Editorial & Scene News

SCENE+ is published by:
L. C. D., Prager Str. 92/11/12, A-1210 Vienna, Austria
Phone: (01) 272 34 63 from Austria, or +43 1 272 34 63 from abroad (outside Austria).
All classified ads and announcements are free of charge, as long as they relate to the Spectrum or SAM, and can take any form (text, screen, animation, etc.).

Hello SCENE+ readers.

Two things. First: The planned collaboration with the Greek Spectrum Club, which I hinted at in the previous issue, will not happen anytime soon, because Sotiris Kanellis still hasn't replied to me. Once the time comes, I'm really curious to see what software will be unearthed there! Theo Devil already contributed a considerable number of games, even though he is actually an ignoramus that PC slaves thankfully now have to deal with.

SCENE+ will also be released as a tape magazine! At the end of the year, an unnamed Spectrum user wants to take care of producing the tape version and also distribute the other disk versions. He asked me not to reveal any details yet, but this much about his identity can be said: he lives in Germany and is well-known in the scene. I am quite glad to have some of the workload taken off my shoulders. I only hoped this would already take effect with this issue.

Lastly, I treated one of my Amiga 500s to a long-overdue 2.5 MB expansion so that my raytracers could finally run. How disappointed I was when the insanely expensive Real 3D 2.0 thanked my honest purchase with constant crashes! It was supposed to at least show the sample animations, but nothing came of that either, since the Delta player stopped all tasks as well. Oh well, fortunately, I was able to exchange it for a second-hand Reflections 2.0 with a manual. Reflections 2.0 was cheaper, runs flawlessly, and I am already so familiar with the editor that I have already managed to design the Zer Battleship, Terran Battleship, a Bright Star-class assault cruiser, and a Cluster-class ship. Even the Agarians' K assault missile has already been rendered, and a short animation of the Zer Battleship is also done. The only bummer is that some pages are missing from this second-hand book, so I don't know how to change the position of light sources. Does anyone out there know? Or does anyone have an intact book? Maybe someone could sell me Reflections 3.0 with the manual?

Now, enough of the raytracing craze and Amiga—it takes up too much time. However, I will soon be able to put some of the rendered pictures into the galleries. By the way, Reflections has a few major advantages over other raytracers: for example, it can render images at a resolution of 256×192 in two colors, and it is very fast compared to other programs. The editor is also much less complicated to operate than Modeller 3D and Videoscape.

Back to the Spectrum. In this issue, you will find, among other things, Gasman's demo Interchrome, which you absolutely must see on a color monitor or TV. I did a similar effect a few years ago, but in full-screen mode, which flickered too much; Gasman chose the right size for his effect! But beware: it runs only on 128K computers. These 12 frames amaze me every single time.

The most interesting game in this issue is probably Defender of the Crown (DOC), which is public domain. It will surely delight many strategy fans. Since I didn't receive any manual for it to publish, here is a quick tip: Moving units: go to Seek Conquest, transfer soldiers from your home castle, and Send Forth. That's all you need to get started.

Instead of Shadow Nemesis, I have finally included the first three parts of Vortex; hopefully, you will enjoy it! If you think you can write a better story, just send it in. Oh yes, there are three parts this time, but starting from the next issue it will be one part again, or in rare cases, two.

I hope to be able to use the new SCENE+ menu starting from the issue after next, as there are still a few things I'd like to implement, aside from a new picture sent to me by Johan (thanks!). Above all, I'm thinking of sampled sound and some graphical improvements and simplifications. Until next time.

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NEWS FROM THE SPECTRUM WORLD — GUARANTEED JOKE-FREE

The "English War" enters the next round: while Alchnews reports that the magazine ZX-Files has shut down due to personal reasons and that author Paul White will now write for other magazines, the third issue of ZX-Files has just been released. So, Andy Davis, a word with you if you're reading this:

If you continue your lies, there will be nobody anymore who wants to read Alchnews. Rename your mag to National Alchlies!

I also received the full version of Dave Fountain's open letter, which he sent to all services in England, and I must say that it is really heavy stuff—if everything written inside is true, which I don't doubt. Everything points to the fact that whoever has Andy as a friend doesn't need any enemies.

Saturn Software is taking over the SAM Coupé magazine FRED. The new address is:
FRED Publishing, Ivanhoe Drive, Westfields, Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire, LE65 2LT, England.
FRED is a very interesting magazine that no serious SAM user should miss.

Another interesting SAM disk magazine is Blitz, for which top programmers submit their work. Among them is our well-known and beloved Wo from the WoMo Team. The address:
PERSONA, 31 Ashwood Drive, Brandlesholme, Bury, BL8 1HF, England.

A SAM paper magazine that appeared recently is called Based on an Idea and aims to present interesting projects. However, reliability seems to be an issue: despite enclosing money for a reply, Mr. Rockyard has not answered my letter.

Only now did Thomas Eberle notice that Kliatba Noci doesn't run on a modified +2A, and he asks about other programs suffering from the same issue. Thomas, didn't you read my review of Quadrax? In some cases, only cracked games will run on the +2A!

Following the Spectrum, the SAM has also found its way into the emulator club. The emulator's name is SIMCOUPE. I stumbled upon it while browsing the congested Internet, but couldn't download it because the network wouldn't connect to the server. In any case, PC users among you should download a version to test. Oh, I don't know the exact URL, but using Netscape Navigator, you should search within the (Computer) Sinclair, (Model) Spectrum pages!

Another emulator: following version 3.04, Z80 is now also available as v3.05. What worries me is that each version is slower than the previous one. If this keeps up, version 4.0 will require a Pentium II MMX 266 MHz just to run at original Spectrum speed.