README

Back to the Pascal

Back to the Pascal is about a game I wanted to build in the early '90s, but couldn't, because I wasn't a good enough programmer yet. 35 years later, I decided to see if I could finally pull it off using the same hardware (i386) and programming language (Turbo Pascal) I used back then.

If you want to learn more about the backstory, check out this video:

Project Structure

.
|-- game                 // game root folder 
|   |-- ASSETS              // game assets (tiles, sprites, maps)
|   |-- DEMO                // demo programs (experiments, benchmarks)
|   |-- MAIN.PAS            // the actual game
|   |-- UNITS               // units
`-- tiled-exporter       // Map export plugin for Tiled

Running the Code

To run the code you need an IBM‑compatible PC (or DOSBox) and a copy of Turbo Pascal 7. My development system is a 386DX-40.

If you use DOSBox, the following settings give roughly the same performance:

• CPU Type: 386
• CPU Cycles: 8000

Using Borland Make

1. Enter the game's root folder
2. Run make all (run make without arguments to see all available targets)
3. Run build\main (or any of the other executables)

From Turbo Pascal's IDE

1. Start Turbo Pascal from the game’s root folder.
2. Add the UNITS directory to the list of unit directories (Options → Directories).
3. Open MAIN.PAS (or any file in the DEMO folder) and run it with Ctrl+F9 (or Run → Run).