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***************************************
* * *
* MAGIC STORYBOOK *
* (c) Jayne and Richard Dunn 1992 *
* *
***************************************
Authors
Jayne and Richard Dunn
26 Bennett Drive
Warwick
CV34 6QJ
ENGLAND
tel 01926 496691 >6pm
15th December 1994
Welcome to MAGIC STORYBOOK, a truly
unique, interactive package for children
of all ages!
MAGIC STORYBOOK is not public domain
software but shareware.
This product is subject to the copyright
of the authors.
It may only be copied in accordance with
the instuctions given in the section on
registration.
It may only be distributed by libraries
which agree not to tamper in any way
with the code or document files.
For full terms of usage please read the
section on registration.
**************************************
MAGIC STORYBOOK though originally
produced in 1991 is still one of the
most versatile educational packages
currently available for the ST.
Children can use this remarkable
program:
-To effortlessly create illustrated
stories, cartoons or animated models
-To bring these stories to life
with easy animation
-To add atmospheric sound effects
-To save and print out their work
The use of this program can be as
simple or as complex as children
wish it to be: the stories that
they produce will be limited only
by their progressing abilities and
their imaginations.
MAGIC STORYBOOK was received with rave
reviews on the TV and in the press.
We were asked with our daughter Rebecca
to appear on Rolf Harris' Cartoon Club
in September 1992. He was very impressed
and said:
-"It's terrific! It's great! It's a joy
for children!"
-"What a magic storybook!"
ST Format magazine gave the program a
three page colour review (November 1991)
and its reviewer said:
-"Where MAGIC STORYBOOK really scores is
that it's got virtually all of these
facilities (animation, word processor,
art package and sound editor) in one
package, and integrates them all in a
very innovative way........there are so
many levels and so many aspects in it
that there isn't really an upper age
limit. This program will grow and
develop as your child does - something
of a rarity these days."
MAGIC STORYBOOK is now available for
anyone to try in this new updated
shareware version, specially made for ST
FORMAT. The only difference between this
and the full version is that only one
saved game filename can be made and this
version will not run on a hard disc.
For help on how to use MAGIC STORYBOOK
go to the HOW TO USE section of this
file.
***************************************
* *
* REGISTRATION AS A MAGIC *
* STORYBOOK USER *
* *
***************************************
MAGIC STORYBOOK contains all of the
main program, editor and 3 out of the 5
of the stories available on the
original MAGIC STORYBOOK, and is
available for you to try entirely free
for 1 month. If after that time you want
to continue to use the program then
please register as a user with us.
This will cost you...
*UK users............10 Pounds sterling
*All other users.....12 Pounds sterling
Please only send..
*Postal orders or
*Cheques payable to J.DUNN
drawn on UK banks only or
*International postal orders if you are
not a UK resident
for the correct sum to...
Jayne and Richard Dunn
26 Bennett Drive
Warwick, ENGLAND
CV34 6QJ
On receipt of your registration fee we
will register you as a user and send to
you:
* A 20000 word illustrated manual
complete with tutorials and
parent/teacher helps. This manual
was originally written by a teacher
and former ST Format educational
software reviewer.
* 2 brand new stories
* 1 meg hard disc version of
MAGIC STORYBOOK
This version has the MAGIC
STORYBOOK program and EDITOR in the
same program. It is ideal for users
with at least 1 megabyte of RAM. It
also is fully Hard Disc
installable, making it ideal for
schools
* Sprite to picture convertor. This
allows any sprite from any
MAGIC STORYBOOK story to be used in
your own original stories
* Back up for MAGIC STORYBOOK
users.
You will then have essentially the same
product that was available in the shops
at 29 Pounds 95p for as little as
10 Pounds and the cost of this disc. Not
a bad deal for you, something for us for
the work that we have put in and an
incentive to develop MAGIC STORYBOOK in
the future. We are sure that you will
consider it the best 10 pounds you have
ever spent on childrens software.
