Ghoul's Fanz 3

0Editorial

Translated from the text published in 1995.

Yes indeed ! Here you are already in front of the third issue of GHOUL'S FANZ, the fanzine made entirely with the GHOUL'S WRITER by TOM ET JERRY…

Yep, this issue came quickly, and that is normal since this fanzine comes out EVERY TWO MONTHS ! I think it is even the only one, in the disc fanzine field at least. But what on earth are you lot doing ?!? Only GREES got in touch to ask for an issue of GHOUL'S FANZ (and thank you for that !). And the rest ? Nothing ! GHOUL'S FANZ exists, and it has to go on existing for as long as it can, and if you do not ask me for more issues I can feel myself losing heart before long…

Luckily, somebody good gave me a hand with the job: GREG of BABA FANZ. He is a new member of the group I belong to, as it happens: SCORPION. (Welcome boy !)

Heh heh heh — to try to draw your attention to GHOUL'S FANZ 3 a little more, I have made a hidden part… To reach it, find the CHEAT ! (It really is not hard to find.) It is a rather good demo, never seen before, and made just for GHOUL'S FANZ 3…

On this disc you will also find brilliant utilities by Antoine, among them the recent version of the CHEESE CRUNCHER 2.1… By the way, a small gripe: why nothing but Antoine's utilities ? Well, 'coz that is all I had to hand ! And there are few utilities coming out these days… If you are the author of a utility (freeware) and want it circulated, write to me and I will gladly put it in a coming issue of GHOUL'S FANZ…

By the way, this fanzine is going through a serious evolution, and I do not know whether you have noticed… Look at the first issue of GHOUL'S FANZ: no intro, a rubbish menu, articles that were not nice to look at (colour problems), poor music… Compare GF1 with GF3: GF3 is the exact opposite of GF1 ! And better with it: more rubriques, more music (most of it unknown), more… more of everything ! On the other hand, and I admit it, there is a little less text in GF3 than in GF1. About that, DON'T WORRY BE HAPPY, I will do better next time ! And by the way, this fanzine is ONE HUNDRED PER CENT written in ASSEMBLY…

One last message: thank you to everyone circulating this fanzine without my knowing ! That is kind, and yet it is so hard to circulate a fanzine when it is barely known… So thank you, and while I am at it, thank you to every fanzine that may one day review this issue (yes, THIS issue please !)…

Right, I think I have said it all. So here is my address again, where you can write to ask me for GHOUL'S FANZ or for other things (demos, freeware, and so on):

NO RECESS / SCORPION
STORQ Arnaud
14 Allée des NARCISSES
83320 CARQUEIRANNE

And here is GREG's, if you want to make remarks or anything else about his articles (see FIN) or to ask him for his great fanzine BABA FANZ:

GREG / SCORPION
GEORGEL Gregory
6, La Sauteure
88640 GRANGES SUR VOLOGNE

Do not forget, of course, to enclose an envelope addressed to yourself with the right stamps on it…

Well then, I wish you a good read with GHOUL'S FANZ 3 and above all do not forget: see you in two short months !

By the way, and I say it again, the hidden part really is not hard to find… If you have not found it (shame on you !), write to me or ring me on 94.57.54.18…

Enjoy !

END OF THE ARTICLE — FINISHED 26.06.95

1News

Translated from the text published in 1995.

I'm glad to see new productions raining down on our good old CPCs, so let me fill you in...

Not so long ago the FREEDELIRE MEETING took place, where a few demos came out along with a superb adventure game called LES MONDES PARALELLES, and it's truly one of the most beautiful adventure games on our machine (there are animations, superb GFXs, everything is in overscan, etc...). It's packed with options in the menu, like for instance the choice between a serious game and total madness (which I strongly recommend!)... As I told you before, some demos saw the light of day, like one by MAGE (BEST), one by EPSILON (DARK AGE MEGADEMO), one by all the meeting's participants (FREEDELIRE MEETING DEMO) and I think that's it!!! (Which is already not bad!).

But don't you worry, news also came out apart from this meeting...

There was DRACULA's freeware, which gathers tunes ripped from games or demos... Also worth noting: SEB (the boss of the AFC) has coded a pretty cool little demo (good luck for what comes next!).

NO RECESS has created a big compilation of music (there are 40 of them, so the word "big" is no exaggeration...) directly usable with TOM ET JERRY's GHOUL'S WRITER. Ok, it's true, they weren't all ripped by him: 6 tunes come from EPSILON's compilation called "SOUNDTRACKER Volume 1 & 2"... But all the others were nicked from fanzines, demos and the like... And for the most part these tunes are brilliant ! In it you will find, for instance, every muzaxx used in this issue.

ELIOT has released his game PUSH (nice brand new tunes, and the Connect Four idea isn't bad at all!). But the only problem with this game is that it can only be played with two players! He also made ACID MUSIC BOX #2, which is way better than the first of the name (NR's note: the END-PART is magnificent!).

DUNK has coded a game called (no, it's not MOLECULARR 2!) MOLECULE. It's really hard! A word to puzzle game lovers: your neurons won't stand that much thinking!

SPOTS 94 is out, and so is MEGABLASTERS (for about 4 months now (see the previous issue)).

Come on, time for a bit of self-promotion: let me announce that BABA FANZ 4 is already out and it's top-notch!

