Amiga Format 72/af072a.adf/magic.LZX/readme

Text File | 1988-10-25 | 19.8 KB | 625 lines

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*                      MAGIC STORYBOOK                         *
*              (c) Jayne and Richard Dunn 1992                 *
****************************************************************

Authors
Jayne and Richard Dunn
26 Bennett Drive
Warwick
CV34 6QJ

ENGLAND

tel [phone] >6pm

20th February 1995


Welcome to MAGIC STORYBOOK, a truly unique, interactive package
for children of all ages!

MAGIC STORYBOOK is not public domain software but shareware.

This product is subject to the copyright of the authors.

It may only be copied in accordance with the instuctions given in
the section on registration.

It may only be distributed by libraries which agree not to tamper
in any way with the code or document files.

For full terms of usage please read the section on registration.

MAGIC STORYBOOK is one of the most versatile educational packages
currently available for any computer.  Children can use this
remarkable program:

     -To effortlessly create illustrated stories, cartoons or
     animated models
     -To bring these stories to life with easy animation
     -To add atmospheric sound effects
     -To save and print out their work.

The use of this program can be as simple or as complex as
children wish it to be: the stories that they produce will be
limited only by their progressing abilities and their
imaginations.

Our philosophy has always been to provide not only the very best
in educational software, but also software that children will want
to return to time and time again.  With this unique and fun to use
educational product, children will be able to develop a number of
important basic skills as they play.

MAGIC STORYBOOK is a complex program. This does not, however, mean
that it is difficult to use. At its simplest, children as young as
five will have no trouble in mastering enough commands to be able
to display magically animated stories. As they gain in confidence
and ability, children will find that the package grows with them.
They will soon be adding sounds to stories, altering text and
drawing new background pictures.


Eventually, with the use of the MAGIC STORYBOOK EDITOR they will
be able to write, draw and animate their own unique stories.

This version of MAGIC STORYBOOK is as much of the commercially
available version that will fit on one disc. It comes with two
of the five illustrated tales found in the complete package. With
each of these, a wide range of sprites and sounds is provided to
allow children to bring them to life within minutes of first
loading:

The full list of stories is as follows..

-Goldilocks and the Three Bears...the classical childrens story.

-Robin to the rescue...How Father Christmas was helped by an
ordinary Robin.

- The Angry Dragon: A story set in the days of knights in armour
and fire-breathing dragons.

-The Selfish Giant...Oscar Wilde's classical childrens tale.

- The Christmas Story: The story of the very first Christmas.

****************************************************************

Magic Storybook started as an idea in 1989. At that time my
youngest daughter Rebecca was nearly 5 and she used to bring home
from school, stories she had written and illustrated. These were
extremely short and simple but as all parents have experienced
with their own children, absolutely delightful.

We had achieved some success with the computer spelling series
LET'S SPELL and we thought it would be great if we could write a
program which allowed children to write and illustrate stories to
the maximum level of their abilities. We had seen that our four
year old had creative ideas far beyond her ability to express them
in words and pictures.

Our original program allowed her to write stories using simple
colour coded word lists and illustrate them with static "fuzzy-
felt" like objects placed onto simple backgrounds. We then thought
why should we limit it to only little children as all children
love stories? And so we added:

          animation to the "fuzzy felt"

          easy background creation

          sound effects

          and a simple word processor

We now had a program which allowed children to create a wide
variety of stories easily and with fun. They were also able to
save their masterpieces, print them out to paper or even to
present them as a mini-play.

BUT.........  MAGIC STORYBOOK doesn't just stop there. It was
expanded in 1991 to include a separate animation editor which
allowed a child or adult to alter, or create from scratch every
aspect of the backgrounds, animation objects and animation
movements that were present in the original program. In short it
allowed any story, cartoon or audiovisual animation to be created
with ease.

This was marketed in 1991 by Softstuff Software and sold
throughout the country as MAGIC STORYBOOK (c). MAGIC STORYBOOK was
received with rave reviews on the TV and in the press.

We were asked with our daughter Rebecca  to appear on Rolf Harris'
Cartoon Club in September 1992. He was very impressed and said:

-"It's terrific! It's great! It's a joy for children!"
-"What a magic storybook!"