The best thing to do is just try this
program and see for yourself how much
fun it is to use. You and your children
will be able to experiment with all the
functions of MAGIC STORYBOOK.
We hope you enjoy this program and if
you do, we hope that you will register.
If you do not want to use it however
please pass it on to somebody else. IT
MAY BE COPIED FOR THIS PURPOSE ONLY but
only provided all the files on this disc
are kept together (in fact MAGIC
STORYBOOK won't work if any files are
altered or left out). It may be exactly
what they are looking for.
***************************************
* *
* LET'S SPELL FIRST FIVE *
* HUNDRED WORDS *
* *
***************************************
The LET'S SPELL series of programs were
widely acclaimed as the best spelling
programs on the Atari ST and the Amiga.
They are now available in Archimedes and
IBM PC formats and have so far sold over
10,000 copies in this country alone.
Let's Spell 1st Five Hundred Words
knocks the socks off the old Let's Spell
series. Not only does it contain 3 times
as many words as each of the original
Let's Spell programs but also has each
word in English and French. If that is
not enough it also contains an editor
which will allow you to include your own
words in any european language that uses
ascii characters.
It is only available for the Atari ST
and will work with a 1/2 meg of memory.
It will NOT run on TOS 2.06!
Would your children or schoolchildren
benefit from a spelling program that
had:
* 500 of the most commonly used
words in English and French
* The facility to change ANY of
these words
* Varying difficulty levels age 4
to 40
* Remedial teaching potential
* 25 Attractive interactive screens
that can be individually altered
* Multiple teacher control options
to customise the spelling task for
your children
* Built in synthesized speech in
English and French which also
can be altered
* The facility for you to convert
it to ANY European language
Interested?
Then this will cost you...
*UK users............10 Pounds sterling
*All other users.....12 Pounds sterling
Please only send..
*Postal orders or
*Cheques payable to J.DUNN
drawn on UK banks only or
*International postal orders if you are
not a UK resident
for the correct sum to...
Jayne and Richard Dunn
26 Bennett Drive
Warwick, ENGLAND
CV34 6QJ
***************************************
* *
* How to use MAGIC STORYBOOK *
* (c) J&R DUNN 1991 *
* *
***************************************
This is a very brief account of how to
use MAGIC STORYBOOK. The best thing
is to try all the control icons and see
what they do...most are obvious.
Remember if you register you will
receive a detailed printed and
illustrated manual and tutorial.
L click means click the left mouse
button
R click means click the right mouse
button
If you cannot see immediately what a
function does then try clicking with
both mouse buttons and then move the
pointer off the menu bar. You can't
crash the program by clicking on
anything. If you get to the stage that
you want to understand how the more
complex functions operate then you
probably need to register following
which you will receive all the goodies
mentioned earlier and full instructions.
***************
GETTING STARTED
***************
You can put this disc into drive A and
boot up the computer if you just want to
see what MAGIC STORYBOOK can do. If you
want to do more with it though you will
need to make up some discs.
Check the contents of the AUTO folder of
this ST Format disc.
If it contains a file called
MSBK1040.PRG then you have a 1 Meg
version of MAGIC STORYBOOK. You a need a
1 Meg ST to run this.
If it contains 2 files called
MSBK520.PRG and MSBKEDIT then you have a
1/2 Meg version of MAGIC STORYBOOK.
If it contains all 3 of the above files
then you have both versions of
MAGIC STORYBOOK.
If you have a 1 meg ST always use the
1 Meg version.
1) If you have a 1 meg version of
MAGIC STORYBOOK. We suggest that you
copy this disk and call it the MAGIC
STORY disc. Go to step 4.
2) If you have the 1/2 meg version of
MAGIC STORYBOOK. We suggest that you
that you make 2 copies of this disc.
Call one the MAGIC STORY disc and the
other the EDITOR disc.
3) Open the AUTO folder of the EDITOR
disc and delete the file MSBK.PRG. You
now have a working disc and an editor
disc.
4) If you want to save your stories or
pictures, format 2 blank discs.
Call one the WORKBOOK disc and the other
the PICTURES disc.
