SPACE Newsletter

9

Elections were held at last month’s SPACE annual meeting, and contunity it is! The Executive Board will once again include me in the President role, Brian as Vice President, Steve as Secretary, and Greg as Treasurer. The other volunteer slots will continue to include Glen as DOM Librarian, Mike Allard as ST DOM Librarian; I’ll keep up the website, and Brian will continue to operate the Facebook page (sounds like some good plans for attracting people to the Facebook page are in the works). Thank you to everyone for continuing to help make this club work. SPACE would not exist without you! You won’t want to miss the SPACE Chili Potluck this month. I hope you can make it! Thanks, keep using that Atari, and come to your next SPACE meeting and party, Friday, December 13, 2019.

Another banner month SPACE meeting in November, as we had once again seven members present. Good discussions on Atari related topics included the new game system we are all waiting to see. Our President, Michael, who made the trip from Wisconsin for our annual voting brought a couple of Atari reads that we would probably never have seen. One item was a magazine from over seas that is only being published once a year. Roger Mier brought in a cartridge that loads many programs, but needed an Atari with one meg, which we didn’t have. Roger said he might bring his one meg in sometime in the future to demo. To my surprise when I mentioned chili as an option for our Xmas party it was agreed upon by all members present. So my wife and I will bring chili and the fixings along with the table utensils, pop, water. Glen agreed to bring root beer floats. The one catch is that Lance’s wife, Beverly, will not be able to drive next month due to her work schedule so Lance, Brian and Steve May not be able to attend the meeting if they cannot find a ride. That would put a big damper on the SPACE Xmas party. Let’s hope they can find other transportation. For our SPACE bank information, we started the month of November with a balance of $661.54. We added $30.00 with two member renewals and $30.00 with the sale of ten 8-bit DOMs. We also had a rare sale of $2.00 for an Atari laptop CD.

Message from Captain Irata: A CHRISTMAS JINGLE: “Christmastime is here! Full of toys and cheer! But, if you don’t win any video games, all your friends will jeer…” HOO-RAH! TABLE OF CONTENTS: PAGE ONE: The President’s Corner Treasurer’s and Secretary’s Report PAGE TWO: Atari 8-bit DOM Review PAGE THREE:

So, altogether we took in $62.00 for the month of November, and adding that to our $661.54 we now have a bank balance of $723.54. I looked back to January 2015 and we never had a balance over $700.00. We now have 2020 covered and over onethird of 2021 covered as well. Thanks for all your support. When we get some ST DOMs, and we catch up on buying them, it will be another windfall for our Club. Please try to make our Xmas party next month and don’t forget to bring a dish for all to share. See you on December 13th.

HELLO WORLD! Happy Holidays, again! Here is another December and another Secretary’s Report. The meeting commenced at 7:33 PM. We had a good time, as SPACE President Michael Current showed up for the Election. We had a larger attendance than usual in November for the SPACE Meeting, and it was a good one. As for the Election results, Greg will continue to be the Treasurer, I, Steve, will continue to be the Secretary, Michael willl continue to be the President, and Brian will continue to be the Vice-President. So, business as usual there, with no changes. Also, Michael brought some publications. He brought his latest edition of Pro(c) Atari Magazine and a copy of Volume Two of the book series We Love Atari. Both publications were interesting to look at and nostalgic in nature. Roger brought his Side2 cartridge, which brings hard drive-like features to the Atari 8-bit by using a CompactFlash disk. It was pretty neat, and I would not mind getting one in the future.It seems like a pretty nifty unit. Great show and tell time. Anyway, aside from the Election, we also talked about the upcoming SPACE Christmas Party, which will commence on Friday, December 13, 2019. We discussed chili and tacos for the dinner at the Party. A deviation, of course. Tacos were also discussed as well. It does not bother me personally what we have for the dinner. Of course, I will bring the chips and dip, as always. There are ten paid SPACE members. I renewed my membership in November, and not too soon, as I needed to be a member to be elected anyway! Furthermore, we talked about the upcoming systems from Atari and Intellivision. It looks like the Amico will be a game changer, as it will have reimagined games with a family-friendly focus. I hope that the Amico does well, but time will tell. The meeting adjourned at 8:09 PM, lasting approximately thirty-six minutes. This concludes the Secretary’s Report. In the closing salutation of the late, great Stan Lee… EXCELSIOR! TRIVIA TIME! Originally, third-party companies,Imagic and Activision were formed by former Atari employees, but Activision still exists as a company, whereas Imagic does not exist anymore.

