cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) (01/22/88)
[Note all funds are US, unless noted otherwise.]
Well, I did indeed miss Harald at AmiExpo, maybe next time. I did meet
a lot of people who I had only previously corresponded to via email and
that is always a treat. Basically, AmiExpo was ok, my feelings were that
the exhibits were nice, but a lot of the technical program was pretty
lame. Also it is kind of silly to hold a show like that in downtown L.A.
where parking is $1.50 for 20 minutes. So a reccomendation to the people
who hosted it (you know who you are...) go to Usenix or DECUS to see how
technical sessions should be held, and MacExpo to see what an exhibit
looks like. Plus you could do some little things that would make life more
enjoyable, like put peoples names on their badges. As a total experience
it was positive though. I also ended up buying a few things ...
Anco - Karting and GrandPrix ($25.00 ea, 2 for $40)
First, Anco seems to be a subsidiary of EA, since they don't know how
to make programs work with expanded memory. When I called them about it they
said "Use the NoFastMem program." After I explained I was using an Amiga 1000
and didn't have NoFastMem (I have since written it from the snoop sources)
they were at a loss to explain how their games could be at all useful. I have
not been able to get GrandPrix to even boot! Karting did, and looked ok
with some interesting play action (it is a top view of the track), but I
will never buy another Anco product again. Period.
TopDown Software - Vyper ($24.95)
I like this game a lot. The game play is basically Galaxians with some
twists (like the way things come on screen.) The play is smooth, it works
with expanded memory (yea!) and basically looks good. What is funny is that
all of the sounds are straight from the Williams Defender coin-op (I have
one and checked). The other thing I liked about this program is that I
know how it works (I talked with the author for about 2 hours at AmiExpo).
He also wrote FootMan (which I didn't get because it is a PacMan clone and
I never was thrilled by PacMan). He pointed out that it took several months
to write the animation routines that he was comfortable with. He designs
all of his scenery and objects with Dpaint II, runs them through a filter
to create C code and then includes them in the source. The animation task
is in assembler, the play action and user interface are written in C.
After the animation routines were done, FootMan took half the time to write.
Aegis - Ports of Call ($??)
This is definitely the winner in the game category. Ports of Call has
a similar play action to the BASIC game StarTrader. Basically, you (and up
to three friends) are in charge of a shipping company, you start with $5
million dollars. Using this to buy a ship or two you go out in search of
trade. At each port (and there are many) you sell your current cargo and
pick up a new cargo for somewhere else. The playing field is the globe
and while playing you see a flat version, and when checking out your ships
you see the Globe version. In addition to plying the seas you run the
home office. At the home office you can get credit, pay off debts, check on
your progress (I always seem to run a deficit) and check things out. There
is a ship brokerage firm where you sell your ships, buy new ones, buy used
ones, or buy old clunkers to get you through. When entering and exiting
ports you have the option of driving out yourself which involves controlling
the ship via a control panel with throttle and rudder. Or paying the tugs
to tow you out for anywhere between 3 and 12 thousand dollars. While driving
you have to beat the clock or you will be fined. If you run into the dock
you will sustain damage and also be fined. Other things ports are good for
are buying diesal fuel and getting repairs done. Whilst sailing the seas you
sometime encounter icebergs and reefs (which require your control) or pirates
who steal your cargo. You can get into smuggling as well, and if you ship
things to Basrah your ship may get shelled. All in all I had a wonderful time
playing with it and could easily drop 8 - 10 hours doing one game. The weakest
point is the ship control, as mentioned previously you have a throttle and
a rudder control. As you would expect, your speed lags your throttle setting
and the amount of steerage your rudder gives you depends on how fast you are
going. However, you immediately lose steerage if you move the throttle from
full to zero, even though your speed hasn't changed yet. Also since the rudder
control is right below the throttle (both are prop gadgets) if you are
steering at full throttle and move the mouse a bit to high, you will click in
the throttle gedget and suddenly throw the throttle into full reverse. This
has two side effects, one you start slowing down, and two your ship immediately
begins turning the other way! (because the rudder would be reversed if you were
going backwards.) What this means to me is that the one real bug is that the
steerage calculations are based upon the throttle position and not the speed
position. After 'personalizing' your copy by inserting the serial number and
your name, it isn't copy protected.
OpCode - Music Mouse ($59)
I had seen Music Mouse before and liked it, AmiExpo provided a way to
get it without paying full price for it. Basically, it does the same sort
of stuff that Instant Music does except that it talks MIDI and there is no
way to save the results to a SMUS file. It is also a lot more flexible than
IM and gives the operator better control. It calls itself an 'instrument' and
I guess that is the best way to describe it. I can almost always get nice
tunes out of it, which isn't true for IM.
Zuma Group - TV*Show ($99)
This program complements the Zuma Groups TV*Text program. Like TV*Text
it is not copy protected and can be installed on a hard disk. This program
provides the things you want out of a titler. Fade ins, Fade outs, Objects
in from off screen etc. Basically it does a lot of what Deluxe Video 1.0 did
with some added features. The user interface is easy to use and it sure
beats the hell out of TitleCraft (that was on the GenLock disk). The only
thing I need now is ColorFont support for TV*Text and my titles should be
really neat. Recommended to anyone with a Genlock or who wants to set up
a tutorial display.
Well, thats it, until Jet comes out or maybe Interceptor.
--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.spencer@eris (Randal m. Spencer [RmS]) (01/24/88)
Recently on *comp.sys.amiga* cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) wrote: ...[Note all funds are US, unless noted otherwise.] ... ...Basically, AmiExpo was ok, my feelings were that ...the exhibits were nice, but a lot of the technical program was pretty ...lame. Also it is kind of silly to hold a show like that in downtown L.A. ...where parking is $1.50 for 20 minutes. So a reccomendation to the people ...who hosted it (you know who you are...) go to Usenix or DECUS to see how ...technical sessions should be held, and MacExpo to see what an exhibit ...looks like. Plus you could do some little things that would make life more ...enjoyable, like put peoples names on their badges. As a techie I confess I didn't really get too excited about AmiExpo. Everyone there was marketing. I mentioned compatibility problems to the Micron people and he started trying to convience me that Zorro was what came out of the side of the Amiga, so "Of Course" they had Zorro compatibility. The most exciting thing that happened was the announcement that Commodore was planning a Developers Conference for April (in my Home Town, who wants to stay at my parents house?) The first night of the show they pulled us developers aside and asked if we felt that they should also do developers shows. I really enjoyed all the developers telling them to forget it. No one was interested in going to a show and to a conference. I don't think I could afford the Developers Conference if the AmiExpo people put it on! Oh, to those of you saying "Why wasn't Commodore there?". I don't get it, doesn't Commodore sell to dealers? So they should go to the shows like Comdex, no? ...--Chuck McManis -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Randy Spencer P.O. Box 4542 Berkeley CA 94704 (415)222-7595 spencer@mica.berkeley.edu I N F I N I T Y BBS: (415)222-9416 ..ucbvax!mica!spencer s o f t w a r e AAA-WH1M -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-