Home Computing Weekly 006

Homie a t Argus Specialist Public PIRACY: LAW | dv25ie Jewkes EXPERTS ARE (3:22:55) suggrererr BROUGHT IN secretary Nigel id: “T hearingsiathe (have agreed: the right to Legal experts have joined the figh ware pi ding figures in the ind n up their rade, Members of the newly inst copying and state that Buy isnot a ibrary © Quicksilva will supply. pro: du id ument of Legal Studies of Newcastle Polytechnic Lael: Ley to type in for: 2X81, A [let Loe Atari, BBC, Bato. ei Els reviews for-jE feta ae ble fo)a) the sole use of the purchase Article on Commodore} 64 Chairman Tony Sheil, of Knot Komputin hi and that what they ae ee For details please ring 051-236 6849 Continued on page 3Poge 2 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April A+ F SOFTWARE A+F PAINTER — BBC, SPECTRUM, ATOM Completely machine coded Arcade game. 6 levels. 16 different screens. Runs in colour ‘on the Atom without F.P. BBC cassette £8. Disk £11.50 Atom cassette £6.90 Spectrum cassette £8.76p PLANES — BBC 32K Spectacularly fast arcade style game. Options for different speed of game — even the slowest is fast! Many different screens and bonus scores. Graphics are really superb. Cassette £8.00 Disc £11.50 elo Mt ecg FROGGER — BBC & SPECTRUM More arcade action for the BBC (as photo) and Spectrum. Get your frog across the road, use the logs to navigate the river and get home. Beware the Crocodile and snake, collecting the lady frog gains valuable bonus points, Beat the time limit or die. BBC cassette £8.00 Disc £11.50 Spectrum cassette £5.75 ORIC Two adventure games for the ORIC available NOW, Death Satellite and Zodiac Both will run on the 16K machine, Cassettes at £6.90 per game. DRAGON Dead wood Monopilise a western town — (1-4 players), set your own time limit Cassette £6.90, Buccaneers A piratical game again for 1-4 players. Cassette £6.90 ATOM Space Panic £6.90, Death Satellite £6.90, Zodiac £6.90, Cyclon Attack £6.90. Atom Ullikits still available from stock at £18.50 SPECTRUM Crazy Balloons, an excellent game for the 16K machine at £5.75. Specfile stock Control/data management system for the 48K machine £10.00 BBC Pharaoh's Tomb, an interactive graphic adventure game for the Model B. Cassette £8.00 Disc £11.50 Tower of Alos Another graphic adventure game — this will run on the A or B machine. Cassette £6.90 Disc £11.50 PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL OUR PRICES INCLUDE VAT & POSTAGE r 5% DISCOUNT ON ALL SOFTWARE WITH THIS COUPON Mowe | | (Quote 830/D for discount on telephone orders) | | name PLEASE SEND ME i ees : | | | 830 HYDE ROAD , MANCHESTER “M18 7JD 061-223 6206 (24 hrs) Telex 667461 (ATTN A&F) CRRA eee Rn Eee ae | Prease note prices include post & packing a | Yourmay also telephone (26 hrs) « YACLAIR SIRIUS SPECTRUM BBC DRAGON ATOM SINCLAIR SIRIUS SPECTRU W15 ke? ney?) 2: (eROd EAL it Peer MIR Lee APN ALOP AA Ox A: mel: [ 3)CONTENTS ‘SPECTRUM FOR: ro epi ae Continued from front page “People are hiring tapes and then copying them. Is sot com: pletely out of hand in the video market and we've got to stop the ‘same thing happening to us, “Feelings are running very high at the moment, t's erative that we act together.” At present, he said, if action vas taken by one software company against a library they would just start hiring out another com: pany’s product Mr Backhurst, « computer consultant and dealer, sad piracy . > Tony Sheil — “feelings are running high” was aso likely t hit the careers of young people. Companies would not take ‘on more taffif their business was being hit by libraries. He said: “Tknow of onesoft- ware house which was going to take on four more stafTin the next 12 months. Now they are using freelances until they know what's going to happen.” The industry was being hampered by the 1952 Copyright Act — brought in when there were about 10,000 tape revorders inthe UK — which was very hazy on computer software. He said: "There's no way we an stop what you might call ‘personal piracy.” But we want com: mercial piracy written into the criminal law. We also want it pro: Continued in column 4 U.S.Scene........... One Man’‘s View ....... Spectrumprogram . Fight « multi-coloured sea batle Dragon software reviews .....13 and daring Games of cunnin TI-99/4A program... Your chance to reseue a maiden in distress =< In the beuinning was the Atom ‘Spectrum software reviews . . .21 Letters BECprogram ......... i t's you against the Empire’s space fighters Software reviews ........ Make your Atariprogram........... An easy-to-use character generator iro work for you Zx81program ........ - aT Micro Bowls Programming ..............33 Making your programs child-proof Commodore 64 programming .37 High resolution. ..wthout spending £50 Vic-20 programs .......... ‘Two to type in for children Classified ads starton .......44 Tato: “Aivecinemeat Manager Rom Harris ‘Coleen Pini News Etr: Assistant Advertherment Manager: Paul Lipstat, Barry Bingham Assistant Casi Aeertiog Candice Goon ‘Bradette Sherer ng Ditetor: im Cornet “Argus Specialist Publications Lia. Cross Road, London WC2H OEE, 01-437 1002 ig Weak spud on Tuesday. DBubution By Argus Pres Sales and Dieivoon Li, 12-14 Pal Set, London EC2A sJ8; Pata by ‘Alabaster Pastore & Soot Lid, of Landon sad Mastone, Ket. Desig and ‘renationby MIM Devan and Puint145 Charing CrovsRd don WOH OPE Q quest a ae a) oT aS EB Eas Bae ee {ected by more than copyright — Perhaps something like patent Some programmers were developing secret protection routines, but unless they were shared new ideas would mot spread ‘and improve standards, maintain ing the country’s lead in software. One way to protect these ideas was to give them legal protection for a time, provided they were published, To settle industry wrangles, ‘members are considering lodging original programs with the association so that claims about theft of ideas can be judged Another suggestion to tackle the pirates was 10 sella licence to use the program so that, technical ly, the cassette remained the pro- perty of the maker. Then legal restrictions could be writen into the licence. Mr Backhurst said: “Some ‘of our members believe they can produce games which would only be available through librares.”” These might be lengthy adventure games on up to nine tapes, which would have 10 retail at about £50, They could be hired at £5-£10, but only under strict contro Libraries were hiring out ‘games now at about El andneeded {4 minimum profit of £150-£200 a week ‘As you ean see, you have ‘got to shift an awful lot of tapes," he said. The hite fee should be £2.50. In our opinion a library could not operate on less and provide the back-up. He told of one man with a 16K Spectrum who paid his £10 joining fee and hired two cassettes at £1 each, only to find they were forthe 48K model —andthe man running the library did not know the difference ‘The CTA now has.amember- ship of 30, including companies like Quicksiva, Bug Byte, Cam puters, Tandy UK, Grundy Business Systems, And F,Silver- soft, Atari and Carnell. About 40 more are expected to join soon, General Secretary, Computer Trade Association, 108 Margaret Sireet, Coalville, Leics LE62LX HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983 Page 3U.S. SCENE NEWS Complaints: a ‘Real thing’ jury decides in monitors Complaints about computers and | Our new colour monitor is the Software will now be handled by. | real thing, says Hampshire com- jury set up by the industry. pany Elecironequip. But they can only deal with | Technical director Peter ‘companies which belong t0 the | Coates said: “Instead of being a newly-formed Computer Trade | modified TV, i is a dual-purpose Association, unit which has been specifically ‘The three-stage arbitration | built to perform both functions."* service, now being set up, was | Price at £244.95, the din described by secretary Nigel | monitor is suitable for resolving Backhurst. It works ike this: | up to 80 characters across the screen, says the company, and (© First, Mr Backhurst attempts | claims’ it has better resolution to settle the dispute between | than the competition. ‘customer and company Inpur is for RGB (red, ‘green, blue) TTL-compatible, @ If that fails, a board of ar- | composite video and sound and bitratiors — one member of the | there are two earphone sockets. Public, an executive fromthe rade | The monitor has a silver eabinet and someone with legaltraining — | measuring 19in by I3in by 15)4in will decide the issue with a black front panel and comes with an RGB cable ‘© Finally, if the complaint can- | suitable for a BBC micro, or an nocberesoived, the CTA’s council | alternative. willstepin—with thepowertoex- | Electronequip, 36-38 West Sireet, pel a member, if necessary. Fareham, Hants POI6 OJW Mr Backhurst said: “That's Assemble our final big sick, But ve hope most complains could bextka | lt the poly by myself. ‘Students will be able to program in orth wosrsion vic il | abesity mieaateane aes also deal wih disputes within the | tenis stay says Rosemary trade, for example, when two | Royds, of the City of London companies bring out vinwaly | Pobtecnie, iden programe, There has | "The short course takes place been quite a bit of bad fecling | a: the poly on June 28 and 30 and about this in the past. ‘is designed to introduce assembly I's better than court bat- | language programming of the Z80 og eee Thesnoxstonisdrawingup | fhe Spectrum, 2X81, Newbrain a code of pace and loking | and mo Japenese poss, claims made in advertisements, | Rosemary Royds, Short like “thigh resolution”, “real” | Course Unit, City of London Keyboards and useable RAM. | Polytechnic, 84 Moorgate, Lon- Mr Bact recalled ing | Sor ECON a conpier Uae es dained to have 40K of RAM. But 16K vas ceedbyticlnguge ated | Let US KNOW fom ROM — and 16K nas wed | Ifyouarcin the home computer for the video display, leaving just | business, please keep us in 18k. toveh wih what your company Nester eo oaated var | is dou: Nevetions giles dars set for aferanes sevice. | samples of your products — Computes should be supponcd | software and. hardware, — i te manaluctre fer eat | sould be sent to: Pal Lip, five years after production ceased. | Home Computing Weekly, 145 General Secretory, Computer | Charing Cress Road, London ‘rede Assocation, 18 Margaret | WE2HT OEE. Phone “01-457 See, Coat Leis LEBILN. | 1002. Fire away for £16.50 New joysticks, priced at £16.50, | (Micro) Electronics. There are hhave been brought out for the | eight direction commandsand wo VIC20 and Atari 400 and 800, | fire buttons. ‘They are versions of the £25 | Kempston (Micro) Electron: ‘Competition-Pro joystick forthe | ics, 1804 Bedford Road, Kemp- Spectrum, from Kempston | ston, Bedford MK42 BL. tes. Page 4 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983,Conrinued from Front Cover they