AlchNews Issue 34, November 2000
THIS ISSUE:
EMULATING AN AMIGA GETTING TO GRIPS WITH GAC ZX PARTY 2000 REVIEW GOODBYE TO CRASHED INCENTIVE’S DRILLER INDEX ISSUE 34 3. EDITORIAL. My thanks to you all.
4. NEWS. Quite a bit happening this time.
6. EMULEARNING. Downgrade your PC into a Commodore Amiga!
13. WORD ON THE WEB. Some top sites to visit. This section to be expanded from next issue.
14. DRILLER. A look back at this classic game on the Spectrum and other platforms.
20. ZX PARTY 2000. Matt Westcott visits and reviews this premier European Speccy & clones show.
22. GETTING TO GRIPS WITH GAC. The first part of our series.
26. CRASH MAGAZINE RETURNS!
27. SUBS & ALCHNEWS MERCHANDISE.
28. TRADING POST. Credits Big thanks to the following contributors: Bernd Gmeineder of Amiga Sector One for his help with using LHA on the Amiga emulator. Without him, we wouldn’t have converted the Spectrum emulators. Ian Greenway provided in-depth technical help on his ASP Spectrum – Amiga Emulator. Rob Mosely for proving me with an Amiga disk image of Spectrum . Phil South for letting me use his Driller article. Various regulars on comp.sys.sinclair for their comments about Driller. Matt Westcott for his excellent review of the ZX Party show.
BOLLOCKS TO: Those on comp.sys.sinclair for their snide attitudes and comments. EDITORIAL After all the build up, I must admit I few months with emulators. I’ve re- was left feeling that the last issue fined the Alchemist EMULATOR was a bit of a let-down. Due to pres- HEAVEN CD, and have been experi- sure from a number of areas to get menting quite a lot with Amiga emu- the magazine out, I felt that I had to lators. rush the production. In hindsight, I wish I’d left a couple of things out, The Amiga was a nice machine in the digs at PD Power included. Af- it’s time, spoiled only by some arro- terwards, I felt like I'd kicked a sick gant users who took a swipe at the dog. Spectrum and its followers wherever they could. They refused to accept Despite this, I thought that, for my that their machine would go the first time, the magazine wasn’t that same way and are still sat there bad. Then it came to duplicating it! waiting for it’s resurrection, like Printing from Microsoft Publisher is a those waiting for the world to end on very odd business indeed and I still numerous dates predicted by Nos- haven’t really mastered it. Getting trodamus and various cult leaders. something as simple as page num- Fools. Thankfully, times have bers seemed extremely complicated changed. While setting up the emu- in the help guide and then all my lator I asked a lot of questions and hard work of adjusting the pictures the scene is full of very nice, helpful was spoiled by a copier with a bad people whom I’ll mention later on in attitude (it was a machine by the the article in question. way, not a person!). It’s sad to hear that Dave Fountain is So, I had five hundred copies to sta- finally packing in Crashed. Let’s ple and get out, or bin and start hope public support, his new PC and again, delaying the magazine even the ease to create a magazine with further. I opted for the former. They Publisher convinces him to continue, do say that a publication isn’t perfect if even on a smaller scale. Whatever until you absolutely hate it. And hate his decision, he should be ap- it I did! plauded for what work he did do with the magazine. Stumbling from editor Thankfully, your feedback has been to editor, it was on it’s last legs but great. There were a few initial con- Dave turned it around to be the big- cerns over the name of the maga- gest and best Spectrum mag zine and as to how much Z88 mate- around. rial it would contain. I suppose that I can only put as much in as I get. At Andy Davis. time of writing that comes to Jack Lawrie’s Z88 Hints & Tips series. PS Don’t forget that ALL programs But, no doubt all that will change mentioned in this issue are available when you read this. for download, free of charge, from our website. I’ve spent a lot of time these past NEWS GOODBYE CRASHED was held at the end of August in the internet café VIRTUAL at The news that we’ve all been Wroclaw in Poland. Read Matt dreading has finally come. In an Westcott’s review later in this email on Friday 25th August, issue. editor Dave Fountain announced: NOT GOODBYE TO DID “I've taken the decision to cease production. This is due to a new It was a big but most welcome job, a new house, a new location surprise to see issue 6 etc. and it's just not possible to (September 2000) of DESERT donate the time and resources ISLAND DISKS! There was no as I used to. The kitty is empty mention of any closure but it did again, its just not working as it report on the demise of should, which is a shame as I HACKERS HANGOUT. enjoyed it.” The issue was an excellent (as “Good luck to everyone else still usual) 22 page colour production running fanzines etc. I'm still with the next issue promised in around keeping an eye out and January 2001. My favourite bit still have my Speccy set up and was Spectra by Milton Snook ready to go. Look out for... (surely not a made up name?) something on the internet... but I feel I must disagree with Probably.” him comments that anything Speccy related that Amstrad Dave painstakingly emailed the made was bad - the +3 was last issue page by page to a brilliant. Ok, so it had a crap number of readers with email drive, but it had ROM page facilities. swapping and CP/M.
