Aminet 48/Aminet 48 (2002)(GTI - Schatztruhe)[!][Apr 2002].iso/Aminet/demo/mag/Gods+Iris-D_12.lha/text/lookingglass-DiskMagsReview

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«»
«c2»«ac»THE DISKMAGS REVIEWS«»
«»
«c1»By Zerox/Gods«»
«»
«»
«as»
«c7»Once again it's time to review a few of the mags released the latest half
year or so. Naturally I don't review any of the Polish mags as my Polish is
quite bad, hehe... But I'm sure those mags are quite good. At least the latest
issue of Taboo was BIG! And the graphics in the Polish mags are always
stunning. And not all "international" mags are even found worthy to be reviewed
this time.«»
So this time I'll review the following diskmags:«»
«»
«al»«c6»NAME:              RELEASE DATE:«»
«»
«c7»Jurassic Pack #08  End Of November '01«»
The EuroChart #43  End Of July 2001«»
ShowTime #16       End Of April 2001«»
«»
«»
«»
«»
«as»«c7»I'll try to be as objective as I can
when reviewing the mentioned mags. But remember
that the reviews are only my «c6»personal
opinion.  «c7»The reviews are not ment
as bad critics.  Infact I hope it will
be constructive and give the makers of
the diskmags  some hints for what they
might improve.  Ok, now it's time for
the reviews...«»
«»
«»
«»
«al»«c5»SHOWTIME #16«»
«»
«c6»Mag:«»
«»
«c6»Code By:  «c7»Modem/DarkAge and slighty updated by StingRay/DarkAge^Scarab«»
«c6»Gfx By:   «c7»Cheetah/Ephidrena and Made/Bomb«»
«c6»Music By: «c7»Curt Cool/Depth, Dascon/IRIS, Isaac/Contraz and The Hooligan/DCS«»
«»
«c6»Title Picture: «c7»Slayer/Appendix«»
«»
«c6»Main-Editor: «c7»Zito/DarkAge«»
«c6»Co-Editors:  «c7»Ghandy/DarkAge, Dire/Eremation and Zito/DarkAge^Reason«»
«»
«c6»Gallery:«»
«»
«c6»Code By:  «c7»StingRay/DarkAge^Scarab«»
«c6»Gfx By:   «c7»Cheetah/Ephidrena«»
«c6»Music By: «c7»Factor6/Reason«»
«»
«c6»Title Picture: «c7»Asarhad/Reason«»
«»
«»
«c6»Intro By: «c7»Ephidrena«»
«»
«as»«c7»The intro was finished by Loaderror and Zixaq in the first
week of January, but not released before in the demo competition at TG. And
it was re-released with the ShowTime 16 archieve. In any case,
it's a small, but yet quite a typical Ephidrena production. Most of the
routines have been used in other Ephidrena productions before. But the
newspaper design and falling newspapers are quite nice. I also like the
background guitarsamples of this dentro.«»
«»
After a delay, DarkAge hit back with ShowTime issue 16. It
returned in full strength; with a main-part, diary, gallery and charts!
And now the show continues.... and more surprises will appear in the future
issue I'm sure.«»
«»
«al»«c6»Code:«»
«»
«as»«c7»It has been said that the code is very old and need to be updated. And in
the last issue StingRay updated the code slightly. I don't know how the
source itself looks like, but personally I think the code is pretty good
and don't need to be updated much. It's easy to select articles by mouse, and also go from article to
article by using the mouse or keyboard. It's no problem to switch from the
mag-part, to diary or the charts. Nothing at all annoyed me. The code
supports a clipart routine, and it's system friendly. And you can naturally
choose between various modules. There was a hidden part as well, with a
small oldskool intro. The gallery part is totally recoded, and has a cool
introduction. It also offers two hidden parts. The code
allows us to see pictures in high-quality (many colours).
I don't have much more to add, except that a totally new source is promised
for the next issue. I look forward checking out if really a new selfmade
source will be used...«»
«»
«al»«c6»Gfx:«»
«»
«as»«c7»The panels were pretty good... but haven't been changed in some years,
since issue 11 I think. The background is also quite fitting. Nice fonts.
There were only a few cliparts, but those were ok. As for the gallery
panels, I think they were ok too. When it comes to the title pictures,
the first one (the mag part) was quite cool and in typical Slayer style. The one for
the Gallery was quite nice too, and done by Asarhad.