Oh yeah, I've got a NEW as a world exclusive: GHOUL'S FANZ 3 is out! (Huh, really?!?).

QUASAR CPC 8 is out and, as usual, it's very fine work!

Right, I'll just recap the slightly older stuff on the demo front: WOMEN AND DRAGONS, CATLOC PREMIERE MEGADEMO (for the CHEAT, go to the orange circle then press the keys P, O, C, E and the space bar), SOUNDTRACKER DEMO 2, ONLY FOR YOUR EYES 2, POWER SYSTEM MEGADEMO, etc...

Right, it's time for me to end this column because NO RECESS is picking a fight with me, saying I won't have any ideas left for the PREVIEW column, but don't you worry, I haven't revealed everything to you yet...

END OF ARTICLE - FINISHED ON ??.06.95

2Previews

Translated from the text published in 1995.

Hi, I'm going to present a column you all love: the PREVIEW column... It was really easy to put together, because with all the demomakers getting down to work and all the fanz' storming onto the CPC scene, it's hard to see how our good old machine could declare itself dead! Actually, I can already assure you that the CPC won't die now, nor in six months, because when you see all the PREVIEWs announced for soon, you can only be optimistic and imagine a fantastic future for this immortal machine!!!

Right, that's all very well, but I'd still better do what my boss NO RECESS asked me to, otherwise I'll get my face smashed in, and I'm not really keen on that!

So, to keep you waiting no longer, here I go (anyway, I don't really have a choice: with a gun pointed at my head, I don't quite see how to refuse!)...

So, WOT shall I start with? Eh, what did you say, you little fat guy at the back of the room? (If you've got nothing to say, SHUT YOUR TRAP, because in spite of everything I still haven't started this column!!!).

Right, I dig around at the bottom of my bag and pull out a scrap of paper which says that ELIOT (of the groups ACID, POWER and AST SYSTEM) should be releasing ACID MUSIC BOX #2, a compilation of tunes in SOUNDTRACKER format. I know I also talked about it in the ACTUALITES column, but this PREVIEW was so close... ELIOT, once again, is going to release a new fanz disc by the name of ACID FANZ, and it promises to be brilliant... He's also going to make, together with our little NO RECESS, a demo by the name of EAT MY SHORT (normally, there will be some MORPHING 2D !!! (ndNR: this superb demo will bring together a lot of effects, some of them never seen on the CPC... But it will not be finished any time soon !)).

The ONCE YEARS OF CPC MD should come out for the AFC EXPO #2, and it promises to be 4 to 5 times better than the first of the name, which wasn't that bad to begin with...

BABA FANZ 5 will be on disc — code by NO RECESS, most of the GFXs by me, and the intro's brand new tune made by me (GREG). Still on the SCORPION front, there's going to be a SLIDE SHOW by the name of BOOGER SLIDE (GFXs by me and code by ATC. It's shaping up pretty well!!!). ATC, again, is preparing a new fanz disc for us that will be at least on a par with the great MAD MAG #2, so it promises to be an excellent issue! Besides, there's going to be some competition, because DRACULA announced to me that DRACULA FANZ, 5th of the name, would be the fanz of the year, so... (NR's note: since we're on SCORPION, let me talk about myself: I'm preparing two freewares, PAL VIEWER (a utility that will let you view the colours of the palettes created with the excellent OCP ART STUDIO and give the equivalence of those colours on the GATE ARRAY (very useful for coders and others)), and SOUNDTRACKER INTERRUPT MUSIC CREATOR, which will be a utility to turn any SOUNDTRACKER music into an interrupt-driven SOUNDTRACKER muzaxx directly usable from BASIC (very handy for BASIC programmers wanting to code intros and such...).

MORTEL and ARKOS are preparing demos for us for the end of the year...

NICKY ONE is cooking up something brilliant for us — I know what it is, but I promised him not to say a thing...

Now, over at FUTUR'S, the game AVENTURY is still under development, and so is DE RETOUR DES TENEBRES. (Both will be adventure games, but AVENTURY will be by far the best!). ZACK also has BURGER PARTY in the works, a shoot'em'up for the CPC+.

To finish, TOM ET JERRY will make us an even more advanced version of GHOUL'S WRITER, so I don't even dare imagine the carnage it's going to cause! (NR's note: apparently, the program will be built around a vertical scrolling (hardware?), but there are lots of problems and the program isn't really moving forward... We all wish you good luck, T&J!).

That's all for this number, I WISH YOU ENJOY IT !!!!

END OF ARTICLE - FINISHED ON ??.06.95

3Fanzines

Translated from the text published in 1995.

And here I am again in this fanz' (BRILLIANT!) to present you the FANZINES column...

Today, I'm going to review the following fanzines:

• BABA FANZ 4
• DRACULA FANZ 3
• QUASAR CPC 8

Right, I'll review the fanzines in alphabetical order. (Heh heh, BABA FANZ comes first! NO, it's not on purpose...).

