Paint Master

ZX Computing

QL SOFTWARE A round up of all that's new for the QL on the games, graphics and utilities scene. Two years after the launch of the QL much of the games software for the machine is still getting indifferent reviews. Not surprisingly, since, with one or two exceptions, none of it is much more sophisticated than the sort of games that were available on the Spectrum two years ago. Of course the problem is that few companies are likely to produce megagames for the QL until the size of the user-base justifies the development costs. Even so, there have been a few programs emerging just recently that are worth a second look. CHIPS IN SPACE Cuthbert in Space by Microdeal doesn't do much to push back the frontiers of QL programming, but it is a fairly enjoyable zap game in which you fly a space shuttle around the screen, collecting treasure and blasting the intergalactic Police Force. It's a pity that the game costs £14.95. Realtime Software's Knight Flight is a version of the arcade game, Joust. I've always had a soft spot for Joust ever since I first played the original arcade game and this is a very good version, with colourful graphics, smooth animation and a two player option which is great fun. Once again though the £14.95 price tag is a bit steep. OWN BRAND SOFTWARE The main supporter of the QL has always been Sinclair Research themselves and they've produced a mixed bag of programs of late. QL Jabber is a mediocre zap game that's little improvement on Space invaders, whilst QL Quboids is a colourful version of Digger. Here you face 20 screens full of platforms and hostile germs that you have to destroy by first drilling holes in the platforms for them to fall into, then you sneak up on them and drill holes in their heads it's reasonably enjoyable for a while, but still not much more advanced than many Spectrum budget titles. QL Bounder is a bit better, being a Jet Set Willy type game in which you guide a character called Quentin Jump through nearly 60 screens' worth of all the usual platform game lunacy. It's not a brilliant piece of programming, but a good platform game is always good for a few weeks' worth of fun, and the screens are varied enough to make this possibly the best of the current crop of arcade games for the QL. Like all of the Sinclair programs mentioned so far QL Bounder costs £9.95. QL GRAPICS The QL is much better served by its utilities than by its games software, and in particular there are a number of good graphics utilities available. Psion have produced some of the best QL software, and their QL Draw (£14.95) is based on the utility that they used in developing the graphics for their excellent Matchpoint games, which should give you an idea of what it's capable of. The program concentrates on colour handling rather than lots of shape-drawing options, but there is a facility for defining shapes which can then be manipulated in a variety of ways. Also at £14.95 is Paint Master from Shadow Games. This program isn't as easy to use as the Psion package, but it does have more commands for drawing shapes and also includes a short demonstration program showing how its screen displays can be incorporated into graphic adventures. This feature is particularly useful and makes me wonder why no one has yet produced a graphic adventure for the QL. UTILITIES Two major complaints about the Sinclair QL soon after its launch were the slow operating speed of SuperBASIC (no better than the 8-bit BBC micro) and the failure to meet the pre-launch promise to allow SuperBASIC programs to multitask (more than one program operating at one time). A new software package aptly named 'Supercharge' sets out to rectify both faults. Supercharge from Digital Precision, is a BASIC compiler; this converts SuperBASIC programs into machine code. As such, the programs run much faster, they can multitask, and, in general, they take up less RAM. The Supercharge package contains a 100 page A4 loose leaf manual, which can be bound in the User Guide, a single cartridge containing the software, and a security device called the 'Lenslok'. The version of Supercharge used in this review was v1.06; at the time of writing, the most recent version. Using the compiler is