ST New Products

MICHTRON UPDATE

If you have a working knowledge of BASIC and want to understand the more complicated aspects of ST programming, The GFA-BASIC Book ($39.95) could be just what you're looking for. This intermediate tutorial for the GFA BASIC, Interpreter guides you step by step through the intricate facets of BASIC and GEM programming. A disk containing more than 75 programs and files helps you along further. Topics include optimization, graphics, GEMDOS, BIOS, XBIOS and using windows.

And if you need a break from heavy-duty programming and you've done all you can with Microdeal's Airball, grab the Airball Construction Kit ($24.95), a GEM-based room-design utility. The Menu Bar lets you quickly create, load, save and delete room files as well as position the objects you need in the game (such as crates). The Room Information section lets you edit rooms quickly.

MichTron, 576 S, Telegraph, Pontiac, MI 48053. (313) 334-5700. Both FINAL.

COMMEDIA DELL' UNIX

Craft, an advanced program development environment, consists of two powerful tools: Craft shell, a general purpose command interpreter that provides a Unix environment, and Craft editor, a fast, complete and versatile editor that works integrally with the Craft shell.

The shell lets you run GEM tasks and features more than 50 built-in commands, input/output redirection, pipes, aliasing, history, command line editing, batch processing facilities, user-definable function keys and a built-in RAMdisk and print spooler.

Written completely in assembly language, the editor has over 100 commands and lets you edit up to 100,000 lines of text. Other features include extremely fast search-and-replace algorithms, 10 editable buffers, almost infinitely nestable folds, optional wordwrap and auto-indent, and editable binary files.

About $180 in Dutch gilders. ComMedia, le Looiersdwarsstraat 12, 1016 VM Amsterdam, Netherlands, 020-231740. PRESS.

SALES & OFFICE HELP

Super Sales-Pro, a full-featured Point-of-Sale and inventory control package, accomodates medium to large wholesale, retail or mail order businesses. The price is not set yet, but it will probably be around $400. Office-Pro ($199) is an office management package that provides extensive time scheduling and billing for up to 999 staff members. Office-Pro also has mail merge and includes free technical support, as do all Hi-Tech Advisers software systems.

Hi-Tech Advisers, P.O. Box 7524, Winter Haven, FL 33883-7524. (813) 294-1885 or (813) 293-3986. PRESS.

BEYOND ZORK

It's Great Underground Empire year 966 and the Age of Magick is ending-- plunging the once peaceful region of Quendor into total chaos. The sorcerers will never see magic reign again in the land, but they do have a plan. In Beyond Zork, you're the lucky camper who's sent to find--and then hide--the Coconut of Quendor, which holds the essence of the sorcerers' wisdom. You'll have to solve fantastic new puzzles involving wondrous objects and unforgettable characters. Keep your eyes peeled, however, for an insidious monkey grinder and a pair of knights with flaming eyes.

And you'll really have to keep your eyes peeled. Beyond Zork sports scrollable windows, graphic status screens and onscreen mapping.

$49.95. Infocom Inc., T25 CambridgePark Drive, Cambridge, MA 02140. (617) 492-4000. FINAL.

3-D FIRE

Alien Fires--2199 A.D. is a science- fiction role-playing adventure game in which you're a Time Lord who's sent to Galaxy's End, a small planet at the edge of the universe. Your mission is to find the missing Samuel Kurtz and destroy his time machine, which threatens the very fabric of time. Alien Fires features smooth-scrolling, 3-D color graphics, digitized music and sound effects, sophisticated character interaction and an in-depth story. Also, you can define your own characteristics such as fighting ability, diplomacy, dexterity and quickness.

$39.95. Paragon Software Corp., 600 Rugh Street, Greensburg, PA 15601. (412) 838- 1166. PRESS.

ULTIMA AND MOEBIUS

From Broderbund Software comes Origin Systems' Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar and Moebius: The Orb of Celestial Harmony. In Ultima IV, you explore Lord British's newest graphics role-playing challenges. Instead of designing the characteristics of your party, it takes on your characteristics-based on your responses to a series of ethical dilemmas. So don't blow it, the difficulty of your quest is influenced by your own personality. Ultima IV has a complete, original musical score and 16 colors.

Moebius combines Eastern adventure and arcade-style martial arts action with fantasy role-playing. Impeding your progress as you seek the Orb of Celestial Harmony are such inconveniences as hand-to-hand and sword combat with people much bigger than you, as well as tigers and giant beetles. And watch out for typhoons and earthquakes.

$59.95 each. Distributed by Broderbund Software, 17 Paul Drive, San Rafael, CA 94903. (415) 492-3200. Both FINAL.

New ST product notices are compiled from information provided by the products' manufacturers. Antic assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of these notices or the performance of the product. Each mention is followed by a code word indicating that, at press time, Antic had seen a FINAL marketable version, near-final BETA, earlier ALPHA, incomplete DEMO, or PRESS release.