TOTAL SCORE:

Welcome to the A8 DOM Review for December of 2019. This is going to be a good one as we will review two DOMs and this is the last 8-bit DOM Review of the year! I will start right away with the DOMs in question: October 2019 DOM-Side A: The first file on the Ocotber DOM is called “Algorytm, and it is a graphics demo that looks like static on the screen. It may have a PAL issue, because it sems to crash at the end of the demo. I think that this demo could have been better. It does show the abilities of the A8, but I think that it could look and sound better.But, I do understand the limits of the A8 in some cases as well. SO, with that, I will score this file. SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Sound: TOTAL SCORE:

6 6 7 19/30

The next file is called “SVB,” another demo by the venerated group SillyVenture. It shows some black and white warping effects in the background with a cartoony smiling face moving randomly on the screen. It looks good, but I think that it could be better. The smiling face is well-illustrated, but there is some room for improvement. But, overall, it isn’t too shabby. I will finalize my score on this. SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Sound:

7 10 5

TOTAL SCORE:

22/30

“The Last V8,” the next file on this DOM, is a game by Tim Hilsom. I really don’t know the premise of the game, except I have to drive my car back to a base. I had a hard time doing that because I need to know where I am going. Splendid game, but needs work on the graphics a little. The animation is superb and so is the sound with the digitized voice telling you to get back to base. I think that the gameplay suffers, unless there is a help file with the game that I do not know about, but it still is a good game otherwise. I will score accordingly. SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Sound: Gameplay:

7 9 10 6

TOTAL:

32/40

The next file, a demo, is called “DSR NYD19,” by the group Desire. It has superb graphics, animated waves, a fast text ticker, and great sound. Kudos, Desire. I love this demo and the work put into it. I will score accordingly. SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Sound:

9 9 10

38/40

The next file is an intro, called “SillyVenture 2K19 Invitation.” Great effects, splendid B&W graphics, and smooth, fluid animation make this a great looking file and extremely attractive. I will score accordingly in response. SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Sound:

10 10 10

TOTAL SCORE:

30/30 (perfect score)

picture. It could look and sound better, but I am sure some things had to be sacrificed due to the limits in storage space. But, it is a great game. I like it and I think that understand how to play it. Kudos! SCORE; Graphics: Gameplay: Animation:

8 10 6

TOTAL SCORE:

24/30

November 2019 DOM-Side A:

Poison has created another music track, called “F.King 8-bit Alien Egg Lost.” It sounds weird with the tones going up and down, but it is pretty catchy and sounds pretty cool. Great tune, Poison, and I liked listening to it. Kudos.

The first file on this DOM is called “Olej.” The interesting thing about this demo is it is only 256 bytes in size. It has pulsating B&W graphics in the background, with the word OLEJ on the left of the screen.

TOTAL SCORE:

For a small file, it actually works. I am captivated by the graphics and it looks really good. I will give this a good score.

9/10

The next file is a music track by PG called (Greenfields.” It is extremely good music that sounds foreboding and powerful. It really is a great tune. I suggest that you listen to it. It is a splendid job.

SCORE:

Here is my score on that.

Graphics: Animation:

TOTAL SCORE:

TOTAL SCORE:

8/10

9 9 18/20

The next file is a picture by Piesiu, called “Bicorn.” It shows a knight clad in armor on at two-horned horse, a bicorn (as opposed to unicorns, which have one horn). It is well-drawn and the artist definitely knows human and animal anatomy.