would refuse supplies Similar conditions will apply to other software companies. Legal action had been taken ‘against Computer Aided Systems, the company that bought the tapes, but both CAS and the Soft- ware Centre are headed by the same man, Bill Cannings. “He has insisted that alle was doing was giving customers the Jopportunity to exchange programs they found unsuitable. Quicksilva's international sales manager, Rod Cousens, said his company had been approach Jed when legal moves got under [ay and decided to start talks. He said: “We were trying to negotiate the return period down 10 seven days. We've got it down to one month which we feel is realistic, “To be quite honest, we don’t believe there wil be a'high exchange rate for Quicksilva sof ware sot willact asa normal retail outlet. We willbe watching its pro gress over the next few months, “We have achieved the ob- ects that our action was intended to achieve without incurring further costs.” New for the Spectrum Cobra Technology, an Islingion- based peripherals ‘company, is working on a £40 interface forthe Spectrum Unlike Sinclair's own £30 version, it will be switchable between RS-232 and Centronics ‘ype. ‘Managing director Ray Baars said “We've got the circuit work ing so now it's ready for the pro duction line and should be on sle ina month tos weeks Prestel adaptors for the ZX81 and the Jupiter Ace are due to be lamuched by Cobra within the same time-scale. Costing £40-£45, they will plug into the back of the computers ‘Mr Boars said: “We'vehad a lot of people asking, but the trouble was that the ZX8I cannot cope properly with Preisel’s 1,200 baud. So we ate putting in 2 2K ‘memory buffer 0 the ZX81 can take it out at about 1,000 bavd." Cobra Technology, 378 Cutedo- ran Road, slingtan, London NI Dy Street wise to Eugene Eugene Evans, aged 16, earns about £140. day and gets fan mail because of his best-selling. pro- ‘grams. But now he is being stop- ped in the street as well His face has become familiar ‘due o national newspaper public ty. He insists, however, that suc cess will not change him —and he is determined to stay with Liver pool's Imagine Software, where he heads a team of three program- Eugene, who lives in a council house and pays £20 a week housekeeping money, said: “I've ‘been recognised from my picture. People havesaid: ‘Isaw you in the paper — it's nice to see someone ‘getting somewhere.” ‘And he pointed out: “have worked very hard in the last few years 0 get to this position. 1 hhaven’thad arich mummy or dad- dy behind me. 1 come from a ‘council estate like the rest. “1 started as a tea boy in a ‘computer shop and you can’t start much lower.”” Eugene cams £17,000 a year ‘and expects bonuses to increase this to around £35,000. Until his bank recently relented, he was not allowed a credit card or cheque guarantee card. Soto buya video recorder he ad to draw out, £400, all in £5 notes. He is saving much of his money to buy a house, He said: “At the moment 1 haven't got a girlfriend — but that’s just at the moment, Eugene taught himself machine code programming from books and magazines and is now completing a new game for the uunexpanded VIC-20, called Fran- tic, wheih simulates flying throught a tunnel on the moon while avoiding obstacles. Like all Imagine’s programs, it will cost £5.50, The programmers are named in Imagine's cassettes, so fans know who to write to. Eugene recalls one letter from a buyer of his Wacky Waiters game who wrote: “I think it’s fantastic.” Imagine now produce two ‘ew games a month and soon plan to double this. Eugene said: “We Want 10 get as big a range as possible as quickly as we can. We can sell all we make, Imagine Software, Masons Building, Exchange Street East, Liverpool L2 3PN ‘Seremy Dredge — holidays by phone Micronet signs 1,000 More than 1,000 subscribers have | of programs and information via signed up with the Micronet $00 | British Telecom's Prestel service. database in the month since it was | The first fo join was Jeremy launched. Dredge, a Surrey estate agent, All have BBC micros, the | who said he had downloaded first computer that can use theser- | several free programs, bought two vice. More home computer will | —and booked two holidays. follow. Micromet 800, Bushfield House, Phone lines connect | Orton Comre, Peterborough PE2 ronet 800 users to a database | OUW You could be on our pages We welcome programs and articles from ‘Our readers. © articles on using homie computers ‘should be no longer than 2,000 words. ‘Don't worry too much about your. writing ability — just try to keep to the Style in HCW. please Include sample routines Ines, We will convert any sketched illustrations into finished artwork. Ar- ‘eles most likely £0 be published will hnelp our readers make use of their micros by giving useful Ideas and «programs should it possible, be com. Duter printed tuse'a!new ripborl or sent ‘on cassette. cheex carefully that they are bug free. mclude detalls of what Your propram dees and New, hints on conversfon anv explain the routines Youve used. 1 Reviewers'or software, add-ons and nowleage 6¢ computers 18 Your ie OF computers, in Your ap- plication as a reviewer please give your Secupation ar training ane, i under 21, ‘our age, Bon’ forget to'name your ‘Computer and anv expansion. keep a copy of your submissions and Incluee an SAE Hr you want them return ed. Label everything clearly and give a dayeime and home phone number You ‘an: Paul Liptrot, Home Computing Week. ly, 145 Charing ¢ross Road, London WC2H HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983. Page §You know that Spectrum software is easily affordable. NowW.H.Smith make it easily availabl a | ieee aN pan ai arated Space Raiders Flight Simulation mesos = £7.95 "age 6 HOME COMPUTING WWhen it comes to software for the Sinclair Spectrum, there’s no question who’s right up your street. W.H. Smith. Our range already covers some 65 programs. And it’s growing fast. So fast that every month we select and illustrate a Top Ten to {aIl16K programs will runon48K machines) Title Producer. KRAM Price'N Arcade Games Space Intruders Quicksilva 16 Time Gate Quicksilva 48 Mined Out Quicksilva 48 Gulpman Campbelt 16 Spectral Invaders Bug-Byte 16 ‘Avenger Abacus 16 Meteoroids Softek 16 Planctoids Sinclair 16 Hungry Horace Sinclair 16 Mazeman Abersoft 16 Nighiflight Hewson 48 Ground Force Zero Titan 16 Caterpillar CDs 16 Leapltog CDS 16 Gobble-A-Ghost CDs 16 Centi-Bug DK Tronics 16 3D-Tanx DK Tronics 16 Penetrator Melboume Hse 48 Cruising Sunshine 16 Imagine 16 ComputerRentals 16 Jackpot Computer Rentals 16 3D-Tunne! NewGeneration 16 Gobbleman Artic 16 Galaxians Artic 16 Sentinal Abacus 16 Cyber Silversoft 16 Strategy Games Novotnik Puzzle Phipps 16 Chess; Artic 48 Voice Chess Artic 48 Football Manager ‘Addictive 48 8 (Chess-The Turk Oxford 48 £8.95 Adventure Labyrinth Axis 16 £595 Planet of Death Sinclair 48 £695 Inca Curse Sinclair 48 £695 Ship of Doom Artic 48 £695 Espionage Island Artic 48 £695 TheOrb ComputerRentals 48 £5.95 keep you informed of the programs which are proving to be the most popular. Ifon the other hand you’ve already gotthe Top Ten then why notcome in and browse through ofourrange. the rest Chess The Hobbit Sinclair 48K Sinclair 48K. E795 £14.95 pasar Title Producer KRAM Price Utility M/C Code Test Tool Oxford 16 £9.95 Compiler Softek 16 £14.95 Family Games Reversi Sinclair 16 Othello CDS 16 RandR 16 Martech 48 Sinclair 16 Sinclair 16 Vu-3D Sinclair 48 Collectors Pack Sinclair 48 Club Record Controller Sinclair 48 Address Manager Oxford 16 £8.95 Dietron Custom Data 16 £4.75 Program Collections Shiva Special | Shiva 16 £595 OverTheSpectrum1 MelbourneHse 16 £595 OverThe Spectrum? MelbourneHse 16 £5.95 OverThe Spectrum3 Melbourne Hse 16. £5.95 WHSMIT FEU FE Prcescorct ate goingio pres 8 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983 Page 7UB elem iae clam cetarcd ans UTILITIES NEW LOW PRICE = Ee ENT! © pOaes Fe your 2 flusing fo sumer hes got, gouty ore eo, ONLY £5.95 for 2X81 and for SPECTRUM ZX81/SPECTRUM ARCADE GAMES INVASION FORGE (16/48K) XAT ites through the force tela tedestroy the menacing NEE ation snip. Sounds easy? Two Teves of alay — normal or suicidal. Pull colour, ‘Sound and hives. graphics. £485 ‘SPEC INVADERS (16/48K) ing natnigand replacement £588 erineco6e tool and dsassembier for your 2x Spectrum £6.98 Bue ‘A301 machine code oo! and isassembier foeyour DT £685, eave! nluces.s cassette. SHIP OF DOOM venues) You are uravoicably darn ton alien cruiser. Ginyoureach he contrat room an tee, ney got yu re rt aces Improve yourmachine code programs with this incorporate resolution gtaphics and sound to bing you the best ih arcade fciion at only £495 each ‘SPEC FROG SISHOWDOWN xe fut NEW Hos across ne dangerous road avoiding the etna cars, ——— Ran ries Go pot toe wi west fora guntighbatieemoncst acti ana wagons, Features Incluge ‘western musta 4.98 == NAMTIR RAIDERS (2x61) High speed, quick action EW Parca ‘Separate groups of attackers, £808. ESPIONAGE ISLAND Avene) ‘Wile on ereconraisance micsion yout lane toses contol and you ae forced tans. an yousurie ancescape withthe sinc’ fisden seat? PLANET OF DEATH iscvenue A) 16/48 Yew tind yourget stranded on an inhabited ‘tien planet Gan you reach you shisand = wala, | 2X FORTH {or SPECTRUM. ‘Supplied on cassette Se ara and keyboard ovriy 2k For Esmoinen he simpy of bate wih Seed sinacnreesde ow £18.95 Ati his cen proessicnal miler is iso svalae for 16K tu THEULTIATE ADVENTURE FOR THE ‘SPECTRUM 2X51 fr only £8.98 e. CHANCE AND TO WIN ‘SPECTRUM MICRO CHESS sony came nea ora ko Ox Spectrum OR SPECTRUM” “secre ZX CHESS! eyo cha soda program th (eae ee 2X CHESS I ‘Anew improved version with afasterresponse {ime serenieelscipiny enaysisotcnandin tadlionarecommvended moweoption 1398 Zx1KCHESS ____- Anwiereategame “pz eanured0 Migieonyeess, As Raturedon SPECTRUM GALAXIANS YOUR CHANCE TO WIN J ““areiseccustein cytes A FORTUNE! now ony £4.95 ALWAYS AHEAD WITH ZX81/SPECTRUM SOFTWARE I ‘Soeque APO. made pada: At Compig Linked Onan weicome Fewest ete your iter 2 or oem SenG AE Bn Site aaa, Aa 1 ARTIC ARTIC COMPUTING LTD. EM ee O-U UU Bui N-HUMBERSIDE, Page 8 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 198316K Orics ‘weeks away’ Long-awaited Oric-Is are now promised within 10 weeks. Mail order customers were being sent 48K models on loan with an option to purchase at a cut price — but Orie Products hhas not yet decided on the discount. New managing director Barry Muneaster, a director of Oric-1 designers Tangerine Computer Systems, gave two reasons for the delay of more than six months. Teachers are running a computer fair in Leeds for people interested in computing in education twill be held at the John. Taylor Teachers’ Centre on June 22, 9.30am-7.30pm, and include “lectures as well as ceshibits