In this section, we again publish information about upcoming programs provided by their developers. We remind all software manufacturers that we are always happy to publish advertisements for your developments FREE OF CHARGE and to assist in their implementation in the vast expanses of our Motherland. Of course, if they meet the requirements of a civilized product.
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Attention! For the New Year, SOFTLAND will gift numerous fans of arcade adventures a new game "Winnie the Pooh's Adventures". An interesting plot, good graphics, excellent music - all this favorably distinguishes our game from many other programs of a similar nature.
Creators of the game:
Program:
*FELIX*
Graphics:
Evgeny Gritsai,
*MZ ZERO*.
Design:
*FELIX*,
*MZ ZERO*
Graphics assistance also provided by:
Romanov Maxim,
Romanov Vitaly.
Music:
-LAV-
Winnie the Pooh wandered through the magical forest, composing another PUFFLE. Suddenly, the forest telegraph - in the form of a Woodpecker - transmitted to him the sad news of the terrible crime of the century - the kidnapping of Piglet. Winnie learns that dark forces have thrown Piglet into the world of humans. After refueling with fresh honey, he decides to save the piglet. And from this moment, all responsibility for the success of this operation lies with you... This DIZZY-like game has three levels, each of which represents a separate game. The difficulty increases as you progress through the levels, so don't be surprised that the first level is quite easy. The game has quite a bit of animation, which makes it attractive. After completing the game, a surprise awaits you. From the New Year, this game will be available for purchase in St. Petersburg at the radio market at 40 Marshal Kazakov Street (Avtovo metro station) at booth 25 (SOFTLAND), booth 21 (LOGROS studio), and from other distributors.
DON'T MISS THE NEW GAME "WINNIE THE POOH'S ADVENTURES"!
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CRACKED MASTERS GROUP
Presents to your attention its first, but by no means last development:
For many years we have been programming on the wonderful "machine" ZX-SPECTRUM, but we have never encountered a single palatable card game. The existing games in this genre have never claimed and do not claim any competitiveness compared to games of other genres, - neither in terms of graphics nor in terms of music, not to mention their "sluggishness". And just recently we came up with a brilliant idea - to create a fundamentally new (and first) computer implementation of the card game "Thousand".
The expected release date of this development is FEBRUARY 1996.
ASK AT THE LOGROS STUDIO.
Minimum hardware requirements:
48Kb memory,
FDD 720Kb,
bipper.
Desirable:
128Kb memory,
FDD 720Kb,
AY 8910\8912,
Kempston Mouse,
Turbo mode.
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UFO 2. Devils of the Abyss:
Improvements for the better.
(C) Slava Mednonogov 1995
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I hope that right now (when you are reading this) "UFO 2" is already being sold, although at the time of writing the article I still had doubts about this. In any case, you will be interested in detailed information about the main differences of this game from the first. "UFO 2" should not become a cat in a bag. Let's start from the beginning. The difficulty of working with the map has been recognized as an anachronism and abolished. Now, when a new target appears, a question is asked about the necessity of an attack, to which you simply need to answer - yes or no. If you did not attack immediately, you can do so later by selecting the "aim" icon and indicating the desired target icon in the opened menu. In this same menu, you can get information about all identified targets so far. All messages in this game are displayed not through the menu, but in a window under the map, depicting the screen of the ZX-2000 computer.
