¢SOFTWARE SCENE¢¢¢DEMO MAKER & EDIT 7¢¢Reviewed by Alan Hitchen, 1997.¢¢¢ A commercial disk from Richard Gore, this is a collection of programs designed to help you create a scrolling message demo similar to those favoured by our European friends. Naturally the finished product is not quite as sophisticated, but it enables those with little programming skill to produce a demo with the minimum of effort. And more advanced users can easily add embellishments.¢¢ The creative programs are written in Turbo Basic, so an XL/XE is required. However a standard Basic demo can be created that will run on any 48k machine. The disk is supplied with a comprehensive 12 page manual, and a sample demo is supplied to show you what can be achieved.¢¢ To create a demo of your own, start with a blank formatted disk, add DOS files and Turbo Basic if required. Next copy the apropriate demo files from the master disk. The Autorun, Demo and Font files form the bare bones of the demo.¢¢ Next boot up Edit 7, this is an art program that will help you create the picture for the demo. It looks fairly basic, but it does have a good range of features. On a 130XE it will load a help screen into the Ramdisk. Text can also be added to the picture, using the standard font, or any other. Five fonts are supplied, as are two sample pictures. Also included is a loader to allow you to use these pictures in your own programs. Having created a picture, save it to the demo disk.¢¢ Now boot up the Demo Maker, this program creates the scrolling message. It is limited to 1968 characters in length. My first attempt exceeded this limit, and editing the message took some time. I would advise writing it out first to ensure it will fit. When finished the scroll can then be checked at various speeds. The message can then be saved out as a text file that can be reloaded at a later date if changes are needed. When you are satisfied, the program will create two data files that the Demo program will use, these are added to the demo disk.¢¢ Having created your picture and scrolling message all that remains is to customise the Demo program. The minimum requirement is that you insert the appropriate names for your picture and scroll files where indicated. However you can also change the size of the scroll, the speed of the scroll, and the colour of the scroll. Finally you can add music. Two music programs are supplied in listed format, so that they can be merged with the main program. Don't forget to save the modified program back to your demo disk.¢¢ All you need do now is boot the disk, the Turbo version loads in 45 seconds, while the standard version takes 85 seconds. You should then be rewarded with your picture, a scroll running underneath, with some background music. ¢¢ As I said at the beginning, it may not produce the most stunning demo you have ever seen, but it is a good utility that is quick and easy to use even for a novice. The hardest part is thinking up the content you will use.¢¢A Demo Maker Extention disk is also available. This allows the use of GR.8 and GR.15 pictures and has two new music files.¢¢Both disks are available from D.G.S., 62 Thomson Avenue, Balby, Doncaster, DN4 0NU. Telephone (01302) 855026.¢¢¢¢Ed: Kevin Cooke reviewed Demo Maker in Futura issue 12. The extension disk was reviewed in issue 16.¢¢ Alan's review above is the second positive review of the Demo Maker package so perhaps you should check it out. Give Richard Gore your support and hopefully we'll see more new titles soon.¢¢