ST Format magazine gave the program a three page colour review
(November 1991) and its reviewer said:

-"Where MAGIC STORYBOOK really scores is that it's got virtually
all of these facilities (animation, word processor, art package
and sound editor) in one package, and integrates them all in a
very innovative way........there are so many levels and so many
aspects in it that there isn't really an upper age limit. This
program will grow and develop as your child does - something of a
rarity these days."

Amiga Format (January 1992) said:

-"MAGIC STORYBOOK will help you get the most out of your Amiga,
because at its most basic level it is a whole lot of fun:
watching, and adding to, animated stories on your computer. But at
its most difficult, it will probably stretch parents and children
alike."

Amiga Shopper (December 1991) said:

-"I think MAGIC STORYBOOK is going to knock the socks off the
educational software currently available..."

Well with reviews like that you might ask why is  MAGIC STORYBOOK
now being promoted as shareware. The simple answer is the
recession.

MAGIC STORYBOOK sold so well in the first few months in major
retail outlets that demand outstripped supply. Unfortunately
because of the recession 1/2 of the software distributors simply
did not and have still not, 12 months later paid for programs that
they have sold on to the shops. The result for the publisher,
Softstuff was that without payment they couldn't afford to supply
it to the distributors any longer. Nor could they afford to
continue to advertise it.

We realised that there was immense interest still in MAGIC
STORYBOOK and reviews in Atari ST REVIEW in May 1992 considered it
an essential buy. They also said:

-"Rolf Harris raved over the program on television some months
ago, and with some justification".

But no one was able to buy it in the shops and no one really knew
it was available direct from the publisher. We decided therefore
to take back the copyright and because we had invested three years
in making it, decided to make it available easily and cheaply to
as many people who wanted it.

We first tried out our new strategy by launching an ST version as
shareware. This was very successful but we refrained from
producing an Amiga shareware version because shop sales (at
29.95 Pounds Sterling) were still good.

MAGIC STORYBOOK is no longer a new programme but it still unique.
We now feel the time is right to provide an Amiga version of MAGIC
STORYBOOK. We hope you will enjoy using it as much as our children
and those of thousands of others have.


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*                 REGISTRATION AS A  MAGIC                     *
*                      STORYBOOK USER                          *
****************************************************************


MAGIC STORYBOOK contains all of the main program, editor and 2 out
of the 5 of the stories available on the commercial
MAGIC STORYBOOK, and is available for you to try entirely free. If
having done that you want to continue to use the program then
please register as a user with us.

This will cost you...

*UK users............10 Pounds Sterling

*All other users.....13 Pounds Sterling


Please only send..

*Postal orders or

*Cheques payable to J.DUNN drawn on UK banks or

*International postal orders if you are not a UK resident

 for the correct sum to...

          Amiga MAGIC STORYBOOK Registration
          26 Bennett Drive
          Warwick, ENGLAND
          CV34 6QJ

On receipt of your registration fee we will register you as a user
and send to you:

     * A 20,000 word illustrated and printed manual complete with
     tutorials and parent/teacher helps

     * The 3 stories you haven't already got out of this list...

          Goldilocks and the Three Bears
          Robin to the Rescue
          The Angry Dragon
          The Selfish Giant
          The Christmas Story

     * Hard disc installation help

     * Back up for  MAGIC STORYBOOK users

You will then have essentially the same product that is available
in the shops (where you can find it) at 29 Pounds 95p for as
little as 10 Pounds and the cost of this disc. Not a bad deal for
you, something for us for the work that we have put in and an
incentive to develop MAGIC STORYBOOK in the future. We are sure
that you will consider it the best 10 pounds you have ever spent
on childrens software.

The best thing to do is just try this program and see for yourself
how much fun it is to use. You and your children will be able to
experiment with all the functions of  MAGIC STORYBOOK.

We hope you enjoy this program and if you do, we hope that you
will register. If you do not want to use it however please pass it
on to somebody else. IT MAY BE COPIED FOR THIS PURPOSE ONLY but
only provided all the files on this disc are kept together (in
fact MAGIC STORYBOOK won't work properly if any files are altered
or left out). It may be exactly what they are looking for.


