MONITOR PROJECTS FOR THE 128
•
August 1988 $2.95 U.S.
$3.95 Canada
I
iDVENJDURE
Dragons
[•nit
Other Skills
Software Reviews
128 California Games .iMiga Photon Paint ...and more
Type-in Programs
for the 64, 128 and Amiga
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Until now the world was flat. X- Specs 3D.
Burst the Iwo-dimensionol straightjocket that imprisons your video graphics. Enter the full-depth, full-color world of X-Specs 3D. The third dimensional stereoscopic world of human vision.
How does it work? The X-Specs advanced high-speed liquid crystal shutters allow
your computer to control what each eye sees independently (at 30 frames per second). The results are breathtaking.
Objects step out of your computer's display and into the room with lifelike reality. You can add new life 10 presentations, CAD, molecular and solids modeling. You can
ploy games with more realism than ever imaginable.
Easy installation involves plugging interface into joystick porl and running soflware included. Look for the variety of new programs supporting the X-Specs' Real Eyes vision.
Ask your local dealer for a demonstration. If he doesn't
have X-Specs yet, call or write us. We'll make sure you get a chance to see the new world of
X-SPECS 3D
C-64 and VCR interface coming soon. Dealer & distrib- utor inquiries invited. Amiga version list price: $124.95 haitsx
HAITEX RESOURCES, INC. 208 Carrolfton Park • Suite 1207 • Carrollton, Texas 75006 • (214)241-8030
X-Sc«s 3D and Real Eyw a* trademark! of Haw* Resource*, inc Amiga is a registered trademarx of Commodore- Amiga inc. Picture above m NOT a axnputor-oaneraled Image.
lN JAGER INTERNATIONAL is proud to announce the North American release of
)
7 V * if-, I
on a disk faJU!t^4-ai]d '.'!!.'
QnnjiiKidoJe nivi^.^t^ ,
IT'S TOTALLY O]
Australia's best-sell i rig
A 5V4 inch slice of Dov .
Each disk is double sided and crammed with games, tk
utilities, business and education programs.
I ■fiTi I3Vw9T17
• Features of ISSUE ONE!
ENTERTAINMENT
• Forest Raiders — High Speed Danger*
• Road Block — Action Strategy*
• Bert The Bug — Family Fun
UTILITIES & TOOLS
• Track & Sector Spreadsheet — DOS Utility1'
• Screens to Basic — Captures Screen to Print Statements*
• Nice Lister — Format Printouts Control Codes"'
• Function Key — Gives C64, C128 F-Keys51'
EDUCATION
• Typing Tutor — Learn to Touch Type (includes game)
• 3D Plot — Create 3D Shapes Using Formula
BUSINESS/HOME
• Appointment Manager — Diary/Calcnderf
• Littie Invoicer — Business Invoicingt
GRAPHICS/MUSIC
• Waltzing Matilda plus many programs from Europe!*
EDITORIAL
• Care & Maintenance of your C64
• Out and About Sydney plus many more programs!
• WIN A TRIP FOR TWO DOWN UNDER!
We want to take you there to welcome in / _>. the summer of 88/89. By sending in this coupon you immediately /
become eligible to win a / ' ^
/ A
holiday for two i Australia. Entries close Octo 31.
<* ^'ir^'v/
Full Machine Code f Compiled Basic
AUGUST 20,2087
Nothing could be worse than this god- forsaken, radioactive desert.
More Sniperdroids! All tracking me with them death glares. And them Uzis. They're weird trigger- twitchin' folks. I suspect it's them poisoning the water.
Or maybe it's those LeatherThugs. Heck, I don't know anymore. I heard they have a bunch of civilians cut off east of Ranger Center, which is where I'm headed. Hope not. They want me dead. Like every other mutant this side of Vegas.
The worst part is, I'm getting to be as bad as they are. You wouldn't believe some of the ways I've learned to kill. I hang out in sewers, and my best friend is a MAC 17 submachine gun.
Gramps talked about life before the nuclear war. All I know is I don't want others living this way. Gotta rebuild this desert right. Gotta make it so you can sleep with your eyes closed.
WASTELAND.'" A new role-playing game from the creators of the Bard's Tale'" series.
3 WAYS TO ORDER: 1) Visit your retailer. 2) Call 800- 245-4525 from U.S. or Canada, 8am to 5pm PSTto order by VISA/MC. 3) Mail check (U.S.S) orVISA/MC #, cardholder name, and exp. date to Electronic Arts Direct Sales, R O. Box 7530, San Mateo, CA 94403. Apple II version $49.95, Commodore version $39.95, plus $3 shipping/handling. CA residents add 6.5% sales tax. Allow 1-3 weeks for U.S. delivery.
"-''-■ '.-'Wtit'tV*:
ELECTRONIC ARTS"
Apple II is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Commodore is a registered trademark of Commodore Business Machines Ltd.
Commodore
M A G A Z
AUGUST 1988, \blume 9. Number 8
N
FEATURES
BEST OF AMIGA PUBLIC DOMAIN SOFTWARE 54
Don your black tie and tails and join us for this gala awards ceremony. Our expert picks the top Amiga public domain games, utilities, terminal programs, and sound and graphics demos and welcomes the first inductees into the Amiga PD Hall of Fame. by Graham Kinsey
TROY LYNDON: DEFENDER OF THE COMMODORE CROWN 58
At the ripe old age of 23, Troy Lyndon has seen the software industry undergo major changes while he's contributed to its growth. Meet Troy and find out why he's committed to producing games for the Commodore 64. by John Jermaine
COVER STORY
MAGIC'S MAJESTY IN ADVENTURE GAMES 50
From Adventure \o Zork, all adventure games incorporate some magic for the player to perform. Knowing how (and when) to cast spells, mix potions and wave wands can take an adventurer far. Magic's secrets are revealed in this compendium of conjuring. by Russ Ceccola
COVER PHOTO: Dennis Degnan
Computer Graphics: Louis Johnson
Software: Photon Paint by Microlllusions
Video Wall courtesy of AV Unlimited, Inc., Philadelphia
DEPARTMENTS
LETTERS NEWS
TIPS & TRICKS
Hints for Fun and Utility
Compiled by Louis F. Sander Gold Mine
Compiled by Lows F. Sander
64 AND 128 SOFTWARE REVIEWS
California Games by John Jermaine
Sub Battle Simulator by Gary V. Fields
Postcards by Mark Cotone
geoDex by Jim Esch
Eternal Dagger by Russ Ceccola
Superstar Soccer by Scott A. May
AMIGA SOFTWARE REVIEWS
Zoom! by Russ Ceccola Ferrari Formula One by Steve King Publisher Plus by En/in Bobo Photon Paint by Steve King Fire Power by Gary V. Fields Custom BBS by JefteryS. Hall
BOOK REVIEWS
Electronic Battlefield byShayAddams
WORTHWHILE IMPOSTERS
Class of III Compute by Howard Millman
4
8
12 16
18 20 22 24 26 28
30 32
34 35 38 40
42
44
ADVENTURE ROAD
Infocom Goes Graphic byShayAddams
PROJECTS
Monitor Projects by John lovine
PUMPING GEOS
BeckerBASIC by Mark Jordan
INSIDE Q-L1NK
Help with the Basics by Robert W. Baker
PROGRAMMING
5ita[ahex by Mike Lewis Tempered Fun by Paul R. Machuia Article Cataloger by Chris Stoy
128 MODE
Foolproof-Files by Mark Jordan
AMIGA UPDATE
Video Editing by Matthew Leeds
Amiga Public Domain by Graham Kinsey
AmigaBASIC Tutorial by Tim Jones
HOW TO ENTER PROGRAMS
MAGAZINE ENTRY PROGRAMS
ADVERTISERS' INDEX
46 48 62 66
68 70 74
78
82
84 87
108
110
112
COMMODORE MAGAZINE 3
LETTERS
To the Editor
So Dale Davis (Letters, May 1988) is over 40 and hates change. How Sad! I am 75 and I love change. I may be older in years than Dale, but I am mentally younger.
There is an ancient Chinese parable that goes like this:
The all-powerral Emperor called in all the Empire's magicians and wise men. When they were assembled, he said, "I want to know the one indisputable fact that was true yesterday, is true today, and will be true tomorrow. Five words, no more, no less. You have three months to bring that fact to me. Succeed and you shall have riches, failure means death."
Three months later, they met again, and the Emperor called for the answer. The magicians and the sages unfurled a tapestry upon which were the words: "And This Too Shall Change." E. Stuart Johnson Athens, AL
To the Editor:
Please do us all a favor and tell your Amiga Public Domain writer, Graham Kinsey to wake up and smell the coffee.
His review in the Amiga Public Domain Update (April 1988), while pretty thor- ough, featured an article about a PD pro- gram called "NAG" in which he [said], " . . .Nag can serve as an adequate substi- tute for your wife, mother or whoever . . ."
Does Mr. Kinsey really believe that NAGS are not only predominantly fe- male, but can be "adequately substituted" by a program that pesters you to tend it ASAP?
Mr. Kinsey, DO have another cup of Java, no make that a third cup, no, how about a Danish with it, no, yes, c'mon, (how 'm I doin', Mr. Kinsey, after all, f am both a wife and mother. . .) L. Balvin Papaikou.HI
To the Editor:
This is in response to a letter by Carl Poland, printed in the June issue of Com- modore Magazine. The letter concerned my review of Xetec's FontMaster 128, which appeared in the April issue of this magazine. I fee! Mr. Poland is in error on several points.
My assertion that FontMaster 128 is "absolutely" the best word processor avail- able for the 128 was my opinion. Obvious- ly not everyone has to agree. But in my opinion, FontMaster 128 offers the best editing and printing functions of any word processor for the 128.
As for Mr. Poland's complaint that Font- Master 128 does not preview in 80 col- umns {contrary to my claim), I suggest he read pages 61-62 in the manual. True, the preview shows only 53 columns at one time, but a single keystroke allows the user to view the rest of the page. A full 80- column graphic print preview is available with hardly any effort.
Finally, I have not been able to dupli- cate Mr. Poland's problems when exiting preview mode. I suggest he double-check the word processor's setup screen and again refer to pages 61-62 in the manual. FontMaster 128 will not work with certain fast load cartridges, such as Mach 128, so this should also be considered.
Nothing beats word processing on the 128, a system that has been blessed with some of the finest productivity programs on the market (at any price). For true word processing junkies, the perfect soft- ware does not exist. But in my opinion, FontMaster 128 offers the best value. Scott A.May Columbia, MO
To the Editor:
I thought that your publication would be interested in knowing about an Amiga training school here in the Phoenix area. They offer courses in desktop publishing, music, business programs like WordPer- fect, MaxiPlan and Analyze, graphics pro- grams like Videoscape 3D, DPaint U, Digi-Paint, Photon Paint, Deluxe Video, and others. I believe this is the first school of its kind for Amiga users and your read- ers would love to hear about it. Sincerely, Patrick Mondout Mesa,AZ
Editor's Response; Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Interested leaders can contact Ken Costello, 4636 E. Elwood, Suite #6, Phoenix, AZ 85040 for more in- formation.
Commodore
M A G A Z I N
Publisher Julie Bauer
Assistant to the Publisher Amanda K. Wappes
Managing Editor Jim Gracely
Assistant Editor Susan R. West
Assistant Technical Editor Mike Rivers
Art Director Gwenn Knapp
Assistant Art Director Wilson Harp
Art Production Bob Clark
Production Manager Jo-Ellen Temple
Circulation
Kenneth F. Battista
Advertising Coordinator
Rebecca Cotton Leister
Advertising Representatives
SOUTHEAST, SOUTHWEST ANDWESTCOAST
Warren Langer, Spencer 0. Smith
Warren Langer Associates
9320 NW 2nd Street
Coral Springs, FL 33071
Advertising Inquiries Only
305/753-4124
MIDWEST, NORTHEAST AND CANADA Pamela Stockham
700 River Rood
Fair Haven, NJ 07704
201/741-5784
Commodore Magazine, Volume 9, Number 8. August 1988,
Commodore Magazine is published monthly by Commo- dore Magazine Inc., 1200 Wilson Drive. West Chester. PA 19380. U.S.A. U.S. subscriber rate is $35.40 per year; Canadian subscriber rate is $45.40 per year; Overseas sub- scriber rate is $65,00 per year. Questions concerning sub- scription should be directed to Commodore Magazine Sub- scription Department, Box 651, Holmes, Pennsylvania 19043. Phone (8001 345-8112. In Pennsylvania (800) 662-2444. Copyright @ 1988 by Commodore Magazine Inc. Alt rights reserved.
CBM, PET, VIC 20, and Commodore 64 are registered trademarks of Commodore Electronics Ltd. Super PET and Commodore 128 are trademarks of Commodore Electronics Ltd. Amiga* is a registered trademark of Commodore-Amiga.
ABC Membership applied for.
4 AUGUST 1988
THE NAME OF THE GAME IS SURVIVAL.
n Vietnam, an American soldier soon learned that there were no winners in this deadly game. To survive each mission with his morale and sanity intact, and return to base safely, was all he could hope for. This was cap- tured in the award-winning film, Platoon.
In Data East's Platoon, you will experience the full impact of the film as you lead your platoon into the jungles, villages, bunkers, foxholes, and underground tunnels
••esttf _■»• Jim.
Svjlf '^1
ami ■
Wr&
of war-torn Southeast Asia. There you will encounter guerilla fighters, snipers, booby-trapped trip wires, armed patrols, and napalm
iair strikes. You must pick up food, medical supplies, and ammunition along the way. At times, the odds may seem insurmountable. But don't think about winning - to survive is enough.
FOR COMMODORE 64/128m AND AMIGA1: ATARI* ST, APPLE II SERIES® AND IBM?
® BEAST
DATA EAST USA, INC.
470 NEEDLES DR., SAN JOSE, CA 95112. (408)286-7074.
LICENSED BY GAME DESIGN « 198? OCEAN SOFTWARE LTD, PLATOON: TH &
<S I 93$ HEMDALE fILM CORP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COMMODORE. APPLE. ATARI. IBM. AND OCEAN ARE REGISTERED
I TRADE MARKS Of COMMODORE ELECTRONICS LTD. . APPLE
COMPUTERS. INC.. ATARI CORP. . IBM CORP . AND OCEAN ® SOFTWARE LTD. RESPECTIVELY.
,**t??*3W
. J^
DON'T SETTLE FOR LESS—
154111 DISK DRIVE $169.95
1 802C MONITOR $1 89.00
64C w/154111 Drive S333
64C W/SW41 Drive S279
180ZC with either package S184
r< () M m o n n K I
1 128K Memory
I Built in 1571 Disk Drive
I Detatchable Keyboard
128Dw/10B4 Monitor S719
128D w/Samsung RGB Monitor $638
FOR ALL YOUR AMIGA NEEDS ... CALL
tcp
512K RAM Upgrade $159
1010 EXT DRIVE $219
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TUSSEY'S SPECIAL PACKAGES
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ACCOLADE
Apolb18 S19.9S
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4th & Inches $19.95
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Killed Until Dead S12.9S
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Test Drive $19.95
ACTIONS OFT
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Up Periscope $17.95
ACT1VISION
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Air Rally $19.95
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Gamemaker Package
with all Library* $39.95
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Defender o( the Crown $22.95
King of Chicago $32.95
SDI $27.95
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Pocket Writer 2 $39.95
Pocket Filer 2 $37.95
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Digital Supsrpak $64.95
Dictionary $12,95
ELECTRONIC ARTS"
Bard's Tale $24.95
Bard's Tale II $27.95
Chessmaster 2000 $26.95
Demon Stalkers $19.95
Dragon's Lair $19.95
EOS(Erth Orbit Slal'n} $19.95
Instant Music $22.95
Legacy ol it™ Ancients $19.95
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Master Ninja $24.95
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PHM Pegasus $19.95
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SkaleorOte $19,95
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Educational Software too!
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Championship Football ....$24.95
GBA Basketball 2 on 2 $22.95
Top Fuel Eliminator $t 7.95
INFOCOM
Beyond Zork $26.95
Hitchhiker's Guide $14.95
LANCE HAFNER for the beat Jn iport* flr»Ccc •ImuUilon
3in1 Football $29.95
Bklbafl, the Pro Game .$29.95 Final Four Basketball ...$29.95 Full Count Baseball $29.95
MICROLEAGUE
Baseball $24.95
Wrestling $19.95
MKXO PROSE
Airborne Rangers $24.95
F-15 Strike Eagle $21 95
Gunship $21.95
Kennedy Approach $14.95
NATO Commander $22.95
Pirates $23.95
Silent Service $21 .95
Solo Flight $14.95
Stealth Fighter $24.95
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M1NDSCAPE
Gauntlet !. $24.95
Indoor Sports $19.95
Infiltrator II $19.95
Paperboy $22.95
Perfect Score:SAT prep ...$44.95
Superstar Hockey $22.95
UchiMata $17,95
Urdium $17.95
SIMON & SHUSTER
Star Trek: PromelhianAdv$24.95 Typing Tutor IV $24.95
SPECTRUM HOLOBYTE
Falcon $22.95
Intrigue $19.95
PT109..... $24.95
Soko Ban $17.95
SOFTWARE SIMULATNS
Football $19.95
Pure Stat Baseball $24.95
Pure Stat College BB $24.95
SSI
B-24 $22.95
Eternal Dagger $24.95
Phantasie I. Ill (each) $24.95
Realms of Darkness $24.95
Rings ol Zillin S24.95
Roadwat Europa $24.95
Shard ol Spring $24.95
Wargame Const Set $1 9.95
SUBLOG1C
Flight Simulator II $32.95
Jot $27.95
Slealth Mission $34.95
128?
SOFTWARE
WORD PROCESSORS
Fleet System 4 $49.95
Font Master 12S $39.95
Paperclip H $54.95
Paperclip III $39.95
Superscript 128 $44.95
Term Paper Wriler $29.95
Wrdwriter 128 w/spell .$34.95
SPREADSHEETS
Swiftcalc 128 w/sdwys $39.95
DATA RASES
Data Manager 128 $34.95
Perfect Filer $44.95
Superbase 128 $49.95
MISC. 128 SOFTWARE
Accountant Inc . ..$59.95
CMS Acct Pkg/128 ...$124.95
Mach 128 $34.95
Partner 128 $39.95
Sylvia Porter's Personal Finance Planner $44.95
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EPYX |
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500 XJ Joystick California Games Champ'ship Wrestling Create a Calendar Destroyer 4x4 Oil-Road Racing L. A. Crackdown |
$14.95 $24.95 $14.95 $17.95 $22.95 .SCALL $24,95 $12.95 1 $24.95 .$24.95 .$CALL $22.95 $14.95 $14.95 $14.95 S24.95 |
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Street Sports Baseba SI Sports Basketball . Street Sports Soccer Sub Batik* |
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Summer Games |
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64C BUSINESS AND PRODUCTIVITY
64C DATABASES
Bank Street Frier $24.95
Data Manager II $19.95
64C INTEGRATED PKGS
Vizaslar 64 4K $24.95
64C SPREADSHEETS
Swiftcalc 64 w/sideways ..$17.95 Sideways.... $14.95
64C WORD PROCESSORS
Bank Slreet Writer $29,95
Font Master II $29.95
Paperclip w/spellpack $32.95
Paperclip III $39.95
Pocket Writer Dictionary ..$12.95 Word Writer III $34.95
FINANCIAL & ACCT.
