Treasure Island Defense is a greatly enhanced version of the classic later 1970's/early 1980's computer game Artillery, except this is in real time with live joystick input rather than entering angles and power for each shot. This game uses a 128x96x16 color graphics mode on the Coco 3 or on a Coco 1/2 with a CocoVGA upgrade (which has enhanced colors and modes). In the Coco 1/2's case it is highly recommended that you also have the SAM Doubler (which speeds up the Coco 1/2 to a full 2 MHz), or install it on a cartridge (which can be run at double speed). Originally, the games author Sheldon MacDonald sold the game on cartridge with the purchaser's choice between one of the two popular modern sound cards - the Coco PSG (Programmable Sound Generator) or the GMC (Game Master Cartridge) - but he decided to release it with the Coco's built in DAC sound in 2023. He is going to be releasing all the necessary files to allow you to make your own versions of the cartridges in the near future which will let people get the sound & music enhancements these versions offered.
Back to the game itself - the player is guarding a pile of gold on their Treasure Island, and is armed with a rotating cannon that the player controls with the left joystick. There is a sun in the sky that slows crosses over the screen; once it gets to the other side it signifies the end of the wave (and day). On the first wave you start with multiple boats and swimmers coming after your gold and some take multiple shots to kill. Each wave adds more protagonists, including loch ness monsters, airplanes with parachutists, submarines and other things. You are allowed a maximum of 4 shots on the screen at a time and you have rapid fire, but that is not always a good thing as high arching shots will take some time to hit the water or an opponent and you won't be able to fire again until they do. The game features good sound effects, and the original cartridge versions included continuous background music as well.
Title: Treasure Island Defense
Author: Sheldon MacDonald
Publisher: Sheldon MacDonald (with partners for the original cartridge versions), now a Freeware release
Released: 2021 (commercial cartridge with 1 of 2 sound chips), 2023 (Freeware version - no sound card required)
Requires: Color Computer 3 with 128K RAM OR a Coco 1/2 with 32K RAM and a CocoVGA (SAM Doubler recommended), joystick.
(If you are interested in ordering the CocoVGA and/or the SAM Doubler for your Coco 1 or 2, you can query it's creator Brendan Donahe about availability and price at his website: http://CocoVGA.com.)
Download TID.zip. This contains the .DSK image for the regular Coco sound version of the Treasure Island Defense. This works for both the Coco 3 and the Coco 1/2 with the CocoVGA upgrade. LOADM"TID" and EXEC to run.