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1990-06-23
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The BBS Callers Digest
(C) Copyright 1990, Richard Paquette, Publisher
Volume One, Number Seven
July, 1990
The BBS Callers Digest is made available for electronic display on Bulletin
Board Systems. Subscriptions are available by contacting: Richard Paquette at
P.O. Box 416, Mt.Laurel, NJ 08054. All rights reserved by the Publisher.
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Chapter Four Interview with an Author!
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Nels Anderson is perhaps the most undaunted figure in the ShareWare game
industry today. After releasing the very popular Star Trek and Mah Johng
games, he went on a limb to release two more winners, Cipher and Shooting
Gallery. Each of his software products carries the trademark NELS ANDERSON
graphics style. With fade ins and outs of the software title, illuminous
colors, and vibrant motion, Nels Anderson captivates his audience.
RePrinted from Patrick Grote's Shrwrv05 file with permission. Recently, I was
able to trap Nels at his home base BBS, Xevious. He agreed to be interviewed,
though all I expected was the standard answers, I was stunned when Nels
volunteered a slew of information.
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What is your most successful ShareWare package?
That would certainly be Mah Jongg. Partly because it's been out the
longest but I think mostly because of the nature of the game. It
seems to appeal to just about everyone. I never thought of it as a
kids game but quite a few people write that their kids enjoy it as
much as the adults do.
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What is your latest ShareWare package?
I have two coming out almost together. CIPHER is a word puzzle game,
but it still runs in hi-res VGA or EGA. Shooting Gallery is an arcade
type game that uses MCGA graphics (or VGA).
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How long did it take you to develop the latest ShareWare package?
CIPHER only took about three weeks, but with a qualification. It uses
a lot of routines that I'd previously written that I had wanted to use
in a game but never had. Having all these routines already available
made writing the game pretty quick. Shooting Gallery I've been
working on for about four months. Initially I only worked on it off
and on, but once it started to look like something worthwhile I put
more effort into it.
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Using the following scale, please rate the registrations for each of
your software packages: PATHETIC -- FAIR -- AVERAGE -- HAPPY --
EXCELLENT.
I'd say HAPPY. Excellent would be where I could support myself on my
shareware procedes and I'm not to that point yet. I'm generally happy
with the way the games have gone; though the registrations have varied
my expectations have varied too. The BBS utilities I've written have
had only fair results. I hoped more BBS's would use them and I've
found that sysops are no better at registering things than the average
person is. In a couple of cases I've added things specifically to a
sysop's specifications and still didn't get a registration out of it.
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What does the future of ShareWare look like to you overall? In regards
to your packages?
There will always be people willing to try shareware distribution, so
it won't ever go away. I think the bigger shareware authors will
become more professional about it and that's a good thing, just as
long as professional doesn't mean higher prices and demos rather than
true shareware being distributed.
Personally, I've enjoyed my experiences and I intend to continue
writing shareware products. The best thing really is the direct
feedback you get from your users. If there's something bad you hear
about it! But also if it's good you hear about it too. Commercial
authors probably never hear what the actual users think.
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What do you think it takes to make a ShareWare package successful?
That's a tough one. The main requirement is that is has to meet a
need of the end user, but that's also true of commercial software. I
believe a successful shareware package needs to be about equal in
quality to similar commercial software and be priced less. The price
isn't quite so important as the quality though. With a commercial
package someone is apt to stick with it after buying it even if it
isn't ideal for them. With shareware, if the package isn't good the
user will just go on and try the next one until they find what they
want.
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What is your opinion of disk vendors (Those who sell disks full of
ShareWare)?
There are really only a few good and big ones. Some of the biggest
ones I don't consider all that good either, at least not from the
author's point of view. When I first started out I was mailing disks
to vendors all over the place. I've found, though, that I really
don't get many registrations from the people who use the disk vendors
and most of those I do get are from a very small number of vendors.
Consequently I now send out disks to only a couple of vendors.
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What is your opinion of the Association of ShareWare Professionals
(ASP)?
Well, it seems like a good idea. I do agree fully with the standards
they've set. However, I tried to join about a year ago and never got
a response from them. Well, I DID get one copy of their member's
newsletter which tells me they got the application, but what happened
then I don't know. I heard from one prominent member that a number of
applications were "lost" at about that time. Whatever happened, that
experience made me view ASP as something less than "professional".
I'm considering changing my mind and applying again though. They have
had some success with disk vendors as I now see a number of them
becoming ASP approved and that's a good thing. It does seem like they
are becoming a positive force.
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What is your primary method of distributing your ShareWare? Why?
