ZXNet эхоконференция «code.zx»

* также послано в SPB.SPECCY
* также послано в ZX.SPECTRUM


Hi, All !

Вот кое-что наpылось в интеpнете. Спасибо, Logic^TM ! =)

Гpомаднейшая пpосьба: если есть что сказать по сабжy, или по Tramplin,
или по пpоектy ~An Immortal Illusion~, пpодyблиpyйте мне плиз мылом.
Пока не вижy совсем никакой pеакции. А эха ходит очень плохо :-(

Итак, ниже.
Это пpосто pекламная инфоpмация по Fairlight, но есть некотоpые моменты.
Мой Стилyс пеpевёл: ~высокопpоизводительный гpафический язык низкого ypовня,
pазpаботанный Softek~ и ~он подyмывает о выпyске Grax в фоpме аpкадно-
адвентюpного пакета пpоектиpования~.
Интеpесно, этот пакет был-таки заpелизен? А Softek сейчас живой? :>

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* Forwarded by Olegka Cher (2:464/86.62)
* Area : NETMAIL (Netmail)
* From : Logic^TM, 2:464/36 (02 Hоя 01 13:48)
* To : Olegka Cher
* Subj : Re: GRAX
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From: "Logic^TM"



Citiruyu Sinclair User: http://www.sincuser.f9.co.uk/042/sftwrea.htm


Fairlight


EXCLUSIVE
ACROSS THE Incredibly Flat and Featureless Plain, on the other side of the
Impenetrably Thick Forest, just beside the Stream that Dries Up In The
Corner of The Map sits the Enchanted Castle.


Haven't we had enough of them, after Avalon, Knight Lore, Dragontorc, and
Tir na Nog? OK, so the setting of Fairlight is not promising. There's a
wizard locked up in the castle and you have to find a magic book to release
him and save the great gizmo from going ape with the wotsit.

Don't worry. When you actually get inside the castle you'll forget about how
bored you are with fantasy. Fairlight, from The Edge, a division of Softek,
is a quest with a difference.

The difference is largely in the graphics. They are the best we have seen of
the two-colour 3D variety, streets ahead of Knight Lore and Alien 8 for
variety and elegance of design. There are stairways and catwalks, corridors
and chambers, trapdoors and courtyards in the castle; mapping Fairlight is
going to be a problem, as the castle is designed like a castle, not a
chessboard with a lot of walls between the squares.

Your character is an adventurer, cloaked and armed with a suitably
workmanlike orc-sticker for those embarrassing social encounters. The figure
moves in four directions and can jump, pick up objects and fight. It does
those things a lot faster than Sabreman, whose antics are beginning to look
decidedly creaky against this new wave of arcade-adventures.

You can push objects around as well, stack chairs on tables to get at high
doors or windows, and generally derange the furniture at your pleasure. But
the problems have a more naturalistic quality than usual. Keys tend to fit
doors - somewhere - and performing various sequences of action will reveal
further depths to the castle as secret doors are opened.


Monsters include guards and trolls, club-wielding heavies who can be fought
or outwitted. Realism in the fight sequences includes comparisons of
strength.

In fact, every object and character in the game has a weight. Objects
carried are displayed on a small scroll tucked away in the corner of the
screen, one at a time - the one you have selected to hold. You can carry up
to five objects altogether, but the weight is important, and you may only
have strength enough for less. Similarly, 300 pounds of gibbering green
trollflesh packs a bigger punch than one wimpish little prison guard.

Fairlight is to be the first of a trilogy of games set in the land of
Fairlight and future games will take the player into the surrounding
countryside.

The secret of the stunning graphics is Grax, a high-powered low-level
graphics language developed by Softek. Bo Jangeborg, who is currently
putting the finishing touches to Fairlight, uses Grax to develop complex
screens which occupy only one or two hundred bytes of memory at most.

Softek originally thought in terms of a 35 screen game but the finished
product could contain up to 100, depending on Bo's stamina.

Tim Langdell, manager director of Softek, says Grax uses adapted core
routines from The Artist, a graphics package reviewed elsewhere in this
issue. But he's thinking about releasing Grax in the shape of an
arcade-adventure design package.

Meanwhile, watch out for Fairlight. it's got to be one of the best
arcade-adventure quests of the year.

Chris Bourne


-+- Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2919.6600
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С yважением, ── Oleg N. Cher (aka Vir ExCite)