Timewks Electr. Checkbk. $17.95
Timeworks Money Mgr $17.95
CMSAcdPkg/64,.., $119.95
MISC. HARDWARE
Estes pwr supply for C-64 $54.95 Naverone 3 Slot expder ... $24.95 UTILITIES
Thinking Cap S24.95
Toy Shop S24.95
Fast Load S24.95
Bob's Term Pro S32.95
Abacus
Batteries Included
Paperclip Publisher $39.95
Berkeley Softworks
GEO Publish $44.95
ISroderbund
Graphics Library I, II or III .$16.95
Print Shop $25,95
Electronics Arts
Outrageous Pages $34.95
Springboard
Certificate Maker $29.95
Clip Art I or III $19.95
Newsroom. $19.95
Timeworks
Desktop Publisher $39.95
Unison World
Printmaster Plus $24.95
TUSSEY COMPUTER PRODUCTS
P.O.BOX 1006, STATE COLLEGE, PA 16804
...ten SHIP^ IT
PRINTERS
Panasonic,
Office Automaiion^VJl 2 yr warranty Un
1080JII ....$164.95 1091 ill ....$199.00 10921 $319.00
.IL
mitrenni-
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(144 drafl/36 NLQ) ...$169.95
NX 1000 Rainbow
(color printer) $229.95
NX-1000C
(Commodore Ini'(ace) $174.95 NX-1000C Rainbow (Commodore Interface/ Color Printer) $229.95
SEIKOSHA
2 yr warranty
SP-180VC ....$139.00 SP-1200VC....$CALL
SP-1200 Al ...$169.00
120cps, NLQ Mode
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120D $169.95
180D $CALL
MSP-40 $319.95
Tribute 224 $679.95
OKIDATA180 $229
■ Built in COMMODORE* and EPSON'Interlace
■ 180 CPS Print Speed Call Far Other Okidala Punters
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AMIQ
FOR ALLYOUR AMIGA NEEDS... CALL tcp
AMIGA SOFTWARE
productivity ■r^r^nr^r^ranrBraraararar^r^r^ranr^
Deluxe Music Const Sei ..$79.95 Logislix SB9.00
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Deluxe Video 1.2 $99.95 WordPerfect ...SCALL
Draw Plus $189,00
entertainment mmt^mmms^ami^^miB^^^^
Balance ol Power $29.98
Bards Tale $39 95
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Chessmastet 2000 $34,95
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Earl Weaver Baseball $39.95
Ferrari Formula One $39.95
Flight Simulator It ..,$39.95
Hailey Project $29.95
Hot-Cold JSlZZ $24.95
Leisure Suit Larry $44,95
Marble Madness $34.95
Racier $27.95
S.D.I $29.95
Silent Service $29.95
Sintjad $29.95
Starfleat I $39.95
Univited S29.95
51 2K RAM Upgrade.. $159.00
1010 EXT DRIVE $219.00
1680 MODEM $139.00
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SUPER GRAPHIX JR |
$32.95 AV«wV .$29.95 i i |
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w/Printer from Tussey |
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SUPER GRAPHIX Interface w/SK buffer down loadable fonts w/Printer from Tussey |
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SUPER GRAPHIX GOLD w/Printer from Tussey |
IV .$94.95 ira-BrB'B-BararJ Ik $84.95 — ■■"■TJ |
RGB/COMPOSITE COLOR MONITORS FOR THE 128 COMMODORE 1084
64 G x 400 Resolution
4 Operating Modes
MAGNAVOX 8762
$4C x 240 Resolution 3 Modes. 1 yr warranty
THOMSON 4120
56Cx 240 Resolution a Modes 1 y warranty
.3299.00
$249.00
.$219.00
All 3 monitors include cables to Commodore 128
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|1 Berkeley 1 ISoftworks NEW!!... GEO PUBLISH (64/1 28)... |
....$44.95 |
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GEOS 128 $44.95 GEOS Geo Calc 128 $44.95 Geo Calc |
$36.95 $31.95 |
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Geo File 128 S44.95 Geo File |
$31.95 |
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Geo Programmer ..$47.95 Geodex Deskpaek 128 $44.95 Deskpack Geo Write 128 $44.95 Fontpack Geo Spell $22,95 Geo Write |
$24.95 $21.95 $19.95 S31 .flfi |
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VTit
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SAMSUNG
RGB MONITOR
I 14" Anti-Glare Screen I 640 x 240 Resolution I Tilt/Swivel
only
$199
Panasonic
lOSOill Printer,
■ 144 cps (dra
■ NLQ Mode
■ 2 yr Warranty
O COMMODORE
1670^
MODEM\
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,- COrWtOOORE
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CMS
ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS Pkg. Price for all Modules:
C128 version $124.95
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DISK-KOUNTS
per box Ot 10 3.50 5.25'
BONUS DSVDD $16.95 56,95 I MAXELL DS'DD $17.35 $9.95 VERBATIM DSJDD $19,95 $9,95 SONY DS/00 $16.95 $8.95
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LtCi
NEWS • NEWS • NEWS • NEWS • NEWS • NEWS • NEWS * NEWS
COMDEX/Spring
T
wenty-five third party hardware and software developers convened in the Commodore booth at COMDEX/Spring Atlanta May 9-12, to present video, publishing, CAD, business and educational applications on the Amiga, Among those present:
• NewTek with Digi-View 3.0: new features include overscan for a maximum of 768 x 480 resolution, half-brite mode, and line art mode. For details contact: NswTek, Inc., 115 W. Crane St.,Topeka,KS 66603. Phone: (913) 354-1146.
« Oxxi, Inc. announced the availability of MaxiPlan 1.9. The spreadsheet's refinements include a Blitter option which allows the user to add a second color in the border or data area of a chart. Registered users of version 1.8 will automatically receive the upgrade. French and German language versions of MaxiPlan are also in the works. For further information contact: Oxxi, Inc. 3438 Falcon Ave., Long Beach, CA 90807. Phone: (213) 427-1227.
• Progressive Peripherals & Software announced an agreement with ASDG, Inc. to market their 8MB RAM expansion unit for the Amiga 2000, ProBAM 2000. Configurable to two, four, six or eight megabytes, ProBAM 8000 has a suggested retail price of $399.95. For details contact: Progressive Peripherals & Software, 464 Kalamath St., Denver, CO 80204. Or call: (303) 825-4144.
• Electronic Arts previewed DelnxePhotoLab, a paint and print program for the Amiga which provides more colors, larger canvases, greater graphic capabilities and palette manipulation tools. Users can produce graphics in any Amiga mode (including HAM) up to 10 feet by 10 feet in size with any Amiga-supported printer. DeluxePhotoLab was scheduled for release in July at a retail price of 1 149.99. For further information contact: Electronic Arts, 1820 Gateway Dr., San Mateo, CA 94404. Phone: (415) 571-7171.
• Haitex Resources announced that they will be marketing X-CAD (developed by D.K.-based Taurus-Impex) in North America. X-CAD is a general-purpose Amiga CAD program for architectural and mechanical designers. The program uses a verb-noun-modifier command structure (e.g., DRAW LINE PERPENDICULAR). X-CAD has a suggested retail price of S599, For further details contact: Haitex Resources, 208 Carrollton Park, Suite 1207, Carrollton, TX 75006. Or call: (214) 241-8030.
• Future Touch directed traffic with their new touch screen system on the Amiga that mapped out the stations in the Commodore booth. Information was available on each product category, manufacturer and title on display. For details contact: Future Touch, 192 Laurel Rd., E. Northport, NY 11731. Phone: (516) 757-7334.
Other Amiga developers represented in the Commodore booth included: Associated Computer Services with Station Manager; B.E.S.T. with version 3.0 of B.E.8.T. Business Management] Brown-Wagh Publishing displayed Zuma Group's WTEXT 1 . 1 1 and
8 AUGUST 1988
TV'SHOW 1.02; Byte by Byte showed Sculpt-Animate 3D with Computer Systems Associates' 68030 board; Gold Disk with Professional Page version 1.1; Microlllusions showed Photon Video and Photon Paint with a Tektronix printer; Software Visions, Inc. with Microfiche Filer; SubLogic with Jet; and WordPerfect Corp. demonstrated WordPerfect and WordPerfect Library.
• Discovery Software introduced a new version of their best- selling Arkanoid with 33 new levels and a reduced price of $29.95 (down from $49.95). Another new feature allows players to slow the action down to a pace they can handle. Discovery will try to implement this feature on subsequent releases as well for younger players or those with physical disabilities. Discovery was also showing their latest Amiga release, Zoom! (see review on page 30). In addition, they are now providing a 30-day unconditional money- back guarantee for Arkanoid and Zoom! purchasers. For more information contact: Discovery Software, 163 Conduit St., Annapolis, MD 21401.
Phone: (301)268-9877.
Commodore also unveiled its new Professional Series III line of MS-DOS-compatible computers. The Commodore PC10-III and PC20-HI are both IBM XT-compatible and feature built-in graphics, color and mouse support. Both new models include one internal
5.25-inch drive and 640K RAM. The PC20-m also
__^- -' I includes a 20MB hard disk
^^[" ' drive. The PClO-m retails
forS999;thePC20-mfor
J '""
v-:""A
NEWS • NEWS • NEWS • NEWS • NEWS • NEWS • NEWS • NEWS
Amiga Developers Conference
jQJ, the Amiga Developers Conference held In Washington, D.C. a week prior to COMDEX, Commodore announced that 600,000 Amigas had been shipped worldwide. Over 350 hardware and software developers attended the three-day conference sponsored by Commodore Amiga Technical Support (CATS). The Amiga development community has produced over 1100 software programs for the Amiga since its premier three years ago this month. Think about it, that's more than a program a day.
The Shadows of Mordor
X he Shadows of Mordor is the third J.R.R. Tolkien adventure for the Commodore 64 from Addison-Wesley Publishing. Adapted from Book P7 of The Two Towers, the adventure has more than 80 locations to explore in a quest to keep the Ring from the Dark Lord, Sauron. The package includes a map of Middle-earth and a guide to Middle-earth laws, lore and language. The Shadows of Mordor retails for $29,95. For more information contact: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co, Reading, MA 01867. Or call: (617) 944-3700.
Accolade Hits
jQjQCOlade, inc. has launched ' 'All Time Favorites1 ' a new product line of their entertainment bestsellers. Commodore 64 All Time Favorites include HardBall!, Ace of Aces, Fight Night, and Killed Until Dead. Each title will be priced at $14.95. For more information contact: Accolade, Inc., 550 S. Winchester Blvd., Suite 200, San Jose, CA 95128. Phone: (408) 985-1700.
64
1 rime Artifax, publisher of Australia's popular disk-based magazine Suite 64, is making their product available in North America. The 5.25-inch slice of Down Under features entertainment, educational, utilities and business software and a point-and-click menu system. Suite 64 is available for $9.95 per issue. For details contact: Jonathan Jager International, P.O. Box 29874, Richmond, VA 23229. Phone: (804) 262-8897.
Alternate Reality: The City
E
lectronic Arts has begun shipping Alternate Reality: The City
for the Amiga. Developed by DataSoft, the program is the first in a series of futuristic, fantasy role-playing games. This episode begins as you are captured by aliens who leave you on the portal of The City of Xebec's Demise. Build your character's personal attributes in
Alternate Reality: The City, and you might have a chance of surviving subsequent installments of Alternate Reality. For details contact: Electronic Arts, 1820 Gateway Dr., San Mateo, CA 94404. Or call: (415) 571-7171.
Fire & Forget
1 itus Software's latest release is Fire & Forget for the Amiga. The game finds the world on the brink of disaster; to save it you must man Thunder Master, the ultimate fighting machine for the nuclear age. Fire & Forget carries a suggested retail price of $39,95. For more information contact: Titus Software Corp., 20432 Corisco St., Chatsworth, CA 91311. Phone: (818) 709-3693.
IntroCAD Upgrade
Jtrogressive Peripherals 4? Software, Inc. has released version 2.0 of IntroCAD, their popular Amiga CAD program. Improvements include the ability to store CAD drawing files in Aegis Draw format for use in desktop publishing programs. Printer support has also been expanded. To obtain the update, IntroCAD users should send their original disk along with $10 (for handling) to: Upgrade Department, Progressive Peripherals & Software, Inc., 464 Kalamath St., Denver, CO 80204.
Rocket Ranger
Uinemaware's latest "interactive movie" Rocket Ranger is now playing on an Amiga near you. The Nazis have won WWII, and a group of 21st century scientists are counting on you (and their time travel device) to change the course of history and save mankind. This melodramatic plot is heightened by chapter divisions with a cliffhanger in every chapter. Rocket Ranger retails for $49.95. For more information contact: Clnemaware Corporation, 4165 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Westlake Village, CA 91362. Phone: (806) 379-9401.
COMMODORE MAGAZINE 9
NEWS • NEWS • NEWS • NEWS • NEWS • NEWS ■ NEWS • NEWS
IViicro Aided Designs has released version 2.0 of T.H.I.S.
(Technological Highbred Integrated System) for the Commodore 128. T.H.I.S. enables 128 users to create drawings ranging from architectural drawings and mechanical blueprints to banners, signs and greeting cards. The program has a maximum virtual screen resolution of 960 x 536 pixels per page and up to seven separate pages to draw on. For details contact: Micro Aided Designs, P.O. Box 1982, Placentia.CA 92670.
Free Spirit Releases
F
ree Spirit Software, Inc. has released another collection of adventure games on one disk. Moffatt's Adventure Disk #2 contains Temporal, West, Death Valley, and The Lighthouse. The disk is available for $19.95 from: Free Spirit Software, Inc., 905 W. Hillgrove, Suite 6, La Grange. IL 60525. Phone: (800) 552-6777,
GLAREFREE
V isual System Developments has introduced GLABEFBEE, an aerosol spray that reduces UV-B radiation and cuts glare and static on your monitor. The spray is comprised of a durable polymer that absorbs UV-B radiation and diffuses glare; additional ingredients limit static. Supplied in a 3.2 ounce aerosol can, one application of GLAKEFREE provides a permanent coating. For further information contact: Visual System Developments, Inc., P.O. Box 367. 18265 S. Midhill Dr., West Linn, OR 97068. Phone: (503) 635-5948.
Consumer Electronics Information
1 he Consumer Electronics Group of the Electronic Industries Association has made available three free pamphlets to help consumers get the most out of their consumer electronics products. The three pamphlets are: ' 'How to Save Money and Take Care of TVs, VCRs, Camcorders, Audio Equipment, Computers, and Other Electronic Products," "How to Choose and Use Accessories," and "How to Install, Connect, and Expand TVs, VCRs. Telephones, Audio Systems, and other Consumer Electronic Products," Single copies of the pamphlets can be obtained from EIA/CEG by sending a self- addressed business-size envelope with appropriate postage (Care Products 25<£ postage, Accessory Products 45* postage, Hookup and
Expansion 655 postage) to: Electronics Industries Association, Name of Pamphlet, P.O. Box 19100, Washington, D.C. 20036.
Activision Changes
Ajct
ctivision has moved to a new address and adopted a new corporate name. The company, now known as Mediagenic will continue to market the Activision line of entertainment software. Mediagenic's new address: 3885 Bohannon Dr., Henlo Park, CA 94025. Phone: (415) 329-0500.
EA to Distribute SSI
E
lectronic Arts has announced an exclusive distribution agreement with Strategic Simulations, Inc., publisher of strategic war simulations and fantasy games. Under the agreement Electronic
Arts has made a minority investment in SSI and will distribute upcoming SSI titles including Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in the U.S. and Canada. "This represents the largest affiliated labels deal made to date," said Trip Hawkins, president of Electronic Arts. Hawkins compares himself and Joel Billings, president of SSI, to two military generals, "Both Joel and I have been in this industry for more than ten years and in that time have learned that in some situations it is much more effective to join forces and make your advances as allies."
Correction: The Hews Section in the June issue of Commodore Magazine listed an incorrect address for CW Data Labs, makers of Tisar 128. The correct information is: CW Data Labs, 1632 Napfle Ave., Philadelphia, PA 191 11. Phone: (800) 537-LABS.
10 AUGUST 1988
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LOADSTAR™ is two disks each month filled with great software for your Commodore 64 or 128.
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Without investing a fortune, LOADSTAR will help you to see why your Commodore 64 or 128 is the most versatile and powerful tool you own. You will know more about your Commodore, its capabili- ties, and software for it, than you would have thought possible. At $6.65, LOADSTAR is the best value in software today.
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Contents of Issue #49
Power Budget Keep track of your spending, make projections. Down, Down, Down Can you survive six levels of acid mines? Robot Rescue As Mandar II, rescue our ambassadors from the Vordax. Notepad Two text screens for notes. Pop-DOS LIST one BASIC program from another, among other things. Cris-Cros PokerPlay 10 hands at once. Plus Chomp, Animal, Joystick Art, Statistics Analyzer, Template Maker, Invisible Aid 128, 2 Potato, and more!
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Sidel
Diskovery LOADSTAR Forum
DiskWriter Submission Form
Sector Editor
BASIX 64 & 128
Zorphon
Side 2
Puzzle Maker
File Viewer
Star Terminal
Banner
Jump!
Towers of Hanoi
Yahtzee
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(Louisiana Residents add 4% Sales Tax) CO088
SOFTDISK Inc • P. O. Box 30008 • Shreveport, LA 71130-0008
Compiled by Louis F. Sander
This month we feature some very useful tips forgetting the most from Commodore's Magazine Entry Programs, plus numerous submissions that were sent to me on Q-Link. As we've mentioned before, you can send your tips by Q-Link E-Mail to LFS. Be sure to include your full name and address, since we have no way of sending cliecks by E-Mail!
If you'd rather send your treasures on paper, put each of them on a separate sheet (preferably typed), with your name and ad- dress on each one, and mail them to: Louis F. Sander P.O.Box 101011 Pittsburgh, PA 15237
Slow listing: If you know this one, you think everybody knows it. If you don't know it, you think it's a miracle.
To slow down the listing of programs or directories, press the CTRL key in 64 mode or the COMMODORE key in 128 mode. Unfortunately, this trick won't work in CP/M mode. Sebastian Camberos P. La Paz, Bolivia
Label the programs you type: I have a very large collection of programs from this column and from computer magazines in general. The programs almost always had an accompanying ar- ticle that explained them or gave useful information about their use. Unfortunately, it's very difficult to remember where I got most of the programs, so I'm out of luck when I want to go back to the original source.
lb get around the problem, I now record the source of every program whenever I type it in. I put a REM statement in an un- used line number at the very start of each program. The REM consists of the magazine name, the month, the year and the page number of the original article.
Like most such useful habits, I wish Td started doing this years ago. Don Halloran Bloomfleld,NJ
128 Magazine Entry Program tip: If you've typed in a Commo- dore Magazine program without using the Magazine Entry Pro- gram, it's not too late to gain the benefits of automatic proof- reading. Just redefine Function Key 1 by executing KEY1,CHR$(27) + "K"'
Then list a section of the program. For each line, type Fl and the checksum. When you press RETURN, the Magazine Entry Program will do its thing. IMD Walrus Q-Link
Improving the Magazine Entry Program: Each issue of Com- modore Magazine includes two Magazine Entry Programs on its final pages — one for the 64 and another for the 128. By auto- matically detecting typing mistakes, the Magazine Entry Pro- grams make it easier to type the other programs that are print- ed in the magazine.
In addition to appearing in Commodore Magazine each month, the Magazine Entry Programs are available on Q-Link and from many user groups and bulletin boards.
