@2{PUTTING ATMOSPHERE IN SHAREWARE CREATIONS
      @3
      }By Expert Atmospheric, Andrew Campbell
      @4
      
      "Dear sir,
      Your "weedy" demo version of Black Dawn II gave me a dampion twinge
      on  my inside leg.  Well, actually it was pretty damned impressive.
      Please  rush me the full version by Ireland Stage Coach for which I
      include  the  measly  sum  of  £5.  This is without doubt a serious
      bargain  so  I  made  it  £6.   Just  to  encourage you!!!  Call me
      generous or what...Best wishes and keep up the good work.
      @1
                                                    Yours scared,
                                                    No, very scared,
                                                    P.J.Lawrence
                                                    (Towcester, England)"
      @5
      I've had loads of letters like that one about Black Dawn II (though
      not  quite  as  amusing):   it  seems people are catching on to the
      eerie  atmosphere of the game, which was indeed my intention, hence
      I  am  very  pleased  about  this and feel like discussing it a bit
      more.   Just what is it about Black Dawn II people find so "moody"?
      And more importantly how did I manage to create it?
      @5Most magazines/diskmag reviewers who have reviewed my software seem
      to  find  it  "in a world of its own" - not in the insane/confusing
      context,  but  meaning it tries to capture the user and shroud them
      with  - often very dark and nasty - ideas and images.  Indeed, most
      of  the  Shareworld  reviews of my work have been purple or blue in
      colour,  to  match the moody feel of the disks.  Well, that's how I
      interpret them anyway.
      @3
      To  create  atmosphere, you've got to mix graphics, music and sound
      FX together so that they live in harmony with each other.  A lot of
      PD, Shareware and Licenceware titles have succeeded in these areas.
      Here are two of the latest games I consider atmospheric:
      @4
      GIGERPHOBIA   by  Andy  Smith  (CLR  Licenceware,  £3.95,  PD  demo
      available).   This excellent "Arkanoid" based game is exceptionally
      well  put together in terms of sound and graphics, and CU Amiga had
      the  cheek  to give it a ridiculously poor read up!  I've only seen
      the  PD demo but I found it brilliant in terms of thunderous music,
      moody  graphics  and addictive gameplay.  Keep at it and the levels
      go  up  with  intensity,  triggering  sirens,  flashing colours and
      finally  an  explosion  which  takes out the whole screen.
      @1
      Not  the  most  original  idea  for  a  game  but tremendously well
      presented!
      @4GREEN  FIVE by Mark Judge, although being far too difficult to play
      for  the  likes  of  me,  has  a  great  atmosphere created by some
      brilliant,  sureal  animation  and  well  matched  sound FX.  Amiga
      Format  raved  about  this  game,  even  going as far as mentioning
      Mark's  talent  (wow!)  though  why  they  don't credit every other
      author of the shareware they review I'll never know...  @3
      @2
                              THE RIGHT BEGINNING
      @3
      The  first  thing  I  try to do when ever I'm invoking some kind of
      dark atmosphere is blank out the Workbench whilst my program loads.
      If  the user is reading copyright messages by Commodore on a bright
      pink  CLI  screen  while  a  horror-slideshow loads, they're hardly
      going  to  be dragged into the correct mood are they?  Blanking the
      Workbench  colours  is  relatively  simple  -  save the preferences
      palette  with  four  values of 0 (black), and if you can manage it,
      wipe  the  mouse  pointer's  graphics too (or at least change it to
      suit  the disk).  Sometimes a message, a few quotes, or even a poem
      can keep the user occupied whilst the disk boots up.
      One of the worst things you can do with a completed AMOS production
      is  have  the  standard orangy AMOS screen opening just before your
      code is executed.  Argh!  I HATE this!  It looks SO unprofessional,
      gives   your   program   away   and   ruins  otherwise  decent  PD.
      Inexperienced AMOS users, heed my warning:  NEVER leave it in!
      @2                       THE RIGHT MUSICAL SCORE
      @4
      If  you've ever seen John Carpenter's "Haloween", "The Fog" or "The
      Thing"  you'll  notice the soundtracks are incredibly suited to the
      type  of  movie Carpenter is portraying.  Indeed he even helped put
      together  some  of  the  music for his films.  When you're making a
      disk  of your own, you want to be sure the music fits.  And believe
      me,  music  is  very  important when you're out to capture people's
      attention;  sometimes  the  best way is to have your module fade in
      gently, much the same way the majority of Pink Floyd's records seem
      to do.
      @1
      Working  with  a  musician isn't always easy.  You'll have your own
      ideas about how you want the music to sound, and he'll have his, no
      matter  how  hard  you  work  together.   That's  usually the case,
      anyway.   The  music for Black Dawn II was actually intended for an
      as-yet-unreleased  game  called "Space Duel".  Fortunately, I heard
      it  before  it  was implimented and asked Professor Quatermass (the
      composer)  if  I  could  have  it for my game.  Since I had no real
      focus on what I wanted the music for Black Dawn II to sound like, I
      settled for the Professor's piece immediately.  Two other excellent
      soundtracks  were  turned down afterwards (they were considered too
      slow  and morbid!) but kept and used for other things (another good
      point to take note of).
      @5
      David   Cruickshank,   author   of  the  excellent  Shareware  game
      "Hydrozone"  composed  the  music for his game himself.  It was his
      first  attempt,  he  explains in the accompanying instruction sheet
      given   away   with  the  registered  copy.   Anyone  who's  played
      "Hydrozone" will know David's "first attempt" is an incredible one;
      the music fits perfectly.
      @1
      It  is  a  difficult task, but having a basic "ear" for the kind of
      tune  or  beat  you're  after  is a big help.  If you haven't got a
      talented  musician at hand to give you what you want, sometimes the
      best  option  is  to  (a)  do  it  the hard way and write something
      yourself,  or  (b)  take  the basic patterns out of a public domain
      (un-copyrighted)  track.   I  did  this  with  "White  Rabbits" - a
      Licenceware  game  I  coded  in  1993,  and the results were pretty
      good...  well, above average anyway!
      @3
      Always  test  your music by listening to it under different circum-
      -stances.  Perhaps the tune doesn't fit when the game you're making
      is  being  played,  but  DOES work, very well in fact, on the title
      screen  when  nothing much is happening.  Maybe it sets the mood...
      or  indeed  leaves  the  player/viewer  totally unprepared for what
      happens next...
      @5
      I often find it rewarding to load in a PD tracker module and change
      the  samples.   Epic  stabs  in  exchange  for plucking guitars can
      really  beef up what was once a very jolly, light-hearted tune.  By
      re-mixing  patterns  and  alternating  instruments, you CAN compose
      successfully.
      