So that leaves just AlchNews, KEITH AINSWORTH ON TV! Desert Island Disks, SPC, SUCcession, and (gulp), PD Anyone who has been watching Power. the BBC Two TV series “I love the 1970’s” will have been ZX PARTY RESULTS extremely shocked to see Retrogamer editor Keith The great ZX PARTY, where Ainsworth being interviewed demo fans and programmers about the classic Space Invaders from all over Europe meet up, arcade game in the 1978 episode! As if we hadn’t suffered SUBSCRIBERS DISCOUNTS enough, Keith is doing more TV work shortly! He’d like me to point A VERY big thank-you to out that he will sign autographs for everyone who took the plunge a couple of quid and throw in a and re-subscribed to the copy of his top selling magazine to magazine, especially all of those boot! Latest issue is reviewed in whom I’ve not had the pleasure Rival Rags section later. of being in contact with before. Thank you for your faith in us HAPPY BIRTHDAY DRILLER and the magazine. To show our appreciation, subscribers get the Did you know / care (delete as following benefits: applicable) that Incentive’s classic DRILLER is thirteen years old? 10% DISCOUNT FROM ANY Now you do. Read our special ORDER AT E.E.C later in this issue. 10% OFF RESUBSCRIPTION ALCHNEWS INDEX REVISED TO ALCHNEWS (WHEN DUE)
The AlchNews Index - a thorough HALF PRICE ON ALL guide to all the major articles in ALCHEMIST PRODUCED CDs every issue - has finally been revised. It previously only held NEW COLUMNS information up-to issue 26 but has been updated right to issue 32. We’ve had a request to revise Featuring the Index in it’s current our old ‘Personals Trading Post’ state would take up the entire section, where you can advertise magazine alone, so in the ANY items free of charge. There meantime you can find it on our is no limit on wording or web site. whatever it is you want to buy, sell or trade. The section will ALCHEMISTRESEARCH.COM begin from next issue so send in your classifieds now. The new web address for Alchemist Research is now simply: EMULATOR UPDATES
www.alchemistresearch.com Two so far: REALSPEC now on V7 (beta) and YASE is now 0.8a We thought we’d take the decision to register the name before somebody else did and tried to sell it to us for an inflated price! END EMULEARNING An old series and title will be denied by any Amiga resurrected again (sorry, couldn’t user! For some reason they are think of a better word). This, for absolutely resilient about their new readers, is a look into the beloved computer dying and I world of emulators. Dave just can’t see why. Ok, I am a Fountain made a comment (don’t little biased. I got into the know if he meant it at us) in the mainstream computing scene a last issue of Crashed, saying little later than most. When “Don’t emulate - innovate”. people had ZX81s, I had a That’s all very well if you have Commodore Vic-20. When the time, money and resources people had Spectrums, I had an to go out buying old pieces of kit. Oric-1. Continue through the QL For this article that would have and almost to an Elan Enterprise meant heavy investment in a (close shave there) until my very Commodore Amiga, extra drives, first Spectrum+ back in 1987. memory and tons of software. From then on there was no Nope, I just went on the internet, stopping me - +2s, +3s, rubber did a bit of research and a couple keyed 48s, a couple of 128s and of hours of downloading and I more hardware than I care to had a pretty powerful Amiga remember. (Stay with me, this is system. going somewhere)
By the time Amstrad strolled onto the Sinclair scene, we were already being verbally abused by ST owners (despite their crappy machine having the same sound chip as the 128!) and then the Amiga. Amiga users slated Spectrum users wherever and whenever the opportunity arose. Their snide comments hurt, especially when I could not afford an Amiga. But, I bit my tongue Well, that’s let the cat out of the and bided my time, for I knew bag. Yes, this issue we are that the Amiga would suffer the taking a look at the Amiga. A same fate as the Spectrum. In very big player back in the fact, it did more so, with failed eighties but now on the techno business ventures galore - scrap heap with the rest. But that promises of a wonderful new machine from companies who SQTracker). bought out whomever had the rights at the time. Even today they After that came the A600 in sit waiting for the second coming 1991, with similar spec. to the of the Amiga. Better have a comfy A500 but with more memory, and chair to hand ‘cos it ain’t gonna hard drive options. The A1200 happen! followed shortly after with a new graphics chipset and 14Mhz clock speed.
