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*IMPACT/99*
by Jack Sughrue

1988 BLUE RIBBON WINNER
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The first annual IMPACT/99 Blue Ribbon Software Winner is given this year to
Asgard Software!
Asgard continues to provide unusual and exciting programs and specialty files
for the TI owner, while moving right into the Geneve upgrading.  This software
house has provided some peculiar - if not downright eccentric - pieces of
software for many years now.  Just when you think nothing new can possibly come
out for our little marvel, Asgard leaps to the fore with something new, at the
least, and mind-boggling, at the best.

There are a lot of excellent software companies out there - most Mom 'n Pop
type (even though run, usually, by VERY YOUNG people - who are producing or
distributing wonderful things for the wonderful TI; companies like TIGERCUB
(the granddaddy of the TOP QUALITY FOR LOW PRICE companies), Databiotics,
Genial Computerware (a branch of the GENIAL TRAVelER diskazine, one of the
best buys in the industry), DOS (Disk Only Software), and many others.  So
coming to this choice with this award was not an easy matter.  The idea to
even CREATE such an award came from John Zittrain and Ron Albright.  Last year
they named Asgard "Computer Software Company of the Year."  I thought a lot
about the idea of giving an award as a way of announcing to the software
companies that WE'RE STILL HERE  and we still appreciate all that is being
done to support the 99.  Too often these companies (and the long-suffering
Fairware authors) hear only the complaints and none of the accolades.

Thus, "The IMPACT/99 Blue Ribbon for 1988!"

Asgard Software (P.O.^Box 10306, Rockville, MD 20850) is owned and operated
by Chris Bobbitt.  He is also one of the programmer/artists among a large
stable of programmer/artists.  He actively seeks programmers to create and
develop materials for his company, contracts with the authors, packages and
promotes the finished products always in a professional way.  There is nothing
slipshod or amateurish about anything put out by Asgard.  Mr. Bobbitt has
maintained one of the highest standards of professional excellence of any
software company in the orphaned industry.

But it is not just the packaging and distribution that make for a successful
software company.  Without good-quality software, all else is gesture.  It is
here - providing that consistent quality - that Bobbitt and Asgard shine.

The latest catalog (free) is as ecletic a collection as would please the most
demanding connoisseur.  The 34 disks include a good share of games (or
programmer's dream of utilities to change or create games), a collection of
graphics programs that is second to no one, some incredible utilities (EZ-KEYS
being one of the most unbelievable I've ever encountered), and some peculiar
miscellaneous programs that are for a more discriminating audience.  With regard
 to the latter, Asgard is the only company I know of that would publish such
esoteric stuff as a RECIPE WRITER (and follow it up with a series of specialized
 recipes called ELECTRONIC GOURMET), a STAMP MANAGER, and a freeform database
which has nothing like it for any computer I've ever used (TOTAL FILER).  I
mean, there has to be a very small audience for these specialty items.  How
many gourmet computer freaks are there?  Yet, for those few (Maybe there ARE
many!) who are out there, it's really nice to have a company that makes stuff
for you and continues to add updates and support disks.

Although I look forward to getting catalogs from ANY company that supports TI -
(Anybody out there know what ever happened to PILGRIM'S PRIDE?) -, I really
love opening up the latest one from Asgard.  I never know what to expect.  I
DO know, however, that I'm not going to be ripped off.  Of the 34 disks, more
than 20 are under $10.  Those are Fairware prices!  And all the programs have
warranties and exchange and upgrade policies.  Bobbitt says he continues to
keep the low prices as his way of trying to keep the market viable and to thwart
 pirates.  (It's hardly worth pirating a $5.95 disk, particularly if you miss
the excellent manuals that come with the programs.).  I like that philosophy.

