Fantasy Graphics Disk - Deltronics RRP œ9.99

Until I started reviewing this disk, I had never seen, let alone
tried, Talespin, Microdeal's graphic adventure creator, used to
write The Grail, The Magic Shop (reviewed this issue) and a few
other adventures. Although I still haven't tried writing an
adventure as such with it, I can vouch for the fact that the
graphics part of it is simplicity itself to use - so long as you
can draw!

If, like me, your artistic ability is limited to a rather unsteady
straight line or two, but you'd still like to have a bash at
creating your own graphical masterpiece, I can thoroughly
recommend the Deltronics' Fantasy Graphics Disk which is designed
with people like us in mind.

Of course, I had to investigate Talespin to a certain extent
before I could make any decision about this add-on. Talespin
itself actually works quite logically. Once you have created your
title and entered "development mode", you then create a page to
work on - the first one for the finished adventure will
(logically) be called START. There's a facility for using two
drives which was a great boon so all I had to do was keep my
working disk in drive A and put the graphics disk in drive B.
Selecting "copy drawing from another title" brought up the option
to use the title GRAPHICS and I was then presented with a list
of the available drawings.

There is a massive 4 megs of artwork compressed into 4K on the
single-sided disk provided and a good range of available pictures.
First, the backgrounds provided can be exterior (countryside, sky
and mountains together with various buildings, individual or
grouped, piles of rocks, a tree and so forth) or interior
(dungeon walls, curtains, doors etc). Then there are objects to
give the place more atmosphere and also be incorporated into your
storyline - keys, a potions, treasure, a chest, barrels, an anvil,
a table and more.

Finally there are the characters. There is an excellent mix of
these, all (like the rest of the graphics on the disk) well-drawn.

There's a demure princess, ferocious dragon, barbarian, mage,
enchantress, fat lady, vampire bat and loads more. You're
certainly spoilt for choice and it's very tempting to put too many
drawings into one picture as it's hard to choose which ones to
use.

One character who should be mentioned separately is the hero
(ta-ra!). He comes in the form of a headless body (could be handy
in case of a death scene, I suppose) and four heads which can be
fitted on as you like. He also has a range of togs, trousers,
boots, various types of armour and helmets. I must confess to
experiencing a certain amount of initial difficulty fitting his
helmet onto his head without giving him either a rakish air or the
appearance of someone who had just been clonked on the head by a
heavy object so that his helmet had slid over his eyes. But that's
just me, cack-handed to the last! Finally, he can be kitted out
with a weapon and shield so he's ready for anything the game's
designer chooses to chuck at him.

Once the chosen graphics have been imported onto the screen
you're working on, they can then be manipulated in a variety of
ways. You can reduce them in size, reverse them to give a
mirror-image and then move them about the screen to give the
required effect. Finally you can alter the order in which they are
displayed on the screen, if, for instance, you add a tree in front
of a building but then decide you'd prefer it to be behind it. The
whole thing is surprising adaptable and user-friendly.

The designer of the package, "Terrible" T C Basset, wrote
Overlord, a Talespin adventure, for Budgie UK some time ago and
his years as an underground artist have stood him in good stead
for creating an excellent selection of both basic and more
specialised graphics which would give any budding adventure
creator a good start towards their creating his or her own game.
He is planning a second disk of either SF or more fantasy
characters. In the meantime there's plenty of this disk to furnish
and populate a good size adventure. All that is asked is that
credit is given to the graphics disk when your game is finished,
which is fair enough.

Whereas the disk normally retails at œ9.99, it is currently
available for a mere œ7.50 from Deltronics, PO Box 175,
Carshalton, Surrey, SM5 2WA. They also have a small number of
boxed editions of Talespin at the low price of œ9.99 but when
those have gone, Talespin will, in future, only be available
shrink-wrapped with the usual manual for œ7.50. Considering the
original release price of œ29.95, this is a tremendous saving. Why
not have a go yourself? And I'll market the games for you through
SynTax!
                                            Sue