The charts gfx I've always liked a lot, it's very good.«»
«»
«al»«c6»Music:«»
«»
«as»«c7»There were 5 modules in ST; 4 in the mag part and 1 in the gallery part.
Almost like a small musicdisk, eh? :-)«»
«»
The first module was done by the king of magmusic, Curt Cool/Depth, and was as usual
pure quality. But somehow all of his latest magmodules makes me a bit nostalgic
and sad. I don't know why. The second tune by Dascon/IRIS was a bit weird,
but still quite good with a nice piano touch into it. The third one from
Isaac/Contraz was something like a classical diskmag tune. Quite relaxing.
And last, it was a module by The Hooligan/DCS. It's quite a nice
guitartune. The song for the gallery was done by Factor6/Reason, and
was very fitting and enjoyable.«»
«»
«al»«c6»Contents:«»
«»
«as»«c7»Now to the part that really interest me, the contents! ShowTime is a
chartmag, and the most important thing is therefore the charts! Actually
ST offers only 53 votes this time, compared to 95 votes in the previous
issue. This is quite a drastic reduction, but hopefully the ST staff will
manage to force more sceners to vote the next time around. As there are only
two major chartmags these days, it can't be that hard. In any case, I've
always enjoyed the ST charts.
The diary included 35 groups, which is some more than in the last issue.
Some of the news were old though, and some quite fresh. When it comes to
the main-contents, there were ALOT of articles! In the last issue there
were only 29 articles. So this time it was a BIG improvement in this
section and we can certainly say there were something for everyone!
Anyway, the quality of the articles were quite different, and there were
also many non-amiga scene related articles this time. It's a matter of
personal taste if you enjoy that or not. The article about the TG compo
scandal was very cool and should have been placed in front after my
opinion, but there were also other good articles. I prefer the articles
that cover the real demo scene rather than fillers.
Because of the delay, some parts of ST got
outdated though. And some negative aspects were also that I found some
articles already published in D.I.S.C. for instance many months earlier.
But apart from that, a big improvement from the last issue for sure. It was
especially nice that so many various editors supported the mag. I'm curious
what Modem might come up with next time... as it's him which has taken over
as main.ed again now.«»
«»
«al»«c6»Overall:«»
«»
«as»«c7»I'm happy that ShowTime continues to be released. Hopefully a new issue
should be out very soon.«»
«»
This issue got major improvements in the contents, but the chartsection got
drastically reduced. The Darkagers have to work harder on that section for
the next issue, and of course develop the magpart even more. We'll see what
happens now as the main-members are occupied with two mags...«»
«»
«»
«»
«al»«c5»THE EUROCHART #43«»
«»
«c6»Code By:  «c7»Quedax/Depth and slightly updated by Cytron/Depth and Dr.Doom/IRIS«»
«c6»Gfx By:   «c7»Java/Crionics^Scenic^Tpolm«»
«c6»Music By: «c7»Curt Cool/Depth and Genetix«»
«»
«c6»Cliparts: «c7»Angeldust/Apathy^RNO«»
«c6»          «c7»Cytron/Depth«»
«c6»          «c7»Darklight/Veezya«»
«c6»          «c7»Da Freak/Vortex^RNO«»
«»
«c6»Title Pictures: «c7»Wade/Haujobb and Pix/DarkAge^Nah^Scenic«»
«»
«c6»Main-Editor: «c7»Darkhawk/IRIS«»
«c6»Co-Editor: «c7»  Adonis/IRIS«»
«»
«c6»Intro:«»
«»
«c6»Code:        «c7»Tolkien/Nah Kolor«»
«c6»Music:       «c7»Dascon/IRIS«»
«c6»Add. Design: «c7»Imaks«»
«as»The EuroChart is the oldest chartmag around.
It has been done by Crusaders, Static Bytes, Depth
and issue 43 was the last one in cooperation between
Depth & IRIS. The latest years, this chartmag has
also been the ONLY regular release. Therefore the
mag has been very important for the scene.«»
«»
«al»«c6»Code:«»
«»
«as»«c7»Not much have changed in the code-department
for many years. Infact, the code is almost the
same as it was 5 years ago when it was done
by another coder. But a few things have changed
though, like a small bug has been removed.
And for this issue, also Dr.Doom touched the source
slightly. In any case, the source has not been very
updated for years. But then again, why should it?
It's real easy to operate by using a mouse, but
much harder when trying to use the keyboard when
entering the chart-section. Anyway, I didn't have any problems
at all when using the mouse and nothing really
annoyed me. The Eurochart is system friendly and it multitasks.
