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