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avatar_mr_lou

A good discmag in english?

Started by mr_lou, 20:26, 28 March 09

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mr_lou

A bit curious of seeing a CPC discmag, but too lazy to try them all out.
http://www.cpcscene.com/list.php
Scroll down to the Disc-Mags section

Which of those are in english, and have you read any you would recommend?

voXfReaX

Quote from: mr_lou on 20:26, 28 March 09
A bit curious of seeing a CPC discmag, but too lazy to try them all out.
http://www.cpcscene.com/list.php
Scroll down to the Disc-Mags section

Which of those are in english, and have you read any you would recommend?

Hello!

For a start you could have a look at "Demoniak" (Arkos), "Ovation" (Dirty Minds) and "Digital Press" (Benediction).
There are a lot of good ones, even if some are written in french only... "Disc Full" has some amazing graphics by Made, so you can have a look also!
"Sex" is also funny to read, even if it is a quite old one...
"Focus" was a Chaos mag. Nice one also, but only two issues!
"Coders Paradise", a Wizcat mag! A lot of useful routines!!!

OK! Try these ones and if you need more, ask :)

voxfreax!

mr_lou

Thanks voXfReaX!

I found Demoniak 7 yesterday from the Arkos website. It looked quite nice, and loved the CPC versions of the Turrican II music.  :D And it was great that it worked on my CPC464.  :) (I don't think a discmag should require too much).
Looking forward to take a look at those others you recommend.

But I don't understand a word of french, so it'll have to be english language. I'm a bit tired of downloading mag after mag, just to find it's in french only.  :-\
Well.... all I remember from primary school french class is...
"C'est un livre?"
"Oui! C'est un livre!"
I won't get far with that.  ;) hehe

Grim

Hi, here are some discmags in english (but I don't know if they will run on a 64k CPC):
ATM, BadMag (de/uk), Better Than Life, CPC Challenge, Digital Press, Donut Mag, EuroWACCI, Impact, OTTO, Tribal mag (esp. the latest issues).

"maintenant il faut lire le livre !" =)

mr_lou

Thanks Grim. I'll check 'em out.
I do have a CPC6128 too. But I prefer using my CPC464 for nostalgic reasons.  ;) (And it's expanded to 128k)

mr_lou

Ok, I've had a look at all the discmags I was recommended now, except Better Than Life and Impact, because there was an error with the DSK file apparently.

I have to say, there are some great discmags out there for the CPC. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality. I checked out the last issue of each of the recommended mags, and if anyone is interested, the ones that appeal to me the most (by interface mostly) are as follows:
Ovation (issue 5) takes 1st place
BadMag (issue 2) and Demoniak (issue 7) shares 2nd place
Digital Press (issue 3) takes 3rd place

I prefer the text to be split into two columns, like seen in Ovation and BadMag (and others), and it's especially nice when small pictures are thrown into the text here and there. Relaxing music is also an important factor to me, and Ovation, BadMag and Demoniak all has this. Demoniak is a great mag, with a really appealing interface and great music. The only thing it lacks is some pictures in the text, and the two columns. I understand it would only be possible to throw in MODE 2 pictures or clipart, but that would also be fine.

The preview of Ovation issue 6 looks awesome. It's a bit sad it was never finished.

Digital Press uses too big fonts and too wild music for my taste. The animated speakers also distracts me from reading.

All those 4 discmags runs nicely on a CPC464 with 128k, which I really think they should as well. BadMag even runs with only 64k. (So if there are any CPC464 users out there feeling like reading an old discmag, BadMag issue 2 is the one to download).

So.... has all CPC discmags died nowadays?

Grim

All discmags are dead. I think the last one was Demoniak 7.

We (Arkos) planned to release a 8th issue of Demoniak but honestly, with Internet, people are now used to get their news, infos and releases on a daily basis and don't care that much about discmag.

However, there's rumors of a new discmag for quite some time now, but the project seems to be on hold (and I don't know if it's french content will be translated into English :)

Gryzor

I think that it'd be neat if someone programmed a discmag that would run on a PC, but with a CPC look, resolution, colours etc...

voXfReaX

#8
Quote from: Gryzor on 08:26, 02 April 09
I think that it'd be neat if someone programmed a discmag that would run on a PC, but with a CPC look, resolution, colours etc...

A CPC-related mag that can be found is CPCOxygen! I do not know if many CPC users read it, as it didn't have a lot of promotion...
In case, someone wants to read the February's issue,

.:.click here.:.

we speak,
voxfreax

Gryzor

Hahaha! I didn't read your msg very carefully and thought you had also made a discmag, so I went over and started clicking around... :D

mr_lou

Quote from: Grim on 19:14, 01 April 09We (Arkos) planned to release a 8th issue of Demoniak but honestly, with Internet, people are now used to get their news, infos and releases on a daily basis and don't care that much about discmag.

I know you're right. But I just find discmags so much more cozy than the internet. The relaxing background music, pixel-art, and the whole feeling... it just isn't there on a website.
I also don't consider a discmag to be strictly about news. It must contain a lot of other stuff as well, like interviews and maybe some nostalgic memories written by various users/readers. Of course all (or at least most) articles has to be something CPC related, i.e. no articles about cars or tennis.

The pixelart with limited colors, the knowing you're offline, the relaxing background chip-music. A website just doesn't give you these things. I think it would be neat if the community could work together to make a single CPC discmag.
We could make multiple versions though, if we lacked a challenge. ;)

  • One for the CPC with pixel-graphics (maybe some pictures rendered to MODE 1 etc) and background chip-music
  • One for web with real photos and MIDI or MOD background music
  • Maybe even a mobile version for cell phones with MIDI background music  8)

...anyway, I'll take a closer look at Oxygen now.  ::) Maybe I'll be surprised, and find that coziness hidden somewhere. I could try putting some of my own music on as background music.  :P

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