The Link 13 Intro

        LINK WITH A NEW OUTFIT!

in celebrating the mag for one year last
month, TSR had decided to make a better
and ever outfit. incorporated with ideas
from past reactions to the mag, this
new look is what people had wanted the
link to look. to all our supporters who
gave us advice and courage to change,
we thank you very much.

in just 13 issues, link has changed
its format 6 times already. for this
sixth time, it will no doubt set a new
standard for future issues.
with this issue, we are sure that we
will successfully be able to compete
with any mags in the world. because
it has now reached world standard.

we hope you can continue to support us
in order to bring you the best we can.

this format should hopefully be staying
for a few issues. so that our coders
and other resources can be devoted to
making mega-demos for you in the scene.
therefore, in the coming months, there
will be alot more from TSR. watch out
from your nearest tsr contact!
it goes without saying that, you, as
the reader have expressed to our mag
as well as other mags of what makes a
mag better than others. here are some
criteria on which you judged:

1) CONTENT
a good mag should have plenty of text &
chapters for audiences of variety. LINK
has always been putting this as our 1st
priority. link has been expanding text
from 10 chapters to almost 20! this is
our commitment to our readers. our
leader UPTONOGOOD/TSR has done an
excellent job at providing this.
2) GFX & MUSIC

the merit of a good mag is usually
influenced by how well the graphics is
drawn and how the music is played. to
this end LINK has consistently
delivered a good standard of gfx and
music. at this moment, we have two very
talented musician: neptune/tsr and
alchemy/tsr. if you like your own tune,
you have the option to load your own
into link. this provides flexibility
to alot of the readers. megazzap/tsr has
drawn some very nice gfx for the link.
look at the nice logo above you!
3) MENU LAYOUT

menu layout is important so as not to
confuse readers of the available chapter
choices and the control of selection
should be simple. most mags satisfy
this criterion very well. with the
response from some readers that they
need a marker to tell whether they have
read the chapter before, the new link
provides this nice but simple feature.
BUT SADLY MOST OTHERS STILL HAVE NOT
PROVIDED THIS!


4) TEXT READER

the text reader is the heart of a mag.
it is where information is communicated.
the font should be simple and readable.
FLASHES may be provided to highlight
important part of the text. again, the
link is among those who consistently
achieved this. ingenuity in effects
of pages can provide a professional
touch. so why not take a close look at
that VERTICAL RASTER BAR when you
flip the next page. what do you think?


5) MENU & TEXT INTEGRATION

it is important that the menu and text
reader be stored in ram at all time.
why? 1) bcoz this saves blocks on disk;
     2) program only need to load text
        only - no need for the wait
        during depacking text reader;
     3) more efficient for disk
        performance and memory managemt.
as mags around the world improved over
the last few years, almost all mags
including the link since issue 4 have
changed to this approach.

6) TEXT SHOULD BE PACKED
text should be crunched taking up the
least space (blocks) on disk. the
reason is that most mags are uploaded
to bulletin boards across the world.
the more blocks the mag, the longer &
hence more expensive for people to
download (especially across countries).
the link text is always crunched with
efficiency up to 60% on average. this
means you'll need half the space!
in our new outfit, we have installed an
IRQ LOADER which while loading the
text, plays music & decrunches the
text (AN OZ FIRST)!
ok, they are the golden rules which
the link has succeeded in providing.
of course there are other minor ones.
perhaps you be the judge of your own
criteria.

for this issue, you have seen the
beginning of change. from next issue,
we planned to provide more enhancements
to the outfit. we won't tell you what
now, but you'll see and hopefully you
will enjoy. what we need from you is
your VOTE of confidence. we need you
to tell us that we are doing something
right! ON WITH THE AMAZING CREDITS...
THE CREDITS:
£££££££££££

[££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££]
  all coding by:  GIORGIO ARMANI/TSR
  graphics by:    MEGAZZAP/TSR
  music by:       NEPTUNE/TSR
                  ALCHEMY/TSR
  edited by:      UPTONOGOOD/TSR
  charset by:     PROVOKE/TSR
  fli sprite by:  GIORGIO ARMANI/TSR
  loader by:      ORIGINAL UNKNOWN
                  IMPROVED BY G.A./TSR
^££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££<


[££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££]
   editor:      UPTONOGOOD/TSR
   co-editors:  GIORGIO ARMANI/TSR
                LOGIC/TSR
                GURU/TSR
   votesheet:   PROVOKE/TSR
   support:     AWA/TSR
                QUETZAL/TSR
                STEVE/TSR
                EFFJ/TSR
                STOMPER/TSR
                OVY/TSR
^££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££<

DATALOG:
£££££££

time taken:   5 days

code used:    5k
gfx used:    13k
music used:   7k
text block:  15k
free space:   8k
loader:       2k

tools: expert 4.2, koala painter,
       dmc 1.2, geos, f(r)ont maker.

VOTE FOR THE LINK:
£££££££££££££££££

features:

1) 15600 bytes of text per chapter;
2) improved irq loading chapters;
3) packed text improves load performance
4) depack text while loading;
5) music while loading;
6) ease of use;
7) marker;
8) load music option;
9) quality reading.

ok that's all for this chapter.
hopefully, you have learned why and
how we produced this new look. and
you'll know why link deserves to be
one of the best mag in the world.
thank you.

                   GIORGIO ARMANI/TSR