New Apple IIgs Library Disks
By Richard Bennett and Cameron Brawn
Copyright (c) 1992 Apple Users' Group, Sydney
Republished from Applecations, a publication of the Apple Users' Group, Sydney, Australia.
GS Disk librarians
AUG GS DISK 116
COLUMNS is a single player Tetris-Like game where one manipulates blocks of different patterns into sequences of three or more identical blocks arranged horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. The board is a 7 X 16 map of blank space. There are 8 different types of blocks, six regular blocks and two special blocks. Just like in Tetris, these blocks will fall from the top of the screen. You may move the block to the left, right, or cycle through the patterns. You may not rotate the blocks! The game ends when the pile of blocks reaches the top of the game map. Every 100 blocks (up to 900) the game will automatically speed up, until the columns fall so fast it will be virtually impossible to play. Once again, your objective is not to form lines; you want to get 3 or more identical blocks arranged horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. When you achieve this, the matching blocks will disappear. Gravity (unlike Tetris!) will take over, and any blocks above those which disappeared will "fall" down. If the new arrangement of blocks (after they have fallen down) forms another sequence of three or more, these will also be removed. It is possible to start a huge chain reaction, and have a large part of the screen disappear at once!
AUG GS DISK 117
This disk contains some games for the GS, and a program that patches Prodos for 1992:
Prodos 8 patcher
This program patches ProDOS 8 versions 1.9 and 2.0 so that the slot clock driver contains a six year table beginning with the current year, for any six year period beginning as early as 1940 or ending as late as 2039. If you're not using version 1.9, upgrade now. Version 2.0 will be released later in 1992.
This is necessary because the slot-based clock driver in ProDOS 8 version 1.9 contains a year table that ends with 1991 (having last been changed for ProDOS 8 1.2 in 1986). It is only necessary for people using slot-based clocks or their equivalents on Apple II+, IIe or IIc computers. Apple IIgs computers never use this clock driver.
This is a preliminary release. It has not been completely tested; use it at your own risk but we think it works. The instructions and human interface aren't finalized. If run on an Apple II without lower-case capabilities, the screen will look strange. Typing names of off-line disks when prompted will cause the program to break. There is no indication in the ProDOS 8 splash screen that the file has been patched. The program only patches files named "PRODOS" at the root level of specified disks. There may be other problems as well; we hope to address most of them in the future ProDOS 8 Technical Note.
In the meantime, this program will successfully patch ProDOS 8 version 1.9 to return years other than 1986 through 1991. But always keep a backup of unmodified ProDOS 8 v1.9 just in case something goes wrong.
The location of the clock driver in the ProDOS 8 v2.0 file as documented in this program is not guaranteed and is still subject to change.
Dr. Mario
Could it be Mario has settled down? After numerous adventures in the Mario Bros. series, he's turned in his running shoes for a stethoscope. Now he's a medical researcher at Mushroom Kingdom Hospital, experimenting in the virus lab. But of course, Mario is a trouble magnet. Everywhere he goes, something is bound to happen that only quick reflexes and superhuman hand-eye coordination can fix. So one day, just as Mario was beginning work, Nurse Toadstool came rushing in with news that something had gone horribly wrong. One of the experimental viruses was growing out of control inside a laboratory bottle.
Fortunately, Mario had just developed a new set of vitamins that should have been able to kill the viruses. Unfortunately, things got complicated. The vitamins worked, but each one was effective only against a specific virus, and only when enough of the vitamins were used. In desperation, Mario began throwing vitamins into the laboratory bottle, trying to get enough of the right ones to the viruses they could kill.
The idea is to line up four or more pieces of the same color, either horizontally or vertically. By "pieces," we mean a whole capsule, or half of a capsule, or a virus. When that happens, all of the matching pieces disappear from the screen. If one or more of the pieces were viruses, you get points.
One key to shaping your strategy is to keep an eye on the upper right corner of the screen, where you can see the next vitamin Dr. Mario will toss into the jar. Although you can make the currently falling capsule fall faster by pushing down, you should probably just let it drop at its own pace. Use the time to look at what the next capsule will be and figure out where it will fit.
