Description
Issue 31
| Item | Author | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Menu | Andy Monk | |
| Magazine | Fred Phoneline, SC_DTP Announced | |
| Letters | Some Nice Interesting Letters... | |
| Mog + Dog | Adrienne Nunn | Catch The Cat, Avoid The Poison Bones |
| Bofh! | Charles Hawes | Humorous Text |
| Life | Neil McClean | Notorious Cell-Evolution Thing |
| Spirits | Stefan Drissen | Converted Speccy Demo |
| Mc Article | Chris White | Chris White On Structuring |
| Mom Demo | Masters of Magic | Typically High Quality Demo From Mom |
| Clip Art | Ian Slavin | Selection Of Monochrome Graphics |
| Cards | John Eyre | Patience And Whist Card Games |
| Turbo Demo | Stevie D Mark Davis | Multi-Part Mc Demo |
| Dead Ducks | Dan Dooré | Sick? Us? No Way! |
| Jeep | Charles Hawes | Converted Zx81 Game! |
| Fader | Neil McClean | Mc Screen-Fading Routine |
| Repay | David Joyce | Fixed version Calculate Mortgage/Debt Repayments |
| Huge Scroller | Ian Slavin | Screen-High Axe Scroller |
Magazine
BM Editorial
'Ello. Nice to see you again, and I must say you're looking
quite lovely as ever. February's been a busy month here at FRED;
Colin's got his new phone line in (and he'll be talking about
that a bit later), I've had to spend most of my time carrying
out a project for Computer Studies at school, and the first of
the year's 18th birthday parties have begun (hurrah!).
A lot of you will have noticed that the "Run, Contents, Next"
thing is missing from the main menu this month after a slightly
less than spectacular debut in issue 30. Colin and myself had
assumed that you'd all be delighted with such a system, as it
seemed so popular amongst Outlet's readership. Obviously we
assumed wrongly, as we received many letters from people who
felt it was a complete waste of time. If some more of you get in
touch to let us know how you feel about the situation then we
should have a final decision for next issue. To have R,C,N or
not to have R, C, N - that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler
to suffer the presentationless menu, etc etc
BM Editorial
Some of you may be looking forward to reading Brian Cavers'
technical letters section this issue - unfortunately you're
going to have to wait another month, because we've haven't
received enough of them to pass down to Brian! Obviously there's
no point in devoting a section to one short letter/answer, so
we've opted to just give the thing a miss this month. Please,
please send in any techy queries so that we can include this
feature!
Thanks for the replies to my announcement last issue that I
needed an aerial switcher for my TV. The problem is now solved,
I'm glad to say - no more getting entangled in mountains of
wires for me! Not until the next time I decide to move my
furniture around, anyway.
That's all for this Editorial, so I'll just say that I hope you
enjoy the issue. Please don't let the fact that I sat long into
the night to get it finished on time make you feel bad at all. I
mean, I wouldn't want THAT, would I now...
BM News
Wop Gamma is now, as they say in Broons annuals, "oot", so you
can send along your orders for it. If you missed FRED 30, we had
a nice little demo of it which you might be interested in (which
apparently didn't work on 256K machines. Oops!).We'll have a
review of it next month, but just for the moment I can say that
it looks great! I personally think it's the nicest looking game
yet on the SAM; it looks more like a 16-BIT game than anything
seen so far, anyway. There are 5 sets of graphics, 20 different
in-game tunes, and a terrifying 99 LEVELS!!! That should keep
most of you occupied for a good hour or thirty!
As mentioned in last issue's newsletter which subbers now get,
Steve's Software is producing a Desktop Publishing package,
SC_DTP. Acronym fans shouldn't take too long to work out what
that stands for... It's hoped that the package will be released
sometime at the end of March, and we should have more details
next issue.
BM News
Not ones to sit about doing nothing for very long, the Masters
of Magic have done another game - Exodus. This'll be released by
Revelation, and you can see a couple of screenshots in this
month's SCREENS section. The game itself involves shooting
millions of little creatures (I've no idea what they are - ST
owners or something) and occasional sodding great big ones!
We'll try and get you a demo for FRED 32, but no guarantees.
The Tower, the RPG that FRED Publishing was hoping to release,
is now sadly dead. Yup. It has shuffled off this mortal coil,
snuffed it, kicked the bucket, popped its clogs etc etc.
You can now get back issues of OUTLET from us, for the
reasonable price of £3.50. The SAM issues are numbers 32 - 65
inclusive, so if you want to stock up on every SAM Outlet ever
released you can now do so for the humble price of... um...
ahh... £119. Oh. Should I maybe say the NOT so humble price of
£119. Tell you what; if anyone orders all 34 back issues, we'll
chuck in 10 FREE DISK LABELS!!! Wahey!!
BM FRED Offers
Always on the look out for ways to offer a high quality of
service with a smile, FRED is pleased to announce that to
celebrate, um, it being March (hey - don't knock it!), we can
offer a free back issue of your choice with every copy of the
fantastic game "Waterworks"! As if last month's brill review
wasn't enough to make you buy it, eh? Cripes! (As they say in
children's programs when it's not late enough to say (SNIP! -
CM)!) HOT TIP: If you order Waterworks, don't select issue 1 as
your back issue - it's crap! (In a typically FREDdishly fabbo
sort of way)
Our other major new big deal type thing is that if you are a
FRED subber, you can phone in an order and we'll dispatch the
sofware right away! As long as you post the cheque THE SAME DAY,
and that's important, we'll send the goods right after the phone
call, for the best service possible. This service is limited at
the moment to just 2 items of software, but could increase if
the scheme is successful. Remember: subscribers only!
BM Who's Who
There's seems to still be some confusion out there about who is
writing what in the magazine, so to clarify things for all you
amnesiacs (and the new readers, of course), you can tell who's
writing a page by the initials in the top left corner. BM stands
for Brian McConnell (my name, believe it or not), and CM stands
for Colin Macdonald.
So remember; before you write off or phone Colin to ask him why
he said thingummy about whatever-it-is, check the initials in
the top left corner.
Occasionally there'll be other initials up there, but BM and CM
are the main ones.
Right. That's that sorted out. Now I'll let you have a gander at
whatever Colin has written for this issue.
Take it away Colsie...
CM FRED Phone Line is in!!!!
Yes, that's right folks - there is now a dedicated FRED phone-
line.
The main reason for this was that the house number was
constantly ringing with calls regarding FRED, and the number has
to be increasingly used for emergencies - so a permanently
engaged phone wasn't much use!
As of now therefore you should NEVER ring the old number that
has been publicised for the last two years - this line has to be
kept clear for important personal calls.
The new phone-line means that when I'm talking on the phone I
can get some work done at the same time - as well as having
immediate access to anything regarding FRED if I have to sort
out any problems.
CM It's the FRED-phone, Batman.
If I'm not in to answer the FRED line, there is an answering
machine to take messages - just leave a short message and ring
back later.
So what's the magic phone number?
Same code, 0382, and the number is [redacted]
ie :
0 3 8 2 [redacted]
Please remember, even if you don't get an answer on this number,
do NOT call the old number because you will simply be told that
I'm no longer available on that number and you should ring the
FRED number.
CM More SAM stuff!!!
Now that ETracker is actually released, and seeing the
popularity of it last time, we're bringing back the CREATIVITY
PACK!!
Costing only £40 you get GamesMaster from BetaSoft (worth £25)
and ETracker from FRED (worth £30). So you can write commercial
machine code games on GamesMaster, add professional music and
sound effects to them via ETracker and send them into FRED for
publication and you'll make your first million!!
Samples of ETracker music have appeared on FRED for the last 6
months, can be heard on this month's menu, FRED'92 disc, or any
of these commercial games : Parallax, Bulgulators, WaterWorks,
Craft, SnakeMania and Wop Gamma!!
This offer is open indefinitely, and ONLY to FRED or INDUG
subscribers.
CM More Stuff!
As mentioned in last month's newsletter, GM_Software's database
and spreadsheet are now available through FRED.
Priced at £9.99 each they are not up to professional standards
but are more than adequate for your needs (unless you're trying
to prepare Robert Maxwell's accounts).
Also a recent addition is Tim Humphries MIDI Sequencer (V2).
This is the same piece of software sold through SAMCo although
we cannot supply the leads. The MIDI Sequencer software costs
£34.99.
By popular request, we've also sorted out Printer Packs similar
to those sold by SAMCo. Thanks to West Coast Computers, the
printer interfaces are now available once again and we can
supply the printer, lead and interface as one single pack. More
details on next page.
CM Printers
The Citizen 120D+ is ample for most needs. It's a mono 9-pin
printer. On it's own for £149.99, or with the cable and
interface needed to connect it to SAM it costs £175.
The Citizen Swift 9 is a 9-pin printer but with a colour
facility. It comes with a colour ribbon to get you started. On
it's own for £229.99, or with the cable, interface AND colour
dump software for just £255
The Citizen Swift 224 is a low-cost, colour 24-pin printer for
great output. Comes with colour ribbon for £279.99. Or with the
cable, interface and colour dump software for a mere £300.
