Have you seen those seemingly random patterns that conceal 3-D images? They are called stereograms and were developed in the 1970’s. Holograms were developed in the 1960’s. Glimmer combines the 3-D technology of the 1950’s—red-blue movie glasses—with the processing power of the modern Macintosh, resulting in a 3-D arcade game experience equal to none.
Features
• stunning stereoscopic 3-D color graphics,
• 24 architecturally distinct rooms,
• a cast of 11 charismatic creatures,
• an hour-long musical score,
• stereo sound!
Special Offer!
If you would like to see Glimmer in 3-D before deciding whether to register, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:
Jeremy Bem
301 Wyckoff Ave.
Ithaca, NY 14850
USA
I'll send you a free trial pair of 3-D glasses.
Visit Glimmer’s Web Site!
http://members.aol.com/glimmer3d/
Offering online registration, updates, 3-D photographs and fractals, an international high score list, strategies, secrets, and more!
Order Info
The demo version of Glimmer ends after room 6. Please copy and distribute the demo version of Glimmer freely.
The full version of Glimmer is shareware and costs $20. On receiving your payment, I’ll send you two pairs of 3-D glasses and instructions for typing in a registration code that lets you play past room 6.
To pay for Glimmer, either press “R” from Glimmer’s title screen or run the “Register” program that accompanies Glimmer. Enter your name, postal address, e-mail address, and the number of copies of Glimmer you want to register. Then Save, Copy, or Print the registration form and send the form and payment to:
Kagi Shareware
1442-A Walnut St. #392-LI
Berkeley, CA 94709-1405
USA
e-mail: sales@kagi.com
FAX: +1 510 652-6589
The following payment methods are available:
• Check/Money Order
Checks must be drawn in US dollars.
• Cash
Wrap the cash in paper so it isn’t obvious. A wide variety of foreign currencies are accepted. The exchange rates offered are probably not as good as the ones you would find at a bank.
• Invoice
Print three copies of the form and send them to your accounts payable department. Kagi Shareware cannot invoice your company; you need to handle all the paperwork on your end.
• VISA, American Express, MasterCard
If you are paying with credit card, you can e-mail or FAX your payment. For e-mail, either Copy the registration form and paste it into the body of an e-mail message, or Save the form and attach the file to an e-mail message. E-mail payments take 3-4 days to process. FAX payments take up to 10 days.
• First Virtual
E-mail the form as described above. For more information about First Virtual, send e-mail to <help@fv.com>.
Music
Glimmer includes the full set of 24 fugues from J. S. Bach’s The Well Tempered Clavier, Book II, as well as two preludes. One fugue accompanies each room.
To hear the music, QuickTime 2.0 or newer must be installed. That is, all of the following files must be in your Extensions folder, inside your System Folder:
• QuickTime™
• QuickTime™ Musical Instruments
• QuickTime™ PowerPlug (if you have a Power Macintosh)
These files will be installed automatically only on recent computers. If you don’t have them, you can find them at any of the following places:
• World Wide Web
http://members.aol.com/glimmer3d/
http://quicktime.apple.com
• FTP
ftp.support.apple.com, in the directory /pub/apple_sw_updates/US/Macintosh/System Software/QuickTime
ftp.info.apple.com (in Europe: ftp.info.euro.apple.com), in the directory /Apple.Support.Area/Apple.Software.Updates/US/Macintosh/System/QuickTime
• Gopher
info.apple.com, in the directory Apple.Support.Area/Apple.Software.Updates/US/Macintosh/System/QuickTime
• AOL
keyword: AppleComputer
• CompuServe
type GO APPLSUP
• Postal Mail
Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope and a high-density disk to Jeremy Bem, 301 Wyckoff Ave., Ithaca, NY 14850, and I’ll be happy to copy QuickTime for you.
If you have QuickTime 2.0 or newer and still don’t hear music:
• Make sure that the folder Glimmer Music is in the same folder as Glimmer.
• Quit all other applications before running Glimmer.
