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TIKHONOV ALEXEY (Vladimir):
Hello "SPECTROFON"! I decided to write to you regarding your latest call to send in our own program developments. I am 14 years old. I am just learning to program in assembly. This is my first development, so I ask you not to judge too harshly.
I hope many (like me) have been captivated by the game HERO QUEST for a long time. If this is called Role-Playing Games, then this is my favorite genre. Therefore, when I learned about the release of the second part of this game, I immediately started looking for it. I found it and completed it fairly quickly.
I think that nowadays many users are waiting for something similar to appear. So I got to work. In just over a month, through a method of "scientific poking," I extracted the "magic formula" from the program, i.e., I created a scheme (memory map) for the structure of a typical level for HERO QUEST. So now we won't have to wait long for HERO QUEST 3,4,5... The only problem is: as you understand, coming up with 14 levels is not so easy (at the moment, I have designed 5-6). I am entering them in DISK DOCTOR. It is clear that I need an editor. But I can't manage that in assembly, and it feels a bit shameful to write it in good old BASIC...
"S": In our view, there’s nothing shameful about that. Everyone has to start somewhere. Most programmers started with BASIC before moving on to more complex programming languages.
TIKHONOV ALEXEY: I can propose a compromise: I will provide you with all the information, and you write the editor.
"S": Alright. But we absolutely have no time to create an editor for the game. Let’s try this instead: we will publish all the information you send us, and someone from our readers will take on the task of creating the editor. We hope that the person who writes the editor will send it to us. And if anything comes of this endeavor, we will gladly share the editor with all the readers of our magazine.
NIKOLAEV ALEXEY (Moscow): Hello, "SPECTROFON"... I have encountered some difficulties in several games published in your magazine.
"BATTLE COMMAND" - level HIDEOUT. When I approach the second bridge, it suddenly explodes and I can't get to the enemy hideout...
"S": Of course, they won't let you in that easily. Maybe you need to outsmart the vigilant enemy somehow? After all, war is not just about shooting at targets; you need to think as well. And you, as the commander of the most powerful tank, should first know all the capabilities of your combat machine. Look, you have some quite decent missiles in your arsenal...
NIKOLAEV ALEXEY: I also have problems with the game "THE SENTINEL". No matter how I tried, I couldn't "eat" the tree. And I still can't switch to the replicant and take down the Sentinel.
"S": If you read the novella for this game carefully, you should have noticed these words: "... I saw the PLANE on which the Sentinel stood." All actions with objects in this game are done through that very square on which the object stands. Point the cursor at that square, and then do whatever you want: take down the Sentinel, switch to the replicant, etc.
NIKOLAEV ALEXEY: What should I do in the game "SHADOWFIRE" after freeing KRAIXIS and after capturing General ZOFF?
"S": Oh, that's quite a problem! For example, we blew the whole station to smithereens and ran away. But, as it turned out, that was not enough to successfully complete the operation as a whole. After the station was destroyed, a distressing message remained hanging in the main menu: "MISSION INCOMPLETED. ZOFF NOT CAPTURED," which can be translated as: "Mission not completed. Zoff's station not captured." In general, this letter "V" is not very clear to us, but by some signs, it is still the name of General Zoff's station.
Thus, one can think whatever they want: the ending of this game remains a mystery to us. Perhaps someone from the readers has successfully completed this game duo?
NIKOLAEV ALEXEY: How do I get into the car in the game VENDETTA?
"S": Tinker with the car door. We are sure you will figure something out.
NIKOLAEV ALEXEY: How do I take the key in the game "THE CRYPT"?
"S": Which one exactly? If you are asking how to do it in principle, then read the description carefully once again.
NIKOLAEV ALEXEY: How do I get through the cemetery in the game "THE MUNSTERS"?
"S": Magic, magic, and more magic! You can't do without it in this game. Read the description carefully - we wrote about one item with which you can confidently go to the cemetery.
NIKOLAEV ALEXEY: I can't figure out the game "ELITE". I don't know how to buy or sell goods, and I don't know how to enter the station (I keep crashing)...
"S":...?! Wow! Should we print all the game descriptions again?... Dear Alexey, buy yourself the annual collection "ZX-REVUE" for 1991. It contains a complete and detailed description of the program "ELITE."
We are sure that after studying this description, you will become a top-class star pilot and landing at the station will be a routine task for you. And you will buy and sell goods at an incredible speed, allowing you to increase your turnover and amass a decent fortune. Then you can retire...
NIKOLAEV ALEXEY: Your new section "SECRET" would embellish any magazine, but not an electronic one. In my opinion, this section is unnecessary. It spoils the entire atmosphere created by other sections. However, the "ARCHIVE" section is very good, and I would like you not to forget to include it in the next issue of the magazine.