The Citizen Swift 24e is the "creme-de-la-creme" in low-cost
printers. A superb 24-pin, colour printer with the colour ribbon
for £349.99, or with the cable, interface and software for £370.
Send orders to usual FRED address, but we must allow 14 days for
cheque clearance so don't expect the usual same-day service!
CM ETracker addendum
Unfortunately, in the first few copies of ETracker that went out
there were a few mistakes in the manual that slipped through.
I do apologise for these and hopefully I can rectify these now
so that you can even more entertainment out of ETracker :
The MUSIC.PLAY file had to be taken off the Program disc at the
last minute. However, you're not losing out because the
INT.MUSIC file does everything it did anyway.
When the manual says to merge the code in the compiler at
address 16384, you will have more luck with the number 32768.
Just change the number you enter, don't alter the INT.MUSIC
program other than the filename of your program.
I hope these havn't caused too many problems. Thanks to the
numerous people that have phoned up or written in saying how
well they're getting on with ETracker - it's always nice to get
feedback, please let us know what you think of things.
BM Brian Again
So now you all now about the FRED phone line. Actually Colin
just wanted it so that he didn't have to get out of his seat
to answer the phone, the lazy git.
After seeing that stuff about printers, I have to say something
about the Canon BJ10-ex. That's the one I've got, and as far as
text printing is concerned it's amazing for the price. You can
usually pick these up for £200 - £250 depending on where you
look, but I really can't emphasise enough just how good they
are. You can even design your own fonts and download them to the
printer, instead of buying expensive font cartridges which other
printers need. The printer does come with a considerable number
of built-in fonts though, and is Epson compatible. Smart it is.
(You'll probably need an Amiga to use the font-download
facilities though). Only problem with it is it costs another £50
for an automatic sheet feeder, and it can't use tractor-fed
paper. Apart from that though, magic.
BM Miscellaneous Stuff
Right now the FRED stock cupboard is literally bursting at the
seams with Prince of Persia and Footy Director II, so now's your
chance to get hold of one if you've unable to do so. I think
there's a couple of 256K expansions lying around as well, so it
might be a good idea for those of you who still only have 256K
to get one.
Remember that FRED also stocks many other titles of software,
not just its own titles.
--+ Celeb Programmer In FRED Shocker! +--
In what can only be described as a quite incredible publicity
stunt, we are proud to annouce that we've managed to get top SAM
programmer CHRIS "Prince of Persia" WHITE to write this month's
Machine Code article! And THAT's something that not every
magazine can claim to have! You don't see Chris in minor mags
like YS do you? Nope, it's only the best for ol' Chrissy boy:
FRED. Next month: Kylie explains the ASIC chip in detail.
BM The Great Software Giveaway!!
Welcome. Welcome to something extraordinary. Something never
seen before. Something that'll blow your mind - the FRED
Software Giveaway...
Poncy intro eh? Never mind though, I'm sure you're all capable
of ignoring something like that. So what's this software
giveaway thing all about? Good question and, coincidentally, one
which I'm just about to answer. It's a competition (never!)
intended to give those of you who were sensible enough to buy
either Etracker, Gamesmaster, SCADs, or all three(!) an extra
incentive to "get creating".
What we want is for you to send in either a utility, a game or
an Etracker tune. The tunes must (obviously) be written on
Etracker, and the games must be on SCADs or Gamesmaster, but
utilities can be written on anything you want (as long as it's
on the SAM...!)
BM The Prizes!
Now things start getting a bit complex (to a mere FRED editor
like me, anyway). There are three 1st Prizes, one for each
category - utility, game, tune - and three 2nd prizes. That
gives 6 sets of prizes. Each set consists of each and every item
of FRED software yet released, except the Etracker tune writers
who don't get Etracker for obvious reasons. The first prize
winners will also get their piece published commercially, and
therefore be in line for a large wad of royalties!
As well as that, entries which don't win 1st prize will be
featured in FRED, and the authors will be appropriately
rewarded with either cash or free issues of the magazine.
Incidentally, back issues are NOT included in the software
giveaway - for a start you should all HAVE most of them! - but
the FREDatives, Rachel, and all the FRED games and utilities are
all there!!
BM A Bit More Info
Don't be put off writing a game just because you're not too hot
at graphics; we'll be judging the entries on much more than how
they look (which is quite important for the music entries!).
Originality, effort, depth, these are all things which will be
considered, but in the end it'll be the overall impression which
decides the winning entry.
Joint entries are perfectly acceptable; if you want to get
somebody else in to do some graphics for your game or utility,
then that's fine, but we will only give one set of software for
each winning piece of software.
If for some reason you don't want your entry put on FRED, please
say so or we'll automatically consider doing so.
All entries must be with us by the end of July 1993.
BM A Bit More Info
If we get numerous brilliant utilities and games - and let's
hope we do! - then we might consider commercially publishing
more than just the 1st-prize winner's item. Any other pieces
published will just miss out on all the software.
Hopefully that covers everything. If you do have any queries,
though, you know the address to write to.
Well, Colin and I look forward to seeing all your games/
utilities/tunes.
BM Disk Contents
I've had a bit of a telling off for never mentioning the authors
of the screens which get included, so from this month onwards
screen contributors will get mentioned. This month's selection
is from C Dodd, Phil Wilson, Masters of Magic, and Charles
Hawes.
Mog & Dog is a nice little game for you, based upon that nice
harmless pastime, eating cats. Adrienne Nunn is the sick fiend
responsible. Great fun.
BOFH - The B*****D Operator From Hell! Thanks to Charles Hawes
for sending this in - it's brilliant. Read about the antics of
the BOFH and laugh yourself silly. Magic. We'll have more of
this next month, so don't miss FRED 32.
Life Sim by N Maclean is one of those strangely fascinating
little programs where you watch cells die and appear depending
on their surroundings. You'll like this.
BM Disk Contents
Unlimited Spirits is another converted Speccy demo. Converted by
Stefan Drissen, this was given away on a YS covertape, and was
originally written by Vision of TMG Corporation, so thanks to
all of them for making it possible. Press SPACE to return to the
menu whilst in this demo, by the way.
The Machine Code article is of course by Chris White. I know you
won't have heard much about him, but we at FRED like to help
these obscure unknowns get a little bit of fame every now and
again; you know, it does their egos a bit of good. Chris is a
programmer, and although you won't have heard of anything he's
done, he did do a small game called Prince of Persia. Never
heard of it myself, you understand, but it pays to humour these
unknowns...
MOM Demo - the Masters of Magic return with a demo containing,
amongst other things, what I think is the best looking font of
all time. Some bad news lies in this demo, so be careful - you
don't want to upset yourselves.
BM Disk Contents
Clip Art is a selection of art from Ian Slavin. Need I say more?
Cards contains a couple of card games, Whist and a Patience
variant, both written by John Eyre. Both come with instructions.
The best I can get in Patience is 4 and 0, so try and beat
that...
Turbo megademo is a megademo - incredible as it may seem. Look
out for some scarily bad jokes!! Thanks to Stevie D and the
Medic for this.
Bits N Bobs now: There's a huge scrolly from Ian Slavin which
you can adapt to your own particular needs, there's a fader
program which fades your screens to black, a Jeep game - keep
your 4x4 on the road - and a game where you have to kill ducks.
very tasteful. Apology corner now - last month's Repay program
didn't actually work! We've got it again this month though, so
thanks to Dave Joyce for giving us the original AND the working
version!
BM Le Menu
No doubt you were all suitably flabbergasted by another of our
nice Machine Code menu programs, again written by Andy Monk who
probably produces more music now than PWL (and it's much better
as well!).
If you can write a menu of any sort, please send it in, as we
can never have enough of them!
The same applies, as ever, to other material; screens, E-Tracker
Tunes (of which we've kind of run out this month, which is why
there's no ETunes section), utilities, games, megademos,
anything at all which has a reasonably wide ranging appeal. No
scrollies written exclusively in Arabic please! Unless of course
they've got nice graphics in the background plus a decent tune
playing along; the we can all just pretend to not be bothered
about not being able to read the thing.
BM Credits
Editor: Brian McConnell
Invaluable Contributors:
Stefan Drissen I Slavin David Joyce
Banzai Andy Monk Stuart Creegan
Charles Hawes Stevie D Masters of Magic
Adrienne Nunn Medic John Eyre
C Dodd Chris White Darren Hubbard
Phil Wilson
FRED Publishing Phone:- [redacted]
[redacted]
>>> Music + Wrestling >>>
.
BM Music
Welcome to our Dinosaur Jr special! Not only the album but the
live show as well! Oooh, you lucky lucky people you! We've also
got a rap review of '92 by Stuart Creegan. Not my type of music,
but I suppose somebody somewhere must like it..?
Dinosaur Jr - Where You Been?
Ahh, a lovely album. Something's persuaded J Mascis to get a
bass player, and the extra quality in the music is amazing! A
ten-tracker, I was quite surprised when I found this lasted
about 50 minutes; a very respectable album length.
