[{"TitleName":"2D Game Maker","Publisher":"CRL Group PLC","Author":"Jonathan Small, Sean Timarco Baggaley","YearOfRelease":"1988","ZxDbId":"0001955","Reviews":[{"Issue":{"Name":"Crash Issue 59, Dec 1988","Price":"£1.95","ReleaseDate":"1988-11-17","Editor":"Dominic Handy","TotalPages":213,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"EDITORIAL\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nEditor: Dominic Handy\r\nAssistant Editor: Stuart Wynne\r\nStaff Writers: Mark Caswell, Philip King, Lloyd Mangram, Nick Roberts\r\nPhotography: Cameron Pound, Michael Parkinson\r\nContributors: Jon Bates, Graham Callum, Raffaele Cecco, Mel Croucher, Ian Cull, Paul Evans, Philippa Irving, Ian Lacey, Barnaby Page, Ian Philipson, Paul Sumner\r\n\r\nPRODUCTION\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nProduction Manager: Jonathan Rignall\r\nArt Director: Mark Kendrick\r\nAssistant Art Director: Wayne Allen\r\nReprographics Supervisor: Matthew Uffindell\r\nProduction Team: Ian Chubb, Melvin Fisher, Robert Hamilton, Robert Millichamp, Tim Morris, Yvonne Priest\r\n\r\nEditorial Director: Roger Kean\r\nPublisher: Geoff Grimes\r\nAdvertisement Director: Roger Bennett\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Neil Dyson\r\nSales Executives: Sarah Chapman, Andrew Smales\r\nAssistant: Jackie Morris, Lee Watkins [redacted]\r\n\r\nMail Order: Carol Kinsey\r\nSubscriptions: Denise Roberts\r\n[redacted]\r\n\r\nTypeset by The Tortoise Shell Press, Ludlow. Colour origination by Scan Studios [redacted]. Printed in England by Carlisle Web Offset, [redacted] - member of the BPCC Group. Distribution by COMAG, [redacted]\r\n\r\nCOMPETITION RULES\r\nThe Editor's decision is final in all matters relating to adjudication and while we offer prizes in good faith, believing them to be available, if something untoward happens (like a game that has been offered as a prize being scrapped) we reserve the right to substitute prizes of comparable value. We'll do our very best to despatch prizes as soon as possible after the published closing date. Winners names will appear in a later issue of CRASH. No correspondence can be entered into regarding the competitions (unless we've written to you stating that you have won a prize and it doesn't turn up, in which case drop the Sticky Solutions Department a line at the [redacted] address). No person who has any relationship, no matter how remote, to anyone who works for either Newsfield or any of the companies offering prizes, may enter one of our competitions. No material may be reproduced whole or in part without the written consent of the copyright holders. We cannot undertake to return anything sent into CRASH including written and photographic material, software and hardware - unless it is accompanied by a suitably stamped addressed envelope. Unsolicited written or photo material is welcome, and if used in the magazine is paid for at our current rates.\r\n\r\nHAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL CRASH READERS\r\n\r\nTotal: 96,590\r\nUK/EIRE: 90,822\r\n\r\n©CRASH Ltd, 1988\r\n\r\nISSN 0954-8661\r\n\r\nCover Design & Illustration by Oliver Frey"},"MainText":"Phil king writes a game shock!?\r\n\r\nProducer: CRL\r\nPrice of Success: £8.95\r\nAuthor: Supa Nova\r\n\r\nFor all us who've dreamed of being the next Raf Cecco (?!), but don't know the difference between a Z80 processor and a sheep dip, CRL have this tempting little program. Included with it is an easily completed example game, requiring the main program for execution.\r\n\r\nBasically, 2-D Game Maker is a utility to design arcade adventures. A row of icons allow you to change the design of the included game or just start from scratch, designing your own sprites, rooms and objects etc.\r\n\r\nBoth objects and the main character sprite can be redesigned. The latter also has eight stages of animation and so can be made to walk, or even fly. Sprites are designed by moving a cursor around a grid, representing an enlarged version of the four-character block sprites. Once designed, objects can be placed in any screen, using a simple menu system. In the game proper, objects can be picked up, dropped and used to remove various walls and platforms to allow further progress.\r\n\r\nUp to 64 different rooms may be mapped out, using their corresponding hexadecimal numbers. One must be designated to the starting screen (where the game will begin) while another must be the finishing screen (reaching this means completion of the game).\r\n\r\nOther aspects which can be altered include scrolling text messages which accompany each screen, the path of the main character's jump and the various sound effects. Gravity and up/down controls can also be switched on/off.\r\n\r\nBut despite all these options, what you always end up with is essentially a very simplistic arcade adventure/platform game with no scope for anything very different. Although fun for a while, the designer just isn't flexible enough to enable the creation of original games and you always get the feeling that you're only making superficial alterations rather than really designing your own game.\r\n\r\nPHIL 40%\r\n\r\nTHE ESSENTIALS\r\nJoysticks: Cursor, Kempston, Sinclair\r\nGraphics: simple sprites, but at least you can redesign them!\r\nSound: simple spot effects which can also be altered\r\nOptions: definable keys and too many others to mention!","ReviewerComments":["While it takes a while to master, you can have great fun with this: fiddling around creating your own sprites, scrolling messages and loads more besides. Sprites, in particular, can be really hilarious. Unfortunately the 'designer' is perhaps more of a basic arcade/adventure with knobs to tweak various aspects. Actual playability is therefore on the weak side, but it still kept me happily occupied for a while.