READER COMMENT

The Color of Things to Come

I have a 520ST with a monochrome monitor. I have a friend who has only a color monitor. We both read ST-Log regularly and both have a very similar complaint. Many of your programs run on either color systems or monochrome systems, but not both. It'd be nice if you could only publish programs that run properly on both systems. That way, nobody has to miss out on a great program. For instance, I have to go over to my friend's house if I want to play "Crin's Castle" or "Strathello" from your May issue.

—Tom Reddy
Alton, Illinois

It's not untypical for game software to run only on color systems, since color can be very important to game graphics. And since the May issue had an adventure theme, it concentrated on games.

However, there's more to consider than what type of software a program is. A magazine like ST-Log relies on its freelance contributors for the bulk of the material published. Frequently, these contributors do not own both a color and monochrome system, so can't develop their programs to work on both. ST-Log's programmers simply don't have the time to rewrite each program we choose to publish so that it's compatible with all systems, and we don't like to turn away a good program simply because it's limited to one type of system. We try very hard to please everybody—and it is certainly true that a program that runs on all systems has a better chance of being accepted for publication than one that has a more limited audience—but sometimes we must rely on our judgement and publish programs that we feel are exceptional enough to merit attention, even if they won't be usable by every reader.

All the programs in the April issue ran on both color and monochrome systems. The June issue contained two programs for all systems (ST Font Printer and Mouse-ka-source) and one each for color or monochrome only (Decimal Destroyer and BASIC Draw, respectively). This issue contains only one program, Moonlord ST, that is limited to one system type.