"Well, hell!" I can almost hear you exclaim. "It's another issue of MacDoom Review. The damn thing is, what, four months late?!"
Well, five, actually. But who's counting, right?
The thing about free e-zines is that they tend to come and go overnight. I'm glad to say that MDR hasn't gone into that good night... at least not yet. And I don't plan to let it sink entirely from sight anytime soon. But I may have to slow down a bit and take things at a more reasonable pace for a little while.
For those of you who haven't been keeping up with MDR on the Web site, here's what happened: My wife Jacqui and I quit our jobs, ended the lease on the house we rented in South Jersey, hopped in the car with our cat and a favored houseplant, and drove 3,100 miles to Seattle. About six weeks ago we rented an apartment in North Seattle, took delivery on our prized possessions (including the Power Mac I'm using to write this), and we're pretty far along in the process of finding new jobs and getting settled in our new home.
The past summer was a bit too crazy for me to concentrate on putting together the much-anticipated ninth issue of MDR. For one thing, I was contemplating the "big move." For another, id Software tapped me to beta test Final Doom and Deathkings of the Dark Citadel for Macintosh, both of which are now approaching release. And, to top things off, MacAddict asked me to write game reviews for them. (OK, one review to date, for Descent II in the October 1996 issue. But I have to say that the gig paid better than MDR, and, thus, became a higher priority.)
During my absence, a few more e-zines have popped up to help fill the void. I applaud these efforts, and in some cases, even offered their editors guidance on getting started. I've also been swamped lately with e-mail queries from MacDoomers who seem to think I know everything. To help deflect such time consuming requests for what are usually common answers, I started writing an MDR Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file, which will appear soon on the MDR Web site.
Oh yeah, speaking of which: I revamped the MDR Web site and moved it to Seattle. Note that the new URL is:
http://www.wolfenet.com/~reeltime/mdr/
So, yeah, I've been busy, and I think I deserved a break. I'm still not sure whether I'll change MDR to an eight issues per year schedule (with a "double issue" once per quarter), or six times a year with an issue every other month. We'll just have to play it by ear. One thing that could ensure more frequent publication is if I (hint! hint!) receive a large number of contributions... One of the factors that delayed this issue so long is the fact that several people promised articles or cooperation, and then failed to deliver.
Which brings me to--
MacHexen Review... not!
Many of you might recall that MDR#9 was slated to be a special issue devoted to MacHexen. Well, as you can see, it's not! The reason is that many promised articles did not materialize. Also, MacHexen programmer Gary Arnold agreed to be interviewed for the issue, and then failed to respond to myriad queries. Gary, are you out there? I certainly I hope I didn't do something to piss you off. (You were welcome to skip any questions on my list that you didn't want to deal with.) At any rate, I'd just like to know that you're OK and that the MacHexen experience didn't destroy you, or send you off to wander the hills of Northern California in an amnesiac state. We miss you, Gary... please write. :-)
At any rate, the proposed MacHexen issue didn't hinge on the interview with Gary. Several promised articles (cheats, speed tips, networking, etc.) never made it to my "In" box. So, rather than try to fill the entire issue myself -- a task that seemed daunting to say the least -- I've decided to fill MDR#9 with articles already sitting on my hard drive. Easy task, right? Not really. Many articles were sent to me unsigned, often with separately attached art, and it took me several days to figure out which text files went with which pictures and, more importantly, who wrote what. A couple of articles were in a ClarisWorks text format that required extra work to translate. In a few cases, I never did figure out who wrote a pair of WAD reviews, so I ended up discarding them entirely.
Folks, please read the writers' guidelines on the MDR Web site!! It's really important that articles be signed with your full name and e-mail address, and that PICTs and plaintext be stuffed together in the same folder. It really can mean the difference between an October issue and a November issue of MDR -- this e-zine is a month later than I had initially planned!!
On the horizon...
OK, enough lecturing. The good news is that MDR has somehow survived, and I hope to carry it through a new year of Mac-made levels, WAD tool advances, and the inevitable evolution of 3D gaming.
I can't do it alone, so I need some help. Don't just drool over such forthcoming Mac games as Final Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem, and Manse. Grab a keyboard and start typing!
