Letters

Letters

Hello LCD and Scene readers! Whoever among you thought the WoMo-Team had said goodbye to the "Scene" (double meaning intended) is clearly mistaken. We remain one of the active forces in the Speccy scene. Unfortunately, for us too, a day only has 24 hours, some of which—besides work—have to be spent on sleeping, eating, and other things.

Well—alongside this text file, LCD also received a longer letter from us explaining what's going on with us. Our good LCD can—if he wants to—easily pull some info from that as well (e.g. for his ever-popular replies).

LCD really caught us off guard with his "Indian Patience". The "old rogue" knows exactly how people like us react to these kinds of games. First off, he completely paralyzed our editorial office with it. Why does this game not only have such a high replay value, but also such fantastic music (the note that the music can be turned off to increase game speed seems utterly superfluous in light of that fact)? When our heads cleared up somewhat, we only then realized the full scope of this scheme, which is why we couldn't resist "outing" LCD as a saboteur!

As we read, Peter Rennefeld intends to write game instructions for "Chicago". Sorry—we apologize for not thinking of that ourselves. Back when we first saw the game (when was that again?) and played it almost to unconsciousness, there was no manual at the start either. However, since the game allows the Speccy to play against itself, it became apparent pretty quickly how and what it was all about. Hello Peter! In this context, we would gladly include your manual as a text file for PD. We just wonder how you still find time to play at all with all your activities?

"Scene" changes its visual appearance almost from issue to issue. By now, it looks not only very professional, but almost perfect. At some point one should stick to a single style; the last issue (13) could serve as a benchmark (Maßstab—hurrah, thanks to TW2, a truly pretty example of neo-German word architecture) for all future ones.

Now, we don't just want to babble away lines of text, but also offer you something (of course, only if LCD wants to use it for his mag).

There is an "ancient" program that is surely known to many of you, but was probably used by only a few. We are talking about "VU-3D". With this, you can create elaborate 3D graphics and animations. However, it definitely takes some practice and experience. Now, we received a large number of such pretty animations from a Scene returnee (we don't know right now if he is a "Scene" subscriber too) named Claus Jahn. We will send some of them along to LCD and hope you get to see them as well. Whoever wants to can add music underneath and create an animated music demo.

Along with that, LCD also gets more demos from Lithuania. Somehow, a few files on the disk seemed to have gotten messed up last time. And for the gaming addicts, another game called Xenox. Maybe one of you can tell US how to play it best.

So LCD, we hope to have smoothed things out a bit after our nearly 4-month absence. Unless the sky falls on our heads, we will be back more regularly in the near future.

Let the scene go on. In this spirit, continued success,
The WoMo-Team (now in the SAM scene and on PC also; hopefully no one reads that last part ;)).

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HI WOMO,
I know how it is: a day has 24 hours, but even I can only use a few of them for my hobbies. How in the devil's name do you manage it? Family, elaborate info, running the club, and then letters on top of that! I would have cloned myself long ago to have someone for the unpleasant chores.

Well, thanks for the compliments, but don't forget that I'm a Patience fanatic too, and the fact that I program such things myself doesn't detract from the fun of the game. Programming is just as much fun as playing, and both take a very long time in this case. The game was announced long beforehand, and despite the time pressure, I built in the Autoplay option, which wasn't planned from the start. Recently I got an Amiga version of the game, and my Autoplay is actually faster than the Amiga's, as I measured! I got the music for I.P. from Cats Eye and have no idea if it's ripped or if she wrote it herself.

I can only pass along the message to Peter. I myself never understood games like Chicago, hence my plea to PD programmers: send manuals along as a TW II file, that makes my job easier!

I'll leave SCENE as it is for now; I also think the mag is finally mature. It's far from perfect, especially the release dates...

I also use VU-3D; see e.g. the SCENE+ intro animation. Other animations I make on the Amiga and then transfer to the Speccy, but without VU-3D I couldn't make nice rotating logos. Unfortunately, using it is very difficult, which is why I'm amazed at the complexity of the objects. Therefore, I will use everything without exception on SCENE+, but everything has to be packed first.

Oh yes, Mega Xonix—I really love playing that, I know the best way to play it.

L.C.D.

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Guido Schell
20.02.1997
Auf dem Stocke 37
D-32584 Loehne

* R E A D E R S ' L E T T E R for Scene+ *

Hello L.C.D.!