with working demon- strations. Computer Development Team, John Taylor Teachers’ Centre, 53. Headingley Lane, "rs, out of ery 10 orders | Aeedt £6 144 ight — totaling 350,000 this year were forthe 48K version. Orie had to put all its efforis into ee ‘meeting this demand “‘which ex- ceeded all expectations.” ‘The 16K model, at Sp under £100, is £70 cheaper than the 48K version. A 32K model has been abandoned. ‘Orie Products has now ended sales by post, saying its mail order backlog is down t0 28 days and that the 48K Oric is readily available at retailers. But orders by mail — including the £79 modem — can sill bbe made to Tangerine at the same Ely address as Tansoft, which is bringing out a range of Orie programs. An extended BBC-like BASIC is alo promised soon. (Orie Products International, Coworth Park, London Road, ‘Sunninghil, Berks SLS 7SE. Tangerine Computer Sys- tems, 3 Club Mews, Ely, Cambs. CBT INW. Quicksiva is launching a total of 114 programs in one batch —_more than some software companies bring out in a year Ranging in price from £3.95 to £14.95, they will be on sale in ‘about 10 days. ‘There are wo arcade games, a graphics adventure and a word processor for the Spectrum, three aracade games and two adven- tures for the ZX81, one Dragon game, an arcade game for the VIC-20and two arcade games and a mucis processor for the BBC ‘The Dragon gameisaversion ‘of Mined-Out, frst written forthe ‘Spectrum, and one of the Spec~ trum games is Trader, a version of the VIC-20 bestseller. Quicksilva, 13 Palmerstone Road, Southampton, Hants SO! ILL. Top Twenty programs for the Spectrum 1 The Hobbit Melbourne House (1) 2 Football Manager Addictive Games (—) 3° Transylvanian Tower Richard Shepherd (—) 4 Compiler Softek (=) 5 Penetrator ‘Melbourne House (7) 8 vu3D Prion (10) 7 Time Gate ‘Quicksilva (5) 8 3D Tunnel New Generation (—) 9 Voice Chess Artie (—) 10 Hungry Horace Psion/M. House (3) 11 Conflict Murtech (—) 12 Flight Simulation Psion (2) 13 Night Flight Hewson (15) 14 Horace Goes Skiing _Psion/M. House (—) 15 Arcadia Imagine (12) 16 Planet of Death Artic (13) 17 VUFile Psion (16) 18 Derby Day Computer Rentals (—) 19 Golf R&R(-) 20 Spectral Invaders Bugbyte (—) Compiled by W. H. Smith. Figures in brackets show last week's position. Will this boom turn into gloom? Without doubt the greatest understatement in the} computer world is that it is undergoing a boom. ‘Not since the record industry in the 60°s era of the Beatles has our economy seen such growth in a single sector. What can only be described as amateur businesses have grown, without heavy financial backing or trained ‘management into substantial companies. Ninety per cent of the minds behind our flourishing software world wouldn't stand a Pac-man’s chance in Hell of running « clothing factory. But this isn’t the same kind of indusiry. It is in the main, that rare animal the sellers’ market. fs ‘If a company produced a beautiful dress, after a lot of door-knocking, phone ringing, singing and, dancing, |promises and favours, and possibly bribery and corruption, it might find it was selling its product and | ‘making a reasonable profit. ‘On the other hand, produce a first rate commercial | program, scrawl the details on the underside of a park bench in the Shetlands, retire to an Andes mountain retreat and you can still begin drawing up plans for you yacht or tax haven mansion. Around this innovative and exciting atmosphere of | new invention and rapid growth, there are an increasing amount of disquieting voices who whisper, “‘it’ll be all over soon”, “‘the end of the software world is nigh “the end of the software world is nigh *‘just wait until...” ‘Human nature is once more showing us the future. In every affluent society, there are always the jobs, the more affluent and secure, the greater their number. The more secure the prospect, the more it seems: need {0 feel insecure. The corollary of this is when everyone agrees that something can only and must only go in one direction, be| that boom or siump, it is a sure sign the opposite will) soon happen. The only aspect of the computer market that everyone agrees on, is that no-one agrees about anything. What the doomsters have not yet thought about and. which is a more fertile area for concern is: What will) computers do to us? Wh at by their logical training are they turning us into? Will we become a breed of logical Vulcans or a race lof computer introverts, content only with the mental stimulation of playing by ourselves? Program zombie or | mental super-men/wonder-women, which is it to be? Which are you becoming? ‘Clement Chambers ‘Managing director, Computer Rentals ‘@ This space is for you to sound off about the micro scene, to air your| Douguets or brickbats, Skare your views by sending them to: Paul Liptrot, Opinion, Home Computing Weekly, 148 Charing Cross Road, ‘London WC2H OEE. Please includs your occupation and your interest in computing, HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983 Page 9THURSDAY 21. (12am—7pm) A J eee (10am — 6pm) SATURDAY 23 (10am — 6pm) a ol) ATTHE Midland Hotel PETER STREET VISIT THE COMPLETE SHOW FORTHE HOME USERANDSEE: —**= ACOMPLETE cross section of all hardware and software available to the home user. (A FULL RANGE of home computers priced from £50 upwards, ‘A COMPUTER ADVICE CENTRE run by independent experts for the answers to all your questions, COMING SOON JUNE BIRMINGHAM ‘Sponsored jinty by Computing Today Personal Software Personal Computing Today Home Computing Weekly 2X Computing, a ‘woman weme wed (ff, catintntaeatcangat t, Tasman eta ee a .. ’ "INVADERS , SPACE FIGHTER SSeS compet iba dessa ‘Beroanded Greer IC Baton Hach pot foc) setae ise the VCs Sea oun an Jontce eines 3D nai sorrwane = FREEPOST SWANSEA S13-2z NO POSTAGE REQUIRED lero fiance Jose sooo erste Page 10 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12aS SPECTRUM PROGRAM My colourtul Seabatle game {or 22002210 random sub the 2X Spectr ist asks you for ‘move, dependent aleve of difficulty, fromoneto 10 on dificalty level but you can also enter decal 215.235 Sub’s move up number f you want to progress and down screen, eradually. ‘which seldom “Then theseren showsa cyan happens. f sky with blue water. On the sur stumber of hits is face is your migenta-coloured eater than four ship and below i a green sub then sub only marine. You fire yellow bombs moves upwards andthe sibhas green torpedoes. 300-3020 print bomb on "Your objet i to destroy a way down smany subs as possible, Each ime 3100-3020 print bomb on ouave bombed oneanother wll way down come. up. This continucs unt 31003135 are used when sub Sour ship is destroyed by one of ‘shit. You wil thetorpedrs. hear beeps andit "You can't drop anew bomb then returns 10 before the previous one has disap. line 10 peared and i's the same for 4000-4060 print torpedo on torpedoes. way to surface “To move right pressmand10 4100-4130 are used when moveleftpressn. Press 2t0drop& Sour ship shit tomb, Pes 270 t0 stop game, 1 and gare is over. foranew game with same grade of Note OUT difficulty and for new game with satemen new grade of dificult. This 5000-9220 define graphics might be dificult to read on the (calle fom ine screen, by Thaveusedthe function INto read the keyboard and OUT For riables when Your ship is hit for a spo tacular display and some rador ‘and bare your ship's co- ae Seabattle, a multi-coloured perpen How it works game for the Spectrum, comes | >,5\cjandecarethe same for 0.600 iniiaisevariabies, | from Erik Sanderson in Oslo. — | iesitmarne ask fordiffculy, | Imagine you're fighting in the | jon. 2 setup ereen ‘and w are same for torpedo Yoo01080 players move » fjords... pe pac eg ; +high is high scores number of hits mar ett ; L iis your grade of cifcuty eS 4 hi isthe high scores grade of shoot torpedo difficulty, BY ™ HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 198) Page 11e andersen CET his@ a gi 222 THEN GO TO S PLer esis ysInT 28 LET 3210: 2e Ler e 50 RANDOMIZE 2 LET INT _TRND=2B) (RND « erie de Ler e: LET ex=x So LET cza: LET v=o {810 BORDER 7: PAPER 5: CLS “Bia PRINT AT 22.0; Sis FoR n=11 TO’ 2a PRINT INK 1 NEXT 1 S48 REM Graphic A,B,C ine $Se PRINT INK giAT 2/bi! 800 PRINT INK @;AT O70; bits, "Grade: "si 1Q00'REM players move Teer Tr eb<>b THEN PRINT AT a,eb d@o2 REM Graphic A,B,C in next U ine 1@03 IF b2eb THEN PRINT INK 3; AT 3B; aa 2000°RER Graphic Z.u-K 186s. EF byeb THEN PRINT INK 9; AT 1868) LBP en-n i816 LET b=bs(IN 32768=287 AND > {291 -{IN 327582183 AND b>O) 120 IF IN 65276-1689 AND c aefe, 7c TY. Peregspe2- eo sup So ao. IF ¢i2@ THEN GO SUB 3080 dn next t 2030 Boece REM submarine move Boes Ir RNDD1 720 THEN GO TO 2200 3020 IF SCREENS (y-2.x) o>" ~ O12 JUoSCRRENS AE 2ckA i? Go To. Bear 314 _2F SCREENS (y-2-x42) co0 "T REN 2F x3 THEN LET x=x-2: GO TO 2037 2012 IF SCREENS _(yo2ixt22 2" G5 T BEN LET x=xe(xee=18) ~(x245): GO T Oo 2es7 Bese IF x 3 gees 38 5 ATTR (¢,d)=25 THEN GO TO ie 32 Graphic G in next tine. 3303 Reu 2822 BAUR BADER sat e-He; So a 4 ay Trent Bunn xoN 0: it i} a MI a Page 12 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983 PRINT PAPER 1; INK 8;AT Cedi $020 IF ¢>y THEN PRINT PAPER 2:4 feces 2 LET ¢ 3100° RETURN 205 REM hit 21@ PRINT PAPER 3; AT itsed a; INK 73 the submacine e-2.a5 FLASH REM submarine torpedo Ler vev-a i010 ZF ATTR (v,w)-4S THEN GO TO 2iee’ $882 20, vg2"-2 THEN PRINT PAPER BT ve. 5 BEINT’ PAPER 2; INK 4:AT vow @ THEN PRINT AT vows pme over Re (V42,8) 6225 THEN PR w aT ved AT ayb-is fies PRINT 2107 IF hits >nagh OR hits=hish A its: Ler ND {oni THEN LET high age ERENT, Init) S4RT.039) "70H Se : eSae: ian SP °ELASA asAT ab Anew g es: Press & BEEP. RNOs5@ GRND SS THEN Go To 9 S" THEN STOP THEN Go° To. 6 294 2130 Go To 4120 REM define graphics So1e,FOR j=0 TO 7: READ 4: POKE Tyo Next 5 gee0 Bata’8,0.0-80.112,255,255.2 s930,r0R J=0 70 2: |RERD 4: POME BsR os # oN5* sea DATA S01 72.83, 255,255,255 3050, Fon vaé READ a ose jg Next $a60 bata 8,02, 224.228,296,255.2 $2,252 READ q: POKE S070 FoR j=0 70,7: #28! ofS 12%, 255.255.255. POKE 3990,rOR j=@ 70.7: READ 4 USR “ET tulg: NEX sige Seth ‘ie, §50) te, 255,255,255 Size FoR Jee JO 27 READ 9: PONE SR NEXT, Bige bata’d,0,0,254 255,255,255, TO 7: READ q: POKE 5ide FoR V $1do Bath’ 30197253, 255.253, 3ise, ron vee fo, 9: AeA B22 Soa Reeg de, SE, ¥260_peT! 6,56, Bee s aga, Si%@ FoR J=@ = 2 READ 9: POKE B38 Bath 3: a5 Soles ass. 127,59 isa 3 2150, Pon JO 0.2: READ a! PORE BR? O83 32a: gae0 BatA’S, eves22k, 252,255,255, 286' S5i0 ron Jz0 72,7: READ a: POKE oSRo Keay a oes, $280 Satd’3;e75130724.209,255-25 Sooo RETURNDRAGON SOFTWARE R Into battle with your Dragon es Three games of cunning and dar- Cc Poker Dragon 32 £7.95 Compusense, PO Box 169, Palmers Green, London N13. I'm no card sharp, but I was pleasantly surprised by this game. (Card games appeal to me for