5) Create a folder called WORKBOOK on
the WORKBOOK disc and then create a
folder called PICTURES on the PICTURES
disc.
The WORKBOOK is used for saving your
stories. The PICTURES disc is used for
storing Degas PI1 or Neochrome picture
files. Any part of these files can be
grabbed into the MAGIC STORYBOOK
Editor.
****************************
LOADING MAGIC STORYBOOK
****************************
Place either this disc or the MAGIC
STORY disk in drive A and switch on
computer.
At the first menu select a story using
the mouse. L click to load it.
MAGIC STORYBOOK loads in a story
and runs a demo of the first page.
L click to stop this.
L click on MENU to go to main menu.
*********************
THE MAIN MENU SCREEN
********************
You will see a message reminding you
that MAGIC STORYBOOK is Shareware and
that a limited save is on. This means
that any work that you want to save will
always be saved with the filename
NOREGYET. On registration this message
disappears and any number of files can
then be saved with any name at all.
Remember that the registered version can
also be used on a hard disc.
SCENE
This takes you to the picture designer.
STORY
This takes you to the story editor.
SOUND
This takes you to the sound editor.
PLAY
The play button allows a child to
play back the story as an animated play.
This is cartoon making made easy.
EDIT
HAVE YOU REGISTERED YET?
This is only accessible if you have
have the 1 meg MAGIC STORYBOOK program.
However MAGIC STORYBOOK comes with
a seperate Editor program.
With this editor:
-sprites can be completely changed or
just altered -animation movements can be
edited under direct visual control
-backgrounds can be effortlessly redrawn
using a built in paint package
-background blocks can be edited
-artwork from other packages can be
imported
To use this Editor see the section on
using the Editor.
Look at the demonstration story for an
idea of what can be done with the
MAGIC STORYBOOK EDITOR.
PRINT
Print your story as:
-text only
-it appears on the screen along with the
picture
-an outline for colouring in
-to disk
You will need an epson compatible 9 pin
printer with double density graphics
capability connected and on line.
Printing to disk as a degas pi1 file
allows users with incompatible printers
to see their work in print.
-Print a page to disc. You will need a
PICTURES disc to do this.
LOAD
-load in a new story
-load a demonstration story
-load a previously saved story.
SAVE
Save your masterpiece to disk.
You will need your WORKBOOK disc for
this.
One double sided disk will save about 5
stories.
Remember your stories can only be saved
with the name NOREGYET. This is done
automatically by the programme. The
registered version removes this
constraint.
(5+/8+)
L click.. to toggle between age modes.
QUIT
This is not available as an icon but if
the ESC keyboard key is held down for 2
seconds while on this screen the
programme ends.
Also pressing CONTROL/C will quit
the programme.
All the screens are accessible from this
main menu screen.
Also you can always get to the picture
and story screens by clicking on the
picture and the story page.
Turning pages is done by clicking on the
left and right page edge. Actually on
the yellow clasp. This can't be done
from the main menu screen.
****************
THE SCENE SCREEN
****************
SELECT SPRITE
L click.. on sprite to pick it up.
Position sprite then..
L click again.. to place it on picture.
R click.. to drop it .
MENU, STORY and SOUND
As before.
OOPS
L click.. moves mouse pointer into the
picture area. Place pointer over the
Sprite to be removed. It will flash. L
click again to erase it. To exit move
pointer away from picture.
R click.. clears all the sprites.
PLAY
L click.. animate picture.
R click.. animate picture with sound
effects.
UP/DOWN arrows
These alter sprite priority (ie Z axis
position).
Default is automatic (ie higher sprites
are behind lower sprites).
R click.. automatic priority
L click.. manual priority.
L click again and position pointer
on sprite to be moved.
L click.. to move sprite
backwards.
R click.. to move sprite
forwards.
Move pointer off picture to exit.
BACK
L click.. turns pointer into background
block (a tree).
L and R cursor keys will change pointer
into other background blocks.
L click again.. to paint block onto
background.
