THE FINAL FRONTIER - CONTRIBUTIONS ------------------------------------ As with any magazine, be it on paper, disk or whatever, we need your contributions to make it work. We need articles (for our regular series or just one-off items) either on paper or on disk, artwork, music (original tunes only - we can't accept conversions of tunes from the films, original series or The Next Generation because of the current situation with Paramount - just to be on the safe side!), animations (preferably as ANIM files - we can crunch these), demos, utilities and anything else as long as it is STAR TREK or STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION orientated. If you send software, we would prefer it to be uncrunched (unless it is a multi-load) as we can crunch them ourselves with PowerPacker Professional. We would also prefer software in a CLI-runnable form. We can't accept software that needs entire disks or uses special disk formats. This only causes us problems when compiling the disks. ART --- All art must be ORIGINAL - we will not accept any digitised images from episodes or the films, whether they are touched up or not except in RARE circumstances. Please send the art to us as standard IFF, HAM or executable files (do NOT crunch either of these). If you want to send art on paper, we do have access to a scanner, but we would prefer art that is no wider than 4 inches as this is the width of the scanner! We can scan larger images, but this involves joining two or more scans together! Either that, or we have to use a photocopier to reduce the image and, unless it's just line art, the quality will deteriorate! We are also after art to use as backdrops for our menu screens. These can be in any resolution, but please make sure that the images will look good with white text overlayed and that the art will not obscure the text in any way. PHOTOS ------ If you send in photos for the convention reports or to accompany any reviews/ articles that you have written, please make sure that your name and address is written on the back of each photo so we can make sure that all the photos are returned to their correct owners! If you want any specific captions to go with the photos, write those on the back as well. ALL photos will be returned. ANIMATIONS ---------- If you send in animations, please make sure that, again, they are not digitised and that they need no more than 1 MEG to run. Also, leave them in an uncrunched format and make sure that the animation (with all it's player and sound files if any) takes up a MAXIMUM of 750K. Any larger than this and we can't use it. However, if the animation is really good, we may be interested as long as it is a silent animation using the Anim #5 format as these can be crunched with Powerpacker. However, they must be exceptionally good, as large anims will need more than 1 MEG to decrunch! MUSIC ----- As far as music is concerned we would rather you send the tunes to us as modules (specify what version of what utility you use) along with the appropriate source code (preferably for DEVPAC) so we can compile them. We would rather have the tunes as modules as we can pass them on to programmers or artists to join up with other work. However, if you insist on compiling them, please make sure that they are FULLY multi-tasking and that they need BOTH mice buttons to stop them. Also could you make sure that they will run on a standard A500. If you do compile your music then please DON'T crunch them! We would rather use PowerPacker Professional on them - it's more efficient than any others! Finally could you leave 3 or 4 seconds free at the end of the tune before starting it again - it just sounds better. As I said earlier, we only want original tunes. We can't use conversions of tunes from the films/episodes because of the restrictions Paramount are placing on PD software. GAMES ----- Although we'd love to see them, we can't use any TREK-related games that are sent to us at the moment because of the current situation with Paramount. If this changes in the near future, we'll let you know. There's no point in sending non-Trek based games as there's no real point in us using up disk space on these! ARTICLES -------- The type of article is entirely up to you - we'll use almost anything! However we'd love to see reviews, fiction, character studies and anything else! We'd also like to hear from you for our Reader's Letters - we want your comments on this mag and on anything to do with TREK or the NEXT GENERATION. If you want to send in your articles on disk, we can also accept Atari ST and PC formatted 3.5-inch disks as well as Amiga disks, as long as the files are just ASCII files. Please note that if you use Atari or PC disks then please limit the size of the files to 720K per disk and make sure the disks are formatted to 360K or 720K only as we can't read high-density disks. Again, as with all other files, we don't want articles crunched - this will only cause problems if we decided to link two or more articles together. Also, please limit the width of your articles to 75 columns. DEMOS ----- If you send in demos then we ask that you include your REAL name in any text and that there is NO swearing in the scrollers. If you do use foul language, we will format the disk IMMEDIATELY. All the graphics, sound and fonts must be brand new and exclusive to the particular demo. Finally we would be grateful if you could make sure that the demo will run on