Above: ha ha ha ha ha ha!
BURY THE HATCHET Above: An A600 But that’s all in the past. Lets rejoice in the global world of EMULATING emulating and emulate what, to be fair, is a damn fine machine. With the Amiga being a powerful machine, it has taken for PC The major release that everyone technology to advance to the took into their homes was the present state for an accurate A500. Boasting a 7.5Mhz M68000 emulation. After all, this isn’t a processor and 512k internal simple Spectrum here! A memory, internal 880k 3.5” floppy Pentium 250 is the minimum drive, decent sound and plenty of recommended to run an Amiga ports and options to upgrade both emulator. internally and externally. It had an interface (Workbench) that users And there isn’t a great deal of still prefer over Windows to this choice either. Just two day! It’s main use was in games contenders - Bernd Schmidt’s UAE and music - sound MODule files which was originally for Unix but a and ‘tracker’ programs that even Windows version appeared around made their way to the Spectrum 1997, and Peter Schau’s FELLOW. (Soundtracker, Sampletracker and I’m going to concentrate on UAE, do now? Well, the best thing to although you may find the non- do to put the emulator through Windows dependent FELLOW it’s places is to try a few games. more to your liking. There are a whole host of sites containing ADFs - Amiga Disk The latest version, 088R8, is Files, an image of an Amiga simple to install but you will need floppy disk containing the game to do a lot of browsing to actually or program in question. Beware get it to work. You see, the though as some games came on emulator won’t work without the more than one disk. Originally ROM images. The emulator has you’d have to insert the next disk been written with real Amiga when prompted, but on UAE you users in mind who can get a can simply put each virtual disk ROM image from their genuine into a virtual drive. The sites I machine. Those without can found best were: obtain them legally from a company called CLOANTO who AMIGA EMULATION ZONE distribute the Amiga Forever CD- http://www.amigaemulation.com/ ROM containing the files and downloads/browse.asp much more legal stuff. But, a quick browse on a few Amiga LE CHUCK’S AMIGA HEAVEN sites and you’ll find them. But, http://amiga.supergamez.hu/ the first place to start is: EngIntroSet.html
http://www.codeport.com/UAE/ TOP UK GAMERS http://www.top.ukgamers.net/ ...for the emulator. While you’re at it, have a look for ULTIMATE AMIGA SITES CONFIRGURATION files. These http://amigatopsites.hypermart. are settings which give you net/uas/topsites.html different Amigas. They are just simple files but specify certain All sites list their games in ROM and RAM to give a alphabetical order, although the particular Amiga. These will be on the Alchemist web site with some more downloads specific to this article (see later).