To the left of the map are the clock and ten main control icons for the game. Their functions: slow, normal, fast passage of time; exit to the menu; call the ufologist's encyclopedia; disk operations; information about bases; target selection (you are already familiar with it); return the fighter to the base. It should be noted that humanity has finally taken into account the experience of the previous war and crossed itself shortly before the new thunder strike. Thanks to this, at the beginning of the game, you already have eight fully equipped bases underwater. Moreover, the World Community pays for their maintenance. But politicians remain politicians - no one subsidizes your activities directly. So you will have to manage. I recommend taking care of the bases, as if less than half remain, the game will end. The structure of the ufologist's encyclopedia is familiar to you. It (the encyclopedia) has undergone only two changes: - the number of studies has increased more than twice; - for each type of weapon, its main parameters are provided. The items in the main menu have changed little. To select an item, it is enough to simply point to it, without trying to fit into the intricate system that was used in "UFO 1". Now you can give an order to produce a whole batch of equipment. Sales are interpreted more broadly - you can sell everything: artifacts, weapons, and so on up to the fighter. The most interesting is the new item "Aquanauts". When choosing soldiers, you can learn their names, ranks, and main characteristics. Each aquanaut can be armed at your discretion or dismissed when necessary. Aquanauts are characterized by six parameters: health, shooting accuracy, heavy injuries, morale, energy, and time. The latter is an inaccurate translation of time units, which in turn-based games means the number of conditional time units given to a character for one turn of the game. Each action reduces this number by a certain amount of units. When the time allotted for your aquanauts' actions runs out, you will pass the turn to the aliens. In brief, you have received some idea of the innovations in working with the map and in the main menu. Now let's talk about the combat mode. After catching up with the UFO, you will respond affirmatively to the request to start the attack and... will enter the legendary Elite. Of course, this is a slight exaggeration, but nevertheless everything is done "according to the laws of the genre". This insertion was performed by my brother Alexey at the request of the fans of "UFO 1". In general, the entire second part was made taking your wishes into account (those that reached me). Returning to the game: you managed to sink the UFO and land nearby. You have a whole team of aquanauts (if you took care to hire them). They are sitting in the fighter for the time being. By the way, apart from the fighter, nothing else is visible on the game field yet. But if you bring an aquanaut outside, - he will "look around" and the game field will "open" at a certain distance from him (for those who understand: a 90-degree field of view). By bringing out your entire team, you will see a fairly large area around the fighter. If any of your people detects an alien, he will stop, and you will be informed of this by the corresponding indicators. Another pleasant change is much faster scrolling and reconstruction of the entire screen. Here we must thank the hackers and their mega-demos. After all, a mega-demo (from the best) is the same as a Formula-1 class racing car - it has no practical use, but ordinary engineers can draw new ideas for their developments. So the construction of lines in the three-dimensional insertion and the output of sprites are largely done using RST 7 technology and Max Iwamoto, and in the method of graphics compression, one can feel the handwriting of Sendetsky. But let's return to the game. Again, at the numerous requests, the possibility of saving and restoring any moment of the battle has been provided. Loading is done into memory. Prepare for surprises, as not all innovations are described here. However, as the author, I can endlessly list the merits of my game, talk about the interesting and intricate plot, praise the graphical execution. Don't believe me. It's better to see for yourself. As for the difficulty of the game, I can only say one thing - everyone who seriously played "UFO 1" was able to complete it. "UFO 2" will also be a game for everyone. Moreover, the game supports Kempston mouse.
P.S. During the debugging of the game "UFO 1", a rather original immortality was inserted, which for some reason has not been found by any hacker so far. Here is the essence: when working with the map, press "R", and do not use the hotkeys anymore. After hitting the UFO, do not select any weapon. Now in any battle, all aliens will die a brave death if you indicate the button "?". Thus, you can complete the game in 3-4 hours.
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From the editorial office: unfortunately, Slava's fears were not unfounded and UFO-2 did not come out on schedule. Considering previous mistakes in making forecasts, we will not categorically assert that it will be put on sale at the end of January, but we will simply hint at this in a non-intrusive manner: by the end of January, it would be good to save some money for the purchase of the second part of the game UFO: DEVILS OF THE ABYSS.
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Contents of the publication: ZX Format #02
- IS-DOS
Announcement of a school-ready hardware-software complex by Iskra Soft and Peters, featuring a networked computer class setup on ZX Spectrum with IS-DOS.
- IS-DOS - Владимир Елисеев
Explanation of command line monitor and text editor restart in IS-DOS using mon.com utility as an example.
- IS-DOS
Introduction to IS-DOS system utilities, covering functions like help, user menu, file viewing, editing, and file operations.
- IS-DOS
Detailed description of the eliminat.com program for freeing memory from resident tasks and drivers, featuring interactive mode and command-line keys. Specific channel numbers allocated for task and driver types. Includes usage options and color customization.