a standard A500 and that there are NO compatibility problems for Kickstart 1.2 or 2.0 or owners of 1 Meg machines etc. Again, we would prefer the demos uncrunched. If there are any coders out there who want to create a demo, but you don't know a musician, then let us know. We are going to try and build up a library of spare tunes ready to send out to coders etc. or to use on the disk. OTHER CODERS ------------ We are also looking for a couple of coders to join our regular team to work on each issue, creating intros, custom bootblocks, designing a new menu system and generally helping out in all areas of coding. As with everything else, we can't pay for your work, but we will be extremely grateful! PRINTERS(!) ----------- We are also looking for one or two people with printers who are willing to print out copies of articles and artwork for us from each issue. We would prefer the printers to be Laser, Bubblejet or 24-pin Dot Matrix printers and if possible in colour for printing of artwork. Again, as with all the other contributors, you'll get a copy of each issue for helping out. The reason for this is that one or two of our major readers (Titan Books, Richard Arnold and Guy Vardaman for example) do not have access to an Amiga so we have to send the magazine to them on paper (or on disk as a text-only mag in the case of Richard and Guy). If we could send them the art as well, it would help them get the "feel" of the magazine. UNUSED MATERIAL --------------- Unfortunately, we can't return disks or articles as this is a non-profit making mag and we can't afford it, and even if you included an SAE we couldn't as we need to hold on to the material until it is used - we still have several items that we couldn't fit into this edition. Sorry! There is one article appearing in the next issue that has over 300K of graphics to accompany it! However, if we DON'T use you work then your disks/articles will be returned as soon as possible. So if you don't get your work back within 8 weeks then it is safe to assume that we're going to use it. Obviously, for overseas readers, allow up to 10 weeks for your unused contributions to be returned. When you send in contributions of any kind, please take note of the following points:- 1. We will not accept anything that has been submitted to any magazine for use on their cover-disks. 2. All software sent becomes the copyright of THE FINAL FRONTIER. We do this to try to protect our contributors from being ripped off by P.D. libraries etc. By keeping the copyright, we can act on behalf of ALL of our authors, having the edge over an individual trying to stop libraries using their work without their permission. We have already had to take steps to stop one PD library from selling THE FINAL FRONTIER and we expect that we'll have to do the same in the future. 3. All contributions must be your own work - we can't accept P.D. titles for copyright reasons. 4. All those whose contributions are used will receive a free copy of the issue that their program/article etc. appears in. Please note that we can't send out free issues to those who send in letters or contributions to our Reader's Chart, our Trivia section or to the Screw-Ups - Sorry! Note that if you would like a personal response to reader's letters you must include a SAE. We will publish as many of the letters we receive as possible each issue. However, we will reply to ALL that include a SAE (outside U.K. send a blank, formatted, checked disk). 5. All contributors will also be entitled to a free advert in the current issue. There is no restriction to the size, but we can only offer text- adverts for free - if you want to send us an advert as a piece of IFF art then you must pay for it. 6. When sending in letters for our letters section, please specify whether you want us to withhold your name and/or address, otherwise we will publish them in full. We give you this warning so that: a) You can be held responsible for what you are saying! b) Other TREK fans can get in touch with you (and probably will!). 7. When contributing, please tell us your FULL name so we can credit you properly - this also covers ourselves incase anyone sends in copyrighted material. Please specify if you don't want us to use your real name, but for legal reasons we need to know it. 8. The material must be EXCLUSIVE to THE FINAL FRONTIER. We will accept non- exclusive material in some cases, as we have with the music for the first three issues, but we would rather have NEW material created for THE FINAL FRONTIER. This is basically to make sure that the quality of the magazine is as high as possible and that we don't fill the disks with old articles, art and music. 9. In any articles etc. please make sure that there is NO swearing in your text. THE FINAL FRONTIER is a "family" fanzine and is aimed at a general audience, so the text content should try and reflect that. Sorry about all those, but it's better to find out now than later! Send all contributions to:- THE FINAL FRONTIER THE FINAL FRONTIER c/o Simon Plumbe c/o Colin Gunn 14 Rousdon Grove 26 Alfred Street Great Barr OR Fenton Birmingham Stoke-On-Trent B43 5HN Staffs ENGLAND ST4 2HH ENGLAND Note - Please make sure that all contributions arrive before 17th November 1992 for inclusion in Issue 4. All items received after this date will be considered for inclusion in Issue 5 unless the release of the mag is delayed (again!) and then we may use them in our fourth issue.