GAMING
Right. You’ve got the emulator and ROM images, what do you same games are not necessarily Sp version 0.75b by Ian on all sites. A good place to start Greenway is with a game that you remember from another Despite being an excellent computer. ELITE or CARRIER emulator, there are things it COMMAND for example. My cannot do and a couple of these particular favourite was F18 programs will not work properly. Interceptor - a fine flight combat simulator. After trying each one in turn, I found the following: ADVANCED EMULATING CBSPECCY: Starts up but crashes when you try and go to So you’ve played the games, the Spectrum from the options what now? Well how about page. doing what most Amiga users have been doing for a few KGB: Boots and runs but screen years - emulating a Spectrum?! corruption means you can’t see anything. The prime reason that classic magazine THE ZX FILES was SPECTRUM 1.7: No problems launched, was to provide support here. A very popular emulator by for Amiga owners emulating the Spectrum. And there is no shortage of emulators for the Spectrum:
KGB by KGB Support BBS
Spectrum version 1.7 by Peter McGavin
ZXAM version 2.0 by Toni Pomar
ZX-Spectrum version 4.71 by Jeroen Kwast
Spectrum 128K emulator version 0.2 by Alberto Ordóñez all accounts. CBSpeccy version 0.25b by Code Busters SPECTRUM128: Again, no problems, just a little slow. Before you start the emulator, ZXAM: Began slow and with just put the zipped emulator (it should four colours in a window. (see have the extension .LHA in it’s below), but after trying the faster name and the LHA program in a version, also supplied, full colour folder on your hard drive. and VERY fast! However, I must stress that I’m Start up WinUAE and select your not an Amiga expert and ran configuration. If you’re using my each emulator under an A1200 configuration files then use the with certain configurations of A1200 Speccy. Highlight it and memory. By all means click LOAD. experiment to see if you can get any to work or just work better, Now click on the FLOPPIES tab and let us know. and put the WORKBENCH 3.1 disk into virtual drive 0. All of the emulators can be found on the WORLD OF SPECTRUM Next, click on the HARD DRIVES site: tab and select add directory. Give the directory a name and http://www.void.demon.nl/ then click the box at the end of spectrum.html the path window to browse and select the folder on your hard The only problem is that the files drive which contains the are not in a standard ZIP file but emulator and LHA program. as LHA compressed files - the chosen compression format of the Amiga. Transferring them across is tricky but not impossible. I’ll explain how to do this in a moment, but you will find them as standard ZIP files on the Alchemist Research web site.
First you will need to emulate an Above: Setting a ‘virtual’ hard drive Amiga with the most friendly OS. That would be the A1200 with You may like to set up a second the WORKBENCH disk in drive virtual drive containing Spectrum 0. You will also need a games. I’ve used the World Of compression utility called LHA. Spectrum CD on my system and It’s very like the old PKZIP and called it GAMES. Note that PKUNZIP program. whatever you call the volume is not made permanent on your system, it’s only for the benefit of We do this by first double clicking WinUAE’s file system. When on the disk icon containing the you’re complete, click OK and emulator and LHA program. A the emulator will start. After a new window will open and you’ll few seconds you’ll be presented be presented with nothing. Move with the workbench screen: the mouse to the top of the screen and hold the right mouse button. Click where it says WINDOW and then SHOW and left click where it says ALL FILES (see next page).
Now, double click on LHA.DAT and it will open a command line. It needs to say something like:
The screen above shows the LHA.DAT x emulatorname.LZH emulator in full swing on the workbench screen. You’ll see Press RETURN and the program I’ve got (from top down), a RAM will extract all files from the disk (standard on this system), a compressed archive and place floppy disk (imaginatively titled them into the same folder. disk ‘SPECCY’) in drive DF1 containing Peter McGavin’s To see them you’ll need to close SPECTRUM, a disk called ZX the window by clicking on the top GAMES which is the games left corner, and then double directory of my WORLD OF clicking on the disk icon to open SPECTRUM CD and, finally, my it again. In the folder you should workbench floppy disk in drive now see, besides LHA.DAT and DF0. To the right of them you’ll the LZH archived emulator, lots see the ZXAM emulator folder. of other programs, ROMs, doc files and perhaps even games UNPACKING THE EMULATOR and sample programs to try. Some emulators, like ZXAM, create extra folders containing performed quite adequately on games and support files. most emulators - considering of course that we are actually Now double click on the running an emulator on an appropriate emulator icon and emulator! you should have a Speccy! Some emulators, like Peter You will find the configuration McGavin’s SPECTRUM, start up files, the LHA program and the straight away and you will have best working Spectrum to move your mouse to the top of emulators - already the screen and press the right uncompressed and converted at button to bring up filing options. our site: Others, such as ZXAM have a control panel where you can www.alcemistresearch.com make adjustments of load. To quit the ZXAM, press PAGEDOWN. Quit SPECTRUM with ESCAPE.