When a printed program is set up for use with a Magazine Entry Program, each of its lines ends with an apostrophe fol- lowed by a checksum of four letters. (Due to the shortness and simplicity of the programs in "Tips & Tricks," we seldom provide the checksums here. They are, however, provided for almost ev- ery other program in the magazine.)
When you load and run one of the Magazine Entry Programs, it puts a machine language program in memory. You then ex- ecute a SYS statement to activate the machine language pro- gram and a NEW command to remove the Magazine Entry Pro- gram itself.
Once the SYS has been executed, the invisible machine lan- guage program carefully checks each BASIC line that you enter. It gives audible and visible alarms if the BASIC line lacks the proper checksum. The usual cause of this, of course, is a typing error in the BASIC line itself.
There are ways to disable the automatic checking and other ways to reactivate it once disabled. Complete operating instruc- tions are printed in the magazine each month.
All in all, the system is simple, accurate and useful. If you haven't tried it yet, you ought to give it a whirl.
But even the best programs can be improved upon, and these are no exception. The accompanying listings provide some changes that will make the Magazine Entry Programs easier and faster to use.
The short listings that start "1 REM IMPROVED ..." are lines that are to be added to the Magazine Entry Programs printed in the magazine. To add them, you must first put the ap-
12 AUGUST 1988
ips & Tricks/64 and 128
propriate (64 or 1281 Magazine Entry Program into memory, ei- ther by typing it or loading it from disk. Then choose the appro- priate (64 or 128> listing from this article and type lines 1-140, which will be added to the original program. (Actually, one of the lines in each listing replaces a line in the original program.)
If you're typing the new lines for the 64, don't overlook the se- micolons at the ends of lines 6 and 102.
Notice that the new program starts with a line identifying it as an improved version. Save it, giving it a name that will differ- entiate it from the original.
The improved programs automate your NEW and SYS by printing them onto the screen, where you can execute them by pressing the RETURN key. This reminds you to execute these two important commands, and saves some typing when you do it. The 128 version even puts a line of instructions in a window at the top of the screen, where it stays visible as you enter your other programs.
But the new programs have an even better feature — they let you save the machine language programs directly, rather than in the original BASIC loader form. This makes for faster load- ing every time you use them. (For the 64, loading time is cut from 80 seconds down to five!) To activate this feature, just an- swer "Y" when asked if you want to save an ML version.
The Autoloader program accompanying this article automati- cally manages the machine language programs. It detects whether it's running on a 64 or 128 then loads and executes the appropriate machine language code. It even displays the com- mands for disabling and reactivating the Magazine Entry Pro- grams.
To use the Autoloader, just be sure the machine language ver- sion of the proper Magazine Entry Program is on the disk in your drive. Then load and run the Autoloader, and everything will take care of itself.
If you want to be completely equipped to work with the Maga- zine Entry Programs, you should set up one disk that contains all the programs you'll need. Here is what should be on it:
1. The original 64 Magazine Entry Program, as it appears in the back of the magazine.
2. The original 128 Magazine Entry Program.
3. The improved 64 Magazine Entry Program (the one with lines 1-140 for the 64 added).
4. The improved 128 Magazine Entry Program (with added lines 1-140 for the 128 added).
5. The 64 machine language version, made by running #3 above and answering "Y" at the prompt. Its name will be MAGENTPROG64.ML,
6. The 128 machine language version, made by limning #4 above and answering "Y" at the prompt. Its name will be MAGENTPROG128.ML
7. The autoloader program that accompanies this article. With these seven programs, you'll be able to do anything
you'd like, including going back to the originals as printed in the magazine. In most cases, you'll probably just use the auto- loader, which in turn will use MAGENTPROG64.ML or MAGENTPROG128.ML, depending on the machine it is being run on.
This article includes tips from Larry A. Sexton, Harriman, IN; Grzegorz Szrnidt, Warszawa, Poland; and Jeffrey A. Seay, Mau- melle, AR.
100 REM * AUTOLOADER FOR ML VERSIONS 110 REM * OF THE COMMODORE MAGAZINE
J 120 REM * MAGAZINE ENTRY PROGRAM 130 PRINT" [CLEAR, DOWNJWORKING. . ."
:KS="KILL";PS="MAGENTPROG6 4.ML"
:R=49152:REM 64 140 IF PEEK(65534) =23 THEN KS="SYS
4 867":P$="MAGENTPROG128.ML":R=4 86 4
:REM 128 150 IF A = 0 THEN A=l:LOAD PS , 8 , 1 160 PRINT" [CLEAR, DOWN] THE COMMODORE
MAGAZINE MAGAZINE ENTRY" 170 PRINT"PROGRAM IS NOW ACTIVE." 180 PRINT" [DOWN) ENTER '";KS;
11 ' TO DISABLE IT." ' 190 PRINT" [DOWN] ENTER ' SYS" ; R" [ LEFT]
1 TO REACTIVATE IT." 200 PRINT" [DOWNJCOMPLETE INFORMATION
ON HOW TO USE THE" 210 PRINT"MAGAZINE ENTRY PROGRAM CAN
BE FOUND IN" 220 PRINT"THE BACK OF ANY ISSUE OF
THE MAGAZINE. [DOWN] " 230 SYS R : NEW
REM IMPROVED
PROGRAM
REM SEE TIPS
64 MAGAZINE ENTRY
& TRICKS, 8/88
VERSION (Y OR N) ";Z$ "[SHFT Y]
100 102
104 115 120
13 'J
140
INPUT"SAVE A ML :Z$=LEFTS(ZS, 1) IF ZS="Y" OR ZS " THEN Z$="Y"
IF ZS="Y" THEN OPEN 1,8,8, "MAGENTPROG64 .ML, P, W" :PRINT#1,CHRS(0) +CHRS(19 2) B=H*16+L:POKE P,B:T=T+B:
P = P+1
IF ZS="Y" THEN PRINT! 1 ,CHRS (B) ;
GOTO 30
CLOSE 1
PRINT" [CLEAR, DOWN13]
DONE! PRESS <RETURN> TWICE TO
ACTIVATE.
PRINT" [DOWN] 'KILL' DISABLES,
'SYS49152' REACTIVATES." PRINT" [ HOME, DOWN 3] NEW [ HOME, DOWN61 SYS49152 [HOME] " : END
128 MAGAZI & TRICKS,
1 REM IMPROVED
2 REM SEE TIPS
3 :
4 INPUT"SAVE A ML VERSION :Z$=LEFT$(ZS,1) :IF ZS = " " THEN Z$="Y"
115 IF ZS="Y" THEN BSAVE"
8.ML",B0,P4864 TO P55 120 PRINT" [CLEAR]MAGAZINE
: SYS4864=ON [SPACE2JS 125 W=39:IF RWINDOW(2)=80 130 WINDOW 0,1,W,24 135 PRINT" [DOWN10]DONE! P
<RETURN> TWICE TO ACT 140 PRINT" [HOME, DOWN3] NEW
SYS4864 [HOME! " : END
NE ENTRY PROG 8/88
(Y OR N) ";Z$
[SHFT Y]
MAGENTPROG12 46
ENTRY YS4867=OFF"
THEN W=79
RESS
IVATE. [HOME,DOWN6]
Continued on page 96
COMMODORE MAGAZINE 13
C:v.:*l' fonts up
to 192
point.
These days, you can find all kinds of pro- grams that call themselves desktop publishers. Oh, one may drop a drawing here or create a column there. But don't let anyone kid you.
Nobody's got anything like geoPublish.
You see, geoPublish is a real desktop publisher. With hundreds more features that unleash your layouts across an endless number of pages, and leave your non-GEOS friends frenzied with frustration.
"Full featured desktop publishing on the Com- modore 64? Including laser printing? If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes on my own Commodore 64, 1 wouldn't have believed it, either."
— MicroTimes. March, 19KH
With geoPublish, you pour your geoWrite text into col- umns and around graphics. Automatically. You can use any of the 21 preset page
layouts or any of the zillions you come up with yourself.
After that, it's off to fun city.
The geoPublish toolbox is filled with goodies that help you create all kinds of special effects in almost every area, for example, you can customize over 80 GEOS compatible fonts. In bold, italic, underline, or outline. In any combination you choose. Up to 192 points high.
"Of the three soft- ware packages I used (geoPublish, Personal Newsletter, Outrageous Pages), geoPublish most resembles professional desktop publishing programs:' _Rl.y Mmhl>WH
And that's just what you can do with type. You can also create columns. Boxes. Banners. Enlarge or reduce graphics. Zoom in for detail work. Preview the entire page. And print the whole thing out on a LaserPrinter for a razor sharp look.
Of course, those aren't the only reasons we're excited about geoPublish. It's also because major magazines — like the tough guys at INFO
KTURE STORY.
— are raving about it, too. Saying that people will use geoPublish "to retire their Print Shops and Print Mas- ters" and that "Newsroom pales in comparison'.'
geoPublish Features General
• WYSIWYG. What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get,
• Import graphics from geoPaim.
• Import graphics from Print Shop, Newsroom, Print Master'" using GfiOS Graphics Grabber (sold separately with Deskpaek Plus).
• Full page and zoom display modes.
• On-screen rulers, digital cursor control allows exact placement in full page edit modes.
Work in full page preview mode
Zoom into actual size
Create master pages
«Sl U 1K4 fc? egkWl
GEOPUBL rMKES BIG M
j-erAi-.f &>itn Ail bjtti
fi.cn H.**: SH
trier Hal* ^WC«1)>1»
,c> 1%
Flow text into column
Headlines in -1 to 192 points
object manipulation
Hey, with press like that what more need we say?
Well, we can say we ve got even more features. In fact, a whole What-You-See-Is- What-You-Get wish list in the chart to your right, filled with features that mean busi- ness. Things like text in any pattern and automatic font smoothing and stuff that nobody else ever thinks of.
So if you're serious about desktop publishing, take a look at geoPublish. For Com- modore owners, it's the only feature story worth taking seriously.
■ Supports over 80 GEOS compatible fonts in point sizes tanging from A to 192 point (.05" to 2.6").
• Plain, bold, underline, outline, italic, super- script and subscript, and any combination of these typestyles allowed for each font.
•Supports dot matrix and Post Script laser printers.
■ Supports up to Hi pages in length, larger docu- ments can be created by setting the starting page number.
Master Page Mode
■ Support for left and right master pages. •Set up to 16 guidelines for aiding graphic and
column layout.
■ Automatic page numbering can set starting page.
•Automatic dale stamping.
* Full graphic tool box for master page graphic design.
II Berkeley
• Library feature for saving master page layouts, product comes with a master page library with several standard layouts.
Page Layout Mode
• Imports text from any Commodore word processor.
• Flexible design and placement of text columns, column layout, size and combinations can be altered at any time.
• Built-in editor supports full word processing features of geoWrite 2. 1 for text flowed into geoPublish columns.
• Snap to guides feature allows for easy layout using master page guidelines.
• User-selectable gutters (space between columns).
■ Support for unanchored (flow with text) as well as anchored (text flows around) graphics.
• Automatically flows text around graphics and from page to page keeping track of up to 16 separate word processing documents.
Page Graphic Mode
• Contains a complete object oriented draw pro- gram. Graphic tools include;
• Place picture: Picture can be centered and clip- ped, scaled to any size, stretched and scaled.
• Special text: Any font may be output in any point sine from 4 to 192 point. Text may also be printed in any style and in any of the 32 GEOS system patterns. Text may be printed either horizontally or vertically.
• Lines, connected lines and curved lines (splines): may be drawn in 8 different thick- nesses, have round or square endpoints, and be drawn in 32 different patterns.
■ Rectangles, polygons, circles, and ellipses: may be framed or untrained and filled with any of the 32 system patterns. Frame thickness can also be varied.
■ Any graphic object or group of objects may be selected at any time and moved, cut, resized, brought to the foreground (drawn on top of everything) or pushed to the background (drawn under everything I.
• Automatic smoothing option for pictures and text.
• All tools work in either full page preview mode or zoom mude.
To order call 1-800-443-0100 ext. 234 geoPublish
(California residents add ~Tc sales tax.) $2.50 U5/$5.50 Foreign for shipping and handling. Allow six weeks fur delivery.
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The brightest minds are working with Berkeley.
GEOPUBLISH
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If you have nuggets of your own to contribute, write them up and send them in. Successful contributors will get real and re- warding fame, plus a grubstake of $5 upward.
Each submission should combine all the tips for one game, and your name and full address must be printed on every sheet of pa- per. Mail your nuggets to: The Gold Mine P.O. Box 101011 Pittsburgh, PA 15237
Alternate Reality: If you know how to use a disk sector editor, you can easily change your character stats. Each disk can hold four characters, on tracks 5, 9, 13 and 17, In sector 14, the locations are: 167-169 — Experience in hi byte/lo byte format 173 — Character level 184-185 — Hit points in hi byte/lo byte format 188-189 — Maximum hit points 190-193 — Amount of gold 194-197 — Amount of silver 198-201 — Amount of copper 202-205 — Amount of gems 206-209 — Amount of jewels
These are the locations in sector 15. Choose a number be- tween 0 and 255 and put it three times in a row in the places in- dicated:
46-48 — Strength 55-57 — Intelligence 64-66 — Wisdom 73-75 — Skill 82-84 — Stamina 91-93 — Charisma 100-102 — Speed Robert Sax Wilson, NY
The Bard's Tale II: When fighting sorcerers, avoid attacking, giving the defend command to all your characters. The sorcerers will usually summon up a ninja, and at the end of the round the party will disbelieve them. Repeat this several times, and your experience points will really mount up.
Tired of waiting for morning? Go in and out of the Adventur- er's Guild. Trenton Gold El Paso, TX
Compiled by Louis F. Sander
The Bard's Tale II: Before defeating Lagoth Zanta, make a new character and bring him to the Sage's Hut. Defeat Lagoth Zanta and the King will award all new characters a million experience points, which will bring them up to the 21st level. Erik Yerasseur Uxbridge, MA
The Bard's Tale II: Tb enter the Catacombs from the Mad God Temple, say TARJAN to the priest.
Tb get the first piece of the wand, go to the TOMBS and make sure you have space for an extra person to join your party. Then:
1. When you get in the first snare, fight the toxic giant.
2. Let the old warrior join your party, putting him first in the lineup.
3. Give the warrior what you got from the giant.
4. Have everyone drink from the fountain.
5. Have the old warrior use what you got from the giant in front of the cloudy face.
If you have followed these instructions carefully, you'll find a door where you found the old warrior. It leads to the first piece of the wand. To get the second piece, after entering the second snare go through the door on the left. Tim Simstad Address Unknown
The Bard's Tale II: To get past the double doors in the beginner dungeon, make your bard sing the Watchwood Melody.
When going to fight Lagoth Zanta (the Sage), fill the empty slots in your characters with dynamite or holy hand grenades. Then have every character, except for your Archmage(s) and those with an Aram's knife, toss dynamite or holy hand gre- nades every round. Make the Archmage(s) cast either the dream spell or heal all, to heal/raise every member who has taken any damage. Toss Aram's knives at Lagoth Zanta until he is dead. Stephen E. Mynhier Lake City, FL
Bomb Jack: For infinite lives, load the game, reset your 64, then type:
POKE 4056,44 <RETURN>
SYS 2064 <RETURN> Patrick Thibault St-Nicolas, Quebec Canada
16 AUGUST 1988
Gold Mine
Bomb Jack: Here's another wav to do it:
POKE 5693.234 <RETURN>
POKE 5694.234 <RETURN>
POKE 5695.234 <RETURN>
SYS 2066 <RETURN> Adrian Zenker Buenos Aires, Argentina
Bruce Lee: To get super high scores in this game, go to the right-most part of the screen on ground level. After appearing on the left side of the screen, go to the ladder in the middle. When the Ninja appears, he will come down and stop beside the ladder. Come down and he will charge you. When the Ninja touches the ladder, climb up it again. Align yourself with the Ninja and come down on his head. Repeat as often as necessary. Ta-Wei Wan Bangkok, Thailand
California Games: To rack up points in Surfing, instead of ramping in the regular way. push your button and push your joystick left. You will be able to do a 360 in the air. Justin Stephenson Evansville, IN
Cauldron II: For infinite lives, POKE 26282,165. Patrick Thibau.lt St-Nicolas, Quebec Canada
Championship Wrestling: When playing a one-player game,
wait until your score is 750 points before covering the computer
opponent. If your score is above 900, wait until time runs out, or
you will lose up to six points.
Evan Davis
Edgeworth, New South Wales
Australia
Championship Wrestling: The world record is located on Track 18, Sector 10. If you're skilled with a disk editor, change it to anything you'd like. David Stewart Hazel Green, AL
Defender of the Crown: When you are raiding, strike the soldier while moving backwards. It will be hard for him to strike you. Nathan Jones Baltimore, MD
Defender of the Crown: When you first start the game, transfer all your garrison to your army, then move to a territory that has the most vassals. This will put extra men into your army. Do this for two or three moves to build your income and your army, but don't spend too much time away from your castle with no men there.
When jousting in a tournament, move the lance left until it is just left of the right-hand side of your opponent's shield, then go down a little. While doing this, count the number of times your lance bounces. On the fifth bounce, at the lowest point possible, press the button to knock your opponent off his horse. This takes a little practice, but it's worth it.
When jousting against a better opponent, try to knock him from his horse the first time. If you miss, he is likely to knock
you off that time or the next. When jousting an inferior oppo- nent, you'll probably have another chance. Glenn Taylor Algonac, MI
Dig Dug: If you observe the lower right cave, you should see Pooka, the tomato with sunglasses. Watch where he starts mov- ing, and go down to his cave and pop him from above. Pump him at the place he started from, and when he is one pump from pop- ping, press RESTORE and immediately start another game. Sometimes this works and gives you 500 points and one less creature. Shane Watts Birmingham, AL
Fort Apocalypse: For 98 lives, load the game but don't run it. Then type:
POKE 36339,153 <RETURN>
RUN <RETURN> Patrick Thibault St-Nicolas, Quebec Canada
G.I. Joe: If you are G.I. Joe and one of your troopers is behind bars, position your star next to him (or her I. Quickly move the joystick towards him, pressing the joystick at the same time. The words G.I. JOE will fall on the captured character, and you can use him once again.
In heavy equipment combat, if you have only one person to control both joysticks, find the hiss tanks and position your vehi- cle out of range of missiles. Then pick up the other joystick and begin firing. Mark Bichle Oregon, OH
Gunship: Use a copy machine to duplicate the overlay supplied with the game. Outline frequently-used keys with a bright col- ored marker, making them much easier to find.
If you crash or are found MIA, proceed until asked to flip the disk and press the fire button. Instead, flip and reboot the disk. You'll find your pilot still alive, and you'll be able to collect a chest full of ribbons and medals, not to mention points. Joseph T. OVonnell Sewell,NJ
Gunship: Use accelerated time while traveling to your primary and secondary missions as well as when returning.
Write down the countersign and keep it close by, since you have a limited time to type it in. Also write down the map grid numbers to both primary and secondary missions.
When you're getting shot down drastically and you need to look at your position, press Z and put the game in pause mode. Mark Bickle Oregon, OH
Hacker II: To see the ending screen, type COVER, then enter
your name when prompted. This tip also works for the Amiga
version.
