HP-PLUMBER

HP-PLUMBER Version 1.0 — 2026 By HP-PLUMBER (Christophe NOCITO) Contact: christophen83@hotmail.com

A Super Mario Bros clone for the HP Prime G2 graphing calculator, written in PPL (HP Prime Programming Language).

1. DESCRIPTION

Recreates the classic Mario experience on HP Prime:

Infinite procedural levels (levels 3+ are randomly generated)
Realistic physics (gravity, variable jump height, friction)
Enemies (Goombas and Koopas) with patrol AI
Question blocks, bricks, solid blocks, pipes
Coins, mushrooms (super mushroom), and 1UP hearts
Floating bonus coins and bonus lives
End-of-level flag with victory jump animation
Lives, score and coin tracking
Pause mode with darkened veil
Help screen (in-game)
Trilingual interface (French / English / Spanish, auto-detected from the calculator's system language)
Animated title screen with jumping Mario
Credits screen with scrolling Mario
Game Over and Victory end screens
Version number displayed in Help, Info, Title and About screens

2. CONTROLS

KEY / ACTION	DESCRIPTION
↑ / Enter	Jump (hold = higher)
←	Move left
→	Move right
Home	About scree
Esc	Help screen

Tip: Hold the jump key to jump higher (variable jump height).

3. HOW TO START

Transfer the MARIO program to your HP Prime (via USB connectivity kit or emulator).
Press ENTER to start a game.
Use 7 / 8 to move and 2 or ENTER to jump.

4. SETUP

The language is also auto-detected from the calculator's system Language setting at startup:

System Language == 3 → French
System Language == 5 → Spanish
Otherwise → English

5. SCORING

Action	Points
Coin collected (floating or block)	+50
Mushroom collected	+200
Enemy stomped	+100
Bonus life collected	+200 (or +300 from a block)

The score is always displayed in the HUD (top-left, 5 digits).

6. LIVES

You start with 3 lives (configurable in Setup).
Lose a life by:
- touching an enemy as small Mario
- falling into a pit
As big Mario, touching an enemy only makes you shrink (no life lost).
Bonus 1UP hearts can be found floating in levels or spawned from question blocks (10% chance).
When all lives are gone → GAME OVER.

7. ITEMS

Item	Effect
Coin	+50 points, +1 coin
Mushroom	Mario grows (2× height), +200 points
1UP Heart	+1 life, +200 points

8. ENEMIES

Enemy	Behavior
Goomba	Walks in a line, stomp to defeat
Koopa	Walks in a line, stomp to defeat

Warning: Do not touch them from the side!

As small Mario → death

As big Mario → you shrink

Enemies bounce off pipes, solid blocks, and patrol bounds.

9. LEVEL COMPLETION

Reach the flag at the end of the level to advance.

Level 1 → Level 2 (hand-crafted)
Level 2 → Level 3 (procedurally generated)
Level 3+ → randomly generated, until you reach MAX_LEVEL (5) → Victory screen

The victory jump animation plays automatically when you touch the flag; press ENTER to skip.

10. TECHNICAL OVERVIEW

10.1 Architecture

The program is organized into several sections:

Flat global variables (no deeply nested tables)
Static data: levels, colors, fonts, translations
Rendering functions: scenery, blocks, characters, UI
Physics functions: movement, collisions, camera
Game logic: enemies, objects, level generation, main loop
Views: Symb (title), Setup, Info, Help

10.2 Key design choices

No nested tables deeper than 2 levels
No ELSE IF on a single line (PPL compatibility)
Enemies stored in 8 flat slots (E1..E8)
Pickups stored in 3 generic slots (OA, OB, OC) + 5 floating coin slots + 2 bonus life slots
Functions return tuples {a, b, c, …} for multiple values
Double buffering: draw on G1 (320×240 grob), then BLIT_P(G0, G1)

10.3 Main functions

Category	Functions
Rendering	`DESSINE_CIEL`, `DESSINE_COLLINES`, `DESSINE_SOL`, `DESSINE_NUAGES`, `DESSINE_DRAPEAU`, `DESSINE_TOUS_BLOCS`, `DESSINE_MARIO`, `DESSINE_GOOMBA`, `DESSINE_KOOPA`, `DESSINE_PIECE`, `DESSINE_PIECE_BONUS`, `DESSINE_VIE_BONUS`, `DESSINE_CHAMPIGNON`, `DESSINE_HUD`, `DESSINE_PAUSE`, `DESSINE_LEVEL_END`, `DESSINE_GAME_OVER`, `DESSINE_GAME_WON`, `DrawTitleScreen`, `DESSINE_ABOUT`, `DrawBigItalicText`, `DESSINE_TEXTE_GEANT`
Physics	`PhysHorizontal`, `PhysJump`, `PhysIntegrate`, `PhysGroundCollision`, `PhysBlockCollisions`, `PhysAntiStuck`, `PhysCamera`, `PhysEnemyCollision`, `PhysEndFlagJump`
Game logic	`StepEnemy`, `DrawEnemy`, `CheckEnemy`, `UpdateObjSlot`, `SpawnFromQB`, `EnemyHitsBlock`, `DrawScene`
Levels	`LoadLevel`, `NIVEAU`, `GENERATE_LEVEL`, `GENERATE_PICKUPS`
UI / Views	`T`, `GetLangue`, `InitGlobals`, `AFFICHE_HELP`, `VIEW "Symb"`, `VIEW "Setup"`, `VIEW "Info"`, `VIEW "Help"`

