Letters

@~Any letters sent to me that aren't marked 'not for publication'
@~and which deal with adventure-related matters will be considered
@~for inclusion, maybe being edited in the process.

@~This issue, CD prices, playtesting and bugs: SynTax contents:
@~And again: More on contents plus unfinished games: Dragons,
@~Elves and ... :  Fantasy games: Time Warps and TGC news: Fading
@~away ...
------------------------------------------------------------------
From Richard Hewison, Luton

Dear Sue,

I read the article "Does Your New Game Run Okay?" in issue 32 with
much interest. Having worked for a number of publishers in the
industry I thought I might add a few thoughts and comments of my
own. Firstly, the cost of CD products opposed to floppy disks. I
agree completely that there's no real excuse for charging more for
a CD-ROM version of a game when all that is different is the
storage medium. However, when it comes to actual CD-ROM versions
(with speech, digitised video etc) added, then the cost of
producing the game sky rockets. There are CD-ROM games about to be
published for the PC that cost over œ1 million pounds to produce!
Go back three years to 1991 and the average development cost for a
floppy disk game was around œ20,000 to œ25,000! The problem is
that whilst some people might complain about the prices, there are
even more who are buying software at that price. The simple
economic fact is that the market has proved that it can sustain
that cost price up until now. Whether it will in the future is
another matter entirely.  (I know that compared to U.S prices,
CD-ROM software is much more expensive in the U.K, but that's a
complaint that can be levelled at most technological gadgetry from
across the pond). Don't forget that you can always get software
cheaper via Mail Order.

PCs are incredibly complicated beasts to write programs for,
because they can all use a different video card, different sound
card, different amounts of memory, different speed processors etc.
It's inevitable that problems are going to occur from time to
time. Actual bugs in a game which aren't hardware related are, on
the other hand, inexcusable. MerC referred to "grossly inadequate
testing" which is a grossly sweeping statement to make! Did he
have a specific title in mind when he wrote it? It's true that
some publishers have a very bad attitude towards testing. They
hate to spend money on it and will often pressurise those who are
testing a product into saying it's ready for publication when it
isn't. The main pressure comes from the accountants who are now
more important than anyone else in the industry (including the
developers who write the games!). Bugs are unavoidable. It's only
those that are obvious or prevent the player from completing a
game which have to be found before publication. Finding and then
fixing the rarer, more obscure bugs depends on how close the
software is to the release date. In an ideal world the software
would be tested continuously until every single bug has been
eliminated, but that isn't practical or possible.

I also feel that I should protect the programmer's reputation.
Again, I agree that in an ideal world it would be great if all
software auto-detected the sound card without needing the player
to set any IRQ or DMA values upon installation. Unfortunately this
causes problems in the future when new cards appear on the market,
as the software then gives the user no chance to choose the card
or select the relevant IRQ and DMA settings for their machine.
This goes back to my statement earlier that potentially every PC
is different thanks to the variety of video cards, sound cards,
processors, control devices, CD drives etc. to choose from. The
wide range of choice available is the root cause of the problem!
For example, I know one game which auto-detects the sound card for
you. Unfortunately, it was written before the Soundblaster 16 card
was available, and it reads one as a Soundblaster Pro.  This
causes the music and sound effects in the game to play too quietly
in some sections and too loudly in others!

I hope I don't come across as being too protective of the
industry. I can understand MerC's point of view because I too have
pulled my hair out at having to re-write my CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT files time and time again.  I've also been very
annoyed when I've found a bug in a game and I've often thought
that software is too costly. Unfortunately the reasons are never
as black and white as people think they are (grossly inadequate
testing, sheer laziness on the programmers part, etc).

@~Having had a fight bughunting in my own games, I can appreciate
@~why some bugs slip through the net in large commercial games.
@~When bughunting, and proof-reading a magazine for that matter,
@~it's easy to read what you expect to see, or to always play a
@~game the same way. It's only when a person comes fresh to it
@~that they immediately spot the things that we miss. I can
@~appreciate how bugs and obvious spelling mistakes in games end
@~up in the final version but that doesn't mean I have to like
@~'em!
------------------------------------------------------------------
From Kjell Robertsen, Norway

I don't understand all this argument about the SynTax contents.
You use a 720KB disk, right? As you probably won't have enough
adventure stuff to fill up the whole disk, would it really be
better to leave half of the disk blank? In my opinion it would be
better to fill up as much as possible of it with something,
games-related or not.