This is a much more acoustic album than their last couple, and
only a ccouple of songs really have any pace to them. All the
songs are nice and atmospheric though, and really get you.
A few more pacy songs would have been nice, but this still oozes
quality - 8 out of 10. Just the thing to listen to after a
concert, which brings us nicely onto the next item...
BM Dinosaur Jr - Live!
Before I begin, can I just say that nobody won the competition
set a couple of issues ago about coming up to me at the concert
and saying the magic words. Which was a shame, as I looked
forward to seeing some of you there. I did see lots of people
being beaten up though, which was strange....
Colin has told me that a couple of you have phoned him and said
that you were at the concert - it was brill wasn't it! Oh, that
Freak Scene encore was something else... Well. It seems I've
successfully taken all the suspense out of the review. Never
mind.
The day started at about 11:00 am - I got the morning off work
due to a convenient dentist's appointment (I usually start at
6:30...). So after I got dressed at about 1:00 pm, it was off up
town to get the bus through to Glasgow. When I got up town and
met a couple of friends we all remembered suddenly that the bus
didn't leave until 5:30 pm! Oh, darn. Naturally we decided to
obtain some refreshments...
BM DJ - Live
Refreshments - bad move. 5 minutes after getting on the bus, I
had a distinct feeling that a toilet would be convenient. After
half an hour of that, things were getting kind of serious, so
when the bus stopped at Perth I asked the driver if he could
stay stopped for a couple more minutes. His reply?
"There's one at the back of the bus"
Oh. Right. And there was as well, which was a bit embarrassing.
Wasn't my fault though - how am I supposed to see a toilet
that's lower than the level of the seats? Anyway, the rest of
the journey went smoothly, watching Return of the Jedi.
After getting off the bus and waiting for what seeming like a
fortnight in the freezing cold (with only a T-shirt for warmth),
we got in. The only good DJ T-shirts were £18, so I didn't get
one.
Now onto the music!!!!
BM DJ - Live
The support bands were Bettie Serveert, who were class, and
Come, who weren't really class at all. Bettie had a good set of
songs which were loud enough to enjoy, but quiet enough so that
tunes were very obvious. Perfect for a support band. The crowd
weren't too animated for them (ie standing still, watching), but
apparently that's the way it goes for support bands. I'll need
to get the BS album sometime...
Come were a bit crap. I don't why, but I just didn't enjoy them
at all. Maybe it's because of the two really weird girls
standing next to me who kept putting each other's hoods up and
down!! It got quite worrying, actually.
Onto Dinosaur Jr then. Fantastic. From the moment they came on
the whole audience was jumping and swaying like mad, and it was
difficult to stay upright! It was unbelieveable when they
started playing "Start Choppin'" - a tad wild! - and "Get Me"
was superb!
BM DJ - Live
Most of the songs were plainly recognisable but I really
couldn't put a name to them. I can definitely remember Just Like
Heaven and Keep the Glove (which is BRILLIANT!) from the Fossils
CD.
The highlight of the evening, no doubt what-so-ever, was Freak
Scene. It was MENTAL! Loud, crazy, and perfect. I'll never
forget just standing there singing along to:-
Sometimes, I don't thrill you,
Sometimes I think I'll kill you,
Just don't let me f**k up will you,
'Cos when I need a friend it's still you...
Amazing stuff. 10 out of 10.
Next month sees reviews of another few new albums, including the
God Machine. The next official FRED-attended concert will be the
Lemonheads at the Barrowlands, Saturday April 10th. Be there!!!!
SC Rap Review of '92
by Stuart Creegan
---== Best Albums ==---
House of Pain - House of Pain :- Everlast recreates his image
from a pristine model type to a rough street hoodlum with his
raps based around his greatness and his Irish origins. DJ Muggs
(from Cypress Hill) and DJ Lethal create the thumping back beats
while Everlast and Danny Boy's rough lyrics complement each
other excellently. Tracks worth noting include "Jump Around",
"Shamrocks and Shenanigans" and "Put On Your S**t Kickers".
Highly recommended.
Da Lench Mob - Guerillas in the Mist :- Ice Cube's proteges come
correct on an album of their own (although Cube does make an
appearance on almost every song!). Aggressive gangster lyrics
with a positive message. Da Lench Mob have assumed a decidedly
Islamic viewpoint about whites (that they're all racist
devils!). Class tracks - Buck the Devil, Who You Gonna Shoot Wit
That, Freedom Got An Ak, and the title track.
SC Review of 92
Das EFX - Dead Serious:- Debut album from the newest members of
EPMD's Hit Squad. Rappers Dray and Skoob create an original
rhyming style on this album to great effect. The Brooklyn duo
toos words at each other and scramble lyrics around to produce a
unique sound. The beats are reminiscent of EPMD; loud and lazy.
Best tracks include "Jessummen", "They Want EFX", and "Mic
Checka" although every track is excellent. The only
disappointment is the short length - 40 miutes.
Eric B and Rakim - Don't Sweat The Technique :- Rakim returns
after the reasonably good "Let The Rhythm Hit 'Em" of 1990.
This latest album really packs a punch. It caters for a wider
audience than their previous albums, but this doesn't detract
from the quality of this production. DJ Eric B has musically
surpassed himself, still using the jazzy samples and loops, but
now incorporating hard beats and basslines as on "The Punisher",
"Know the 'Ledge (Juice)" and "Pass the Hand Grenade
DH Darren Hubbard's Wrestling Video Review
Right thats it. I'm not doing any more articles about the WWF
- I'm doing video reviews instead. Why? Because of Doink the
Clown. If you think that wrestling isn't being taken seriously
enough, then take a look at this guy and you'll be right.
Another reason, the Royal Rumble preview was printed two
months after the event finished! So the news is out of date.
Er yes. Video reviews then. I'll comment on the matches, give
them the marks then comment on the production quality and give
the marks to that too.
This month...
WWF DAVEY BOY SMITH - BRITISH BULLDOG (Silver Vision £10.99)
This tape features the best of the Bulldog's (BB) matches from
late 91 to middle 92. Before the tape starts, look for the great
Summerslam 92 advert. Superb! Right, the intro by Sean Mooney,
who talks a bit about the British Empire before the first match
starts. There are five matches in all. But are they any good?
Let's have a squaye. (Err...It means look).
DH BRITISH BULLDOG vs THE WARLORD
Match commentry by Gorilla Monsoon & Booby Heenan. Interesting
match this one because they are (were) the 2 strongest men in
the WWF. Starts with a few shoves, until the Warlord kicks him
in the stomach for the advantage. Whips him to the ropes, tries
to kicks him again but BB simply catches his foot and nuts him
in the belly.
Warlord soons comes back, only to miss a clothes-line, while
BB hits two of his own which sends the Warlord sailing over the
top rope on his feet. BB slingshots himself over the top rope,
only to by caught by the Warlord who rams his kidneys into the
ringpost. BB crawls onto the apron, rams Warlord's head into the
turnbuckle and delivers a stunning top-rope dropkick (note the
high-cross bodyblock which he misses and he snares his doobries
on the second rope.
The Warlord pretty much takes control here, with a great
belly-to-belly gutwench suplex, a fab power clothes-line and a
full-nelson for three minutes. BB comes back with a clothes-line
from the second turnbuckle, a 7-second delayed suplex and gets a
two-count. BB goes for his powerslam but Warlord grabs the
DH BULLDOG v WARLORD cont
ropes. The Warlord goes for a clothes-line but BB hooks his arms
and takes him over for a crucifix for the three-count.
Good match, here - 13 minutes - * * * and a half I think.
BB v RICK MARTEL
Commentry by Lord Alfred Hayes & Sean Mooney. Quite boring for
the first couple of minutes - BB grabs Martel in a side
headlock, Martel moans a bit about his hair and you can hear the
Bulldog's great accent clearly. BB gets Martel in an armbar, a
hiptoss, and another armbar is applied. Martel throws him
outside the ring, does some damage on the outside, and both go
back in. Martel works on the lower back, with a elbow drop and a
knee, and gets a two-count. Martel goes for a backdrop, BB kicks
him in the head, gives an atomic drop and two clothes-lines
until Martel escapes from the ring. Bulldog flings him back
inside, shoulderblocks his belly, and does a sunset flip from
outside of the ring for the pin.
Not so good, quite average actually. - 6 minutes - * *
DH BULLDOG v SHAWN MICHAELS
Commentry by Monsoon and Hayes. Now, if you regularly watch
wrestling, then you may notice comments by Hayes with girls and
women in the audience. Two comments by Hayes sum it up.
"Sensational Sherri is a lovely looking girl" and "Oh gosh!
Look at these lovely looking girls, too." He says at least one
of these on every match he commintates. So I don't believe what
he says in this little gem...(Monsoon=GM, Hayes=AH)
GM: I don't know whether you noticed, but Sherri has a tattoo
right on her breast!
AH: I don't look at things like that Gorilla!
GM: Oh come on. (Camera shot on Sherri) There! Can you see it?
You can see it right there Alfred!
Ah: I'm not going to be caught looking at her...um...well Shawn
Michaels has made great improvement...
