Last issue I said I was going to cover commercial disc mags and mags on other computer platforms. Due to problems (blah, blah blah) the later has been put of until next time, this does give me the chance to talk about the state of disc mags at the moment.
As I write this New Dawn is on hold, but why? Cobra can no longer justify the time writing articles when he can be busy programming. This is the only problem with Public Domain ventures; unless you have a large group or know people willing to contribute then the editor ends up writing 90% of the contents which does tend to make the magazine a bit 'samey'. Well how have we got around this problem? We have hassled so many people to write articles that even if just a few people end up contributing works then it will be enough so that the mag doesn't become too one sided.
Anyway, this issue I am looking at Illusions, one of the few commercial disc-based magazines for the Acorn.
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What separates Illusion from other disc magazines is that it is commercial, eg, it is fully copyrighted and you have to pay for it as a normal magazine. This is very well but what does it has to offer which other disc mags can't?
For a start it has a reputation for it tutorials, which are some of the best this side of the manuals. They cover a wide range of topics from Artworks to coding your own demo. They also have articles on drawing techniques. On top of that you get up to the minute news and reviews. The display program uses the desktop environment to good effect incorporating graphics, text and even animation, although this is rather slow (on my mortal A3010), but don't let this put you off. So what are the drawbacks? The magazine comes on two discs, only one and a half are taken up by the magazines contents, the rest if filled with PD, so what I am getting at? Well some of the PD is not up to the standard of the magazine itself. Other than that at £2.50 it is better than some of the paper-based alternatives, for details of how to obtain your copy _click here_"Reviews.Games.Simon".
For the final article in this feature, I am going to take a look at the disc mag scene on other computer formats. Read it next issue.
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