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Message: 5154

Author: Daniel

Date: 25/11/2005

Subject: WoS, TZX Vault and group activity - a suggestion from Daniel

 

DrUnKeN mAsTeR!!! wrote:

> But I'm glad to see after a long period of (I wouldn't say deadness
> but....) Sluginess on this group, it has really came back to life
> in the last few weeks. I only mention this because I remember
> reading a few posts a few months back about a lack of group
> activity from a few people. I don't know if it's cos' Me, Daniel,
> and Herve have recently released games and we're all waiting on
> Igor and Sendys upcoming goodies. Or like I say it's the time of
> year but I'm happy with the large amount of group activity.

(...)

> Anyway in brief I think it's large group activity that helps me
> write my games and I genuinely mean that, if the group had have
> just been the odd post here and there I may have only just got
> round to finishing "Still Stealin'". I genuinely think group
> activity is an inspiration. (...)

I absolutely agree that group activity is a great source of
inspiration and I am very happy about its high level recently :-) .
In relation with this, I would like to make a suggestion about Wos
(please read on):


Igor wrote:

> How do our games appear in WOS archive, btw? Does anybody of us
> send new games there?

After releasing "Willy's New Mansion", I uploaded it to WoS using
their regular upload tool. I read their information that they would
typically upload a .tzx file within a week, but non-tzx files had to
wait for to two to three years, so I didn't expect my game to appear
there very soon.

I also sent "WNM" to Steve Brown of TZX Vault, and I received a very
nice reply from him with the assurance that he would include the
game in the Vault. However, that has evidently not happened yet, but
I understand that it is not that easy and that he hasn't had the
time to do it yet.

Now, TZX Vault and WoS evidently exchange their files between each
other, and that's what they say.

Since a number of newer JSW and MM games are not available from
those excellent .tzx sites yet, and I think it would be great for
all JSW lovers if they were, I would like to put forward a following
suggestion: perhaps if all the authors agreed, we could agree on it
and somebody could send Steve Brown (or WoS, but I mention Steve
because it would be more personal, so perhaps more effective) a .zip
file with the final versions of all the games which are not included
yet (and the proper versions of older games, like "Time Hole"), on
behalf of this Group and the respective authors, with the kind
request to transfer them to .tzx format and include them? This might
perhaps be a bigger incentive to Steve and the other .tzx people to
process the files than receiving just individual files from time to
time?

Now, in my humble opinion Andrew Broad would be the man on whom such
high-level mission should be bestowed, wouldn't you agree? What do
you think, Andrew, and what do other authors think?

There is also a question of preparing .tzx files. I am not sure what
procedure should be applied in case of our games, which have never
existed on a real Spectrum. Does anyone know for certain, or should
we ask Steve Brown / WoS about it?

I actually want to volunteer to prepare the .tzx files if it doesn't
require a HUGE amount of time and if it is within my technical
abilities. With some limitations, though: I still have my old Timex
48K computer. So the first limitation is that it's a Timex (95%
Spectrum-compatible, I remember from those days, but I never had any
problems with JSW), so I don't know if it would be acceptable to
the .tzx purists. The second limitation is that it has only 48K,
so wouldn't be useful for JSW128 or JSW64, I am afraid. The third
limitation is that because of my personal cicrumstances I could not
deal with this task until probably the autumn of next year (it
may sound strange, but it's because I am physically far away
from home and the Timex), but I am perfectly willing to help as much
as I can when that time comes, if the issue has not been resolved
satisfactorily before then.

Please, let me know what you all think.

Daniel


P.S. John, thanks a lot for JSWED 2.2.7 and especially for the
ability to import tunes! :-) I am going to test it this weekend.

P.S. 2 Soa1000, where is the best place to download the final
version of "Time Hole" from? (I probably have it, but I just want to
make sure)

 

 

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