But I particularly like Bobbitt's consistent policy of not putting protections
on the disks or files.  Hooray!  I make backups of everything and salt the
originals away.  No problem.  Then I enjoy peeking and probing the programs,
learning all the while and customizing when it suits me.  And playing with the
thing.  This is how many of us learn from the experts.  (Almost all I know
about computing, for example, came from Jim Peterson of TIGERCUB Software.  His
programs, too, are all unprotected.  His NUTS 'n BOLTS series is the single
biggest influence on TI XB programmers that has EVER existed.  And like Bobbitt
and Asgard, it has always been a policy of Peterson and TIGERCUB to sell only
top quality stuff at very low prices.)  I almost never buy anything that has
super protections on it, like the QS stuff.  I know it's a way of looking at
the piracy thing to be on one side of the fence or another, and I can appreciate
 other points of view.  For me, I buy lots and lots of hardware and software
every year and encourage lots of other people to do the same directly, by
mail, and by these reviews.  I don't give anybody commercial software.  But if
I can't get inside, I personally do not want it.

Anyway, I particularly like the Asgard policy.

The PROGRAMS!!!!

Yes, the programs.  That is, after all, how my decision finally came to be made.
 There are six games listed (plus some that come with the Tunnel of Doom Editor)
 and they are superb.  And quite different from one another.  BALLOON WARS is an
 old favorite that has been updated.  You fly a balloon across enemy lines in
WWI Europe.  It's very tricky business, this balloon version of the flying
programs (for airplanes) making the rounds these days.  Ingenious.  Missile
Wars (by the great programmer John Behnke) is an alien-attack game that is VERY
fast and very well designed.  It is tough, fun, and a little frantic.  The
manual is a model of philosophy.  Kirkegard might have approved.
                                                                  HIGH GRAVITY
was, until very recently, my very favorite game of all time after DIABLO.  The
former is as wonderfully ingenious as anything I can think of.  It is not
spectacular, has no special effects, is simple in concept, has the added
feature of incredible cleverness.  Is addictive.  I keep it right on my PLUS!
disk to automatically sit in my RAM disk for any time I need a fix.  Then along
comes Donn Granros and Ed Johnson to put out the remarkable LEGENDS. This is a
graphic/text adventure.  More in the slash and hack style of D && D than in the
ruminating style of Infocom.  I've never seen a D && D type of game for the TI
that was anywhere nearly in the same class.  LEGENDS is simply teriffic! I
love it.  It is addictive.  I'm one of these people who plays a lot of games.
A game freak.  No matter how hard I try to be a grownup, responsible person, I
am doomed to failure.  Thank goodness.  I have all sorts of work to do.  Papers
need correcting.  Articles need writing.  Letters, too.  All kinds of things
NEED to be done on my computer.  And time is scarce, as it is for everyone.

But before I do anything worthwhile, I decide to play LEGENDS "for just a few
minutes to unwind."  It doesn't work.  I don't work.  I don't care!  LEGENDS is
more fun.
This fast (and fast-paced) two-disk game is colorful and animated.  You (and up
to three others) visit a strange island.  It has inns, a training area for
experiened war-party members, a store for weapons, another for magic items.
When you travel this land of forests and rivers and inns and mountains you will
need to be constantly on the alert.  For much awaits you.

So after you and your party explore and experience the island, hopefully
gaining much wealth along the way, stopping at inns for a much-deserved break,
you might hop the nearest teleporting rock to a reasonable facsimile of
civilization where you may train and develop and prepare yourself for...
.CE
THE DUNGEONS!
...on Disk Two.  You still have slash and hack adventures, but there is a new
twist in this maze-like atmosphere: friendly encounters.

All along the way - on island or under island - you'll encounter weird
creatures.  The graphics are exceptional.  The patience you'll need to get
through them must also be exceptional.  You must fight, cast spells, negotiate,
and run at the right times.  The better you get at this game, the more the
challenge.
LEGENDS is one of the few superior games that came out for the TI this year.
It is a game for many.

There are two other games listed in the Asgard catalog (THE HAUNTED MINE II
and  THE VOLCANO FORTRESS).  I've never played either of them, but I wouldn't
hesitate getting them, as I've never gotten anything from this company that
didn't exceed my expectations.

Next IMPACT/99 I'll review three of the best (and, for me, most-used) programs
I own.  They are all Asgard and all exceptional: EZ-KEYS, FONTWRITER II, and
TOTAL FILER - lest you think life is all fun and games for me.

CONGRATULATIONS, ASGARD!  Keep up the great TI efforts!
[Jack Sughrue, Box 459, E.Douglas, MA 01516]


If any newsletter editor prints these articles, please put me on your mailing
list.  Thanks - JS
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