"S": What can I say? So many people, so many opinions. Not long ago, we were criticized for the lack of POKES, for the fact that the "prehistoric" "ARCHIVE" is completely uninteresting... We are balancing, gentlemen! And your letters are like wind for the sails of our magazine. Nevertheless, we have our own course, so we will continue to move forward.
NIKOLAEV ALEXEY: I have a question: I buy "SPECTROFON" on Novy Arbat street (at the "INFOCOM" point). For some reason, all my "spectrofon" disks turn out to be demagnetized, and until I "talk" to them in "ADS," my disk drive refuses to read them.
"S": You’d better try talking to the sellers. Maybe they will finally remove the magnet from under the counter?
But seriously - check your disk drive. It is quite possible that it is not in good health.
All disks with the branded sticker of our magazine are written on "TEAC" drives made in Japan. And you know what the quality of the Japanese is like.
So pay attention to the following parameters of your disk drive:
a) disk rotation speed (should be 300 RPM)
b) reading reliability (can be checked in ADS)
c) the so-called "butterfly" reading (checking for "looseness" of the drive - can also be checked in ADS)
d) and the most important - the position of the head. For checking and adjustment, we advise consulting specialists who have the necessary equipment.
In conclusion of his long letter, Alexey asks us to publish music demos. As he writes, "sometimes you just want to relax to good music and watch a great demo."
In some ways, we agree with Alexey. If the authors of NEW music demos send us their works - we will definitely include the best of them in our magazine. The only limitation: there should be no obscene expressions in the demos in any language of the peoples of the world.
Such "demos" will immediately end up in the trash bin. Go ahead! Maybe we will even announce a contest for the best MEGADEMO. Everything will depend on the desire of the programmers themselves to participate in the battle. Although so far, we haven't seen anything better than "SATISFACTION" (CODE BUSTERS). And to be extremely candid, we believe it is much more beneficial to direct your energy not towards demos, but towards more useful programs for people: games, system software, educational, etc.
SHKOLNIKOV A.E. (Moscow): Since you have taken on D&D, maybe consider the old lady "SWORDS AND SORCERY"? However, as far as I know, there is no full disk version of it.
"S": This game is on our agenda. As soon as we prepare a disk version, we will definitely consider this interesting game.
SHKOLNIKOV A.E.: And also regarding the Elite-2 Vault. Could you classify its "hacked" versions? The thing is, my friend bought a freely copyable version (unlike what is described in "ZX-REVUE"), and it works great on his "pentagon," but on my "scorpion," it refuses to load. Do you know if there is a version suitable for "scorpion"?
"S": The cracked version of ELITE-2 that came from Tver is, as far as we know, the only one in Moscow. We haven't encountered any other versions.
That’s probably all we can say on this matter. In the loader for ELITE-3, Vladimir Kladov writes that his game should work fine on "scorpions."
DENIS: I have a few questions about the game "HERO OF THE LANCE." In the sixth issue of the magazine, I saw this game, and it was clearly stated in the description (quote): "... we managed to restore its original version... now all our readers are owners of a fully working version of this wonderful game."
However, why on the first level of the game, when I take the pouch, I am sent to the seventh level, where I can't even take a step before I end up at the dragon?
I loaded the game in 48/128 modes several times - the result is the same. But that's okay (you can play without picking up the pouch), but the fact that the directions in the game are mixed up is something else! Upon reaching the fifth level and discovering the passage, I noticed that the compass indicated (near the door) a blinking direction N (north).
Through this door, I ended up in the dragon's lair. And in the eighth issue, it says that the exit is to the east. I replayed the game (in case of a glitch) - the same effect.
Please don’t write that the game works on all computers, as it’s upsetting; you think the computer is broken, although it works fine for me - all games run except "HERO OF THE LANCE"...
"S": Yes, it's a complicated situation. Let's try to clarify things. We suspect that DENIS is not working carefully with the menu. The thing is, when recording the first batch of the sixth issue, we accidentally included in the "APPENDIX" a version of "HERO OF THE LANCE" that still had the old loading routine used during the program debugging.
To some extent, this loading routine could have become a "loophole" for lovers of "eternal life" - the program had a loading routine made on the seventh level of the game. That is, a person who suddenly decided to load a saved state right at the beginning of the game would end up on the seventh level near the dragon's lair. As soon as the error was noticed, we immediately corrected it and erased the saved state from memory. All subsequent batches of magazine issues included the game without the debugging load. Apparently, DENIS acquired the magazine from the first batch and, starting to play, instead of EXIT MENU, chose the RESTORE GAME option, from which, by the way, it is impossible to exit without loading a saved state. We suspect that DENIS did this not accidentally.
It is quite possible that our reader simply did not understand the menu very well. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to access the seventh level a second time or any other time.
That’s the only way we can explain this problem. And as for the exit from the fifth level... Miracles, that's all! Although neither we nor anyone else who played our version of the game had ANY problems. Take, for example, the correct answer from Andrey Shkolnikov regarding the game (EXAM, "S"N8). Perhaps the author of the critical letter did something wrong? We don’t know. But his letter doesn’t end there.
