★ APPLICATIONS ★ CREATION GRAPHIQUE ★ SLIM CHARACTERS (COMPUTING WITH THE AMSTRAD) ★ |
| Slim Characters (Computing With the Amstrad) | Applications Creation Graphique |
HAVE you ever wanted to have the use of 16 colours in Mode 1, or wanted 40 columns per line in Mode 0? Well with this utility you can have both. And, as well as that, if you've got very good eyesight, you can have 160 columns per line in Mode 2! "How is this possible?" you may well ask. The answer is simple. As you know, Amstrad characters are defined by an 8 x 8 grid which can be re-defined using the SYMBOL command. However with a little cunning it is possible to squeeze a complete character set into a 4 x 8 grid. This is exactly what I've done in Program I. The left hand sides of characters 32 to 127 have been re-defined and the right hand sides have been left blank. This means that once one character in a string has been placed on the screen the next character can be placed over the right hand side of it, over writing the blank part of the first character, thus allowing for twice the number of characters per line. Program II is a demonstration of how to use the new definitions. It first sets up four variables:
It then GOSUBs 60000 in order to display the slim characters. So, to use Slim Characters in your program - a game for example - first type or load in Program I, the one containing all the character data. Change the filename in line 310 to that of the program it is to be incorporated in, such as SPACINV and SAVE it. Now load in your program SPACINV and add line 60000 from Program II to the end of it, along with the necessary extra lines to pass the parameters ZM, ZX, ZY, and ZZ$. Then SAVE the final version of the game. Bear in mind that the SYMBOL AFTER 32 command has already been initiated in this utility and if you have used it in your program it must be removed from your original or the slim character set you are trying to use will be destroyed.
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