Editorial

Editorial

Dear Spectrum friends,

Welcome to SCENE. This was actually supposed to carry issue number 3, but since this is a diskmag that shares only its name and objectives with the preceding papermag, it was given number 1. In principle, very little changes. I get finished with everything faster and am not bound to a specific layout or page numbers; as a result, I have more creative freedom and, above all, the reader always gets my latest programs and information about what I will venture into next.

The decision to make a disk/tapemag was not easy, because papermags can be collected and specific articles can be found quickly. On the other hand, FRED for the SAM enjoys immense popularity, not least because of the programs that appear monthly on FRED and have already made many names in the scene big.

Unfortunately, so far not a single Austrian reader has felt the need to send me programs or articles. Is it really that difficult? I can completely understand that you have to study, learn, or work, but you could sacrifice a little time for the Spectrum. In this respect, there is still a lot of catching up to do, and one thing I can say right away: it is not easy to fill 16 pages all by myself, especially not because I used such a tight line spacing. Nevertheless, I managed it, but the purpose of the whole exercise should not be that I write the entire magazine, but that YOU can share YOUR experiences.

Now to the programs. In this issue, a great many programs were written by me; the rest I owe to Spectec and SPC (Hi WoMo team). There are also some programs by an Austrian that are really quite impressive. I don't know if they were intended as PD, but the user who wrote them switched to the C64 years ago and probably has a PC now. There are also some demos Made in Austria by me and Spectec, some of which you will find on the disk.

Now to the question of how the tapemag will differ from the diskmag. I already wrote about this in SCENE 12/95: the tapemags will be somewhat slimmed down, just so that the content fits on a C60 or C90 tape. Giant mega-giga-demos as well as games that reload from disk might therefore be omitted (X-Files certainly will not be available in a tape version if I exceed the 600 Kb limit). Tapes take longer to copy, they hold less, are less reliable, and postage costs more. For these reasons, I also warmly recommend the disk version to Opus users; you should only order the tape version if you exclusively use tapes and have no disk drive. Fortunately, there are conversion programs from +D to Opus.

Regarding the question of how you can send me programs and articles: (And I am not writing this just for fun!) Send your works on tape, +D/Disciple, Opus disks, Wafas, or Microdrive cartridges to the following address:

 L.C.D.
 Prager Str. 92/11/12
 A-1210 Wien
 Österreich

 Hotline: (0222) 272 34 63   (Voice only!)

Naturally, just like with FRED, there is a reward for the best programs. This reward largely depends on the number of members who pay for their membership (there are many exchange subscriptions, after all) and on the costs I otherwise incur to supply you with raw material, i.e., subscriptions to other magazines. For those who almost come away empty-handed, there will probably be a vote for the best program of the year at the end of the year.

The costs per year are DM 40 (öS 280) per year, shipping of the disks and their cost is DM 3 (öS 21), so it is easy to calculate how many members ASC must have just to pay out one mark for a program. Of course, I will try to push the costs down even further and keep books, but nevertheless it will take a certain amount of time until I have achieved financial stability.

Just like FRED, I also plan to market some professionally written programs, so if you have coded something like that, I can put it on the list—just write to me!

Now I would like to apologize for the late release of this issue, but it had several causes. Above all, I had to code the text viewer and other parts of the mag, then there was a period when I was under the influence of a virus called the flu, and last but not least, for days after recovering from the flu I still had to suffer from the aftereffects and thus do nothing the whole time. From now on, I swear by everything holy to me (Spectrum, women, cars, etc.) that the next issues will appear on time. But please excuse any typos that might appear as a result of fast typing.

It is possible that I will not keep this layout, but rather change the form accordingly or rearrange the individual items depending on current circumstances. For example, to take some load off the letter section, I could introduce a Question & Answer column.

If anyone is interested, at the club meeting, which I hope will take place in the 3rd quarter of '96, I could offer a service to digitize faces of attendees for a small expense fee and then copy them to disk or tape. The quality will be roughly like in the "Pictures" section, maybe even slightly better. You can then integrate that into your programs. I did the same in Ultra Reflect, but back then only the old 4-line texturer was used.

Well, that is actually all for the January issue. I wish you lots of fun with SCENE PLUS.

Yours, L.C.D. (Tiger's Claw)