Animated Screen Maker

SCREEN BLENDER


by Mark Turner





This one's a bit complicated to explain (but I'll do my best). What it


does is let you design two screens from coloured blocks and then, by


cunning use of the FLASH command, combines them into one animated


screen. And the fact that FLASH is used means that the animation


continues no matter what else the computer's doing, so it's ideal for


loading screens. It's an old idea, but one which you don't see used


much. (Erm, I wonder why.)





It's another Basic/Hex program, so type in the Basic, save it with


SAVE "blender" LINE 9998, and then use the Hexloader to enter the Hex


and save it after the Basic.





On reloading you'll be presented with a menu giving four options -


Make Screen 1, Make Screen 2, Blend Screens and Save Final Screen. The


first two take you into a simple screen designer, with a cursor moved


round by pressing Q, A, O and P. Space places a block on the screen, M


deletes one, I changes the block colour, C clears the screen and E


returns you to the menu. Once you've drawn two (rather chunky)


pictures, select Blend Screens and you'll be shown the resulting


combination. If it's what you're after, Save it, otherwise edit it


until it's right.





While the program works fine as it is there's plenty of room for


expansion, particularly in the area of making animation easier.