71 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
71 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
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-: Metal Paddleball & Information Update :-
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Metal.Paddleball --
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Metal Paddleball was thought up one day from some Pascal source in a
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MacIntosh book. I had figured it would be easy enough to write, and no one had
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ever done anything like this before for the modem, so I decide to write it and
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put it out as a demo until the final version of Metal is complete and avail-
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able to the public. This game is reletively short, and looks nice, as well as
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works nice. Needless to say, it's not perfect, and isn't bugfree, nor is this
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the final version of the game. The most interesting thing about the game is
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it's speed. Metal is fast as it is, but the game is well written to take full
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advantage of the system. Because of the speed of the Metal software, this game
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is possible. Locally is warps. Check it out on a IIe and a IIgs. You'll find
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it's very fast and smooth on both. Speed over the modem should be comparable
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because of the way the new modem drivers are written.
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The modem drivers are interrupt-driven as well as have input and output
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buffers of reasonable size. This allows the modem to send and recieve much
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quicker than the conventional polling method of the Macos/Acos drivers. Even
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1200 baud will seem a bit faster. Anyway, this is the first demo version of the
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game and I hope you enjoy it.
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By the way, to play the game, the controls are the HS & SU keys and
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the space bar.
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The Language --
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Well folx, the language is improving at a rapid rate. More and more
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things are being added daily, and more and more bugs&glitches worked out by the
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day. We have just added another person to the Metal Development Team.
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Joshua Thompson, the author of the NuPak unpacking software has just
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jumped in with us and will be helping with ideas and writing the 16bit side
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of the software. Reminding you that Metal WILL NOT be full 16-bit. It will be
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predominantly 8-bit with some minor 16-bit features. The most important and
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versatile of these features is the 16bit Variable Memory Handler. This will
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allow you to address ALL of your GS's memory for variable space. Imagine the
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arrays you can have with this thing! However, this does not leave the 8-bits
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out in the cold. You have a built in 40k or so var memory and there will be
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8-bit drivers for those of you with IIe's and extra memory beyond the
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required 128k.
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The current requirements of the system software include:
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o An Apple IIe (Enhanced), IIc, IIc+, or IIgs
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o At LEAST 128k memory
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o A Clock
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o A modem of any baud rate
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o At least 280k of storage. Metal is big.
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Optional: Joystick, More Memory, etc...
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The current price of the software is $75.00 which includes a FULLY
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written BBS and 250-300+ page manual with 1 year of support. This package
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will, beside the aforementioned items, include plenty of extra examples,
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lots of machine language externals, information on some of the internal
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workings of Metal, and information on writing externals, writing modem drivers,
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and many other things. This is by no means a complete update on everything that
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has happened and none of the information stated here is guaranteed to be
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complete or true. I'm telling you folks what I know to understand. Again, be
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patient. We realize we are late, but financial difficulties have made it hard,
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and we are doing are best to find AS MANY bugs as we can so that you may not
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have to through the hell of rewriteing your code around the inconsistansies of
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the language like you had to do with Acos and Macos. We are all trying to make
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this the best, and most worthwhile 75 dollars you have ever spent on BBS soft-
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ware. I have no idea how much longer it will be before Metal is made available
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to the general public for purchase, but it will be soon. Thank you for being
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so supportive.
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-Jay Guild
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