Both are coded in C, with some hand written ASM when needed.
Gold Mine Run! uses DJGPP (32-bit, needs DOS extender); the source is available: https://git.usebox.net/gold-mine-run/about/ — and I made the game mostly on twitch, the videos are available here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvI1iQmfH6UOkBSjL_EwtkmqRivM1bJk-
Traxtor was coded for GCC IA16 (it is a 16-bit game). In this case there’s little ASM and mostly for the CGA; see: https://www.usebox.net/jjm/notes/cga/
In both games I tried to make the game as smooth as possible on the target machine, and turns out the IBM PC/XT was easier than the 386! Probably because the CGA is 4bpp so there’s less data to move around.
EDIT: actually, let me clarify a bit 😀 The CGA game is simpler, and that’s a factor as well. For example: it doesn’t use masked sprites and all the drawing is byte aligned. The VGA is also moving more things on the screen at the same time.