DENIS: Regarding your "crazy disk unloading." In the first three issues, it worked flawlessly, but starting from the sixth issue, it began. My friend has an ATM-turbo 2+ computer, and he has all the troubles: as soon as you decided to make the unloading of pictures for TR-DOS v5.01, it stopped working on TR-DOS v5.03 and v5.04... Advice: put back the old unloading...
"S": Regarding our "crazy" unloading and your rather strange conclusion:
We were never "inspired" to make unloading to disk SPECIFICALLY for TR-DOS v5.01 because from the very beginning, when unloading the screen, the entry point in the TR-DOS ROM #3D13 was used.
And this allows the unloading procedure to work on ANY versions of TR-DOS. And, perhaps, it is not worth generalizing and writing that "the unloading stopped working on 5.03 and 5.04," as our editorial computers have all versions of TR-DOS - from 5.01 to 5.05, and the screen unloading on these versions (including 5.03 and 5.04T) works fine.
What happens on your friend's computer - we cannot understand. We need more clear explanations.
A very original letter came from Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk region. The style and spelling are preserved.
GORDEEV EVGENY:...I really liked the "SECRET" section because I am a fan of playing games with infinite lives, unlike my brother Chaykin Yuri (also known as ZLATSTAR).
By the way, I'm writing to inform you about a secret for the game "Back to the Future III." Well, in general, to set infinite life in this game, you need to call the disk catalog (just type LIST) and run it to the end. As soon as the catalog is fully viewed, type RUN and start the game, and you'll figure it out from there. See you soon. And please excuse my mistakes, I only got a passing grade in Russian.
"S": A passing grade in Russian is given to you, Evgeny, with a great deal of leniency. It seems that instead of Russian lessons, you are brilliantly completing all games with "infinite life." And your clever "secret" remains a "secret" for us. In any case, it is completely unclear how you achieve eternal life in this game after calling the disk catalog. So do not be offended - we don’t understand anything. WRITE in more detail. Until FUTURE meetings!
And finally, a few words about author programs. We have already started receiving author developments, and we immediately faced the problem of feedback.
Many of our readers live far beyond Moscow and the Moscow region, and sometimes it is very difficult for us to quickly get in touch and resolve all issues regarding the inclusion of a program in the next issue of the magazine. In this regard, we have made the following decision. An author sending us their development, in addition to the description of the program, must state in the letter literally the following:
"I, IVANOV IVAN IVANOVICH, HAND OVER FOR TESTING AND PUBLICATION IN THE MAGAZINE "SPECTROFON" MY PROGRAM "DIZZY: BACK TO THE FUTURE" 48/128K. I EVALUATE MY FEE AT ... THOUSAND RUBLES."
DATE, SIGNATURE
If you do not specify a specific amount, then we, upon publication of the program, will send you a fee that corresponds to our financial capabilities. If your program does not interest us, we will not send you a fee, and the refusal to publish will not be commented on. Disks are not returned.
If your program's evaluation matches our capabilities and we are ready to publish your program, then immediately after publication, we will pay the amount you stated via postal transfer to your address. So do not forget to specify the exact address for the postal transfer.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO NEW LETTERS!
Contents of the publication: Spectrofon #09
- Экспертиза - Дмитрий Усманов
Exploration of the game 'Laser Squad', identifying common bugs and proposing enhancements to elevate it beyond current versions. Highlights development efforts toward a networked variant of the game. Includes technical details for playing 'Laser Squad' via modem.
- Дебют - Дмитрий Усманов
Review of the adventure game 'MINDFIGHTER' on ZX Spectrum, highlighting gameplay features and language challenges. The game immerses players in a post-apocalyptic world with complex narratives. Notable are unique gameplay mechanics and English vocabulary intricacies.
- Дебют - Владислав Благовидов
Debut article about MARSPORT game exploration by Vladislav Blagovidov. Overview of game's mechanics and characters in a Martian port. Includes gameplay strategies and key locations.
- Экзамен - Антон Игошев
A detailed account of a bank robbery in the game 'THEY STOLE A MILLION' with strategic planning and character descriptions.
- Обзор
Review of new games in Moscow, including Elite III remix with improved graphics and 1st Division Manager's flaws. Spectrofon announces Star Heritage demo for issue 10. Seeking programmer for new football simulation project.
- Система - Сергей Савощенко
Instructions for extracting images from programs using a magic button and command codes for MS 6312 printer operations.
- С миру по биту
Discussion on game development, programming challenges, and reader queries about popular games for ZX Spectrum. Readers offer feedback and solutions for gaming issues. Authors are encouraged to submit programs with set royalties.
- Реклама
Advertisements and distribution channels for the Spectrofon magazine and ZX Spectrum software.
