Letters If you write to SynTax on an adventure-related issue and your letter isn't marked "not for publication", I'll assume it is ok for me to quote from it or print it here. ----------------------------------------------------------------- @~This letter followed Dave's ad in the last issue where he was @~selling disks only for some ST Infocoms. Dave Havard, Fareham, Hants (extract) ...I've got an Amstrad CPC 6128 myself, but have been collecting Infocom titles on several formats as they can't be bought for the Amstrad anymore. Then I've been getting a few of the disks I'm missing copied to put in the packaging. I don't feel this is real piracy as I've been buying the originals anyway, although for another format. Besides, it's Infocom's fault for not making them @+available on the Amstrad anyway! ~(Sounds fair to me!) Anyway, all this is a precursor to the following bit. Some of the packagings I've got have been through Official Secrets, and I thought I'd send you their latest price list, so you can let your subscribers know what's available. They've just had a big order @+in from the States, so they've got plenty of most titles. ~(Most @~of the adventures seem to be œ10.00 each according to the current @~price list. A few are dearer and these are presumably the imported @~titles. The prices include P&P. Contact Special Reserve on @~0279 600204 for more details) Another bit of information for you is about Castle Computers. I ordered a few titles from them (for the Atari), and one wasn't in so they sent me a credit note, and an Atari catalogue. I ordered one from that with the credit note (the same day), and discovered a week later that that wasn't in stock either! So I had another credit note. I sent that back asking for a refund and waited for a couple of weeks. When nothing happened, I rang them, and a comatose assistant was absolutely no help at all. Him: Oh, it was probably done last Friday. We do all our refunds on Fridays. Me: Well, can you look on your computer and check this, and let me know what the balance is. Him: Oh. Alright. (He took my name and address). Him: (returning a few minutes later) Yes, it was done a few days ago. Me: What was the balance? (It should have been nothing). Him: Um, ah, oh. I don't know, I've forgotten. But it should be with you in a few days. I waited this week and will try to get through to the manager (Sean Beech) on Monday afternoon. By the way, did you know that you can't get anything from Castle unless you've seen it advertised somewhere? Their policy is not to confirm stocks of any games (they'll send you a credit note if it's out of stock), and not to give out prices. You have to tell them what price you saw it advertised at. I would appreciate it if you could pass this on to your subscribers, unless, of course, you know differently. Although I said earlier that they sent me a catalogue, I haven't enclosed it as it was obviously out of date. As they won't confirm if a title is even in stock when you order, I wouldn't want to encourage your people to fall into the same trap. @~It sounds as though you had as much "fun" with Castle as I did @~some months ago with Third Coast Technologies. I haven't dealt @~with Castle but certainly wouldn't recommend TCT to anyone. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Bruce L Perry, Oxford (extract) ...From viewing just two of your excellent disk magazines, I was gratified to see that you do indeed take notice and act upon suggestions put forward by the membership on improving what is already a great magazine. It particular I too would appreciate adventure lists that tell you which are text, graphic, arcade or combinations of same. This seemingly-simple information is surprisingly hard to obtain from ads in most computer magazines, @+and not always clear on the game boxes. ~(I'm hoping to do a @~comprehensive list on PD disk in the future - time permitting!) If I might make a polite observation on the lack of response you have received with your competitions, I think the reason could be the copies of SynTax offered as prizes to folk like myself who have already subscribed to it and do not require extra copies. I feel a great alternative could be some PD programs, or better still a main-stream adventure perhaps. I'm sure the membership would respond with a great deal more enthusiasm if this were the case. @~I think the more likely reason for the previous lack of entries @~was the lack of a facility to pause the screenshots. But your PD @~suggestion has been taken up in this issue, thanks for the idea. @~I only wish I could offer an adventure as a prize but I'm afraid @~the funds couldn't stretch to it. Unless some kind software @~house would like to contribute something ... (ahem) @~Next, a request for help from Frank J Reeders, The Netherlands (extract) ....My setup is a bit difficult to explain, so I've drawn it. ___>_TV __________________________________ (1) | modulator / |----< (no Hard | \/ | cable) disk----comp TV tuner<------- VCR (VHS) | | (& videotext) (2)| \/ |____Monitor___________ RGB > switch > monitor | \/ Mono monitor Setup (2) is the normal setup, but setup (1) makes it possible to record both audio and video composite on video tape. Terrific you might say. Yeah, it's great. But there are some problems (perhaps one of your subscribers has a solution): - Mapping adventures is almost impossible. You will have to record very, very slowly or you will lose your orientation. - Playing it slowly gives a vibrated picture which can't be adjusted. The same vibration occurs in 60Hz but heavier. - No RGB. Perhaps this is solved in Genlock, but I've written to a Canadian penpal into electronics (he's in a group called VISTA and their newsletter is made using a HP Deskjet 2, Pagemaker and Ultrascript-Postscript emulator) for a cheaper solution I call ComRec (Computer Recorder). It isn't the solution to my problem, but it would be a nice name. It probably would need a VCR with two SCART ports, each having a Red, Blue and Green video and two audio leads (stereo). Normal recording and playing is okay. When you are stuck with an adventure, you could record your problem, go to your local video shop, have it converted to a Video 8 tape (size of a normal cassette tape), post it and the receiver will have to visit his video shop to reverse the process. @~I've often thought video might be the answer to mapping or @~checking through a game, not too sure about the practicalities @~of using Video 8 tho. Has anyone got an answer to Frank's queries? @~If so, let me know and I'll pass your comments on, either on here @~or by mail. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen Royle, Manchester (extract) .....I recently restarted DM ..... [and] ..... took Stamm, Alex Morphus and Daroo. I partly regret Stamm because he has no Mana. Is there any way to give him a permanent source of his own without @+resorting to potions? ~(As one of the few people who hasn't @~completed DM, I couldn't help Stephen with this - can anyone out @~there supply an answer, please, to include in the next issue?) I recently bought Xenomorph by Pandora and must warn you off it. Whenever you change a level or hop up some steps, it takes THREE disk swaps. The copy protection turns your drive into a mincer and the overall feel is awful. It has tried to be DM in outer space and failed sadly. I'd really been looking forward to playing it and that has doubled my sorrow in its performance. Which brings me to ...... Do you believe "on disk" copy protection damages a disk drive? I firmly believe that, at the least, it causes extra wear and at the worst throws the read/write heads out of line. There is no excuse for not producing off-disk copy protection apart from the small cost of producing a little manual. I saved to buy my equipment and resent programmers trying hard to wear it out. That is the owner's honour. I don't agree with piracy of software, the effects of which are reflected in the price we pay for software, all I want is a little consideration for my money. @~I've heard mixed reports on Xenomorph, people either love it or @~hate it though they seem to agree about the disk-swapping. @~I hate on-disk protection too. The first time I heard the drive @~make that ghastly crunching sound, I wondered what the heck had @~gone wrong! I prefer copy protection in the packaging. Games with @~on-disk protection are rarely cheaper than those with booklets so @~at least you feel you're getting something tangible for your œœœs! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Paul Brunyee, Narborough As a newcomer to the world of MUGs, I read the article by Angelina about Life and Death in a Multi User Game with avid interest. But just when the article had convinced me to delve into the mysteries of the likes of GODS and ZONE, the necessary information to login to them was missing. I write primarily about the telephone numbers, but also about the pros and cons of the free MUGs compared with those that are chargeable. I have ventured into the 'MUG, the faithful slave' adventure running on the S.O.S. bulletin board in Portsmouth, but although many computer controlled characters are present, the board is only set up to allow a single line into the adventure and thus the conversational aspect to Multi User Gaming is missing (bar the odd exchanges with the sysop). Could I suggest that further write-ups be made, perhaps covering each of the major MUGs in turn, which detail the nuances and characteristics of each, together with appropriate costing and/or subscription information? Incidentally, could mention also be made about the hardware side of Multi User Gaming, to cover the types of modem available and what modem/software would be needed to access these MUGs. @~See the new sections this month for more MUG info. Personal @~experiences and views of the different MUGs would be very welcome @~for future issues. @~Has anyone got any recommendations for modems and software? I @~used to use a WS2000 and Fastcom but I'm sure there are better @~packages about now (Why is ST comms software generally so poor?) Graham Wheeler, Bath There has been a lot of commotion over the lack of text adventures recently but I'm beginning to wonder if they are really wanted. At the moment, there are quite a lot of text adventures around but nobody seems to be buying them, which is going to lead eventually to the text adventure disappearing completely, especially as the majority of these adventures are homegrown and do not have the financial backing of the large software houses behind them. This, of course, means that the writers need our support to make it worth their while producing adventures for the ST market. I recently purchased Jack Lockerby's excellent compilation disk "The Thief" and "The Challenge" and was extremely surprised to hear that Jack had only sold THREE copies of this disk!! What kind of incentive is this for adventure writers? I am sure that most people would give up if they received this response to what entails a lot of time and hard work. All I can say is I hope the other two purchasers of Jack's games enjoyed them as much as I did and that other SynTax readers will, as the saying goes, "put their money where their mouth is!" and give these dedicated people a little more support. @~I couldn't agree more! In the ads section are several software @~adverts - why not order a game, cheer up a programmer and get @~yourself a good adventure at the same time? ----------------------------------------------------------------- @~And finally, a letter continuing the Phantasie II discussion @~from Issue 5. David Hey, Manchester I have also experienced problems with Phantasie II. If I use the START.PRG, I get the "unable to allocate map" message. I can then leave the town and wander about with no map background, enter dungeons etc. If I use PHANT.PRG, I lose the loading screen but the map is then visible. However in this mode it crashes on entering a dungeon. I think with a bit of mapping, some exploration is possible and the game can be played with a little patience. For bargain hunters, the Level 9 adventures are also very good, available from Special Reserve at about œ7 for a set of three adventures. @~I suppose that means you have to map PII in one mode and then play @~it in the other - sounds a bit frustrating to me! @~And another vote for Special Reserve.....!