simplicity itself. First load the SuperBASIC program to be compiled then load the compiler. Once into Supercharge, the operator merely has to select a name for the compiled code, and whether or not a compilation listing is required, and a compilation report. Then away it goes. In four passes the code is generated (stored temporarily on the display file) in a matter of minutes, stored on disc or cartridge. The compilation report listing can be viewed on screen, or sent to a microdrive or printer. One of the attractions of the system are the well documented reports. The type of machine code produced is called 'threaded' code. This is not as fast as code produced with an assembler, but it should be fast enough for most applications. In tests, the claimed speed increase over SuperBASIC of 30 to 1000 times was substantiated, although this applied more to loops and mathematical expressions. The largest gains are made with long programs; SuperBASIC slows down as the program length increases but the speed of Supercharge coded programme is independent of length. The speed increase of the graphics commands was far more modest. Unlike 'pure' machine code. Supercharge threaded code has the advantage of producing error messages if runtime errors are encountered, rather than crashing! Supercharge requires 60K of RAM to operate, leaving only 28K as a maximum for SuperBASIC programs (about 250-1000 lines) in the unexpanded QL. However the code produced is more compact than SuperBASIC and, particularly with long programs, loads far faster with EXEC or EXEC W. The price for this product is rather high (£59.95), so is likely to appeal to the specialist user only, But the extensive claims for the product could not be faulted, and Supercharge will provide an easier alternative to assembly language, or other compiled languages, for those wanting extra speed and multitasking on the QL JOSS is a new low-price utility for the QL from WD Software which is aimed at the user who is all fingers and thumbs. If you get very annoyed at your QL when, at the slightest mistake, the machine makes you type again a 'load' or 'copy' command line, then help could be at hand. JOSS stands for Joystick Operated Software System'. Using a joystick connected to CTL1 (or the cursor keys), the user can move a cursor around a screen, pressing fire (or space) to select a number of options. Unlike 'GEMMike systems, words are used instead of icons. By going against the current fashion for symbols, the author of JOSS has created a system which is easier to master. A six page booklet is provided which takes you on a 'guided tour' of the available facilities. By first selecting a default microdrive, or floppy disc drive, the user can then obtain a directory, load or run any BASIC file (pre-selecting monitor or TV mode), or copy the file to another device - all without touching the keyboard. Other facilities include setting the QL's clock, setting the baud rate to any output device, sending or listing files on the printer, and formatting cartridges the recommended six times. Using Mode 4, JOSS has a colourful screen display, using colours to highlight commands which may cause problems. But in using the QL's 40 column mode, the screen is rather overcrowded. Also, the cursor was slow to respond, which at times, was frustrating. At £15 for the microdrive version, and £17 for JOSS on disc, this utility is reasonably priced. The overall conclusion - a poor man's ICE.

Your Sinclair

Graham Rydout

THE COMPLETE QL SOFTWARE BUYERS GUIDE At under £200, the QL has started to look a real bargain. If you've splashed out on one already or you're considering taking the plunge this Christmas, you'll want to know just how much software is available for the machine. The answer is still not much but things are starting to look up. Graham Rydout surveys the field. THE LANGUAGE BARRIER Very soon after its launch eighteen months ago, the QL was blessed with a wide range of languages and a couple of 68000 assemblers from Metacomco and Computer One. Now that range has been further complemented. Title: Assembler Development Kit Publisher: Metacomco Price: £39.95 Rating: 6/10 Title: QL Pascal Publisher: Metacomco Price: £89.95 Rating: 9/10 Title: BCPL