****************************************************************
*                 HOW TO USE MAGIC STORYBOOK                   *
*                     (c) J&R DUNN 1992                        *
****************************************************************


This is a very brief account of how to use MAGIC STORYBOOK. The
best thing is to try all the control icons and see what they
do...most are obvious.

Remember if you register you will receive a detailed printed and
illustrated  manual and tutorial.

L click means click the left mouse button
R click means click the right mouse button

If you cannot see immediately what a function does then try
clicking with both mouse buttons and then move the pointer off the
menu bar. You can't crash the program by clicking on anything. If
you get to the stage that you want to understand how the more
complex functions operate then you probably need to register
following which you will receive all the goodies mentioned earlier
and full instructions.


***************
GETTING STARTED
***************

You can put this disc into drive df0 and boot up the computer if
you just want to see what MAGIC STORYBOOK can do. If you want to
do more with it though you will need to make up some discs.

You will need 3 blank initialised discs.

Make a copy of this disc and call it the  MAGIC STORY disc. Put
this disc away somewhere safe.

Now taking the other discs. Call one the WORKBOOK disc and the
other the PICTURES disc.

Create a directory called WORKBOOK on the WORKBOOK disc and then
create a directory called PICTURES on the PICTURES disc.

The WORKBOOK is used for saving your stories. The PICTURES disc is
used for storing IFF picture files. Any part of these files can be
grabbed into the MAGIC STORYBOOK Editor.


****************************
LOADING MAGIC STORYBOOK
****************************

Switch on your Amiga and then put the MAGIC STORY disk in drive
df0: .

MAGIC STORYBOOK will load and run. This will take 2 minutes so be
patient.

At the first menu select a story using the mouse. You may only
select a story that is shown with red letters. The grey lettered
stories will be provided on registration. L click to load your
story.

MAGIC STORYBOOK loads in a story and runs a demo of the first
page.
L click to stop this.
L click on MENU to go to main menu.

*********************
THE MAIN MENU SCREEN
*********************

SCENE
This takes you to the picture designer.

STORY
This takes you to the story editor.

SOUND
This takes you to the sound editor.

PLAY
The play button allows a child to play back the story as an
animated play. This is cartoon making made easy.

EDIT
This takes you to the MAGIC STORYBOOK EDITOR. It is with this that
you can really be creative. Instructions on how to use it are
found in the manual which you get on registering.

With this editor:

-sprites can be completely changed or just altered -animation
movements can be edited under direct visual control.
-backgrounds can be effortlessly redrawn using a built in paint
package.
-background blocks can be edited -artwork from other packages can
be imported.

PRINT
Print your story as:

-text only
-it appears on the screen along with the picture
-an outline for colouring in
-to disk

You will need an epson compatable 9 pin printer with double
density graphics capability connected and on line.
Printing to disk as an IFF file allows users with incompatible
printers to see their work in print.
-Print a page to disc. You will need a PICTURES disc to do this.

LOAD
-load in a new story
-load a demonstration story -load a previously saved story.


SAVE
Save your masterpiece to disk.
You will need your WORKBOOK disc for this. One  disk will save
about 5 stories.


(5+/8+)
L click.. to toggle between age modes.

QUIT
This is not available as an icon but if the ESC keyboard key is
held down for 2 seconds while on this screen the programme ends.


REGISTRATION INFO
A summary of how to register will appear if you click here. Follow
the prompts to return to the main programme. This message will
disappear after registration.


All the screens are accessible from this main menu screen.
Also you can always get to the picture and story screens by
clicking on the picture and the story page.

Turning pages is done by clicking on the left and right page edge.
Actually on the yellow clasp. This can't be done from the main
menu screen.


****************
THE SCENE SCREEN
****************

SELECT SPRITE
L click.. on sprite to pick it up.
Position sprite then..
L click again.. to place it on picture.
R click.. to drop it .

MENU, STORY and SOUND
As before.

OOPS
L click.. moves mouse pointer into the picture area. Place pointer
over the Sprite to be removed. It will flash. L click again to
erase it. To exit move pointer away from picture.
R click.. clears all the sprites.

PLAY
L click.. animate picture.
R click.. animate picture with sound effects.

UP/DOWN arrows
These alter sprite priority (ie Z axis position).
Default is automatic (ie higher sprites are behind lower sprites).
R click.. automatic priority
L click.. manual priority.
     L click again and position pointer on sprite to be moved.
     L click.. to move sprite backwards.
     R click.. to move sprite forwards.

