8-bit Software Disc Magazine Issue 13 - June 1991
(c) Duncan Webster 1991 (all rights reserved)
PROGRAMMERS RETURN (June 91)
Comments from issue 11 and 12 are still filtering through so keep an
eye out if you have submitted software to 8BS in the past. Many new
members who joined during issue 12 will be submitting their first set
of comments this month, so I have given these reports a little
priority for publication.
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PROGRAM: Lost Your Marbles
User Z0Q: A super game that is really good fun to play. Good sound
and graphics and it makes you want to have another go.
Excellent.
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PROGRAM: Helicoptor Haulocast
User 1K1: Good idea for a game, but unfortunately has BASIC graphics,
slow movement and sound from a VIC 20!
User 994: The Sound of the Machine Gun needs to stop as soon as you
see the bullets. Needs improvements about different skill
levels and computer opponents.
User 8CT: Good use of graphics but the noise of the bullets is a bit
annoying. i haven't played this game much as I rarely have
someone else to play with. A suggestion for a modification
would be to get the computer to control one of the players
in a one player option.
User 14E: Not a bad BASIC game although it is very slow and jerky.
The bullets move slowly thus making it easy to avoid them.
User 0E7: Bullets very slow - can you make them any faster?
User 4RR: As soon as it became apparant that the number 2 player is
never rightly credited with winning I gave up. Back to the
drawing board please Steven and correct this major fault.
User 6EE: Not a bad little game. Much too slow but the graphics are
quite good.
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PROGRAM: Adventure Hints and Tips
User 442: A very good section of the magazine which I hope gets
continued each month as I am sure that there are loads of
cheats for games around somewhere.
User 4DO: Very Handy - I managed to get past a bit of a game that I
was stuck on for ages ... Any more coming??
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PROGRAM: Liverpool Manager
User 442: A good game which is enjoyable to play, but a preview of all
the matches would be very helpful. Has anybody got any tips
for this game?
User 709: OK - Too easy to beat and not enough different things to do.
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PROGRAM: Crazy Balls
User 442: All I can say is Brilliant! - Where is Crazy Balls 2? -
there are not enough levels in CBs.
User 709: Easily of commercial standard, wonderfully clean graphics
and nice score font - it took me a little while to figure
out what to do once I had collected all the flowers. Only
one minor niggle - the movement was a little sticky and I
had problems getting from one twig to another. All in all
an excellent game - Congrats to Andy Nibbs.
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PROGRAM: Pontoon
User 348: Brilliant - I have been looking for a good Pontoon game for
absolutely ages and that fits the bill exactly.
User 994: Great fun - I managed to get about 280p on my second go.
Hope to top 1000p soon.
User 4RR: There are many computer adaptions of this well known card
game. As the play must follow the same basic rules, the
only variable left for the programmer is to change the
visual appearance. I liked all the card representations,
which were all clear as was the screen layout. However I
was disappointed that on playing the game at regular
intervals, the same cards would repeatadly appear. Now the
cards shouldn't have been shuffled after each hand as this
would indicate, and it would follow if two or three cards
are constantly being repeated that the others never get a
chance. So this is just for fun, but even the youngest
member of the family spotted it. There is one great
simalarity to the real card game I have found, and that is I
have yet to have PONTOON. Just let me try once again!
User 2GJ: ONE COMPLAINT - Why if I go bust does the computer insist on
playing it's own hand, and frequently busting itself, thus
producing a draw? This is nonsensical.
User 0E7: Graphics Good. Speed Good. Why can punter stick at less
that 16? In my day he had to twist or buy. How about a
"buy" option. RETURN is pressed after placing bet: Any ket
is pressed after dealing and starting game. Wouldn't it be
better if there was more uniformity in keys?
User 8CT: Excellent graphics for the picture cards and in general a
great version that is easy to use. I like the way it is
possible for a draw as normally the computer, being the
dealer would get all the money ona draw. A Modification
could be for the computer to have money as well as so if you
did well you could make the computer go bust.
User 6EE: Quite liked this game. The yellow text on a green
background is difficult to see, otherwise very good.
User Z0Q: A good pontoon simulation. The graphics for the King,
Queen, Jack and cards are excellent. Very enjoyable but I
seem to be getting 21 most of the time or am I just lucky?
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PROGRAM: Red Dwarf Screens
User 348: Great - These sort of digitised pictures look better on a
B/W TV or Mono Monitor or dumped using the right screen dump
screens. One suggestion - would it be possible to perform
some sort of compression - ie. the LDPIC standard used on
some BBs?
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PROGRAM: Year Planner
User 994: Very useful at the moment with my exams coming up. I can
now see how long I have got left.
User 1K1: An excellent program which I will be using for quite a long
time!
User 2GJ: Looks though it could be quite useful - I tend to fiddle
around with this kind of program. One criticism - it would
be VASTLY improved if it sorted the various monthly
activities that I program it with DATE ORDER.
User 0E7: A Nice handy program with a nice display. Attention is
needed at the following options...
OPT1. Information read on how to enter dates as
abbreviations are not accepted eg. Month 1-12 Year (1991)
OPT2. Why Message "Rewind Sheet then press SPACE" as
pressing any key steps the program.
