¢ o=o=o=o=o=¢ Editor's Message¢¢ by Alan Sharkis¢¢ Summer has arrived as I write this. ¢ There isn't a lot of written material¢ coming my way except what transpires¢ in the newsgroup and on BBSs. It¢ would be very difficult to synopsize¢ it, but most of the talk is anti-¢ spam, or deals with issues we've¢ discussed before.¢¢ So, you'll find lots of files, mostly¢ games, in this issue. On side A, the¢ program that runs from the spacebar¢ is BOMBER.BAS which I found in a disk¢ image of S. A. G. Disk #3 on our copy¢ of the Pooldisk. (In fact, all files¢ this month are from the Pooldisk.) ¢ S. A. G. was a rather large Dutch¢ user group, long gone, but one that¢ had a knack for either selecting some¢ of the best programs around for their¢ disk or creating them themselves. ¢ Unfortunately, the source of this¢ program and others from S. A. G. is¢ not mentioned on the disk. S. A. G.¢ also had a habit of translating¢ documentation, on-line help, and¢ instructions in programs that went on¢ their disks into Dutch. This is not¢ one of those programs.¢¢ Also from S. A. G. Disk #3 on side A¢ of this newsletter is DIAMONDM.BAS,¢ or Diamond Mine. It is without any¢ documentation, so you're on your own¢ with it, but it combines elements of¢ several commercial games. ¢¢ From a user group called R ATARI¢ (their disk #53B) comes a version of¢ the classic game, Wumpus. This one¢ should be loaded from DOS, since it's¢ a machine-language game (no BASIC!)¢ that was created, as you'll see, with¢ the Action! programming language.¢¢ From Bellcom Disk #D051A, I've¢ selected a remarkable program called¢ Bounce (BOUNCE.OBJ on this newsletter¢ disk, no BASIC!) It was written in¢ Action! by JOEL GLUCK and first¢ appeared in A.N.A.L.O.G. Magazine in¢ February of 1985. It requires a¢ joystick in port 1. The trouble is,¢ I don't know whether to call it a¢ game, a novelty, or what. The first¢ screen you get looks like a primitive¢ joystick drawing program with a black¢ background. You draw a few lines on¢ the screen, and then place objects¢ that will become the bouncing balls¢ wherever you want them. Then you¢ start the balls bouncing. The screen¢ is redrawn with a red background¢ before the balls begin to bounce off¢ the margins of the screen, AND off¢ the lines you've drawn previously.¢ As they do, they change the¢ background color back to black,¢ producing interesting patterns. At¢ this time, you can vary the speed of¢ the balls, "nudge" them a little,¢ or stop the process and return to the¢ drawing screen for another setup.¢ All instructions are on the two¢ screens.¢¢ The program can be used to illustrate¢ issues of probability, including fair¢ and biased "tosses", and may even¢ appeal to someone trying to teach¢ about effective collisions and the¢ factors that affect reaction rates¢ and equilibrium in chemistry. But it¢ IS fun to watch.¢¢ Side 2 is special this issue. I have¢ found an entire disk from the¢ BOURNEMOUTH and POOLE AUG (their disk¢ #8), constructed by GAVAN MORAN in¢ 1989, which I feel deserves¢ particular attention. It is a¢ TurboBASIC Character Editor, version¢ 0.2, and it has lots of interesting¢ features, including a windowed¢ interface, on-line documentation, and¢ many special effects can be applied¢ to a character automatically,¢ including horizontal and vertical¢ flipping, scrolling, etc. A joystick¢ in Port 1 is required. Just boot the¢ side. BASIC is not required, and it¢ will automatically be disabled if you¢ forget to disable it. Again, it was¢ on our copy of the Pooldisk.¢ o=o=o=o=o=¢¢¢¢