Most of the games are reviewed in the commercial magazines so
SynTax would be far less interesting if it contained only games
reviews and related stuff, as most of your readers probably buy
one or more of the commercial mags. No, keep SynTax as it is.
------------------------------------------------------------------
From Steve McLaren, Margate

...I found SynTax to be another great issue. For me there is not
much that I do not skip through. It is still top stuff that you do
and for people who send in any info on adventures or games. Well,
at least one guy was really honest why he was not going to
resubscribe to SynTax but he might have a change of heart one day.
------------------------------------------------------------------
From James Jillians, Maidstone

I liked the last issue of SynTax very much. Just for the record, I
would hate to see all the non-computer / non-adventure stuff taken

out. That's my main source of reading because, to be honest, I'm
not interested at all in hearing about all the latest PC games.
But I expect you're getting thoroughly fed up with people giving
you suggestions about what you should or should not have in your
magazine by now!

@~No, not at all, especially when you agree with what I put in! :)
@~It is especially important for the 'extras' to be kept in for
@~people like James who still have STs as it is getting harder
@~each issue to find games to include for them. I do my best
@~though!
------------------------------------------------------------------
From Alex van Kaam, Deurne, The Netherlands

Got SynTax today. About Alex's letter, if you only make a mag.
about one thing, adventures in this case, you will have:

1) a much more limmited number of people who read it (how many
   people only play adventures on their system?)

2) a much shorter live span, the good old text adventure (like
   the ones from Level 9 or Infocom) is dying and with it your
   adventure-only based mag.

Many people have a much greater interest than only adv/rpg so the
extra section is great, it doesn't take any space away from the
other section and there is something for everyone. If you like
books there is the Bookshelf, if you like SF then there are the
parts about Quantum Leap and Star Trek.  Then there are all kinds
of people who give their comments on all kinds of things, after
reading those you see things from a different kind of view and so
you learn.

So as far as I'm concerned, keep it this way and slowly change
with time (as you are doing from the start), but don't stop a
feature just because some don't like it.
------------------------------------------------------------------


From Tom Lorimer, Glenrothes

I have just finished reading the latest issue of Syntax, and
noticed that you had lost another subscriber because of the way
the magazine had changed over the past year. I agree with all of
his points, but what can you do, when everything is now geared to
graphics and Windows.  It's obvious enough, that if nobody sends
in articles related to text adventures, then nothing will appear
in SynTax as a result. So, it's up to people like me and any other
text fanatics to keep the thing alive.  Why not have a survey to
find out how many subscribers of SynTax still enjoy playing text
games, if nothing else, at least it will clarify the position.

I wonder how many other people are like me and have a number of
unfinished text games lying around. Looking through the solutions
wanted by SynTax, I notice the same text games are asked for every
issue, such as, T-Zero, Mc Murphy's Mansion, Magic Mansion, Deep
Space Drifter, and so on. Is it only me that is stuck on these
games, or is everyone else in the same position. If so, then why
not have a competition to see who can finish one of these games
first? It might stir up enough interest to encourage some of us to
dig out these partly finished games and have another go at them.

@~Okay, who DOES still enjoy and play text adventures? Tom and I
@~will put our votes in for starters though I play graphic
@~adventures and RPGs as well. I don't know if you remember, but
@~it was mentioned some time ago that Tom is blind and plays text
@~games on his computer using a speech unit.

@~The competition idea is a good one so let's start it off right
@~now.  The first person to send one of the 'solutions wanted'
@~from the list in the Help section for publication can have three
@~titles from the SynTax library.  If you can only partially
@~complete a game, send in as far as you can get and maybe if we
@~all have a go together, someone will be able to finish it.
------------------------------------------------------------------




@~This letter links neatly with Tom's suggestion . . .