The mag also offers a search-function,
which is not that usual these days. However, I have
seen better search-functions. The mag also got
a good clipart-routine, but then again... all mags of
today got that.«»
«»
The mag is divided into 3 different parts; the charts section,
the EuroNews and the Gallery. And all parts have ok code.
I noticed one "bug" though. In issue 43 it was not possible to
enter the gallery from the news-section. However, you could
reach the gallery from the charts.«»
«»
All in all, it's a pretty good code.«»
«»
«»
«al»«c6»Gfx:«»
«»
«as»«c7»The Euronews panels by Java are quite ok. But I do like his design for the
chart section much better. The title picture by Wade is pretty good, but
I've seen far better pictures and motives from Pix in the past. However, I
do like that there are still some true pixel artists left in this scene.
The EuroChart also offer 13 cliparts, which are quite much. Some of the
cliparts were good and some not that good. The gallery wasn't huge this
time, but it does offer 12 pictures.
The gallery routine makes it possible to show the pictures in many colours,
so the quality is good. Apart from that, the EuroChart gives us amazingly 99
pictures of sceners & productions in the chart-section! The bad part is
perhaps that only two system fonts are used. However, they are easy to
read.«»
«»
«al»«c6»Music:«»
«»
«as»«c7»This time the EuroChart offer only two modules. Well, two is actually more
than enough. As usual the first module is done by Curt Cool, and I really
like it. It got a cool melody and above all, it fits perfect in the mag.
The other module by Genetix is a bit too noise after my opinion. Not much
more to say about it really.«»
«»
«al»«c6»Contents:«»
«»
«as»«c7»The most important part of a mag, is of course the contents. As for a
chartmag, the charts are most important.«»
«»
This time there were 103 voters, and that's quite good. It's almost
twice as much as the "competitor" ShowTime. Hopefully there will be over
100 votes for the future issues as well. If the charts should have some
kind of creditability, there must be a certain amount of voters. An idea
could also be to reduce the number of people/productions to 10. Then I
guess it would be harder to enter a chart. In any case, the EuroStatistic
is always cool.«»
«»
When it comes to the EuroNews-section, I fast had a look at the news and
the adverts. There were quite many adverts, and quite many news. However,
I would say these sections were the weaker part of the EuroChart this time
as most of the news and the adverts were pretty old. A trained eye would
have discovered that most of the news were also inserted in the previous
issue of D.I.S.C. In any case, I'm sure that the next issue will have fresh
news included. Nevertheless, the writing of the memberslist of the various
groups is great.«»
«»
Then we have the articles! There were 54 files this time, and if I'm nice
I could say that there were 40 articles (including the party-invitations),
the rest were editorial files etc. This is infact quite much when it comes
to nowadays mags, and especially chartmags! And looking back in time,
I can truly say that the contents have
become much better now. I found at least some great articles from Darkhawk
(like the MS productions review etc.), Sagrael (about Appendix and Potion),
SuperK (Review), Loaderror (The Making Of...), Dr.Doom (Editors etc.) and a
few others.«»
«»
«al»«c6»Overall:«»
«»
«as»«c7»The EuroChart is a great chartmag with lots of talented
members among its staff. And it's without any doubt the best around.
There were much votes, and also a more than a decent
amount of articles. However, the previous issue was better after my opinion
with lots of more to read. In any case, the chart and article sections, in
addition the gallery were quite good. And for the next issue I'm also
certain that the adverts and newssection will be updated under the control
of Adonis, which has become the new main-editor along with Darkhawk.
