Electronics Faire: Programming a BASIC Game with Lee Tusman

This is a workshop in the BASIC family of languages to create a text-based turn-based economic strategy game in the style of Hamurabi (1968/1973), Star Trader (1974), The Oregon Trail (1978), Lemonade Stand (1979), and others, all originally programmed in versions of BASIC. These games have gone on to influence many later games such as M.U.L.E., SimCity, Grand Theft Auto, and a score more. But the originals are still just as compelling, and require low computing resources, and can be played on just about any machine. BASIC is a general term for a family of languages intended for educational use, originally formulated in the early 1960s. Far from being a “dead” language, it is still relevant in 2025, and both ancient and modern implementations of the language can work on new and ancient computers and hardware. The workshop will begin with a brief history of BASIC’s development, connection to university time-sharing systems, and early game development and community within schools and universities, as well as the history of “type-in programs” and books of BASIC computer games. Participants will then learn basic instruction in variables, functions and gameloop in the BASIC language, look at example code from David Ahl’s historic BASIC Computer Games, and given time to prototype and build a game. Instruction and support will be give to work with Yabasic, a modern free and open source cross-platform BASIC implementation that works on Windows and Linux, as well as Macintosh. Participants are invited to bring a laptop computer to work on, and will be encouraged to work together. Previous programming experience is helpful but not required and the workshop will accommodate a range of backgrounds

About the Instructor: Lee Tusman is a New York-based new media artist, educator and organizer applying the radical ethos of collectives and DIY culture to the creation of, aesthetics, and open-source distribution methods of digital culture. He uses code, collage, sound and text. His works are installations, interactive media, video art, experimental games, sound art, websites, bots and micro-power radio stations. He studied at Brandeis University and received his MFA at UCLA. Lee is Associate Professor of New Media and Computer Science at the State University of New York, Purchase College, and hosts Artists and Hackers, a podcast on art, code and community.