|
SOFLOW SOFTWARE |
| 16K/48K CASS. |
Doodlebug is a drawing program which is suited to children of all ages
(including middleage!) as well as artistically inclined adults. With a
little bit of knowledge in loading files, it could also serve as a
very useful utility to add graphics to your programs. The program uses
Graphics 11 to allow you 16 colours on the screen and drawings are
made by using the joystick to move a cursor to the drawing position
and then pressing the fire button to mark a point. Move the cursor to
a new position and a line will be drawn connecting the two points. If
you want continuous drawing,press the SELECT button. Along the bottom
of the screen are 16 'paint pots' and you change colours by 'dipping'
your cursor in a pot and pressing the fire button. One very useful
facility is being able to change the whole background colour by
dipping your cursor in a pot and pressing OPTION.
Drawings made are saved to tape or disk as files. If Soflow could
supply a short listing to purchasers which would enable these files to
be loaded into other programs, then Doodlebug would become a very
useful graphics utility at a very reasonable price.
If you are at all artistically inclined, Doodlebug will allow you to
compose some very sophisticated pictures and then save them to impress
your family and friends later. If you have kids, just load in the
program and give them a joystick, it will keep them quiet for hours.
A couple of minor criticisms are the lack of a fill command for
covering areas you have boxed in and the fact that the cursor moves
very slowly. Perhaps I am too impatient. The company sent me a tape
with a ready-made picture and very impressive it was. With a little
time you should be able to produce similar drawings.
Soflow promise to bring out a range of Atari programs at about £6.50
which must be good news. Doodlebug is a promising start. It does not
claim to give all the facilities of Atari's new Paint, but then it
does not cost £30.
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