215 fff00000ff23fe008055500108f ^1+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ ^3 A M O S F O R K I D S . ^1+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ ^2 We're very interested to know what you out there think of this ^2section, WE NEED SOME FEEDBACK as we do not want to waste time and ^2diskspace on a section that nobody uses! This goes for other parts ^2of TA as well. ^2 We do call this AMOS for Kids, but we would like to think that any ^2beginner would find the tutorials interesting. ^2 No feedback will be taken as there is no interest in this section ^2and it will be discontinued! ^1+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ ^4 Well done Laura Knight on winning the Fun School 4 prize in ^4January's competition. ^4 Here is the idea that Laura sent us for an educational program, it ^4was very nicely illustrated to show how her ideas for a maths game ^4went together. Keep on designing games Laura, your Dad might be able ^4to use them, We listen to whatever ideas our kids come up with, and ^4that is how Marvin the Martian started out, now it is a licenseware ^4title and a book has been written about it! Great things come from ^4small ideas! ^6 MATHSWORLD by Laura Knight age 9. ^4 Go through a magic world where everything talks. Just answer the ^4first maths question and whatever the answer is, move that amount of ^4squares. Then something will talk and ask another question. Keep on ^4repeating this. At the end you should find the treasure. Then go on ^4to the next level, this would be harder. There are 8 levels. When ^4you have done all the levels, you become the Queen (or King) of ^4maths. This disk should help your child's maths. ^4 Laura's dad adds some finer details, but it was Laura's own idea and ^4drawings that won her the prize! ^4 Her ideas for talking characters include ^4 Jungle with a talking elephant, house and garden with a raindrop, a ^4talking carrot, a book with a bookworm who asks questions, a fair ^4with a clown, a cat a flower and a tree are also featured. ^1+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ ^2 YOUR PROGRAM FOR MARCH. ^1+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ ^7 This time we are going to add a new function to the Art program in ^7Issue 2. This time we will add something that will teach you a bit ^7about brush handling - these are actually bobs. The aim is to allow ^7you to load brushes and plant them on the screen rather like ^7stickers. ^7 All the new routines have been well REMmed to explain what is going ^7on, and a new procedure has been added. This article is to help you ^7understand how things work. ^7 First of all we have to use Double Buffer, this is because we are ^7dealing with the movement of bobs on the screen. It is vital to stop ^7any flickering. To test, load in the program inside AMOS, run, then ^7load a bob to see how it normally works. Then go back to the editor ^7and REM the line with Double Buffer in it. Run the program, and ^7again load a bob and observe the difference. When you use movement of ^7any kind, especially with bobs, you must use Double Buffer. ^7 We've altered a couple of the conditions from the program as it ^7stood in the last Issue, by adding another condition to them. This ^7comes in as another variable called BBGOT. To make sure that you ^7cannot select a colour or a pattern or paint while you have a bob ^7attached to your pointer, we have added to the respective conditions ^7 and BBGOT=0 ^7 Which means, only do this if there is no bob on the mouse pointer. ^7 Now we come to the conditions that affect the bobs themselves. We ^7check on the mouse key with MK=1, and the secondary condition ^7BGOT=True. In other words - if the user presses the left mouse and ^7there is a bob on the pointer, then place the bob on the screen at ^7the current x,y position. ^7 The next condition concerns the right mouse button. This is used to ^7remove the bob from the pointer when it is no longer wanted. ^7 To get rid of the bob, use ^7 BBGOT=False and Bob Off 1 ^7 Now we deal with the condition that makes the Bob's coordinates keep ^7up with the mouse coordinates. This should be done on every pass of ^7the loop and not just when the mouse button is pressed - BBGOT = ^7True. ^7 First we read the x coords of the mouse and convert them into screen ^7coordinates, the same is done for the y coordinates, the 2 values are ^7then assigned to the bob. ^7 We limit the bob to a rectangular region which is slightly