Fantasy Designer V.1

Published on Magic Disk 64 05/90

One of the more frequent applications found on Magic Disk 64 were demo/intro creators that allowed C64 users to make flashy intros without requiring any programming knowledge. Fantasy Designer V.1 is a fine example of such a tool, and it comes with a simple, straightforward interface. While its usefulness may be limited, it certainly makes for better screenshots than a spreadsheet program.

Geninus!

Published on Magic Disk 64 01/90

Since we're still in the middle of Edutainment Month, here's a look at another utility that could be interpreted as educational: Geninus! is a tool to create sine curves for sprite animation. I guess the name is a portmanteau of generator and Sinus (German for sine), since it is, in fact, a sine generator. I would've called it Sinerator instead, to keep the words in the right order, but Geninus! is a fine name as well, especially with the added exclamation point.

This isn't a very complex program, but I still wanted to put it in an article, mainly because of its presentation and how, back in 1990, it introduced me to sine curves in a very practical way.

Intro & Demo-Designer

Published on Magic Disk 64 01/90

April is Edutainment Month, and I'm using it as an excuse to waffle about something else than a game. Intro & Demo-Designer is a creation utility for intros and demos. Admittedly, that stretches the definition of edutainment a bit, but I expect to be more entertained (and possibly educated) by this program than the more recent games I had to endure on this blog.

Don't judge the program by its very plain welcome text. This tool packs quite the punch, and it allowed twelve-year-old me to spruce up several of my rather rudimentary BASIC games.