Ymgve at 21:03, 18 June 2007

2007-06-18T21:03:51Z

New page

<pre>
The making of

+----------+
| THE LIST |
| THE LIST |
+----------+

Everything started as a simple idea and
it grew to something special.

Count Zero

This chapter for the special
'PLATINUM' edition of Propaganda
will give you detailed information
on how WE produce the release list.

+-------+
|HISTORY|
|HISTORY| - IN THE MAKING
+-------+

It was an overheated night and certain
individuals in the described scene
MUST have been totally drunk.

Channel #c-64

Count Zero was hanging on IRC and did
his usual amount of leeching when out
of a sudden Newscopy popped up. A rare
event for sure. A private discussion
started of which only these few words
are left:

Newscopy: Hey Andreas ... how about
doing the propaganda release
charts based on FTP sites???

Count Zero: No way ... that's WORK !

Newscopy: Please ! You can do that !

Count Zero: NO! I'm too lazy for that
stuff anyways !

Newscopy: Ah C'mon ... Please with lots
of sugar and honey on it !!!

Count Zero: You add some money aswell?

Newscopy: Get real.

Count Zero: Ok ... whatever ...

That's how everything started.
Everything sounded just too easy to me
after thinking about it.
The rules were simple and the way
people could join the list were even
more simple.

When we published the first list with
just the rules there was no other
magazine as much involved into the net
as Propaganda already was.
It seemed to be a very offending move
to make a sanctuary of the c64 scene
internet based and accessible for
everybody. Some felt provocated and
lost when they came up with their
usual lists.

Propaganda dared to step on new roads.
And the net surely is a speedy road.
There have been different questionaries
when we were through with the topic
already. Other magazines were asking
the sceners around the globe for their
ideas and seem to have included what
has fit them most at that time.
Just DOING these questionaries shows
that these magazines were atleast
thinking of doing it the same way.
Maybe not as radical as PROPAGANDA did
it, but first doubts about the
traditional way where already there.

Every magazine gathers it's news from
the net as the boards don't spread
enough news and snail mail is outdated
most of the time.

That was the sign for Propaganda to
start off.
Many people have discussed many aspects
of the traditional release list
compared to the net-based list.

This chapter is not about that stuff !

Haha ... No ... really ... This is
Propaganda. What do you expect ?

This is a closer description of what
a release has to suffer when it went to
the FTP's and from there on to my
harddisk.

Enjoy... Docs for beginners included!

The release was leeched on a speedy
33.6K modem line and then stored on
a mass medium which normally has some
kilobytes left for a directory named
LIST.

Usually the program gets converted
from one of the traditional 64 formats
to a more fitting format.
Lynx is either converted to a RAW
program or to a complete D64 image.
Zipcoded releases make it straight
into the D64 image format aswell.

For checking the releases they are
transfered to the 64 either by a
parallel cable for single filers or
by using a built-in 5.25 inch drive
on my Amiga.

Checksum and Read Errors are history
at this point already.
The security rate achieved is for sure
higher than on a plain 64.

Once on the commodore the game gets
checked for usual bugs and is played
for some time.
There are actually 4 test
configurations a game has to survive
at my place.

1. c64/1541 with jiffy dos+action replay
2. plain c64/1541

Both on PAL and NTSC.
On NTSC I usually check the game with
PAL and NTSC crystal plugged in.
(This is NO paradoxon !)

Whenever everything was fine the
release gets checked internally.

Is it a welldone basic game like that
soccer manager we had a few weeks back
or does it actually deserve points ?

Does it flicker on NTSC ?

Does it NEED NTSC-fixing ? Why ?

When everything is done and the release
is worth some points it's time for
actually judging the quality of the
game or tool and the crackers work.

Usually a game with just an intro
slapped on receives about O.1 to O.6
points depending on the intro quality
aswell.
Multifilers usually receive a little
more if they are featuring fastloaders
or IFFL-Systems.
Trainers get judged aswell by their
functionality and usability.

Most of the time it is pretty simple
to check how much work was put into
a particular release and depending
on this the points are spent.

Ofcourse other stuff like debugging
and translating gets honored aswell,
but has to be proven somehow first.

Judging the quality of a release is
a little harder.
Everybody will say that a certain music
just sounds better than a certain other
one.

I personally have to be an objective
reviewer and all I can say is:
IMPOSSIBLE

Therefore I judge the game by it's
graphics, music and playability.
Influenced aswell by the type of game,
I make up my mind a couple of times and
come up with a conclusion.

Thanks to my little brother and some
other locals for rating several games
aswell.

(Now you know, that you have to bribe
my brother in the future ! hahaha )

The whole procedure can eventually
happen about 3-4 times on a release.
Rather often I get hints of what
is wrong on certain releases
(and give these hints myself) or
discussions start about certain
aspects.
</pre>

Propaganda 25 ch04 - Revision history

Ymgve at 21:03, 18 June 2007