SPACE Newsletter

SPECIAL SPACE ELECTION NIGHT EDITION 2016

Message from Captain Irata: “SPACE Elections are here. SO, CAST YOUR BALLOTS! HOO-RAH!”

It’s November, and you know what that means. Elections! Yes, that’s right, it’s time for the SPACE Annual Meeting, and elections of our club’s executive board positions: president, VP, secretary, and treasurer. Is this the year you make yourself available? Please consider! Either way, we need as many club members as possible to make it this important meeting in order for your votes to count. It is also important to contribute to planning for any party we might want to have in December! We need your perspective! Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your SPACE Annual Meeting, Friday November 11, 2016.

A step in the right direction as four members were present for the October SPACE meeting. Steve Peck and myself were accompanied by Brian Little and Lance Ringquist. Great to see both back to a SPACE meeting but I understand Lance is having another surgery and will probably be absent for another long stretch. He is hoping to get a ride from his wife, Beverly, in December so he won’t miss the Christmas party. We all hope that happens. We spent some time on politics and then held the meeting a bit later than 7:30, our usual start time. After the meeting we spent a great deal of time on looking over the DOM. Even though Glen couldn’t make the October meeting he dropped off the DOM so we wouldn’t miss it. It was a really good DOM and mostly had games on it. Steve had the opportunity to try all the games and write his game reviews for the November newsletter. Lance delivered a set of ST DOMs which were actually for November and said he has the October ST DOMs but still had to make copies of them. We might get those next month. We had a very good month for receipts as three members renewed their memberships. Four 8-bit and three ST DOMs were sold. Three memberships took in $45.00 and seven DOMs took in $21.00 for a to-

tal of $66.00 in receipts. No expenses were paid out in October so we added to our beginning balance in October of $429.54 the new receipts of $66.00 and we have now got a total of $495.54 at the end of October. Still no new Atari hardware or software coming our way so no future SPACE auctions are in the works. It’s been way too long but not much we can do about it as Atari users are not keen on giving up their stuff. That’s all for this month. Don’t forget the November meeting, our voting month, is on the 11th, and we need to make plans for our Christmas party for the December meeting. So another very important meeting next month, and I hope you can all make it. See you there. Table of Contents: The President’s Corner: Treasurer’s Report: Trivia Time: Secretary’s Report: 8-bit DOM Report: Election Thoughts: Final Thoughts:

TRIVIA TIME:

1 1 1 2 2 3 3

Veteran arcade game programmer David F. Theurer, the original creator of the smash hit Atari arcade game, Tempest, was born in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. (Source: Wikipedia)

Atari 8-bit DOM Review by Steven Peck HELLO WORLD! It is time for another Secretary’s Report, so welcome to it. So, here we go with the Report. NOTE: Firstly, I just want to let everyone know that Lance is doing OK. I hope that your thoughts can be with him as he gets better. Thank you for letting me share this information about his progress. FURTHER NOTE: Please check your ST DOMS from September, as they may need to be replaced. They may be high density disks. The Atari ST will NOT accept high density. Thanks for letting me share. Anyway, I am hoping that this is going to be a great Election. I wish it to be fair and go smoothly. I am sure that it will at that. I, myself, am signaling my intent to run again as Secretary of the Club. There was talk of politics on the US Federal level last month. As of recently, we know that President-elect Trump will take the White House. That much is certain. I understand that there is a lot of concern about this. I hope that we, as a nation, get through this OK. Furthermore, I am glad that we have a healthy Treasury. It is a relief to know that we are so stable in that respect, and I thank Greg for the good work on that. Well, that is about all I know about that, I guess. So, with that, I conclude the Secretary’s Report, with the Stan Lee salutation… EXCELSIOR!