Let's start with BABA FANZ 4. Well, since I can't wait any longer, let's get cracking... Woooooow, what a beautiful issue! To give you a little overview, it's got 46 pages holding 26 different columns — that's saying something! Half the fanz is done on PC, the other half on CPC. But I had a little problem with my printer, which means that in some places the GFXs are wiped out, or the bottom of the page is shifted or cut off (that's THE TRANSFERS from AMX to OXFORD PAO for you!). So it's normal that the fanz has this little flaw... There are the usual columns, plus a photo column (heh heh, I'm in it (NR's note: and so am I, nyah nyah nyah...)), and loads of others... In the INTERVIEW column, ZACK, BIP BIP and RAZOR share their ideas! (You'll learn more about FUTUR'S and their projects with ZACK). What I really like is the huge number of ssspeeellliiinnng missstaikes! (As the god of spelling NO RECESS pointed out to me (NR's note: oh, such modesty...)). There are columns about consoles (NR's note: boo!!!), about cinema, about the life of video games (NR's note: cool!), and also some BASIC (NR's note: hi ATC!), some machine code (NR's note: hi CHANY!), and a brand new column written by GREES, called LITTERATURE. There's also a 2-page solution for those who might be stuck in IRON LORD. The pics are excellent (NR's note: check out the pic at the bottom of page 44!), the layout superb — in short, as we had announced, it's surely one of the most beautiful paper fanz around, not to brag...

RATING: 17.5/20

Right, let's move straight on to DRACULA FANZ 3. So, this fanz disc has been well thought out — take for instance the LOADING screen — and above all, right from the start DRACULA knocks us flat on our backside with an absolutely gorgeous comic strip that's die-laughing funny... There's an OVERSCAN intro that really rules and a TURN DISC coded by EPSILON (very cool result, especially when the logo appears). On the second side, there are 8 columns, all very cool: SOUVENIR, PUB & PA, INTERVIEWS, TOPS, DRACULA, CREDITS, TURNDISC, END and that's it. Some columns are, to my mind, not aesthetic enough (there's only a text (and it goes off in all directions, on top of that!)). On the other hand, the other columns are more technical. The END-PART is far too simple: there's only a MODE 1 pic and a mini text scrolling underneath... Despite a few imperfections, this fanz is wicked!

RATING: 15/20

Right, it's time to move on to QUASAR CPC 8. As usual, we're treated to a top-notch issue, but on top of that I got the bog-roll colour option... (That's because all the paper they had left was that colour!). So let me quickly list all the columns of this issue: EDITO, ACTUS, RUBRIQUE X, HISTOIRES PERPENDICULAIRES, TEST DE SOFTS, INITIATION A L'ASSEMBLEUR, ENQUETE LECTEUR, PERFECTIONNEMENT AU LM, DEMOMAKING, CPC PLUS, ELECTRONIQUE, DEULIGNES (ndNR: I wrote two routines for the fanz !), FANZINES, SMALL ANNONCES and HELPS (that is 15 columns). All the columns are written on the CPC and in a way all of their own; the result is really very good. The first page, and the second one too, carry 2 brilliant digits, as all the way through the fanz ! NICKY ONE tells us what happened at the FREEDELIRE MEETING, and there is also the result of the reader survey, which shows that about 3 CPC users out of 4 have an old-generation CPC. This fanz is more than interesting and consequently I recommend it to everybody...

RATING: 17.5/20

Come on, THAT'S ALL!

END OF ARTICLE - FINISHED ON ??.06.95

4Demos

Translated from the text published in 1995.

I'll take care of this DEMOS column by reviewing for you the ones that were made at the FREEDELIRE MEETING...

Most of these demos are top-notch, and for some of them, we'd never have thought such effects could exist on our brilliant CPCs!

Right then, enough useless BLAH-BLAH — here's the traditional list of the demos reviewed today...

• FREEDELIRE MEETING DEMO
• BEST
• PLASMA DEMO

So let's start with the FREEDELIRE MEETING DEMOAAAAAHHHHH!!! Bloody hell, what a demo! Nobody had told me this demo would be so beautiful and so technical... So I'll begin by going from start to finish: after a very short loading time, we're already treated to a screen giving us the credits (NR's note: "MADE style", vertical overscan with a big blue bar in the middle, but here it's even cooler because there are rasters as well...). After that, we discover the first part, coded almost one hundred percent by the great EPSILON, who has declared he's coming back to the CPC (what joy!). There's a FREEDELIRE logo at the top of the screen, and rasters as far as the eye can see; there are plenty of other effects too, like a cool one that gives the impression of a roller spinning on itself... There are also ripples, and on top of that a frankly brilliant piece of music created by EPSILON... Right, now let's talk a bit about the second part, called "SHAD BOBS", coded by ONE, who really has talent!!! It's made up of two parts: one that looks like ANTOINE's part in the POWER SYSTEM MEGADEMO (except there are more colours and the SHAD BOBS follow a different path), and the other is something never seen before, because ONE has pulled off yet another technical feat by giving us an absolutely gorgeous ZOOM — and in vertical overscan on top of that!!! In short, his parts are brilliant... Now, only the last part remains, coded by CHANY, and it's very good too. There's a scroll at the bottom of the screen, and in the centre of the screen, FUCK TO EPSILONs scrolling in 2 different ways. The tune is by BARTHY and rules big time! (NR's note: this demo is a very good example of how hard scrolls can be put to use...). In short, this demo is top-notch, and if it had had more parts, it would be way better than the PSMD... (And yet POWER SYSTEM's MD is so damn good!).