Development Kit Publisher: Metacomco Price: £59.95 Rating: 8/10 Title: Lisp Development Kit Publisher: Metacomco Price: £59.95 Rating: 8/10 Title: QL C Publisher: Metacomco Price: £99.95 Rating: 9/10 All of these come supplied with the Metacomco full screen editor that has now become the QL standard. So much so, in fact, that Metacomco have licensed it out to other companies for inclusion in their packages. Title: Assembler Publisher: Computer One Price: £29.95 Rating: 7/10 Title: Forth Publisher: Computer One Price: £39.95 Rating: 8/10 Title: Pascal Publisher: Computer One Price: £39.95 Rating: 6/10 Title: Assembler Publisher: GST (via Sinclair) Price: £39.95 Rating: 9/10 Title: Editor Assembler Publisher: Adder Price: £34.95 Rating: 8/10 Title: Publisher: Hisoft Coming Soon This list will give you an idea of the range of Assemblers and language packages available from companies other than Metacomco Title: Mon QL (Microdrive) Publisher: HiSoft Price: £14.95 Rating: 8/10 Title: Mon QL (EPROM) Publisher: HiSoft Price: £39.95 Rating: 10/10 Title: QL Monitor Publisher: Computer One Price: £24.95 Rating: 9/10 Title: QL Monitor Publisher: QJump Price: £24.95 Rating: 7/10 With only three disassemblers/debuggers on the market, HiSoft comes out tops with MonQL on EPROM but the others are expected to follow suit shortly. Title: QL Monitor Publisher: Digital Precision Price: £18.05 Rating: 2/10 This is a very simple package and suffers greatly from a sever lack of features - not one I'd recommend. Title: C Compiler Publisher: GST Price: £59.95 Rating: 7/10 This isn't a complete implementation of the language but it's well suited to the beginner. Title: Supercharge (compiler) Publisher: Digital Precision Price: £59.95 I haven't yet seen the finished version or this compiler out it promises to be a product that everyone can make use of. It's written by Simon Goodwin oi Zip compiler fame (take a look at Your Spectrum 3) and it claims to convert almost every SuperBasic program into fully multi-tasking 68008 code. Title: SuperBasic extension Publisher: QJump (via Sinclair) Price: £24.95 Rating: 9/10 Title: SEE (EPROM) Publisher: Hisoft Price: £39.95 Rating: 9/10 Of these two SuperBasic extensions, QJump's leads the way but HiSoft's SEE has some very useful facilities. It gives the QL true windowing capabilities and as it's on ROM you don't have to keep loading it in. Title: Microdrive Toolkit Publisher: Compware Price: £9.99 Rating: 5/10 Title: Microdrive Toolkit (with source code) Publisher: Compware Price: £34.99 Rating: 5/10 The toolkits change the QL#s microdrive commands into functions so that values can be returned and errors such as 'drive full' trapped. Title: Keydefine Publisher: Psientific Software Price: £9.95 Rating: 10/10 This is a complete key redefinition package that'll let you use the redefined keys in almost every QL package. You could, for example, define the P key so that when you press it with the Caps Lock held down, the current document from within Quill could be saved and then printed. Freebie programs provided are a fast copier (a multi-tasking directory lister that lists directories from within other programs) and a printer spooler. Title: ICE (EPROM) Publisher: Eidersoft Price: £49.95 Rating: 9/10 ICE (Icon Controlled Environment) gives the QL a full Icon based Desktop Manager and Frton End to QDOS. It removes most mundane file handling tasks and I can thoroughly recommend it. Title: WD Utilities Publisher: WD Software Price: Microdrive £7.50, 5.25" £10.00, 3.5" £12.00 Rating: 6/10 WD Utilities are a complete set of SuperBasic procedures providing a menu driven system to manoeuvre files. Title: Cartridge Doctor Publisher: Talent Price: £14.95 Rating: 9/10 If you're frequently visited by the 'Bad or Changed Medium' error message, you'll welcome this program. It's a fully automatic set of routines to recover corrupted and deleted files. Title: Q Doctor Publisher: Talent Price: £14.95 Rating: 5/10 If you prefer doing things the hard way, Q Doctor only allows you to load and edit sectors from the microdrive. Unfortunately, there are no similar products available for disk users. Title: GraphiQL Price: £34.95 Rating: 6/10 Title: M-Paint Publisher: Medic Price: £49.95 Rating: 8/10 Title: Paint Master Publisher: Shadow Games Price: £14.95 Rating: 7/10 Title: Tascopy Publisher: Tasman Price: £12.90 Rating: 8/10 Title: Sprite Generator Publisher: Digital Precision Price: £24.95 Rating: 6/10 Graphic printers are a personal choice. GraphiQL suits highly detailed work but is extremely difficult to use. For dedicated artists only! M-Paint is a coloured clone of Apple's MacPaint. Simpler to use but a shade less accurate on detailed work. Least sophisticated at all, PaintMaster is none the less the most appropriate tor your average QL user. Its ability to compile a drawing into a SuperBasic program that then copies it makes it practical if you want simple illustrations within your program. All have simple screen dump programs but Tascopy copies all or part of the screen in a variety of shades. Sprite Generator does just that but it's a complex to use package that isn't worth the asking price. DOWN TO BUSINESS The high reputation of Archive, Abacus, Quill and Easel is based on their quality - it's not just that they come with the QL. Other companies haven't released similar packages because most people are happy with what they've got. Doubtless improvements could be made but I expect these'll come from Psion rather than an independent house. Title: Q-Spell Publisher: Eidersoft Price: £19.95 Rating: 8/10 Pore spillars will welcome Q-Spell - a full-spec spelling checker to Quill. But be warned! Extra mamory's needed to check your document with Quill still in memory. Title: Home Finance Publisher: Buzzz (via Sinclair) Price: £24.95 Rating: 8/10 Title: Self Employed and Cash Trader Publisher: Quest Price: £69.95 Rating: 7/10 Title: Small Business and Accounts Publisher: Sagesoft Price: £89.95 Rating: 8/10 Title: Payroll Publisher: TR Rating: 8/10 Of the accounting packages aimed at home users Smallbusiness is the most professional. It has integrated Purchase, Sales, and Nominal Ledgers. Transferred from the IBM PC it just goes to show that the QL can compete in the business world. Payroll provides a perfect complement and deals with data for up to 75 employees. Title: Decision Maker Publisher: Triptych Price: £39.95 Rating: 8/10 Title: Entrepreneur Publisher: Triptych Price: £39.95 Rating: 8/10 Title: Project Planner Publisher: Triptych Price: £39.95 Rating: 8/10 The Triptych products help solve various problems and educate you in the process. Title: Equate (Microdrive and disk) Publisher: Flite Price: £39.95 Rating: 7/10 For mathematicians, Equate can solve most problems - polynomial, linear, simultaneous equations, differentiation, integration, curve fitting and various graphical problems. Title: QL Gardener Publisher: Gordian Computing Services Price: £24.95 QL Gardener is a database with information on over 1100 plants. Just a shame that the package won't dig or even weed your garden for you! QL ADVENTURES When you consider the QL's large memory and excellent graphics you'd expect plenty of adventures. But only three quality games exist, and they're all text only. Title: Lost Kingdom Of Zkul Publisher: Talent Price: £19.95 Rating: 8/10 Title: West Publisher: Talent Price: £19.95 Rating: 6/10 Title: The Pawn Publisher: Magnetic Scrolls (coming soon) Rating: 10/10 The Talents were released early on in the QL's history and they're still looking good. Zkul is based on the popular Dungeons and Dragons format and plays very well. West is set in the desert wilds - complete with menacing Indians. Few reservations about this one! The Pawn is extremely high quality, similar to that of the Level 9 adventures. It's set in the magical world of Kerovnia during a period at social upheaval and includes a very complex command interpreter that can understand commands as complex as "Get all except the cases but not the violin case then kill the man eating shrew with the contents of the violin case. Remove the shrew's tail and use it to tie the pole and the noose together!" See what I mean? This game's by far the QL's best adventure yet. A WINNING STRATEGY If you compare this list of strategy games for the QL with the selection for the Speccy, it looks pretty paltry. Still, there are some good 'uns here. Title: Chess Publisher: Psion Price: £19.95 Rating: 9/10 