Priceless! Oh, the match. Well, a BB clothesline, head-butt.
A Michaels crescent kick, backdrop, chokehold and a double
axhandle. Bulldog later dumps Michaels' tackle on the ropes,
boucing them up and down (Arrrgggghhh!!!)
DH Bulldog vs Michaels (cont)
Michaels gets disqualified when Sherri tries to choke Bulldog on
the apron. Bulldog tries to powerslam her, but Michaels trips
him up. Not very good. 8 minutes. * and a half, I'm afraid. Oh!
The tattoo bit! * * and a half then!
Bulldog vs Earthquake
Commentry by Hayes and Mooney. BB comes to the ring
acompanied by Andre the Giant, who had trouble with Earthquake,
who broke Andre's leg. Bulldog gets the early advantage with 3
clotheslines, 2 dropkicks and a double-axhandle which sends
Andre over the top rope. EQ gets back him to hit four bear-hugs
and a powerslam. EQ goes outside kicks Andre's injured leg, gets
back in the ring, for a elbow drop. EQ runs rope-to-rope for his
vertical splash but Andre smashes his crutch against EQ's back.
Bulldog gets up, and body slams the 468lb (33 stone!) Earthquake
and gets the pin.
Alright I suppose. Boring commentry though. Lasts 8 and a
half minutes, and I'll give it * * and a half.
DH Bulldog vs Irwin R Schyster
Commentry by Monsoon and Heenan. Heenan kicks off the match with
a few wisecracks about the Bulldog - "Why does Whoopi Goldberg
do his hair?" and "Are those beads in his hair or just big
dandruff?" Gosh, did my sides split or what! No.
Right, two shoulderblocks by the Bulldog then they both trade
hiptosses. Within the first 5 minutes too. 4 manuevers in 5
mins? No, sorry. Can't accept that. The next couple of minutes
are better through, with an IRS abdominal stretch his finishing
move the Write Off and a legdrop. IRS (or Iris as I call him)
can't get the pin though. A few minutes later, Iris tries to
suplex him out of the ring, but BB reverses it into a 6 second
delayed suplex. BB misses a big splash attempt but soon comes
back to ram Iris' head into the turnbuckle and to nut 'im 3
times. Iris reverses a Irish whip in attempt, gets his briefcase
to smack over the Bulldog's bonce but BB just punches him one in
the belly. He gets Iris up for his powerslam, but Iris
desparately clings onto Jimmy Hart on the Apron. The ref does a
splended overhead kick on Jimmy's hands and BB gets the pin.
13 minutes. Below average because Iris spends so much time
outside the ring. * *
Final Verdict
Presentation quality on the tape is excellent, with no cuts or
edits. The camera shots are perfectly okay (including a great
camera shot of a Bulldog dropkick off the top turnbuckle onto
the Warlord) but the box spoils things a bit by having a stupid
and git big grey bulldog on the cover. The photograph on the
cover isn't one of his best either. * * * *
Five matches, one hour overall on the tape (and a great
SummerSlam 92 advert!) I'll give this...* * and a half
altogether.
Theres gaps to fill! For a mail order brochure of WWF videos
write to Silver Vision, P.O. Box 111, Bracknell, Berkshire
RG12 1LE. For a list of more vids, if you have Sky, listen to
the Wrestling Radio Show on Euronet at 4.30 pm every weekday or
just write to them at:
The Wrestling Radio Show, PO Box 137, Aylesbury, Bucks HP22 5FB.
I can be reached to answer any questions at 10 Princetown Tce,
North Moor, Sunderland SR3 1RL.
Next Month: WWF Fan Favourites (if it gets here in time!)
P.S. If you're reading this, Ian Macc, you owe me one!
Letters & Reviews
BM Contents
01 - This highly informative (and decorative!) contents page
02 - Letter from Darren Hubbard
04 - Reply to Darren Hubbard
06 - Letter from Matthew Collins
07 - Reply to Matthew Collins
08 - Letter from G Robson
09 - Letter from A Jeenes
11 - Reply to A Jeenes
13 - Letter from F Lewis
14 - Letter from Robert Pain
15 - Reply to Robert Pain
16 - Letter from D Gray
Letter from Darren Hubbard
Dear Colin/Brian
Just a short one (fnarr)...
1.How do you use the smart bomb in Parallax?
2.Can anyone fix the bug in Football Director 2? It won't allow
you to play any European Cup final - it just jumps to next
season.
3.How do you work the "MOVE" command
4.Any SAM P.D. liberies left? Fastline gone. Contact gone. CMS
gone. MOM gone. How about Turbo, I haven't heard from them in
ages?
5.How to make FORMATting disks 1% more entertaining. First,
reset the SAM and press the break button. Boot up a disk then
FORMAT a new one. I'll leave the sheer excitement to you.
6.My ENTER key has snapped off. On closer examination, on my SAM
under the enter key there is no small white, crosshead thing
keeping the ENTER key in. Can I get one of these small dooberies
anywhere?
7.What is my subscription number? I've had three different ones
so far - 0421, 0921 and 0956.
8.I've just had a phone call from Electronic Arts (the software
company). Apparently, they'll give me £100,000 + Lamboughini
Spider if I'll convert "SHARES" to the Megadrive. I declined.
9.Oh blimey. This letter is longer than expected. Perhaps you
can span it over two or three FREDs/Outlets if you canna be
bothered to answer it in one go (I know I couldn't)!
DARREN "BRIND, TROUGLE, SPONKALIKLE, NOTLOB, GOTWAC" HUBBARD
P.S. I read the music bit - it's great!
BM Reply to Darren Hubbard
To take your various points, in no particular order (just to
spice things up a little bit):
- As far as I know, no there aren't any SAM PD libraries still
going.
- Formatting disks can be even MORE exciting if you buy another
SAM which you can then use to play Dyzonium whilst waiting for
the format to finish....
- When my "A" key snapped off, I too noticed that the little
white crosshair thing had fallen off. Not to be outdone,
however, I superglued the key back on regardless. Of course, it
did take a fair bit of effort to separate my fingers after that
little escapade, and so it's probably not too advisable.
Remember kids, FRED can accept no responsibility for "accidents"
which might occur in the implementation of such a remedy, so
don't come running to us if you end up more attatched to your
SAM than ever before (what a smart little play on words, eh?).
BM Reply to Darren Hubbard
- I'm glad you like the music bit. This month we've got a nice
Dinosaur Jr special - their new album AND the recent UK tour!!
- If anybody can fix the bug in FD II, get in touch with FRED.
Or, in other words, we can't help you personally. Sorry.
- Your sub number is the latter - 0956, Colin tells me (and he
should know!).
- The smart bomb activates as soon as you collect it, so in
order to kill vast amounts of aliens you'll need to collect it
just before it floats off the screen (and the aliens arrive).
- If you mean the MOVE command in Masterdos, it's explained in
the manual, but we'll ask Brian Cavers if he can explain things
a little more fully next month. I seem to remember that there
was a bit of a fuss about the command not working in SAMDos, if
that's the one you're meaning...?
- BRIAN
Letter from Matthew Collins
Dear Fred,
Firstly, thanks for the mention in the most recent issue of
Fred.
Keep up the momentum with the magazine. I thought your big
competition was a good idea, and wish you the best of luck with
it. Also, the selection of mouse programs on the most recent
disk was both entertaining and impressive. My only qualm is with
the seemingly endless stream of files under the cryptic headings
of "T-TTL" and suchlike. I find it most disappoiting when,
expecting some marvel of SAM programming, I meet instead the
solutions (or whatever) to the next few levels of some game that
is not even in my possession! No - overall, I think you deserve
thanks and congratulations, as I am sure a great deal of effort
goes into preparing each issue.
Matthew Collins
ORB Software
BM Reply to Matthew Collins
Thanks for the information about how to fix the little bug in
SPRITEMASTER; I don't suppose we'll be receiving an entry from
ORB Software in our big competition..?
We included the solutions to TRILTEX simply because such a large
proportion of the readers do own the game and there had been
considerable demand for the solutions to the levels. Rather than
print out hugely complex text solutions it was felt that it
would be better to just show people what to do. There are
always going to be programs which appeal to some people more
than others, which is something which really can't be avoided. I
suppose can be a bit annoying having cryptic titles like T-TLL,
so we're sorry about that. We'll try to be a bit clearer in
future.
Of course, you could always buy the game!
- BRIAN
Letter from George Robson
Thank you for your letter with information about FRED taking
over OUTLET. I have been an Outlet subscriber for well over two
years and was very sorry to hear that they had to finish
producing the SAM version. However, I have from time to time
purchased copies of FRED and also a copy of Spellmaster, and I
will be happy to continue to receive FRED.
One query I have regarding FRED: when one has finished with an
item on the disc, I find that X or ESC does not always get you
back to the main menu, and I have to reset the SAM and re-BOOT.
I wonder if I'm doing something wrong, or is it just the case?