their ability 1 engage people in asubtle bate of wits. How does a computer overcome th ‘After entering your name you are siting at the table pitted ‘against Rocky, Harry and Sam. 1 ‘would suspect some conspiracyif didn't know better. The fast flow of action, assisted by machine language subroutines, maintains an air of tension, Sound effects cunningly imitate card handling and highlight other aspects of the game. Youstart with astake of $100 (e's an import from America by ing for the Dragon. Our reviewers report back from the front line — with star ratings ‘Spectral Associates) and the ob- Ject isto double your money. No previous experience necessary. All players’ stakes are displayed, add- ‘eto and, of course, taken away. You may start the gulible sucker, but as you lear you have a fifty- fifty chance of success. On higher levels of difficulty (here are five) you increase the frequency of bluffing and the mit. of betting — you win more, you loose more! It’s the neat graphics which ‘captivated me. The display of in. ormation was clear and involved me as a player in this confronta- tion, An absorbing game which hhasaddicitve potential — thesting in any game! instructions playability sraphics valueformoney fae ae aed MP. 0% 0% 0% 100% Space Race Dragon £7.95 Compusense, PO Box 169, Palmers Green, London N13. In Space Race you do battle against four different kinds of ‘marauding alien, each with different actions and values. The 16 levels of play start fast — and go up to extremely fast. ‘Youstart the game with four ships, and every 10,000 points you ‘get another one, up toamaximum of five. Your remaining ships are displayed below the track on the right, with the score om the lft. I you're feling competitive, there's a high score league table ‘caleting for up to nine entries. Written in machine code, ‘Space Race can be played using either joystick or keys. tried both ‘methods. Though itis possible 10 {get a reasonable score using Keys, the aliens areat an even greater ad vantage. Personally, 1 found the sound effects annoying, but other- wise the game was fun to play, and addictive too. No loading pro- bblems, and comprehensive in siruetions are included, playability sraphics value formoney aM. 70%. 10% or 80% ¢c-Trek Dragon £7.95 Compusense, PO Box 169, Palmers Green, London N13, vancing invaders, we now are showered by Klingons. Klingon. bashingis fast becoming a popular pastime for those who remember immortal phrases like ‘More thrust Scottie” and “I inna think she'll take any more!” ‘This is an American version distributed. by Compusense. It ‘came all presente in a plastic bag, ‘containing a full shect of instruc tions clearly set out. Loading was straightforward “The commands for the game are given in three easily mastered letter codes. You see the Enter- pris (a letter E) om a black sector ‘of space. Movement is achieved by reference to compass directions — a litle awkward at first because you have to keep in mind both Where you want to go and any ‘obstructions there might be. There are no increasing levels, of difficulty, which could reduce the game's longs im appeal. In- stead, a random procedure gives You a target of between 13 and 26 Klingons. Vario starbases replenish esentail supplies Very little in the way of graphics — only the Short Range Scan shows any action. The rest of the time you are kept busy navigating, doing batle, repairing and checking Enjoyable at first, but weak graphics, and poor staying-power. instructions. playability sraphics Value for money HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983 MP. 0% 80% 10% 50% Page 13A NEW SERIES FOR FIRST TIME USER “Learning to Use” is a new series of books which introduces newcomers to the most widely used micros in the marketplace. The books assume absolutely no knowledge about computers and the reader is shown even the \ most fundamental operations such as “switching on” and “loading a program”. The books lead the reader through simple programming and then on to graphics, with several programs which show how to achieve pictures and even animation! The user-friendly approach is consistent throughout the text — not only are program listings clearly shown, but in many cases, a photograph is included to show what the program looks like when actually loaded and run! All books in the series are £5.95 (incl. postage). ses eS es eee ee eee eae r a 1 Order Form to: READ-OUT BOOKS AND SOFTWARE 1 I ECAMPROAD, FARNBOROUGH, HANTS, GU2S6EW. J 2A Hour Answnring Sonic, Telephone C252 51033172 Vn ee eel To be published , = —-—- — | April-June 1983) mim=m=——— a 1 J heres Puionnates Verne my chav fore ae Testing to Usethe Ove Messe at my acess =e Computer (Apri) V pmve FEET EE LEE EEO one ml Learning to Use the Commodore | [NOWAVALABLE a I 64 Computer (May) Please send me.......copy’ies [)LewnegtoUsethe PET Computer [Learning to Usethe VIC-20Computer Learning to Use the Lynx [Jatarcs.sseach Plarcrsicecmesncmma Cucgetenzitine | | ter (Jum core peng biter Uabedoger Computer (June) | Biren, Cllarissihatsigaine tsrataunrenat 1 [licuraiiet) amare aa nl A se rerreetr me, and sort to eon plication my copyios of OUT [| anates.a5each rg Use ict ~|Learingto Une bye ! READ- frctponpeting Pate, — eee eee -—-—- = Se eee Page 1 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983,TI-99/4A PROGRAM Bi ful Wg Mak ae maiden in distress from the black k on for graphics and ae night of it, © tour kos wake % CALL CAR mba, tee eeearacn aioe ere’s a i eat ace large hoslderr aon It m i van soe tee psc nom ae abe di res CALL HCHAR (row, column, aihough len forthe Teas number) — This nts. the pees eo lee net Aaa ats caiecee | A 25 28 Te crear eee Now’s your chance to be a hero. All you have to do is CALL GCHAR (row, colum: variable) —" This. isthe rescue amaidenfromthe = [sini or PEEK. the How it works clutches of the evil black ASCII code of the character at 160 clears secon magician. Vince Apps) PHOS AM fe eee esemuted eee ete is for the TI-99/4A variable 190240 wer defined so 50177 a penn i 0 01 SRN Ino vane | CARE SOUND LAS LED Di 280390 Stupinitia sreen | $1080 play muste 1020120. ht by rock canis OF fanny 340370 Inkiise variables | 850890 prin succes 1140-1180 simulation of pre | uration ml ae 400 look at keyboard message @ routine ace fos step en en CALL KEY (0, K, $) — TI99 ee equivalent of INKEYS. Cal key 23510 finden 2 will leave the ASCII Gode ofthe ook at sere in ey pressed inthe variable K new poston $0550 fr pa CALL CLEAR — Clears the Situations , Sereen, A direct equivalent of 580-600 move knight CLS. 610620 Swap updated postions 640730 throw rock Up you get... and into battle with the black magi from Jabberwocky HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983 Page 18-99/4A PROGRAM 108 hie 320 130 140 150 160 17a ie0 198 228 210 222 232 eae 250 260 27e 25e 29e see aie 328 30 348 se 360 38 36e 330 420 410 420 430 440 450 460 47a 480) 490 300 se 0 530 549 550 560, 370 522 590 610, 620 54a 650 658 672 68 708 718 720 748 738 768 770 738 732 328 ae 620 392 242 350 662 ere see 338 308 Page Ti REM REM RESCUE REM REM REM V.H. APPS REM CALL CLEAR ‘CALL SCREENC 8? RANDOMIZE. REM DEFINE CHARACTERS CALL. CALL cL cL ALL CHARC 126, "AREFFFESRFFFOSFE” > CHARC 121, "ARFEFEORFEDR7E7E" > CHAR 126, "@B031C2R2hOS1414" > CHARC 144, "S87EFFFFFFFFFF7E” > GOLOR( 15, 13.1) REM SET UP SCREEN FOR Jol 10 180 RISINTCRNDSSB*3> RemINTCRNOZZ3+2) CALL HCHARCR2, Ri 144 NEXT J GALL HOHARC 1,98, 128 CALL HCHARC 1,31, 121) CALL HCHRR( 24,5, 126) Ns24 nro=24 moos MCHaS, coro 77e REN MOVE AN CALL KEVe.K,S? MRN=NRO MoN=NCO IF K6>83 THEN 450 NENSHCN=1 TF K6268 THEN 470 HoNeMcN=2 TE KoO69 THEN 496 PIRNPRR= IF KO8S TH NRNerIRNe TF CHCNCS >ecHOND32 94 HRNGLD#CHRND249THEN 630 CALL GCHARCIRN, MCN. x IF ¥eg2 THEN 572) TF CMeL20)cXe121 THEN 812 IF xeida THEN 310 Goro 630 TF CHRN=tRO ec MCN=N2DJTHEN 630 CALL HoHARCTIRO, MCD, 32) CALL SOUND: 198,338,2) CALL HCHARC RN. MEN, 1289 HRO=MRH McoanCN RETURN REM THROW ROCK RL INTCRND#L2 >+MRO-6 IF (RL>24)$CRICI THEN 650 REsINTCRND#12 >+NCO=s IF (R2>32 )8¢R2<3 THEN 67 CALL GCHARCRL Ra, x TF XaG@ THEN 730. TF X=129 THEN’ 1290 IF (X=120>4¢K=121 THEN 752 CALL SOUNDCSe, 168.3) GALL HCHARCRI /R2, 144 RETURN, REM MAIN LOOP GOSUB 400 GOSUB 650 Goto 770. Ren SUCCESS CALL SOUNDC See, 330.2) CALL SOUNDC See, 450,2) GALL SQUNDC See, 360, 2) ALL SOUNDC3@0, 500, 23 f@e"vOU MADE IT 11" Keio GOSue 115@ GOSUB i2ie INPUT "PLAY AGAIN IF SEGSCO®, 1, 1 > sie "08 " THEN 1198 ELSE 160 16 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983 91@ FOR Jei TO 10 92@ CALL HCHARCHRO.MCO, 32> 338 GALL SOUNDC 180,~5,2> 340 CALL HOHARCHIRD. NEO, 128> 350 NEXT J) 382 REN RONG TURNING 978 Mie="YOU CRASHED 11” See Xria. 990 GOSUB 1158 1eeo Gosus_tzie 1910 GoTo ase 1920 REM ROCK HIT 1030 WS="5 FLAT tf 1040 x=11 1e5@ FOR Jai To 18 1960 CALL KCKARCHRD, NCO, 32) 1078 CALL WCKARCHRO, NCQ, 144 1080 CALL SOUND<199-220,2) 1939 NEAT J 1198 GOSUB 1159 1118 GOSUB 1z10 1128 GoTo 690) 1190 END) 1140 REM PRINT aT 1189 FOR Je1 TO LENs> 1169 CHeRBCCSEGSCHS, J. 1) 1179 CALL HOHARC IX) 4180 NEXT J 1192 RETURN 1200 REM DELAY 1218 FOR D=1 TO 200 4220 NEXT D 1290 RETURNUSERS!! DEALERS ZX81 and ZX Spectrum Games ce. ¢. machinecode games) © GueaeGpegames a, Nightmare Path /SpaceRescte/Dragon Mare/Mision ofthe Dep original masterice) Wk Spectrum GometieS1 Devt Beds pls Digger Man — Newt @ excellent rial 35 fanes making mannwm We of sound and slow), an sak spectrom Dighimare Park, Dragon Maze and Space Resco. (6 Bape proanies) MUST be the bew available) Supple’ wha mystery prowram ano ea charge, (A magoiien version that Send SAE for Catalogue, ‘and/or Trade details, TAGAIMGS: srsress tsuneo 26 Spiers Close, Knowle, Solihull B93 9ES GENEROUS DEALER aE DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE MAIL ORDER PROTECTION SCHEME I you order goods trom Mail Order Advertisers in this, magazine and pay by post in advance of delivery, this, publication will consider you for compensation it the ‘Advertiser should become insolvent or bankrupt, provided 1. You have not received the goods or had your money. returned; and 2. Youwrite to tne publisher of is publication explaining the position not 28 days from the day you sent your order and not later than 2months from that day. Please do not wait until tne When you write, we will tell you how to mab ‘and what evidence of payment is required. We guarantee to moet claims from readers made in ‘accordance with the above procedure as soon as possible after the advertiser has been declared bankrupt, Or insolvent to a limit of £1,800 per annum for \dvertiser, so affected, and up t0 £5,400p.a. ine insolvent advertisers. Claims may be paid for higher amounts, or when the above procedures have not been, complied with, at the discretion of this publication, we do not guarantee to do so in view of the nead to. some limit to this commitment and to learn quickly of, reader's difficulties This guarantee covers only advance payment sent in direct response to an advertisement in this magazin (not, for example, payments made in response to cata logues, etc, received as a result of answering such advertisements): CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS ARE EXCLUDED. ‘your claim BIG IN LITTLE COMPUTERS SOFTWARE NOW IN STOCK AT THE VIDEO PALACE COME AND SEE OUR FULL SELECTION ATARI 400/880 Marae naoen rooms mn com seiwopane et ee Foto nase canrmoae 1) oss ‘ALL THE agove ‘ORDER BY PROGRANMES CAN BE TELEPHONE ‘ORDERED BY POST Access and Barclaycard holdors may order by hone: 01-937 6258 Tyg) ad nym em at ieee reste ea Perera ras HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983 Page 17(EE TT SE TS} PROFILE in the beginning was the Atom EE From its early days of selling two programs from a box room, A & F Software aims to end up among the top five software companies. Candice Goodwin talks to Mike Fitzgerald and finds out how and why he thinks he can get to the top Mike Fizgerald still remembers the first order A. & F Software ever had, He said: “1 opened and there was a cheque for £4.95. 