The next file, “Rain,” is another 256-byte file. Again, it is very detailed for a small file. It shows rain and even has flashes of lightning. You can even hear the pouring rain. Very nice demo. It is relaxing and enjoyable.

I say that because the muscles in the knight and horse stand out. It looks sinister because of the use of color. It looks dark, but well-executed. I will score this drawing well.

SCORE:

TOTAL SCORE:

8/10

The next picture is called “Capitol.” It is done by PG. It is well-named, because it shows the US Capitol Building, in Washington D.C. This is an impressive picture. It looks almost like it was rendered in a 3D program, although it isn’t. There does not seem to be much black in it, so it does not look muddied up.Very good job, PG. TOTAL SCORE:

9/10

The next file is a picture called “Lost Alien,” by LiSU. It shows an alien in his spacecraft with the message “LOST PARTY” on the screen. The alien’s head is the letter “O” in the message, I thought that it could look better, but the simplicity stands out in it. It is a nice and cartoony look to the image, I think, though, that although it could look better, it does make up in its simplicity. I think that was what the artist was looking for. So, I will score.

Graphics: Animation: Sound:

9 10 9

TOTAL SCORE:

28/30

Another file, “Neonsky,” has flashing colors and sappy music. It also slows down a lot. Then, it speeds up again. It also has indeterminable symbols in it. I was not very impressed by this demo. But, it was only 256 bytes in size. However, in defense, there might be a PAL issue inherent in the programming. It is really hard to tell. I am going to score this demo. SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Sound: TOTAL SCORE:

7 8 6 21/30

7/10

Programmer Madrafi created this demo of an upcoming game (I think it is upcoming) called “Star Vagrant.” It shows cinematic graphics and a great loking title screen at the beginning. Once you push the Space Bar, it ends.

The final file on Side A is called “Twincub,” which shows two eggs in an incubator connected to a computer. I think that it would have looked better in color, but again simplicity works.

But, that is on purpose. This is a demo after all. Impressive start for what hopefully becomes a great game for the A* computer line. I loved the graphics and sound. Beautifully done!

It needs more, I think, but it still isn’t bad.

SCORE:

TOTAL SCORE:

Graphics: Animation: Sound:

TOTAL SCORE:

7/10 Side B:

The whole B side of the October DOM is called “Bocianoric.” It is a game where you play a wizard avoiding evil creatures giving life to trees. I think that it is a puzzle, as you have limited powers you can collect in the form of potions. It has a great looking title screen, with a digitized

TOTAL SCORE:

9 9 9 27/30

The next file on the DOM is called “Skyride,” and it is a music track. It has a jolly and peppy beat to it, reminiscent of an exciting sky ride. Well exciting it is. It deserves high marks.

TOTAL SCORE:

9/10

The next file, “Ojcze Ojcze,” by Arson, UAB, and GGS, is yet another music track. It is reminiscent to me of the somg “Popcorn.” It seems to have some of the same or similar popping soiunds. It seems pretty catchy, though. I think it is pretty good. It has some pep in it and has some good beat to it as well. So, with that I will score it. TOTAL SCORE:

8/10

The next file is a picture file called “Medical Machine,” by Rysowane. I like it because it looks like a comic strip in the way it was illustrated. I love the detail and it looks excellent. Kudos, Rysowane. TOTAL SCORE:

10/10

The next file is a picture called “Arthas,” by Tiger and NG. It shows a detailed looking warrior wearing a cape and brandishing a sword. It could look berrer, but it could be worse. It looks like it was illustrated with maybe a KoalaPad or Touch Tablet. But, it is a good effort, nonetheless. TOTAL SCORE:

