RISC Action and Smash
Dave Bradforth had a smashing time...
I can remember the days when David was hardly a unique name in the Acorn press. Oh yes - they're still here. David Bradforth tells the story his life up to Smash - and beyond.
Back in 1994, a gawpy sixteen year old - off on his way to the Beebug showroom in St Albans - stopped in WH Smiths. One of his top reads at that time, Acorn Computing, had just released its May 1994 issue. A few months earlier, this sixteen year old had submitted a program for publication on their BBC disc - producing shadow text in a few lines of BASIC. Having heard nothing, he'd expected nothing - but the program was actually supplied on that month's BBC disc.
The shrieking coming from this kid was astounding, so he chose very quickly so shut up and move on - buying three copies of Acorn Computing along the way. And that's pretty much how it started.
In the years that followed, I had items published in RISC User, Archimedes World, the 8 Bit Software Newsletter and more. I've done stints on magazines as Advertising Manager (RISC User and Acorn User), Compiled/Assisted with the disc compilation process (RISC User, Archimedes World, RISC World, PC Essentials and PC Home), and ultimately other things that I really can't talk of yet.
RISC Action
But then there was RiscAction. The concept for RiscAction was quite simple: we'd produce a quarterly publication, containing a mixture of articles, programs and reviews to cater to the interests of most in the Acorn market. The first issue, published around the same time as RISC World issue 1 (oddly enough launched at the same place) was an immediate success, with articles from the likes of Aaron Timbrell (sound familiar?), Amy Smith (yes...) and myself.
The original RISC Action logo
We had a number of typographical errors: most noticeably my spelling of Millennium in a publication which really should have been spellchecked before being despatched to the printers. (I never learnt from that experience - the first issue of the Easy C manual actually had a number of spelling errors within!). Then there were the strange concoctions of the name which led, for the second issue, to the adoption of a new name and style.
Enter Smash...
...actually with something of a bang. The second issue did at least as well as the first, due largely to our covermounting a CD-ROM and offering the whole caboodle for just under a fiver. Those who purchased it, congratulated us on it and the plans were set for the third issue.
Which never came. Unfortunately, I had a period of perhaps six months in which I found it a very real struggle to do anything other than my day job. The evenings I was tired, the weekends I just wanted to rest - so the original April publication date became May, June and so on - until I finally announced it would not appear.
Until now, anyway. As I'm now a regular contributor to RISC World, I've agreed to incorporate the best items from the four prepared issues (yes there were four) into coming issues of this very magazine. There should be very little noticeable difference - except perhaps for an occasional little Smash logo appearing somewhere within.
The unpublished final issue of Smash
Last month we offered you an article explaining how vector graphics can be converted from the Acorn onto the PC or Macintosh. While the information was originally published over three years ago, it does have a number of very useful hints and tips on how to get your Acorn vector files across to a Windows or MacOS based system. (I updated this article myself so it is still relevant - ED)
We will also be including the contents of disc 1 from RiscAction, the first half was last issue (DrawWorks SE, Master Break and Playback). This issue contains Superior Golf which was also supplied with RISC Action issue 1.
To thank the Smash contributors...
...Amy Lodge, Melody Scowen, Scott Davis, Tony Jackson, Aaron Timbrell, Richard Hallas, Amy Smith, Kathryn Harper, Daniel Head and anybody else I've forgotten. We thank you for your efforts for Smash: over the course of the coming months, RISC World readers will have the opportunity to see exactly why.
Dave Bradforth