Right, now let's move on to MAGE's demo, titled BEST DEMO... It's made up of three effects that are more or less interesting: the first is a kind of plasma that ripples beautifully — it's very fine. The second effect is simply a pic by MADE that scrolls (the least impressive effect (NR's note: and yet so technical...)). The third effect is downright brilliant: vertical rasters (NR's note: HYDRIS calculation) giving the impression of spinning around an axis — FUN guaranteed! But let's not forget either that, at the same time as all these effects, a completely crazy scroll moves, jumps, waves... at the bottom of the screen! So this is yet another great success for the IMPERIAL RONALD MAGE DONALS.

Finally, the last review, to tell you about ONE's latest demo to date, the PLASMA DEMO. (It's not GOZEUR's one, which has nothing to do with this one). I never thought I'd see this effect on CPC (I'd already seen it on PC!). If you've never seen AMIGA PLASMA, well, it's a bit like a painter's palette getting all mixed up! It's several colours overlapping one another. One last piece of advice: if you want to get hold of it, get a good ten or so Pampers nappies ready, because you're going to fall from a very great height!

Come on, THAT'S ALL FOR TODAY, and don't miss the release of my fanz BABA FANZ 5, which is going to be a smash...

END OF ARTICLE - FINISHED ON ??.06.95

5Video games

Translated from the text published in 1995.

I'm going to review 2 new games that came out recently:

• BO!
• FRES ATTACK

These are two games created by the authors of the WOMEN&DRAGONS MEGADEMO (which is a real graphical marvel)...

So let's start with BO!. This game is a shoot'em'up in the style of SUPER SPACE INVADERS (who said: again?!) and it's really classy... But this version is, in my old gamer's opinion, the best version of this game on CPC... A quick reminder of the idea behind the game: the evil space invaders want to destroy the EARTH. Your only hope of survival will be to destroy all these little green men with some very special weapons, but none of that would be possible without your super ship... Right, so what sets BO! apart from all the other versions of SPACE INVADERS? First, you can build your own levels... Meaning you can select your enemies' trajectory, the number of enemies, how tough they are, well in short, everything you find in the game's levels... Then, you can save your score, a handy thing and yet so rarely seen! And finally, the fantastic sprite handling... Indeed, the screen is saturated with enemies moving along sinusoidal curves and so on and so forth... And I forgot to tell you about all the little touches that make this game one of the best games on the CPC, like for example the many different weapons, the ability to change the speed of your ship and your fire or to pick up extra lives, all in an original form (you have to collect "points" so you can "buy" your bonuses (weapons, etc...)). Well, this game is one of my favourites, but I think you've figured that out by now! There's only one black mark against this game: it comes to us from GERMANY, and as a result all the texts are in German... But if you stick with the game, you quickly work out what this or that word means. It's well worth the effort anyway, I swear! The final verdict: I reckon this game fully deserves a 16/20 (there are still a few things that bug me, like for example the 2-player mode (that's possible too!) or the German texts).

On to another game, from the same authors again... Now this one is already more interesting: there's a real scenario with real graphics and music... The scenario is a bit the same as BO!'s but unfortunately I don't know it, once again because of the German texts... No colours this time, as the screen is always in MODE 2... But don't run away, the graphics are exceptional and all original, which makes the game even more interesting! So in this game we get a horizontal shoot'em'up in the NEMESIS style... After the game loads, you see a short text, then a menu appears offering three options: access to the game itself, the game's instructions, and access to the high-score table... The instructions are really very well done: at the start you see, on a horizontal overscan, a BOLLAWARE logo with the EARTH spinning smoothly on itself (like the skulls in the W&D) behind some stars... Then come the instructions (on a vertical scroller (not very smooth) which, between a few sentences, shows some very good quality sprites (drawings) (to explain the story — a ship on the sea, a ship's crew, etc.)... Right, the game itself now. Still in MODE 2, you get loads of options just like BO!... (In the game's menu). Once you're (finally!) in the game, you're facing a HYPER-SMOOTH horizontal scrolling!!! I've never seen a game with animation this smooth; the ships, which move very fast, are very dangerous because they chuck out loads of missiles. If you manage to bring down a whole squadron (that's several ships at once), you'll be awarded bonuses (like in BO!)... The animation is really very fast, sometimes even too fast, which makes the game very hard... All the same, this game is well worth the entire disk side it needs! The presentation is really classy, the music isn't too annoying (not like the W&D), the game is built on a gripping scenario... Anyway, the final verdict: 17/20! BO! is still better, yet it gets left far behind when it comes to graphics and overall design...

To finish off, you should know that I'm in contact with BOLLAWARE's German graphician, called SIGGI... By the way, BLACK LAND isn't finished yet, but this game won't be very interesting in French eyes since it will be entirely in German (and texts in that language for an adventure game — that just can't work...). Actually, the authors would have loved to translate the texts into English, but that comes to 48 pages! On the other hand, SIGGI confirmed to me that if lots of Germans turned out to be interested in buying the game, the texts would surely get translated into English, but that's not on the cards yet...

Oh, and I forgot to tell you, but BO! and FRES ATTACK are both FREEWARE games, and that is really classy and super cool of the authors.

Now for a personal rant: why is it that GERMANY is the only place where new video games appear? (I'm thinking in particular of MEGABLASTERS, BO! and FRES ATTACK...).

Personal message for Roger L., who will surely recognise himself: never send a German a letter written 100% in French...

END OF THE ARTICLE - FINISHED ON 27.05.95

6Assembly

Translated from the text published in 1995.

Right, a quick recap. In the first issue, I explained how to do multi-mode and change colours fairly easily... In the second issue, I explained how to create a simple raster or a wave (one that doesn't move).