OPT3. Must have data entered. If no data then pressing key
steps cursor to bottom of WINDOW before program steps on.
OPT4-8. Message in window not clear "Add.Delete.Menu" - this
requires keys A,D or M to be pressed for action - why not
"(A)dd, (D)elete, (M)enu"?
User 14E: Excellent program. I especially liked the option to print
out the calender for the year. Only complaint is it's a bit
tedious typing out 1991 every time, it would be easier to
use the last two digits (ie. 91).
User 6JE: Good Layout of menus and of month screens. Very good
program.
User 8CT: This is a very useful program especially with it's yearly
entry options for things like birthdays. I found it very
easy to get used to using it and now it is in use full time.
User 6EE: Another excellent program - I like how easter was displayed.
User Z0Q: Another useful program which is really well written.
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PROGRAM: Percentages Program
User 1K1: Although this can be very useful tool for people, it may
deter some people from investigating into the program
further due to the appearance. But otherwise is quite a
good program.
User 6EE: Very good. One section of this program is just what I have
been looking for, screen layout and presentation excellent.
I only wish you could do more than one calculation before
returning to the menu.
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PROGRAM: Ince Treasure
User Z0Q: An entertaining adventure. I can't say any more about it
because I can't get very far. An excellent effort though.
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PROGRAM: VDU Codes Killer
User Z0Q: A very useful utility which I have used to catalogue
"professional Games Discs". It could come in very handy one
day.
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PROGRAM: Test Cards Program
User Z0Q: A super program which I am sure will be invaluable now I an
revising for my A level exams. Thank you.
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PROGRAM: BASDUMP Utility
User Y80: It's really good. Very useful for merging routines or parts
of other programs onto the end of a program that you are
working on and that could be stored in RAM first.
User 8CT: This is a very useful utility but it failed to work
correctly with the ROT5 graphics. I uploaded ROT5 and
pressed CTRL BREAK, then I downloaded to and typed RUN. It
drew some of the ROT5 screen then the computer hung up. I
could get it working by downloading it, pressing CTRL BREAK
and then typing OLD then RUN - it worked fine whenever this
method was used. This utility is great for use when
developing software because you don't have to get the disc,
and the SWR can easily have a new version uploaded into it,
but a problem with my computer means SWR is corrupted on
power ON or OFF and unfortunately BASDUMP disables the DFS
if I write protect SWR.
User 994: Very good utility, but I have not been able to save any
program and make a ROM Image. I assume I do not have enough
SWR.
User 81R: What I have been looking for for ages. This is a very tidy
and easy to use program storer. All the more need for me to
get a battery backup for my SWR board. If I put the program
itself onto EPROM would it still need to use SWR or would I
be free to use SRW for something else?
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PROGRAM: LIFE
User Y80: It's nice to see a program that you can run from SWR for a
change, but what the hell is LIFE? - what is it supposed to
do? It rather reminds me of a MODE 7 graphics program
called graphics colours which twang all over the screen. I
think I have a program from a Micro User disc somewhere
called Life as well which I never use because I don't know
what to do with it. Can anyone enlighten me?
- Well? - Who'd like to explain the meaning of LIFE then?
Duncan.
User 8CT: A pretty good version, I especially liked the patterns that
are already programmed into it and thought they were a good
idea. I can't see what advantage is held by being ROM based
rather than disc based apart from the fact that it is in the
computer and easy to hand, but I liked it anyway and think
that it is a great program.
User 994: Very good idea if you cannot be bothered to load it in every
time you want to use it - just bung it into SWR and hope you
have got a battery backup. One problem with the program -
what about some colour?
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PROGRAM: SCREEN TRANSFER ROUTINE
User 4DO: Even though it says "probably not of much use" I am thinking
of using it in a little routine of my own. I'll let you
know how it comes along.
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PROGRAM: COMPLETE ADDRESS BOOK
User 8CT: The program is a good idea but I think the layout could be
improved. I liked part of the new character set but the
large text looked messy with its new S and A characters. I
would prefer the number and street to be on the same line
and the Town and County would be better separate. I also do
not have much use for a COUNTRY field so this could be
altered to COUNTY. It also lacks the field for a postcode
which I think is quite an important item.
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PROGRAM: DEVILS ISLAND
User 8CT: Once I manaed to get the program loaded (see Replied to Help
Section of this Mag) I was presented with a picture, the the
text appeared with half of it promptly disappearing behind
the picture. I realose this may be due to the software that
created it and not the fault of the writer but wouldn't it
have been a good idea to have a shorter description that
would fit on the screen? It was annoying and I couldn't
find a way to stop it doing that. If the SHIFT and CTRL
keys were pressed then the text flickered - is there a way
to find out what this says? All I have done so far is to
find a note with morse code on it so I am even more confused
now. Hang on, I am off to the library for a book on morse
code.
User C83: This text adventure is brilliant so far (I haven't got very
far at all). The graphics and presentation are good. It is
very enjoyable and fun to play, although I find it quite
hard. My compliments to the author.
(another member who got it to work! ... Duncan).
User 105: Looks like a good game, but I cannot even get past the first
screen. How about some hints and tips for the magazine in
future?