AtariUser24-Apr87.pdf

A Database Publication

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Vol. 2 No. 12

April 1987

Explore the

catacombs

of Zork!

Start of a great series

of adventure maps

••

SOFTWARE

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Contents

News

Catch up with the ever-changing world of the 8 bit Atari.

Game

Type in Torpedo! and sink the invading enemy ﬂeet.

Autoboot

We show how to give your pro-

grams the professional touch.

Reviews

1987

Vol. 2 No, 12 April

Managing Editor:

Derek Meakin

Features Editor:

Andre Willey

Production Editor:

Peter Glover

Art Editor:

Heather Sheldrick

Reviews Editor:

Christopher Payne

News Editor:

Mike Cowley

Advertisement Manager:

Tony Nowell

Advertising Sales:

John Snowden

We take a long look at Vietnam, The Archers, Super 3D

Plotter II, Robot Knight, Tomahawk, Crumble's Crisis.

Competition

More than 70 chances to win in our exciting MicroProse

competition.

Interview

Andre Willey meets the programming team that

produced Gauntlet.

I/O Channels

Part 4 of our series on the Atari's input/output facilities.

Adventuring

Dungeon master Brillig helps more of you escape from you

adventure-related problems. Plus three-page Zork I map.

Editorial: 061-456 8383

Administration: 061-456 8383

Advertising: 061-456 8500

Subscriptions: 061-480 0171

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Published by:

Databas e Publications Ltd,

Europa House. 68 Chester Road,

Haz el Grove, Stockport SK7 5NY.

Gadgets

Build your own Epson interface with Len Golding's help.

Game

Fast and furious arcade game featuring an under-ﬁre

skate boarder.

Five Liners

Subscription rates for

12 issues, post free:

£12 -- UK

E18 — Europe

£30 — Overseas

More of your £25 mini programs.

Utility

Stephen Williamson introduces his

Advanced Character Editor.

aritrza

"Atari User" welcomes program listings

and articles for publication. Material should

be typed or computer-printed, and pref.

erably double-spaced. Program listings

should be accommpanied by cassette tape

or disc. Please enclose stamped, self-

addressed envelope, otherwise the return

of material cannot be guaranteed. Contrib-

utions accepted for publication by Database

Publications Ltd will be on an all-rights

basis,

0 1987 Database Publications Ltd. No

material may be reproduced in whole or in

part without writen permission. While every

care is taken, the publishers cannot be held

legally responsible for any errors in articles,

lis tings , or advertisements.

"Atari User

- is

Mailbag

Your queries and answers, moans and praise.

FULL and part-time writers are urgently needed by Database

Publications, publishers of Atari User and its companion, Atari ST

User. If YOU know the Atari or Atari ST inside out, can express

your ideas on paper — and want to become part of the exciting

future that lies ahead for Atari machines, then write now to: The

Managing Editor, 68 Chester Road, Hazel Grove, Stockport SK7

5NY, Please include your phone number.

and Atari Corp (UK) Ltd are not responsible

for any of the articles they contain or for any

of the opmions expressed.

News trade distribution: Europress Sales

and Distribution Limited, Unit 1, Burgess

Road, lvyhouse Lane, Hastings, East Sussex

TN35 4NR. Tel: 0424 430422,

April 1987 ATARI USER 3

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AT 4

News

SOFTWARE

SHAKE-UP

AN Atari 8 bit software revo-

lution has begun, prompted

by a bridge-building exercise

from the company to devel-

opers and the arrival of the

video games machine, the

65XE.

Atari recently acknow-

ledged its "inadequate

support" for programmers in

the past and vowed to get it

right from now on.

And software houses are

responding with more con-

versions to the 8-bit and a

pledge of more new games

on cassette and cartridge.

Included in the shake-up to

give more support to third

parties is the appointment of

Roland Whitehouse as man-

Atari promises much more

support for programmers

ager of software marketing.

He explained: "My role is to

give help and support for

software generally, arid

especially for that about to be

launched.

"We need, and are actively

looking for, more cartridge-

based software for the 65XE.

"The response has been

excellent. Software houses

are really cooperating. We

know there was room for

improvement and we feel we

are turning the tide".

The company was ap-

proaching publishers about

cooperative software adver-

tising relating particular

products to particular

machines and everyone he

had talked to was willing to

help.

Atari told developers that it

has set up a team of engin-

eers to test software from

developers, and is aiming to

cater for the growing demand

for better communication

between Atari and authors.

A bulletin board has been

set up to aid this.

Optimistic

Atari technical manager Les

Player said: "As far as 8-bit

computers arid games con-

soles are concerned, we have

revised our sales targets

upwards and we are very

optimistic about further

multiple business.

"We hope this will motivate

software companies to

develop and market new titles

for the 8-bit. This situation

would be gratefully received

by the existing base of

extremely loyal users.

"Atari now offers an

expanding market oppor-

tunity", he said.

Tynesoft is already

impressed by the share of the

market now being claimed by

the 8-bit machines.

It began with a conversion

of its hit Jet Set Willy and is

continuing its move into the

market with two more games.

Winter Olympics is a multi-

load simulation combining

ﬁve sports, each of which

uses 60k of code, arid Who

Dares Wins II is a conversion

of the popular combat and

strategy game.

Tynesoft's head of develop-

ment, Dave Croft said: "We

feel that considering the price

of the 8-bit micro and the

share of the market it is now

A COVERSION of the Star

Wars coin-op series is

promised for the Atari 8

bit by the end of the year.

In something of a coup,

Domark has secured the

European rights to

produce home computer

versions of Star Wars

itself, plus The Empire

Strikes Back and Return of

the Jedi.

Atari Inc, holders of the

granted Domark the rights

through their licensing

company, the Inter-

national Development

Group.

AU the more for us

now we have no less than three

great new features starting this

issue. Look what we have to offer.

Two of our most popular writers,

Len Golding and Stephen William-

son, present the ﬁrst instalments of

their new series — Len's long awa-

ited tutorial on autobooting your

Basic programs, and Steve's

advanced character-set editor.

We also take you behind the

scenes on the development of one

of the most sought after arcade

conversions of the year US Gold's

Gauntlet, the massive Atari arcade

hit of 1986. In addition, Brillig's

adventuring column has had a

complete face lift and boasts a

massive monthly adventure map.

All of our regular features are

A VERY warm welcome to the ﬁrst

exclusively 8-bit edition of Atari

User. Now that our ST ﬂedgling has

ﬂown the coop we will be devoting

all of our pages to you, the Atari

8-bit owner.

From now on you'll be able to

read even more of your favourite

articles, type in more games list-

ings and ﬁ nd out more facts than

ever before.

We've been looking carefully

through your comments on the

magazine to date via the recent

Reader Survey, and it is encour-

aging to see how many of you

enjoy our balance of features.

We've got lots of exciting plans for

the coming months, including our

second birthday in May, but for

here as usual, of course, with not

just one but two great games this

month.

Len Go/ding's Gadgets column

covers one of the most requested

topics from the mailbag — that of

how to construct your own printer

interface to run a Centronics printer

without spending a small fortune

on the extra hardware.

Andre Willey will be continuing

to look at the workings of the cen-

tral input/output system, and this

month considers how to add your

own data handlers.

A ﬁ nal word on contributions. If

you want to see your own work in

Atari User turn to Page 52 for some

useful tips on how best to go about

It.

April 1987 ATARI USER 5

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