BRIAN - I'm afraid that you are going to have to keep resetting
the SAM and rebooting! Where possible, we do try to have the
magazine linked; adding extra lines or two to BASIC programs,
changing STOP commands to BOOT commands, and suchlike, but in
some cases this is simply not possible.
Letter from A Jeenes
Dear Editor,
I fully appreciate the long hours and hard work which goes into
the production of such disc magazines as FREDm but feel that the
general tenor seems to favour the younger generation. The only
items which caught my interest were the M/C programs. Perhaps I
should highlight a few points :-
1. Programs such as Hangman, Snail Race, Bounce and Demos or
items involving sprites which climb ladders, jump on lifts and
gobble up blobs - more for teenagers.
2. Programs involving the use of the sound chip - I feel that,
as good as they are, music lovers would prefer to turn on their
Hi-Fi or CD. Others would like to learn the know-how to produce
drum, violin sounds etc. to enable them to write their own
routines.
3. Selective programs which can only be used by, for instance,
owners of a "Mouse".
4. An Editorial more closely associated to computer affairs and
routines similar to those produced by Tony Baker for varioues
mags., some time ago.
These are my personal views but I realise that it is important
for you to cater for the majority of your subscribers. I have
been a continuous member of Format since its inception, possibly
because it deals with the more serious aspects of programming
applications.
All the best to yourself and your readers,
A Jeenes
BM Reply to A Jeenes
First of all, FRED is actually intended to be a light-hearted
affair. We realise that sometimes people prefer more practical
programs in magazines, but FRED has been built up on the basis
that it is used primarily as a source of entertainment. We do
try to keep a balance though, as the regular M/Code tutorials
and occasional utilities show.
We know that a fair proportion of our readers are a little older
than the 11 - 19 age group, and it is often these people who
PREFER light-hearted programs; many of our readers are retired
and do not wish to learn about their computers, just enjoy them.
We like to think FRED can help in this respect, and I think it's
a bit unfair to say that once you get past 50 or so computer
games lose their appeal.
You say that people should be told how to produce their own
music - why? Everybody will be listening to CDs... No, I see
your point, but the from other letters we get it seems that the
E-Tunes section is one of the most popular in the mag!
BM Reply to A Jeenes
The reasoning behind providing mouse-only programs is simply to
encourage people to buy mice, and to provide something for those
brave enough to buy them in the first place. I'm sure we can ALL
remember what it was like when the SAM didn't get any software
support in the beginning...
If people would send in computer-related articles then we would
gladly print them, but it's really quite difficult to think up
topics write about, never mind actually writing them regularly!
Whenever something does spring to mind though, I try to include
it in the Editorial.
Finally, I may as well put in a little reminder that we can only
publish what we get sent; if everybody sends in light-hearted
demos, then we can only publish light-hearted demos! We do of
course welcome programs of any sort though, so if anybody has
any "serious" ones, please do send them in!
- BRIAN
Letter from F Lewis
Dear FRED,
I am writing to ask you if have seen or heard of a game of Crib
or Cribbage for the SAM Coupe. In the SAM Newsdisk number 4 it
mentions a game of cribbage coming shortly; since then I have
heard nothing mentioned and I was wondering if you could help
me find such a game.
F Lewis
BRIAN - It doesn't take much to work out that if we hadn't heard
of a cribbage game we wouldn't have bothered printing this
letter. Revelation were planning to release a compendium game
with numerous traditional games on it, but we all know about
what happened last summer. I believe the New-and-Improved,
Whiter-Than-Ever Revelation are still planning to release the
pack though, so if you can wait a little bit longer, joy and
eternal happiness could be yours!
Letter from Robert Pain
This is actually my first non-order letter to FRED Publishing.
Firstly, I wish to congratulate you on recent releases, most
noticably the brilliant Etracker. It is amazing! A small notice
to all FRED readers - buy it now, you won't regret it! Even if
you aren't too musical (like me) then buy it anyway, you may (or
should I say WILL) be pleasantly surprised.
Secondly, I want to say a little about the much hyped
Waterworks. Is it any good? Well, how can I say no! If you enjoy
puzzle games then it is suitably mind-bending to present a fair
challenge (it took my entire weekend up just getting to level
20 (but I don't like to brag about that too much)), but if you
don't like puzzle games then it can still be fun trying to be
cruel to the aliens by drowning them etc. etc. I would give it 9
out of 10 if you enjoy puzzle games, else it is worth about 7.
A 2 word summary: buy it!!! After seeing the demo on ish 30, Wop
Gamma also looks an exciting release.
Robert Pain
BM Reply to Robert Pain
I don't think there's much I can add to Robert's letter;
obviously he has good taste in software, and a very persistent
nature! Level 20 in two days!? Lummey!
As far as Etracker is concerned - well, you heard the man; go
out and buy it now!
Thanks for the level codes for Waterworks, but I think it is a
little bit early to print them all yet. We may print some of the
codes in a few issues time though; who knows?
- BRIAN
Letter From D Gray
Hello FRED readers!
I am sending in this letter as a review of BOING! This review is
a bit short but I am feeling very decisive on the subject! This
is due to a tiny niggle I have against BOING! - have completed
it after only receiving it yesterday! BOING! is even easier than
Sphera but for those of you who cannot get past level 2 on
Sphera this game would be a worth while investment.
BOING! has the advantages of;
A nice tune, brilliant graphics, good animation, good sound
effects and brilliant response on a joystick or keys.
The bad bitties about it;
Some off music cuts out when you jump etc, not very many
puzzles and its 'lastability' is very low for someone like me.
That is it for the review, now for some questions:
1 Does anybody know what the torch is for in BOING!?
2 Can anybody get to level 11 or above in Parallax?.....I can't
be that good - can I?
3 Does anybody know what 'test mode' does on Manic Miner yet?
4 What Alan Miles doing? - Is he OK?
5 Is the SAM going to be accelerated?
6 What has happened to the SCADs?
Thats it from me for now...I will be back.
HydreX
BRIAN - I can't answer the rest of your questions, but I can
assure you that SCADs is doing fine!! You can order your copy
right this very minute from FRED if you like!
Machine Code Tutorial Part #22
Machine Code Part 22
Well welcome to Machine Code Part 22 coming to you from Woking.
And its not Steve 'Wizard' Talyor, it's Chris White. Yes I am
still alive; Colin asked me to run up a tuturial as Steve can
not this month. But it looks like it run into a two for three
issue.
As Steve finally got round to Structured Coding last month I
shall continue but this time with structuring a game (and a few
basic thoughts about sprite control). And finally with the step
by step development of a game.
Game Structure.
---------------
99.9% of games will most probably use the following basic
outline from development to completion (well, mine do anyway):
Front End:
This is the first thing the game player will
see when He/She loads the game.And should have
the following features/options.
Players:
Selection of number of players
(can be 1 to 1 billion if you want)
Control:
Enabling the player(s) to change
from Keys,Mouse or Joystick control
Music:
Enabling the player to change or
turn music on/off
Play:
Usually upon the player pressing
fire/mouse button and will then
continue into the game program
Sometimes there may be options to view high
score tables,see intros,quit etc. These options
depend upon the type/stye of the program.
Game Time:
Upon selection from front end to play game the
program should end up here.Then we should go
through the following procedures.
Initialisation:
Here we set up and varables,tables,
screens,etc before allowing the
player to see the game screen.
And also setup inturpts for the
options from the Front End
Game Loop:
In this section we would try to
perform the folling list of comands
Get Input Status:
Get the current input results
from the interrupt program.
Scrolling:
Some games require that the
play area be scrolled and it
is important to scroll before
any Sprite Control is done,
else the sprites will wobble
about on the screen.
Sprite Control:
Move Player(s) Sprite(s) with
the infomation given from the
above Sub-Program + animate
if it does.
Move + Animate any computer
controlled sprites. If any
exist, that is.
Colision detection. This can
be with the following list.
Sprite to Sprite
Sprite to Background
Displaying:
After all the player would
like to see something every
now and then.
Test for end:
This is when we check to see
if the player has lost all
their lives,energy etc then
we jump to End Game.
Or if the game has been
completed, then we Jump to
Complete Game.
If we reach here then return to
Game Loop
End Game:
If we reach here then the player has died or
completed the game so do one or all of :
Display end of game:
Say end of game or something
if player has died
Hiscore:
if avaliable check if reach
a place in hiscore and ask
for name input.
Display Hiscore:
Only if you did not do above
If you get here Jump to Front End
unless there's something else you
would like to do.
Complete Game:
If we reach here have we completed all the
game of just a level.
if only level complete increase level no
and goto Game start.
if end of game then show message because its
nice for the player to get some reward. Then
goto End game.
So after all that the basics of the game should look like this
(We hope)
FRONT END
---------
MAIN_START:
CALL SETUP_SCR ;Display main screen if any
MAIN_LOOP:
CALL FLYBACK ;Wait for frame int
CALL CHECK_OPTION ;Check for option selction
LD A,(FIRE) ;Test for fire pressed
OR A
JR Z,MAIN_LOOP ;If fire=0 then no
JP GAME_START ;Goto game program
GAME TIME
---------
GAME_START:
CALL RESET_GAME ;reset vars for new game
NEXT_START:
CALL INIT_GAME ;setup screen to new level
GAME_LOOP:
CALL GET_INPUT ;get control status
CALL SCROLL ;if needed scroll screen
CALL SPRITE_CONT ;move etc. for sprites
CALL SCREEN ;display sprites etc.
