The Final Frontier 3/Final Frontier 3 (Disk 3 of 4).adf/ARTICLES/NEW-ERA.pp/NEW-ERA

Text File | 1991-09-09 | 17KB | 269 lines

                THE FINAL FRONTIER - THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA
               --------------------------------------------
                              by Simon Plumbe
                             -----------------


As you  can see just by reading this issue, we've undergone a number of major
changes, mainly in  terms of the magazine's overall look and presentation. It
is also being produced under  a new group name, Infinite  Frontiers. Why have
we done all  this? Well, it's  a long  story, but we  felt that  you at least
deserved to know what's been going on behind the scenes.


Andrew Wilk, our  ex-coder and ex-producer, had been a friend of mine for the
last 10 years. When he  started his  demo crew, Power  House, I  joined as  a
swapper under the name "The Q" (I was quite heavily into  the demo collecting
scene). Eventually, when I  launched The Final  Frontier, it was my chance to
make a "real" contribution to the group.

I decided to call him recently, on Thursday 14th May, for a friendly chat and
to discuss work on the next issue of the mag. He answered the phone and said,
"Hello". I  immediately  recognised  his voice  and replied,  "Alright!".  He
recognised my  voice, said  "Goodbye" and  slammed the  phone down  on  me. I
called again about 30 minutes later to be told that he had "gone out". Within
2 hours, a  letter was in  the post  trying to  find out  what was  wrong and
whether I had said or done anything to upset him.

Two days  later on  Saturday, I was in  Birmingham city centre when I spotted
him. I went up to him and  he seemed okay. He  said he was  going to  explain
everything to me in a letter and he told me to "be patient".

I waited for  about 3 weeks and I still hadn't heard from him, so on 1st June
I wrote another  letter, explaining my concerns for the mag saying that if he
wasn't  willing  to work  on  it  to  let  me  know  so I  could  make  other
arrangements. I just  wanted to  know where  I stood. This was  the letter  I
wrote  (as you  can see,  it's a  fairly  unoffensive  and tactfully  written
letter).

     "Hi Andy,

     I know you're going to write to me soon, and you asked me to be patient,
     but there were  a few things that  I felt that needed  to be said before
     you  sent your letter (a few  points I could do  with answering).  Sorry
     about hassling you like this, but here goes.....

     It may  sound like  I'm getting  a bit narrow minded, but  I'm getting a
     little bit concerned over  your involvement  in THE FINAL  FRONTIER. I'd
     just like  to know  if  you'll  still  be  working on  the current,  and
     possibly future issues.

     It's really that I'm just getting  paranoid and I've spent the best part
     of 2 years working on the mag  and I don't want to see it  fail. As well
     as me, there are  quite a few other people who are starting to put a lot
     of  time into it's production. Colin has  had the last 2 weeks  off from
     work just to write for me!

     Without you, I  don't think the  mag would look half as good as it does,
     and I'm eternally grateful for all your help! I know I've put  you under
     pressure over it in the past, and  I'm really sorry and  I'm starting to
     try and sort this  situation out with  a series of  ads for new writers,
     artists,  musicians and,  most  importantly,  coders, so  I can  greatly
     reduce yours, and everyone's involvement.

     To help  further, if you're  still keen on  working with  me on the mag,
     I've got a few suggestions to make work on the next issue much easier:-


     * For the  bootblocks, I  think it's  probably best  to stick  with  the
       bootblocks we're using and just  mention the distribution  in a number
       of text files. This  saves the trouble of having to get a track-loader
       written and to draw the  art to go on the  bootblock. I don't know how
       long it would take  you to do bootblocks for  4 disks, but it's got to
       be quicker than writing a track-loader!

     * With the  menu, I think  it would be  better to forget  trying to do a
       text viewer for now. MuchMore  seems to work well  enough, and I don't
       really think  I'll be able  to contact the  coder of that  PowerPacker
       support file in time anyway to  get permission  to use the  util. This
       will  mean  that the  menu system is  as good  as ready, but  with the
       lower-case font  support and  the text-based menus  you've created, it
       will have been  enhanced over the  previous issue  so we can  keep the
       readers quiet!

     * I'm not too sure  whether we need a contact screen or not, but I could
       always knock up a small  text-screen  myself and I'll  get hold of Mod
       Processor to do the business with the music.

     * The intro. Sorry! There's  nothing I can do about this, but I'll leave
       the design totally  up to you so you just code  what you feel  able to
       do. If you can  incorporate the TREK VI  logo (from the novel  and mag
       you're borrowing), that'd be great! I've got the music ripped and I'll
       pass it on when we get together. That's another reason I'm looking for
       more coders  so I can  get them to  do intros on  most of  the issues,
       leaving  you with just the menus. (P.S.  I'll need  the TREK  VI stuff
       back soon, as I've got to review them!)