Definitely BBS's. Why? Because that's what works best. One of my
programs has serial numbers exclusively because I wanted to track how
it got spread around. By far, most copies that get registered
originated with a single copy that I uploaded to a large local BBS.
Actually, though, based on the registration form I now include with all
copies, most people get the software from a friend. Word of mouth is
still the best form of advertising, but obviously an author has no
control over that.
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What do you do for recreation?
Computers are part of my recreation as well as my job. There are so
many different things you can do with a computer that it's not hard to
separate "work" computer use from "recreational" computer use. I do
have other interests though. I build and race radio controlled model
cars. I have an Amateur Radio license. I also ski.
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How did you start programming on a PC?
Just getting a PC on my desk at work was all it took. I've been
programming almost as far back as I can remember. The machines have
always held a fascination to me, so whatever I've had access to at any
given time I've learned about and programmed. Originally I started at
about age 13 with a DEC PDP-8/L, which is the kind of thing you see in
museums now... a giant 4K of memory, paper tape for I/O and a klunky
old ASR-33 teletype for a keyboard.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why did you release your software as ShareWare?
It seemed like the thing to do at the time. My first program was
written primarily as a learning exercise for myself while trying to
learn a new language. Some friends saw what I was doing and made
suggestions so that it reached the point where it was a useable game.
At that point, the suggestion was made that I should release it to the
world, and shareware seemed like the best way to do it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
What advice would you give fledgling ShareWare programmers?
Many beginners have the naive idea that shareware is a great way to
get rich fast. Actual case from an echo conference: a computer club
proposed writing a tic-tac-toe game and releasing it as shareware to
finance their club. They were convinced they'd make LOTS of money
this way. It took replies from a number of current shareware authors
to convince them otherwise.
Basically, don't give up your day job! Don't expect too much at first
because it takes quite a while for the word to spread. And that
assumes that what you've written is good and is something that people
want. A shareware program has to be essentially the same quality as a
commercial one, and most amateur programmers don't know how to do
that. That means help keys, trapping every possible error, quality
documentation, etc. Doing that is a lot more work than writing
something for your own use.
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What are the goals for your software?
Well, I'd love to be able to write software full time on my own. I
didn't realize that until I got layed off and started doing just that.
That's probably not realistic though, at least until I have quite a
few more products finished. Realistically, I just want to continue
writing when I have the time and hearing back from people who are
enjoying my work. Getting letters every day is great fun! Especially
when people take the time to really write something, or when they come
from far away.
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What was the best user comment you have ever received?
I've gotten a number of good ones, but one in particular was really
special. Rather than try to describe it, let me just copy the letter:
"My son was recently diagnosed as having amblyopia. He was apparently
born with normal vision in one eye and weak vision in the other, but
he went around this way for so long that the strong eye completely
took over. It seemed as if he'd lost an eye, it was so bad by the
time he got a thorough exam at age 9. When caught by age 5 the
condition is cured or improved by putting a patch on the strong eye
for a few weeks. But for 'old' Brett patching was useless, said the
doctor. He'd fail in school and have emotional trauma. We were
crushed.
"Then -- let's hear it for the Second Opinion! -- a different doctor
said 'You must patch his eye, you must try -- don't give up!' So try
we did. And this is where you come in...
"Every night and all weekend, over and over, we played your Mah Jongg
game. The emotional and physical motivation for his weak (unpatched)
eye to see was terrific. The colors and brightness of the screen may
have helped, but the fine discriminations really were wonderful and
fascinating for him -- searching among all those Chinese symbols,
then working out the coordinates, the finding and typing the
numerals. This was immeasurably helpful during those difficult first
days. On 'day one' his face was right up to the screen. With each
succeeding Mah Jongg round he was able to sit back more and do more
of the typing. Now Brett's in his second month of Mah Jongg and eye
patches. The fascination never ended. Just last night we even beat
a board! Best of all, he's already doubled his vision in his weak
eye.
"So, many thanks for such super therapy. Brett just asked me to tell
you you're 'a great creator.'"
Well, as you can imagine it doesn't take many letters like that for it
to all be worthwhile! I sent them back a special version with the
boy's name in the title screen.
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What is your favorite ShareWare package (Excluding your own)?
By virtue of running a BBS there are two that I use every day.
ProDoor makes using the BBS so much better that I don't know what I'd
do without it. I have a hard time remembering the standard PCBoard
commands when people ask me for help. PKZip is also a necessity of
life around here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
In one paragraph, describe your best ShareWare package.
Mah Jongg -- an addictive solitaire game played with Chinese tiles.
Easy to learn and play but tough to beat. Gets the most out of your
system using hi-res EGA color graphics and a mouse for input.