From Richard Batey, 84 Sycamore Road South, Sebastopol, Pontypool,
Gwent NP4 5AW

Reading a past editorial of yours, I see you cooperate with fellow
adventurers while playing games. This got me thinking that perhaps
a group of adventurers could be got together in order to tackle
games collectively. The idea being that they could help each other
out and hopefully solve the game together (many heads being better
than one). I am not thinking of commercial games but simply PD
text adventures. Maybe one nobody has solved yet or is a new
release. An article could be written on the experience and
hopefully encourage other adventurers to band together in a
sociable manner.

What do you think? If somebody wants to be coordinator and put the
idea into practice then I will lend my support, if not I am
willing to do it. If there is a good response, maybe more than one

group could be put together (the size of the group should be no
more than 4 or 5 people, I think).

Let's hear what other people think of the idea.

@~I think it's a great idea and could mesh in with Tom's
@~suggestion.  I hereby nominate Richard as coordinator unless
@~anyone wants to fight him for the position! If you are
@~interested, please contact Richard direct. I think What Personal
@~Computer would be a good starting point as Richard has a query
@~on it in the Help section!
------------------------------------------------------------------
@~Now a letter from James to Alex in reply to Alex's letter to
@~James last issue (still with me? Oh good) ...

Dear Alex,
         'Twas with great interest that I read your letter in the
last issue of SynTax. How quickly you are to slate 'our' human
race saying that we need proof of everything that exists, or
supposedly exists.

Question: If we did not question this, where would we be now?
Interesting thought, isn't it. If we did not question certain
things we would still be scared of going too near the edge of the
world, lest we fell off into oblivion. We would still be in awe of
birds that flew and of many other things. Yes, it is human nature
to question things and seek proof of these things that is what
makes us 'human'. If we just accept everything as it is nothing
would improve, you wouldn't have got the Ravenloft CD and I
certainly wouldn't be writing this letter to you on a computer to
be read on 100 different kinds of terminals in two continents
(come to that, we probably wouldn't have known what was over the
great Pond, let alone what a cheeseburger and split infinitive
was).

So, you are saying that even when faced with irrefutable proof of
something we balk and associate it with dreams, hallucinations and
drug induced states. Well, that is where I say you are wrong.
There will always be some who cannot expect that which fits into
the equation of life as set down by Professor Boffin at Oxford
University 30 years ago, but compared to the number of people who
accept things that, for others, seems ludicrous far out weighs the
number that is always asking for evidence.

The biggest example of this is religion. Without getting into a
huge philosophical debate about whether there is an omnipotent
entity watching our every move, everyone who believes in the being
has taken the leap of faith which you imply is impossible for most
people. To those who are religiously inclined, they have their
proof that their god exists but that proof, to many others, would
seem like some kind of fantastical fantasy, let alone concrete
proof that something is 'out there'.

You also say that if we cannot explain or control something we
disbelieve it. This is more true but there are still some aspects
of life in which I, personally, have no control of what-so ever,
have very little understanding but still believe in. This is in
the realm of dreams, mind and anything else that could be
associated with that (apart from astrology - that is the largest
form of poppycock I have ever witnessed). There are many people
who believe they can tap this realm, but you'll find most of them
situated in a tent caressing a crystal ball and using psychology
to milk the public of hard earned money or in a loony bin, talking
to Elvis who has just come round for a pint of beer and a good old
knees-up. So, am I still someone who needs irrefutable proof of
something before I start believing in it? True, I don't sit around
all day going 'hum' but I believe that the mind can do a lot of
things and if we never learn how to control this it will be a
loss, but not one that I couldn't live without.

As to life on another planet? Well, odds that I do believe that
there are other races on other planets are now revised at 0:1.
This is one thing that I do truly believe in and I can't wait for
the day when the UFO experiments come to fruition. Unfortunately
we will be unable to gain the technology to allow us to do this
for many generations to come, so I'll just hope and wait that ET
pops in for a cup of coffee and a chocolate biscuit in the next
few decades, otherwise I will be severely disappointed.