The best way to test each emulator is to try a sample program. I tested each with the old favourite MANIC MINER. It WORD ON THE WEB http://www.specchums.org/ manuals and actual downloads of hundreds of games. Run by Daren Pearcy, this is a natty little Spectrum area, part of Games can be found under three the Spectrum webring, of which different cross references: year, Alchemist Research and all the genre or name. other well known and leading sites are a part. It was thanks to Bill Bennett, who passed me the site details, and Specchums runs a vote on the allowed me to download the top ten Speccy games. Like an actual PC version of Driller to be on-line news poll, you can click featured in this issue’s review. It on your favourite game from an also had all the sequels and exhaustive list and then add even the 3D Construction Kit was some comments as to why you available for download. Many think it is the best. The votes, Spectrum classics are also there: figures and voter’s comments are Elite, Carrier Command (which is featured on the home page. brilliant), Stunt Car Racer and even Trantor: The Last Another interesting area is the Stormtrooper. CSS rogues’ gallery; with pictures and a brief description of If you’re into old games and the leading contributors on the fancy seeing how they performed comp.sys.sinclair news group. on the 16 bit computers (all run There’s also a messaging on any PC in DOS by the way!), service where you can send a this is well worth a look. SMS (text) message to any mobile phone! RIP OFF OF THE MONTH!
This is certainly not a www.theunderdogs.org recommendation.
Now here’s a site http://training.netgates.co.uk/ that I’ve been emulink/specemu.htm after for years. It’s a retro gaming The guy who runs this site has site, but for the blatantly nabbed loads of PC, and features material from other sites, reviews, including WOS. Make your screenshots, feelings known to him! The game of late 1987 and early barrier - it was a staggering 1988 was, without a doubt, £14.99, a huge amount to pay for DRILLER. It heralded a whole a game at that time. But it also new era in strategy and action came in a big A5-sized card, the and turned around the fortunes first of many. of INCENTIVE, responsible for the GRAPHIC ADVENTURE Inside was a plastic moulded CREATOR - a program which cassette holder with space for revolutionised the adventure two cassettes. One space was game - just a couple of years occupied by the game, the other earlier. was empty - thoughtfully left for a blank tape to keep your game Driller had a big impact on the saves perhaps? software scene at the time. Not only was the game one of the The box also included first to break the ten pound price instructions, a cardboard flat- packed cube model of the planet, corners of the planet to unlock which you could assemble, and a the final side. short novel, explaining a little behind the plot of the game. To make your task just that little Which we all know. Mitral, A bit harder you have only four moon orbiting an inhabited planet hours - in real time too - to is about to explode. Your complete your mission, and there mission is to place drilling are plenty of alarms, lasers, trips platforms on each of the and traps to make it just that little eighteen ‘sides’ of the moon. bit harder. All this has a You also had to contend with detrimental effect on your ship’s automatic laser guards at various fuel and shields. Luckily there places on the planet, teleporters, are plenty of crystals lying and traps and tasks that wouldn’t look hidden around the planet to out of place on The Crystal replenish your supply. Or use a Maze. There was also rumours couple of POKEs! of a flying craft hidden in a hangar on one part of the moon. Freescape, the language (?) A rumour that turned out to be used to create the game was true and greatly assisted in hailed as ‘the new dimension’ by mapping the game onto the Incentive. Try to image that the aforementioned model globe. (I environment is one big globe. chose not to spoil mine and You are placed right in the centre made replicas on the back of and as you move, the globe, with wallpaper.) objects and places on it, moves around. Each side of the moon had a different colour and were named According to Incentive at the after various stars and moons in time, it took 14 month’s of design our solar system: Procyon, for the game, with no less than Pollux etc. twenty thousand billion different views from your ship’s window. But, was the game impossible? The 3D is genuinely solid - you It seemed so, for you could only can run it to it, climb over it, or access seventeen of the even under. It relies on various eighteen sides. Several people degrees of shading due to sent in maps to Crash and other Spectrum colour clash and magazines, but uncompleted. It processing power (we are talking wasn’t until a couple of months Z80 after all!). This can later that someone figured out sometimes look a little poor and the combination of switches some objects do get obscured, required at virtually four opposite but there’s no way around that.
