Electron User


Snail Trail

 
Published in Electron User 5.01

Stephen and Andrew Weir present an exciting quiz game for youngsters

Snail Trail

Snail Trail is a superb educational quiz for children, the object being to help Suzie the snail win a race against her five animal friends - Willie the worm, Belinda the bird, Percy the penguin, Charlie the car and Desmond the dog.

The farmyard is in uproar as Willie, who is to be the first competitor, slithers up to the starting line.

Farmer Giles raises his gavel and taps three times on the rickety old gate. A hush descend over the expectant crowd as the old man explains the rules.

Five challengers take on Suzie in a test of her knowledge of animals. Each question is multiple choice and the fastest competitor will win the race. Let the contest begin.

Sadly, Suzie isn't very fast so you will have to help. When each question appears, tap the SPACE bar until the pointer is opposite the answer that you think is right. Press RETURN to confirm your selection.

If you answer correctly, you will receive a tick and Suzie will move forward. An incorrect answer, however, will result in a cross and Suzie's opponent racing ahead.

Don't spend too long on your answer either, because time, and animals, wait for no snail.

Included in the program is the facility to add your own questions. These should be constructed in the following format:

1401 DATA Question, Correct answer, Up to four incorrect answers,"*"

For instance:

1401 DATA Which of these is an omnivore?,A Human being,A dog, A cat, A hedgehog, A lion,"*"

There is space for ten lines of data between 1400 and 1409, although the program can be renumbered to recover more space if you wish.

The last line of data must be the word END, as this flags the end of the questions and answers.

Game Controls

SPACE - Moves pointer, RETURN - Confirms answer Q/S - Sound Off/On

Variables

creatures
Number of animals

level%
Current level of play

choice
Number of answer given

answered
True when a question answered

won
True if the snail wins

name$()
The animals' names

Procedures

main
The main loop

assemble
Assemble machine code

big()
Print large text

sprite
Print the sprites

arrow
Print the pointer

bench
Set up the screen

Andrew Weir & Stephen Weir