1 felt great. It realy felt like we were beginning. And we're stil enjoying the business now” ‘A & F placed the ad that started it all back in November 1981, ‘The company then con- sisted of Mike Fitzgerald. and ‘Doug Anderson, who had both been: made redundant in the great ICL reorganisation, Mike had been a mainframe engineer at ICL, while Doug had been a programmer working on design automation ‘With some of his redun ddancy money, Mike had bought ‘an Atom — but didn't think ‘much of the software that was ‘around for it at the time. So he and Doug decided to see if they could do better. They started off with Early Warning and Polecat, two pro- sgrams for the Atom. They made filty copies of each, and invested £250 in ads. “Within the week, we had to do 100 more of each. ‘fier, that, we never looked back”. AN & F was intially run from Mike's boxroom and Doug's fla. Now, with astaif of nine, ithas a showroom and offices’ at 830 Hyde Road, Gorton, Man- chester, about a mile from Bellevue. Mike now concentrates on, sales and administration, Doug still writes programs, and has now been joined by programmers Andrew Houston, Martin Hickling, and Allan Samuel. ‘Mike O'Neill helps out in the showroom and takes care of Doug Anderson — sil writing Programs, ‘Mike Fitgerald — remembers the first cheque tape duplicating, while Tim Kay Jooks after advertising. Jane Ashton deals with mail order, ‘and Susan, on the secretarial side, completes the team. A & F also hhas six freelance programmers. From the first to programs, A & F's range has now built upto 23 titles, for the BBC, Spectrum, Oric and Dragon as well asthe Atom. “If it hadn't been for the Atom, we might never have started. So we'll continue to support fat least for the next 12 months.” ‘The range is mainly arcade- style and adventure games, though there is a data manage- ‘ment system for the Spectrum, ‘and some small business pro- ‘grams may be in the pipeline for the BBC and Dragon. Prices range from £4.70 10 £11.50, and some of the BBC Page 18 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983 programs are supplied on disk ‘as well as on cassette. Disks Tor the Dragon are coming soon. With the mushrooming of the software market, many software companies are having trouble getting their programs duplicated quickly. Not so A & “We looked into this very carefully and decided to invest some money in a duplicating set-up. We can do 30,000 tapes a week. “It means that we don’t hhave any delays from suppliers, ‘and we have a very low reject rate — we do real-time rather than high-speed copying. Having its own duplicating facility also means that the company can react quickly when hardware companies change specifications at short notice. ‘We feel we've got_an advantage over other companies in that we've got a wealth of experience in manufacturing as well as programming. We can catch problems and solve them as soon as they start, Most of A & F's fulltime Programmers are in their mid twenties, though some of the freelancers are still at school. “They're from all walks of life, really. Martin Hickling worked for eight years at Ferranti, but ‘Andrew Houston is self-taught 1 think that programming. is something you're gifted with ‘A & F's programmers tend, to be a bit older than the average home micro software writer because “‘we go for the stability. We like t0 direet our progammers rather than let ‘them just go off on their own’ ‘What we try to do i treat ‘each program asa project. Each programmer has his own project to work on, and it's review ed all the way along. It always hhas a final aim at the end, That way, it avoids indi vidual idiosyncracies. creeping {nto the program. You don't get an idea that looks great to begin with but never gets anywhere."” Where do they get ideas for programs from? ‘We try to take ideas from life in general = there's nothing fixed. Ic ‘generally happen that we'll be having a meeting or something ‘and someone’ll have a brainstorm:"* One idea that was taken from life was Painter, a game in Which the player tries to spray paint round a series of potsmsi BREE A HG WHY A PE AN TEE FOr a ae TAS ES) PROFILE while being chased by man- Mike sees the market for eating paint rollers. Mike computer games continuing 10 Fitzgerald. says that this is the hold up for a long time yet game he plays most. “There will always be room for ut my favourite game of good games, Each game has a all time is one of our lowest life of only nine 10 15 months, sellers — a game called Robot plus four to five months’ play” for the Atom, It's well written, ing time.”” it’s got humour and everything. But he doesn't think the ‘We've had some lovely letters present boom will continue about it, But for some reason it indefinitely, “Some companies never really caught on” are getting rich quickly. Those ‘A & F has not found that ‘companies won't be around in customers are put off by games 12 months time.” they do not recognise. “We A & F itself started 1983 haven't had any trouble selling : with projected turnover of £1.3 any of our software. Word of di million — and had to alter that mouth gets along fairy quickly to £2 million shortly afterwards. As ong as your product’s good But Mike says that “not much"” you won't have any problem of that will be pure profit — selling it” SS “most of the profits will be Mike feels it is important, ploughed back into the though, to take time in develop: Dusiness."” ing each idea. A & F's games “We would like to be take on average two-four months doing the same job in thirty from the initial concept through years time — we're trying 10 to the finished product Pi | make @ career of it. We do “We could have brought things properly because in 12 Painter out after a month, but ‘months time there'll only be ten we felt that by holding it up for . to fifteen major software com- 1a while we'd get the necessary " panies and 20 or 50 minor com- support. Every game we pro- panies around. Jduce, we aim to be better than “We intend to be among the last game the top five companies.”” HIRE VIC 20 SOFTWARE CASSETTES £1.40 INC. P+P PER FORTNIGHT CARTRIDGES £2.50 INC. P+P PER FORTNIGHT £10 For TWO YEARS memeersnip ALL SOFTWARE HIRED WITH MANUFACTURERS PERMISSION. ‘Send £10.00 membership foe on full money-back ‘approval (cheque or P.O. made payable to C.E. Bird) In return we will send you a folder containing your ‘membership card, informaton sheet, supply of order forms and catalogue of programs (including descrip- tions of all software), Or send £1.00 for catalogue and further details, refundable against your membership feo upon join: ing. VIC 20 USERS SOFTWARE LIBRARY Beek -_ Beso hant ty FREE unbiased advice from the club stands ‘The popular bring andi again be held on Saturday ‘Tam up with what youve F great day outfall farily 11, NEWARK ROAD, PRICE OF ADMISSION £1.50 BREADSALL ESTATE, pppceasam 2 00 seen DERBY. DE2 4DS HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983 Page 19\e/48k SPECTRUM o's PLAY - £6.95 SENS Sea. "Sias ( CADE GAMES Z- £6.35 An TRADITIONAL ARCADE BREAKOUT Gants WRITTEN IN USRILE coMmtAND GASle AND MACHINE CONAg LANDER GouE. (aureK® OxnPuics) Mvrebestoe ToobkrT (au wie) - £5.95 RENUMAER (Incl. GoTo's, GoSuB's ce) FREE MEMORY Memory Use> BY PROGRAM Teton Uses GY VARiaeues ‘Block peLee Ree beuere HOMEWORK / REVISION PROGRAM £4 ENASLES You To Test NOURSELF ON HOMEWORK, VoenaULARY, SPELLINGS eke. MUST FoR’ ANY KIND OF REPETITIVE. LEARNING pec micro (mone. 8) Bec GAMES TZ - £CAS ne WOOON AITACK, “EXCELLENT GAAMICS SHUTTLE LANDER GAMES Fok MANY HOURS. Rewer Garrle. oF ENTERTAMMENT TomeRs OF HAWO! Fouk-in-n- Rodd c GAMES T= £6AS PEATE CASTLE WIDE VARIETY OF mt SIPFERENT ORME, Gaal, AW, ADVENTURE, ‘ARCADE OAME di.) EOUCATIONAL TAPE 2. - £645 SIMILAR TYPE TS ABSVE (6-1 STOKS A SHARES - E045 ‘STOCK MARKET SIMULATION EXCELLENT GAME, VALUE PROGRAMS! GAMES, EDUCATIONAL AND COMPUTER AIDS DRAGON 32 DRAGON MAGIC T - €6.:95 ‘QUR OWN MAGALINE-oN-CASSETTE FoR THE DRAGON. WicoRPeRATING PLENTY. cE DIFFERENT PROGRAMS, ADVICE AND NEWS. Cenceuent VALUE FoR Money) DRAGON MAGIC TE - Eeas SECOND EDITION OF DRAGON MAGIC INCLUDING A WIDE VARIETY OF GAMES 42 cHnencTen ser ~ £6.15 FULL 42 GAARACTERS PER LINE (UPPER fn LOWER CASE). YOU CAN EVEN. PRINT THEM SIDEWAYS o8 UPSIDE Down ! EDITEXT~ A POWERFUL WoRD-PReCEssOR FoR THE IDEAL FOR HOME of BUSINESS. WE 1 - £eas OUR MAGAZINE-ON- CASSETTE Tok THiS Exceueny HNGHWe. TF You Mave ST SoUOHT AW ORIC THEN Twig IS TRE FIRST CASSETTE YOU SHOULD BUY. SHE AGE TE - £6.48 FECOND EDITION OF ORIC MAGIC INCLUDING A WIDE VARIETY OF GAMES. STOKE & SHARES - £6.48 THIS ENTERTAINING GAME IS A. STOO MARKET SmuLATION= tr IS A VERT SIMPLE To PLAY, AND FAST MoviNG GAME, Wim ALL iS birreRenT PessieiLinies TIS ORIGINAL IDEA wht PRoviDE You Wi: MOURS OF ENTERTAINMENT ! ALL PRICES INCLUDE VATand P&P SEND TO THE COMPUTER DEN Telephon (0525) 376600 Page 20 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983, 30 LAKE STREET Access/ LEIGHTON BUZZARD BEDS., LU7 8SJ. Barclaycard ACCEPTEDCP Software, 17 Orchard Lane, Prestwood, Bucks HPI6 ONN. “Guaranteed able to beat Sargon 1 and all other Spectrum ciess programs.” Thats the impressive claim made by CP Software in sxversforitsnew Superchesspro- gram, for the 48K Spectrum, When pur to the test, the ‘game did beat several other chess Programs, including one for the ‘Acorn Atom and another for the BBC micro. There are even levels ‘of play, numbered Oto 6, the first four being fas enough for tourna- ‘ment chess, and even in level Ot takes alot of beating. Response ime s fat withan average of about three seconds in level 0. However, as in any chess game, the overall response time depends on the complexity of the board layout. Screen layout and method of eavering moves is standard. Both the computer's and your last 100r so moves are displayed on the sereen during. play, but unfor- tunately there 8 no facility for printing these out or saving the fame hallway through ‘One nice feature the ability tochange the colours ofthe board according 10 your own taste. 