LD A,(COMPLETE) ;test if completed game
OR A
JP NZ,COMP_GAME ;end of game reached
LD A,(END) ;test if end of player
OR A
JP NZ,END_GAME ;test for player died
JP GAME_LOOP ;go round again
COMPLETED GAME
--------------
GAME_COMP:
CP -1 ;if end the Complete = -1
JP NZ,NEXT_LEV ;else Complete = next level
CALL DISPLAY_END ;show end of message
COMP_WAIT:
LD A,(FIRE) ;Test for fire pressed
OR A
JR Z,COMP_WAIT ;If fire=0 then no
JP GAME_END ;Goto game program
NEXT LEVEL
----------
NEXT_LEV:
LD (LEVEL),A ;set level no
JP NEXT_START
END OF GAME
-----------
GAME_END:
LD A,(COMPLETE)
CP -1
CALL NZ,END_MES ;say sorry you died
CALL HISCORE
END_WAIT:
LD A,(FIRE) ;Test for fire pressed
OR A
JR Z,END_WAIT ;If fire=0 then no
JP MAIN_START ;Goto start of program
Well thats the basic's of the game out of the way, now as
promised a small discribtion of SPRITE CONTROL,(as this is what
most people ask me about).
First and formost a Sprite needs to have a table of inform-
ation which tells the programmer all about the sprite. This can
be of any size but it is better to keep it as compact as poss.
The list below shows a basic table for a Sprite.
XCOORD: DW 0 ;x position of sprite
YCOORD: DW 0 ;y position of sprite
SPRITE: DW 0 ;frame no of sprite
FLAGS: DB 0 ;bit wize state of sprite
VAR1: DB 0 ;
VAR2: DB 0 ;
VAR3: DB 0 ;
VAR4: DB 0 ;
VAR5: DB 0 ;
VAR6: DB 0 ;
VAR7: DB 0 ;
PROGRAM: DW 0 ;address of control program
Almost any form of sprite can use the above table and it is
only 16 bytes long.
Here is a discription of all entrys:
XCOORD+YCOORD:
With a Word this allows the sprite to go
of the screen if needed and is easily
check by testing the high byte of the
coordinate.
SPRITE:
This allows more that 256 different imag-
es in the game and give room for smoother
animation to be achieved.
FLAGS:
This is for any of the following statues
to affect the sprite:
BIT DISCRIPTION STATE
0 Facing left/right 0/1
1 Alive/Died+Exploding 0/1
2 Printable/offscreen 0/1
3
4
5
6
7
VAR1-VAR7:
These are spare bytes that may be needed
durring development of a game.
E.G.
Hit count
Attack pattern
Computer control/player contol
PROGRAM:
This is the address of the program that
is controling the sprite as some sprites
only require small amount of checking/
movement etc.
E.G.
A bullet goes untill off screen
or hits somthing.
Where as a space ship moves in all
eight directions and can hit back-
gounds,bullets,ships etc
Most of the table will become more apperant when we start
the full development of the game. (Which I am still trying to
decide which game to do).
Now onto the main sprite control program. This is the sub-
routine that calls the control programs for all the sprites.
Basically what we do is have all our SPRITE TABLES follow each
other in memory so we have to start at the first sprite in the
sequence and continue untill we have delt with all the sprites
and this will go something like this:
SPRITE_CONT:
LD HL,SPRITE_TABS ;Address of sprite tabs
LD A,(SPRITE_CNT) ;No of sprites in game
SPRITE_LOOP:
EX AF,AF' ;save counter
PUSH HL ;save address
LD DE,M.XCOORD ;address of copy area
LD BC,16 ;bytes per sprite
LDIR ;copy them to copy area
LD HL,(M.PROGRAM) ;get program address
JP (HL) ;and jump to it
SPRITE.RET:
POP DE ;retrive address in DE
LD HL,M.XCOORD ;address of copy area
LD BC,16
LDIR ;copy then back to adr
EX DE,HL ;replace address to HL
EX AF,AF' ;retrive counter
DEC A ;and decrease
JR NZ,SPRITE_LOOP ;if not zero the repeat
RET
The copy area is identical to our Sprite info table but
has a M. infront of the label this enables us to get a value
with out using the Index Register IY and doing things like:
LD L,(IY+0)
LD H,(IY+1)
To get the xcoord of the sprite but now we can do:
LD HL,(M.XCOORD)
This is quicker and also is easier to understand what is
happening when we look throught or debuggging the program.
We will look more closely at the precific sprite programs when
we are writing the game as the programs vary depending upon the
type and action the sprite is performing.
Now lets looks a the different possiblitys of printing a sprite
(or any thing else) onto the screen. There are several different
methods some have been covered on Fred and there are only two
requirements to consider when you are writing a sprite print
routine:
1:Do we require 100% speed over memory (like Stefan Drissen
sprite builder in Issue 29)
2:Or can we sacrifice a small amout of speed for versatlity
So lets look at these two a bit mor detail.
Option one advantages
100% speed,simplicity
Option one disavatages
One routine one sprite,two routines two sprites Etc.
Can only clip of screen if you have seperate routines
to print only parts of sprite.
E.G. if sprite is 8 bytes wide and 16 bytes
deep then you will need:
1 routine print all
7 routines clip left
7 routines clip right
clip top + bottom will take
((16*2)*+(8*2))*8)
more routines.
Option one result
This is perfect for games with little or no animation
and the sprites stay within the screen area like:
Bats'n'balls
Parallax
Boing
Etc..
But no good for:
Prince Of Persia
Lemmings
Populous
XenonII
Etc..
Option two advantages
Small loss in speed,can store + replace background
can clip,not limited to one sprite and uses small
amounts of memory.
Option two disadvanges
Not 100% fast.
With respect to Stefan on his EXCELENT Sprite Builder I will
only be using Option two for its ease and secondly I hope to
teach you how to write your own games, and not just use ever-
body else's routines.
So as we have explain why I will be using this method,I
will now show you some different ways of achiving the required
result of displaying a sprite.
1: The plonk on screen method (LDI METHOD)
This is simple easy a cheap way of doing this as it
erase's what was below (so speed increase for no
store/replace of background). but leaves a horrible
box around the image.
EXAMPLE:
LD HL,DATA
LD DE,SCREEN
LD B,DEPTH
DEPTH:
PUSH BC ;
PUSH HL ;STORE VALUES
PUSH DE ;
LDI ;*WITDH
POP HL ;GET SCREEN IN HL
LD DE,128 ;
ADD HL,DE ;NEXT LINE MODE 4
POP DE ;GET DATA IN DE
EX DE,HL ;SWOP DE WITH HL
POP BC ;GET DEPTH
DJNZ DEPTH ;DECREASE AND REPEAT
2: The mask using mask table (STACK METHOD)
This is great if you area very short on memory and
can only store the pixel data of the image, But it
is slowish and uses teh stack pointer so inturpts
must be disabled, And you cannot use pen 0 in you
sprite data as this will let the background show
through.
EXAMPLE:
LD HL,SCREEN
LD SP,DATA
LD BC,ANDTABLE
EXX
LD B,DEPTH
DEPTH:
EXX
;REPEAT FOR WITDH COUNT/2
POP DE ;GET TWO DATA BYTES
LD C,E ;SET UP MASK TAB ADRESS
LD A,(BC) ;GET MASK BYTE
AND (HL) ;MAKS WITH SCREEN
OR C ;MIX WITH DATA LOW
LD (HL),A ;PLACE ON SCREEN
INC L ;NEXT SCREEN LOCATION
LD C,D ;SET UP MASK TAB ADRESS
LD A,(BC) ;GET MASK BYTE
AND (HL) ;MAKS WITH SCREEN
OR C ;MIX WITH DATA HIGH
LD (HL),A ;PLACE ON SCREEN
INC L
;REPEAT UNTIL WIDTH=0
LD DE,128-WIDTH
ADD HL,DE
EXX
DJNZ DEPTH
The andtable must start on a page boundary. What this means
is the low byte of the address must be zero:
E.G. &8000,&8700,&9800 (all in hex) ETC...
and will look something like this
DB &FF,&F0,&F0,&F0,&F0,&F0,&F0,&F0
DB &F0,&F0,&F0,&F0,&F0,&F0,&F0,&F0
DB &0F,&00,&00,&00,&00,&00,&00,&00 ;REPEAT
DB &00,&00,&00,&00,&00,&00,&00,&00 ;*15
3: Mask with data (MIXED METHOD)
This method is the best for perfect masking as it
enables us to have pen 0 as a sprite colour, But
it does double the memory for storing the sprite.