Welcome, fellow SPACE Cadets, to the latest DOM Review for the Atari 8-bit computer! Today, I am going to review the October DOM. Let’s get started, shall we? SIDE A: The first program in the DOM is a game called “Ratcatcher.”You play one of two guys, Biff or Buzz. Your job: go into sewers and catch rats and avoid alligators. There is a time limit for each level, and you have to meet a quota on catching rats. If you do not meet the quota, you fail that stage. Personally, I think the game is challenging enough. But, it has a learning curve. If overcome, I can see the fun in it however. Here’s my score on it: Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Sound:

6 8 7 7

Total:

28/40

The second file is a music track called “Guybrush Theme,” which reminds me of the main character from the LucasArts game “The Secret of Monkey Island.” The character’s name is Guybrush Threepwood, by the way. The tune is somewhat laid-back and fun to listen to. I liked it. I will give it high marks. Sound:

8/10

The next music file is called “Rouge

Chromazon.” It starts off with a drum beat, and continues with a certain urgency, in my opinion. Pretty good tune. Here’s my score. Sound:

8/10

The next file is a game called “Robot T-58.” It is a difficult puzzler, too. In the game, your robot has to negotiate a maze, collecting bombs to blow away boulders in the way. If you touch a boulder with a bomb, it will be cleared, without a bomb, you will be cleared, as in destroyed. Great game. Difficult, too. I cannot finish the first level yet. Here’s my score. Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Sound:

6 10 6 5

Total:

27/40

“Boulderdash 10” is yet another Boulder Dash clone. You know the drill with this game. You know Rockford, the robot. Enough said. Here’s my score. Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Sound:

9 10 5 9

Total:

33/40

“Same Game” is a game where you match colored tiles on the screen to clear it. Thereis a time limit. You must clear all of the tiles to clear the level and in time. I could not do that myself. So, it is challenging enough. Graphics: Gameplay: Animation:

8 10 4

Sound:

7

Total:

29/40

“Mah Jong XE” is a title from the venerable Fandal. It is a great looking version of the famous Chinese tile game. It is definitely challenging, too. Here’s my score. Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Sound:

10 10 10 10

Total:

40/40 (perfect) SIDE B:

“Mission: Arsoft” is a game where you go through a maze to collect keys in the right sequence to complete the level. If you do not, you will be stuck. You must also collect things along the way and solve a code. Here is my score. Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Sound:

7 9 5 9

Total:

30/40

“Robbo Lutry IV” is another Robbo clone. It looks and plays nicely, too. I can never figure this game out. That is one reason why it is getting high marks. Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Sound:

10 10 7 8

Total:

35/40

“Spectipede” is another “Centipede” clone with a twist. This time, the Centipede comes at an angle and there is a cannon firing at you from the side.

Challenging enough. Here’s my score. Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Sound:

7 9 6 6

Total:

28/40

“Skyscraper Action” is another game where you have to try to get to the top of the level, collecting keys and rings along the way. It is very difficult. I could not understand how to play it. Here is my score. Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Sound:

7 10 6 7

Total:

30/40

“Das U-Boot” is a fast-paced pinball game simulation. I love it. I always have liked pinball game simulations. This one is very good. I think you will like it, too. Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Sound:

8 9 10 8

Total:

35/40

This concludes the 8-bit Review. I will see you next month. Carpe diem, folks.

Election Thoughts By Steven Peck Well, it is SPACE Election Day all over again. All of the officer positions are available to anyone who wants to run for them. If you want to run an officer position, come to the November SPACE Meeting. Remember. There must be a quorum of 50% of the Club to make the votes, if I remember correctly according to the by-laws. I know one thing. I will be running again as Secretary of the Club. I will see you again on the next SPACE Meeting, unless something comes up. Good fortune.

Final Thoughts By Steven Peck Again, I must profusely apologize. I will be frank. I want to make a grander Newsletter. Things have been coming up in my life. Lance had his setbacks that I am helping him with. I am happy to assist him. Also, I moved and must change my contact information in the SPACE roster. It has been hectic and stressful. There has been a lot of tumult in my life in that respect. I therefore must confess, though. I do admit I have been backsliding on the duty of getting this out sooner. Sorry about that. I will work on that and hopefully in December. I feel I have been shirking responsibility either. That is what I feel I am doing. Hence the apology. I will see you later, with improvements. So, then, TTFN, folks.

The next SPACE Meeting is on Friday, November 11, 2016. We hope to see you there!