PROGRAM PITSTOP
from Your Sinclair #31 (July 1988)

Yibble, yibble, yibble, yibble and yibble (not forgetting the yibbles)!
Yes, more pages of prize programs to stuff your brain into the blender!
Welcome your host David McCandless ...


Well have I got a star-studded skillo selection of super programs for
you this month. In fact they're so hot that - ouch! - I've just burnt
myself touching them. You still look dubious. Wassa matter? Don't
believe me? Read on then.

First up is the Netherland's Menno van der Star whose Gauntlet Editor is
a trifle snazzy. After that, there's the answer to my challenge for a 3D
star routine - and it's Paul Wardle who's come up with the goods. Then
there's his eternal cockyness, Terry King with his play on words that
flips the screen. Flippety Flip. And lastly - but by no means leastly -
are Craig Turner and Richard Fawley who have modified a slick loading
system from a back issue to provide 31 different types of load.

Okay, Pitstop is fast evolving into the column for programming on the
Spectrum, and you - yes you! - ace amateurs out there should be out to
impress - software companies are always on the lookout for talent. It
could be you they choose. Just send anything to me, David McCandless,
Program Pitstop, Your Sinclair, 14 Rathbone Place, London W1P 1DE. All
routines printed get a game, and the best program per month gets a cash
reward of #50! Sounds good. You bet!


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GAUNTLET EDITOR
by Menno van der Star
from Your Sinclair #31 (July 1988)
[files GAUNEDIT.*]

Remember the very first Program Pitstop way, way back in the good ol'
days? Yeah? Nope? Don't care? Well anyway some dude called David
McCandless wrote a little ditty that mapped each level of Gauntlet. You
remember! Hurrayyyhh! How could you forget. Anyway, Menno van der Star
has taken the best features from the program (namely the graphics) and
written an interesting program that allows you to edit the levels of
Gauntlet and play them yourself.

Throwing The Gauntlet

Okay, the question that is first and foremost in your mind is, how do I
do it? First thing to do is type in and save the main editor program,
the program entitled Play and the other program called Save. Okay now
the next bit is fairly complicated so listen carefully.

Your Own Levels

To design your own levels you use the main editor program. Load it in
(it'll run automatically). You will be greeted by a grid of pixels and a
cursor blipping in the top left-hand corner of the screen. Use the
cursor keys to direct the cursor around the grid and use keys A-Z (press
DELETE to see what they represent) to place stuff like walls, switches
and so on. Press 1 and a description of what the cursor is placed on
will appear. Press 2 and you can toggle the "increase cursor" option.
When this is 0, the cursor won't move when you place a character, but
it'll move if it is set to 1. Press 3 and two essential walls enclosing
the level appear. Press 4 and you'll be able to load in a level you've
pinched from Gauntlet or saved yourself. Press ENTER and editing will
halt, and allow you to save.

Unfortunately you can't place Deaths on your level, change the colour
and/or design of the walls or change the start position from the top
left-hand corner.

Play Your Levels

Once you've saved a level of your own design or edited a nicked one,
then load the Play program; it will autostart. After loading, remove the
tape and insert your Gauntlet original and play that from the start.
Everything will be the same except for the loading process. You'll see
the message "level ..." appear. Now you can load in your own levels.

Gauntlet's Levels

Right, don your striped vest, balaclava, and get your big sack marked
'swag' - we're off to do some nicking. Load in the Save program and then
play the Gauntlet original from the start. Play as normal (load in
level, bash ghosts, get killed ...) but now, if you press V, the
computer will save the current level to screen [sic. JimG] straightaway
- so have your tape running beforehand.

The Editor

Okay, this is the Editor (very pretty, isn't she?). Type it in and save
it with SAVE "GEDITOR" LINE 10 [Sigh. This should be LINE 9600. JimG].

Save

This program allows you to save off Gauntlet levels. Save it with SAVE
"SAVE" LINE 10.

Play

This program allows you to load in your own levels. Save it with SAVE
"PLAY" LINE 10.


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Shifted Screen Load 2 by R.J.Fawley and C.P.Turner
---------------------
[files SHIFTSC2.*]

Cast your minds back to the amazing Shifted Screen Load routine we had in
the February 1988 issue.  Remember?  Whaddya mean you "didn't buy that
issue?"  You idiots!!  Go and order a back issue now, d'ya hear me.  NOW!