Today, I'm going to remind you how to do a raster, teach you the pointer-shifting system, teach you how to make a raster rotate on itself, teach you how to make a checkerboard, and finally explain to you the principle behind the effect in BORDELIK 3. As you can see, we've got our work cut out!

Right, so let's start with the rasters...

Before we begin, we have to "freeze" the system interrupts, which will let us synchronise on HALTs.

To pull off this little miracle, all you have to do is poke the value #FB into #38 and the value #C9 into #39... The value #FB corresponds to EI and the value #C9 to RET...

Here's what that will look like:

DI

LD HL,#C9FB

LD (#38),HL

EI

Notice the use of the double register HL... Don't forget: low byte before high byte!

But there'll be a problem getting back to BASIC because of the interrupts... The trick, as usual, is to save the initial value found at #38, then poke it back in at the end of the operation. So here's the program:

          DI

          LD HL,(#38)

          LD (BASIC+1),HL

          LD HL,#C9FB

          LD (#38),HL

          EI

          ; Programme

BASIC     LD HL,0

          LD (#38),HL

          RET

BASIC will therefore hold the initial value located at #38, so there won't be any problem returning to BASIC...

On to something else... Let me remind you about the electron gun's journey: it starts at the very top left, moves to the right, then comes back for the next line, and so on until it reaches the bottom-right corner of the screen. From there, it heads back to the top-left corner to start its mad dash all over again...

The CPC's screen runs at 50Hz, which means the time the electron gun takes to make a complete trip is 1/50th of a second...

The start of the electron gun's journey is called the FRAME. So we can do a FRAME thanks to this sequence of instructions:

FRAME     LD B,#F5

          IN A,(C)

          RRA

          JP NC,FRAME+2

An instruction being executed costs the CPC time while it executes. During the execution of the instruction, the electron gun carries on its mad dash. In short, executing a pause or a sequence of instructions (or anything else) takes time.

There's an instruction that lets you wait for the electron gun every 1/300th of a second, and always at the same position (it's possible to change that position, but that goes beyond the scope of this column...).

That instruction is called HALT. It lets you synchronise for rasters or ruptures...

Right, let's start with the rasters... A raster consists of changing a colour during the electron gun's journey.

Right, so to do a raster, you have to select the ink, the colour, and send the whole lot to port #7F00... Which translates as:

LD BC,#7F00+numero encre

OUT (C),C

LD A,numero couleur

OUT (C),A

Explanation: the ink number. Inks 0 to 15: same as in BASIC. Exception: ink 16: that's the BORDER! Comprendo?

Now for something harder, the colour number... You mustn't use the BASIC colours, but the CPC's real colours... So here are the conversions to make:

BASIC GATE ARRAY ! BASIC GATE ARRAY

------------------!------------------

 00  --->  84     !  14  --->  95

 01  --->  68     !  15  --->  78

 02  --->  85     !  16  --->  71

 03  --->  92     !  17  --->  79

 04  --->  88     !  18  --->  82

 05  --->  93     !  19  --->  66

 06  --->  76     !  20  --->  83

 07  --->  69     !  21  --->  90

 08  --->  77     !  22  --->  89

 09  --->  86     !  23  --->  91

 10  --->  70     !  24  --->  74

 11  --->  87     !  25  --->  67

 12  --->  94     !  26  --->  75

 13  --->  64     !

I know, it's a pain, but hey... Try copying this table out on paper, it gets used loads.

Here's the simple way to do a raster (after saving the system)...

FRAME     LD B,#F5

          IN A,(C)

          RRA

          JP NC,FRAME+2
WAIT      HALT         ; Attente...

          HALT         ; Idem.
;

          LD BC,#7F00  ; Encre 0 fond

          OUT (C),C

          DEFS 43,0    ; Attente...

          LD A,64      ; GRIS...

          OUT (C),A

          DEFS 58,0    ; Attente...

          LD A,75      ; BLANC...

          OUT (C),A

          DEFS 58,0    ; Attente...

          LD A,64      ; GRIS...

          OUT (C),A
;

          JP FRAME

There you go! This program creates a little raster made up of two grey bars and one white bar...

And how do we move it?

Phew, this is going to be tough to explain...

First you need to master the table system... It's simple. What you have to do is put all your colours into a little table, and make a loop that will display those colours as a raster...

Right, so here's a colour table for a raster.

TABLE     DEFB 92,76,78,74

          DEFB 75,83,87,85

So we'll have 8 colours.

Here's the program to display the raster (the delay timings haven't been calculated (I'm writing this program off the top of my head), which will make for a badly synchronised raster)...

FRAME     LD B,#F5

          IN A,(C)

          RRA

          JP NC,FRAME+2
;

          HALT

          HALT

          HALT
;

          LD HL,TABLE

          LD B,8      ; Taille raster
BOUCLE    PUSH BC

          LD BC,#7F01 ; Encre 1

          OUT (C),C

          OUTI        ; Envoie valeur

          DEFS 30,0   ; Attente...

