Editorial & Scene News

SCENE+ is published by:
L. C. D.
Prager Str. 92/11/12
A-1210 Vienna, Austria
Tel: (01) 272 34 63 from within Austria, or +43 1 272 34 63 from abroad.
All classifieds and advertisements are free of charge, as long as they are related 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 last issue, won't happen quite so soon, as 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 gathered a remarkable number of games, even though he is actually an ignoramus that PC slaves thankfully have to deal with now.

SCENE+ will also be released as a tape magazine! At the end of the year, a Spectrum user who shall remain nameless for now will take care of creating the tape version and distributing the other disk versions. He asked me not to reveal any details yet, but this much can be said about his identity: he lives in Germany and is no stranger to the scene. I am quite glad to have some work taken off my shoulders. I only hoped this would already take effect with this issue.

Last but not least, I treated one of my Amiga 500s to a long-overdue 2 MB upgrade so that my raytracers can finally run. How disappointed I was when the insanely expensive Real 3D 2.0 thanked my honest purchase with constant crashes! It was at least supposed to show the sample animations, but nothing came of that either, since even the Deltaplayer halted all tasks. Oh well, fortunately, I was able to exchange it for a used Reflections 2.0 along with a manual. Reflections 2.0 was cheaper, runs flawlessly, and I am already so familiar with the editor that I've already designed the Zer Battleship, Terran Battleship, a Bright Star-class assault cruiser, and a Cluster-class vessel. Even the Agarians' K-class assault missile has already been rendered, and a short animation of the Zer Battleship is also finished. The only annoying thing is that a few pages are missing from this secondhand 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 manual? Maybe someone can sell me Reflections 3.0 with the book?

Enough about raytracing madness and the Amiga, though—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 some major advantages over other raytracers: for example, it can calculate images at a resolution of 256×192 in two colors, and it is very fast compared to other software. The editor is also much less complicated to use than Modeller 3D or Videoscape.

Back to the Spectrum. On this issue, you will find, among other things, Gasman's demo Interchrome, which you absolutely must watch on a color monitor or TV. I created a similar effect several years ago, but in full-screen mode, which flickered too much; Gasman chose the right size for his effect! But watch out: it only runs on 128K machines. Those 12 frames fascinate me time and again.

The most interesting game on this issue is probably Defender of the Crown (DOC), which is Public Domain. It will certainly thrill many strategy fans. Since I didn't receive any manual with it to publish, here is a quick tip:
Moving units: Go to Seek Conquest, transfer soldiers from your home castle, and hit Send Forth. That is all you need to get started.

Instead of Shadow Nemesis, I have now finally included the first three parts of Vortex—hope you like it! If you think you can write a better story, send it right over. Oh yes, there are three parts this time, but starting next issue it will be back to one part, or exceptionally two parts.

I hope to start using the new SCENE+ menu as early as the issue after next, as there are still a few things I'd like to implement, aside from a new screen that Johan sent me (thanks!). Above all, I am thinking of sampled sound and several graphical enhancements and simplifications.

Until next time.

NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF SPECTRUM — GUARANTEED JOKE-FREE

The "English War" enters its next round: while Alchnews reports that the magazine ZX-Files was shut down due to personal reasons and that author Paul White now plans to write for other mags, the third issue of ZX-Files has just been published. So, Andy Davis, a word if you're reading this:
If you continue your lies, there will be nobody left 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 out to all services in England, and I must say it is quite something if everything written in it 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 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 disc magazine is Blitz, for which top programmers supply their work. Among them is our well-known and beloved Wo from WoMo Team.
The address:
PERSONA, 31 Ashwood Drive, Brandlesholme, Bury, BL8 1HF, England.

A SAM paper mag that came out recently is called Based on an Idea, intended to showcase interesting projects. However, reliability seems to be an issue: despite enclosed return postage, Mr. Rockyard has not replied to my letter.

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

Following the Spectrum, the SAM has also found its way into the emulator community. The emulator is called SIMCOUPE. I stumbled upon it while browsing the congested Internet, but couldn't download it because the network wouldn't grant access to the server. PC users among you should definitely download a copy to test. Oh right, 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 available as 3.05. What worries me is that each version is slower than the previous one. If this continues, version 4.0 will require a Pentium II MMX 266 MHz just to run at original Spectrum speed.