Steve Rohatynsky
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada
Continued on page 98
COMMODORE MAGAZINE 17
64 AND 128 SOFTWARE REVIEWS"
Reviewed by John jermaine
California Games
Computer: Commodore 64 Publisher: Epyx
600 Galveston Dr.
Redwood City, CA 94068 Medium: Disk Price: S39.95
Long ago, in the legendary kingdom of California, a group of young wizards gathered together to have a little fun. These talented individuals wanted to com- pete against each other, so they devised a series of unusual challenges which took advantage of the realm's fantastic weath- er and beautiful beaches. These events in- cluded: halfpipe skateboarding, perform- ing tricks with a foot bag, surfing, roller skating, BMX™ bike racing, and throw- ing a flying disk. Over the years, new gen- erations of California wizards have kept the spirit of these sports alive in places tike Venice Beach, Santa Cruz and Gold- en Gate Park.
Matt Householder, a program manager at Epyx, also became fascinated with these addictive west coast pastimes. He and his wife Candi thought software cus- tomers around the world would jump at the chance to participate in traditional California contests. The rest is history.
lb start things off, lets examine the six mini -games of the program, Halfpipe Skateboarding is a unique challenge for several different reasons. First of all, the player has to learn the secrets of riding a skateboard in a U-shaped trough. This is no easy matter, because your speed and timing must be exact. Once you've mas- tered the basics, extra points can be earned by performing kick turns, hand plants and aerial turns. I recently spoke to a guy who had done a lot of halfpipe skateboarding several years ago. He says the Epyx simulation of the sport is au- thentic and accurately depicts the unique factors of his favorite hobby.
California Games' Foot Bag event re- sembles Hacky Sack'" competition. Even though Foot Bag is one of the easiest events of the program, it's really a chal- lenge to literally juggle the bag (in the air above you) without using your hands. Some points are scored by keeping the foot bag moving, where it doesn't touch the
Once you know what has to be done, concentrate your effort on learning the optional stunts of each game.
ground, but a wise player will perform as many stunts as possible during the allot- ted time. By using this approach, the user will obtain a much higher score.
Roller Skating dares you to travel down a typical California boardwalk without taking any spills. The skater has to avoid a number of familiar obstacles (including discarded banana peels, bouncing beach balls, dropped ice cream cones, etc.), while leaping over cracks and missing pieces of the walkway.
BMX Bicycle Racing (BMX stands for Bicycle Motocross) is the ultimate test of a consumer's joystick skills. Ride your bike over a rugged course containing a gener- ous supply of bumps, dips, jumps, and a few obstacles thrown in for good measure. Points are awarded for completing the course within the two-minute time limit. A smart cyclist, however, will try to per- form several stunts along the way for ad- ditional points.
Surfing actually transports you to the beaches of southern California. Grab a board, hit the waves and shoot the tube like the pros do. You have one and a half minutes or four wipeouts (which ever comes first) to show the judges your stuff.
Last, but not least, we have the Flying Disk contest. If you like throwing a Fris- bee"' around the back yard, Flying Disk should be right up your alley. The object of this event is quite simple: throw the disk properly, estimate how far it will travel, and catch the disk before it falls to the ground. Some individuals might think this is a boring concept for a home com- puter game, but I've had a lot of fun trying to do everything correctly.
The graphics of California Games are superb. One of the first things I noticed about the program was its interesting col- lection of computer athletes. In Foot Bag, for example, the an attractive man exhib- its extremely fluid body movements. Com- puter people in other games (like those in Roller Skating and Flying Disk) give you partial control of their bodies. The skater allows the player to move her legs or jump, while the two flying disk enthusi- asts are either throwing the disk or mov- ing in a direction to catch it. BMX Bike Racing, Surfing and Halfpipe Skateboard- ing feature unusual software athletes. In this case the consumer is actually mani-
18 AUGUST 1988
Software Reviews/ California Games -
pulating the vehicles, instead of the peo- ple riding them.
Background graphics are equally im- portant. Foot Bag competition takes place in Golden Gate Park, making it possible for the user to see Alcatraz, San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. In Roller Skating, the player can observe activities taking place on the beach behind his skater. Where most com- puter games simply place you in a generic environment, California Games actually transports the player to places he's read about and gives him the opportunity to experience what it's like to be there.
All six events in California Games were well planned and thoroughly researched.
If you expect superior sound effects in your software, California Games won't dis- appoint you. First of all, inspirational mu- sic is played at the beginning of every con- test. Some of these energetic tunes seem vaguely familiar, but the only one I could identify was "Louie, Louie" (heard during
the opening title sequence). The different sounds of the sea in the program are abso- lutely incredible. As you participate in Surfing, for example, the ocean literally roars around you. During Foot Bag com- petition, the player is a short distance away from the water, and the sound of the sea is much softer. These last two items are the most realistic home computer game sound effects I've heard to date. Other interesting noises include: the low ramble of an earthquake, the screech of sea gulls flying over head, and the high- pitched language of dolphins.
Game play is another issue we need to discuss. All six events in California Games were well planned and thoroughly researched. As far as I can tell, each is a true simulation of the sport represented. These challenges were also designed to be extremely user friendly. Epyx game de- signers have taken a complicated real-life situation and simplified things, so the average consumer can perform the same task on a microcomputer.
Read as much about each contest as you can before actually "booting up" the title. Yes, this means opening the instruction manual. Once you know what has to be done, concentrate on learning the optional stunts of the game. Performing these
tricks in competition will earn you a lot of additional points. A time factor is also present in most events, so try to perform a number of different stunts, progressing from the easiest to the hardest ones on the list. This strategy guarantees you a de- cent score, with the possibility of earning an excellent one.
In conclusion, California Games is a re- markable piece of software. The graphics of the program are excellent. Computer athletes, in all six game challenges, look and act like real human beings. If you ride your bike over the BMX race course, ex- pect to encounter the types of things real BMX bikers have to contend with. In oth- er words, authenticity is the prime direc- tive. Every component of the program has been carefully patterned after its counter- part in the real world, and the motion of these items appears to be natural. Sound effects are equally impressive. They suc- cessfully support the action on the screen. The joystick commands are easy to use, while the instruction manual was written in common language.
I really enjoyed the program because it's like radical and totally tubular, dudes. For an instant translation of this last re- mark, read the final page of the California Games instruction manual. B
want to make it the centerpiece Scenery Disk collection! This is pari a five-part guided tour from Lone Red Square.
This month we say goodbye to P France Look closely and you car Arc de Triomphe to the right of )l Tower
On to Germany! We land first at F one of the most modern Germas Other areas we'll be visiting inclu Munich, Numberg and Stuttgart.
Next month we'll finish our tour o' Germany, and prepare to go on Moscow!
"^LOGIC
Corporation
501 T(enyon Road Champaign. II 61820
[217)3&64&Tfrtn 206991 OflOER LlhF IBOOI 63T-WS3
COMMODORE MAGAZINE 19
64 AND 128 SOFTWARE REVIEWS
Reviewed by Gary V. Fields
Sub Battle Simulator
Computer: Commodore 64 Publisher Epyx
600 Galveston Dr.
Redwood City, CA 94063 Medium: Disk Price: $39.95
Sub Battle Simulator is the latest entry in the World War II submarine simu- lation field. This game lets you command either an American or German subma- rine during the war years of 1939 through 1945. As skipper, you can take your sub out for training maneuvers, a single bat- tle or multiple missions covering the du- ration of the war, plus you can operate in either the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean.
As if those options weren't enough, the game lets you select which type of subma- rine you command as well. As a German officer, you can select either an outdated German HD U-boat (for a real challenge), the more common VIIC, or even the streamlined XXI (to put the odds on your side). If you prefer to operate an American sub, you must choose between Gato'Tench class or an older S-Boat. These choices not only prevent missions from becoming re- dundant, but also make the simulations much more realistic. The game includes four levels of difficulty, but these artificial levels are expanded by choosing the type submarine you command.
I must admit I approached Sub Battle with some skepticism. One of the first war games I ever bought for my 64 was a sub simulator, and I've tried to test each new entry into the field. Too often I've found these games were either too arcade-like or else too complicated. The only one I really liked that properly mixed action and strategy was Silent Service (MicroProse). The question for me came down to one consideration: how well does Sub Battle hold up against my favorite? And to an- swer the question immediately, I found this one every bit as good in most categor- ies and better in some.
First, let me tell you the few things I didn't like. This game relies heavily upon keyboard controls, which means you will have to spend some time mastering your sub's layout before you can hope to sur- vive in open water. Because the game
To survive
you must be
able to mix
caution,
courage, skill and luck.
spans the conflict areas of both the Atlan- tic and Pacific oceans and includes views from radar, sonar, maps, periscope, bin- oculars and the tower (plus zoomed views of some), the entire game cannot be loaded into the 64's memory at one spin. So when you change views or significant events oc- cur, the disk is accessed to display the new screen or information. These access delays are not annoyingly long, but they can spoil the illusion of real-time play.
With that said, let me add I was delight- ed with everything else about Sub Battle. The game's graphics are well done, the maps are accurate, and the sound effects are effective. Not only can you view most of the actual gauges, devices and scenes you would from a real sub, but you can also view your submarine (when sub- merged) from a vantage point outside the sub (fish-eye view). This perspective lets you see any surface vessels approaching and dropping depth charges. I'm sure some perfectionists will object to this un- real vantage point, but I appreciate the option. I found the ability to see the action during a depth charge attack increased my interest. If you demand realism and nothing more, simply never use this option.
I really like the ability to do battle in either ocean and the ability to stay at sea for the duration rather than for only a few sorties. Here, as in real war, you must re- turn to home port to refurbish your sup- plies. To survive you must be able to mix caution, courage, skill and luck. The game even includes air attacks which you must either avoid or defend against with your anti-aircraft gun. And true to life, you must recharge your batteries for sub- merged action. There is also an option to save your place in the game, so a mission
can go on as long (or as short) as you wish (or survive). The map displays as well as all the other graphics of this game are re- alistic though not the best Fve seen on the 64. Apparently the programmer sacrificed some graphics in order to accommodate more realism and speed.
The only thing a real enthusiast might complain about is that the game is a little too easy at the entry level. At that level, it is very difficult to miss hitting at least one ship when firing at a convoy. But as you increase the difficulty level, the game gets tougher and truer to real warfare. I per- sonally appreciated the easy entry level. Too often games are so difficult that any- one less than an expert in the field in which the simulation is molded becomes frustrated. This is not true of Sub Battle. You will almost certainly have fun and tear up some convoys on your very first tour of duty. As you feel more confident you can increase your difficulty level, challenge and game reality.
There was a time when movies were guaranteed success at the box office as soon as they were banned in Boston. In- stead of deterring people from using a product, banning it usually peaks the public's interest. Some software is now getting the same treatment. The recent ef- forts in West Germany to ban the sale of some war-related software to minors in that country has peaked interest in those games just like Boston peaked public in- terest in the movies the city tried to ban. At this writing, Sub Battle hasn't received the notoriety of such attention. But my advice is, don't overlook this game just be- cause the Bonn government has not no- ticed it yet. Sub Battle is an excellent na- val war simulation and deserves to be ranked with the 64's best. g
20 AUGUST 1988
(b-
128 NEWS
PAGE ,LLUSTRATOft
Here's an 80-column high -resolution drawing package (hat's powerful and easy to use.
Create colorful graphics or have Page lilustrator assist you in drawing simple geometric figures. Create clip-art from any portion of the screen, then mirror, reverse, or flip it
Import graphics trom popular drawing packages for your own creations. Add the finishing touch by using a variety of fonts.
Bring the p'owerofpereonanHcWi to your C-128 or 128D. Integrate text and graphics to construct everything from high quality newsletters to profes- sional business forms.
Layoutand design isquickand straight- forward, import text created with your word processor. Wrap it around graphics from Page Illustrator. Then change the look by using a different font or repositioning graphics. Add Extended Video RAM and 1700-1750 RAM Expansion for higher performance.
TWO CONSTRUCTIVE PROGRAMS From Patech Software, Inc.
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PAGE BUILDER and PAGE ILLUSTRATOR are stand-alone programs; each with a specific function to perform. Whether used singly or as an unbeatable team, these Two Constructive Ideas are designed to make maximum use of the C-128's native power. They were created by publishing professionals who put that power where you need it most — into real performance and utility, not bells and whistles.
PAGE BUILDER Suggested Retail Price S49.95 PAGE ILLUSTRATOR Suggested Retail Price $ig.g5
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64 AND 128 SOFTWARE REVIEWS
Postcards
Computer: Commodore 64 I'ublisher: Activision
3885 Boharmon Dr.
Menlo Park. CA 94025 Medium: Disk Price: .$24.95
The postcard: is there any other com- munications medium as simple and effective? With a couple of well-chosen words scribbled on the flip side of a select- ed photo or illustration, one can invest in a fifteen-cent stamp and expeditiously make contact, establish whereabouts and express well wishes anywhere from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Talk about efficien- cy! The only notable problem with these pocket-sized wonders is that their com- mon use is usually pretty restricted; they are generally reserved for messages penned at a hotel, resort, tourist attrac- tion or other travelers' rest stop. Once the trip is over and the suitcases are un- packed, those who even take the trouble to keep in touch with the written word are forced to the card shop or stationery store — options which are apt to take more time, energy and cash.
But I wouldn't let the inkwells dry out just yet, for an evolution is in the works. With the release of Activision's Postcards, the familiar postal mighty mite has taken a giant step forward, breaking the old lo- cation restraints and now making it possi- ble for users to create and design an un- limited supply of personalized postcards from the comfort of their own homes. With this program's assistance, a blank piece of paper can be transformed into a unique, mailable masterpiece in a matter of min- utes. It's all so incredibly easy, I guarantee your "outgoing" pile will never look the same.
The nucleus of the Postcards package is a special paint program, a two-step utility which first lets you sift through various visual libraries to pick up all of the ele- ments you would like in your composition. It then provides you with a full-size work area, a white rectangular canvas of sorts, on which the ingredients can be placed and arranged. A vertical "commands" menu borders the left edge of this display, allowing easy access to all designing tools with a mere tap of the keyboard.
When gathering artwork for your post- card, you can either use the clip art from
Activision's on-disk pool, or compose your own drawings from scratch. If you choose the former method, you'll find enough imaginative diversity on hand to satisfy almost any need. First, a ten-scene tour is provided to help you outfit your postcard with a desired background. Offerings in- clude Main Street U.S.A., skylines, moonscapes, quiet country roads and ev- erything in between. Once the backdrop is selected, you'll have a library of over 130 pre-drawn objects, animals, people, signs and structures to help dress things up.
Postcards employs the familiar and fa- cile "cut and paste" construction tech- nique to assist with the designing. As if you were working with a pair of scissors, you can leaf through the visual files, se- lect and "clip" all the desired items, and then place and position them anywhere on the postcard in progress. Objects can be moved, mated, duplicated, flipped, or, if they don't meet expectations, simply dis- carded. With Activision's libraries, the slant is humorous and the scope is broad, ranging from the realistic (ice cream sun- dae) and historic (Napoleon), to the fan- tastic (flying saucer) and utterly absurd (bikini-clad wart hog). You're bound to find just what you need.
Once the scene is set and the cast is in place, it's time to polish off' your postcard with a personalized message. Some of the old standbys, like "Good Luck," "Greet- ings From . . ." and "Congratulations" are included in a phrase file. But there are no limitations. You can say anything you'd like either by typing out a quip or two in the Text mode or by accessing some of the more elaborate letter styles available in
the Alphabet library. Then, with the on- screen creation complete, you move to the final Output phase, where the postcard is printed onto a regular sheet of paper. pasted to the back of some thicker card stock (supplied in the package), and then trimmed to fit. Voiia! Your completed post- card is ready to fly. A quick note, a stamp, and it's on its way.
We've all come to expect a complete pro- fessional job from Activision, and Post- cards does not disappoint. The documen- tation is clear and comprehensive, filled with easy-to-follow lessons, explanations and examples. A sturdy reference card is also boxed, categorically listing all the 1 contents of the visual files, making item location a snap. This thoroughness and ease of use also Cannes over to the pro- gram itself. Even the most absent-minded user will be steered clear of potential trou- ble with on-screen prompts and instruc- tions. It's smooth, trouble-free sailing all the way.
Although this package's title would lead one to believe that its finished product is rather specialized, I've found additional uses for these petite creations, like person- alized memos and eye-catching bulletin board reminders. Activision offers even more suggestions, like gift tags, invita- tions and bookmarks. It's such an easy-to- use, entertaining diversion, that you'll probably find yourself thinking up rea- sons to pick through the clip art to create a scene or two. I've got a whole disk full of completed postcards just waiting for an oc- casion.
With Activision's Postcards, the mes- sage is clear. Go out and get it. Q
22 AUGUST 1988
TM
Commodore
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latter than BASIC
•S&S5* Graphs included. A cuk
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BHCKERTEXT-More
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Available soon.
QEOS is a trademark of Berkley Software Commodore and Amiga are trademarks of Commodore -Amiga Inc.
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- If your dealer doesn't carry Abacus products, then have him order them for you. Or you can order direct using the following order blank or by calling— 1-800/451-4319
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Dept. MC7 • 5370 52nd Street SE • Grand Rapids, Ml 49508 Phone 616/698-0330 • Telex 709-101 • Telefax 616/698-0325 Call or write for your free catalog. 30-day money back guarantee on software. Dealer inquiries welcome — over 2400 dealers nationwide.
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Text Pro J79.95
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In the USA add $4.00 for S & H. Foreign add $12.00 per item Michigan residents include 4% sales tax Total amount enclosed {US funds)
Card No.. Name
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City
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_S1ate_
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64 AND 128 SOFTWARE REVIEWS
Reviewed by Jim Esch
geoDex
Computer: Commodore (>4 Publisher: Berkeley Soft work?
2150 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94704 Medium: Disk Price: Beskpaek Plus— $29.95*
GeoDex turns your Commodore 64 or 128 into a convenient rolodex-style filing system for names and addresses. It has the look of an actual rolodex— it pops up in front of your desktop menu for easy access. Each area of related information looks like an index card with a column of icons on the right border. Cards are orga- nized alphabetically according to the first letter of the last name, which is indicated on a letter tab at the top of the card. A card holds ten fields of information: last name, first name, middle initial, address, city, state, zip, miscellaneous, phone num- ber, and group (more on this later i.
Each field is accessed by pointing and clicking your mouse or joystick or press- ing RETURN, which moves you to the next field. There are limitations to the number of characters that you can enter in a given field (e.g.. .'30 characters for an address), so you may have to tinker with abbreviations.
If you want to make a new entry, click on the New tab and type your informa- tion. When you are done with a card, click on New again, and a blank and will ap- pear. The card you've just typed has been automatically filed in alphabetical order.
Moving between files is essentially the same as a rolodex; you can jump to a letter tab, then flip through cards using the page turn icons in the lower-left corner of each card. You can also use the up and down cursor keys for the same result.
lb search through files for a particular name, click on the "Seareh" icon and type in the last name you want to find. When you enter a question mark in the name, geoDex will look for the name, allowing any character for the place you entered the question mark. For example, if you type J?nes instead of Jones, geoDex will look for Janes, Jenes, Jines, Jones, and Junes. You can aJso type an asterisk (*) at the end of a list of characters; geoDis will search for only the letters before the aster- isk and disregard the rest. You can type Jo* as your name, and geoDex will look for any name beginning with "Jo." You can-
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To autodial just page to a card, pick up your phone (connected to a modem) and click on the telephone icon.
not, however, begin a name with a ques- tion mark or asterisk.
Group Fields
lb organize your cards other than al- phabetically use group fields ( three per cardi. These fields let you enter a three- initial code for different groups. For exam- ple, your card file may contain many dif- ferent types of names and addresses: friends, club members, clients, etc. By des- ignating each card into these categories, you'll be able to access each group.