          POP BC

          DJNZ BOUCLE
;

          JP FRAME

Whoa... Now it's getting tricky! Let me explain. We "point" at the table by means of HL. We put the length of the raster in B. Right at the start of the loop, we save the contents of BC on the stack (BC holds the value of B; to save something on the stack you have to go through a register pair, here BC (PUSH B is impossible)). We can now replace the contents of BC (since the old value has been put on the stack), we select it, and we send the table value via OUTI. OUTI replaces:

DEC B

OUT (C),(HL)

INC HL

OUTI sends the table value and increments the table position by 1, which will give us the value of the next colour for the next pass. Then we wait a bit thanks to the DEFS 30,0 instruction (the timing may not be right (I haven't calculated it)), then we recall the old value of BC (saved earlier on the stack), and we go round the loop again if B isn't equal to 0. This is done thanks to the DJNZ instruction, which means: decrement B, and if B isn't equal to 0, go back to the loop... With our loop done, all that's left is to start over and wait for the next FRAME...

Right, that's nice, we've got a raster there, all fresh and lovely right in the middle of the screen, but we want to make it move, this raster...

So we have to use the pointer-shifting system. It's fairly simple to understand (as usual...). So I'm gonna go and explain it to you...

Remember, in the raster program, we pointed at the table by means of HL. What we have to do this time is initialise the table inside the loop and not before the loop... That way, all we have to do is increment HL+1 (when I say HL+1, picture this:

CHANGER   LD HL,TABLE

And we get the value of TABLE by doing CHANGER+1. Still don't get it? Picture the equivalent in hexadecimal, which gives 21 34 76 (picture the table at #7634); to access the address, we really do do DEBUT+1, the start being 21... If you still haven't got it, then just give up right now).

Right, where were we? Ah yes, so we increment TABLE, and once we get to 8, we do a little test to check it really is at 8; if so, we reinitialise... So here's the routine that will let you do a few nice things (I'm reusing the raster example):

FRAME     LD B,#F5

          IN A,(C)

          RRA

          JP NC,FRAME+2
;

          HALT

          HALT

          HALT
;
CHANGER   LD HL,TABLE

          LD B,8      ; Taille RASTER
BOUCLE    PUSH BC     ; On sauve BC

          LD BC,#7F01 ; Encre 1

          OUT (C),C

          LD A,(HL)   ; A= contenu HL

          OUT (C),A   ; Envoie coul.

          DEFS 30,0   ; Attente...

          POP BC      ; Ancien BC

          DJNZ BOUCLE ; On boucle !
;

          LD HL,(CHANGER+1)

          INC HL      ; CHANGER+1
CHANGER2  LD A,1

          DEC A

          JP NZ,CHAN

          LD A,8      ; Taille raster

          LD HL,TABLE ; Init. table
CHAN      LD (CHANGER2+1),A

          LD (CHANGER+1),HL
;

          JP FRAME    ; On retourne !

There we go! (At last...). I hope you've understood. Actually it's dead simple really, and this trick gets used a lot, not only in rasters, but also in waves, in ruptures (for moving reg. 13), well anyway, you can come up with loads of ideas for using this little program.

But there's one drawback with this routine: you have to double the table, that is, copy out the same table twice in a row, otherwise the routine bugs out...

You can do the same thing to make a wave too... It's entirely within your reach if you're starting to program; you just have to understand the routine properly. Hint: waves are obtained by means of port #BC02...

Let's go even further! I'm now gonna teach you how to make a checkerboard...

Actually, it's two rasters on the same line that move, one on ink 1 and the other on ink 2 for example. So you have to make two tables, containing for example 15 lines of grey and 15 lines of white, then 15 lines of grey, etc... (the number of lines corresponds to the height of the checkerboard). You also have to make a second table for ink 2, which will contain 15 lines of white, 15 lines of grey, 15 lines of white and... Actually, it's the reverse of the first table. Right, you make your two rasters go up at the same time thanks to the routine described before...

But before all that, you have to create a rectangle containing coloured bars drawn with ink 1 then ink 2 (following one another, from left to right). By slanting the lines a bit, you get a decent 3D effect for the routine described earlier, though non-slanted bars give a decent and cool effect too...

For the slanted bars, don't try to do them with OCP Art Studio, you'll make checkerboards that are way too ugly... Better to do them with a really simple algorithm in BASIC than to drive yourself mad under OCP... Anyway, do it however you like!

And the effect in BORDELIK 3? Nothing could be simpler!!! It's the same thing, except that instead of having 2 inks, you'll have 3, 4 or 5 and even more, and you form letters with the colours of the rasters. The most annoying part of this routine is the sync. As for me, I managed to create this effect, and with a wave on top of it, which makes the effect even cooler! By the way, you'll see this effect in my next demo (in collaboration with ELIOT) called EAT MY SHORT!... I won't tell you any more...

Right, I'm going to stop there for this time... In fact, I reckon the length of this text won't be beaten in this issue! Indeed, you've just read 25 pages...

Next time, I'll talk about testing keys without the system, in a very simple way.

By the way, in USER 1 there's a source for DAMS called RASTER.DAM which makes a raster rotate on itself using the pointer-shifting technique, and what's more the shift speed is configurable, which lets you spin the tube faster or slower... Actually, this system is very simple to understand, so I advise you to study it closely in the source, but in any case all you have to do is read the many comments I've put in there...

N.B.: You can convert this source for MAXAM thanks to ANTOINE PITROU's DAMS CONVERTER (present on the disc).

END OF THE ARTICLE - FINISHED ON 02.06.95

7Interview

Translated from the text published in 1995.

Before we start, I'd like to thank ANTOINE who agreed to let me do a little interview with him... And with that, let's get going!