- IS-DOS Window System - Владимир Елисеев
Exploration of IS-DOS window system restarts for printing text in windows and absolute screen coordinates. Examples of restart implementations such as lwt, adrwt, lenwt, prstr, str, and lnstr. Continuation to cover auxiliary restarts in next issue.
- Assembler
Introduction to assembly language basics, focusing on flags, arithmetic operations, and register manipulation. Discusses addition, subtraction, and complex operations like multiplication and division through examples. Highlights specific assembly commands and their functions for ZX Spectrum.
- Hardware
Discussion of hardware modifications for Scorpion ZS-256-Turbo, including the implementation of a Turbo/Normal switch. Pros and cons of software-based switching methods. Advice on soldering and circuit adjustments.
- Hardware
Discussion of a new music add-on for ZX Spectrum by X-TRADE and HACKER STINGER, called 'ZX GENERAL SOUND', offering high-quality audio and minimal processor usage.
- Hardware
Discussion on hardware innovations and marketing strategies, focusing on mouse and keyboard interfaces for ZX Spectrum. Critique of competitor's misleading advertising and analysis of serial versus passive mouse technology. Author questions necessity and cost of advanced features.
- Hardware
Discussion of hardware acceleration methods for ZX Spectrum, focusing on turbo-modes and their effects on performance and compatibility.
- Toys
Fantasy tale about magical creatures battling human intrusion. Main character recruits allies for a quest to restore the land's former glory. Challenges include finding tools, overcoming obstacles, and reviving companions.
- Toys
Review of 'Carrier Command' game, focusing on its strategic and simulation aspects. Includes detailed gameplay mechanics, controls, and objectives. Highlights strategies for success and unique features like managing resources and autonomous systems.
- Interview
Interview with Sergey Zonov and Andrey Larchenko discussing their experience with microprocessors and ZX Spectrum development, including the creation of the Scorpion ZS 256 computer.
- Information
Contact information and staff list of ZX-Format No. 2 (1995) including editor, coders, and designers.
- Information
Editor's address to readers of ZX Format, discussing the positive feedback, past errors, and the quest for a cartoonist, with future plans for the magazine.
- Information
Discussion on the new interpretation of the 'PULLDOWN' window menu system for ZX Spectrum, focusing on interface updates and user interaction enhancements.
- Information
Discussion about companies illegally distributing ZX Format, emphasizing the benefits of purchasing official copies.
- Competition
The article discusses the lack of participation in ZX Format's competition, detailing the rules and prizes, and encourages readers to engage with new ideas.
- Let's Relax
A humorous account of a software vendor's challenges dealing with clueless customers, illustrating the nerve-wracking nature of his job.
- Mailbox
Overview of hardware components and prices for ZX Spectrum enthusiasts with ordering details.
- Mailbox
Reader letters section in ZX Format #02 discusses reader feedback, addresses issues with ZX Format features, and offers future improvements.
- Premiere
Guide to Digital Studio v1.12, a music editor for ZX Spectrum, including features, menu navigation, and the use of Digital Studio Compiler.
- For Programmers
Exploration of tools that extend the standard Basic 48, including Renumber for Basic 128, Trace & Speed, Blast Toolkit, and ZXeditor, highlighting their functionalities and utilities.
- Various
History of Amiga computer models and their evolution from A1000 to A4000/60T with specifications and unique features. Explanation of technical terms and differences between chip and fast memory. Mention of new developments like AGA chipset and models for different needs.
- Miscellaneous
The article presents upcoming ZX Spectrum software releases and reviews game innovations like 'Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' and 'UFO 2: Devils of the Abyss'. It highlights features, creators, and technical requirements. It also includes announcements from SOFTLAND and Cracked Masters Group.
- Systems
Discussion of creating music with Instrument 3.01, focusing on digitized sound. Analysis of program's capabilities and conversion from ASC Sound Master. Instructions for composition and conversion.
- What's New
Review of new ZX Spectrum games entering the St. Petersburg market in late 1995. Detailed game descriptions, memory requirements, controls, and music/graphics evaluations. Highlights include Night Hunter, Extreme, Grell & Falla, and more.
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