If you want to view a selected group within your total card file, click on the Group icon and type in the group initials. Only records that match the group desig- nation will be displayed. This saves you ■ needless flipping through irrelevant cards.
GeoDex can also print your records in different ways. You can print a phone list of all the names in your list or selected group, or you can print address labels (one inch and inch and a half sizes i. You can even print, a list of all the field data on each card. Select the Group icon to print a select portion of your files.
Autodial ing is another nice feature on this application. With it you can page to a card, pick up your phone (connected to a modem! and click on the telephone icon. The modem will dial the number listed on the card.
GeoDex also supports many commands via the keyboard: autodial, delete current record, search for a record, create a merge file, select a group, print records, quitgeo- Dax, change style ( plain/boldface I. display first record of a given letter file. You can read data from geoDex, geoFik, or geo-
Write, The manual details the pi-ocess for using geoDex to merge data.
Tips
Remember that geoDex is limited to 24 cards per letter of the alphabet, so you might need to keep more than one file drawer if you think you'll exceed this lim- it. Use this limitation to your advantage by making separate drawers for separate purposes.
GeoDex is useful as a reference tool, and it's a quick way to print out labels and lists in dot matrix format But it doesn't have the open ended capability or adapt- ability of a database like geoFile. For in- stance, you are limited to the fields given on the card, which have character limita- tions. Thus, you don't have as much flexi- bility in tailoring your addresses to in- clude lengthy or multiple information.
The more complicated your entries, the more you'll need a database like geoFile. The fact that geoDex is a dedicated ad- dress card file makes it advantageous over a more powerful database in some re- spects. You don't have to worry about cre- ating anything— you're automatically provided with name, address and tele- phone Dumber fields, The program also lacks the flexibility of print styles that you have in other GEOS applications. GeoDex prints either plain or boldface styles, but you can't use fonts like Roma or BSW. You can use fonts by merging a geoDex data file into a geoWrite document. So you can include your names and ad- dresses in a form letter, taking advantage of the fonts and styles in geoWrite.
GeoDex can be very useful if you store it onto other workdisks with applications like geoWrite and geoFile. This way, an en- tire card file of names and addresses will be at your disposal while writing or orga- nizing larger fields of data. With geo- Merge you'll be able to merge this infor- mation efficiently. Think of the time saved — no more alphabetizing or flipping through cards manually. GeoDex adds fur- ther efficiency to your Commodore operat- ing environment by simplifying the tedi- um involved with the traditional rolodex. You'll even clear some desktop space.
::: Editors \ote: Berkeley now bundles geoDex with geoMerge, Graphics Grab- ber, Icon Editor, The Calendar and Black- jack. The package is titled Deskpack Plus and retails for $29.95. Q
24 AUGUST 1988
Preview The Future!
ttt« ■ r^r
SfiTlIM
*»**•■• Bufism
i aircrait . . . me nonesi topic or discussion in aviation circles 10
Space age technology and engineering make these aircraft virtually undetectable by enemy radar. Stealth fighters are believed to now be operating from top secret military bases, flown only on the most sensitive missions and only by the most experienced pilots.
Precise information about this next generati of Air Force jets is highly classified. But ext sive research has enabled the aviation experts at MicroProse to incorporate the potential design and performance characteristics in a powerful new simulation.
Slip into the cockpit of PROJECT: STEALTH FIGHTER and familiarize yourself with the advanced "heads-up display "(HUD) and sophisticated 3-D out-the-cockpit view. At your disposal is a dazzling array of state-of-the-art electronics, weapons and countermeasures.
But remember, flying a stealth aircraft takes more than just fighter pilot reflexes.
The real challenge is mastering the jet's electromagnetic profile to avoid enemy
radar, white executing a deep-strike mission into North Africa or conducting delicate photo reconnaissance over Eastern Block
seaports. Also featured are carrier and land-based takeoffs and landings, as well as land, sea, and air targets and threats.
PROJECT: STEALTH FIGHTER combines the combat action thrills of the best-selling F-15 STRIKE EAGLE with the sophisticated flight environment pioneered in GUNSHIP. Add the danger and suspense of clandestine missions in an innovative 'invisible aircraft" and you have PROJECT: STEALTH FIGHTER, the latest flying challenge from MicroProse!
PROJECT: STEALTH FIGHTER is available from a "Valued MicroProse Retailer" WR| near you. Call us for locations! For Commodore 64/128, IBM-PC/compatibles and Apple ll/e/c. Call or write lor specific machine availability, and for MC/VISA orders il product not found locally.
183 Lttefiir.i ~s ■< -K" (*"«■■ '/J ?i
64 AND 128 SOFTWARE REVIEWS
The Eternal Dagger
Computer: Commodore 64 Publisher: Strategic Simulations, Inc.
1046 N.Rengstorff Ave.
Mountain View, CA
94043-9986 Medium: Disk Price: $39.95
A recent release from SSI is The Eter- ±\jial Dagger, sequel to the popular Wizard's Crown. The Eternal Dagger cap- tures all of the essential elements of role- playing games that make them so enjoy- able and places them in a new "world" that is explored via an updated Wizard's Crown game system.
This game system that made Wizard's Crown such a winner promises success for The Eternal Dagger. What sets the system apart from other role-playing games is the use of two forms of combat (tactical and quick) and the highly structured and or- ganized use of classifications for items, abilities, monsters, spells, weapons and characters. Also unique to this system are its incredible ease of use and command entry that relies entirely on single key presses.
Every encounter with enemies in The Eternal Dagger requires a choice of com- bat modes. If quick combat mode is select- ed, the computer resolves all combat in five to ten seconds. This mode should be used only when weaker creatures are en- countered. It doesn't allow control of any special combat items or weapons with which defeat of the enemy may be simpler. The computer simply chooses .the best strategy for your party and conducts the battle based on this strategy. Whether you win or not is out of your hands.
I don't like trusting a computer with my free time, so I prefer tactical combat. Tac- tical combat brings war gaming into role- playing games, in that you make every battle command and see a layout of all characters and monsters involved in the battle on the screen— just like a war game. Complete control of all items and characters, as well as necessary examina- tion of all opponents, make this the mode of choice for all but the easiest battles.
Many battles will be fought in The Eter- nal Dagger, for the plot revolves around reducing the number of creatures over-
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running one world and closing the gate that leads to another world teeming with more horrible monsters. The Eternal Dag- ger takes place some time after the goal of Wizard's Crown has been completed. Kai- tar, a friendly wizard, has discovered that many demons and undead creatures are attacking innocent people in Arghan, the place saved in Wizard's Crown. They are coming from a parallel world, Middle World. Ssur, a wizard in Middle World, in- forms you that you must now save Middle World from these monsters. Your party is transported to Middle World through a di- mension gate, in which you lose all weap- ons and inanimate items, for only living beings (and undead creatures) may pass through the gate.
Saving Middle World from the demons, undead and other monsters offers an even greater challenge than that of Wizard's Crown. You realize that the source of all these vile creatures is the Demon World, the gate to which lies at the bottom of a deep ocean. The Demon World must be entered and closed forever. The only thing that allows entrance is a living weapon, called the Eternal Dagger. You must cre- ate this weapon and use it to close the De- mon World's gate.
Sounds simple enough, but The Eternal Dagger is a very challenging game that will take a long time to complete, yet it's worth every minute of play. The many subplots make you forget the ultimate task set before you. There are three main islands you must explore to finish Tlxe Eternal Dagger. Each offers its own chal- lenge. The first island, on which you start the game, is Ssur's home. You have to de- feat a dragon (getting a special sword from the north part of the island first) and the Necromancer, who has changed all the good people of Middle World into undead creatures. Travel to the second island, El- ven Isle, and the third island, Dwarven Is- land, requires you to save a princess, the only person capable of creating the Eter- nal Dagger. The last phase of the game in- volves creating the special weapon and entering the Demon World through the ocean. Unfortunately, you lose all weap-
Reviewed by Russ Ceccola
ons and items once again, because travel through the dimension gate is only for liv- ing things. All of these goals will keep the most avid adventurer occupied for a long time.
Before you perform any of the above feats, you must create the characters that will journey through Middle World. You have three options. First, you can use characters from Wizard's Crown, Do this only if your party has finished Wizard's Crown. Second, you can use the eight characters included with the game to form a party. If you want to play The Eternal Dagger with these characters, closely ex- amine each one before starting the game. Finally, you may create each character in your party. I recommend going through this process, since only then will the game have a personal touch. Generation of each character gives you an extra bit of control over the game and better knowledge of the party.
Creating an adventurer and assigning that character to a party is a simple, yet important, process explained very clearly in the manual. You'll find yourself using the manual as a reference while playing because of its explicit instructions and de- scriptions as well as the many tables used in the game. Creating a character in- volves assigning points to four attributes (intelligence, strength, dexterity and life), choosing a profession, selecting weapons and armor and assigning points to the various skills and abilities available to your profession. Multiple professions are possible and recommended, for they add skills to your character. Character cre- ation is very important; the game relies heavily on attributes and skills.
The Eternal Dagger is entirely menu- driven, and all commands are entered by pressing a key that means something in a certain menu or on a certain screen. This method of game play forces you to concen- trate on what to do in the world on your screen. Menus that you will use the most are the dungeon menu, the tactical com- bat menu, the character inspection menus and the camp menu. If you're not sure what a command does, press the question mark to get a description of the com- mand's purpose for that menu. This fea- ture also enables easier play.
The Eternal Dagger can be played in many ways, however, I have found one method that seems to work veiy well. Up-
Cwilinued on page 67
26 AUGUST 1988
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WHEN YOU BUY A COMMODORE COMPUTER, YOU
AUTOMATICALLY RECEIVE OUR LATEST COMMODORE
OR COMMODORE-AMIGA BUYERS' GUIDE.
The Buyers' Guides continue to be your best resource for finding out about the hottest Commodore and Amiga Hardware, Peripherals and Software. With 3 Commodore and 3 Amiga computers, more and more are becoming available all the time.
If you already own a Commodore and would like to get your copy of the latest Commodore or Amiga guide, pick one up at your Commodore Dealer's store.
Commodore
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The Commodore and Commodore Amiga Buyers' Guides are published under the auspices of Commodore Magazine.
64 AND 128 SOFTWARE REVIEWS'
Superstar Soccer
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Computer: |
Commodore 64 |
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Publisher: |
Mindscape, Inc. |
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3444 Dundee Rd. |
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Northbnxik, IL 60062 |
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Medium: |
Disk |
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Price: |
$34.95 |
First things first — soccer was never my favorite sport. Little guys with thun- der thighs chasing a checkered ball up and down a field. Give me a break. Mind- scape's Superstar Soccer has changed all that. From the subtle strategies of a head coach to the physical finesse of an over- head kick, this game has literally opened my eyes to a whole new ballgame.
Superstar Soccer was designed by Gamestar veteran Ed Ringler, author of Mindscape's Supemtar Hockey and Indoor Sports. Ringler's attention to detail has created one of the most comprehensive sports games for the Commodore 64.
Players assume the role of the owner, general manager, head coach and star players. Nurture your expansion team through each season and watch them grow with experience. As coach, learn to spot both raw talent and bad apples among your players. Enter the bargaining tables and make valuable player trades.
Making the Most of Your New Franchise
1. Beware of the sheep in wolfs cloth- ing, Wheeling and dealing in the Player Trade can nab you a crackerjack player. It can also saddle you with a turkey. Check the player stats carefully— especially the injury record — before handing over valu- able trading points. Remember that this is how other teams clean house. Don't get stuck with someone else's dirty laundry.
2. Hold a family reunion. Try to bal- ance your team with both young punks and seasoned veterans. Recognize the dif- ference between eagerness and ability, then capitalize on both with strategic sub- stitutions. Keep a healthy roster of back- ups for each position — in particular, goalie and center forward.
3. Go great gonzos! Scare your opposi- tion to death with unbridled enthusiasm. Intimidate their goalie. Strike hard, fast and never let up. Go for a record number
Then hit the field and put your muscle where your mouth is.
New players begin the SportTime Soc- cer League with a rookie expansion team. The league contains 64 teams in four 16- team divisions. Brand-new teams start dead last in division four — a long climb to the top. Players can choose a seven or 15- game season. Finally, choose to play ei- ther in the U.S. or British league. Togeth- er, both leagues account for 128 individual teams containing a minimum of 320 unique players. The game's player data- base alone boggles the mind.
The main menu offers a wide assort- ment of team information and options. View the League Status for general infor- mation or Team History for specific statis- tics for any team in the League. Stats in- clude win-draw-loss records, goals for and against, division number and standing, and overall ranking in the League.
Only the top two teams at the end of each season advance to a higher division. Consequently, the bottom two teams are pushed back to a lower division. There is often a two- or three-way tie for the top spots, especially in higher divisions. In
of goals each game. Success or failure — especially in the higher divisions — de- pends not only on winning games, but also on scoring big points.
4. The foot is quicker than the eye. The biggest trick in scoring goals is to si- multaneously watch the kick indicator, your position and the goalie's movements. Short of installing a third eye, concentrate on the goalie and use your peripheral vi- sion to time your shot,
5. Don't look now . . . Gotcha! Practice the art of confusing a goalie. Approach the goal off-center, feint to the near sideline just enough to draw his commitment. Re- verse direction and nail the ball to the far corner of the net. Learn to run one way and shoot in the opposite direction. Goal- ies often mistake goal-line passes for shots, causing them to dive for thin air.
6. One is a lonely number. Don't forget that your teammates like to play too. Chances are they are just as good, or bet- ter, than you. Forget your ego and learn
Reviewed by Scot! A. May
this case, teams with the most impressive scoring records earn higher rankings.
The menu also follows each team's standing in the SportTime Cup playoffs. The playoffs consist of single-elimination contests played between regular season games. One toss and you're out of the playoffs. A playoff tree keeps track of the games in progress. Novice players shouldn't have to worry about playoffs for several seasons — playoff games are in- credibly tough. Pitting a Division 1 com- puter team against your band of 90-pound weaklings isn't much of a contest.
At the heart of your team are the play- ers. Each responds as an individual with almost lifelike characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. Teams consist of six posi- tions: Center Forward, Goalie and four Wingbacks (offense and defense). Players range in age from 17 to 36. Although younger players show more energy (quick- ness) on the field, they are not always as talented as veterans. On the other hand, old pros tend to tire and injure easily, a common problem in this violent sport.
Player skill points range from 0-99 and affect their speed, agility and intelligence (in the case of computer-controlled play- ers). As general manager, you can im- prove your team and its players in a num- ber of ways. Visit the recruitment menu and sign on a 17-year-old rookie. Enter the bargaining tables and trade players
creative passing attacks.
7. Take THAT! Bicycle kicks and head butts are great fun and a valuable scoring technique. The trick is positioning and timing. Head butts are great for deflecting passes, often right into the goal. Bicycle kicks are also useful for passing and sim- ply moving the ball away from your goal. When the opposing goalie throws the ball into play, line up behind the other team's center. Counteract his bicycle kick with one of your own for an easy score.
8. Sorry 'bout that, Coach. This is a "write intensive" program, constantly up- dating information on disk. Therefore, never, ever turn off the computer when the program is accessing the disk drive. At the very least you'll forfeit the current game. At worst, you might reset the League (a real heartbreaker) or even per- manently damage the disk itself. Fast load cartridges are also a must — the pro- gram features several periods of long, slow disk access.
28 AUGUST 1988
est 1542
Call today to get your free modem and software.
8619 Wcstwood Center Drive • Vienna, VA 22180
B4 and 128 Software Reviews/Superstar Soccer
with other teams in the League. Make them an offer they can't refuse. Curiously, the computer will never initiate a trade. Finally, send your team to training camp. to boost each player's overall rating.
Superstar Soccer offers several vari- ations of play: one-player, two-player head-to-head (practice only), two-player cooperative mode, and the computer play- ing itself. Depending on the mode select- ed, you must also decide who will handle each team's goalie, center and coaching responsibilities. In single-player mode, for example, you may control the coach (nigh- ly recommended l and the center or goalie (but not both). The computer controls any remaining positions.
Game play consists of both on-field ac- tion and the coaching screen. As coach, constantly adapt your team's offense and defense for maximal impact.
For offense choose either "pass" or "shoot." The Pass strategy gives ball con- trol to the Center Forward whenever pos- sible. Shoot is an effective strong-arm of- fense for aggressive play, particularly when you are behind in the game. In this mode, Wingbacks get off a lot of shots and play the rebound well.
On defense, choose Defend 1 for an ul-
tra-conservative defense (when sitting on a big lead), or Defend 2 for slightly looser zone play. Cover 1 switches to man-to-man defense, often used when playing "catch- up." In this mode, Wingbacks take risks, go for the steal, bump and harass the oth- er team. Often this results in fouls, injur- ies and lost opportunities. Cover 2 is simi- lar, but even more aggressive.
Finally, as head coach you can make player substitutions during the game. Re- place tired or injured players with back- ups, but be careful not to place them out of their natural positions. A left Wingback makes a lousy Goalie.
The on-screen action is both fast and fu- rious, set against a beautifully scrolling field. Graphics are quite small but feature highly detailed animation. Of special note: Players are represented as solid, three-dimensional bodies. They do not nin straight through each other like ghost im- ages, but will bump (and often fall down).
Joystick control is almost perfect. Play- ers dribble the ball automatically and kick the ball with the aid of a directional indicator at the top of the screen. Passing the ball I when playing Center) is tricky, but once learned can make a big differ- ence in your game plan.
Center Forwards use several tricks to enhance their performance. "Heading" the ball and ""Bicycle" kicks are both effec- tive means of passing and scoring. All players, except goalies, have this ability. Centers may also use "aggressive run- ning" (holding the fire button while run- ning) for burst speeds during fast breaks. Go easy, this feature is very tiring.
The art of Goalkeeping is not covered much in the manual. Basically, players simply move the Goalie into position and press the fire button to block a shot. The computer automatically selects the appro- priate defense (dive, leap, etc.). A Goalie's recovery time is very important, con- trolled by his skill level.
Injuries are common and send a star player to the bench for an entire season. For the most part, this is merely random misfortune. Games are also under the ea- gle eye of some tough referees. Penalties and free kicks occur frequently.
Sports games come and go, often losing their appeal with repeated play. Superstar Soccer thrives on constant play, getting better and better as your skill increases. A wide variety of integrated features makes this one of the finest spoils games avail- able for the Commodore 64. _
COMMODORE MAGAZINE 29
AMICA^SOFTWARE REVIEWS
Zoom!
Reviewed by Russ Ceccola
Computer: Publisher:
Price:
Amiga
Discovery Software
International
163 Conduit St.
Annapolis, MI) 21401
$29.95
Arcade games for home computers never seem to measure up. Either they lack the game play or intensity of the original arcade version of the game, or they don't have enough excitement and originality to stand alone in an arcade. Discovery Software International has found the "right stuff' as far as arcade games go for the Amiga. Their first game was a translation of the hit game Arkan- oid to the home market. The Amiga ver- sion was excellent— the only home trans- lation of an arcade game to duplicate the original exactly. With the release of Zoom!, Discovery Software International is sure to have another hit— this time with an addictive, original, highly enter- taining chase game.
In Zoom! you move a small ball called "Zoomer" around a grid that you see in a full three-dimensional perspective. There are so many intricacies to the game play of Zoom! that Discovery Software Interna- tional should consider marketing Zoom! to an arcade game manufacturer. As you move Zoomer around the grid of squares, he (?) leaves a lightly colored trail behind him. If you surround a square in the grid in this manner, the square is colored in. The object of Zoom! is to move Zoomer around the grid, coloring every square while avoiding all of the creatures that are chasing him.