Left: Phil South’s YS review. The magazine reviews were full of nothing but praise. Crash The drilling machine that you magazine gave it their cover control is stationary until you picture and a two page spread. press the controls. A press Mike Dunn said “Driller is one of forward once takes it one step the best Spectrum games ever. forward and then stops. You can The graphics are amazing. Driller alter the distance and angle you offers so much, it’s a must for turn or move around, as well as any Spectrum-owner.” move to three different height positions. You can also look up Nick Robert’s, also of Crash, said and down (very useful with such “There’s just so much packed a small playing window) and tilt into Driller you can find left to right, although I didn’t see something different every time the need for it. The flying craft you play. It’s an amazing also had the same controls - it achievement, considering that just ‘hovered’ until you moved. whenever you move, all the graphics have to be recalculated The control window (pictured) and filled in again.”
Crash gave it the following rating:
Presentation 93% Graphics 98% Playability 96% Addictive qualities 97% OVERALL 97% One of their highest scores of all time!
FELLOW VERSIONS
Driller was a multi-platform game (no pun intended!). It was featured a range of dials, available for the Spectrum on including your position in three tape and +3 disk, Commodore dimensions (vital for drilling), side 64 and Amstrad CPC. Not and plan orientation, shield and mentioned in the literature were energy status, timer and score. versions for the PC and Amiga.
REVIEWS Surprisingly, all versions look and play the same! The key versions of the hangars. controls are no different and all the rooms and objects are laid PLAYING TODAY out exactly the same. The only differences are in the sounds and So, thirteen years on, what do shading. Below: Spec, PC, CPC people remember of this game? I asked the regulars of the comp. sys.sinclair newsgroup. I posted a request for any comments on the game for this article and got no replies. When I posted another message thanking them for their lack of support, I got the following, along with a whole heap of abuse - mainly from people who don’t know or give a shit about what’s still happening OFF the internet. Most of those who sent abuse didn’t know that for their troubles they’d get a free copy of the magazine and that AlchNews was produced without profit. If they’d visited my website and actually read some copies of AlchNews, they’d know that from issue one we’ve been giving complimentary copies to anyone who contributes. They were surprisingly quiet after that!
Llama-Wax Len: For what it's worth, I don't think it makes it particularly more playable. Certainly the increased speed makes it better, but I never liked the controls system.
David L: Well I've not played Driller for ages - but I think I've set myself a challenge at the weekend :) BTW- has anyone ever seen the PC version of Driller? Identical to the CPC me to give up on it. version it seems. Using an emulator to speed up Spike1: As you have access to a the game does make it news reader (if you can call smoother, but it also means that lookout excess a news reader), you get shot at more often. why can't YOU run it on an Annoying. I'm sure with the use emulator yourself and find out of pokes it would be easier, but how quick it can be? that's one of those things that I've been meaning to get to one Jeff Braine of Retrospec: Why day, but never did. don't YOU load it into an emulator and speed it up? And Titch Tracey: I see. You are just for the record, I'm sure none annoyed, because you need this of us gives a stuff about your info to make money, and no-one paying readers unless you're has given you any opinions for planning on paying us for our free. work. Bill Bennett: I thought it was a top game, myself, but - as pointed out by other posters - painfully slow. (Too much, too soon, for a Spectrum?) Still, if your reflexes are as crap as mine, no bad thing in a game. I particularly liked the cardboard map ball-thing, and the way the game screens looped round and linked up in 3 dimensions.