• Make sure that the sound volume is not set to 0 (from within Glimmer, press 0-7 to change the sound volume)
• Make sure that music is on (from within Glimmer, press M to turn music on/off)
Note that machines with fewer than 8 megabytes of memory will probably not be able to play the music.
Do you have trouble focusing in Glimmer’s tunnels?
To adjust Glimmer's focus:
1. Press <TAB> to pause Glimmer.
2. Choose “Adjust Focus…” from the “Game” menu.
3. Move the slider slowly toward “Easiest Focus” until you can easily focus on the sample tunnel.
4. Click “OK”.
Do you see unwanted shadows?
To adjust Glimmer’s colors:
1. Press <TAB> to pause Glimmer.
2. Choose “Adjust Colors…” from the “Game” menu.
3. Follow the directions on the screen. It may be impossible to find an absolutely perfect color.
4. Click “OK”.
System Requirements
• 68020 processor or better (any LC, Performa, II, Centris, Quadra, or Power Macintosh)
• System 7.0 or newer
• 13" or larger monitor capable of displaying 256 colors
• 5 megabytes of memory
System Recommendations
• 68040 processor or better (LC 475-999, Performa 630-9999; any Centris, Quadra, or Power Macintosh)
• QuickTime 2.0 or newer (see above)
• 8 megabytes of memory
The History of Glimmer
The history of Glimmer begins 8 years ago, when, as a sixth-grader, I went to see a 3-D movie in the OmniMax theater at the Boston Science Museum. After the movie, my father explained to me how 3-D glasses work, and I was excited about it. So we stole all the used 3-D glasses from the garbage cans outside the theater, took them home, and I tried to draw 3-D pictures on our Mac II. Eventually I succeeded in getting the red and the blue images to line up right, and I wrote a primitive version of Glimmer in BASIC. Unfortunately I no longer have that earliest version of Glimmer, which no one ever saw except for me and a couple of friends, but I remember that the monsters were squares, you were a circle, and the diamonds were literally little diamonds, like this: .
I didn’t touch Glimmer again until two years ago, by which time I had learned the programming language C++, which would give me the power to include real graphics, sound, etc. I worked on Glimmer for a year, decided it was done, and wrote a letter to Ben Haller (the author of Solarian II) asking for marketing advice. Not having seen Glimmer, he answered, “I'd be very surprised if it doesn’t need more spit and polish than you think before being released.” And he was right, though that was hard for me to admit at the time.
So with Ben’s endless encouragement and advice, I’ve spent another year polishing Glimmer, adding, among other things, color and music. I hope that you enjoy playing it as much as I’ve enjoyed programming it. And should you decide to register, I promise that the 3-D glasses I send you will not come from a garbage can in Boston.
What’s New in Version 1.1?
Not that much. Here's what I've done:
• made the first few rooms easier,
• added the ability to adjust Glimmer's colors,
• corrected a few bugs,
• re-designed the Glimmer logo,
• made the Orb shoot colored stars.
More Information
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, send me e-mail at <glimmer@kagi.com>, or send postal mail to:
Jeremy Bem
301 Wyckoff Ave.
Ithaca, NY 14850
USA
Glimmer’s opening animation (visible only if you have QuickTime) is from a movie entitled “Outside In,” produced by The Geometry Center and distributed by A K Peters, Ltd. The movie documents the amazing result, discovered by Steve Smale in 1957, that it is mathematically possible to turn a sphere inside out by means of smooth motions and self-intersections.
Glimmer’s music was sequenced by Yo Tomita, a Bach specialist at the Queen’s University of Belfast.
It is prohibited to modify Glimmer in any way, to distribute Glimmer without its accompanying files (“Register”, “Read Me”, “Glimmer Intro”, and “Glimmer Music”), to publicize or distribute Glimmer registration codes, or to distribute registered copies of Glimmer. The author makes no warranties, either expressed or implied.
Permission is freely given to include Glimmer in any compilations of shareware. If space permits, please include the latest version of QuickTime in a folder called “Files for Extensions folder”.
The author reserves the right to terminate the free 3-D glasses offer at any time without notice.
Apple and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. QuickTime and the QuickTime Logo are trademarks used under license.