Zoom! has 50 levels, of which I've only seen eight. Before you scream that I shouldn't have reviewed this game after playing it for such a seemingly brief time, let me mention that the programmers themselves have only made it to level 12. Why is this so? Zoom! is easy to play, but every time you think you have the level finished, something else pops up to stop you — something the programmers have come to refer to as the "oops factor." Don't worry — the game is really easy to play (the truth), and most of your time will be spent refining your skills on each level.
Each grid that I've seen in Zoom! is en- tirely different and requires a new strate- gy to finish. After the first one, most levels have square gaps in the grid that require
Zoom! is easy
to play, but
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think you
have the level
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something else
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more preparation and planning to avoid and draw around. Sometimes, these gaps have only one square spanning them; at other times, the gaps are only one or two squares wide. In any case, prepare for the worst as you play Zoom! Watch out for Black Holes that appear at the intersec- tion of lines of the squares at the comers, preventing you from finishing those four squares and causing you to lose a life if you fall in the hole. These holes move throughout the course of the level, and they may pop up just as you're finishing a square — the "oops factor" again.
Zoom! is more than just surrounding the squares with your trail. The two things that ensure this are the various bo- nus items that pop up throughout the grid that you can run over with Zoomer and the various creatures that you encounter. All of the creatures that I've seen will kill Zoomer with a touch. Jaggernaut simply chases you, but other bugs (Wormletts) chase you and color over your trail with a darker color, meaning that you have to re- draw that trail. You inevitably bump into Spheroids as they move back and forth in a straight line. I know that there are more enemies on the grids past level eight, but I haven't seen any of them except in demos and screen shots.
The presence of the bonus items is the make-or-break feature that confirms the success of Zoom! There are eight bonus
items that may pop up on the grid. You collect them simply by moving Zoomer
i over them. Only by knowing what the bo- nus items are good for can you fully appre- ciate Zoom! The eight bonus items are named: slow down, quadro, bonus points, next level, magic, freeze, speed/points and nobody knows. A brief description suffices for each, but first I must describe some strategy that is involved in Zoom!
On the display screen are two meters on either side of your score and the cun-ent level: a magic power meter and a point meter. The point meter is where strategy comes into play. You might be tempted to — and sometimes have to — surround only one square. You get a certain amount of points every time you do this. The high- er the point meter, the more points you get per square. However, the meter goes down gradually, reducing the number of points
I you get per square. To get more points per square, you have to increase the meter height. You do this by leaving the line be- tween two squares uncovered, finish the other three sides of both squares and then get the line between them, thus coloring two squares at once. The meter goes back up (with an audio indicator! and you will
! get the maximum points per square. You have to continually color two squares at once to keep the meter high and get more points. Leaving squares open like this brings strategy into play.
30 AUGUST 1988
,yc\iYWi '(i\if;rjrjT;rir'-Mm
1-800-782-2278^.^
Call today to get your free modem and software.
8619 Westwood Center Drive • Vienna, VA 22180
Amiga Software Reviews/Zoom!
The "slow down" bonus item is a tube of glue. When you run over it, the enemies slow down, but you move at regular speed. The "quadra" item is a red apple that sits at the intersection of squares. When you collect this item, the number of squares (up to four) that are connected at that in- tersection are automatically colored in. The "bonus points" item is a yellow money bag that adds points to your score. The "next level" item is a gray rocket ship that immediately takes you to the next level.
The "magic" item is a blue vial and is the most important to get. When you run over it. the magic meter goes to the top, and as long as there is still something left on the meter which gradually goes down like the points meter, you are invincible. You can pass through enemies without losing a Zoomer, and the only thing that can kill you are the Black Holes. The "freeze" item is an ice cube and stops all opponents for a few seconds. The "speed/ points" is a piece of candy and adds to your score and your speed a bit.
The "nobody knows" item is a red ques- tion mark that takes second priority to collect after the "magic" item. The "no- body knows" item can act like any of the
other items and shows how it is acting by displaying a picture of its current use at the top of the screen. This item can also give and take away Zoomers and give points, as well as create a hole right where it was for you to drop through.
Playing Zoom! involves making sure that you collect the right items, keep the point meter high and try to clear all the squares as quickly as possible. This is easier said than done! Ultimately, the longer you can keep the magic meter ac- tive, the easier a particular level may be. Immediately go for any "next level" items that come up and "freeze" items to give you free room to move. Also, take your chances with the "nobody knows" item; chances are that you won't get a hole or lose a Zoomer.
In addition to the bonus items, you also have three bombs that you can use to cre- ate tiny gaps in the outline of the grid for any enemies close on your tail. These stop the enemy (and you) from moving over that part of the grid for a second or two. The enemy can munch the space up, but you have to wait until it clears. Don't get yourself stuck between gaps that you cre- ated! The bombs rejuvenate themselves, so don't worry about losing them.
You can play Zoom! in one-player, two- player alternating, or two-player competi- tion modes. By far the most interesting is the latter. In this mode, both players are on the screen at the same time and are trying to finish the screen before the other while getting the most points. Although you can't erase the other player's squares, you can sure beat him to them. So think fast and grab those squares in pairs to get the most points and beat your opponent.
The most important part of Zoom! that separates it from other arcade games is the fact that it was written for the Amiga. This means that the colors, animation and sounds are superb. The introduction animation sequence, featuring the Zoom- land magic show is the best animation I have ever seen on the Amiga — and that's just the introduction screen. The sounds throughout the game are great, combining music and sound effects to give that arcade feel. I honestly think that Zoom! will top the home computer arcade game charts in no time. Zoom! has an in- teresting objective, addictive quality I that almost kept me from writing this review on time), better-than-arcade quality graphics and sound, and it's easy to play. What more could you ask for? Q
COMMODORE MAGAZINE 31
/WUGA SOFTWARE REVIEWS
Reviewed by Steve King
Ferrari Formula One
Computer: Publisher:
Price:
Amiga
Electronic Arts 1820 Gateway Dr. San Mateo, CA 94404 $49.95
In an effort to distinguish Ferrari For- mula One from the myriad of racing games on the market, Electronic Arts has decided to designate it as a "Grand Prix racing simulation." What's the difference? To appreciate what Electronic Arts has done, a little racing background is re- quired. The Grand Prix is not a single race, but a series of races which take place from March through October all over the world. One class of race is Formula One which is a specific set of vehicle param- eters which all entry vehicles must meet. In this simulation, you are the proud own- er of a 1986 Ferrari Formula One, and your goal is to fine tune your vehicle so you can race (and hopefully win) at the 16 tracks on the 1986 Grand Prix circuit.
When the program begins, the Race Control Pane! appears showing the date, time, skill level and information about the race track you're at. At this point, you have the option of changing any of these parameters, including skipping ahead to the track of your choice. But if you're play- ing the whole simulation, it's best to leave things be as you will start out at Fiorano, Italy — home base for your Ferrari. At each track, a Paddock Screen is displayed, the paddock being the "backstage" area adjacent to the racetrack. What you see is a view of a number of buildings, each re- presenting a different function. At Fior- ano, as opposed to the rest of the tracks, there are more facilities available. You have at your disposal seven different areas, including the pit, a wind tunnel and a garage. An icon at the top left of the screen indicates the weather— an impor- tant factor in any race. To select the area you wish to enter, just hold down the mouse button and move the pointer across the screen. The pointer arrow will change as you pass over the different buildings and areas, and you release the button to go there.
As this is a simulation, you have control over the varioas systems on your Ferrari. To access these, vou must visit either the
Each Grand Prix race has six distinct track sessions which are spread out over three days.
garage or the pit. Here, you find an over- head view of your vehicle surrounded by various pieces of equipment. Dragging the mouse pointer icon over various sections of your vehicle (wheels, engine, suspen- sion, racing wings) and releasing the mouse button displays the control panels for each of those systems. You can vary such items as tire composition, gear ratio, air/fuel mixture, wing angle, suspension, etc. Different combinations of settings will produce different results on the track, de- pending on the number of curves, weather conditions and type of race. If you're really at a loss to figure out just how everything should be adjusted, all you have to do is ask Mauro. Mauro? Who's Mauro? Mauro is your ever-knowledgeable crew chief. Like Carlton the doorman, you will never see him, but his presence is made known on the system control panels where his recommendations are always indicated. No need to follow them, but . . .
There are several ways to test the re- sults of your adjustments. The first is the Wind Tunnel where you can check your Ferrari's wings. Using the mouse, you change the wing angle and increase the wind speed. As you do this, a dynamic wind performance graph indicates the re- sults of your efforts. The second is the Dyno Room where you can continually change the age of your engine, the air fuel ratio, the turbocharger settings, and the
RPM to obtain a dynamic graph analysis of performance. The last and perhaps best way to test your adjustments, however, is to actually take a spin around the test track.
On the track, your view is from the cockpit of your Ferrari with a rear-view mirror on either side. A box at the top right contains race information isuch as time and laps), and a simplified dash- board control panel monitors your sys- tems. Your tires have faint white lines across them which change during the race to indicate wear and the possible need to pull into the pit to change tires. At the lower skill levels, the gears change auto- matically as your speed changes, but at higher levels, you shift using the key- board (which also controls the turboboost). Acceleration, braking and steering are controlled by the mouse. To begin, just push the mouse button, rev 'er up, and take off. Steering at high speeds, particu- larly around murderous curves, is ex- tremely difficult and often frustrating with the mouse— even with practice. But if you start with slower speeds, the task becomes manageable. There is also a Pas- senger mode option where you can sit
■ back and leave the driving to the Amiga.
| At the end of each lap, you can pull off to
! the side and go to the pit where you can
: service your vehicle.
Continued on page 11
32 AUGUST 1988
*n &n
i
k nd Q-Link, the dynamic telecommunications service (or £1 Commodore® owners, does just that!
1 JL As the developer of GEOS, the graphics environment operating system for Commodore 64s and 128s, I know how good Q-Link is. Personally and professionally. Here at my company, we recommend Q-Link to all our customers. We use it ourselves, too, for online customer service ... so you can get help when you need it. We've also found it's a very efficient way to provide upgrades and patches and to announce new GEOS-compatible products.
With just your Commodore, a modem and Q-Link software, a new- world of persona! computing options opens up: thousands of programs you can download and keep; advanced graphics (thanks to GEOS); an exclusive help line to experts at Commodore; online educational courses taught by real teachers; fun; games: friendship, you-name-it. Q-Link lets you realize the full potential of Commodore computing -right at your fingertips.
Do I use Q-Link? Absolutely! And what's really impressive is that when you join Q-Link, you get a modem and Q-Link Software free! To my mind that's a tough offer to turn down. But don't take my word for it. Find out for yourself. Call . . .
1-800-782-2278.
riMT /(MfAA/Oai 15*2 Call today to get your tree modem and software.
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^AMIGA^ SOFTWARE REVIEWS
Publisher Plus
Computer: Amiga
Publisher. Brown- Wagh Publishing Co. 16795 Lark Avenue, Suite 210 Los Gates, CA 95030
Price: $99.95
Because the term is used loosely, there are not as many "desktop publish- ing" programs for the Amiga as you might think. Lacking an industry definition, the category has been so haphazardly applied to any program including pictures and type on the same page.
For this reason, it is a pleasure to find Publisher Pius which fits the narrower definition. A revised version of Publisher 1000, which debuted almost a year ago, Publisher Plus corrects the faults of the earlier program, adds the ability to print through the Postscript language/ protocol (for laser printers) and emerges as one of the front-runners in a race where not all contenders are legitimate.
The heart of desktop publishing is the elastic box (here called a guide) that must be stretched into place on the blank page. Into these guides, you then pour text or graphics — but only one or the other to each guide — and it is this system that al- lows the mixing of fonts as well as the mixing of text and graphics on the same page. Think of each guide as a separate page which, when combined, gives you a full publishable page.
Since most of us equate publishing with newsletters, Publisher Plus uses that for- mat as a default setting. There is a large area for headlines or logos, and below that the remainder of the page is divided into three equal columns/guides. Since this can be changed through the requestor window — specifying two or four columns or changing margins, for example — the laying-out of a blank page is the easiest I've seen yet,
Nor it is necessary to strictly adhere to conventional forms: any guide on the page can be moved or resized as necessary, us- ing the same methods you'd use on a Workbench window, unwanted guides may be deleted with a few mouse clicks, and new guides may be added.
Once the guides are placed to your sat- isfaction, it's time to enter text. Unlike some other programs, Publisher Plus al- lows you to type directly into the column/ guide you'll be using and provides such
A revised version of Publisher 1000, Publisher P/us corrects the faults of
the earlier program and adds new features.
word processing tools as insert, delete and backspace, as well as cut, copy and paste. , Once a column becomes lengthy, this can be a slow process as the graphic updating of the screen lags behind your typing speed. This screen updating has been greatly improved over Publisher 1000, however, and in Plus the problem seems negligible.
As an alternative, text may be written and edited on some of the more popular word processors for the Amiga, saved in ASCII format, and then "flowed" into the appropriate guide. Because this makes it more difficult to judge the amount of space necessary to hold your words, Publisher Plus gives you an overflow feature which allows a text file too large for one column to spill over into the adjoining column.
Fonts are also necessary to desktop pub- lishing, and eight fonts are provided on the program disk in 9, 12, 24 and 32 point sizes. For those who wish a greater vari- ety, the program is compatible with Zuma Fonts. Any font used is also capable of be- ing altered by the standard Amiga styles (bold, underline or italics) or combinations of these. Each font must occupy its own guide. For example, a masthead with three fonts used to create the name, the publisher's name and the issue date would require three guides.
Another prerequisite of true desktop publishing is the ability to make text look as if it were typeset. Normal justifications such as left, right, center and full- though helpful— will not do the entire job. Publisher Plus addresses this by provid- ing both a "kerning" and a "microspacing" feature. Although the terms are some- times used interchangeably, microspacing
Reviewed by Ervin Bobo
allows automatic spacing adjustment be- tween all letters in your manuscript while kerning allows such spacing on an indi- vidual letter basis. Added to this is the ability to adjust 'leading," the amount of spacing between lines of type — normally a function controlled by the selected font.
Through requestor windows, you specify the amount of microspacing or leading and then reflow the text. Because of the WYSIWYG display, you'll know almost immediately whether further adjustments are needed.
Without these three formatting fea- tures, the claim of many programs to be desktop publishing is dubious. With them, Publisher Plus legitimates its own claims.
No guides are necessary to add graphics to a page. By placing a graphic directly on the page, it becomes subject to "cropping," in which unwanted portions can be de- leted; and to resizing, in which the entire picture can usually be made to fit the available space. Of course, resizing in only one direction — making the picture taller, for instance — will result in some distor- tion of the image.
Graphics can be created with any pro- gram that stores pictures in the standard IFF format, but since Publisher Plus uses only black-and-white renderings, I'd sug- gest you create original art in only those colors. Full-color artwork imported to your page will be shaded into black-and-white, resulting in a loss of detail. Digitized pic- tures and those created through a HAM process, (even in IFF format) usually con- tain such a wide range of delicate shad- ings that their renderings by Publisher Plus leave no detail at all.
Text cannot be flowed around graph- ics— since they occupy separate guides — but the appearance of such flowing can be achieved by placing your graphic on the page and then creating text guides around it that you'll later fill with words.
To test this, invoke the Full Page Pre- view feature. Because Publisher Plus shows only about one-eighth of your page — with smooth scrolling to any part — you may often find yourself wondering how things are going. With the preview feature, a representation of your full page will appear at the right side of the screen, giving you a total view of your layout.
For printing, you can choose from the full range of printers supported by Work- bench including the Hewlett-Packard La- Continued on page 45
34 AUGUST 1988
SOFTWARE REVIEWS'
Reviewed by Steve King
Photon Paint
Computer: Amiga Publisher: MicroIUusions
17408 Chatsworth St.
Granada Hills, CA 91344 Price: .$99.95
Until recently, many graphic design programs didn't really take advan- tage of all of the Amiga's capabilities. Photon Paint is a "state of the art" HAM (Hold and Modify) paint program which fully utilizes the graphic powers of the Amiga and provides a number of unique and powerful professional features at a very reasonable price. Most remarkable is its ability to let you draw with and display all 4096 colors on the screen at the same time!
A horizontal "fast menu" which takes up a quarter of the screen provides access to the basic drawing functions (lines, rec- tangles, circles, etc.) as well as select col- ors. MicroDlusions thoughtfully allows you to move this menu around the screen to get it out of the way. While the fast menu may seem quite familiar if you have used other paint programs, the simi- larity stops there. Appearing on the left side of the fast menu are 64 (count 'em, 64) separate colors from which to choose. You have the option of extending the fast menu to display the color palette. To the left are three squares representing the three dimensions of a color cube. By mani- pulating the mouse pointer in these squares, you can choose any one of the 4096 colors available and assign it to one of the 64 squares. You can also change col- ors by clicking on one of the squares and manipulating the RGB (red, green, blue) or HSV (hue, saturation, value) sliders.
Now for the amazing part. If you paint- ed on the screen using the color from color square 20, you can change that square to a different color without changing the col- or you previously painted on the screen! Not only do you have a choice of 4096 col- ors, but you can also use all of them in the same painting, (although it may take a while to use them all).
There is, however, a slight glitch. Be- cause of the way the Amiga renders HAM images, certain colors when placed next to or on top of other colors develop a fringe of a different color around the edges. Un- sightly indeed. Working under the techni- cal restraints of the hardware, Photon Paint seeks to minimize these occurrences
I _-=====—
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by calculating the best colors to use. You can even instruct the program to modify its colors so that any particular color you use will appear without the fringes. This option, however, may cause adjoining or background colors to change.
By the way, the first 16 colors are the base colors from which all the remaining colors are derived. The default values have been pre-selected to produce the best results under most circumstances, so you should probably leave those squares alone. You can also create a spread of color shades between two selected colors in ei- ther the RGB or HSV mode, as well as swap and copy colors.
The fast menu also gives you the ability to cut out a portion of your painting to save or use as a brash. You accomplish this by either framing a rectangular sec- tion of the screen or by tracing around the particular area you wish to capture. One nice feature saves your custom brush in memory, so you can use one of the stan- dard brushes and then restore your pre- vious brush without remaking it.
The PLx command lets you to pixelize any portion of your painting, giving it a mosaic effect. You can even adjust the amount of pixelization.
Like other paint programs, you can magnify selected portions of the screen for fine detailing. Photon Paint allows you to
select various levels of magnification as well as the size of your magnification screen. Text is easy to render with any standard Amiga font, and you can change font disks at any time as well as stylize any font. Two special options let you pro- duce an outline as well as a reverse image.
Several innovative features are bound to make Photon Paint a success. The first is the Blend mode. In the Normal mode, any graphics rendered on the screen will appear as solid images which totally cover the background on which they are placed. Blend lets you control the degree to which your image or brush overlays what is be- neath it. For example, if you have a pic- ture of a room and an image of a ghost, you can capture the ghost as a brush and place it in the room so that the room shows through the ghost. By adjusting the parameters, you can make the ghost transparent or opaque. When using the Blend mode, a special window appears with a grey-scale rendition depicting the extent and direction of the blend.
Using the mouse in a variety of ways (including drawing graphs in a rectangle) you can produce virtually unlimited ef- fects. You can also control the amount of dither (the degree to which your image is sharp or fuzzy), although the colors used in dithering cannot be specified and ap-
Continued on page 41
COMMODORE MAGAZINE 35
WHAT'S A TAITO. ?
