Hello LCD,
Winter is gone, and with it, the long-distance ice skating is over again until next year. Every time such a suitable winter comes to an end, I feel very sorry. I was therefore very glad that I was fortunately able to take part in one of the toughest of these events. The task was to master a fixed route of 160 km within 10 hours; with a time of 9 hours and 15 minutes, I managed to do it. It will be clear that such a thing requires quite some preparation (training and so on), which left a bit less time for the computer hobby.
And then that rascal sends me Indian Patience too! Not only did playing patience keep me quite busy, but also the question of whether this is a game from India (Bombay) or of Indians (Winnetou). Since we are on the topic of Indian Patience (man, you just can't get rid of that darned thing anymore), it is a truly great game. Although I have already played it 20 times by now and managed to solve it properly every single time (is that because of the game or because of me?), the game still nerve-wracks and captivates me. You can tell it's not an easy little game from the fact that my wife and kids (who have also tried many patience games) needed the entire afternoon to solve it just once. You've managed once again to sneak one of your games into my 'top ten'. Oh, you... there are simply no words for it!
I also received your letters asking for programs, SCREEN$ and ideas; I set them aside at first, but I haven't forgotten them. Work is underway on them, so the next disks will follow soon. On this disk you'll find several (70) SCREEN$ with animals, the program "VIEW-ROYAL" (a SCREEN$ viewer, copier, and also dumper [printer] in various sizes with an index-dump option).
The new menu screen in #12 (SCENE+ section) was much easier to read than the previous ones, but I still think it could look nicer. That's why I've included 5 SCREEN$ with a few tests:
Menu12 $: the old screen from #12,Menu12-1 $: just playing around a bit with colors (Austrian flag),Menu12-2 $: now 'SCENE+' is modified, a bit less clear to read, but still better than #1 – #11,Menu12-3 $: M12-2 made a bit prettier,Menu12-4 $: M12-3 with something extra, demonstrated by "SmallDemo" to show you the possibilities.
The "SCENE+ logo" demo between the first loader and the cover screen is nice, but it bothers me that I have to press a key to proceed. Perhaps a routine that continues automatically after a short while, or moving the 'demo' elsewhere—for example, right in the first loader in the upper part of the screen.
OR (which would make my 'menu12 exercises' redundant), in place of the upper part of the menu screen, since it waits for a keypress anyway. Unfortunately, what might look best requires the most work: Menu12-4 $ in the style of the "SCENE+ logo" in the upper menu section.
Anyway, as requested: some SCREEN$, a program, and some ideas, plus as a bonus a cover picture (does it have something to do with Indian Patience, or am I mistaken? That is, crazy—thank you very much). Have fun until next time!
— Johan
POSTSCRIPT: His Excellency Ed Itor, Ambassador of Bull Castle, has asked me to proclaim that he, in the name of His Imperial Highness John LionsHeart (or is it LionsHead, I'm never quite sure), Emperor of Minor Visitors Land, King of Bull Castle and the Amazing Grazes around it, Prince of the Fairyland PaperandTong, Lord of the famous SGG-Islands, offers unlimited asylum in PaperandTong to the fugitive (former?) Ambassador of Zer, known as Extorminator of the MadGuys.
Hello Johan!
I'm glad you took up the challenge—and I don't just mean the ice marathon or Indian Patience, but also helping make my mag look a bit better. Well, I really like the new menu screen and it will be used starting with the next issue, but let's take things from the top.
I had already heard about this great skating madness on TV and suspected that you might take part in it. Shall I be honest? Such athletic events are not for me; I would have given up after 40 kilometers and turned in my grave. From your letter I gathered that you do like Indian Patience after all—very good! However, I am no rascal; Indian Patience was actually intended as a sort of virus for the WoMo team to see how much their Info would be delayed. Unfortunately, it backfired somewhat and I became addicted to the game myself. Is IP now better than Napoleon? Did it push Pyramid Patience out of your top ten? What rank does Indian Patience hold for you?
Regarding the name: Indian = India, not American Indians! I've never heard of Winnetou playing such a game. British colonial administrators (= civil servants) in India passed the time with IP. Back then, however, they didn't have a Spectrum yet.
If you beg me on your knees, I could stop coding such addictive patience games, but then as a tradeoff I must finally code "Legacy" faster. The constant revisions get on my nerves, though: no sooner do I finish an entire city with a landscape editor than an idea strikes me on how to make it even better, and I rewrite the whole editor—rendering the landscape unusable. At least with the graphics I'm making good progress. At this rate, I'll probably be done by the time the Zer actually attack Terra Prime.
Great, I can make good use of the animal drawings! Unfortunately, some parts of the pictures are identical.
I will reprogram the rotating SCENE+ logo so that it runs in 128K mode and stops automatically after three rotations, but I'll keep the emergency exit via the Space key. There simply isn't enough memory to run it together with the menu; the animation alone takes around 25 KB uncompressed.
The cover screen is awesome, but just a few days ago I already drew cover pictures for SCENE+ issues 15 to 21, so that nice picture will either appear a bit later or go into its own game? Oh, by the way, Indiana Jones never played Indian Patience! He was too busy salvaging treasures and artifacts and saving his life; in his spare time, he taught archaeology at a university.
Nice, so Ed Itor grants asylum to the Ambassador of Zer! I had offered it to X-terminator as well, but then a small misunderstanding ended our friendship. No, not the SUC Demo, but rather he morphed into a Battlebeast to defend himself against the tyranny of T. Homas the Eberle, and in doing so inadvertently scratched my Spectrum. Ever since he became a Genomorph, he also considered himself something better and refused to either write programs or test demos, which reminded him too much of his time in the dungeons of SUC. Knowing him, he will show up at the Cologne meeting and keep T. Homas at bay with a disperser. If Ed Itor grants him asylum, here's a little friendly tip: don't let him copy your genes! Keep your wives and daughters at a safe distance from him after midnight, and whatever happens, no matter how much he whimpers, please always keep five powered-on Spectrums near him. That applies to all Genomorphs, except for me.
— Leszek Chmielewski / Daniel von Korvin
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