It's also important to anticipate where broken pieces of capsules will drop. Each capsule consists of two halves, and if one half disappears when you match a row, the other half remains on the screen. When this happens, the half left behind drops until something stops it. If it happens to land somewhere to make ANOTHER matching row of four colors, that row will also disappear, and any halves left behind will also drop, and so on.
It should be pretty obvious, therefore, that when you match a capsule to a row, you should also think about where the odd half will drop. How will the leftover piece affect the piles of capsules below it? The key to beating Dr. Mario especially at the higher more contaminated levels is getting
the knack of lining up capsules so that when one half disappears, the leftover half can drop somewhere useful.
If you drop a capsule on top of a different-colored virus, there are only three ways to clear the virus later. The first method is to imply pile on more capsules of the same wrong color until they form a matching row and disappear, leaving the virus uncovered. This method is the most common, and it works, but it also takes time. In addition, the halves left behind might cover other viruses in the process, so careful planning is essential.
The second way to clear a virus that's buried beneath wrong-colored capsules is to match it with a horizontal row of pieces. This is probably better than method #1, but isn't always possible. Again, careful planning is the only way to keep those lines clear.
The third method is even more difficult - form a vertical stack by building up matching capsules beneath the virus. This is possible because viruses, unlike capsules, do not fall toward the bottom of the screen when there's nothing to support them. They hang in midair, and sometimes you can slide capsules into place underneath.
Like other tetris style games, Dr.Mario is an exercise in thinking ahead under pressure. You can usually recover from mistakes, but it always takes time. And the longer you take to clear a level, the faster Dr. Mario tosses in the capsules.
Unlike other Tetris variants however, Dr. Mario has viruses and you can see them magnified in the lower left corner of the screen. These viruses disappear as you clear all of that color virus out of each level.
Columns V1.1
A "Tetris" style game written by FTA that comes in three forms: Classic Desk Accessory, GS/OS program, and a Prodos 8 version.
Explorer GS
A simple but addictive adventure game. Includes an editor that allows you to create your own games. Looks and works similar to the original Ultima.
FTA Plotting
Another great FTA game, hard to describe. Play it and become addicted.
AUG GS DISK 118
There are 4 Noisetracker modules on this disk: Kozmic 8, Datamus, Popcord, and Stairway to Heaven. In addition, there are the following sound programs:
The Music Modifier
Will convert Midi to DiversiTune songs, Midi to Synthlab songs, and DiversiTune songs to Synthlab songs.
RawToRes version 1.0
While this program will probably be MOST useful to people with System 6, it is also useful to people with previous system versions.
This shell utility converts sounds in "raw data" format to a format known as an rSoundSample. Basically, it is a resource format on the GS that Hypercard GS and the System 6 Sound CDEV use, along with other utilities. (There is also a similar resource format type on the Mac).
This program not only converts sounds into files by themselves, it will also add a new resource onto EXISTING files. This is useful so that you can put a large number of sounds into one big file and put it in your */system/sounds folder. It is also useful for Hypercard GS users.
Note: As this is a shell program, you will need a shell such as GNO or Orca to run this program.
rSounder
This program does exactly the same thing as RawToRes above, except it is a launchable GS/OS program.
SynthCreate
This allows you to make your own wavebank (.WAV) files for SynthLab. Wavebanks are basically the core of instruments. SynthLab comes packaged with half a dozen or so wavebanks (SYNTH.WAV, DEMO.WAV, ORCH.WAV, etc). All in all, around 60 instruments are available for your musical pleasures.
Using this program will allow you to create more instruments from the following sounds: Raw Digitized Sounds, ACE Compressed files, AIFF files, Soundsmith ASIF files, SynthLab Wavebank files, and SoundShop HyperStudio sounds.
AUG GS DISK 119
FORMULATE DEMO
Formulate is a new program from Seven Hills Software that allows you to create formulae and export them to other programs, graphic images, and the Apple IIGS Clipboard.
This demo allows you to do everything with Formulate except export the formulae for incorporation into other programs. Also, the Help menu item is not available, and printing stamps the word "DEMO" over a formula.
The disk contains brief documentation for each menu item, and there are several example formulas on the disk. If you have any questions, please contact us!
The suggested retail price of Formulate is US$49.95. You can order Formulate from your local dealer, favorite mail order company, Two Series Software, or direct from Seven Hills Software.

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