That's a very good question. Taito (pronounced Tie-toe) is one of the oldest and biggest names in the arcade industry. We're the world's largest manufacturer and operator of arcade games. Taito's been in the business since 1953.
And that's just the beginning. Taito practically started the
video game industry with our classic arcade hit,
ARKANQiD: 33 screens of space-age excitement. Award winning SpdCG lnV3U&rS.M And coin-dp hit. Over I million sold in Japan. "One of the best ever,"
— Electronic Game Player Maganne.
j^-^^ over the years, Taito has created more than 1,000 other great action games for arcade and home play.
Taito has something equally exciting for you to slip into your home computer. Taito brings the same pioneering spirit, technical
RENEGADE: This is the one and only Don't settfe tor imitations.
8l.stenng.fast paced and real life street-style Karate action. One of qua/f'ty Bfld eXC/temePt that made US the SrCaCfe leadGT tO VQUr
the hottest games in Europe
Commodore, Amiga, IBM, Apple and Atari computers. Your computer won't be the same again.
Taito is the arcade industry leader for a very good reason. We consistently make great video games that bring more action, thrills and value to the people who play our games. And literally millions of people play our games in arcades and homes all over the world.
Our strength comes from the massive development effort we put into creating the kind of games that satisfy the ever-growing arcade appetite and the research gathered from the more than 100,000 arcade machines Taito operates in Japan. (The money in
, ■ , . . i , , „, .. ALCON: The ultimata in inter-planetary combat. Battle aliens with
the coin boxes at the end of the day tells you quickly if you ve got lasers, homing missiles, bombs amtsMaus. Fantastic venka/aovinng
luturQ-worid landscapes,
Taito Software Inc. 267 West Esplanade North Vancouver, BC Canada V7M1 A6 Teh 604-984-3344. Sky Shark ^ and Gladiator "» are trademarks of Tailo America, Inc. Copyright ©1988 AH rights Taito? Arkanoid™ Renegade,™ AlconJ" Rastan™ Bubble Bobble,™ Operation Wolf,™ reserved Amiga. Commodore, Apple IBM and Atari are trademarks respectively of Commodore-
a good game or not.} And Taito is always working hard to develop the most exciting new video games that push the technology to its limits* We don't rest on our laurels.
Because arcade games are the benchmark for home video games, Taito's leadership in the arcade industry means that when you buy Taito products you will be getting more home video thrills —more mesmerizing arcade quality graphics, spell-binding sound and above all, action!
RASTAN: One of the biggest coin-op hits of 1987, Stunning gmphics. Non-stop, mythical super hero action wtth multiple weapons, ene- mies and levels of pisy.
That's why nobody but Taito can bring you more of what you're looking for in home computer video games. You don't get to be the biggest in the arcade business by making run of the mill video games.
When you buy Taito games you're getting more than just fun. We bring you games that test your nerve, your skill and your strategy. Games that make you laugh and put you on the edge of your seat, games of adventure and excitement. Taito takes you on incredible mind voyages to places you've never been before— to brave new worlds of imagination and fantasy. And after all, isn't that what great video games are all about?
And every action game we put our name on is more than just competitive confrontation. Taito games are all about the values of good triumphing over evil, of being the best you can be— games like Arkanoid," Renegade'," Alcon'," Rastan"" and Bubble Bobbie'."" And we have more arcade block-busters like Operation Wolf/" Sky Shark" and Gladiator'" coming soon to soft- ware formats for play on your home computer. Taito's home-bound hit parade of video fun has just begun. Who but the arcade leader could bring you so much? That's Taito/ Aren't you glad you asked? Buy Taito products a t leading computer stores everywhere If no stores are near you, Visa/MasterCard
BUBBLE BOBBLE: Laugh-packed addictive action. Up to WO levels of arcade quality play. One or 2 player action. The number one game in Europe for three months in a row.
holders can order direct from anywhere in the United States by calling 1-800-663-8067. \JAiTQj
Amiga, Int. Commodore Electronics, Ltd., Apple Computer Inc. International Business Machines got the technical and creative ability to develop mind-blowing video games, write to Taito, and Atari Corporaiion. Advertisement by Qually & Company Inc., (Chicagal *lf you think you've Attention: Product Development, at the above address.
/vyno^sonwARE reviews-
Reviewed by Gary V. Fields
Fire Power
Computer: Amiga Company: Microlllusions
17408 Chatsworth St.
Granada Hills, CA 91344 Price: $24.95
Fire Power is a tank game, which looks and plays like nothing ever seen on either a computer screen or in an arcade cavern before. If you love a good game which mixes arcade action, realistic sound, and the challenge of a real battle, check this one out.
I must admit I have a prejudice for good war games, especially ones which operate in real time. So for me, the six months which passed between the time I saw the pre-release version of Fire Power and the finished game were annoyingly slow. But the polished graphics, digitized sound ef- fects, real-time speed and bug-free oper- ation of the completed Fire Power game have made the delay worth the wait.
One of the first arcade games I fell in love with (hack when displays were black and white, graphics were blocks and games ate quarters) was called Tanks. In that game you and your human opponent battled across a single screen and the tanks rumbled and reacted at an annoy- ingly slow pace, but the game and human competition was great. The only resem- blance Fire Power has to that old arcade game is that it uses tanks and it's fun.
The game can be played in three modes: (1) human against human, (2) human against computer, plus (3 ) human against human via modem. I personally prefer games which allow me to compete against another person, since I get more satisfac- tion from beating a peer than a micro- chip. So I appreciate Fin Power's two hu- man vs. human options. When playing against another person i. i the same room, two screen windows are c isplayed showing both gamer's tanks and the surrounding terrain. When the two tanks come into sight of each other, both windows display the same screen. The games modem op- tion supports both 1200 and 2400 baud ex- change rates. Regardless of which you se- lect, the action is fast, challenging and non-stop.
You also have the option to select which type of tank you will command — each have varying strengths and weaknesses. Some tanks are more heavily armored,
The game's dozens of unique features and
actions establish new standards that other
arcade designers will
be hustling to match.
others move faster, another carries more fuel and has more room for transporting men. But best of all, the game has no boundaries, so you can roam endlessly without running up against an artificial wall. Neither is the playing field static — each time you boot the game a different battlefield is generated. Certain features always appear, but not in the same loca- tion, including: roads, buildings, gun- mounted fortresses (which you can blast into), two hospitals, fuel depots, infantry, mine fields, maintenance garages, attack- ing helicopters, etc.
The object of the game always remains the same — to use your single tank to bat- tle through all the enemy defenses and capture its headquarters before yours is taken. If you don't keep moving, enemy helicopters will attack you, but if you don't move cautiously into new territories you may fall into an enemy ambush or mine field. If anything (trees, walls, build- ings, etc.) gets in your way, you can blast them away. If infantry get too close, you can splat (with graphics included), blast or rescue them.
When playing via modem the game still has two windows, but instead of one showing your tank's position while the other shows your opponent's (as in the non-modem modes), one window displays
terminal operations. Once you log on with your opponent's computer (a completely automated activity) you can send typed messages back and forth. Apparently the people at MicroIHusions recognize a good idea when it crosses their desks, and Fire Power's modem operation was one (they are releasing a whole series of modem-ca- pable games). The ability to play a friend across town (or across country if you can afford the long distance phone charges i is a real plus which greatly expands the game's fun range. If you are like me, get- ting together with a friend for an hour or so of games isn't always easy, but finding the time to phone a friend for a chat and a quick turn at "total destruction" isn't so difficult. The one drawback is that both you and your friend must have a copy of Fire Power before you can battle over the telephone lines.
The game's excellent visual displays, combined with some unique features make it an arcade'wargame which stands out from the pack. While it has all the tra- ditional shoot-'em-up qualities which give most arcades their appeal, this one has more. For instance, you can increase your score by blasting enemy prisoner barracks and rescuing captured troops. But there is a problem — at a distance all infantry look Continued on page 81
38 /UJGUST1988
EXPAND CAPABILITIES
G YOUR PAINT AS NEVI
PHOTON PAINT IS A POWERFUL LO- AND HI-RESOLUTION HOLD AND MODIFY (HAM) PAINT PROGRAM, WITH OVERSCAN { NTSC /PAL) AND SPECIAL EFFECTS FOR THE AMIGA COMPUTER!
Now many of the features and techniques previously only available in separate Amiga paint programs have been combined and expanded in PHOTON PAINT! These include features that were limited to either a 32 color paint program, or a HAM paint program, Yet it doesn't stop there! PHOTON PAINT expands your paint capabilities as never before with these features:
• 64 color palette with 4,096 color alterations
• State of the art Surface Mapping • Exceptionally sophisticated brush operations
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• Real-time operation of drawing tools • Paint in exactly the color you choose in HAM mode
• Allow HAM to modify colors * Two types of fill functions • All popular brush operations • Full blend mode • Total menu movability with brush and color palette menu size reduction option • Light source specification, normal, intense or dithered • Unique magnification window with variable pixel sizing • Transparent or opaque background colors • Palette color spreads with both (RGB) AND (HSV) functions •Compatible with most third party art and animation systems, including Photon Video,
EXPAND YOUR CREATIVITY TO A NEW DIMENSION, PICK UP PHOTON PAINT TODAY!
f/f '//'A
17408 Chatsworth St., Granada Hills, CA 91344 Inside CA 818/360-3715 • Outside CA 800/522-2041 • FAX 618/360-1464
12-112
AM I QA SOFTWARE REVIEWS
Custom-BBS!
Computer. Amiga
Publisher: Celestial Data Systems, Inc
279 S. Beverly Drive
Suite 1010
Beverly Hills, CA 90212 Price: $100.00
Just when you thought you were sitting in sysop heaven, along comes Custom- BBS! to really dazzle your callers. With Custom-BBS! you can have a totally Cus- tomized Bulletin Board System with fea- tures previously available only in main- frame computers!
Getting Started
First make a backup of the Custom- BBS! disk. {Custom-BBS! has no copy protection of any kind.) From now on, you should use your backup instead of the master disk. Next sit down and read the manual from beginning to end before you even try to alter the defaults for Custom- BBS!
Now you're ready to run Custom-BBS! Simply insert the disk in drive dffl: and it will automatically load after requesting the current date and time. A window at the top of the screen displays the current callers name and I.D. number (if there is one); the current date and time; how long it has been since the last caller; the users' statistics (i.e., number of uploads, down- loads, the last message posted, etc.); and whether or not the caller has tried to page you.
If you are using the system for the first time, you will be asked if you wish to gen- erate main BBS files. At this point, you should answer Y. lb enter the system, press the space bar, and to exit to DOS press the ESC key. When you enter the BBS, you will see the login text followed by a prompt requesting your ID. number. Since you are new to the system, type N at the prompt. This will take you through the standard new user information. Since you will want to create your sysop account when doing this, you should answer all the prompts correctly. Next you will be taken back to the request for your ID. where you can now type the number it gave you (it should be I.D. number 1). Type in your I.D. and password, and you will be logged into the system.
Once you have logged in, you will see the main menu. The first thing you
should do is select the Your account com- mand, and change your access level to sy- sop by pressing the F5 key and then the space bar. Now, all your information will be stored, and your sysop account will be set up. You will then see every command that is available in the system. Try out all the commands, and have fun experiment- ing. If you mess up, just re-copy the mas- ter disk and follow the procedures above for setting your sysop account.
Unique Features
First I can safely assure you that all standard BBS commands are supported. The most unique features of Custom- BBS! include random pop-up quotes, im- portant dates in history (according to what day the caller logs into the system), ANSI colors, the support of up to 9600 baud, the ability to have either a dating or business questionnaire, up to 75 different message and file transfer sections, and voice-activated sysop paging. Also, you will find that Custom-BBS! supports full multitasking and can be run from hard disk.
Customizing Your Custom-BBS!
Here comes the fun part, customizing your BBS! lb do this, you will need either a word processor or text editor that sup- ports standard ASCII. All of the files that Custom-BBS! uses for access are standard ASCII, including the menus. This gives you full control of how you wish to run your system. This means that you can cre- ate your own ASCII files, save them to disk and recall them later for either edit- ing or creating a brand new file.
There are too many files that make up Custom-BBS! to discuss here, but I will talk briefly about the major one,
prompts.txt. This file includes all of the major key workings for your BBS, includ ing the menus. In this file, you will find the log-in text, new-user text and many other items you can edit. The most unique feature is the inclusion of menus in a standard text file. This will allow you to simply load the prompts.txt file and edit the menu the way you wish. Custom- BBS! supports 20 different access levels, giving you complete control over all of them. Also, you can alter the one charac- ter symbols for all 20 levels (i.e., level 20 is sysop level which could be represented as S). However, if you do alter the user symbols, be sure that you do it before you generate the main BBS files. If you don't, then it will not recognize it and your sys- tem will malfunction. This BBS can be configured in any way you wish and gives you complete control over all functions.
At the present time, you have only two choices of how to run your BBS, from ei- ther floppy or hard disk. If you choose, you can run your entire BBS from hard disk by simply copying the BBS files in the BBS directory to the hard disk BBS direc- tory. The other method is somewhat limit- ed, you must have the BBS directory in dfO: and the files directory (upload and download) in either dfO: or dfl:. However, they will be improving this in the next version (see Summary).
You will also find eight different pre-de- fined function keys for the sysop: Fl — force chat interrupt F2 — add a predetermined number of min- utes to online caller F3 — change online user to level three F4 — change online user to level eight F5 — change online user to sysop F6 — turn off serial device to make the sys- tem invisible to online user
40 AUGUST 1988
Amiga Software Reviews/ Custom-BBS!"
F7— toggle printer on/off
F10 — disconnect current online user
A Word of Warning
The copy of Custom-BBS! I used for re- view had a major flaw in the startup-se- quence. I kept getting a GURU MEDITA- TION ERROR when I was testing the questionnaire. This was due to the fact that the startup-sequence did not set the stack to 15000 bytes before the BBS was run. If this is not added to the startup-se- quence, the system will crash every time a user wants to answer the questionnaire. To avoid this, simply delete the old star- tup-sequence and replace it with the one listed below.
If you have an Amiga 500 or 2000 or an Amiga 1000 with an internal clock, then you may want Custom-BBS! to autoboot. If you do not have an internal clock and wish only to correct the bug, then simply leave out the lines below marked <leave out>. Copy the following commands from your Workbench disk, C directory, to your BBS backup disk, C directory: Stack and SetClock (depending upon if you have an Amiga 500 or 2000). echo"" echo 'Tour BBS Name"
echo""
stack 15000
SetClock >NTL: Opt load <Ieave out>
Date < leave out>
els
type texttype
cddf0:BBS
run Custom-BBS!
els
loadwb
Requirements
Custom-BBS! can be run on an Amiga 500, 1000 or 2000 with a minimum of 512K and two disk drives. Custom-BBS! will support more memory, and if it's a re- coverable RAM disk you can copy the whole disk to RAM (providing that you have at least 2MB). You will also need to have an advanced knowledge of the CLI, because you will constantly be using it to j maintain your system.
Celestial Data Systems will be con- . stantly upgrading Custom-BBS! (version i 1.2 was scheduled for release in June). And they will not charge the owner for the upgrade from 1.1 to 1.2. Simply send back the master disk, and you will have your upgrade sent back free of charge. Now that's service! The new version will in- clude the following enhanced features;
1. Voting on the sysop's chosen topics.
2. The ability to choose what drive and path you want for your files, messages, boards and profiles.
3. Hot Keys for all menus (so you can execute the command before you get the prompt).
4. A "cleaned up" prompts.txt file.
5. Support of SIGs.
6. WXmodem and possibly more file transfer protocols.
7. The ability for the sysop to add a user without having the user call- ing the system.
8. The option for the sysop to toggle the Chat option on/off.
9. Sysop-defined number of last call- ers to the system (i.e., 10, 50, 100, etc.)
10. The ability for the caller to abort the questionnaire at any time.
11. Multiple answers to the questions defined in the questionnaire.
I have been using Custom-BBS! since the day I got it, and to this day it has nev- er crashed! Celestial went out of their way to make it as clean, neat and bug free as possible. I use it, I love it, and I think you will too. All other Bulletin Board Systems should move over, for Custom-BBS! is the answer to every sysop's dream! Q
Amiga Software Reviews 'Photon Paint ~
Continued from page 35
Imagine that a picture you have created is on paper and you can wrap it around a geometric shape such as a ball or a cone.
pear to be various shadings of the chosen color. Text rendered in the Blend mode will also be affected — with no need to place text and then fill it. You can achieve very striking graphic effects by using large font si2es with the Blend mode.
I have saved the most unique feature for last — surface mapping. Imagine that a picture you have created is on paper and you wrap it around a geometric shape such as a ball or a cone. Believe it or not, Photon Paint lets you take a portion of your painting you have picked up as a brush and do just that. You can also paste the image on three sides of a cube (which can rotate on all three axes for the best perspective), as well as wrap it around an irregular freehand-drawn shape. By acti- vating the LUM(inosity) function, the
wrapped shape will be drawn as if a bright light were shining on it from a user-de- fined location (no shadows, though).
Two other brush-related features should be mentioned. Again, imagine you have an image on a piece of paper. Now twist the paper around one, two or three times. Yes, you can do that too with the Twist function. With the Perspective function, you can take an image and rotate it around any of its three axes and at the same time control the distance from your viewpoint. You can also shift your view- point around the brush! And all of this by using the mouse. Finally, Photon Paint op- erates only in the 320 mode (normal and interlace) with overscan capabilities. While it has an alternate screen, there is no "rub through" function or automatic ability to copy one screen to the other.
So what's wrong with Photon Paini! Not much. The most annoying aspect is that flickering streaks of color follow custom brushes around the screen, and strange colors fill the screen when you are making geometric shapes. These disappear, how- ever, when you have placed the image on the screen in its final location. The fringes of unwanted colors between objects are more a function of the limitations of the
Amiga HAM mode than of the software, and experimentation with different colors will usually eliminate this problem.
There is also no function (such as Tiling or Wallpapering) to fill the screen or a de- fined area with a repetitious pattern from your brush. Additionally, there is no "spray paint" function, and it appears you cannot paint using a custom brush. Microfflusions will be addressing these complaints in an update. To fully utilize all of Photon Paint's capabilities, you need at least 1MB of memory, although the program (at least most parts of it) will work with 512K.
Photon Paint comes with a slick 96- page, spiral-bound manual which is well written and contains several thorough tu- torials on some of the more unique fea- tures of the program. There is also a sec- ond art/tutorial disk, and Photon Paint is not copy-protected.
You can create some absolutely stun- ning graphics with a palette of several thousand colors using the Blend mode. The surface mapping and twist functions are totally unique to Photon Paint and must be seen to be believed. It is apparent that Amiga software has entered a new era of maturity and Photon Paint is rooted firmly in this new age. Qj
COMMODORE MAGAZINE 41
BOOK REVIEWS"
The Electronic Battlefield
Author: Bob Guerra
Publisher: Compute! Books
324 W. Wendover, Suite 200 Greensboro, NC 27408
Price: $12.95
After a hard day's work slaying legions of ores, dragons and the occasional Evil Wizard, what does a professional ad- venturer do to relax? I often play a war game, because they pose different kinds of challenges. But because the skills I've honed in caves and dungeons don't apply to the trenches, I am regularly beaten by Battlefront, killed by Kampfgruppe and overrun by Ogre— often in the same day.