As for time. Well, how many human sized forms of life do you know
that live for but one of our days? None. Time, like the size of a
tennis ball, is relative to your size - for a moth a couple of
weeks is a life-time, while that is barely a blink for the
life-forms that are bigger than the whale.

To bring this reply to an end. I don't feel that being inquisitive
is being closed minded. If you have the burning desire to know
WHAT is going on around you all the better - the sooner you can
come to understand it the sooner you will be able to accept it and
have a more profitable relationship than those who just sit back
and accept, leaving others to write the instruction manuals, laws
and regulations that go towards the formation of Utopia. I am
willing to believe anything as long as I can see something or have
someone persuade me (with proof, yes) of that thing. Nogwidget -
fly by, pop in for dinner (preferably the next door neighbours)
and burn a computer or two (preferably someone else's, though) and
I will throw myself upon the floor and proclaim my complete
obedience to the greatness of dragonkind and give all the money I
have in my left pocket to Alex.

Now, Alex, I don't want you to dismantle this letter with huge
proclamations that you seem to cherish and adore as, well, I can
disprove them without the need for the 'little minded facts' I do
so love to use. Dismantle it without the proclamations that the
questioners and explorers of today and yester-year are all closed
minded individuals by all means, if you can. You yourself are a
very closed minded individual as you are not even willing to
discuss whether Dwarves, Dragons and Elves exist - you have said
they do and so, in your mind, that is so, subject closed. At least
I and other people have got an open mind, open enough to discuss
such matters. If Jean had offered a better explanation as to why
dragons could fly I would be half the way to believing that they
can exist, but the largest piece of proof that she offered was
that they were using a gaseous substance to aid their flight. This
is where I leapt into 'little minded facts'. If you cannot discuss
a subject you are even more closed minded than I.
                                                  James Judge
PS - Do you believe in gnomes?
------------------------------------------------------------------
From David Froude, Shepperton

...There is what appears to be a very good fantasy/role playing
shop in Plymouth. I noted that some fantasy games are now played
with "packs of cards" which allows for a shorter game. This is not
really my field but one of your readers may know more about it and
be able to write an article for SynTax which would then make us
more knowledeable on the subject.

@~Can anyone explain what the cards are and how they work?

...I have an Epson Stylus 800 printer and am having to use an
alternative Amiga printer driver as I have so far been unable to
find one which has been specifically written for the Sylus 800.
The alternative works fairly well but is not that good with
graphic characters. Can anybody help out there?

@~If you can, please write via me.
------------------------------------------------------------------

From Jean Childs, Bagshot

Dear Sue,

I'd first like to comment on a point raised in the September issue
of SynTax. John Moore asked if readers were "stuck in a time warp"
as he believed that games that were appearing in readers' top ten
lists were all incredibly old games. Well firstly, I disagree. I
think there's a fair mix of old and 'relatively' new games. I'm
not surprised to find that the newest games aren't there, as they
have yet to earn their places. I believe that some incredibly old
games will continue to appear in readers' top ten lists partly due
to nostalgia but also due to the fact that they are 'classics'. I
myself enjoy a trip down memory lane now and again. That is why I
enjoy reading the 'look back at' reviews, such as the review of
'Lancelot' from James Jillians in the last issue.

My main reason for writing is to inform readers that beta-testing
of Text Game Compiler is under way. Although the game I am writing
in order to test TGC is in its early stages, I am going to stick
my neck out and say "AGT and TADS - take a back seat". A couple of
people have asked me about it, so I thought I'd give a brief
outline now.

Like some other utilities you first write two text files and then
use TGC to compile the files into the game. The 'dat' file
contains most of the text and descriptions, while the 'cmd' file
contains the handling of the player's input. The 'groups' section
in the 'dat' file contains the objects and rooms, but there is no
definite segregation between objects and rooms. Each 'group'
becomes an object or a room simply by the attributes given to it.
For example a wooden box wouldn't have a 'go north' attribute, but
the room in which the box is found might.  Likewise, the box might
have a 'weight' attribute but the room wouldn't. In my game I have
a car, and by giving it attributes of an object AND a room, I can
allow the player to manipulate it as an object and also enter it
and possible drop or manipulate other items while inside it. As
the car(object) and car(room) are one and the same, the car(room)
can be moved around just as if it were an object.

