Editorial

SCENE+

Publisher and responsible for content:
L. C. D., Prager Str. 92/11/12, A-1210 Vienna, Austria
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Spectrum- and SAM-related advertisements as well as classifieds are free of charge and can take any form: text, picture, demo.

Hello, SCENE+ readers.

Unfortunately, I have to bring you very bad news regarding the WOS (World of Spectrum) web pages. There were troubles with the previous server host, so WOS had to move twice (which is why so many downloads are currently broken). The operator of WOS stated that this was definitely the final move, and should he be forced to migrate once more, WOS will be shut down permanently. That would be a tragedy, as WOS hosts the most comprehensive Spectrum archive on the web, and now it even includes TRD programs.

Incidentally, version 4.0 of the well-known emulator Z80 was released recently. Two versions are available, tailored for DOS and Windows.

I got permission from Thomas to include SQ Tracker on the disk; hopefully Thomas will provide the matching documentation soon. The corresponding compiler will then also appear in the next issue.

The return of Dave Fountain with CRASHED is one of the scene's most positive developments; I have practically been inducted into the CRASHED inventory already.

Other corners of the scene have plenty of news as well. A few new game demos fell into my hands, among them: Black Raven II (better known as Starcraft) and King's Bounty P. Many of the new games utilize the GigaScreen/interlace mode to display more colors, but it flickers horribly in emulators. Anyone using a notebook with a dual-scan screen will be spared from the flickering. Other interesting new game demos are Monsterland and Walker, the latter being—as far as I can tell—a faithful port of the Amiga game of the same name. Then I also received Mario XL, which unfortunately left a negative impression due to unprofessional sprite animation. The aforementioned programs are currently in TRD format, but sadly I haven't been able to convert them to normal Uniload format yet—can anyone help?

As for the game PUSSY, so far I've only seen a screenshot (not what you're thinking!), and it seems to be a platform-puzzle game with manga-style graphics.

Things are stirring in Austria as well: LCD (who else!) has finished the Delta Animation Compressor. Yes, indeed! A demo animation will follow in the next issue, which is already half-finished. If anyone wants to embed video sequences in their programs, you are cordially invited to use my Delta Compressor soon. Just one warning: 50 FPS is a bit too fast, brake your animations down to 25 FPS! But never mind, the demo will play an animation (rendered for Legacy) at 12.5, 25, and 50 FPS, and then you'll see what I mean.

That's all for this issue. See you soon (at the club meeting in Mönchengladbach...