R click.. to exit.
This creates easy backgrounds in
minutes.
L click.. moves background on one.
R click.. restores default background.
VIEW
L click.. selects next pages sprites.
R click.. restores default sprites for
page.
An easy way to create your own story
using the existing sprites.
The SCENE designer has been created to
provide the utmost flexibility to the
creative child. To this end there is no
limit to where they can position the
sprites on the page. Variation of this
can produce some very interesting
effects. Furthermore the sprites have
been made to provide growing interest.
Many sprites only become obvious after
they are animated.
****************
THE STORY SCREEN
****************
MENU, SCENE and SOUND
As before.
By default the text is already on the
page.
R click on OOPS will clear it.
All words are colour coded.
Red.. verbs
Blue.. nouns
Green.. adjectives and descriptive
adverbs
Grey.. prepositions and other words
5+ option
Shows each sentence one by one.
L click.. on word will select that word.
R click.. on word box for new sentence.
8+ option
Shows all the words for that page at
once.
L click.. on word will select that word.
OOPS
L click.. removes last word
R click.. removes all words
, " ? . !
Click to select punctuation
VIEW
L click.. selects next pages words.
R click.. restores default words for
that page.
View allows more complex sentence
construction by selection from a wider
range of words.
EDIT
L click.. turns on word processor.
R click/ESC key.. turns off word
processor.
The word processor has simple text wrap
and allows any story to be written.
Cursor keys, insert, delete and
backspace keys may be used. CLR/HOME key
erases page and UNDO restores it.
****************
THE SOUND SCREEN
****************
SELECT SOUND
L click.. on blue sounds to select
sound.
MENU, SCENE, STORY
These icons have already been explained.
OOPS
L click.. wipes the last sound and any
wait data with it.
R click.. clears the whole sound string.
PLAY
Play sound string
WAIT
L click.. add 5/5th seconds to end of
sound string.
R click.. add 1/5th second to end of
sound string.
FORWARD/BACK (the left/right arrow
icons)
Play NEXT sounds forward or backwards.
Must be set before choosing the sound.
LOOP and SWEEP
Play NEXT sounds as a loop or
sweep(forward and backwards).
Must be set before choosing the sound.
Must be followed by a wait for this
effect to be played in.
The sound menu has been designed to be
as flexible as possible to allow you the
choice of creating a multitude of
sounds. On the other hand the basic
sounds are availble for a very young
child to put in place.
Please note that samples are 2bit and
therefore not of the best quality. If
enough interest is generated we will be
making available an 8bit sample version
for registered users in the future.
****************
USING THE EDITOR
****************
Some shareware libraries may have put a
program selection menu which is seen on
booting up this disc. If so to use the
Editor just select Editor and it will
load and run.
Otherwise you will have to first make an
EDITOR disc. Refer to Getting Started
for how to do this.
To use the Editor you must first save
out a story to edit. Do this using the
SAVE option from MAGIC STORYBOOK.
This will be saved to your WORKBOOK
disc as a file called NOREGYET.
Now switch off the computer and boot up
the EDITOR disc. When it has loaded and
run load your saved story in. It will
be called NOREGYET.
You can now alter any aspect of the
backgrounds, sprites and even movements.
You can also grab sprites and
backgrounds created on your favourite
art package directly into MAGIC
STORYBOOK. These pictures must be in the
PICTURES folder of your PICTURES disc.
When you have made your changes goto
EXIT and then save your new file with a
different name to the WORKBOOK disc.
This can then be loaded into MAGIC
STORYBOOK. See LOAD for further help.
Complete instructions on every aspect of
the Editor are in the MAGIC STORYBOOK
manual. This is available only on
registration with us as a user.
We hope that you and your children
enjoy this programme as much as ours
have. We would welcome any comments you
have and would be willing to answer any
queries by registered users only.
Jayne and Richard Dunn
26 Bennett Drive
Warwick,ENGLAND
CV34 6QJ
tel 01926 496691 >6pm
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International TOS Software Catalog · Winter, 1992 |
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