Lode Runner

by **Flack** » Sun Dec 20, 2020 4:20 pm

Here's what Jordan Mechner had to say about meeting Doug Smith (Lode Runner) and Danny Gorlin (Choplifter) at the Broderbund picnic:

[The picnic] was fun. I played frisbee, volleyball, tennis, swam, did all the California beach activities. Everyone from Broderbund was there. I got sunburnt.

I met Doug (Lode Runner) Smith and his cute girlfriend Cheryl. Doug drove us to Danny Gorlin’s in his new Porsche, at over 100mph. I hate to say it, but it was fun.

It was funny seeing Doug and Danny together — the two game programmers Broderbund has set for life. They’re total opposites. The only way you can tell Danny is rich is by his house; he dresses and acts like any computer programmer pulling down $30,000. He showed Doug around his mansion with a minimum of flair, once going so far as to admit that the place was “swell.”

Doug, by contrast, keeps talking about how much his car cost, how much money he’s making, etc. But you have to like the guy, because he’s honestly enjoying himself. He wants to enjoy his money while it lasts. He just kicked a coke addiction.

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun Dec 20, 2020 2:34 pm

Jimmy Maher did a great article about Lode Runner this last week.

https://www.filfre.net/2020/12/lode-runner

by **Flack** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 2:43 pm

OBS makes creating the videos totally simple. I mean getting it set up the first time took several hours and now to record a video it takes... 30 seconds to get started? On that episode and the ones prior to that, I was using that headset for recording my audio which doesn't sound very good. I've since switched over to my Blue Yeti and it sounds 1,000x better. The videos are really a way to drive listeners to the podcast and, ultimately, the donation/support page.

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 9:59 am

Flack - I love this setup you have where you have the game going while you tell stories. Lode Runner is from the GOLDEN AGE of videogames, as you stated.

Anyway, good job - I have no idea how much effort is involved in getting these made, but I really like the finished product.

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun Apr 26, 2020 11:26 am

Earl plays the PC version.

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Tue Sep 16, 2014 6:15 am

I am also on a 23" 1920x1080 display and it looks the same as it's looked 12 years ago. I mean, I am not going into the forum's CSS and changing the font size... lemme take a picture with my phone. It's weird to me that it would look fine on one system but not another.

Chrome is at 100% to me, FWIW.

by **RealNC** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 9:17 pm

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:
Tdarcos wrote:I tried reading it. Do you think you could have made the font smaller so It'd be impossible to read instead of merely causing migraines and hysterical blindness?
Literally nobody else in the world has a problem with the font size, you aged, peeling walrus.

To be fair, I can't read anything either. The font there and on this forum is by default extremely tiny. Maybe it's a monitor size/DPI thing (I'm on 23" 1920x1080). But Ctrl+Scrollwheel is such an easy fix that I never felt like complaining.

by **Flack** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 7:05 pm

You might say it's the GOLD STANDARD of Tdarcos stories.

by **Flack** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 7:03 pm

He also told the same story in this thread:

http://www.joltcountry.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ode+runner

by **Flack** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 7:01 pm

It was a little more clear the last time he told he exact same story in this thread:

http://www.joltcountry.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ode+runner

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 6:07 pm

Tdarcos wrote:I tried reading it. Do you think you could have made the font smaller so It'd be impossible to read instead of merely causing migraines and hysterical blindness?

Literally nobody else in the world has a problem with the font size, you aged, peeling walrus.

Lode runner was "the gold standard" in testing IBM-PC compatibility. Like many games, it was a self-loader, i.e. it had its own operating system. And if Lode Runner would run on a computer it pretty much guaranteed it was PC compatible; a lot of clones weren't.

I have no idea what this even means. You have no idea what this evens means. If a program was the "gold standard" for IBM's selected chipsets, then it would simply boot and call all the necessary interrupts in order and then print a message when it got to the end.

What you seem to be saying is that if a clone ran Lode Runner, it would run anything else and that's patently untrue because the PCjr ran Lode Runner and didn't run every other single program for the IBM PC.

If I take your statement a different way and you say that if a clone couldn't run Lode Runner it wasn't worth getting then I also disagree with that, because - going back to the PCjr - it ran Lode Runner, it couldn't run a lot of software like Spy Hunter, but it had 16 colors for King's Quest. So presuming that's what you meant, it also makes no sense.

Are you trying to say that Lode Runner ran on all clones? In that case, wouldn't it follow that it was the LEAST restrictive software product? I don't think even you know.

by **Tdarcos** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 12:50 pm

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:I wrote a piece about Lode Runner on the blog. It's here:

http://www.joltcountry.com/index.php/fe ... ode-runner

I tried reading it. Do you think you could have made the font smaller so It'd be impossible to read instead of merely causing migraines and hysterical blindness?

The creator of Lode Runner, Doug Smith, reportedly died over the weekend.

Lode runner was "the gold standard" in testing IBM-PC compatibility. Like many games, it was a self-loader, i.e. it had its own operating system. And if Lode Runner would run on a computer it pretty much guaranteed it was PC compatible; a lot of clones weren't.

Me and a bunch of other guys created our own disk of a full alternate set of 150 more levels for the game with the included editor. Now, the way you win a level is to capture all the gold on the level, this would make any hidden ladders appear and you could then touch the top of the screen, allowing it to go on to the next level.

One guy was cruel with the last level (#150). There were 3 guards chasing you, and once you got the last piece of gold, the hidden ladders appeared to form the message "YOU LOSE" and no means to reach the top of the screen.

by **pinback** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 7:10 am

He died?

by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Mon Sep 15, 2014 7:01 am

I wrote a piece about Lode Runner on the blog. It's here:

http://www.joltcountry.com/index.php/fe ... ode-runner

The creator of Lode Runner, Doug Smith, reportedly died over the weekend.

Lode Runner

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