The EuroChart will probably also continue to be released reguarly, with 3
issues every year. The next one I expect towards the end of
January/beginning of February... and only under the IRIS label for the first time.«»
«al»«c5»JURASSIC PACK #8«»
«»
«c6»Mag:«»
«»
«c6»Code By:  «c7»Mr.Tickle/DarkAge«»
«c6»Gfx By:   «c7»Budgie/100% Prophets & Mawi«»
«c6»Music By: «c7»Mice/Zenon, Dascon/IRIS, Supernao/TBL, Chris
Mealand/Noiseless Production and Virgill/Haujobb & Blackthorne/ex.TRSI«»
«»
«c6»Main-Editors: «c7»Ghandy/DarkAge & Zito/100%, DarkAge & Moods«»
«»
«c6»Co-Editor: «c7»Gone/DarkAge & Void«»
«»
«c6»Cliparts: «c7»Malmis/Nature, Zito/Darkage, Budgie/100% Prophets,
Raven/Nuance and Bridgeclaw/Gods.«»
«»
«c6»Title Picture: «c7»Noogman/Scoopex and Bridgeclaw/DarkAge & Gods«»
«»
«c6»A funny little intro was done by the forces of Mankind.«»
«»
«as»«c7»I got to tell you all that I have mixed emotions with the socalled comeback
of Jurassic Pack. A mag which I've supported myself with own articles,
external articles, modules etc. from the pre-issue until last issue. It's a
mag that got a prolonged life because I begged a good friend of mine to do
the new stunning code back in 1994/95, Zytrox, and a true master in
pixelart, Bridgeclaw, to do the gfx. But that's now history. For the first
time since the start, a new panel was done for issue 8, and also a new
source was used. It's the previous Devotion engine. New is also that
Jurassic Pack is no longer a Gods production, but a Darkage production, and
that myself nor Sixpack wrote one piece of line for this issue. I was one
of the few people that knew that another issue of Jurassic would come, but
I really expected it to be an issue with "the best of" - articles as that
was what I was told would come. And secondly I expected this to be the last
issue, but instead it's the beginning of a new area in the Jurassic Pack
history. And let it be clear to the ones that still doubt it... Jurassic
Pack is actually a mag, and haven't got a packpart since 1994!«»
«»«al»
«c6»Code:«»
«»«as»
«c2»«c7»The first thing that comes to mind, and that is different from other mags
around, is that the code makes it possible for not only ordinary AGA users,
but also others by using a graphicscard, to actually read the mag. So this
is quite extraordinary. The mag also got a nice clipart-routine, and it's
system friendly. Instead of the usual page-counter, Jurassic got a slider
showing how much of the article that remains. It has only two arrows,
one to the left and one to the right. No up or down buttons. But then
again, you can use the keyboard to go from one article to the next without
going back to the menu. Apart from that, it looks like most other mags.
It's easy to operate. Nothing more to add really, as the mag hasn't any
special features I noticed. But it's definately one of the best mag engines
around.«»
«»«al»
«c6»Gfx:«»
«»
«as»«c7»The panels were done by Budgie/100% Prophets & Mawi, and look quite stylish
and "clean". I've always loved the old panels of Jurassic Pack, but also
these new panels are very nice. I think Budgie did a good job. As for the
cliparts, there were 33 ones included in this issue. Most of them were
actually done by Malmis/Nature in only 7 colours and that's quite
impressive really.«»
«»«al»
«c6»Music:«»
«»
«as»«c7»Lots of modules were included into Jurassic Pack, infact 5 modules. Usually
I find some weak modules among so many songs, but this time I think all of
them worked good as diskmag music. Perhaps the module called Superclear by
Supernao was a bit weird, but still it didn't take away my attention from
the reading. The other modules were very nice too, like C-Type by Mice,
Boutique by Dascon and In a blue room by Virgill & Blackthorne. Yes, that
last song is quite an old module actually as it was given to D.I.S.C. 7
years ago but now used in Jurassic as so many other D.I.S.C. modules in the
past. In any case, the module I liked the most was The four seasons by
Chris Maeland. A great tune.«»
«»
Not much else to say about the quality of the modules, the only question is
why so many modules are included at all? I doubt most readers bother to go
through so many modules as in a musicdisk when reading a mag.«»
«»«al»
«c6»Contents:«»
«»«as»
«c2»«c7»The most important aspect of a mag, is always the articles!
This time there were 84 files included, and that's quite much compared to
any mag nowadays!«»
«»
The brothers in arms as they call themselves, Ghandy & Zito, has written
a decent amount of articles themselves, and also the co-editor Gone has
written much. There were alot of variation in topics and in quality, but
I'm sure there were more than enough articles and themes for everyone to
enjoy. There were some good interviews, like with MatureFurk, and some
interesting articles, like that Amiga vs PC scene article for instance. I
would of course enjoyed even more articles concerning the demo scene and
scoop articles, but that's just me.«»
«»
The bad aspects of the contents however, were that I had read some of
the articles along time ago. Yes, some of the interviews for instance had
been released a year earlier in the Devotion2 package by Magic. Some
articles had been published at internet, at the back to the roots site or
in the mag Hugi etc. But then again, those articles are quite good.«»
«»
The news were rather fresh as the latest Scenet file was used. But
everything was chaos as nothing was placed under groups, and there were no
memberslists included.«»
When it comes to the editing, I think it's very good. Everything looks very
"clean".«»
«»«al»
«c6»Overall:«»
«»
«as»«c7»I think the comeback issue of Jurassic Pack was quite good in all aspects.
