TRISCROLLER

by John Allen



A couple of months ago I announced a complete embargo on message

scrolling programs due to saturation of the market. Despite this

embargo, here's another scroller. Y'see, that's the kind of

unpredictable guy I am. The only reason I'm printing this is cos it's

the best I've seen for a long time, and it would be unsporting to keep

it all to myself.



So what's so special about John Allen's scroller? Well, as you might

be able to deduce from its name, it scrolls three messages at once.

Coo, eh? And they're no ordinary messages either, cos this is no

ordinary message scroller. The first is three character squares high,

with its own shadow, the second is over half the screen high, and the

third runs all the way round the edge of the screen. Quite what

advantage this gives you I'm not entirely sure, but it looks darned

impressive. (Well, you can write absolutely massive messages on the

screen and leave them there for your mum to see. Something like, "Id

like a skateboard for Christmas." Ed)



To test the delights of this simultaneous three-message scroller,

first type in the BASIC listing and save it with SAVE "triscroll" LINE

10. (It's a bit long, and mostly decorative, but type it anyway, eh?)

Then use the Hexloader to enter the hex listing. (A tad long, but well

worth the effort). Save the code produced after the first bit, and

then reload. Good, eh? As usual, you can substitute your own messages

for those in the program simply by typing them in at the relevant

places in the program.



Now, I've definitely had it up to here (about level with my nose) with

scrollers. Until somebody comes up with a 3D, parallax, five-way

scroller with musical accompaniment, I think we'd better draw the line

there. And I really mean it this time. Get your Santa-like thinking

caps on and come up with something really awesome. How about a program

to make it snow, or one which enables you to craft expensive-looking

gifts out of nothing. Anything but scrollers!