Thursday, March 31, 2022

Title-Designer



I made a demo screen!

By sheer chance, I found a demo/intro maker the other day, which is also something I've never actually seen before. It was released in 1987/89 for the Atari ST by Hans-Conrad Stamm. That's right, The Blade Runners! Just when you think you know your ST stuff, something appears out of the blue. Well, new to me!

Creating your demo screen is a cinch because this is a remarkably easy program to use. The intro can feature scrollers, colourful rasters, music, etc. It's up to you to decide what and how to make your screen appear. Those with the skills to make their own images/sampled music will get the most from Title Designer.

( Note, there are minor visual issues on anything other than the original Atari ST )

Over the last few days, I have made several intros and what's immediately impressive is how effortlessly I could make screens bursting with colour - I only wish it supported traditional YM tunes with samples utilizing the STe DMA hardware. Regardless, this is a belting program stuffed with loads of features and I love it.

Come on ST folk, get the program downloaded as I would love to see your creations - let me know in the comments below. I'll upload my demo screen to Demozoo for those wanting to download it!

Okay, here are a few cool Title-Designer screenshots to check out...

Remember reading those menu disk scrollers? Well, now you can write your own!


Chose their colours. Yes, that is colours rather than one single colour.


Why not add a couple of visual effects to your drawings?


I thought this was a powerful feature to have before loading another program or ST desktop.


And here's the result after mere minutes. Yes, minutes! (credit to unknown for the superb image)



I personally think this is a great piece of software. Try it!!

Sunday, March 20, 2022

Persistence Of Vision




POV Menu Disk #099

Persistence Of Vision (aka POV) was one of the best demo-packers for the Atari ST. They made 165 compilation disks, most programmed by Mac Sys Data, with members including Ozymandias, Boris, Gonzo, Aly, and Dr Syne. Numerous disks featured music by Tao, Lotus, An Cool, David Whittaker, Ben Daglish, and more.

I admire POV because they brought multiple productions to users like me. People who couldn't afford to buy (or ... ahem... freely source) everything flooding the ST world back then. Plus their compilations were professionally produced and crammed with loads of extra goodies I would probably never have seen.

I've chosen to record their 99th menu because it's a great screen and marked the end of an era (not the end of the group as they continued). Along with their copier, this floppy disk features four demos: Life's A Bitch by TLB, The New Year Demo by X-Troll, Stuffy's Demo, and TSB/Adrenaline Intro by Kids Ghost Brothers.

This disk isn't the greatest measure of what made the POV menus so appealing - there are better - but I'm sure the infamous sampled soundtrack from Life's A Bitch will put a smile on your face. So funny!!


Credits for Menu #099

Boris - Code & Graphics
Ozymandias - Graphics
Count Zero - Music
 
Links and a bundle of other POV Menu screenshots

Persistence Of Vision are on YouTube!
Exxos has a great POV section on his website.
Demozoo has a section dedicated to POV.
If you think this is all, boy, you're so wrong! (geddit??) [AtariCrypt]



   

   

   

   

   

Random ATARI ST articles from the archives