I'm sure Zito and Ghandy, with the help of Gone, will manage to produce
many more issues under the label of Darkage. The next issue should be out
quite soon....«»
«»
«»
Now  at  the very  end  of the diskmag
reviews, I'll tell you in what way I'll
perhaps try to review the diskmags in the next
issue of DISC. Only time will tell if it really happens...«»
«»
«al»«c6»CODE:«»
«»
«c7»I'll check out if the diskmag has got:«»
«»
1. User friendliness«»
«»
Which means... can you operate the mag
by using both mouse, keyboard and joy-
stick? Are the gadgets easy to use?«»
«»
2. Cliparts«»
«»
Does the diskmag support a good clipart
routine  that  makes  it  a  bit  more
interesting to read? Many colours?«»
«»
3. Search function«»
«»
Has the  diskmag got a search routine?
And if it does, is it good?  Can it be
used in all parts of the mag,  or just
in a few areas?«»
«»
4. Multitasking«»
«»
Is it possible to go  out  of  the mag
and work with  other  programs  at the
same time,  without quitting the mag?
Is it system friendly?«»
«»
«»
5. Different modules?«»
«»
Can  the  mag manage to load different
modules?«»
«»
6. Fonts«»
«»
Does the  mag have a routine for using
different fonts?«»
«»
7. Other special features«»
«»
Does  the  mag  have  something  else?
Like  special  features,  or just some
ordinary additional coding?
Examples:  Choice  to  choose  between
different palettes, columns, pointers,
printer function etc.  Or   maybe   specialities   like
animations etc.«»
«»
8. Intro«»
«»
Has the mag got a nice intro?«»
«»
«c6»GFX:«»
«»
«c7»I'll check if the diskmag has:«»
«»
1. A title picture«»
«»
Does  the  diskmag  have a nice  title
picture?«»
«»
2. Cliparts«»
«»
Does  the  mag  have  many   different
goodlooking cliparts?«»
«»
3. Menu panels«»
«»
Has  the  diskmag  got a nicely  drawn
panel?«»
«»
4. Design«»
«»
Is  the  design  special?  Is it good?«»
«»
«»
5. Fonts«»
«»
Are the fonts  good?  Is  it  easy  to
read  the  articles?  Are  there  many
fonts?«»
«»
6. Scanned Picture«»
«»
Are there any scanned pictures?
A gallery?«»
«»
7. Special features«»
«»
Does the mag offer very nice animations?
Or other special gfx features?«»
«»
«c6»MUSIC:«»
«»
«c7»I'll check...«»
«»
1. The number of modules«»
«»
Is there more than one module?«»
2. What kind of music?«»
«»
Is it typical diskmag  music?
Does the music suit the diskmag?«»
«»
3. Variety?«»
«»
Does  the  module got many patterns?
Does  it  have  variation,  or  is  it
more or less boring?«»
«»
4. Special features?«»
«»
Does  the  mag  have any special sound
effects?«»
«»
«c6»CONTENTS:«»
«»
«c7»1. Updated«»
«»
Are  the  files updated or are most of
them  old?   Old  news   or   outdated
topics?«»
«»
2. Good articles«»
«»
Are articles well-written or just some
short files without any meaning?«»
«»
3. Gallery/Charts«»
«»
Does the  mag have either a gallery or
chart?  Or maybe both?  And  are  they
good and updated?«»
«»
4. Number of files«»
«»
Does the diskmag only have a few files?
Is it properly supported?«»
«»
5. Special features«»
«»
Does  the  mag  got  some very special
files? Very hot and  interesting  news
or interviews? Scandals?«»
«»
«»
«»
«c6»Overall:«»
«»
«c7»Is the overrall look good?
Does the code,  gfx and  music fit in?
Improvements from earlier  issues etc.«»
«»
«»
«as»Ok,  that was it...   remember that it
can be hard to take on such a huge analysis, but I'll do my best.«»
«»
At  the  very  end of this  article, I
want  to  give  all  diskmag makers an
opportunity  to  get   their   diskmag
reviewed!  So  if   YOU  are  making a
diskmag,  then send it to me, and I'll
try  to  review it for  the next issue
of DISC! That's it for this time...«»
«»
«e»