Move pointer off picture to exit.

BACK
L click.. turns pointer into background block (a tree).
L and R cursor keys will change pointer into other background
blocks.
L click again.. to paint block onto background.
R click.. to exit.
This creates easy backgrounds in minutes.

<BCK>
L click.. moves background on one.
R click.. restores default background.

VIEW
L click.. selects next pages sprites.
R click.. restores default sprites for page.
An easy way to create your own story using the existing sprites.


The SCENE designer has been created to provide the utmost
flexibility to the creative child. To this end there is no limit
to where they can position the sprites on the page. Variation of
this can produce some very interesting effects. Furthermore the
sprites have been made to provide growing interest. Many sprites
only become obvious after they are animated.


****************
THE STORY SCREEN
****************

MENU, SCENE and SOUND
As before.

By default the text is already on the page. R click on OOPS will
clear it.

All words are colour coded.
Red.. verbs
Blue.. nouns
Green.. adjectives and descriptive adverbs
Grey.. prepositions and other words

5+ option
Shows each sentence one by one.
L click.. on word will select that word.
R click.. on word box for new sentence.

8+ option
Shows all the words for that page at once.
L click.. on word will select that word.

OOPS
L click.. removes last word
R click.. removes all words

, " ? . !
Click to select punctuation

VIEW
L click.. selects next pages words.
R click.. restores default words for that page.
View allows more complex sentence construction by selection from a
wider range of words.

EDIT
L click.. turns on word processor.
R click/ESC key.. turns off word processor.
The word processor has simple text wrap and allows any story to be
written.
Cursor keys, insert, delete and backspace keys may be used.
CLR/HOME key erases page and UNDO restores it.


****************
THE SOUND SCREEN
****************

SELECT SOUND
L click.. on blue sounds to select sound.

MENU, SCENE, STORY
These icons have already been explained.

OOPS
L click.. wipes the last sound and any wait data with it.
R click.. clears the whole sound string.

PLAY
Play sound string

WAIT
L click.. add 5/5th seconds to end of sound string.
R click.. add 1/5th second to end of sound string.

FORWARD/BACK (the left/right arrow icons)
Play NEXT sounds forward or backwards.
Must be set before choosing the sound.

LOOP and SWEEP
Play NEXT sounds as a loop or sweep(forward and backwards).
Must be set before choosing the sound.
Must be followed by a wait for this effect to be played in.


The sound menu has been designed to be as flexible as possible to
allow you the choice of creating a multitude of sounds. On the
other hand the basic sounds are availble for a very young child
to put in place.

Please note that samples are 2bit and therefore not of the best
quality. If enough interest is generated we will be making
available an 8bit sample version for registered users in the
future.

Complete instructions on every aspect of MAGIC STORYBOOK including
several tutorials and the Editor are in the  MAGIC STORYBOOK
manual. This is available only on registration with us as a user.


****************************************************************
*                          LET'S SPELL                         *
****************************************************************


The LET'S SPELL series of programs were widely acclaimed as the
best spelling programmes on the Atari ST and Amiga. Some of them
received awards from various Amiga and Atari Magazines including a
Format Gold for Let's Spell Out & About. They include multiple
colourful interactive screens with sampled speech to recreate the
letter sounds. They are suitable for children aged 4 to 11. They
are now available in Archimedes and IBM PC formats and have so far
sold over 10,000 copies in this country alone.

In the past these programmes sold for #19.95 each. The AMIGA
versions can now be bought for less than #5 direct from us.

Let's Spell at the Shops

Let's Spell at the Shops in French

Let's Spell at Home

Let's Spell at Home in French

Let's Spell Out and About

Let's Spell Out and About in French


Each game costs 5 Pounds Sterling.
Or ...Any 3 for 10 Pounds Sterling.

These are UK prices. Please add 3 pounds if you live outside the
UK.


Then send a cheque made payable to J. DUNN or a postal order or an
International Postal order to...

     Amiga Let's Spell offer
     26 Bennett Drive
     Warwick
     England
     CV34 6QJ

or telephone [phone] (>6pm) for further details.



Jayne and Richard Dunn  20/02/95