10.4 Game loop (`NIVEAU`)

Each frame (~40 FPS via WAIT(0.025)):

Input — read keys 7/8 (move), 2/30 (jump), 4 (pause), 3 (help)
Pause — darkened veil + DESSINE_PAUSE, wait for ENTER
Help — AFFICHE_HELP() if key 3
Enemies — StepEnemy for each active enemy
Death — if STATE == 1, animate death, respawn or Game Over
Mario physics:
- PhysHorizontal → VX, DIR
- PhysJump → VY, ONGROUND, JUMPHOLD
- PhysIntegrate → MX, MY, VX, VY, PX, PY
- Pit check → respawn or Game Over
- PhysBlockCollisions → collisions + question-block spawn
- PhysGroundCollision → ground/pits
- PhysAntiStuck → unstick
- PhysCamera → camera follow
Pickups — UpdateObjSlot for OA, OB, OC (coin / mushroom / 1UP)
Enemies — CheckEnemy for slots 1–5
Flag — if MX >= FLAGX - 20, victory jump, transition
Floating coins & bonus lives — AABB collision, award points
Render — DrawScene, then BLIT_P(G0, G1)
Wait — WAIT(0.025)

10.5 Level data

Levels are described by 4 tables indexed by ACTIVE_LEVEL:

Table	Content
`LEVEL_META`	`{MAX_X, FLAGX, FLAGY, PIT1S, PIT1E, PIT2S, PIT2E, NEXT_LVL, NENEMIES, GRAV, JUMPV, MAXSPD, ACCEL, FRICTION}`
`LEVEL_BLOCKS`	List of `{x, y, type, hit}` — type 1=brick, 2=question, 3=solid, 4=pipe
`LEVEL_ENEMIES`	List of `{x, y, dir, alive, frame, type, speed, minX, maxX}` — type 1=Goomba, 2=Koopa
`LEVEL_COLORS`	Palette `{SKY1, SKY2, HILL1, HILL2, SOL1, SOL2, NUA, DRAP1, DRAP2}`
`LEVEL_COLORS_DARK`	50% darker palette for pause mode

Levels 1 and 2 are hand-crafted. Level 3+ are built by GENERATE_LEVEL(n), which:

creates random pits (1–2)
places block clusters (2–3 blocks each, 3–5 clusters)
adds pipes on the ground (never floating)
spawns enemies with random type and speed
picks one of two color palettes
links the previous level's NEXT_LVL to n

GENERATE_PICKUPS(n) then places 5 floating coins and (50% chance) 1 bonus life, avoiding pits.

11. FILES

File	Description
`MARIO.hpprgm`	Main HP Prime program
`README.md`	This file

12. COMPATIBILITY

HP Prime (all revisions)
HP Prime Virtual Calculator (emulator)
Recent firmware recommended (for DIMGROB_P, BLIT_P, TEXTOUT_P, Language system variable)

13. ROADMAP

[x] Level 1 (hand-crafted)
[x] Level 2 (hand-crafted)
[x] Procedural levels 3+ (infinite generation)
[x] Mushroom power-up
[x] 1UP hearts
[x] Floating coins
[x] Trilingual interface (FR / EN / ES)
[x] Pause mode with darkened veil
[x] In-game help screen
[x] Version number in Help, Info, Title and About
[ ] Breakable bricks
[ ] Fire flower (fireballs)
[ ] Invincibility star
[ ] High score saving

14. VERSION TRACKING

Version numbering convention

MAJOR.MINOR

MAJOR — significant gameplay or architecture changes
MINOR — new levels, items, or bug fixes

The current version is stored in the global APP_VERSION (e.g. "v1.0") and displayed on:

the title screen (under the subtitle)
the help screen (bottom-right corner)
the Info view (bottom-right corner)
the About screen footer (next to the year)

Version 1.0 — 2026

Initial release

Two hand-crafted levels (World 1-1 and World 1-2)
Infinite procedural levels from level 3 onward
Mario with small / big states (mushroom power-up)
Goomba and Koopa enemies with patrol AI and block bouncing
Question blocks, bricks, solid blocks, pipes
Coins, mushrooms, 1UP hearts
Floating bonus coins and bonus lives
Flag-based level completion with victory jump animation
Lives, score and coin tracking
HUD with 3×5 pixel font
Pause mode with darkened veil
In-game help screen (key 3)
Title screen with animated jumping Mario and big italic title
"About" credits screen with scrolling Mario and progressive text reveal
Trilingual interface (French / English / Spanish), auto-detected from system Language + manual override in Setup
Game Over and Victory end screens
Version number visible on all UI screens
Flat global variable architecture for PPL compatibility

Upcoming

Version 1.1 (planned)
- Breakable bricks
- Fire flower power-up
Version 1.2 (planned)
- Invincibility star
- High score saving
- Additional sound effects (if supported)

15. AUTHOR

HP-PLUMBER — Christophe NOCITO Year: 2026 Email: christophen83@hotmail.com

For bug reports, suggestions, or feedback, please contact the author by email.

16. LICENSE

This project is distributed for educational and recreational purposes.

Mario is a registered trademark of Nintendo. This is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with Nintendo.

17. CREDITS

Thanks to the HP Prime community for resources and inspiration.
Thanks to Nintendo for creating the Mario universe.