1 found the best combination vas red and yan piezeson ablack and wwhice board, Like most computer chess {games nowadays, Superchess will Suggest move fr you the going gets tough. It wil even play its, any level, if you ask cto. ‘An analyse facity allows you to rearrange the board for hess problems ec. At one point, while was losing agnme, switch: 6 to analyse mode and removed all the computers pices from the board. Not 1 be decerred, Super- chess simply moved one of my pieces. The menu of features available on demand includes ‘ee, short for technical infor: mation, which gives a. short description of the algorithm for the computer's moves. Small things like this show how much thought has gone into this pro gram, Excellent value for money, ‘nd highly recommended. 10. 30% 50% 95% 50% And now for something slightly different... ear aE ist eT) As a change from arcade games, we review four programs which offer a different challenge. But do they deliver the goods? Our panel gives you its verdicts Painter right and Q and A for up and down — a convenient arrange- £5.75 ment, | found, You can als press 4 & F Software, 830 Hyde Road, | H to suspend the game while you Gorton, Manchester MIB 7JD, "| draw breath ortake a worker's tea break. ‘A very good game, this — the] A. score recording facility troubleis,itmight just remind you | enables inter-decorator competi- of those outstanding home | tion. ‘decorating jobs you shoukl bedo-| “The program loaded easily ing instead of sitting about playing | and I found the on-screen insruc- computer games. tions easy to follow. Arcade ‘You are Painter Patrick. | quality graphics, and good use of Yourjobistospray paintround24 | sound o simulate aerosols puffing pots of paint standing in a room, | and paint roles laughing as you while trying to evade capture by. | tumble o the floor. decorator-eating paint-roller. Great fun — recommended. Each pot you surround Da. recharges your dwindling. paint supply. As each room is com- | instructions 80% pleted the screen clears and the | playability 85% game resiaris, But you are now | Sraphies 85% pursued by more paint roller. | value or money 75% ‘You move around the room | javamgar aga are using the O and P keys for left and Sounds easy, but of courseto Fees ‘put a damper on things a par- £4.95 ticularly nasty piece of work known as Sum Yan (the money Jaysoft, 6 Wentworth Drive, | lender) is damouring for your Bishop's Stortford, Herts. debt of £5,000 (used to buy your junk) to be repaid with hefty in- Following a spate of financial | terest. ‘modelling games forthe Spectrum | Should Sum Yan becomeim- ‘comes Taipan, simulation ofthe | patient, he will not hesitate to ins and outs of Oriental trading, | send the boys round, and all your with the aim of accumulating the | hard-eamed cash will be gone. princely sum of $1,000,000, Other hazards include storms Money is earned by buying | while travelling from porto port, and selling various products such | and jettisoning of goods to pre- as arms, silk, opium, women(!) | vent your junk from sinking, andgeneral provisions. Goodscan | __‘Theteare three levels of play, be bought cheaply at one of the | from beginner to financial wizard, fivefareasternportsandthensold | but the iasis the ony level reall aa profit at one of the other | worth playing. Rather repetitive, ports. thesame financial tactics applying HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 Ay to nearly every game with little change in the structure of play. playability 50% aaa se Venture £6 G & J Bobker, 29 Chadderton Drive, Unsworth, Bury, Lancs Although the full game is written for 48K, one side of the cassette thas been recorded for the 16K machine, with asevond loading 10 play the ast three games. Both sides of the tape loaded first time with no trouble. All the instructions are on thescreen, and I found them very easy to follow. You are given £1,000and the opportunity to increase the amount by playing a total of seven szames. In the first, you bet on which of three ducks will finish a race first. Game number two is a fruit ‘machine type where you are given 10“pull” of the handle... th ‘where you can win a bob or two. ‘The third is a simple treasure hunt using a grid with hints given ‘on which direction 10 take, In ‘game four, Mastercode, youhave toguessa four-digit codeset by he computer. Fifthly, you have to keep a car on a winding road, and ‘the amount of time on the track represents a percentage of £1000 added to your hopefully increasing total. Game number 6ives you a chance to bomb a ZX8l Keyboard, and wipe it off the sereen, .. it ean be done. ‘Last but not east isan adven ture game set in a maze where you ‘can gather gold. First you must fight off some fearsome monsters ‘with such diverse ‘weapons’ as cheese, fish, and would you believe; an cil can. This is the ‘game Where your fate is decided. ‘A. compendium of simple ‘games strung together to make a ‘game which I'am sure will appeal to a wide age group, But for £6, a litle overpriced. ma insrucsions 0% piayabiy sn graphics 50% tale for money won 11989 Page 2VIC-20 SOFTWARE! QUALITY ARCADE ACTION FOR THE UNEXPANDED. DN ENTIRELY IN M/C FOR FAST ALLLOUR GAMES ARE WRIT ARCADE ACTION, INCREDIBLE COLOUR GRAPHICS AND GALAXIONS. suoor vows Tie atten nvapeRs, [BUT BEWARE OF THE SWOOPING ATTACKERS. CASS £6. ROCKETS, AVOIDING THE ASTEROID CLOUDS AND MOUNTAIN PEAKS, CASS £6.95 ASTEROYDS. sour sir 1s 1ost ty a asreRow FIELD, YOUR ONLY HOPE IS TO BLAST-THE ONCOMING ‘ASTEROIDS CASS £5.99 MUNCH MAN. usr ar one or THe nest ver. SIONS OF THIS POPULAR ARCADE GAME, 3 LIVES, BONUS FRUIT, POWER PILLS AND 4 VERY INTELLIGENT GHOSTS CASS S99 GUN FIGHT. suoor your parryer nrrore ne SHOOTS YOU. A GAME OF SKILL FOR 2 PLAYERS. CASS £5.99 D FAVOURITE KNOCK OUF A FULL COMING SOON COSMIC FIRE RIRDS. RUNS ON THE 8 OR 16k EXPANDED VIC. ‘OUR GAMES ARE AVAILABLE FROM MICRO C. MAN. (CHESTER, 1 & B COMPUTERS BOLTON. AND SOON, ALL. GOOD. COMPUTER SHOPS, MAIL ORDER ONLY — PLEASE MAKE CHEQUES/POs PAYABLE: SOLAR SOFTWARE 51, MEADOWCROFT RADCLIFFE MANCHESTER ALL ORDERS SENT BY RETURN POST.__ucws! FTRADE ENQUIRIES WELCOME AT LAST A CHEAP, PERMANENT AND SAFE WAY TO UPGRADE YOUR SCREEN. Gace? “=r rely SPRAY ON TO GIVE HIGH eon FINISH TO MINIMISE -EFLECTIONS AND GLARE TO. EDUC E_EYE-STRAIN AND. MIGRAINE] Complete kit just £7-95 (plus 75p p&p)" famnete te for (plus 75p p&p). enclose cheque for... oF charge my Het Orders on 02034 93308 = sig. to VISION PRODI cts (DEPT CWi) POBox 14 No warehouse Horley Row Horley SURREY _RH6 8DW} Page 22 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983, DUCKWORTH PERSONAL COMPUTING anew series written and edited by Nick Hampshire Spectrum Graphion Using colou two dimerssonal ape ploting- shape scaling ant ‘atetching shape moverne shape roation pling sng max ‘nanipultion- tee davarional shape plcting ISENO7186 17001 46:98 Vic Graphics ‘Same as above, bu forthe VIC. The Commodore Supe Expander ‘sree orn the prograranes us book 1SeNO7155 7028 £63 thd how madly or exon "SaNO7I85 1704 8S Vic Programmes 1 Same as forthe above ssaNo7126 17060 88.95 ‘VICRevealed Innrriuces the wer tothe technical wri ofthe VIC, ts otware and Thardware, erably lum louse othe ful covering everyting fan machine code prograrmngto wieriacing whats TSBVOTISE 19994 £958 ‘Obtainabie trom al good bookselers and computer stores Orin case of dificalty dec rom Dackororth DUCKWORTH The OldPiane Factory 43 Gioucester Crescent London NW17DY Tec Ls 98 Diskwise Ltd. Computer Centres SOUTH WEST & NORTH WEST Computer enthusiasts look no further WE STOCK THE FOLLOWING PRODUCTS: Dragon 32K ORIC 48K... 148 Commodore 64... _ £299] Newbrain ‘A’ £234] Newbrain “AD + £260) MPFII 64K (Apple soft compatible) £234] BBC modelB .... £347] Microline 80 Oot Matrix Printer 199) Epson MX80 Dot Matrix Printer 389| Smith Corona Daisy Wheel Printer... ++. £485 AND LOTS MORE ‘Above prices plus VAT A large selection of Games for the most popular ‘computers plus Paper, Discs, Books etc. Weare business systems specialists and can provide software for most applications. STOCKPORT PLYMOUTH {68-70 Lower Hillgate Deptiord Piace ‘Stockport, Cheshire North Hill, Plymouth Tel: 081 477 5031, Tol: 0752 267000 (4Advice from an old hand Tread with great interest about the problems of your correspondents. (probably first-time computer buyers) regarding delivery of products by micro manufacturers. Perhaps some advice from an old hhand in computing who has had similar problems is wanted: 1 Don’t believe all you read 2 If your order for aproductisnot delivered within the time specified cancel itand buy something else — the high streets are awash with computers ‘The real reason for this state of affairs is that manufacturers advertise a product they have not ‘even produced, get the customers’ ‘money and then make it. So in ef- fect customers are financing companies with cheap capital and a ‘way of testing the market for demand, hence the long delivery delays. ‘Your publication, as a weekly magazine with short copy dates, is a welcome addition to computing if only to help stop false [promises by some companies as to theor products’ suitably, available and claims. It can end the subsequent ‘blame put about that their advertising has to be placed months before the product is available as ‘an excuse for delivery problems. ‘A 28day delivery promise often. turns into a fouremonth wait. This is unacceptable. A ‘customer should have his/her ‘computer or whatever in 10work- ing days. Finally, regarding advertising claims: 1 The Orice1 is advertised as hav= ing 16 colours. Not true, it only has eight. 