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                             GRAC - What A Bummer!

                                  bY SKiDZ/A51


How  many  of  you have GRAC V2? OK! How many of you have actually did
anything with it? Nobody?

Hmmm, just what I thought. I felt let down by the whole package when I
received my free copy from Steve Bye a good while back.

Not  only  was  the manual the biggest lot of shyte I'd ever read, but
the  scripting  left  a  lot  to  be  desired - especially if you're a
non-programmer!

I  then  decdided  to try out the Grac Tutorial disk and felt let down
yet  again!  One simple text file full of stuff relating to GRAC V1.1!
What a rip off!

I  was  then  even  more  shocked to find out that the author of GRAC,
Edmund  Clay  had stopped all support for his project! Why? I dunno! I
can  only assume that he made around £1500 from sales of GRAC V1, GRAC
V1.1,  GRAC  V2,  GRAC  Tutorial and Epsilon 9 and decided he had made
enough money to be happy!

Seriously, Ed did make a fortune from the sales of GRAC related stuff!
I  don't know the exact figure, but it was well into 3 or maybe even 4
figures!

Anyway,  as  most  of  you know by now, the only people to release any
GRAC created games were:

Edmund Clay (Author of GRAC) and....drum roll please....

his brother John Clay!!!

Not one other single person had released a GRAC game in over a year of
it's  first  release! this made me wonder just why a big selling title
such as GRAC didn't have much of a user base releasing games.

So  being the chappy that I am, I asked everyone I knew who owned GRAC
to  tell  me why they didn't use it. Their reply...Couldn't understand
it all!

It's  true.  GRAC is supposed to be aimed at non-programmers, but that
is  total  bull!  You do need to know a bit of Basic to get working on
the scripts.

Anyway,  to cut a long story short, I've now did something about this.
I  spent  a good deal of time and created what is known as The GRAC V2
Tutor. this tutorial isn't just a simple single text file, Oh No!

Spread over 2 disks, this HUGE Amigaguide runs through every button on
your  GRAC  Editor  right  down to what each command is used for also.
Basically this is what Ed's printed manual should have been like. It's
easy  to  follow, it has example pictures to help you out as well as a
neat util to help you with the GRAC flash command and Hex values :)

As  if that's not enough, I then decided to do a proper run through of
writing  a  small  game. Again as part of the Amigaguide, it's easy to
follow in simple steps.

Anyone who owns GRAC V2 needs these disks. No kidding. You might think
I'm  blowing  my  own  trumpet,  but  the  peeps  who have tested this
tutorial out so far have followed it with ease.

GRAC  is  no  longer  a  problem.  Why  leave  it  lying in the corner
gathering  dust?  Get  it  out  and  get  my tutorial. Be creative and
release an adventure game with it.

What?  Oh yeah, my tutorial is currently being handled by F1 Software.
As  yet,  I'm  not  too sure about distribution, but you could contact
Phil for more info.

phil@ware5d.demon.co.uk

or myself anytime...

andy@agasinc.demon.co.uk

(GRAC  2 Tutorial is now available from F1 Software for £4.99 +postage
for 2-disks)

Please  note that Steve Bye no longer runs F1 licenceware/Software! It
is  now  the  sole  possesion  of  Phil Wilkinson (The guy who rund 5D
Licenceware and Saddletramps PD too)

There should be another article in this mag containing all the address
details and phone numbers etc. So go check it out...

SKiDZ/A51

BTW  Make  sure  you  don't  order  the old GRAC Tutorial (1 disk). My
tutorial is on 2 disks. Just state the one by Andy Gibson if unsure :)

ttfn