Contents — Scene+ #05

Contents (SCENE+ No. 5, 5/96)

Damn it, late once again! But what am I supposed to do when I simply can't get enough material together?

A. Editorial

By now, everyone should know what can be found under this option. I have expanded it slightly, and from now on, my address and phone number will always be listed there (please call only in the evenings!) in case anything is unclear. The address is also intended as a hint for the many programmers who have supposedly written thousands of programs by now, yet simply don't know my address.

C. News

Well, a few news items from around the world—not that much, actually.

D. Letters

Only a couple of letters as well. I did receive a few more, but they contained nothing out of the ordinary.

E. Articles

I finally made good on my threat and tested the latest software! Aside from four reviews of Russian programs (yes, I know that "Russia" as the USSR no longer exists! I'm categorizing them as Russian programs solely because of the Cyrillic font), you will also find a short report about the Spectrum Meeting in Cologne. After the article section was criminally neglected in recent issues, I intend to rebuild it. The slightly improved font and faster text rendering routine should give the image of SCENE+ a noticeable boost.

F. Gallery

By now a very popular section! This time, I received several unedited digitized pictures from Helge Keller; if anyone needs material for DTP, feel free to use them. A Videoface was used for digitizing. My "Amiga slave" was enlisted again for a few digis, and Cat's Eye from Graz also sent in several pictures that were created in the exact same way as mine.

G. Games

• Stock Market Tycoon is quite an interesting stock trading game: you buy shares and try to sell them at a profit. Just like in real life, the tax authority makes your existence miserable with nonsensical demands.
• Zaxxan is an older but still enjoyable freeware game—and, as the name suggests, it's a clone of Zaxxon!
• Supremacy, the highlight of this issue, is a strategy game for two players. The objective is to conquer the opponent's home planet; an English manual loads first. Despite a few programming bugs, my brother and I waged a war that lasted for hours. The game was written using WindowX, proving its viability in an actual game.

H. Demos

This time I refrained from including sex demos, even though I was tempted to use some leftover pictures. Drink'em all is a Russian demo, as is Galaxy 3; the sound in the latter is truly top-notch and only comes into its own on a 1200-watt stereo system (did the neighbors just knock on the wall?). Half of all the texts are in Russian, but after all, there are plenty of ex-GDR citizens who gladly learned Russian—just ask them what it says! For my miserable Russian skills, the scrolltext moves far too fast.

I. Utilities

I only included WindowX, in case anyone feels inspired to follow in Dominic Morris's footsteps and code a game under WindowX. I wonder what we'll be seeing under this system in the future?

J. Others

The Jet Set Willy 4 demo promised in the last issue, plus a little experiment that had been sitting in my drawer for a long time: RNDPics—pictures that look as though they consist of pixels generated by RND (which, in fact, they do), yet the images remain recognizable. A modification of my IFF converter made this gimmick possible.

Well, that is everything to be found in this issue. Thank you very much for your attention, and now for a brief preview of Issue 6:

• Articles: I will likely receive new games to review from the Czech Republic and Russia; for example, Color Lines has been announced.
• Games: I will probably include the game Defender of the Crown, complete with instructions if I manage to write them in time.
• Gallery: Fresh pictures converted from the Amiga again—perhaps a few from Star Trek: Voyager, or if not, then in Issue 7.

That's it for this issue of SCENE+. I naturally hope to unexpectedly receive some previously unknown games that I can include. Unfortunately, I don't know whether Ammytris is PD.

Other than that, I look forward to YOUR feedback...