Q: Hi ANTOINE! So we'll start this interview by asking you to introduce yourself a little (name, first name, age, studies...)...

A: Hi Arnaud! For those readers who might not know me (oh!), my name is Antoine PITROU and I'm 19. Right now I'm finishing my year of advanced maths prep classes, and if all goes well, next year I'll be in an engineering school. As for what interests us here (that is, the CPC), I'm a programmer and I'm part of the group POW!.

Q: How did your passion for the CPC come about, and when did you really start programming?

A: The CPC came into my life in 1988, I think. At first just for the games, then I got into assembly. I really started programming seriously around 1992 with the fanzine Micro Mag & Press Fire.

Q: What do you think of the CPC in general, and of its survival in particular?

A: Er, I think the CPC is a big grey box with lots of keys and a slot, no, seriously, well, the CPC is technically outdated (who would dare say otherwise?) but it's the refuge of hobbyists of every stripe! With the near-monopoly held by the PCs, it's hard to find any fun in all that, and that's why the CPC is still alive.

Q: What are your favourite paper and disc fanzines? (national as well as international).

A: On the paper side: I only get Rundschlag any more (I'm a bit out of it! (NR's note: and I'm the swapper of this great fanz in France)). On the disc side: Tribal Mag of course, then the (infernal!) trio, CPC Challenge - Better Than Life -Xtreme.

On the French side: Sorry, I can't think of much....

Q: What do you think of the latest productions on CPC?

A: Megablasters is downright brilliant, there are some very good disc fanzs (see the previous question), the hardware side seems to be going wild too (especially across the Rhine). The Germans do seem a lot more creative than us though, I think we stick far too much to rasters, ruptures, scrollings and other precalculated effects!!

Q: What do you think of piracy?

A: Piracy is conceivable on a machine in good shape and as long as nobody is making money off it (in plain terms: no selling pirated copies!). On the other hand I find piracy hard to accept on the CPC right now (there aren't many new releases as it is, so if on top of that some cretins have fun cracking them ...).

Q: What do you think of fanzines in general, and of GHOUL'S FANZ in particular?

A: Fanzines are a good means of communication as long as they're used to say something interesting (that goes for all media!). As for GHOUL'S FANZ in particular, the concept is good (a good amount of text, no wobbling logos or bouncing equalizers), you're on the right track but you'll have to be a bit less superficial in the articles.

Q: Do you think there are more people on C64 or on CPC?

A: Pfrrttt, what kind of question is that?? The question doesn't arise and never has arisen in France (NR's note: well that's exactly why I asked it!!!) where the CPC has always had a crushing superiority over the other 8-bits. It's true that in Germany - where Commodore enjoys great popularity - it's a bit more debatable, but I think that as time went by, the CPC naturally came out on top thanks to its better capabilities (at the beginning, people preferred the C64 for its hardware sprites, but we soon realised that a well-programmed Z80 replaces them to great advantage!!).

Q: To finish, can you tell us what your upcoming productions will be?

A: No. How's that for an answer?!? Actually, I'm not too sure myself what I'm going to do, and anyway I'd rather leave you the surprise....

There you go, it's over! Thanks again Antoine... I hope you'll be satisfied with this section...

END OF ARTICLE - FINISHED ON 21.06.95

8Advertisement

Translated from the text published in 1995.

This little program will give you a few details about the services we offer you.

PAGE 2 : LES ECHANGES DE JEUX
PAGE 3 : LES ECHANGES D'UTILITAIRES
PAGE 4 : LE SERVICE POKES & SPOKES
PAGE 5 : LES FANZINES
PAGE 6 : LES SLIDESHOWS
PAGE 7 : LES PROGRAMMES X
PAGE 8 : LES MUSIQUES
PAGE 9 : AIDE A OXFORD PAO
PAGE 10 : LES SERVICES DU CLUB
PAGE 12 : LES TARIFS ET INFORMATIONS
EUROSTRAD 1995
LES ECHANGES DE JEUX          PAGE 02

- All the games are free, there's only the postage to pay (see PAGE 12). The list is provided in the CLUB's newsletter and all the games are at your disposal.

The games come from every country and are either commercial releases, Shareware or public domain... They are listed in alphabetical order. (don't forget to give the game's code as well as its title).

It is possible to copy the games in 5.25 INCH format on 40 tracks...

LES ECHANGES D'UTILITAIRES    PAGE 03

- Utilities, just like the games, are listed in the CLUB's newsletter in alphabetical order.

You are offered a great number of copiers as well as the most recent utilities, and above all the most practical ones.

On top of that, program libraries are also available on the side, like the .DR files for OXFORD, or music from games, or sources for MAXAM, AMX...

Postage costs are the same as the rates for games (PAGE 12)...

POKES & SPOKES                PAGE 04

THE EUROPOKES CLUB has plenty of pokes and tips for the greatest games on CPC.

So you can use either Basic listings for infinite lives, pokes for Multiface, sector edits for Discologie, or maps and solutions for adventure games. We also have some codes and cheat-modes for games, and even for demos.

It is even possible to photocopy certain game maps and solutions.

LES FANZINES                  PAGE 05

- We have more than a hundred fanzines: on disc as well as on paper. Most of them are French but we can also supply you with fanzines in German, in English and even in Spanish...