First of all, thanks for your letter from January 27th and the many Scene+ issues. I'm currently going through them all, and before I forget everything I want to comment on, I'll just write these lines on the side.

Well, I think it's time for a subscription. I already have a bad conscience. Right now I'm trying to find out how much a subscription costs. There used to be an economy subscription for 30 DM. Is that still valid? Ahhh, got it. Found it in Scene+ No. 11. 40 DM. I assume that price is still current. Why don't you write your subscription prices in the editorial section right below the phone number?

If I finally subscribe to Scene+ instead of "mooching" off you, do I actually become an ASC member, or how does that work? What else does the ASC do? What about a member list? Based on the letters to the editor, I've already caught on to quite a bit. Great to meet everyone here again. Greetings to you all! But since surely not everyone writes letters, a member list would be really great. Maybe in every issue. Or is that against data privacy? Does anyone mind?

I'll say it again: Scenex is a good idea. That kind of thing is missing in the German clubs. Especially during the work for the +D Corner, particularly for Part 4 where, as said, I consumed tons of data, that would have been a relief. By the way, I dream of a giant database from which one can retrieve all info regarding the Spectrum in an easy way (search criteria). Specci-Net?

Regarding Issue 11: Why can't you read Scene+ on the bus? There is a PRINT option after all! You can't print sound, sure, but you can't read it either. It's that simple! Right?

The SUC-DEMO is a real banger, by the way! 10 minutes to code it? Someone must have cheated there. The graphics alone take longer. Well, doesn't matter.

Then, thanks for the shout-out in Scene+ 13. The advertisement in the magazine Computerflohmarkt will become a permanent fixture, if you don't mind. I send classifieds to CF for almost every issue anyway, so it's not much trouble. Otherwise, CF is pretty dead regarding the Spectrum. I basically share the Spectrum corner with Thomas alone. If I had more time, I would submit even more general Spectrum info. We'll see. The ad for Scene+ in CF probably won't bring you many new readers, but at least the rest of the world sees that the ZX Spectrum is still alive.

In Part 4 of the +D Corner, I found a few remarks from you. Graphics? Hmm, those could only have been control characters. Like underline or something. Probably came across like that when converting to the Tasword format. In the +3 part, I talked about the difficulties that can arise in connection with +D/+3DOS. You ask if I've tried USR 0 mode yet. Counter-question: How do I access the internal 3" drive then? As I said, it always depends entirely on what you want to do. For example, I transferred programs "by hand" from the +D to the internal 3" drive. That works with a few "tricks". Whether they run on the +3 afterwards is an entirely different story. You write that some games require a Kempston joystick interface. For the games I like, I don't need a joystick at all. You know my preferences, don't you?

The fourth part of the +D Corner was indeed very long. Personally, I liked the first 3 parts better. Right now, I haven't even finished Part 5 in my head. In any case, I've resolved to slowly stop with the general stuff. Next, I will probably examine the operating system commands more closely. That doesn't mean I will inspect every single byte. But there are a few things not found in the manual. Some of it is known, but I still hope to bring something new.

AMMYTRIS (Scene+ 13): The pixel-scrolling is truly SUPER and the sound is also quite respectable. A MUST for Tetris fans! For anyone who wants to know more: LCD's review can be found in Scene+ 5 under REVIEWS2. Has anyone figured out by now who made this Tetris clone?

Oops! I actually only wanted to write a few lines and now I'm clogging up the entire letters section all by myself. On the flip side, the next +D Corner will certainly take a while again. Part 4 was quite a blocker too, wasn't it?

Speaking of clogging up: I think Scene+ is great, but don't you think the proportion of digitized pictures is a bit too high? I'm a Star Wars fan too, and some digis are really super, but I think you should tone it down a bit. What do you think? The disk doesn't have to be packed to the brim in every issue.

...nobody probably expects that anyway. Instead, you should rather include a Scenex of ALL past Scene+ issues in every issue. I mean, updating it with every issue, which would inevitably lead to clogging up the DISK at some point, but that's sure to take a couple of years. Enough clogging. I want to wrap this up. In Scene+, you call for more articles. I would wish for that too. Personally, the +D Corner takes up more of my time than I thought. Besides, I'd also like to do other things on the Specci besides just typing club contributions. You know my preferences. Then you'd like all ASC members to introduce themselves. Well, I don't know if I am a member. But I think many readers know me from the German clubs. If anyone is interested, though, I'll submit an introduction. This letter is already way too long anyway. So it's time to call it a day." Ciao, says Guido from eastern Westphalia (Northern Germany).