      @2
                                THE RIGHT GRAPHICS
      @1
      I  always  find it best to stick to a palette of similar or colours
      for  my  graphics.   Black  Dawn II is almost completely purple and
      blue.   The  bases  themselves do change colours, but only to dark,
      dreary  shades.   The  monsters  and  the  control panels bring the
      colours together, giving everything a well-matched feel.
      
      Drawing  graphics yourself isn't easy, but with Dpaint and a few PD
      pictures or clip-art disks (or even better, a scanner) you can come
      up with some amazing results.  Make sure graphics are in a style of
      your  own  and not just imitations or nearly direct copies of other
      people's.   There are loads of PD games that clone Team 17's "Alien
      Breed",  but  they're  all  rubbish  - what's the point of making a
      direct  copy  of a game that already exists anyway?  Graphic design
      gives you a chance at making your programs original, so don't waste
      it.
      @4Working  with  a  graphic designer is of course the best way to go,
      but  like  musicians, they will have their own ideas about how they
      want your program to appear.  Doing rough sketches (either on paper
      or in Dpaint) is a good idea, as is pre-defining the colour palette
      you  wish  the  artist  to  use.  Never waste anything; even if you
      don't  like  a certain piece of artwork, whether it's been done for
      you  by  an  artist  or  you've  made  it  yourself - it could, and
      probably will, come in for something else later on.
      @3
      Generated  landscapes and fractals usually work badly when put into
      games  as  backdrops, even if they were intended to look realistic.
      It  is  always  a  good  idea  to add your own touch to a generated
      picture.
      @5
      Exaggerating  shadows  is  always  an  excellent way of making your
      graphics  stand out.  Repeating images in different forms is also a
      good check out the skull/face in Black Dawn II which appears in the
      title  screen  AND  on  the  walls in later bases.  When you design
      something you like, variate it a little, spread it around your game
      to give the whole thing a solid, professional feel.  @3
      @1
      Andrew Campbell