Developer makes version of Portal for classic Apple IIe

A developer got a simplified version of the first Portal working on an Apple IIe. The game is in 2d and has a small number of levels. The credits of the game have also been copied.

The developer, Vince Weaver, got the idea to recreate the game on the Apple IIe after he got the original game from his wife and he wanted to recreate the credits on the old Apple computer. While doing that, he discovered that he could get some basic gameplay elements working without too much effort. Also, the color mode of the classic computer turned out to have support for just the right colors of blue and orange, which the portals in the game take on.

The game does not run very smoothly with a frame rate of about 3fps. There are only two levels implemented in the game: a level where a turret guards the Companion Cube and the last level where GLaDOS must be defeated.

The game is programmed in Basic. Weaver explains that the physics engine consists of five lines of code, which take care of the moving objects. The gameplay and levels were created in five days, according to the developer; the credits were ready in two days.

This is not the first time Weaver has undertaken such a project. A year earlier, he made a variant of Kerbal Space Program for the Apple II.