\r\nMark Caswell\r\n58%"],"OverallSummary":"General Rating: Fiddling with the designer is great fun, but sadly, the game you end up with can never be very good.","Page":"14","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"Phil King","Score":"40","ScoreSuffix":"%"},{"Name":"Mark Caswell","Score":"58","ScoreSuffix":"%"}],"ScreenshotText":[{"Text":"Designing your own sprite with 2-D Game Maker."}],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Presentation","Score":"46%","Text":""},{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"N/A","Text":""},{"Header":"Sound","Score":"31%","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"50%","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictive Qualities","Score":"51%","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"49%","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]},{"Issue":{"Name":"Your Sinclair Issue 35, Nov 1988","Price":"£1.5","ReleaseDate":"1988-10-11","Editor":"Teresa Maughan","TotalPages":124,"HasCoverTape":false,"FlannelPanel":"Editor: Teresa Maughan\r\nDeputy Editor: Ciaran Brennan\r\nStaff Writer: Duncan MacDonald\r\nProduction Editor: Jackie Ryan\r\nDesigner: Catherine Higgs\r\nTechnical Consultant: David McCandless\r\nContributors: Guy Bennington, Marcus Berkmann, Richard Blaine, David Cadle, Jonathan Davies, Mike 'Skippy' Dunn, Greville Edwards, Mike Gerrard, Sean Kelly, Graeme Kidd, David Powell, Peter Shaw, Rachael Smith, Phil South, Ben Stone\r\nAdvertisement Manager: Mark Salmon\r\nAdvertisement Executive: Simon Stansfield\r\nAdvertisement Director: Alistair Ramsay\r\nProduction Manager: Judith Middleton\r\nMarketing Manager: Bryan Denyer\r\nPublisher: Kevin Cox\r\nPublishing Director: Roger Munford\r\nFinance Director: Colin Crawford\r\nManaging Director: Stephen England\r\nChairman: Felix Dennis\r\n\r\nPublished by Dennis Publishing Ltd, [redacted] Company registered in England.\r\nTypesetters: Carlinpoint [redacted]\r\nReproduction: Graphic Ideas, London\r\nPrinters: Chase Web Offset [redacted]\r\nDistribution: Seymour Press [redacted]\r\n\r\nAll material in Your Sinclair ©1988 Felden Productions, and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of the publishers. Your Sinclair is a monthly publication."},"MainText":"CRL\r\n£8.95 cass\r\nReviewer: David McCandless\r\n\r\nLet's face it, I went wild when this package hit my doorstep, but so would anyone who's ever tried to get to grips with Melbourne House's 'cos anything's gotta be better than that for DIY game-making. Hasn't it? Well hasn't it??\r\n\r\nWell, no! 2D Game Maker is definitely worse. It starts with a demo game with a fair number of screens being loaded along with the designer into the Spectrum. The graphics are of a reasonably high standard and the animation is very smooth. Unfortunately, it's all bad news from then on. The only thing that moves is your character, so the quality of animation isn't surprising and the scrolling messages are trite - even if they are a nice touch. Objects picked up once reappear next time you reach the screen, so at least you can build up reasonable scores.\r\n\r\nThe demo is the graphic adventure type where you have to pick up objects and use them in other rooms. You pick up the objects by accessing a menu using the 'Function' key. But the function appears to be 'Zap' 'cos all I ever managed to achieve was a complete crash. Also beware entering names for saving/loading your game designs (another bug in my book) since too long a name causes the program to crash back to Basic.\r\n\r\nThe default cursor keys are the familiar Q, A, O, P and M for 'fire'. Keys 1-5 are used in the object design screens, and allow some of the functions to work with a joystick.\r\n\r\nBut to add to the user-unfriendliness of the thing, the QUIT option of some menus is absent in others, so to get back to a previous level, you have to start from the beginning and work down again. In the screen design function, each time you want to place an object the menu comes up again - which makes for really slow screen design. All in all, there's a noticeable lack of continuity between the menus, how you get to them and what to do once you get there. At least the icons on the main menu bar are somewhat recognisable.\r\n\r\nAfter a short while, it is soon apparent that the only games that can be created are ones very much like the demo - platforms or flat graphic adventures - so the possibilities are absolutely endless if repetition turns you on. The 'fire' key is entirely pointless as the only moving sprite is the controlled character, - so no shoot 'em ups.\r\n\r\nAnd there you have it. A cumbersome, highly complicated utility for creating pretty but boring games. Avoid, avoid, a thousand times avoid.","ReviewerComments":[],"OverallSummary":"Designer boredom. A utility involving 3D effort to create 2D games of 1D possibilities. Perfect for masochists.","Page":"36","Denied":false,"Award":"Not Awarded","Reviewers":[{"Name":"David McCandless","Score":"3","ScoreSuffix":"/10"}],"ScreenshotText":[],"BlurbText":[],"TranscriptBy":"Chris Bourne","ReviewScores":[{"Header":"Graphics","Score":"4/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Playability","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Value For Money","Score":"3/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Addictiveness","Score":"2/10","Text":""},{"Header":"Overall","Score":"3/10","Text":""}],"CompilationReviewScores":[]}]}]