DU236
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W A S D >> TAKE THE RED CYCLE SAME KEY >> BOOOOST! OPPOSITE KEY >> BIJUU SPHERE! I J K L >> A FRIEND, SAME KEYBOARD
Be the last one.

A light-cycle game for four people on one keyboard, written by Joboy Jordan in VBA inside one Excel 2010 workbook. October 2011 to March 2014, 24 saved workbooks. What you see above is that game again: the same sheet of 441 × 255 cells, each cell a little wider than it is tall, the same start positions, the same score digits, moved by the rules of the last workbook.

CTRL + T >> FAMILY TREE

One workbook, saved 24 times

There was no version control. Each version is a "Save As" of the one before, so the files are the history. Read by their code, they form this tree. Select a cell.

code carried forward the play that came back in v5.7 crash: nothing continues it released to other people

CTRL + H >> SHOWS THIS HELP

The story in five rounds

The pictures are the originals from the archive: screenshots and the help screens that opened with each workbook.

11 – 13 OCT 2011

Three days to a game

The prototype has two players and one rule. The first crash stops everything with a message box: "PLAYER 1 LOSE!" The same evening it has three players. The next day it is a closed beta with four players, a winner, scores that stay in the workbook, and an options form. On the third day the arena grows to 433 × 225 cells and TRONv2 goes out to other people.

The prototype TRON.xlsm with a red and a blue trail
The earliest picture. The title bar still says TRON.xlsm: two players, no score, no winner.

Change log:

  • 4 players, last one alive wins
  • Scores live in the cells
  • Crash burst, black border, black head
  • Help picture on open

Release notes:

TRONv1
o closed BETA, internal release

TRONv2
o first external release
20 – 21 OCT 2011

A proper game

Version 3 adds what a round needs: a WINNER picture in the colour of the winner that grows on the screen, a score board made of cells under the arena, and a question before the scores are reset. The game now reads real key codes, so the arrow keys and the numeric keypad work, and Caps Lock stops breaking the game.

The help screen of TRONv3 with the keyboard map, the change log and the beta testers
The help screen of TRONv3. It names the beta testers.

Change log:

  • Change controls for better gaming
  • Score Board
  • WINNER Effect
  • Reset scores confirmation

Beta Testers:

  • Jay
  • Marc
  • Regie
  • Angelo
TRONv3_PANG_PC_NI_REGIE.xlsm
→ a copy with other keys, "for Regie's PC"
25 – 27 OCT 2011

TRONv4, the one everybody played

Three betas in three days. Beta 1 adds BOOST on its own keys. Beta 2 moves the game loop out of the key handler, which ends the "OUT OF STACK" bug, and starts the boost with a second press of the direction key. Beta 3 fixes the boost and makes every key press move the cycle at once. A boost skips every second cell, so it leaves a dotted trail and can jump a wall that is one cell thick.

TRONv4b3 at the end of a round with a green WINNER caption
TRONv4b3, Excel 2010 on Windows 7. Scores 30, 44, 36, 47. The arrow shows who has 30.
The help screen of TRONv4 that explains the boost
"Just press the key of the direction you're facing and it'll activate."

Added BOOST skill!

  • 3 charges per round
  • 29 ticks at double speed
  • BOOST indicator above the arena
  • DRAW state for a head-on crash
  • Keys remapped to Home, End, Delete, Page Down and Numpad 5 2 1 3
27 Oct 2011, 3:11 PM
TRONv4.xlsm saved for release.
Same code as TRONv4b3.
24 JAN – 24 FEB 2012

Bijuu

A power-up experiment teleports the player to a random cell. Two weeks later that key fires the BIJUU SPHERE: a round block in your colour, 30 cells ahead. Then the work splits in two. One game keeps the trail. The other is a "MAJOR CHANGE IN GAMEPLAY (by request)": no trail, unlimited spheres, and a point for each player that dies on your colour. Both went out together on 24 February 2012.

Help screen of TRON with BIJUU SPHERE
TRON with BIJUU SPHERE (v5.1): 3 charges for boost and sphere.
Help screen of TRON BIJUU MOD
TRON [mod] (v5.6): unlimited spheres, scoring, and yellow is now purple.