So I knew exactly how to go about re- viewing this unusual book, which offers advice on 30 such games, most of which are available for the 64. Instead of start- ing at page one, I flipped to the section on Ogre, a game which humiliated me so se- verely— and so many times — that I tossed it in the basement a year ago. The only way I had ever beaten the supertank op- ponent was by using the field editor to equip my army with dozens of extra tanks, infantry units and howitzers. Sure, it's cheating— but this is war, I always told , myself.
Still, the feeling of victory was less than fulfilling under such conditions, so I hoped author Bob Guerra's counsel would enable me to fight a clean fight and still emerge the victor. After a brief summary of each game's scenario, he discusses the types of weapons and some general tips before launching into an in-depth look at various strategies (your long-range plans) and tactics (what you do when something goes wrong, or more rarely — for me, at least — right, while executing the master plan). Finally, with screen shots, maps and charts to illustrate his points, he present- ed a step-by-step account of a game he played, explaining the significance of each move instead of just saying, "Do this and you'l! win."
He also zeroed in on the enemy's "think- ing" and discussed why the Ogre made certain moves in response to my own. I can't say I won the first session following this advice, since the Ogre wiped out my Command Post with a missile — but 1 managed to hold the enemy to a marginal
While clearly written, it's not cut-and-dried like a textbook, for Guerra employs analogies and humor to illustrate a concept or point.
victory by destroying him before he could escape. And in the next game, I achieved a defense victory by nailing the Ogre be- fore it could destroy my headquarters, something I had never been able to do without stacking the deck. Needless to say, I celebrated by giving my troops a weekend pass and promoting myself to Brigadier General,
Guerra divides the book into three sec- tions: "On the Front" (joystick battles like Arctic Fox], "In the War Room" (strategic and tactical games that represent the kind of program that usually comes to mind when you say "war game") and "Geopolitical Decision Making" (board games reminiscent of Risk i. The first two sections are further broken down into land, sea and air games.
The titles range from some of the most venerable war games, such as Tigers in the Snow, to many of the most recent re- leases: Silent Service for the submariners in the crowd, Europe Ablaze for aerial aces, and Gettysburg: The Turning Point for Civil War diehards. Guerra comments on the authenticity of those with roots in historical battles. He also points out how some fictitious scenarios have actually oc- curred only months after the game's re- lease, citing the 1986 bombing of Libya, a scenario he reminds us was "originally written for a computer simulation— F-15 Strike Eagle."
Most war games provide several scenar- ios for you to play, so there wasn't space to give detailed help on each one. Instead, Guerra lays out the basics of the game system, then zooms in on one scenario.
Reviewed by Shay Addams
furnishing strategic and tactical tips that apply to the other scenarios. Then he marches straight into a guided tour of how to beat the scenario he's chosen, usually telling step-by-step what to do and why you should do it. (In most games that al- low you to choose the nation you'll repre- sent, he reveals the strengths, weaknesses and best offenses and defenses for each side.) In the case of Ogre, for example, he i gives such explicit advice as: "move the first heavy tank on the left three hexes to the right to directly below the missile tank ... the Ogre will respond by moving up three hexes and firing its main battery at your rightmost tank." Furthermore, he explains why the Ogre won't fire its mis- siles at this stage, providing valuable in- sight into how the Ogre's artificial intelli- gence decides what to do.
Instrumentation — all those dials and gauges and levers that fill the screen on games like Silent Service and PHM Pega- sus— is thoughtfully addressed, as are fac- tors such as terrain, fatigue, weather and other elements that might affect the out- come of a particular game. And the inter- face of many programs is more lucidly ex- : plained in this book than in the manuals that accompany the games. In fact, SSI should consider getting I Guerra to write the documentation for i their war games, since SSFs manuals are i usually harder to decipher than any code • used by real military forces when sending top secret messages. And while clearly written, it's not just i cut-and-dried like a textbook, either, for : Guerra employs analogies and humor
(and the occasional migrant worker) to il- i lustrate a concept or point.
In addition to the 30 titles covered in detail (most are available for the 64, only - a few for the Amiga), an appendix lists
many more war games, along with their ■ manufacturers and addresses. This means | you can also use the book as a sort of buy- er's guide when looking for a new game, though a list of system availability would have made it more practical.
So if the other side has been beating you too often, volunteer for a tour of duty on The Electronic Battlefield—the West Point of computer war games, it enables you to get more out of the games you al- ready own, as I did with Ogre. And the les- sons learned here can be applied to other games not in this book. a
42 AUGUST 1988
Ihe new Commodore* Amiga"' 500 is everything you never expected from a home computer. That's because we designed it to excite you. To dazzle your senses with 4096 colors and stereo sound. To unleash your creativity. To allow things you never dreamed possible in a home computer. Because until now, they really weren't.
Like built-in speech synthesis, so you'll always have someone to talk to. Pro-quality 3-D animation that lets even beginners put their ideas in motion. Colorful educational programs that make lessons fun and mem- orable. A complete home office with powerful spreadsheet and database programs— even word processing with WardPerfect? And unlike any other home computer, the Commodore Amiga 500 can multi-task, so you can run several prograr at the same time.
Hook it to your VCR with an optional RF modulator, and the Commodore Amig 500 becomes a home video production center. Paint graphics over video images. Create moving 3-D titles. Produce your own animated feature.
And for pure fun, enter the incredible world of stereo Amiga video games. With graphics so good, major video game makers use them in their coin arcade machines. AND NOW YOU CAN SEE IT ALL, FREE.
We captured the excitement, beauty, and power of the Commodore Amiga 500 on a special VHS video cassette called The Amiga 500 Video Test Flight. If you're ready for the ride of your life, call 1-800-343-3000 or contact your Commodore Amiga dealer to find out how you can get your free video demonstration.
1-800-343-3000
COMMODORE
. calks. It animates. It educates. It's a home office. It's a video studio. It's arcade games in s
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ENTERTAINING COURSEWARE"
by Howard Millman
A Class of 111 Compute
Educational software that sustains a child's interest while teaching fundamental building- block concepts can be hard to find. We'll look at programs that can do just that.
Reportedly, nightmares share a com- mon theme of being trapped. I exper- ienced that sensation when I was confined in a classroom with 14 third and fourth grade students, each kid trilling, "Mr. Millman, Mr. Millman, this is boooorr- ring. Can't we do something else? Pleeassse?" With the plea echoed inces- santly, my first class reverberated like a shout in Echo Valley.
Clearly, things had to improve. I started by re-examining the software. My stu- dents were right, the programs were the electronic equivalent of an Edsel. Graph- ics were uninspired or non-existent, the animation awkward and the themes mo- notonous. These shortcomings were crowned by wordy manuals designed first to impress, then inform.
The stuif was the pits. Continuing to force feed these programs to the class was like shooting myself in the foot, neither alternative was particularly appealing.
The solution lay in finding stimulating programs to capture their interest. But how? The school, like most institutional buyers, bought software by mail order. Such buyers rely on the reputation of the publisher/vendor and the hype in the catalog.
A proverb, dating back to when wars were fought with rocks, dictates that there are no guarantees in life or in software performance. Maybe that's why most mail order vendors offer return privileges to schools if the software doesn't meet their expectations. Tb tip the scales in my favor, I began previewing demos or samples of software before committing the school's shekels.
About one in four packages met my ex- pectations. Being finicky, however, paid dividends. By the third class Fd achieved my goal. The students received the kind of challenging creative software they de- Served, and I had a classroom of motivated reasonably quiet kids. They and I {but
mostly they) survived the year intact.
Here's one package that outlasted the inquest and another newer release that also meets the grade. Both are multi-play- er crossword-type games designed to dis- pel the despair of vocabulary development and spelling.
Crypto Cube
Ages: 8 years-Adult
Computer: Commodore 64 Publisher: Britannica Software
345 Fourth St.
San Francisco, CA 94107
(800) 572-2272 Medium: Disk Price: $9.95
Emphasis: Topic-linked spelling
TbpicAvord association Meet Crypto Cube's Wuzzle, the elec- tronic equivalent of a fur-covered mean- dering head. He (she?) is the on-screen Sergeant-at-arms standing guard over the cube's dialogue box, shouting directions to the players. Just following the Wuzzle's instructions and other on-screen prompts is direction enough for kids to play this in- formative game.
Each of the cube's four sides displays a grid much like a crossword's. Typically, there are four words per side so each round consists of twenty words. The words in each round link to a common theme.
Students choose from a list of fifty theme centers, including the names of everyday items like animals, kinds of transporta- tion, weather terms, food, clothing, colors and others.
No clues are offered to the words other than the theme heading. Like the board game Battleship, the initial moves are spent just gaining some idea of the words' whereabouts. For hopelessly mired play- ers or students who need an advantage, an opening menu option summons a list of the 20 words comprising the round.
In a typical two-player game each stu- dent moves the cursor, via the keyboard, into one of the cube's squares seeking a contact. If the square is empty it's a miss and the square is blanked.
Hits are handled two ways. If the hid- den letter is a vowel, the letter is immedi- ately revealed. If a consonant, a question mark is displayed. Now the player must guess what the hidden letter is. The Wuz- zle dances to the music when a correct guess is made.
As you can see, there's a direct relation- ship between the number of letters/words already discovered and the probability of correctly guessing which consonant the question mark represents. And it's also why students with superior association skills will likely excel at this game.
After identifying all the words on one face, the cube is rotated to another. The round is complete when all four sides are filled in.
Recognizing that even with fifty theme centers this bargain-priced game would have a rather limited life span, Britannica wisely builds in two longevity factors. The first is the ability to instruct the computer to generate a new puzzle format using the same words. Shifting the words around slightly extends the game's lifeline. The second option offers Crypto Cube the gift of immortality. Via a list management system the student, teacher or parent can create a puzzle using their own words. Keying in words related to the curriculum or a child's interests adds relevance.
Students are always asking, "Why do I need to know/learn/understand this?" Well, in this case if the words conform to a kid's interests the answer is they can de- scribe their pastimes in writing as well as verbally.
I also looked at another of Britannica's highly regarded products, SpellCopter. To a similar degree, both share common at-
44 AUGUST 1988
Entertaining Courseware /A Class of III Compute -
tributes. Unfortunately, they also share the same shortcoming, slow disk load times. Trimming the load time would en- courage greater use of both in a home learning or school environment.
In a recent conversation with Ibm Pa- derna, Britannica's product manager, I asked about their plans for revisions and forthcoming releases, Ibm, holding his cards close to his vest, simply said they "are not ignoring the Commodore mar- ket" (strongly emphasizing the "not"). He continued by saying Britannica's reps had just returned from a meeting with Com- modore to discuss improving the quantity and quality of 64/128 educational soft- ware. That's the kind of continuing com- mitment we hope to see more of.
Scrabble Crossword Game Computer: Commodore 64 Ages: 8 years-Adult
Distributor: Electronic Arts
1820 Gateway Drive
San Mateo, CA 94404
(415) 571-7171 Medium: Disk Price: $32.95 Emphasis: Spelling, Vocabulary and
Strategy
This is the classic Scrabble, true to the original board game's ruies and capturing all its time-honored appeal.
Combining Scrabble with the comput- er's silicon soul eliminates two of the board game's limitations. First, the disk's built-in 20,000 - word dictionary resolves players' squabbles over just what is or isn't an acceptable word. Second, since one player can compete against the computer, solitaire Scrabble is now a reality.
The computer is quite a capable adver- sary too, fortunately it can be handi- capped when challenged by a mere hu- man.
The transition from board to screen was implemented with foresight and skill. Players are assigned racks each contain- ing seven letter tiles. Racks can be dis- played or hidden at the players' option. As in the board game, letters can be ex- changed or juggled, and players can fore- go their turn.
The game is well crafted throughout. It loads quickly and offers on-screen prompts as well as sound effects to accompany cur- sor movements. The single static graphic displays the Scrabble board complete with premium squares.
Choosing from the letter tiles on the rack, players key in a word. If the word in-
corporates letters which are not on the player's rack, it's a reject. If accepted, the player, via the keyboard, moves the cursor to the word's starting square on the game board. Entering a "D" for down or "A" for across directs the program to type in the word vertically or horizontally. An "X" cancels the word.
Providing the word conforms to the game's rules, the program totals the word's score. The player is offered the chance to cancel the move if the score is unacceptably low. Once accepted, the word becomes permanent.
Games in progress can be saved on a work disk. Games so saved can be readily resurrected another day.
Since the program is imported from Eu- rope, I tested all features to satisfy myself that it performs as promised. It does.
Electronic Arts, the largest home and entertainment software vendor, distrib- utes Scrabble for the British firm Leisure Genius. According to Bill Mowry, EA's product manager, Scrabble is Leisure Ge- nius' first release for the Commodore 64. This past June they also announced the release of Monopoly for the 64, to be fol- lowed by other popular board games as they receive the licenses to transpose them to disk.
Bridging the Years
Ordinarily, 1 tend toward the conserva- tive when defining a program's targeted age group. For me, eight through adult is quite a spread. With Scrabble and Crypto Cube there's a good reason for the range, as they both extend help to the junior player.
Just as Crypto Cube volunteers help by allowing a player to peek at the words, Scrabble also provides a suggested word when asked. Furthermore, Scrabble's com- puter can be handicapped by directing it to compete at a lower skill level than its human counterpart.
For either of these games to be easier to learn they would need training wheels; both can be played by following the on- screen prompts. Which, come to think of it, is just the way we like it. Student's ef- forts are directed toward playing the game, not understanding the rules.
In other words, software, like manuals I that are designed to first inform, then im- press.
If you have any suggestions, questions or comments about this column, the sofhvare covered or future topics, please write to Howard Miilman in care o/Commodore , Magazine. Q
Amiga Software Reviews/ Publisher Plus—
Continued from page 34
serJet. As you invoke the printing option from the pull-down menu you'll be offered a sub-choice of dot matrix and Postscript as well as Postscript Disk. Selecting Post- script converts the file into a language 1 which can be read by your Postscript-driv- en printer, while the Disk option "prints" a Postscript file to disk for later use.
In the matter of printers and fonts, you may want to experiment to see which combination works best for you. During my evaluation, I used the Okimate 20 printer and found that some fonts looked almost typeset while others on the same page looked like dot-matrix. In printing on a Panasonic, the situation was some- times reversed. The bottom line is this: some fonts will be handled well by your printer and others won't be.
One shortcoming of Publisher Plus is the documentation. Though nicely printed and supplied in a slipcased loose-leaf bind- er (which will lie open on your desk), there just isn't enough of it. There is a very good glossary of printing terms, an index, a guide to printer's editing marks and an appendix showing the many different bor- ders available from your keyboard.
But I would have appreciated more in- depth explanation on using the program. Further, although there is an appendix showing the resident fonts, it is incom- plete. All fonts are shown in nine-point and one is shown in 32-point. All sizes in between should have been included to aid those of us who have no idea how big 24- pointis.
Another complaint is that not all font sizes available are shown when the font directory is invoked. You'll find no 32- point Times, for example, but Publisher Plus is capable of creating it by rescaling the indicated sizes. Yet, unless you've read absolutely every word of the manual, you might never know this.
For productivity programs, documenta- tion should be redundant: the same infor- mation should be stated several times in different ways; and the more complex the program, the more redundant the manual should be. Publisher falls short in this area, so some users may miss important steps and tips.
In spite of these drawbacks, Publisher Plus is a full-featured desktop publishing program. The layout, formatting and graphics features meet most criteria for true desktop publishing, and the program is easier to use than some others I've tried. Sparse documentation notwithstanding, this one does work and works well. DJ
COMMODORE MAGAZINE 45
ADVENTURE ROAD'
Infocom Goes Graphic, EA Gets Wasted
News and opinion from a leading explorer of those fantasy realms called adventure games.
In a startling turnabout, Infocom— whose name practically means text ad- venture to adventurers around the world — has gone graphic. They plan to in- corporate graphics in all future interac- tive fiction titles, and Sherlock will most likely be their last ail-text adventure.
"Our market just hasn't been growing the way it was in the old days," Infocom President Joel Berez told me. "We still have a very solid core of loyal interactive fiction fans, but we're not picking up new people at the rate we used to. And we're even losing some of the old people, who are perhaps growing tired of products that are in many ways very similar."
Amiga owners in particular haven't been attracted to all-text games, probably because many people buy the machine primarily for its graphic capabilities. Info- com added sound effects to Lurking Hor- ror, of course. But the company an- nounced only months later that they wouldn't be converting all their releases for the Amiga, so apparently that move didn't make much difference.
Berez gave two other reasons for adding graphics: 'The early machines weren't ca- pable of producing anything but the most cartoonish forms of graphics, and the memory and disk limitations required a tradeoff— if you added graphics, you had to take out something else. With today's more powerful machines and our new pro- gramming techniques, we feel we can add to the games without taking anything away. And oddly enough, in the process of making the technical changes required to support graphics, we may also be relaxing some former restrictions, such as game size. So the basic text and logic parts of the games will likely get bigger, even as we add other features."
For Amiga adventurers, this will cer- tainly be a boon. But 64 owners won't be happy to learn that the 64 probably won't be supported at all. The possibility exists for later games that might run on the 64, though for now Infocom is focusing its ef-
by Shay Addams
forts on a 128-only version of their new adventures. (Even that is uncertain at this stage.) Infocomics will be the only 64 titles available, and these aren't adven- tures—in fact, they're not even games. No puzzles, no points, just a story that you can fast-forward and rewind through, a program whose only original features al- low you to switch between the perspective of various characters. Infocom says Infoco- mics weren't created for adventure fans, anyway, but to attract a new market — the comic book crowd. That's why they're be- ing sold in comic book stores and market- ed through other new channels.
In another major departure for Infocom, Brian Moriarty {Trinity, Beyond Zork) is working on a traditional role-playing game along the lines of a Bard's Tale or Wizardry. And before that's released, Info- com will market a similar game produced by an outside developer (though Infocom people are involved with the project). Berez says this is part of their strategy to become Activision's "interactive storytell- ing division." (Activision bought the com- pany in 1986.) Part of that strategy in- cludes the move into RPGs.
When things were slowing down in the text adventure realm, Berez recalls, "We tried to figure what really made sense for us to be doing. We decided our greatest ex- pertise was in interactive storytelling and that we wanted to branch out in this area, Just as we dominated interactive fiction, we'd like to dominate interactive storytell- ing, simply specializing in all aspects of that. As we've pursued that strategy, we eventually convinced Activision that it made so much sense for us to be the spe-
SUSAN LIPPMAN
cialists in those sorts of products that Ac- tivision has stopped doing them."
If Infocom doesn't produce text adven- tures, will anyone else? Companies that tried to compete with them — notably Bro- derbund and Mindscape — have already given up. And most software developers will probably reason that if Infocom is get- ting out of text games, the market is too weak for them to move into. But some dar- ing souls might view this as an opportuni- ty to snare an existing audience and take a chance on some new all-text games. In- focom still has the technology to do all- text games, so the door is not quite closed on this genre,
Wasteland: Role Playing Reaches New Heights
Electronic Arts gave up on text games after their first bid, Amnesia, and since then their Interactive Stories Division has concentrated solely on role-playing games. The best one I've seen from them or anyone else this year is Wasteland, cre- ated by Interplay Productions. It's a post- nuclear war scenario that puts you in charge of seven Desert Rangers out to solve a series of mini-missions in the American Southwest. While doing so, you stumble across the game's main goal, which involves the Servants of the Mush- room Cloud, a "glow in the dark" cult whose temple is a former nuclear reactor in Las Vegas.
Characters aren't restricted by specific classes such as Thief or Fighter. At the outset, each of your four main characters gets a number of skill points equal to his Continued tin page 81
46 AUGUST 1988
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