Kudos and Criticism
by Ambrosia Software Users

 
This section features reader responses to Ambrosia's software & service. We will include the 
good with the bad, and address any problems brought to our attention. These are real people 
writing real letters about real issues. Feel free to drop us a line.

Shareware revisited

     This is actually intended as a letter to the editor for the Ambrosia Times... I couldn't find 
        another (better) address to send it to.I am writing in response to the heated letter published
        in the AT 4.5 regarding use of "reminders" in shareware programs. This person obviously needs to relax.             
        Ambrosia's reminders are some of the most benign and least annoying I've seen. If a program is too 
        "crippled," or the reminder is extremely irritating, I get rid of the program without even trying it. If there is 
        no reminder, I generally don't pay the shareware fee, not because I want to deny the authors their just 
        compensation, but because I am a cheapskate.

       But the main reason I don't bother with paying shareware fees is that I don't feel that most software   
       (shareware or not) is worth spending my meager wages on. Ambrosia is different. Your software is   
       consistently outstanding, usually superior (often VASTLY superior) to anything I can find on a store shelf 
       (products which you HAVE to pay for, before you can even TRY them!).

       I am proud to say I'm a registered user of Maelstrom, Swoop, and Escape Velocity, and I would like to 
       register most of my other Ambrosia games when I have enough cash. Ambrosia's prices are extremely 
       reasonable and your products are WORTH paying for. I personally think Escape Velocity is the best 
       computer game ever made, period. And the next several on my list after that would all be from Ambrosia 
       too.

       To all of the other ranters out there who complain about something as harmless (to the user) and beneficial 
       (to Ambrosia) as Cap'n Hector, I say, shut up. If you play their games, Ambrosia deserves your money... 
       in fact, we all deserve to have Ambrosia get your money so they can keep making the best computer games 
       in the world.

       Now, was that sycophantic enough to get free registration on my copy of Apeiron?

       -- Scott T. Anderson 

Asking us for a free copy after saying our products are "WORTH paying for?" What kind of customer are you, anyway? :p

Harry is the Hero

    Well, I just beat Handsome Harry, and it was a lot of fun. I was reliving the days when my brother and I 
       used to zip around my father's office building on swivel chairs during those Sunday afternoons (we took 
       them down the elevator into the parking garage and everything :-)). 

       I must say Ubermann was exceedingly simple to defeat, but that didn't bother me, since I was never a big 
       fan of the "boss" scene anyway. (You know, the obligatory large enemy who moves and shoots in complex    
       yet predictable patterns at the end of the last level.)

        I particularly enjoyed the "Temple of the Swivel Chair" level, and all it's allusions to Indiana Jones and the 
        Last Crusade.

        And the fun's not over yet. Now I get to design my own wonderful levels to scoot around in.

       This one's worth registering, folks!

       Thanks, Ben and Ambrosia.

       -- Brett Wood 

Congratulations on beating the game. That's better than some of us at the office! Keep Kickin'!

Overheard in the Office

    Customer: I'd like to register, but I don't know how much $20 US will cost me in British pounds. Do 
        you know what the current exchange rates are?

       Jason: I have no idea.

       Customer: Well, can you at least guess?

       Jason: How much is a pint of ale in a British tavern?

       Customer: Pound eighty.

       Jason: Well, that's about $3.00 here, so let's say about six or seven pint glasses.

       Customer: That sounds about right.

While Jason certainly doesn't encourage or condone unlawful drinking, we all got a chuckle from this phone call. Jason picked ale as the standard because drinks in taverns are always overpriced. :)

Escape Velocity plug-in: Clavius and Beyond

     My 8 year old son and I have been playing Clavius 2.0 - and have enjoyed it - with Mom's somewhat      
       "oh please :-P" reaction to the "romance" with Astria and the many typos. So I downloaded Clavius 3.1,   
       since there were new missions available. Fortunately, I started playing before I loaded it on my son's    
       computer. I was upset at finding the nude Girls Set option and the reference to holographic sex in the bar on 
       the new pirate planet. This is as far as I've gotten -- and the increased sexual overtones re Astria aren't  
       welcome either. Obviously - this is not a version my son can play, or I want to play, and I'll have to explain 
       to him that the makers of this plug-in didn't intend it for children (or thinking adults).

        Guys - must you include sexual story lines and pictures in Escape Velocity? Wasn't it fun enough as it 
       was? Not all players are men, and even if most are (I don't have a clue about the demographics here), many 
       of them are also dads, (who will also be offended at having this material in a game children enjoyed) and 
       MANY are children. We as an online community NEED to protect ALL children, at least, (and I'm 
       assuming this decision to include nude pictures was just a really dumb decision by someone who doesn't 
       have children) from exposure to sex as computer games. I resent the "women's bodies as entertainment to   
       pass the time while going into hyperdrive" thinking as well.

       For Ambrosia -- I think it's extremely poor judgement and bad taste to allow this material on the "official   
       web site". I'm sure there are children who access this site on their own -- I included it in my 
       child's list of favorite places last night before I played the plug-in - obviously, off it goes until I get some     
       assurance that it's a safe place for children. I would appreciate your help in screening web-site 
       material for sexual content.

       -- Sharon

David spent a lot of time e-mailing with Sharon, and Thierry from DYNA Sytemes in Paris, about the content of the plug-in. As it turns out, Ambrosia did not have a screening process in place, and never caught the 
questionable material before the plug-in was posted. Due to differences in European and American cultures, Thierry did not realize that some parents on our side of the Atlantic might consider the material inappropriate for minors. Thierry and Sharon worked with each other to identify which parts of the plug-in might be harmful to children, and as a result, versions 3.2 and 3.2s were born. 3.2s, the "soft" version, will be placed on Ambrosia official websites. The "adult" version 3.2 is still available from DYNA Systemes in France. We're glad that all parties involved in this issue could come to an agreement without difficulty.