Well, hello Guido. Great to read from you again, or rather, to get reading material; I was already worried that you had second thoughts about membership. As far as I'm aware, the discount subscription is still around, but very few make use of it. It seems that with the monthly (?!?) release schedule, I did hit everyone's sweet spot after all. The subscription rates are only missing from the editorial section because I'm an ass, but that will change from the next issue onwards (No, I'll still remain an ass, only the subscription rates will be added to the editorial). So, here's how it works with ASC: If you're a club member, you get SCENE+, and if you have a SCENE+ subscription, you're automatically a club member, and! Well, what can I say? Club members can certainly communicate with others via SCENE+, write letters to others, which then appear publicly in the diskmag. My ears are always open to suggestions for other activities. Club meetings (IS ANYONE ACTUALLY COMING, OR NOT!?!) seem to make sense only for Austrian members due to the distance, and right now they are particularly lazy anyway.

Naturally, I wanted to print a member list before, but some members, like Cat's Eye, don't want their address published. Soon, however, I will publish a list with the addresses of all members who don't write to me within a month asking to leave their address out (Andrea, alias Cat's Eye, you don't need to write back. The same goes for everyone else who has already expressed their wish for anonymity).

Scenex is truly a good idea, and when I find some time, I will improve the thing a bit. Specci-Net would certainly be a nice thing (Sintech, where's the High Speed Modem for MB02?), but right now it's still not feasible. Maybe WoMo will decide at some point to burn all SPC Infos onto CD-ROM and equip it with a search function. The same applies to Thomas and Fred!

I have already written this several times: whoever ABSOLUTELY MUST read SCENE+ on the bus can either print out the articles or buy a laptop with a Z80 emulator.

The SUC Demo was really CODED in ten minutes. I don't count the drawing as coding; besides, Cat's Eye was the artist, and she drew it on her Amiga. Glad to hear you like the demo, too. I also enjoy hitting the "t" key over and over; it's a miracle that X-Terminator didn't suffer any permanent damage from it.

Thanks again for the ad in CF; while it didn't bring in as many members as the review in SPC Info, at least it shows our colors. If I had more time, I would do that myself.

Yes, it is clear to me that the graphics characters were actually control codes or graphics snippets, but I always convert your texts by hand into the TW II format. Well, for using the drive in 48 Basic or USR0 mode, there are a few programs, but in the long run, that was an incorrect remark on my part, sorry! As for the Kempston Joystick port, I meant that in general, not just in relation to you. I already know your preferences and share them, but I don't despise action games either.

Interesting that in Part 5 you want to explain the unknown aspects of G+DOS, because I have looked into that myself as well. Since I stopped using the manual, I know a few commands that weren't listed there, but are very useful in my work, e.g. VERIFY p(nr), MERGE P(nr). It's just a pity that ERASE p(nr) doesn't work.

I still don't know who wrote AMMYTRIS, but it was most likely a Russian.

Honestly: every single one of your +D Corners had a massive page count; as long as it's no more than 16 pages, I have no problem with it. A digi-load is off my mind. Does nobody really expect the disk to be crammed full? Without the digi-pics, SCENE+ is only about 300–400 Kb in size. You can see that in this issue I haven't included any digi-pics at all, but only because I had other material available. My goal is to fill at least 500–600 Kb per issue, because nobody would be satisfied with 300 Kb, right? (Feedback welcome!).

SCENEX in every issue? I still have to digest that. Every three issues would certainly be doable and make much more sense than monthly. As said, three months is okay, but I also want to know what the other readers think about it.

I am calling for more articles for good reasons, namely because it's impossible for me to do everything. Ever noticed? At SUC, Wolfgang and Monika share the work; at SUC [CSG], it's Thomas and Fred; in the German-speaking area, I'm therefore the only one who doesn't have a co-worker. If I find someone, the work would come off my hands much easier.

Speaking of which: at the moment, a colleague and I are developing a track display for all disk interfaces!

Since you are, in any case, now a member of ASC, your introduction is welcome.

See you,