smaller ^7than the screen, we do this so that the user cannot place a bob on ^7the colour or pattern boxes and so mess up the display. ^7 Now we come to the condition that brings the bob to life.First we ^7check to see if key`B' has been pressed, if it has, jump to Procedure ^7GTBB and set BBGOT to True. ^7 Procedure GTBB. ^7 This is a very simple procedure which displays AMOS's default file ^7selector and if the file exists, it loads it. ^7 There is nothing to check to see if the file is a bob or a brush, it ^7just tries to load it. The way to check on what a file is will be ^7covered in the next issue. ^7 In the meantime, why not try it yourself? Or a bit easier, why not ^7try to attach the alternative file selector from TA2 instead of the ^7AMOS default selector? ^2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - ^4If you would like to make your own stickers, (brushes), follow the ^4instructions below. ^4 Load in DPaint, then load in a file called piccy in the brushes ^4Directory of your TA disk so that you can get the right palette. ^4 Now it has loaded, clear the screen. Yes, the palette has two ^4whites, the reason for this will be explained later. ^4 Draw your sticker in black, make sure that there are no `leaks' in ^4the outlines, or your colours will escape when you try to paint it! ^4 Once satisfied with your work, choose the `Paint' tool and select ^4the second white as your colour, this is the last colour in the ^4palette. This has to be done so that the stickers cover any lines ^4they are placed on so the background doesn't show through. ^4 Colouring white with white isn't easy as you could miss bits out, so ^4to make things easier, change the value of the second white so that ^4you can see where you've been, then change it back when you've ^4finished. To change the colour value first click on the second white ^4with left mouse, then click right mouse on the white spot above the ^4palette, move one of the sliders and the second white will change ^4colour. Remember where it was, so that you can put it back again ^4later. ^4 Now save as an IFF screen. ^4 Load in AMOS, then load and run Spritex and use the bob cutter or ^4similar program to cut out the sticker. ^4 If you do not own this type of program, do not dispair, this can be ^4done in AMOS's direct mode. ^4 Load in your IFF screen as saved in DPaint, use the box command ^4until you have a box that surrounds your drawing but does not touch ^4it., now write down the four coordinates used. Load the IFF screen ^4again then do a Get Bob command ^4 Get Bob 1, 1st number, 2nd number to 3rd number, 4th number ^4 Save "filename",1 ^4 Make sure that it saves into the Brushes Directory. You now have a ^4loadable sticker! ^4 If you find that making stickers is fun, you will soon run out of ^4space on this disk! ^4So ^4Make a backup copy of your TA3 disk and delete off the COPY ^4everything that is not needed, you'll then have plenty of space. ^2- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ^5 When you run this program, you may get a `Disk not found' error, ^5this will probably not occur if you only have one drive. If it ^5happens go to Direct Mode and key in Dir$="Df0: (or Df1: if using 2 ^5drives) all should now work OK. With all the programs on the TA ^5disk, the programs will be looking for the TA disk in drive 0 not ^5your Amos disk which is more likely to be there if you are looking at ^5the programs! So just change the Directory to Df1: as above in ^5Direct Mode and all will be well! ^5 Another bit of `homework', see if you can do for pictures what we've ^5done for Bobs, ie on the press of a key, jump to a routine that will ^5load a picture. The pictures used in this program are packed picks, ^5this does not mean that you have to pack the pictures before you use ^5them, but to use IFF screens do the following ^5 Load IFF, f$,0 Spack 0 to 16 ^5 The clear key will now work and you can work with IFF screens ^5instead of packed pics. ^5 Another possible project is to put in a Save function so that you ^5can save your work by, for example pressing `S'. All these will be ^5dealt with in the next TA. From the next issue only the additions to ^5the program will be REMmed as we will need to save space and things ^5might start to get confused. ^5 If this series carries on, you could end up with a useable art ^5program! We'll be putting in other features such as Box, Circle, ^5Line etc. ^1+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+ \