8/10

The next file is called “Europa,” another picture by Tiger and NG. It shows three armored knights brandishing swords around a winged woman. It could be from the Greek myth about Europa herself, but I am not certain. But, it looks detailed and quite impressive. I am impressed by the graphics. I will now score this. TOTAL SCORE:

8/10 Side B:

The next file, “Z-Bars,” is a demo by Koala. It shows shapes morphing up and down the screen. It has impressive graphics, animation and sound. I am gratified by this demo, and it deserves high marks. So, I will score it. SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Sound:

8 10 8

TOTAL SCORE:

26/30

Programmer Xeen has given us this demo, called “La Parala.” It shows the word LOST on screen with graphics moving across the screen and repetitive sounds. I think that the sound could be better, but the graphics are better with nice animation. I am largely impressed by this demo. It does look stellar. So, I will score this accordingly. SCORE:

TOTAL SCORE:

22/30

The next file is a game called “Tutoris 2019,” and it is actually quite fun. All you need is the fire button on your controller. You must avoid slithering snakes on the screen. You must use the fire button to slow down the ball. If you hit a snake, the game is over. So, basically, it is a take on “Flappy Bird.” It is a great game, too. It is basically strategy and timing. But, still a very fiun game. With that all said, I will now score. SCORE: Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Sound:

7 9 10 9

TOTAL SCORE:

35/40

The next game is a variation of the classic “Boulder Dash,” called “Kendallsoft Kaverns.” It is much harder than previous variations of the game. Rockford will have a trial trying to get those diamonds this time! As always, it has impressive graphics and sound. I will score it, as you know the rest. SCORE: Graphics: Gameplay: Animation: Sound:

9 10 8 9

TOTAL SCORE;

36/40

The next file is a intro by SillyVenture called “SinVitro.” It is an invitation to a function in Gdansk, Poland earlier this month. It is impressive with the animation and the B&W graphics. I love the effort and creativity involved in this intro. I will score accordingly. SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Sound:

9 10 10

TOTAL SCORE;

29/30

The next file is a track called “Zasluznene Tretie Miesto,” by LiSU. It is fast and synthesizd. It is also pretty good. I like this tune. It can be a little better, but not too bad. I will score. TOTAL SCORE:

8/10

Maciej Hauke has created a picture called “Grotan.” It shows a stone mask in the middle of some blue weaves. It looks really good. Impressive. I like the colors in it. It is pleasing to the eye. Stellar!

Graphics: Animation: Sound:

8 10 6

I will score.

TOTAL SCORE:

24/30

Mr. Hauke also created the next picture, “Historik.” It shows a prehistoric scene with a caveman and dinosaurs. It could be better, but looks ike a great game idea to me. I will score this filr now.

The next file, by MaPa and PG, is called “Alieggs.” It shows ET coming down from the top of the screen and activating a TV, which shows another alien catching eggs on the screen with a basket from chickens. It looks like an old LCD game, and it looks good. The animation looks choppy and the sound effects are spot on for an old handheld LCD game. It is campy, but fun to watch. So, I will score it. SCORE: Graphics: Animation: Sound:

8 7 7

TOTAL SCORE:

TOTAL SCORE:

9/10

7/10

The final file on this disk is called “Port Alistair.” It shows a chain connected to a spaceport. It has great deatil and is in B&W. Very, very good job, Broniu and Madrafi (the creators)! I love it. TOTAL SCORE:

10/10 (perfect score)

This concludes the DOM Review. I will close now. Carpe Diem, fellow Atarians! Have a Happy!

SPACE COMICS SECTION! NOTE: Any ideas for jokes & gags? Tell me all about it!

A Special Holiday Greeting from Your Friends in the SPACE Comics Section

I am looking for any jokes and ideas for SPACE meeting of 2019 will commence future comics! Theonlast Friday, December 13, 2019, at 7:30 PM. Thanks!

We hope to see you there! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

From All of Us at SPACE… Have a Tremendous and Happy Holiday Season! Also, Have a Safe and Prosperous New Year in 2020! THANKS!

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