@2{3 CHEERZ 4 F1! @3 }By Andrew Campbell @4 This short article is basically a well-deserved thankyou and congratulations to Steve & Belinda Bye for creating what is undoubtedly the best and most successful Licenceware scheme ever to have graced the Amiga. Without them, many programmers would probably have earned a big £0 for their hard work, and I think it's about time the magazines recognised the DIFFERENCE between Licenceware and plain old PD. @1 The first game I wrote on the Amiga, using AMOS naturally :-), was called PARADOX and I sent it to Europress Software for their comments; it does say in the AMOS/Compiler manuals that Europress "would be delighted" to see any productions created using their package - I read this and smiled. Yeah! Why not? That's nice. Very nice. :-) @5 I got a letter back from them saying PARADOX "wasn't the kind of program they're interested in publishing" (er, no Eurobaby, no no, I wasn't OFFERING it to you... dear me!) and that I should send it to the Official AMOS PD Library. @4 (YOU WHAT? Typical! A 100 level puzzler that took me months to code, dumped into PD? I think not! I promptly scanned the magazines for a different market... and found our good old buddies (oh less sarcasm, please) CLR!). @1 Now at the time, CLR weren't doing too badly; they had a fair few nice looking titles and some excellent reviews in the magazines. I submitted PARADOX via NBS PD (at the time, my favourite library!) and the bloke there said PARADOX was superb and would like to have it for CLR! I was over the moon: dance-about-the-house-with-my-parts-hanging- out-time! etc :-) (er, I hope no females are reading this; I was just kidding, of course. Well, about the dancing bit I mean. :-) @5 My first few cheques were very promising, and averaged around £30-£40 every three months or so. I wrote another game, WHITE RABBITS, which was also snapped up by CLR, though it didn't do quite as well as PARAODX. I tried submitting BLACK DAWN not long later ---> they didn't like this - and what a mistake eh fellow PD-ers? Heh heh heh! And then I even tried ARTISTIX (an absolute Shareware success!!) but I had to wait approximately TWO MONTHS for a reply about THAT one, and even when it came they rejected it! (cue very bad swear-words!!!) Two of the best selling Black Dragon titles and they turn em down!@4 Oh well. Now then, that's what caused me to move to Shareware.... @1 I must admit, Shareware is very very good when it works, but it IS very hit and miss. Artistix was my first Shareware title and it's STILL selling to this day (well over 200 copies!), and after that I got lucky again with ILLUSIONS and BLACK DAWN II. But suddenly - when all those titles were out there and selling - the workload became not just small, but ABSOLUTELY HUGE! I was licking stamps in my sleep! (yes STAMPS... we'll have less of those thoughts, thankyou :-). @5 Add to this absolutely BUGGER ALL money from CLR (and I STILL ain't had a cheque for almost a YEAR from them!!) and you have one slightly peed off coder! By the time BLACK DAWN II had been released, I was well aware of a new scheme called (oh can we guess?) F1 LICENCEWARE but was a little wary of approach considering my experience with CLR. @3 But alas, (or rather, AT LAST) I polished off my latest game - Legions of Dawn! - and offered it to F1. Thank the Lord they said they'd have it (despite me changing my mind about giving it to them about... oooh, a thousand times, eh Steve? :-) and I was delighted with the friendly letters and general easiness of it all. @4 A far cry from the hellish delays and nasty, unexplained & harsh rejections from CLR (which now stands for Crap Licenceware Rejects, by the way :-) @1 I was so impressed I decided to focus my next production - MAGNETIC FICTION - at immediate Licenceware release (without any change of mind!) and so was born the first ever professional Licenceware short story collection! A disk like this NEEDS an outlet like Licenceware - Shareware would be difficult (how could I do it - Split the stories in HALF and get people to register to read the REST?! Possible, er, but I think NOT!!!). I'm only glad I didn't have to submit the disk to CLR instead of F1 (who replied in a bowel-looseningly fast THREE DAYS!) ... Hell, I might have STILL been tapping my fingers with CLR! @5 Whilst on the subject of F1 and MF (er, get that?), a big thankyou must go to Steve for contributing a story to the next Magnetic Fiction disk (which I'm slowly banging together & improving!). Now that is unheard of programmer support!! @3 The difference I think between CLR and F1 is the people who run it, and respect given to supporting programmers. When a CLR envelope came slithering through the letterbox I had to wipe slime off it and bung it in the fridge for several hours before warily opening it in @3preparation for the unfriendly and snarling horrors inside... but with F1 letters, I'm pleased to say, it's "aha! Cool! Let's open this one first!" - and then cue the feverish ripping open of an envelope, some pleasant moments reading, and a few laughs thrown in for good measure. @4 I hope many more programmers who have developed quality products consider giving F1 the support they deserve before rocketing off into the world of Shareware, which is a dodgy market to say the least. It really is a pleasure and makes all the difference when the people who are marketing your effort are friendly. @1 RIGHT! Document saved, machine switched off, praise-mode de-activated, effect of drugs worn off. Ahhhh, I feel much better. :-) @5 Nice words from Andrew there. I agree with you m8, F1 certainly is a great company and Steve and Belinda are really nice too. I think everyone who has ever been in touch with Steve or Belinda will already know that anyway, but for those who havn't, get in touch and see just how a company should be run. Whatsmore, F1 Licenceware are dedicated to our beloved Amiga and Amos too. Three cheers for Steve and Belinda. @1Andy Gibson.