     If there's  anything else  I can do to help, if you're still  willing to
     work on the mag, just  let me know. If  it helps  at all,  maybe the mag
     could become independant of P-H again releasing any burden that it might
     be  on the  crew? This  way, you  won't feel  "compelled" to  work on it
     (although I hope you'd still like to)."


Nothing  wrong  with that, you  might think.  However, I  still didn't  get a
response and I sent a third letter to him on 23rd June 1992, telling him that
I had sorted  out the  intro (with the  RSI Demo Maker) and  that I was using
MenuMaster for the menus so I didn't need any help from him. I also said that
I was desperate to get my TREK VI material back and I asked him  to send them
back in the post or  to call me  to collect  them as I  needed them  within 7
days.

That was  that, I thought. We  were going to have  everything sorted from the
magazine's point of  view and I was expecting a parcel or a  call to  collect
the books. That wasn't to happen.

On  27th  June 1992, I  received a  parcel from  a friend  in Finland,  which
included a demo pack from his  crew, Acume. On it was a British message based
disk mag called "Message  Box #3" released on 12th June 1992, produced by the
demo crew "Dual Crew", of which, Andrew was a friend of one of their members.
I was shocked to read in the news section that I had been kicked out of Power
House! The exact words were:

   "The Q of Power House has been kicked out for unnaceptable behaviour. As a
   result of  this, the  magazine `The Final  Frontier', of which `The Q' was
   the editor, has been dropped and is no longer a Power House release."

As you  can imagine, I was somewhat  shocked! It's not unusual for demo crews
to kick members out, but  usually, the members that  are being kicked out are
told when it happens, or at least WHY they  are being kicked  out. Obviously,
this magazine  had the "news" at least a week or so before release, and yet I
didn't find out  until 3 weeks later  after receiving  the mag from a  friend
living  over 1000 miles away. I  still haven't been  contacted by  Andrew and
haven't been told by any of  the remaining members of Power House that I have
been kicked out. If I hadn't seen that magazine, I could still be going round
under the assumption that I was still in Power House!

However, it  seems as if I wasn't  the only casualty  of all this. Because of
his work for TFF, I  talked with Andy and he  agreed that Colin Gunn deserved
to become a  Power House member  as well. Unfortunately, in the news article,
after it announced  my removal  from the  crew, there was  a list of  all the
current members  of Power House and  Colin's name was nowhere  to be seen. It
appears  that anyone or anything to do with me was  being removed  from Power
House. There was also no mention of the fact that Vince Hirst was supposed to
be a member of Power House  either. Vince hasn't got an Amiga at  the moment,
but Andrew had told Vince that he was in Power House a LONG time ago.

After reading  more of the magazine, Andrew  had also sent a  few messages to
some of his contacts, and  I presume one was referring to  me and it looks as
if  the actions  he  has taken  towards me  and The  Final Frontier  are VERY
personal. He  sent a message to one of the other Power House members who goes
under the alias of `Qix-Snd':

   "If you  encounter stress, Eliminate it! Thats  what I did and I feel much
   better now!"

The first issue of TFF was an  independant release, although Andrew was quite
helpful and coded  the great intro for us. Andrew had been very supportive of
TFF  right from  the very  beginning  and at  one  time, before  Issue 2  was
released, we were discussing possible  releases for Power  House, I suggested
that we could  release a "normal" disk magazine. He replied that  Power House
already HAD a disk mag - TFF. However, in  December '91, I saw  a Power House
demo and there  was a message to  me from Andrew saying  that he decided that
TFF wasn't going to be a Power House release, but he would continue to do the
coding for me. This was, as usual, the  first I knew about  it. (Andrew had a
very bad and extremely annoying habit of doing things like this that affected
other people and  telling them  afterwards by  post or in a  demo - he RARELY
communicated or discussed things like this face-to-face.) We talked about the
reasons, and in the end he finally  agreed that  TFF SHOULD be  released as a
Power House  title, so for  Issue 2, the  name "Power House" was added to the
credits.

As I said earlier, it seems to be a personal vendetta than Andrew has against
me. I don't know why and I haven't got a clue  what he means by "unnaceptable
behaviour". Maybe I was being "too productive" for Power House! In my time as
a member, I  had released  (not counting  demo and  PD game  compilations, as
anyone can release  these) two  issues of  The Final Frontier, spanning  five
disks. In  that same  time span,  Andrew had  written 3 short  intros (he had
co-written one  with someone else) and  a music disk. (In  the scroll text of
the music disk, he claimed that he was the  coder, although in reality it was
coded by a member of the defunct demo crew "Cryptic UK" who didn't wish to be
credited  for  his work. At  the time  that  disk  was  released, Andrew  was
INCAPABLE of coding anything that even vaguely resembled that music disk.)

