GO TO 2450 2440 IF CONT<1 OR CONT>2 THEN GO TO 2410 2450 RETURN 2460 LET M=M+(1 AND |(1,1)=8)-(1 AND |(1,1)=4) 2470 LET N=N+(1 AND |(1,1)=2)-(1 AND |(1,1)=1) 2480 RETURN 2490 LET M=M+(1 AND INKEY$="8")-(1 AND INKEY$="5") 2500 LET N=N+(1 AND INKEY$="6")-(1 AND INKEY$="7") 2510 RETURN 2520 IF |(1,1)=0 OR |(1,1)=9 OR |(1,1)=10 OR |(1,1)=6 OR |(1,1)=5 THEN GO TO 2520 2530 LET MY=0+(1 AND |(1,1)=2)-(1 AND |(1,1)=1) 2540 IF |(1,1)=2 THEN LET ST=2 2550 IF |(1,1)=1 THEN LET ST=1 2560 LET MX=0+(1 AND |(1,1)=8)-(1 AND |(1,1)=4) 2570 IF |(1,1)=8 THEN LET ST=8 2580 IF |(1,1)=4 THEN LET ST=4 2590 RETURN 2600 LET F$=INKEY$ 2610 LET MY=0+(1 AND F$="6")-(1 AND F$="7") 2620 IF F$="7" THEN LET ST=1: RETURN 2630 IF F$="6" THEN LET ST=2: RETURN 2640 LET MX=0+(1 AND F$="8")-(1 AND F$="5") 2650 IF F$="5" THEN LET ST=4: RETURN 2660 IF F$="8" THEN LET ST=8: RETURN 2665 IF F$<>"5" OR F$<>"6" OR F$<>"7" OR F$<>"8" THEN GO TO 2600 2670 RETURN 9997 STOP 9998 SAVE "TREAS HUNT" LINE 1 ```