You can use the stack pointer with this method
like this:
LD HL,SCREEN
LD SP,DATA
LD BC,128-WITDH
LD A,DEPTH
DEPTH:
EX AF,AF'
;REPEAT FOR WITDH COUNT
POP DE ;GET MASK AND DATA BYTE
LD A,E ;A=MASK
AND (HL) ;MASK SCREEN
OR D ;MIX DATA
LD (HL),A ;REPLACE ON SCREEN
INC L ;NEXT SCREEN LOCATION
;REPEAT UNTIL WITDH=0
ADD HL,BC
EX AF,AF'
DEC A
JR NZ,DEPTH ;REPEAT UNTIL DEPTH=0
Or you can do the following method which does
not use the stack:
LD HL,DATA
LD DE,SCREEN
LD BC,128-WIDTH
LD A,DEPTH
DEPTH:
EX AF,AF'
;REPEAT FOR WIDTH COUNT
LD A,(DE) ;GET SCREEN BYTE
AND (HL) ;MASK SCREEN
INC L
OR (HL) ;MIX WITH DATA
INC HL
LD (DE),A ;REPLACE ON SCREEN
INC E
;REPEAT UNTIL WIDTH=0
EX DE,HL ;SWOP SCREEN WITH DATA
ADD HL.BC ;NEXT LINE
EX DE,HL ;SWOP SCREEN WITH DATA
EX AF,AF'
DEC A
JR NZ,DEPTH ;UNTIL DEPTH=0
The last method is the most pratical if memory for data
allows, And does not use stack, And give 100% perfect mask.
**** NOTE ****
Through the last section I have stated that it is
unwise to use stack. This is only if you wish to have
inturpts enables (which the game will have), As when an
inturpt occurs it PUSHES onto the stack pointer the current
program counter, And if stack points into data then the
data will get currupted. (I hope you understood that)
Also if you do use stack remmeber to store the stack
before you use it and restore when you have finish.
E.G:
LD (STACK),SP
LD SP,WHAT EVER
;DO PRINT OR WAHT EVER
LD SP,(STACK)
RET
STACK: DW 0
Well before I finish the first article a little discusion
about Collision Detection. Their are several type that can be
used all depend upon speed and accuracy.
E.G. Do we need to be pixel perfect (as in check only
where the sprite has a pixel colour)- MASK COLISION
Or do we only need to check the area of sprite (as in
putting an invisable box around it)- BOX COLISION
The most common used is BOX colision as this is quick to
check and also has a moderate amount of accuracy,Where MASK
colision is 100% accurate (if done right) but can be time
consuming.
MASK COLLISION:
The theory behind this is when we mask our sprite mask onto the
screen we check if the screen byte has changed.
E.G.
LD A,(DE) ;get screen byte
LD C,A ;store in C
AND (HL) ;mask with mask byte
CP C ;are they same
JR NZ,HIT_PIXEL ;no so hit somthing
The only problem is we dont now what we hit, all we now is
that a byte after masking does not equal the original byte. So
the only games that can use this tecneque are games like Manic
Miner where you can only hit things that kill you.
BOX COLLISION
This is simple,quick and accurate enought to be used in all
games except 3D simualtion (but we are not going into that just
yet). Basically we get the X and Y coords for one sprite and
store them into X1,Y1 , then get the X and Y coords for another
sprite and store them into X2,Y2.
Now we simply follow the following agarithum:
IF
X1X2
OR
X1>X2 AND X1Y2
OR
Y1>Y2 AND Y1B*****D OPERATOR FROM HELL #1
It's backup day today so I'm p****d off. Being the BOFH, however, does have it's advantages. I reassign null to be the tape device - it's so much more economical on my time as I don't have to keep getting up to change tapes every 5 minutes. And it speeds up backups too, so it can't be all bad. A user rings. "Do you know why the system is slow?" they ask "It's probably something to do with..." I look up today's excuse ".. clock speed" "Oh" (Not knowing what I'm talking about, they're satisfied) "Do you know when it will be fixed?" "There're 275 users on your machine, and one of them is you. Don't be so selfish - logout now and give someone else a chance!" "But my research results are due in tommorrow and all I need is one page of Laser Print.." "SURE YOU DO. Well; you just keep telling yourself that buddy!" I hang up. Sheesh, you'd really think people would learn not to call! The phone rings. It'll be him again, I know. That annoys me. I put on a gruff voice. "HELLO, SALARIES!" "Oh, I'm sorry, I've got the wrong number" "YEAH? Well what's your name buddy? Do you know WASTED phone calls cost money? DO YOU? I've got a good mind to subtract your wasted time, my wasted time, and the cost of this call from your weekly wages! IN FACT I WILL! By the time I've finished with you, YOU'LL OWE US money! WHAT'S YOUR NAME - AND DON'T LIE, WE'VE GOT CALLER ID!" I hear the phone drop and the sound of running feet - he's obviously going to try and get an alibi by being at the Dean's office. I look up his username and find his department. I ring the Dean's secretary. "Hello?" she answers. "Hi, SIMON, B.O.F.H HERE, LISTEN, WHEN THAT GUY COMES RUNNING INTO YOUR OFFICE IN ABOUT 10 SECONDS, CAN YOU GIVE HIM A MESSAGE?" "I think so..." she says. "TELL HIM HE CAN RUN, BUT HE CAN'T HIDE'" "Um. Ok" "AND DON'T FORGET NOW, I WOULDN'T WANT TO HAVE TO TELL ANYONE ABOUT THAT FILE IN YOUR ACCOUNT WITH YOUR ANSWERS TO THE PURITY TEST IN IT..." I hear her scrabbling at the terminal... "DON'T BOTHER - I HAVE A COPY. BE A GOOD GIRL AND PASS THE MESSAGE ON" She sobs her assent and I hang up. And the worst thing is, I was just guessing about the purity test thing. I grab a quick copy anyway; it might make for some good late-night reading. Meantime backups have finished in record time, 2.03 seconds. Modern technology is wonderful, isn't it. Another user rings. "I need more space" he says. "Well, why don't you move to Texas?" I ask. "No, on my account, stupid." Stupid? Uh-Oh... "I'm terribly sorry" I say, in a polite manner equal to that of Jimmy Stewart in a Family Matinee "I didn't quite catch that. What was it that you said" I smell the fear coming down the line at me, but it's too late, he's a goner and he knows it. "Um, I said what I wanted was more space on my account, please" "Sure, hang on" I hear him gasp his relief even though he covered the mouthpiece. "There, you've got plenty of space now" "How much have I got? Now this REALLY P****S ME OFF! Not only do they want me to give them extra space, they want to check it, to correct me if I don't give them enough. They should be happy with what I give them, and that's it. Back into Jimmy Stewart mode. "Well, let's see, you have 4 Meg available" "Wow! Eight Meg in total, thanks!" he says pleased with his bargaining power. "No" I interrupt, savouring this like a fine red, room temperature "4 Meg in total". "Huh? I'd used 4 Meg already, How could I have 4 Meg Available?" I say nothing. It'll come to him. "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggghhhhhH!"
B*****D OPERATOR FROM HELL #2
I'm sitting at the desk, playing X-Tank, when some thoughtless b*****d rings me on the phone. I pick it up. "Hello?" I say. "Who is this?" they say. "Its me I think" I say, having been through a telephone skills course. "Me who?" "Is this like a knock knock joke?" I say, trying anything to save myself having to end this game. Too LATE! I get killed. Now I'm p****d! "What can I do for you?" I ask pleasantly - (one of the key warning signs). "Um, I want to know if we have a particular software package.." "Which package is that?" "Uh, B-A-S-I-C it's called." >clickety clickety d-e-l b-a-s-i-c.e-x-e< "Um no, we don't have that. We used to though..." "Oh. Oh well, the other thing I wanted to know was, could the contents of my account be copied to tape so I have a permanent copy of them to save at home in case the worst happens..." "The worst?" "Well, like they get deleted or something..." "DELETED! Oh, don't worry about that, we have backups" (I'm such a s**t) "What was your username?" He gives me his username. (What an idiot) >clickety click< "But you haven't got any files in your account!" I say, mock surprise leaping from my vocal chords. "Yes I have, you must be looking in the wrong place!" So first he spoils my X-Tank game, and now he's calling me a liar... >clickety click< "Oh no, I made a mistake " I say. Did he mutter "typical" under his breath? Oh dear, oh dear.. "I meant to say: That username doesn't exist" "Huh? >wimper< It must do, I was only using it this morning!" "Ah well, that'll be the problem, there was a virus in our system this morning, the... uh... Da Vinci Virus, wipes out users who are logged in when it goes off." "That can't be right, my girlfriend was logged in, and I'm in her account now!" "Which one was that?" He tells me the username. Some people NEVER learn.. "Oh, yeah, her account was just after we discovered the virus." >clickety click< "..she only lost all her files" "But..." "But don't worry, we've got them all on tape" "Oh, thank goodness!!!" "Paper tape. Have you got a magnifying glass and a pencil. SEE YOU IN THE MACHINE ROOM!!!! NYAHAHAHAHAHA!" I'm such a s**t!!