That routine was pretty slick (in other words better than I could do), but
Richard Fawley and Craig Turner weren't impressed.  "Naaahhh", they said, 
"we're not satisfied with just one combination -- we want loadsa
combinations, yaaaahhh!"  Why don't you rewrite it yourself then eh?  "We
have done smart arse!"  Oh! Okay lads, sorry, okay?! Right.

And that's exactly what they've done.  So if you've got that shifted screen
load routine on tape somewhere, then you'll be able to use 31 different
combinations of shifting loads.

Instructions
------------
All the following instructions are assuming that you typed the original
routine from issue 26.

Type in the little basic program and save it by GOTO 440.  Then RUN 380 and
load in the "SHIFTSCR" code.  Now the menu that follows has four options.
NOTE: You cannot VIEW (4) or SAVE (1) a screen until you have option 3 to
LOAD a screen.  Then after that, select option 1, and the screen is your
oyster (complete with indigestion).

Basic Routine
-------------

Yes, this little fruit-cake will provide you with 31 different types of
shifty (yes, very suspicious) loading patterns.


Typed by Jonathan Kay (Jonathan@kay026.freeserve.co.uk)


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CONSTELLATION
by Paul Wardle
from Your Sinclair #31 (July 1988)
[files CONSTELL.*]

Whooo-whoo-who-who-whooooooooo! Ahem, er yes! Watching this program
brought back memories of Star Trek, a five year mission that lasted
yonks, pointed ears (wagga! wagga!), a cocked eyebrow, the unknown but
very dead crew member, and the captain's log! As you may've guessed,
this routine, courtesy of Paul Wardle, is very star-studded, starry
eyed, twinkling (plus any other cliche you can think of with a star in
it). He wrote it in answer to my challenge of eons back for a 3D star
routine. Not only does this routine scroll stars parallaxly in eight
(eight!) directions, but it also has a density, twinkle, colour and
window size option. Absolutely fascinating (captain).

He's Dead Jim!

No he's not, he's just a non-speaking extra! Type in the 36 line Basic
proggie and type GO TO 340 to save it. [This is wrong. The machine code
has to have been entered first as well, as line 340 saves both. JimG]
Then use the Hex Loader to insert the 548 bytes of machine code and save
it with SAVE "starcode" CODE 64670,548. Then run the Basic controller.

Klingons On The ...

You should now have a menu in front of you and four options:

1) CREATE NEW WINDOW - allows you to input the parameters of your star
window. The X, Y co-ords refer to the top left-hand corner. DENSITY
refers to the number of stars on-screen to a max. of 63. The less dense
the faster the routine works.

2) SEE WINDOW - use this option to see the results of your labour. Move
the stars with keys 6789 (diagonals included) and 0 will return you to
the main menu.

3) SAVE WINDOW - will save your defined window (along with the routine's
code) to tape for use in your own programs. The code saved starts a6
64932 and is 603 bytes long. RANDOMIZE USR 64932 will clear the star
window; RANDOMIZE USR 65011 will shift the stars in the wanted direction
(see table). Repeated calls to this address will make the stars move
continuously. To govern the direction of the stars, POKE these values:

            POKE   POKE
            65046  65085    
DIRECTION   with   with
------------------------
none        0      0
left        255    0
up-left     255    255
up          0      255
up-right    1      255
right       1      0
down-right  1      1
down        0      1
down-left   255    1

4) LOAD WINDOW - this'll load a previously saved window for inspection
or alteration.


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FLIPPETY FLIP
by Terry King

Another recall session now. Right, remember the March issue? A routine
called Flapetty Flap by Michael Wilcox strewn with oo-ers? Well, Terry
King was under the impression that this routine flipped the screen!
Maybe in Harlow, "flip" is the same as "flap", but here, in
Sane-ville, "flap" is an utterly different word to "flip". But I'm in
a forgiving mood, since the Mr King in question decided to write a
flip screen routine. You're forgiven, Mr King - but I hate to think
what Harlow inhabitants would think a program called Duck Simulator
would do!

Flipping 'Eck
Using this is quite easy actually (as long as you recognise that SAVE
and LOAD have two different meanings). Type in the main program,
saving it by RUNing line 300. Once it's saved type GOTO 240 to get it
working. At first, the computer will take a minute and a half to
tabulate the data necessary for the routine. Then you'll be asked to
load a screen and the world will then be your oyster. But don't flip!

Flipper
This is the program in its entirety - quite good eh? No? Suit yourself!


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