BIJUU SPHERE!

  • Press the key OPPOSITE to your direction
  • Anyone who hits it is out, you too
  • It can land on top of an opponent

SCORING!

  • +1 a player hits your BIJUU
  • −1 you hit your own BIJUU
  • +1 you're the last TRON remaining
''BIJUU SPHERE (c.o. Jay) CHEKING, if key pressed is opposite to the players direction
24 FEB – 28 MAR 2014

The last experiments

Two years later, five busy weeks. A tank made of cells, then the bijuu mod with tanks. Then the game outside Excel: one browser canvas page, and a network version with a Perl server where two players worked, "with broken lines". The last save is TRONv5.7. It changes three lines of v5.6 back: the trail returns, the sphere costs a charge again, and the knockout points stay. A point when someone dies on your trail.

A bug screenshot: the game in Excel 2007 with a missing picture
tronbug.bmp. On a PC with Excel 2007 the WINNER picture did not load. The boost indicators are full: the round has just started.

March 2014:

  • 11 Mar: tron.html, a canvas, one player
  • 19 Mar: tron_server.pl on port 1234
  • 28 Mar, 6:09 PM: the last workbook
tron_network_backup_
2player_working_
with_broken_lines TRONv5.7.bijuu_sphere_
modified_scoring.xlsm

CTRL + E >> SCORES

The score board

Counted from the files. The digits are drawn with the cell ranges of the original drawZero to drawNine macros.

workbooks in the archive, from TRON.xlsm to TRONv5.7

days from the first saved prototype to the release of TRONv4

lines of VBA in the last workbook; the prototype had 235

of the 24 workbooks were saved between 11:30 and 13:10

The code grew five times

Lines of VBA code in each workbook, in the order the code was written

ReleasedDevelopment save or experiment
Show as a table

A lunch-break game

The time of day of each workbook's last save, Philippine time

9:0011:0013:0015:0017:0019:00
Show as a table

ESC >> if anything fails

Left open on the desktop

Two text files from the archive, and the people in it.

Release_Notes.txt - Notepad
File Edit Format View Help
Date: 2012/02/24
Created by: Joboy Jordan

NOTE: It is more advisable to play
the game in Windows 7 PCs for better
performance.

CHANGELOG:

TRONv5
1) TRON with BIJUU SPHERE
	o added bijuu sphere
2) TRON BIJUU MOD
	o MAJOR CHANGE IN GAMEPLAY
	  (by request)
	o removed trail
	o bijuu sphere
	o changed scoring

TRONv4
o added BOOST skill
o added BOOST indicator
o added DRAW state
o changed background
o fixed OUT OF STACK bug
o remapped key controls

TRONv3
o added WINNER caption upon end
  of round
o added score board
o added reset scores confirmation

TRONv2
o first external release

TRONv1
o closed BETA, internal release
TRON_notes.txt - Notepad
File Edit Format View Help
.boost - dash like controls   - DONE
.boost - indicator            - DONE
.collide sound                - CANCELLED
.try to remove spaces
 on boost                     - CANCELLED

>help shortcut                - DONE
>disable escape key           - CANCELLED
>reset scores confirmation    - DONE
>scale winner image           - DONE
>my name on every code,email  - DONE
>splash screen update         - DONE

==========
>BOOST
>rearrange controls           - DONE
>rearrange starting point
>capslock and numlock fix     - CANCELLED
>DRAW checking

>ai
>vs mode
>ball?
>sounds (beep)?
  • The two selected lines were never built in Excel. The bots at the top of this page are the first ai. Play over a network is next: the web remake in this repository.
credits.txt - Notepad
File Edit Format View Help
  • Joboy wrote every line, "my name on every code".
  • Jay beta tester; the bijuu sphere was his idea.
  • Regie beta tester; TRONv1 was last saved on his PC, and one copy of v3 was made for it.
  • Marc beta tester.
  • Angelo beta tester.
  • Naruto for the name: a bijuu sphere is the energy ball of the Tailed Beasts.

Be the last one.

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