ANTIC BOOKSHELF
Reviewed by CHARLES JACKSON and MICHAEL CIRAOLOBook of Adventure Games
by Kim Schuette
$19.95
344 pages, paperbound
Cheating is expensive. In this case, it will cost you about $20 to
obtain maps and cheat sheets for most existing adventure games.
Of course, it might well be worth $20 to avoid those sleepless
hours, as you pull out your hair and wonder how to get past that bear or
enter those massive doors in your favorite adventure game.
Whether you want to use such a cheat book is your business.
But if you do, you'll find this an excellent guide.
Maps and solutions reflect actual gaming experience and
include appropriate editorial comments. The maps are well drawn and clearly
presented. However, in our random sampling of game clues, some maps contained
minor, but frustrating inaccuracies. Clues are provided as needed, in the
form of numbered notes. These clues are in a separate section at the end
of the book, so it is possible to just peek at that one answer you absolutely
cannot figure out.
Each game also comes with publisher information, suggested
retail price, description and brief review, necessary menus and character
charts.
The Book of Adventure Games covers over 75 titles,
most of which were designed for the Apple. But 42 are available for the
Atari, including all Infocoms except the very latest, the Ultima series,
the Adventure International catalog, Gruds in Space, Ulysses, Wizard and
the Princess, and most other favorites.
This book is published by Arrays, Inc., 11223 South Hindry Avenue,
Los Angeles, CA 90045.
Atari Graphics & Arcade Game Design
by Jeffrey Stanton with Dan Pinal
$16.95
479 pages paperbound
Atari Graphics & Arcade Game Design was written for intermediate BASIC programmers ready to master the Atari at a higher level.
This is not a book for beginners who think a "Sprite" is something that goes well with a hot dog and a "redefined character" is a fellow who's had a spiritual experience.
The early chapters deal with display lists, character set graphics and ANTIC and GTIA graphics modes. Several short BASIC program listings are included to illustrate key points in the text.
In a gentle introduction to Assembly Language, a BASIC version of a "Breakout" game is taken apart and its subroutines are explained. Ensuing chapters compare each subroutine to equivalent assembly language macros. By the time you're through, you should be a lot closer to designing and writing your own machine language arcade games.
Although the assembler listings are written in Synassembler, the book has a comparison table to help you translate the Synassembler code to Atari Assembler Editor, MAC/65, Atari Macro Assembler or Eastern House.
(This book is available by mail from the Antic Catalog bound into this issue of the magazine.)
Atari Color Graphics
by Joseph W Collins
$12.95
202 pages paperbound
Atari Color Graphics: A Beginner's Workbook is a useful introduction to 14 Atari BASIC graphics modes. These include the three GTIA modes and two modes (Graphics 14 and Graphics 15) unique to XL computers.
If you're a beginning programmer, you'll want to keep your BASIC reference manual close at hand, since the workbook only describes BASIC graphics commands.
Each workbook chapter introduces a different style of computer graphics, including high, low and medium resolution modes; single and multicolor modes; the GTIA modes and three text modes.
The book contains many illustrations and dozens of short type-in programs that demonstrate key points in each chapter. New BASIC programmers ready to add interesting graphics routines to their programs should start with this book.
(This book is available by mail from the Antic Catalog bound into this issue of the magazine.)
Both graphics books reviewed here are published by Arrays, Inc./The Book Division, 11223 South Hindry Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90045.
1, 2, 3, My Computer & Me! A Logo Funbook For Kids (Atari version)
by Jim Muller and the staff of the Young Peoples' Logo Association.
$12.95
111 pages paperbound
Here is one of the finest Logo workbooks available for children. Armed with this book, young people unfamiliar with Logo will quickly have turtles dancing on their screen. Later chapters explore recursion music, writing and editing procedures and using the Logo shape editor.
Children will enjoy this lively and instructive book. It is filled with dozens of colorful and enjoyable Logo procedures to try. Parents and teachers will appreciate 1, 2, 3 because every lesson encourages children to use experimentation, imagination and intuition to solve programming puzzles.
Logo Fun
by Pat Parker and Teresa Kennedy
$5.95
112 pages paperbound
This Logo tutorial simultaneously describes versions of the language for Atari, Texas Instruments, and two Apple variants. Consequently, you must be familiar with the Atari Logo user's guide before you read Logo Fun. Without this knowledge, debugging your Logo procedures soon becomes a frustrating nightmare.
Logo Fun contains a wide assortment of tiny procedures which draw attractive patterns on the screen. Several of these designs are presented in an eight-page color section in the middle of the book.
The authors invite you to use their book like an encyclopedia-to "flip back and forth, or check the index to find what you need." Unfortunately there is no index, and "flipping back and forth" soon becomes a time-consuming chore.
Both Logo books reviewed above are from Reston Publishing Company, 11480 Sunset Hills Road, Reston, VA 22090. (800) 336-0338.