Cyberscope
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                      Monthly column by Dustin Nulf


Hello, again!  Time really flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?
It's April already, and the rainy season is about to be upon us (excluding
the cactus people who live in Phoenix).  I used to live in Michigan about
10 years ago, and spring time was never my favorite season.  I could handle
the cold weather of winter as long as it was snowing, but I never did like
the wet and windy characteristics of spring.

But now, I have an entirely new attitude towards the March through May
months.  For one thing, rain keeps me from taking a casual drive through
the streets of Dallas.  Now rain AND cold wind -- these two fellas keep
me indoors by the hearth, toasting my toes, and allow me a good excuse to
spend hours on end with my computer friends.  I often find myself working
on the computer into the wee hours of the night, burning the midnight
monitor oil, forgetting to blink.  I'm able to relax in my chair, prop
up my feet on the table, listen to a good CD to sing along, all while
avoiding the nasties of spring weather.  So, you might say that I rather
enjoy the spring time now.  Other programmers may find the spring time
invaluable to their coding time.  I know that as a programmer myself,
I'm looking forward to creating games now that will be ready to test in
the summertime.

As the season is turning the corner, we're really looking forward to some
new and exciting door games this summer.  Since the kids are out of school
in June, we might experience a strong flux of new games by the end of
summer.  The teenagers in today's world are getting smarter at an earlier
age than the older generations.  In fact, a fellow by the name of Robert
Riter is only 14 years old, and is about to graduate from college!  You
may have seen him on some of the Sear's television commercials a few months
back.  He's a 3-D rendering whiz, and has done some artwork for Dark Force
Productions' upcoming game.  The talent level is certainly increasing, and
I expect to see a lot of fingers moving on the keyboards as soon as classes
are finished in early June.

Since L.O.R.D. (Legend of the Red Dragon) seems to be popular with the
younger generations, a mass population of LORD clones might pop.  What
makes LORD attractive to the teen-BBSers is the simplicity of the game,
and of course, the fantasy excursions with Ms. Violet.  Young programmers
might pick up on this awareness and code a door within two weeks,
replicating LORD, except for maybe adding more gore.  Also, LORD's
external module abilities makes it fun for programmers who don't want to
program an entire door.  They can simply use the data structures required
by the door and make it compatible with their program.  Sandtiger's Bar
is an example of an external module that can be virtually 'plugged in'
and added on to the game.  Young programmers might flock to this area
and write a new module in a week or less.

Rumors of another game, "Beastwarz", is going to be hitting the BBS market
in July.  This door game will hit like a storm if it promises to produce
what it advertises: a horror-based game with majik and sci-fi, travel,
alternate dimensions, spirituality, demons, dragons, and everything under
(and over) the sun.  The majik is the major element of the game, allowing
the players to generate any type of world they can ultimately imagine.
It'll be interesting to see if Mike Kelly can actually turn what promises
to be an imaginative scenario into a playable and addicting game.  LORD
was able to capture that, as well as a similar game, Usurper.

And yet I dare to advertise last is the other game coming out by Dark Force
Productions, titled "Wormhole".  I mentioned it before in the last column,
and it's progress is coming along well.  This door hopes to bridge the gap
between text games and graphics games that are playable over the modem.
Although graphics games on-line isn't anything new (Linewars, Doom,
Megatron), Wormhole hopes to interact with all the players in the game,
keeping track of positions, status's, and to have all the players involved.
This game hasn't been assigned a release date yet, but the summertime seems
to be as good a time as any.  Competition in the door market will be higher
in the summer, but Dark Force feels the game will be able to compete
strongly against any new doors.  Next month's column will feature an
interview with the co-founder of Dark Force productions, Andrew Welch, and
we'll take a behind-the-scenes peek on the magic of programming games.



**************For special preview to the "Overkill Warrior Guide" please 
go to the Hints Galore section********* 


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