I think the easiest way of describing the 'cmd' file is to offer
an example and leave it at that.

# [get] SOMETHING VALID VALID

IF Sys.Item1.Location <> Player.Location THEN

   print [I see no [$Item1] here!]

ELSE

   print [You get the [$Item1].]

   set Sys.Item1.Location to Inventory

   subtract Sys.Item1.Weight from Player.Loadleft

   end

END

I will just mention that 'Player.Loadleft' is not something
already defined within TGC. 'Loadleft' would have to be an
attribute for the group 'player' and would therefore have to be
defined as such in the 'dat' file.

When TGC compiles the game, it will stop immediately it finds an
error. It will also give an explanation. For example:- 'Expected
'end' at line 136'.

Although TGC stands for Text Game Compiler, it is optional to use
graphics and 'buttons'. These buttons are used in conjunction with
the mouse to save typing. If anyone wants to see what can be
produced using TGC, I suggest that they have a look at the
adventure game 'Multi-dimentional Thief' by Joel Finch, the
creator of TGC.
------------------------------------------------------------------

@~And finally, a sad FAX ....

Dear Medley Human Person, was I wrong to 'Dare to Dream'?
My 'Quest for Glory' has met its end, surely it does seem.
Your readers don't believe in me, I'm 'Alien' to the thought.
Just the odd electrical mishap but I'm 'Innocent Until Caught'.
I'm fading.
My 'Might and Magic' does not impress and now it fails to bloom.
Their quiet indifference could be my 'Countdown to Doom'.
Maybe 'Beneath a Steel Sky' Alex's portal I should seek,
But as a 'Deep Space Drifter' my outlook would be bleak.
I'm fading.
I thought the adventuring 'Civilization' was a sunrise to my kind,
But opening my eyes and a 'Black Dawn' is all I find.
For me SynTax was a ray of hope in this 'Dark Continent',
And yet tis a cruel blow that the 'Hand of Fate' has sent.
I'm fading.
There be a gleam of light in the 'Eye of the Beholder',
But as an 'Exile' my hopes dare not be bolder.
I'm fading fast.
Yours disgustingly, Nogwidget - the 'Myth'?
@~Sniff. That's so sad ....   - o -
                         Letters

@~Any letters sent to me that aren't marked 'not for publication'
@~and which deal with adventure-related matters will be considered
@~for inclusion, maybe being edited in the process.

@~This issue, CD prices, playtesting and bugs: SynTax contents:
@~And again: More on contents plus unfinished games: Dragons,
@~Elves and ... :  Fantasy games: Time Warps and TGC news: Fading
@~away ...
------------------------------------------------------------------
From Richard Hewison, Luton

Dear Sue,

I read the article "Does Your New Game Run Okay?" in issue 32 with
much interest. Having worked for a number of publishers in the
industry I thought I might add a few thoughts and comments of my
own. Firstly, the cost of CD products opposed to floppy disks. I
agree completely that there's no real excuse for charging more for
a CD-ROM version of a game when all that is different is the
storage medium. However, when it comes to actual CD-ROM versions
(with speech, digitised video etc) added, then the cost of
producing the game sky rockets. There are CD-ROM games about to be
published for the PC that cost over œ1 million pounds to produce!
Go back three years to 1991 and the average development cost for a
floppy disk game was around œ20,000 to œ25,000! The problem is
that whilst some people might complain about the prices, there are
even more who are buying software at that price. The simple
economic fact is that the market has proved that it can sustain
that cost price up until now. Whether it will in the future is
another matter entirely.  (I know that compared to U.S prices,
CD-ROM software is much more expensive in the U.K, but that's a
complaint that can be levelled at most technological gadgetry from
across the pond). Don't forget that you can always get software
cheaper via Mail Order.

