Loadstar 212/212.d81/t.it's magic

Text File | 2022-08-26 | 3KB | 120 lines

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         I T ' S   M A G I C

       Code by Andre Zschiegner
      Graphics by Dirk Heinrich
        Music by Mark Haldukat
         Text by Dave Moorman


 [NOTE:] This program does not return
to LOADSTAR. AND -- this is a PAL
program. You will see a number of
strange things on the screen on an
NTSC machine, including garbage text.
Emulator folks will want to switch to
PAL mode. This program loads only from
Device 8.


    Protovision is producing an
marketing some of the best new C-64
games today. They recently released
"It's Magic 2", and put the original
"It's Magic" in public domain. While
this clever, brilliantly executed
"jump 'n' run" game is available off
the Web, we put it on this issue for
those who are not doing the internet.

    I have noticed two major
differences between US/Canada C-64
programs and Euro works. The first is
that we on this side of the globe tend
to be independent programmers. We have
seen some terrific Demo groups from
the US and Canada, but the majority of
the games and puzzles published on
LOADSTAR began and ended as one person
sitting down and turning an idea into
a reality.

    The European creations are mostly
by groups -- where an artist, a
musician, a coder, a game designer,
and a leader work together to create
top quality software. Is this a
difference in culture or the
geographical reality that we are quite
spread out on this continent?

    The second difference, brought to
my attention by Joerg Droege, is that
we work in Basic and ML. "Too Basic,"
Joerg says, "Where the screen is
painted like with a lot of PRINT
commands."

    Well, he is right. Our philosophy
is Basic for the stuff that is either
not essential, or could need a lot of
tweaking. We then use ML when we need
speed.

    Our European counterparts learn ML
code and live in a world of ASSEM and
hexadecimal! This could be the result
of the Cracking Culture that evidently
thrived during the 80's. The
cleverness of the crack was not so
evident, so promotional "demos" were
added to the front of programs, with
"bragz" and "greetz". These intros
became increasingly complex, doing
things that the C-64 should not be
able to do. Later, the cracked program
disappeared, leaving the stand-alone
demo.

    ML is a strict school-marm! The
Dudes and the Lamers were separated as
deftly as a city street judges between
the quick and the dead!

    And what can I say in defense of
our lame-ish Basic w/ML programming
style? We have a [lot] of unique and
challenging puzzles and games that are
touched by the genius of one creative
person. These are works of art.

    We are still homesteaders and gun-
slingers at heart. Our historic
frontier involved wide open spaces (if
one conveniently forgets the
ethnicide, of course). So the American
self-image is of the independent,
rugged individual.

    Of course, it doesn't matter how
many SUV's a fellow has in his garage.
The frontier is closed and we are all
glommed into huge conglomerates.
Professional Software and IT
Specialists work in teams to produce
classy software. If we wanted to do
[that], we would get a job!

    Where else can a person sit down
with an $80 toy and create most
anything out of whole thought (plus
a subscription to LOADSTAR and a good
MemMap, of course).

    Maybe Euro Dudes can take one of
our 1600 unique ideas and do it
better. Good! Let us see it!

 DMM