Zeprfrew: I think of Driller as being a technology demo made into a game. As it is, it is impressive (although, more impressive when you look at a screenshot than actually play it), but ultimately frustrating to play. I don't mind the odd shooting bit, and I don't mind slow updates or an awkward interface, but with both factors together, it forced ZX PARTY 2000 Wroclaw, Poland, August 2000 Reviewed by Matt Westcott
After the airport antics and Poland. It was gorgeous. adventures I had getting to Slovakia for the Forever party Not that drinking was the only back in March, I decided to go for thing going on, of course. A the simple (and cheap) option select few stayed sober to put this time: all the way to Poland the finishing touches to their 1K on a 22-hour coach journey. intros. And, since the party was Well, after the coach broke based in an internet café, there down, it ended up being a 25- was a fair bit of Quake Death hour coach journey. Phileas match playing and surfing going Fogg never had this trouble. on. You know you're a real computer geek when you travel In some ways this party was in thousands of miles to meet the shadow of a bigger event on people, and then end up talking the Spectrum calendar, Chaos to them in an internet chat room. Constructions, which had taken It did help with the language place a week previously. barrier, though... Nevertheless, it did mean that we had the chance to see some of The music competition was the latest hot-off-the-keyboards brought to us courtesy of a bit of demos from Russia before they hardware wizardry, namely the were on general release. ZXVGS system created by Yarek Adamski. The entries were In fact, ZX Party was worlds stored as emulator files on a PC, away from the huge sprawling and instantly loaded on a real multi-format parties common in Spectrum via an RS232 Russia. This was a much more connection for authentic AY-chip friendly, close-knit affair, sound. Unfortunately, hardware restricted to Spectrum fans and problems meant that we could consequently having more only get the set-up running on a alcohol available with no risk of black and white telly, so the other large-scale riots. At one point competitions had to take place Yerzmyey handed me a bottle of with the aid of an emulator. cherry liquor, announcing that it was the most disgusting Although there weren't a great alcoholic drink available in deal of entries for the music competition, we were treated to a closely behind with some nifty 3D striking range of musical styles, a choreography entitled 'Dig-It'. refreshing change from the usual fare of non-stop euro-techno tracks. We had jazz from LA The demo competition was a real Esq., electro-rock from X-Agon pleasure to watch, not only and a new-age melodic piece because very few parties this from TDM. In the end it was year have attracted enough Yerzmyey who used the AY chip entries to hold a full competition, to its utmost and claimed first but also because it raised a place. defiant two-fingered salute to that section of the scene who are intent on getting their name in This party also saw the first lights as an 'El1T3 5cEn3R'. competition win for Hannah, Hellboj and Factor6 earned quite graphic artist for Crazytronic. a few cheers (and the lion's Crazytronic’s work is always a share of the votes) with their visual feast, and the entry this portrayal of, er, a certain part of time, a countryside scene, was the human anatomy flying no exception. But the award for through space. No, we weren't bravery must go to Exin, who drunk at all, honest... Other usually works on the C64 but contributions were Zabhmo from grappled with the Speccy's Plonba Inc, eulogising the simple attribute system especially for pleasures of smoking tobacco (or the party. something), Cassiopeia's return from a 6 year absence from the Speccy with a massive music The intros continued to show off collection named Power Of Love, the ingenuity that can be and Sputnik's eponymous first squeezed into 1024 bytes of demo making the most of the code. Icabod, Mike and SS 48K beeper. brought us dancing stars, swirling pixels and floating tunnels, but it was a head-to- So there you have it... not the head contest for first place. The biggest event of its kind, but eventual winner was my entry great fun, and a clear sign that 'Quattro Formaggio', based on a the Spectrum is alive and well trick borrowed from one of the across Europe. Beer, internet Atari demos I saw on my last trip, and Spectrums: it's a sure fire along with a splash of music, recipe for a good time. which seems to have become my trademark now. Baze followed Matt. GETTING TO GRIPS WITH GAC 0n the Spectrum adventure generators' you'll no doubt have scene, 1987 was a lean year with noticed that all they really let you few major releases. Games do is alter movement patterns, costing more than £3 were rare, graphics and the map of a game and even the ubiquitous budget rather than allow you to design range was outnumbered by a anything really innovative or mass of mail-order home-grown different. But there's much more software. The commercial freedom in what you can do with releases were distinguishable an adventure creator. Though only by their packaging and Gilsoft's The Quill tends to sometimes their graphics, but the produce adventures with a rather quality of ideas and writing to de cloned appearance, GAC and found in the best home-grown PAW offer the user more adventures was of a very high opportunity to change the look standard. and style of the game.