Computer chess takes on a new dimension with a full 3D board display that makes impressive use of the QL's graphics. Title: Match Point Publisher: Psion Price: £14.95 Rating: 9/10 Match Point is converted from the Spectrum and improved graphics make the game more playable. Title: Area Radar Controller Publisher: Shadow Games Price: £14.95 Rating: 2/10 This is a very poor aircraft control simulation written in SuperBasic. Title: Bridge Player Publisher: CP Software Price: £14.95 Rating: 5/10 Title: Backgammon Publisher: Digital Precision Price: £12.95 Rating: 5/10 Title: Reversi Publisher: Games of Skill Price: £12.95 (Coming Soon) Aimed at novices, Bridge Player and Backgammon are of little value to the experienced. Coming soon is Reversi - a full version of Othello. Title: Comos Publisher: Talent Price: £14.95 Rating: 7/10 Patrick Moores, stand by your QLs. This is an astronomy package that allows you to display star and solar patterns as seen from any place on Earth at any point in time. From the star map you can choose any star with the cursor to find out extra data. ARCADE ACTION This list of arcade games for the QL may produce a snigger from Speccy owners - it doesn't exactly rival the selection on offer to them. Still, it's growing all the time! Title: QL Cavern Publisher: JMF (via Sinclair) Price: £12.95 Rating: 7/10 A massive 50 screen Jet Set Willy clone with 395 gems to collect. Good value, with a good many improvements over the standard platform game. Title: Meteor Storm Publisher: Arrakia (via Sinclair) Price: £12.95 Rating: 4/10 A bog standard version of Asteroids. Title: Booty Publisher: Firebird Price: £9.95 (Coming Soon) A locks and doors classic on the Speccy that sells for £2.50. Microdrive problems push up the price on the QL. Looks impressive! Title: EVA Publisher: Westway Price: £12.95 Rating: 9/10 A Jetpack-style game with very large sprite graphics. The most annoying feature is the almost continuous sound. Title: Star Guard Publisher: Shadow Games Price: £14.95 Rating: 5/10 Title: Galactic Invaders Publisher: Shadow Games Rating: 5/10 Shadow Games range from the reasonable to the pathetic. This pair come on the one cartridge and are just copies of Arcadia/Invaders. Title: Night Nurse Publisher: Shadow Games Price: £12.95 Rating: 3/10 This uses Digital Precision's Sprite Package (see The Language Barrier) and it just goes to show that commercial games cannot be produced with it. Shame. Title: Quazimodo Publisher: Shadow Games Price: £12.95 Rating: 7/10 Reasonable I suppose, very colourful and should satisfy if this is your thing. I'd back it! Title: Space Paranoids Publisher: Shadow Games Price: £12.95 Rating: 4/10 Another Arcadia style game - hardly worth loading up. Title: Zapper Publisher: Eidersoft Price: £10.95 Rating: 6/10 Similar them to Paranoids but slightly better value. Title: Master Blaster Publisher: Compugem Price: £9.95 Rating: 8/10 Excellent shoot 'em up that puts the rest to shame. Very smooth animated graphics and a wide range of aliens. Title: Cuthbert In Space Publisher: Microdeal Price: £14.95 Rating: 7/10 Microdeal has a very varied quality range. Cuthbert's aimed at the younger game's player and the hidden strategic elements make it more than a quick shoot out. Title: Lands of Havoc Publisher: Microdeal Price: £19.95 Rating: 8/10 A well packaged 2,000 screen arcade that players very well but could've made better use of colour. Title: Crazy Painter Publisher: Microdeal Price: £12.95 Rating: 8/10 You can hardly call this an Arcade copy - it's so different. Crazeee! Title: QL FLight Publisher: Microdeal Price: £19.95 (Coming Soon) A flight simulator that's due for release soon. Title: Hyperdrive Publisher: English Software Price: £14.95 Rating: 8/10 The QL's official Pole Position - rather disappointing considering what could've been achieved. It's on a par with the Spectrum version. LET US KNOW... We've tried to make this guide as comprehensive as possible but a list like this can never truly be complete. If you own a piece of software, or if you produce one, that's not included here, tell us about it and we'll pass the info on to Your Sinclair's software hungry QL readers. The address to write to is Your Sinclair, [redacted].