- The fanzines date from 1985 right up to today. As for the paper fanzines, photocopies and postage costs are all very cheap. (See PAGE 12).

• Fanzine exchanges on paper and on disc are free...

LES SLIDESHOWS                PAGE 06

- come and discover a very wide choice of the best slideshows on CPC. You'll find slides from every country, and from every machine, like digitised pictures transferred from Amiga or PC...

Thanks to LE CHEF of ATLANTIS we have a big series of digitisations taken from comic books, and from mangas and cartoons... We also have digitised pictures from very famous films (TERMINATOR 2, STAR TREK, or AKIRA...).

LES PROGRAMMES X              PAGE 07

- Strictly reserved for adults (or for kids if they're discreet), the library of X-rated programs on CPC is quite varied.

We have slideshows (digitisations, drawings...), animated scenes, strip-poker games...

- We mainly recommend the CONTRAST SLIDESHOW, WELCOM-X part I and MIDNIGHT STORIES 3 (for CPC 6128 only).

LES MUSIQUES                  PAGE 08

- We offer music programs and data banks for many programs like the DIGITRAKKER or SOUNDTRAKKER software, as well as music from games or demos that you can reuse in your own programs.

- We also have music in program form (in Basic), music creation software...

OXFORD PAO (1)                PAGE 09

- We offer a whole help service for the OXFORD PAO software by Sirensoftware:

- A very large bank of pictures in .DR format (characters, backgrounds, and various digitisations...).

• A variety of icons (lettering).

- Advice, help, and extra programs for processing pictures and for turning those pictures into .DR files (MPAGE and CONVERT).

LES SERVICES DU CLUB          PAGE 10

- The EUROSTRAD CLUB also offers services other than exchanges. There is a contacts service where anyone can place one or more ads (about the CPC preferably). CLUB members can thus trade among themselves and help each other according to their skills and their needs.

- The EUROSTRAD CLUB and the A.F.C. are in close contact, which will help members interested in CPC fanzines. The EUROSTRAD CLUB and the A.F.C. are thus complementary and will help you with the CPC.

LES SERVICES DU CLUB          PAGE 11

- The CLUB also offers many manuals for GAMES and UTILITIES, in French and in English.

- Soon available in the CLUB: a library of articles on little hardware projects, and advice on the CPC.

- Other services should soon see the light of day depending on your needs. It's up to you to ask us for what you're looking for...

DIVERS                        PAGE 12

THE RATES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

For 1 disc sent: 4.40 Francs For 2 discs sent: 6.70 Francs

Jusqu'a 4 discs       : 11.50 Francs

Jusqu'a 6 discs       : 16.00 Francs

For 10 photocopies: 2.80 Francs + 4.40 Francs for postage

For reasons not of economy but of speed, it is advised not to go over 30 photocopies per order. Thank you

For more info, contact me... - If you own programs that we don't have (except demos), then a disc filled with these programs will be sent back to you free of charge, with the programs you have chosen, as far as available space allows..

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

- 31.46.48.34     LA SEMAINE

- 33.61.74.35     LE WEEK-END

SEE YOU SOON

TOM-POUCE of POW!

9The end

Translated from the text published in 1995.

Sniff! It's already the end of this fabulous issue... I hope you liked it a lot because GREG and I spent quite some time on it... By the way, thanks GREG for your help!

Right, let's move on to the fanz credits (who did what)...

INTRO:

Code: NO RECESS
Musique: GREG
GFX: NO RECESS / RAINBIRD

MENU:

Code: NO RECESS

Music: GREG (DIGITRAKKER) GFX: GREG / RAINBIRD

HIDDEN PART:

Code: NO RECESS
Musique: GREG
GFX: RAINBIRD

... Still haven't found it?

ALL THE SECTIONS:

Code: TOM ET JERRY
Musique: ??? (voir P.S.2)
Logos: RAINBIRD
Texte: -GREG: rubs 1 a 4
-NO RECESS: le reste

Well, there you go, it's over, we'll meet again in just two short months... But before wrapping up this issue, I'm going to unveil my long list of GREETINGS... GREETS to:

DRACULA
GREG
EPSILON
FURY
NICKY ONE
KANEDA
CRACKY
OFFSET
MICK'RO
TOM POUCE
SPHYNX
RAMLAID
E/J
SONIC 3
RAZOR
ORPHEE
ZIK
RAINBIRD
ZACK
ONE
MEMORY
RSX
TARGHAN
AST
CHANY
GREES
GEGENE
TOM ET JERRY
ELIOT
J/S
TONY (QCPC)
GOZEUR
RORO
CANON
BABAR
BIP BIP
GENESIS 8

... And everyone I forgot! (There aren't many of them...).

Right, come on, here's a little present for you: when you leave this section, you'll find yourself in front of the "SENTINEL DEMO" created by TOM ET JERRY of GPA, the creator of GHOUL'S WRITER... (Press the ESC key to do a RESET). Now who do you say thank you to?

On that note, I'll see you in GHOUL'S FANZ 4 and in the meantime have a really great holiday! (On your CPC of course).

Come on, sniff! BYE...

P.S.:       CPC is dead...

CPC is dead...

CPC is dead...

...but SCORPION is still here !

P.S.2: All the SOUNDTRA. tunes used are taken from my music compil called GHOUL'S WRITER MUZAXX COLLECTOR... (Just ask me for it!).

END OF ARTICLE - FINISHED ON 26.06.95