The reason for this Most adventures can be divided preponderance of good software into three main segments. There is that adventure utilities have at is a database which contains last come of age, allowing many such things as all the text amateurs to produce a describing locations and objects, professional-looking adventure. and the messages and Of course, if you want to write vocabulary. There's a parser something worth playing, you'll which allows the player to type in still need a flair for atmospheric a command and then decodes prose and a good imagination! the input. And there's an interpreter: this is the heart of the This article compares the two adventure, where the computer major adventure-writing utilities, examines the player's input and those awkward-sounding works out what messages or acronyms GAC and PAW location descriptions should be (Incentive's Graphic Adventure output. Creator and Gilsoft's Professional Adventure Writer). Essentially, the interpreter is the part which handles the exchange If you've used any of the of information between the player so-called 'arcade-game and the computer. database with some basic When a programmer writes an vocabulary command, along with adventure from scratch, he has short but impressive to write the parser and interpreter demonstration games. in machine code. Now with an adventure-creator there is no GAC has a well-written, need to write any code - the informative, detailed manual, so utility supplies the parser, the new user should have no provides the bare bones of the problem getting to grips with the interpreter and then allows you to utilities straight away. describe the rest of it in terms of English words and expressions. GAC games sit complete in For example, with PAW if you memory, giving you about 23K of want something to happen only free memory to write in. when the player is carrying a certain object you use the word There's a simple menu at GAC's CARRIED. In effect you are front end; selecting an option using a very simple and from this takes you through a user-friendly programming series of question-and-answer language. inputs. Pressing BREAK takes you back to the main menu PAW and GAC are both rather again. good adventure creators and both deserved the Smashes they ADVANCED PARSER. received when reviewed in CRASH (in Issues 40 and 32 GAC has an advanced parser respectively). And they cost the which allows sentences with up same: £22.95 on cassette, to two nouns, a verb, an adverb £27.95 on microdrive (there's and a preposition. These now a +3 disk version of PAW as sentences can be chained with well). Now that GAC is freely conjunctions or punctuation to available, we’ll take a look at create really complex what it can do. commands.
SLICK AND SIMILAR The program will recognise “IT”, so GET RING AND WEAR IT is The presentation tries hard to catered for. It splits vocabulary justify the apparently high price into three categories: verbs, tag; a single cassette wallows in nouns and adverbs/prepositions. a huge plastic case. The Up to 255 words are awed in cassette contains the main each category, and as many as program and a 'quick start' you desire can be synonyms (for example, GET and TAKE can be adventure, GAC has useful treated by the parser as the options which allow the user to same word). examine the status of the various flags and program counters It can cope with up to 9,999 during play. This is great for locations, this should be more debugging. GAC has 256 on/off than sufficient for any creation. switches and 128 variables that GAC also offers 255 messages can hold values ranging from 0 to for the author's use. User-friendly 255. adventures require a lot of messages and the writer of a Naturally, all the normal facilities large adventure may well find such as saving and loading the himself pushed for space. database and checking on the amount of memory left, are Up to 255 objects can be available . implemented. Commendably, GAC lets you define the weight The meat of the finished of each object -thus a chest of adventure is the set of tables of treasure can take up more space instructions and commands than an apple does in the which deal with all the inputs and player's inventory. Or you can actions of the player. GAC offers twist the laws of physics and three types of table: high priority, make a feather weigh more than low-priority and local conditions. a boulder! The high-priority table is checked Your adventure can be text-only, first of all; in play, that's where or use graphics; but it has a fixed the program checks whether the picture size. Anyway, reasonably player is in darkness, for good graphics can be simply example. Low-priority conditions produced. It employs the include such things as responses 'drawstring' technique: all for GET ting an object, and local illustrations are stored as a list of conditions apply only to specific the commands that were used to locations; OPENing a DOOR create them. would be covered in the local-conditions table, for The pictures are basically formed instance. by drawing and filling shapes. GAC features a facility for elastic Each table consists of a rectangles and ellipses. But has sequence of lines with a format only two fill patterns. of IF (conditions) (actions) END so a typical line might read: When it comes to testing out the 'IF (VERB (18) AND (NOUN 50) location is described, and is the OR NOUN (51 ))) MESS 20 ) equivalent of the GAC high WAIT END' priority table. Process Z is called after every input or timeout, and which gives the conditions the this is where events beyond the look of a simple programming player's control take place. language. It's a shame that syntax errors within a line are not The best facility of all is PAW's high lighted, and that only one ability to create another 253 sub- line can be viewed at a processes, which can then be time-once programs get complex called as subroutines from this makes debugging rather response or process tables. Call awkward. But GAC is flexible in can be nested up to ten levels, that all numbers can be replaced and the processes can even call with arguments such as the be recursive (call themselves). contents of a certain flag or a Sensibly used, this facility random number; this allows you contributes to programs which to implement such things as are beautifully structured and random messages. The CONN hence easy to debug and alter. condition is especially useful. . GAC is an excellent utility. Download it now from our The process tables operate in website and experiment. Next the same way, but the verb and issue we’ll show how to load in noun are used simply as a label GAC made games. for the author's own reference. Process 1 is called every time a End. SPECIAL!
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