B*****D OPERATOR FROM HELL #3
I'm working so hard I barely have time to drive into town and
watch a movie before I told people their printing will be ready.
The queue's WAAAAY too long to have everything printed (and
sorted) by the time I told them, so I kill all the small jobs so
there's only 2 left and I can sort them in no time.
Then, after the movie, (which was one of those slack Bertolucci
ones that takes about 3 hours till the main character is killed
off in a visionary experience) I get back and clear the
printouts.
There's about 50 people waiting outside and I've got two
printouts. That's about average for me. I thought I'd killed
more though... Anyway, I put out the printouts and walk slooowly
inside, fingering the clipboard with "ACCOUNTS TO REMOVE" in big
letters on the back. No-one says anything. As usual.
. . .
I'm sitting back in the Operations Armchair, watching the
computer room closed circuit TV, which just happens to be
connected to the frame-grabber's Video player (sent off for
repair, due back sometime in '94) when the phone rings. That
must be the 2nd time today, and it's really starting to get to
me!
"Yes?" I say, pausing the picture.
"I've accidentally deleted my C.V!" the voice at the other end
of the line says.
"You have? What was your username?"
He tells me. What the hell, I AM bored.
"Ah no, you didn't delete it - I did."
"What?"
"I deleted it. It was full of s**t! You didn't ever get more
than a B- in any of your subjects!"
"Huh?"
"And that crap about being a foreign exchange student, that was
your girlfriend and we both know it. Your academic records. I
checked them, you were lying.."
"How did y.." He clicks. "It's you isn't it? THE B*****D
OPERATOR FROM HELL!"
"In the flesh, on the phone and in your account.... You
shouldn't have called you know. You especially shouldn't have
given me your username.." >clickety click< "Neither should you
have sent that mail to the System Manager telling him what you
think of him in graphic terms.. ."
"I didn't send any.."
>clickety click<......
"No, you didn't did you? But who can tell these days. Not to
worry though, It'll all be over VERY soon.." >clickety click<
"..change my username back, and..."
"b-b-b.." he blubs, like a stood-up date.
"Goodbye now" I say pleasantly, "you've got bags to pack and a
life to start over..."
I hang up.
Two seconds later the red phone goes. I pick it up, it's the
boss. He mumbles the username of the person I was just talking
to, mentions something about a nasty mail message, and utters
the words "You know what to do...", with the dots and
everything.
Later, inside the Municipal Energy Authority Computer, as I'm
modifying the poor pleb's Energy Bill by several zeros, I can't
help but think about what lapse of judgement - what act of
heinous stupidity causes them to call.
Then, even later, when I'm adding the poor pleb's photo image
over the top of the FBI's online "Most Wanted; Armed and
Dangerous, SHOOT ON SIGHT" offenders list, I realise, I'll
probably never know; but life goes on.
A couple of hours later as I see the SWAT vehicle roll up
outside the poor pleb's apartment I realise that for some, it
just doesn't.
But tomorrow is another day.
B*****D OPERATOR FROM HELL #4
It's a Thursday, and I'm in a good mood. It's payday. I think I'll take some calls. I put the phone back on the hook. It rings. "I've been trying to get you for hours!" the voice at the other end screams. "Not, it can't be hours" I say, putting Blade Runner back into it's cover and looking at the back, "it was more like 114 minutes. I was on a long phone call with the big boss, trying to get you users some better facilities" Hook; Line; and Sinker... "Oh. I'm sorry." "That's ok, I'm a tolerant person" I make a mental note to change his password to something nasty in the next couple of days. "Um, I need to know how to rename a file" he says. Oh dear... Hang on, it's payday isn't it?! I'm in a good mood. "Sure. You just go 'rm' and the filename" "Thanks" "No worries" (Now I'm in a REALLY good mood. I think I just might write that script to make saving impossible on rogue at random times like I've been thinking about) The phone rings again. "Hello?" "Hi there" I say "Is this the Operator?" "Yes it is" I say, nice as pie "Could you get my printouts please. I need them urgently, and I printed them over 5 minutes ago" "Your username?" I ask. He gives it to me, and I write it down for later. "No worries at all!" I say, and head to the printers. There's a HUUUUUUUGE pile of printouts there, and sure enough, his is at the top of the pile. I pick it up, split it out of the rest and pour our ink-stained cleaning alcohol all over it, run it over a couple of times with the loaded tape trolley then slam it in the tape safe door some times as well. Beautiful. "Here's your printout" I say "Sorry about the delay, we've got a few printer problems." He takes a look and sh**s himself. "Well, can I print it again?" he asks, worried. "Sure you can" I say "But no promises, the printer's a bit stuffed today" "Well can I print it on laser - is that working?" "Yeah of course , but that'll cost you" I say, oozing compassion for the geek. "It doesn't matter about the cost, THIS IS URGENT!" I slide on back into the printer room and put in the toner cartridge we save for special occasions - the one that prints thick black lines down the middle of the page and is all faint on one side. It took me quite a while to make it like that too. The printout shoots through and I bring it out immediately - I don't want to miss this! "W-w-what's happened to my printout?" he geek-squeals at me. Lucky I wrote that username down - I'm really starting to develop a taste for torture. "Well nothing. I mean sure, it' s a little soiled, but that cartridge has already done 47 thousand pages and been refilled 17 times. It's quite good compared to some we get" Geek pays up and starts blubbing. "Hey now. There's no reason to cry! Have you got a disk with your work on it?" He gives me a box of diskettes and I step inside and run them across the bulk eraser. I come back out again. "Sorry, I just remembered, our machine is on the fritz, you'll have to take these to the other side of campus to the machine there, it'll print them OK, and it had a brand-new toner yesterday." "GREAT!" "No worries. Oh, and hold the disks above your head the whole way there, the earth's magnetic field is particularly strong today." "Huh?" "No arguements, just do it." He wanders off, hands held high. S**t. I hate myself sometimes.
B*****D OPERATOR FROM HELL #5
I'm bored senseless, so I pass the time by reading users email.
I must admit that today's lot is PARTICULARLY boring, not one
good message in all of them. I was expecting at LEAST some
veiled reference to a grope in a storeroom, but nothing. So I'm
bored senseless by the usual drivel about some relative's
surgery and how the weather is over the other side of the world
- that sort of stuff.
To relieve the boredom, I remove an E-mail party invite from a
user's mail and post it under the senders username to
alt.singles.with.severe.social.disfunctions on news, and make a
note in my diary to be there with my camcorder. Should be a
blast!
Next in line is the online medical records database, in which
the company doctors store the current medical histories of the
staff. I scan it quickly for "herpes" and "syphillus" and sell
the results to the local scum newspaper.
I cover my tracks by adding an entry to one of the doctor's
online electronic diarys for yesterday saying "$500, Med Recs To
Paper" I think that's all it should take...
I move some tapes from the racks to the trolley to make it look
like we really use them, then start looking through Archie
listings for a hidden x-gif site. I find one then start a batch
job running under some user's account to get them all back,
charged to him. I make sure he's got enough disk for the job by
removing any files not related to the task at hand. Like all
those "Doctorate Final Report" papers that have got quite large
in the last couple of weeks.
I go back to the mail now, as something's bound to have
happened. I do a scan on all mail files for the words "pregnant"
and "family way", and post them anonymously to the local general
interest newsgroup.
Then, before anything can happen, the power goes out! The next
second, the phone rings.
"Hello?" I say, annoyed - the coyote was just about to kill
roadrunner again!
"Has the comput .."
I hang up. This is a matter of life or death. Quick as I can I
rip the computer power cable out of the UPS and plug the TV in.
Damn! Wylie missed again!
Meantime, all the alarms are going off like crazy as the disks
spin down, but that's ok, because my Amiga and Terminal are
hardwired to the UPS in any case; and I'm at the Beer Factory
level in Dark Castle too.
The phone rings, so I pull the PABX breaker on the UPS
switchboard and it stops. Now to look like I'm working. I break
out the puck and the hockey stick and play a little one-on-wall.
From the observation window it'll look like I'm being blindingly
efficient, as per usual. 10 Minutes later, the power is back and
we're two HDA's down, but what the hell, I haven't lost a man,
I'm on to the final screen, and there's more cartoons!
The phone rings; it's a user. (What a surprise)
"Computer Room" I say, being efficient.
"Hello, when will the compu..."
I hang up.
I'm doing well on the screen, all I need do is get past the
wizard who throws spells at you and I'm in!
The phone rings again. I put it on hands free.
"Computer Room" I shout, still deep in the game.
"I've lost my files" a user whines over the loudspeaker.
"You bet you have" I say, as my concentration lapses just long
enough for me to get zapped by the wizard.
"What was your username?" I say, all sweetness and smiles.
He tells me, I look, and he's right. Shit, and I didn't even do
it!
Not to be out done, I change his login directory to the null
device, set his path to "." and redefine the command "news" to
execute a script in his old login directory to send a nasty
message to the equal opportunities officer, then delete itself.
Now that's trying!
***** ***** ***** *****
That's all from the BOFH this month - we'll have another 5
installments in FRED 32, so don't miss it!