PCs are incredibly complicated beasts to write programs for,
because they can all use a different video card, different sound
card, different amounts of memory, different speed processors etc.
It's inevitable that problems are going to occur from time to
time. Actual bugs in a game which aren't hardware related are, on
the other hand, inexcusable. MerC referred to "grossly inadequate
testing" which is a grossly sweeping statement to make! Did he
have a specific title in mind when he wrote it? It's true that
some publishers have a very bad attitude towards testing. They
hate to spend money on it and will often pressurise those who are
testing a product into saying it's ready for publication when it
isn't. The main pressure comes from the accountants who are now
more important than anyone else in the industry (including the
developers who write the games!). Bugs are unavoidable. It's only
those that are obvious or prevent the player from completing a
game which have to be found before publication. Finding and then
fixing the rarer, more obscure bugs depends on how close the
software is to the release date. In an ideal world the software
would be tested continuously until every single bug has been
eliminated, but that isn't practical or possible.

I also feel that I should protect the programmer's reputation.
Again, I agree that in an ideal world it would be great if all
software auto-detected the sound card without needing the player
to set any IRQ or DMA values upon installation. Unfortunately this
causes problems in the future when new cards appear on the market,
as the software then gives the user no chance to choose the card
or select the relevant IRQ and DMA settings for their machine.
This goes back to my statement earlier that potentially every PC
is different thanks to the variety of video cards, sound cards,
processors, control devices, CD drives etc. to choose from. The
wide range of choice available is the root cause of the problem!
For example, I know one game which auto-detects the sound card for
you. Unfortunately, it was written before the Soundblaster 16 card
was available, and it reads one as a Soundblaster Pro.  This
causes the music and sound effects in the game to play too quietly
in some sections and too loudly in others!

I hope I don't come across as being too protective of the
industry. I can understand MerC's point of view because I too have
pulled my hair out at having to re-write my CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT files time and time again.  I've also been very
annoyed when I've found a bug in a game and I've often thought
that software is too costly. Unfortunately the reasons are never
as black and white as people think they are (grossly inadequate
testing, sheer laziness on the programmers part, etc).

@~Having had a fight bughunting in my own games, I can appreciate
@~why some bugs slip through the net in large commercial games.
@~When bughunting, and proof-reading a magazine for that matter,
@~it's easy to read what you expect to see, or to always play a
@~game the same way. It's only when a person comes fresh to it
@~that they immediately spot the things that we miss. I can
@~appreciate how bugs and obvious spelling mistakes in games end
@~up in the final version but that doesn't mean I have to like
@~'em!
------------------------------------------------------------------
From Kjell Robertsen, Norway

I don't understand all this argument about the SynTax contents.
You use a 720KB disk, right? As you probably won't have enough
adventure stuff to fill up the whole disk, would it really be
better to leave half of the disk blank? In my opinion it would be
better to fill up as much as possible of it with something,
games-related or not.

Most of the games are reviewed in the commercial magazines so
SynTax would be far less interesting if it contained only games
reviews and related stuff, as most of your readers probably buy
one or more of the commercial mags. No, keep SynTax as it is.
------------------------------------------------------------------
From Steve McLaren, Margate

...I found SynTax to be another great issue. For me there is not
much that I do not skip through. It is still top stuff that you do
and for people who send in any info on adventures or games. Well,
at least one guy was really honest why he was not going to
resubscribe to SynTax but he might have a change of heart one day.
------------------------------------------------------------------
From James Jillians, Maidstone

I liked the last issue of SynTax very much. Just for the record, I
would hate to see all the non-computer / non-adventure stuff taken

out. That's my main source of reading because, to be honest, I'm
not interested at all in hearing about all the latest PC games.
But I expect you're getting thoroughly fed up with people giving
you suggestions about what you should or should not have in your
magazine by now!

@~No, not at all, especially when you agree with what I put in! :)
@~It is especially important for the 'extras' to be kept in for
@~people like James who still have STs as it is getting harder
@~each issue to find games to include for them. I do my best
@~though!
------------------------------------------------------------------