2 Softwareavailable forall CP/M ‘machines? Again, not true. CP/M. is a disc-based operating system ‘and there being so many disc for- ‘mats around, it's unlikely the soft- ‘ware advertised is in your format. There is, however, one ex- ception. That is if you own 8in IBM compatible disc drives (not completely compatible even then) ‘you should be able to get the soft- ‘ware running on your machine after sorting our screen, memory locations, etc. D.J. Every, Plympton, Plymouth LETTERS Send your letters to Letters Home Computing Weekly, 145 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H OEE. Don't forget to name your computer — you could win £5-worth of software. Queries cannot be answered on this page. It’s safer by credit card ‘The answer to MrR. G. Bennett's worry (Letters, HCW No. 3) about manufacturers holding money for a long period before sending goods and gaining interest at his expense might well be solved by the following, which would ako safeguard his money should the manufacturer become ins: vent ayment should be made by credit card and suppliers should only be allowed to debit the ac- count when goods have been despatched. Tn this way the supplier could determine just before the time of despatch that he willgethis money and the consumer would not lose interest or run therisk of losing al or part of his money. Credit card companies should only have dealings with suppliers who undertake to ‘operate in the above manner and consumers should then only deal with suppliers who are prepared to accept credit cards. "The setting up of a bureau 0 hold the money would seem to be an unnecessary additional ex pense F.L, Elis, Botley, Oxford Look abit harder for us ‘As one of the few directors of British software houses speciais- ing solely in the production of educational software, must reply {0 two of the letters featured in Issue No 2, ‘Mrs Genevieve Ludinski, of LCL, describes “99 per cent of educational software” as “small Portions of exotic fare at inflated prices”, while Ms Jane Everest says there “tmust be some programs around for use at home.”” ‘There are, Ms Everest. You simply have to look a bit harder to find them. Educational software houses ike ourselves are reluctant to commit heavy expenditure on ‘massive advertising campaigns as indulged in by the game software houses. We prefer at this stage to plough any profits back into developing that to which we are dedicated — the programs Mrs Ludinski makes a rash claim which I've seen before. Whilst there is no doubt some truth in it, tis not helpful, ‘The few small firms who are ‘selling educational software are certainly not making high profits, but at least are providing something which without them would not exist, Neither teachers ‘not sixh-formers have the time or ‘energy to become expert program- ‘Why should teachers burn the midnight oil? The have more than enough to do anyway. Teaching is, as we know all 100 Well, che most stressful profession there is, Increasingly, 1 am happy to say, teachers are submitting soft ware to companies ike outs for publication, Increasingly we foresee moving away from pro- ducing our own software to becoming a publishing house. Educational softwareis quite different ball-game. Its development takes time and. patience ‘What the industry needs now are ‘ideas and support and encourage ment, Weat Chalksoft are pleased to see that Home Computing ‘Weekly is taking this side of the business seriously. We hope that other magazines follow your good example ian Kerslake, Chalksoft, Lowmoor Cottage, Tonedale, Wallington, Somerset TA21 OAL Unexpanded and happy In the third isue of Home Com- puting Weekly a review of the Quicksilva VIC-20 game Tornado, appeared, We were astonished and concerned by the implication ‘that an expansion board was re ‘quired torun Tornado. Thisis not the ease, and Tornado will run quite happily on an unexpanded Vic20. ‘Thereviewer alsohad rouble ‘ith his joystick, which he seemed to think was due to the game, We are sorry the reviewer is having trouble with his hardware, but ‘wish to point out to him that this has nothing to do with Tornado, which responds quickly and smoothly t0 a joystick In our opinion, Tornado is certainly one of the most exiting ‘games around for the unexpanded Vie. Mark Eyles, Quicksily: Southampton Gather round, TI owners Congratulations on. a fist class ‘weekly magazine and thank you foryour artkleson the TIS9/4A, smuch-neglected machine. May I ask through you if anyone is interested informing @ ‘T199 cub? Ifo, can they contact me —toleam isto know TT. A. Grimshaw, 21 Allingham Street, Longsight, Manchester MISOZF ... but I stil have faith 1 sympathise with C. Luke (HCW No. 1). Itoo have had an Oris on order since November. It is not fair to potential purchasers for companies to advertise products which they cannot supply in a reasonable time Even now, though I still have faith in the Orc | and have not, like so many others, canceled my order. However I ordered a 48K ver= sion, and if John Tullis is going to loan 48K modesto thse who ‘ordered 16K and give them the option of buying the 48K at a reduced price, it seems hard on those of us who paid the full Price S 1s Orie determined to ag- sgravate the situation even more? M.A. Mercer, Luton, Beds HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983. Page 23,‘You are alone among the stars, at the controls of your trusty star~ BBC PROGRAM ship. Suddenly you see a moving we ig ices ek realise it's one of the Empire's our aig ley Bert proprent = vit dooce en! =~ CCCYSHIN — fire i opt ae but not for Easy tehtes eopeone cone at atime but you have tebe ter odds 85 your weaponry is superior. ‘You must manocusre your ship until the hairline aiming sight is ar the centre of the buttery shape ey cal oly explode witha direct hit on the ante TF you manage to get that Enemy fighters come fighter, another will appear — spinning out of nowhere closer this ime, so you'veless time in John Wilson's program sieou of meat ee for the 32K BBC micro. ggesoee: Can you destroy them before they turn you into space debris? How it works, 130340 pratima 430-460 add stars to ‘Variables used: SCR screen Hints on conversion ma amber Sccenyen,seore | Rameadlegtahense $1070 pavgame | fin hig Topas of stay. W | mice ninunear PnOConoes TDusde Mlagetomastm| carts ect era ie | coat al seonin eee. SOU Vegeta | soordiek of caanvetee | teat noone routine ordinate of enemy, M direction of | PROCL to scroll sentence across {GIMENGt eumptisatit| aemenea ae mian: AE wa | Meee ee Poulan, YL G14 poson, | PROCERAW éravs the enemy vwvosiaa Soptopacd | perl ase (Gee fen | Beer {0led0 Grofresine | Sony the’ As wheher soothe | PROCFIREI young taioigo gslioutae | gume-U foquked. ERR ever | As you woud eon, che 13001380 eevenamy’ | Sumber’ YPOS vena poston | VOU ecemnands concal the io ee elo. solenberen ste picaiites vee ae 8 a Pmariits 120 YOU 23182021 010105 450 NEXT “Te ania is sons 240 PROCLI"Shoot then with your Lens ranse) HeRNO (8) eae ae pity Bicapeawan tet Renana caters: BB TRE ie cudnt case ae peers re agitated] aight ee toe sae ie PROCL (* 7% oF $20 1 Wise THEN 1010 PROCL(“You start with 1900 roints of enepsy.*) 16 : Print te “640 1F INMEV(-87) OR INMEY(-99) OR IMEYE-E3) THEN eae ot dst "ae ia GeV OEY 8) 8470 IF HS OR HaS THEN Yaver Page 24 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 Apri 1983,720 PROCORAWExt > 1150 eser2 740 Weel 08 70 FoR Tho ber proce ine So8 IP'360 Then Gouna 0,701 b1y 21 01V s0e4st ‘The Cheapest Known Ram Packs In The World @ 16K RAMPACK £19.75 e@ e 64K RAMPACK £44.75 e Fully compatible with ZX81 and all accessories. Simply plug straight into user port at rear of computer. LOW COST — EXCEPTIONAL ELECTRONICS * FULL CASED TESTED AND GUARANTEED * GOLD PLATED EDGE CONNECTOR COATED FOR EXTRA LONG LIFE SECURE NO WOBBLE DESIGN * SAME SLEEK CASE SIZE FOR BOTH VERSIONS PRICE INCLUDES VAT and P&P. Delivery normally 14 days. Send Cheque/P.O. Payable to:— CHEETAH Marketing Ltd. 359 The Strand, London WC2 Telephone: 01-240 7030 Telex: 8954958 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983 Page 25.Personal Banking System Dragon £9.95 Hilton Computer Services, 14Avalon Road, Orpington, Kent BR69AX. ‘This program is designed to help ‘you keep track of your finances. You can use it to input, amend, delete and enquire about cash credits and debits, including che- ues and standing orders. ‘These details are presented ‘on sereen, rather ikea bank state- ‘ment, and if you have a printer available you can print your own hhatd copies. All details are saved as data file on cassete, so you can build up a library of different financial accounts. ‘My frst impression was that this is @ well-produced package. ‘The documentation supplied was clearly printed and comprehen: sive, Thad no difficulty loading the software from the cassette, which alo had a sample data filet help the new user get to grips with the system quickly ‘The program is driven by a framework of menus, from which you Select the option you want. 1 found this system very easy. use. Each menu or display had clear in sinuctions for input, and I rarely hhad totum tothe user manual. Incidentally the manual also lists the line numbers and functions ofthe Basic routines used by the program, so there is scope for ‘adding your own enhaneementsto the system The Personal Banking System is also available for the Spectrum. NW. instructions 80% ease ofuse 85% display 75% value for money 80% pan ae aed Cashcaic 48K Spectrum £6.95 Wizard Supersoft, 107 Broom Park, Teddington, Middx. Planning the family finances for the year ahead can be a headache Getting down to brass tacks As a break from playing games, why not make your micro do some work for you? There is software to plan your finances and keep track of your appoint- ments: our reviewers take a critical look at it — all those figures to add only 10 find that you will overspend, Then it’s a case of trimming certain ex- ppenses, and adding itallup again. “Now, there's @ good ap- plication for my home computer” hear you say, and Casheale is designed for that specific purpose. Itisdesigned to give 2columns of figures, each representing one ‘month's inaneial activity, and up to 18 rows of various items of income/expenditure, This one-year plan can be | tion. Items of income/expen- displayed on your TV screen, and | diture can be displayed as ‘manipulated at modest speed. Six | cumulative ornon-cumulative. In- ‘columns are displayed at a time, | come items are entered as negative but on the screen the name you | numbers, and expenditure items have assigned to each row always | as positive numbers, which feels appearsalongside the data. odd butsavesalotof keying. The instructions provided | Copies of the tables can be with the cassette reminded me of | dumped onto the ZX printer, and, the fine print at the bottom of a | program and data saved on tape legal document — even if you can | for future use (eg to compare ac- Teadit,itisdificulttofollow. | tual with predicted expenditure, For those who do have trou- | and modify the plan for therest of ble with the writen instructions | theyear, DN there is a verbal commentary on the reverse side ofthe tape. A nice | instructions 30% idea, this, butt didn’t explain the | easeof use 40% ‘operation of the program any | display or rmoreclearly. vvalue for money 30% ‘Once mare, the program Pi cae opi Figaroll “Based on present trends, what will be our total. sales in six Numeric months?”". If, in your business Database _[iie. vou-tind youre’ asking questions like this, then Saxon 48K Spectrum | Compuine - & program to maeyouroysalbal