Maybe  there could have  been a hint of  jealousy. The Final Frontier was the
only  Power  House  release  to have  been  reviewed  in a  magazine, it  had
contributions  from some of the  best artists  and musicans  around (such  as
Tobias Richter and Bjørn Lynne) and people had actually heard of the magazine
outside our  reader base. Did  he think  that all  of his  own work  would be
overshadowed by TFF?

I don't think I'll ever find out the reasons, and to be honest, I don't care.
The Final Frontier can easily survive without Andrew Wilk and the "help" from
Power House, as  you can see from  this issue. TFF will continue to grow from
strength to strength and will be around far longer than Power House or any of
it's releases. We are now  producing The Final  Frontier under our  new group
name of "Infinite Frontiers" (for more information on us, read the article in
this  issue) and  we  hope  that we'll  be able  to build  up our  own  solid
reputation for producing quality Amiga titles.

In all  honesty, I actually think that  The Final Frontier will be better off
without it's  association with Power House. The first two issues were delayed
in their release, and  in both cases this  was because the  intros/menus were
late. Issue two was released over a month later than we had  hoped because we
didn't get the intro in time. As you can see, this issue has been released on
time (even  though myself, Colin  Gunn and  Edwin Yau  have all INCREASED our
workload) and hopefully all future issues will be out on time as well.

It  will also  mean that  I will be  able to  keep a  tighter control  on the
intros. Andrew had a very strong habit of altering any graphic material given
to him to  include in  the intros. For  issue one, he  totally redesigned the
font for the scroller. The original font I gave to  him was an 8x8  font (see
the picture at the  end of this  article). He changed the font, made it wider
and  displayed  it in  italics. I  had quite  a few  complaints from  readers
afterwards saying that they couldn't read the scroller. Unfortunately, when I
first saw the intro, I read the scroller from memory and not from the screen,
so I didn't notice the problem until it was too late. As you can see from the
picture, the  original version  is quite readable and although not brilliant,
you can at least see what is written.

For issue  two, his "tampering" seemed to  be a bit more intensive. Again, he
altered a font of mine for the intro. I don't mind people altering my work if
I'm told or consulted. Andrew just went ahead  and did it and  told me AFTER.
He is  a reasonably  good artist,  but he  seems to  think that  he can  make
anyone's artwork  better. I just  dread to think  if he ever gets a job for a
software house - he'd end up re-drawing all the art sent to him! Also on that
issue's intro, I had a set idea for the design of the intro, which  he agreed
to. When  I saw  the final  intro, it  barely resembled my  idea. He had also
changed the size of the digitised photo of Gene and switched the sound filter
off for the music (an integral part of that tune was that the filter WAS used
in parts). Finally, I  had designed  the contact  screen and I passed it onto
him to add  the coding and  he re-drew  that. Doing that  alone would  be bad
enough, but in  EVERY case, he  had seen the art/fonts beforehand and praised
them, said they were fine and made no mention of any changes that "needed" to
be made. I simply can't tolerate an underhanded attitude like this and anyone
who  seems  to gain  pleasure  from  changing  other  people's  work  without
permission. If I  ever receive articles that  need changing, I send them back
to the author and ask THEM to make the changes, or at least ask them first.

On top  of all that, he  has also still got a few of my belongings. To tie in
with the Trek VI  feature, I had let Andrew  borrow my copy of  the novel and
Starlog special as he was going to convert the Trek VI logo for the intro. As
I  told in  him several letters,  I NEEDED these  to review  for the  Trek VI
special. As you'll  see when you read it, I haven't been able to review these
because of this.

As well as the books, he was also going to buy my old disk drive from the C64
along with about 200 disks. The disk drive itself was broken and he was going
to get it fixed and then buy it off me for £50. (I had previously sold my C64
so I had no need for  it.) Finally, he has also still got a few disks for the
Amiga. Vince  Hirst, who is still a friend of Andrew's, has been in touch and
I wrote to  him about two  weeks ago  asking him  to call me so  I can go and
collect everything. That was 2 weeks ago and  I have only just heard from him
after I called  HIM this morning  (14th August '92). He  told me  that he was
going to send a parcel with everything  back (although I think he still wants
to buy the disk  drive). What is  annoying is that  is has taken 8 weeks from
the time he decided to kick me out of  Power House to the time I  am promised
the return of my posessions.

Oh well, at  least that chapter in our history  is over now, and maybe we can
get on  with what  we do best - releasing  a series of quality magazines that
are appreciated  by our readers. However, as a final note of irony, I've just
had an article published  in one of the top traditional disk mags (RAW) under
my old  name and  it's  publicising the disk  mag and offering  help to other
demo crews. I only hope I get a good response! It's also looking certain that
I'll be writing  for that magazine  again, along  with a few  others, further
spreading the name of Infinite Frontiers.