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| The first Grand CPC464 User Club competition | Games Divers |
Members Only! The first Grand CPC464 User Club competition attracted an impressively high standard of entry. It's a shame that there can only be one winner - but there's plenty of incentive to keep those entries pouring in....... Beat the Clock! Philip Heathershaw of Hornsea, North Humberside topped a competitive list of entries with a very polished and well presented program entitled ‘Beat the Clock'. In the view of the judging panel it made the best use of sound and graphics around a theme that is a cross between Scrabble and a cross word.
The sequence of screen shots shows the program in progress. You must first set the number of players from 1 to 6. Scrabble for one may seem a little pointless, but you always have time as your opponent, so the idea works surprisingly well. The computer then issues you with 13 random letters - and you have one minute to place these on the grid and then cross connect the other letters to form words. The scoring system is logical and takes into account the need to discourage attempts at bogus words. The program itself is too long to list herein, but it's good to the see the use of the real time features in the BASIC - and the use of sound is quite superb. Every movement is accompanied by sound: the clock ticks, the bell rings in a most convincing manner, and the flurry of activity when the score is totted up really helps keep the game alive. The pic shows David Juster - the MD of Triptych Publishing whose very original Brainpower series of training and applications programs are currently taking Spectrum and Commodore owners by storm - handing over the cheque to the jubilant Philip Heathershaw. Commented David Juster: “The first time I get my hands on an Amstrad cheque and it's gone inside 20 seconds....” We're quite confident that the deal recently arranged to bring the Brainpower series to the CPC464 will cause this to be an entirely temporary state of affairs! Philip Heathershaw even delivered another program when he visited our office to collect the cheque - a very competent computer crossword game. As a manager of an amusement arcade, Philip is surrounded by technology and still has the time and energy to want more. Since we've arranged to market his excellent software, we've had to exclude him from issuing future entries, just so you lot out there don't get too disheartened. The Runners Up The quality of each of the runners up was outstanding. In particular, commiserations to P R Murfitt of Crawley. His character modifier was an outstanding example of a theme that has a popular topic. The presentation complete with colour screen photos and explanatory folder was devised with all the thoroughness you would expect of a teacher. As his submission pleaded that the lack of a printer prevented him from supplying a listing, we were pleased to be able to rectify this omission as part of his consolation prize. The tome accompanying the program raises a point observed by several entrants that a 500 word summary is not sufficient to do justice to many types of utility program - and we must agree. However, we still need the 500 words summary to assist in identifying and screening entrants - but feel free to write an encylcopadia of instructions - as long as the 500 words precis contains the essence of what the program is all about. A variant of Helibomber by Mr Gardiner took the prize (figuratively speaking) for the longest program. 26 K produced some nice graphics and sound effects based on the city bomber theme, and extended the game to include fetching gold from the bombed basement buildings, and returning it to the heli-base. A few rough edges, to smooth down, and a re-submission will be a hot contender for the next round - see below. It was good to see use of the joystick and sound in many of the entries - and perhaps none was better in the sound department than a program that owed much to Missile Command. The screen shot failed to develop on that program, so we're holding over further comment to the next issue - and hopefully we'll persuade the author to let us run the listing. Another good entry was submitted under the title of “Deep Thought”. With much trepidation this program was run behind closed doors.....and it turned out to be a very smartly presented numeric ‘Mastermind'. Rather a large number of ‘LETs' in the variable assignments hint strongly at an adaptation from another machine whose BASIC is still in the dark ages. Another worthwhile program, only 4K long and will be published in due course. Other entries included several board games, an adventure or two and much more besides. The relatively short time since the competition closed and shortage of space prevents further commentary here, but the whole competition was an outstanding success and should continue to be a source of good material. Since we gave authors very little time to enter, the first time around - we think it's only fair to allow the non-winners a second chance to polish their submissions. This is particularly so in the case of those of you working on originals, since although there's a place in any machine for classics converted from the listings of other computers, it's always that much more challenging to be original or at least incorporate original elements in old favourites, isn't it?
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