sain £14.95 Figaro II has some of the feu ofboth peas and saxon Computing, 3st data micron rogans Catteni Dive, Lontida, |" Youem pncuccotinasot Seva Nc Hunberide. Vana ainsi, beck Page 26 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983 box can be labelled with a descriptive label. The item can then be easly identified should ‘youresuse the data several months later. ‘All ofthe formulae are built into the program (good for those not mathematicall These offer a set of powerful number crunching operations standard deviation, linear regression, timer series, seasonal variation, indioes, ee, ete ‘The ld-page manual i very helpful in guiding you through the program, and explaining some of these terms. Resulis are welllaid out on the sereen, and can be copied on the printer. Particularly impressive are the flexible graph and histogram generating routines. ‘The program is written en: tirely in BASIC. This doesn’t ‘cause any speed problems, but it does take up alot of space. OF48K of RAM, only 16K is left for user data (about 1000data items). For a ‘serious’ micro, Figaro Il would be cheap at the price. Even though prices for Spectrum programs tend 10 be more modest, Figaro I is reasonably priced by present standards Ds. Inersions so cacofiee fom display 70% ae or oney some Flexicalc 48K Spectrum £9.95 Saxon Computing, 3 St. Catherine's Drive, Léconfield, Beverley, N. Humberside Following the success of Visicale fn the business world, several ook-alike spreadsheet programs hhave appeared. Flexicale is such a program for he ZX Spectrum. Spreadsheet programs allow calculations 10 be made on large amounts of inter-related data, set ‘outasalarge electronic chart. Their power lies in the ability to rapidly recalculate results following changes in some of the data. For example, in making inacial decisions, thus allow “what if. ..2” = type questions to be answered quickly. Provided with Fexicale is an H-page manual. Generally, this explains the principles and use ofthe program quite well but there are some omissions and errors. A worked example would be a great help fr the firs time user. Frexicale has two main ad- vantages over its rivals. It lets the user decide on the number of rows and columns in his spreadsheet, and it allows formulae (as well as data)to bealtered at anytime, us main disadvantage is that it is writen entirely in BASIC; computations can take minuteson large spreadsheets. Errors in the formulae of in the logic of the spreadsheet could cause the program to Stop with a system error message. Make the mistake of re- starting with RUN, and all the dataislost, In common with other spreadsheet programs, data laboriously entered through the Print Shop 48K Spectrum £5.00 ‘Cases Computer Simulations, 14 Langion Way, London SE3 IL. “You are the ole proprietor of a small print works, and your objec- tiveis to makea net profit of over {£4000 inthe frst three months of trading”. That's the challenge set by ‘Print shop’, abusiness simula. tion game from CCS. ‘You control your business by regularly deciding on numbers of staff, stock levels, production loading, and giving customers ‘quoteson potential orders. ‘The computer gives you weekly Trading Accounts, and monthly profit/loss and cash flow sheets, It also. presents you with orders and acts as your competitor (quote too high a price and you keyboard can be saved on tape for future wse. Hard copies of results ‘ean ao be produced on the 2X printer, although the 32-column format only allows small segments tobecopiedat onetime. ‘As a product intended for a business user, the obviously home-produced cassette insert and abel were disappointing However, the program does provide all the calculating power that a user might expect from his Spectrum, and forms areasonable introduetion to microcomputer spreadsheettechniques. D.N. instructions 80% easeofuse Or display 50% value for money 40% lose the order). Friendly messages at the end of each week tell you hhow you may improve your per- formance. Full game instructions, with some hints, come with the program. These do not, however, in: ‘clude loading instructions, As the program recording level was low (onthe review tape, there were problems inloading the program. Business simulation games ‘are not only meant to be Fun, but educational 00. This tape was ‘both; I found very soon that despitehaving profitable dealings, you can sill get cash flow pro- ‘lems, ‘There are some annoying features of the program, Some messages flash on and off the sereen before you have the chance toread them carefully. There are many facts to bear {in mind (uct as stock levels) while playing the game. It would have ‘been useful to be able to look up ese facts and ask what if?" ques- jons in making decisions, demonstrating the power of the ‘micro in real busines situations. But worst ofall, atthe end of a successful game; when fully ex- pecied to be congratulated and hhave my healthy profit figure con- firmed, the screen just went blank! Nevertheless if you are a business student, or simply enjoy business gaunes, Print Shop is well worth atry. DN. instructions or easeofuse 70% display 50% value for money 80% hae ae aed Compufile Spectrum £4.95 Jaysoft, 22 Dane Acres, Bishops Stor ford, HerssCM232PX, Compal offers the home com- Pile user an unspesacular and bas filing prosram that's lxible enough for many applications and Simpletouse ‘An excellent seven-page manual takes you throug the Program by working through an ‘Adress Book’ example. At the back, there are hints fon how to set up fs for other home applications such as cataloguing record collections and ecpngan appointment diary. “The program is spit into wo parts, the fist sting up the fe “The user secs filename, and the number, heading and size of each field fecords can have up to nine fields, each up 10 15 characters Jong). ’ Following this, the main routine is merged into the frst program. The number of records *ORPOOITE OF HAST IT LOOKS LIKE W a '€* How Becore *e'* hs cx eaey 0 WHER ices pciroue wa ioe cctesiainien asad Se vcecen iieiciet My program pois ne bei pes ee eels ak ad harness a wese BASIC poten at ae iat ee Fe ence ionsrie amb Juco 00) ‘The program explains itself and neon 0 HELP il. Note: the prograsn must be alkene eae ‘aeily as they are or problems will bss Sa ena Peres oieencar tng Weck bey ear treet — ome 8 enc we Bar sc rom ne caves ss IF tc cn vn 8 were era ee BT POP he cess 1B coececan bree of 0 Braet ne outs vio Fah roo sire ne rene 90 0 Seri picures aries ‘So 7 =a coe, To use: 18 yun nn: Proms, THOT MILL INSTRU THE 1 re mare. Brgagetrion vce" verest mv ev 10-€ eee per» mess ner rn aot set aioe He FeCl woo pen ese aes cogpenveros 0058 S208 eo S87 = USE RET Mo meen coma Bog c9+VsLOOATE ¥,¥.CHREPOSETION X. ‘ose susticKca>:1F $215 THEN 2150 Soe Gout Gewerot vey Bie fone set eencSet 21y0 Yow sis ascoete a HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983. Page 292120 Hexecxea 2-17 982 iby dayeevcd ronnie Bide Locare Artccompepostyton Have? 4e0p fagperrowpecoaus Save ‘Be cease "Sain von PPP HE BERGA SECS 4670 1 70 TEN 100 dese vamearaece See Eobaticn {ET PR TA ‘oss Goss Soo tf Sone? PRESS AA MEY TOM? Shoo 7 "MEN RESOY TO UIGKLPRESS a KEV ace > “Te ONRRCTER 6 VIELE IN moO ATARI PROGRAM fies i : Sees fe Soe rerum Se Fon Tos TD LECH CMM 210 LoceatoesLocmrhLoce,2x2 ‘8830 Loo-INTLOce-e scouMT-cONT-1 tows PHT Sct eo Te if fii BI POE gum rosituay 5,137 °@ CREATE onsic FR 28 FelTTON P47 eH OReCTER 2t ‘cose ser e1.x {We Wed THEY csewies wseTeaLn 2 Hg DUPRE PRS $8108 7 OMT STR Line MBER °s2 EY stereo sta ACh ier atten Sane Page 30 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983 FER teem vesmterosi iON 204 Se eed a ris Lawes wae me 7 o° Bei pestnesesien? ur inescs + CONT*:POSITION 2.8:PORE. 242, ae egge, IF contac ‘Lanes=1:60r0 COUNT THEN 0 FEAST Sopeeage tae ton Re res renee ere EI TLE sisteRT2e "ORE Brgy gerecose resr i restore Frc gIPane sam U1 TO mero ki BINARY VALUES 02 ee wz ‘ oBowled over by your micro Se Micro Bowls game by Timothy Lowe Ifyou'veever fancied yourself asa | theguter, 2 REM TIMOTHY LOUE o-BOULS" bowls player, my Micro Bowls | You have 10 bowis, and as Boone ese program forthe ZXB1 pus Tok | each decends ne seren, press | AB RE ‘could be the next best thing. toroll it forward. SO PRINT AT @, 25 bvwcens: 3-<= 9 ‘When oun the program, | I'you hit 10 you get 10 gee it wile up the bowing pect | poms, ifyou hit aspace you score shown inTgur Yourmast to | noting, and iyou hit the gate, ita number with your bow — | you'retnforanasty surprise (ie road ura tase 2 10 a ete 3.87 rs B S73: 3 ae | 128 Tr ENKEYe=“B THen GosuE sa a0 | °i9¢ Next ¢ ° 728 NeXt 6 ze | _i8@ PRINT AT 1,0;“VOUR SCORE ae | ~16@ sTop 500 FOR c-1 TO 33 aa | 510 PRINT aT G.Ci"o™ 520 PRINT AT Gici~ ~ 22 12 1e | T 1,0) ;osguRL IFIED” OR G=5i THEN STOP. (G72) <2G72 THEN LET oe POR Hi ity WINI at ay ie Simply complete the coupon below, indicating the number of copies required in the boxes provided, and post now to: LYVERSOFT, 66 Lime Street, Liverpool U1. 1JN or ring our Hot Shot Credit Card Sales Line on 051-708 7100. GOOD DEALER DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE a a pare fen eee ee aero, ||] emon Driver @ £5.95 each Please debit my Access/Barclaycard (delete as necestary) |] item 3 ee ho Hearts & Diamonds/Hi-Lo (2.pack) @£5.95 each PUESB] Ne. GhequerPO tor E Nuctoar Attack/Grand Prix (2 pack) @ £5.95 each Applebug/Crazy Climber (2 pack) @ £5.95 each Nene Space Assault @ £5.95 each-For 3K & 8K VIC-20 Plies er cl OT Oe eee ea VIC-20 Machine Code Monitor @ £14.95 each = HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983 Page 31‘ATARI 400/900 SINCLAIR, catarvsion vecrmex = OMMODORI tcanvie /SINCLAIR a SOFTWARE OTS AND LOTS OF ATARI SOFTWARE-E Zaxxon, | cas eas S Nautilus, Jumbo Jet Plot, Apple Panic, Centipade, Miner 2049er, Slime, ntuder Alin Pacman, Mathpack, Choplifter Rom, rik * ~ plus many, many more EVNGREDIBLE GRAPHICS | EXPANDS IND neu titles ~ Call now for our latest batch of detailed brochures | IDS 11 LMI ee ers aa Gowen ieee ee Th Oats oe SSR/ABE oat (ESE AL a VEAR ee ee oe (oo GEMnilal, CLECIMOMICS DEPT_HCW iM Off Piccadilly, Manchester M1 ZEA. Tel:061-2: MARKET YOUR SOFTWARE K-tel (International), leaders in the field of Marketing and | Distribution of leisure products to major retail chains are expanding their catalogue of Home Computer software. Software accepted for inclusion in this catalogue will have the benefit of experienced packaging designers and artists, and exposure to major outlets. PUT THE EXPERIENCE OF K-TEL BEHIND YOUR PRODUCT ‘Send a tape and documentation for evaluation nowto: K-tel International (UK) Ltd., Computer Software Department, 6 Ktel 620 Western Avenue, London W3 OTU Page 32 HOME COMPUTING WEEKLY 12 April 1983

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