& LIGHT-YEARS! - TRS-80 Color Computer Archive

P REVIEWS
weasel. They giggle uncontrollably as a
pig does the moonwalk in a cornfield. If
it's unusual for your kids to use brain
power on Saturday morning, wait until
you boot up a copy of Electronic Arts'
Cartooners. The Flintstones were never
like this.
Cartooners uses the excellent
graphics and sound capabilities of the
IlGS to full advantage, Background
scenes take on a 3-D effect. Clouds, for
example, look multilayered in the sky
behind the windmill. And the only way
to improve the lively and complex mu
sic would be to hook your Apple IIgs
into vour stereo.
ffdd Scene
Blank Scene
Cemetery
Cornfield
•Country.Rood
Write your own gags and be a comic
genius with Cartooners.
These fantastic features extract
their price. You'll need at least one
megabyte of memory and, though the
program will run on one drive, you
should have a second disk drive. Cartooners
comes with a program disk and
an art disk; another drive makes the
program easier for young children to
use. If you've been waiting to add
memory to your computer, this pro
gram gives you a pretty good excuse for
opening your wallet.
Making animation with Car
tooners is a blast. The instructions are
easy to follow, and the menu-driven
program is easy to use. The menu bar
across the top of the screen allows for
every scene, actor, action, and text
needed for creating a cartoon. While the
program disk carries some of the infor
mation, the art disk has most of the
selections.
The program includes plenty of
background scenes, ranging from a
cornfield to a park to a graveyard on a
dark night. Choose one and you're on
the way to producing your first cartoon.
The next step is to select the actors,
which can be animal characters or ob
jects such as clouds, shrubs, weasels,
and butterflies. Each actor can be pro
grammed to move independently of the
other actors in the scene. The rabbit can
walk. hop. turn around, or freeze. The
72 COMPUTEI
butterfly can fly forward, backward, up,
or down. You can also program the
timing and speed of the action, but
you'll need practice to get everything
coordinated. You can have one actor
walk in front of or behind another. Five
copies of an actor can be placed on the
scene at once: for example, you could
have a group of squirrels dancing
around a campfire and a raccoon doing
the shimmy nearby.
The cartoon's action is controlled
by the number of frames it takes to
complete a move. The menu bar at the
bottom of the screen provides the op
tions for movement. To set the frames,
click on the forward button and ad
vance it as far as needed. To go back.
click on the rewind button. When the
play button is clicked, the cartoon starts
from the beginning. The frame counter
indicates which frame the cartoon is
showing and changes according to the
action on the screen.
Actors speak through the use of
speech balloons, which you can fill with
as much or as little text as needed. An
invisible balloon programmed to move
upward and off the screen can give the
effect of a scrolling caption. Speech bal
loons are controlled the same way the
actors are; a pause feature lets you hold
a frame, giving you time to read the
text.
After you've created and saved
your cartoon, you can string it with
others to run as a show. You can also
record your cartoons on videotape,
freeing you from the computer when
you want to put on a show.
Cartooners does import graphics
from Deluxe Paint II; however, the
color palette may be a little different, so
be watchful. Music can be composed
and imported as well, using Instant
Music.
If you get up really early next Sat
urday morning, maybe you'll beat the
kids to the computer and get to try Cartooners
for yourself. Bui since most kids
think they can operate a computer bet
ter than any adult can. don't be sur
prised if they find you funnier than the
cartoon you create.
— Nancv Rentschler
Cartooners
For...
Apple IIgs—S59.95
From...
Electronic Arts
1820 Gateway Dr.
San Mateo, CA 94404
(415)571-7171
Flodd, the Bad
Guy
In a kingdom far. faraway, kindly
young King Alex rules, and everyone
lives happily and without a care in the
world. Alex and his canine cohort, 01lic.
have great times together. Life is so
terrific, in fact, the young monarch has
never had to use his magic lamp with
its genie and three wishes.
This peaceful scene is the setting
for Flodd, the Bad Guy. an electronic
lapware adventure from the Reading
Magic Library of Tom Snyder Produc
tions. The program builds reading,
problem-solving, and decision-making
skills in youngsters ages 2 through 6
while giving kids and adults the oppor
tunity to share a computer. It's known
as lapware because kids can sit in a
grownup's lap while reading the story
and playing at the computer.
In the story. Flodd, the bad guy,
sneaks into town one summer night. He
pulls the plug from the water tower,
leaving Alex's subjects high and dry.
Alex summons the genie and uses wish
number 1—rain to fill up the tower.
When Flodd threatens to pull the plug
again. Alex rubs the lamp once more
for wish number 2—the water tower
plug to stick forever.
he .genie cane oul <
ttle. "What
sited
Share a tale of genies, magic, princes,
and villains in Flodd, the Bad Guy.
In a fit, Flodd kidnaps Ollie, Alex's
trusty companion. In desperation, Alex
summons the genie for wish number 3,
his last. Much to everyone's surprise,
however, Alex doesn't plead for Ollie's
return. Instead, he asks the genie to
make Flodd happy. The story ends on a
heartwarming note when Flodd returns.
carrying Ollie in his arms, and the boy
king and his dog are reunited.
The story of Flodd, the Bad Guy is
simple. The accompanying graphics are
colorful, but not exceptional. The ani
mation is dynamic, yet uncomplicated.
Nevertheless, the program is a success.
Prereaders will find its highly interac
tive quality very appealing. >