ATTENTION REGISTERED WGT USER! The long-awaited version 3.0 has now been released! We are accepting orders for the MASSIVE upgrade to our Turbo C++ library and utilities. Sadly, the Turbo Pascal support has been very weak, and we have been forced to cancel production. However, this devotes our total attention to the further development of the C version. We wish to thank several of our registered users for their help in bringing success to our business. Thanks to Steven Salter (INDIANA), for his continuous onslaught of code and suggestions, without which we'd get very bored. Thanks to Vu Truong (CALIFORNIA) for the creation of the first full- fledged game, STELCON 2469, made with WGT systems. Thanks to Felix Wu (ONTARIO) for the FLI playing documentation which allowed us to provide support in version 3. Thanks to Steven Racki (ONTARIO) for being the FIRST registered user of our products. And thanks to Michael Prunner (AUSTRIA) for being our first overseas registered user. Well, I should advertise the improvements in version 3 to get everyone interested. I'm sure it won't take much to get world-wide attention with the new Map Maker and 4-directional scrolling features. Here are some of the facts: Map Maker - Create game worlds with 16*16 pixel bitmaps (tiles) - Map dimensions up to 200*200 tiles (higher in future!) - Allows placement of sprites over background to set initial positions in game - 'Paint' your map in EDIT mode like a drawing program - Assign each of (up to) 200 tiles a unique type value (each value can represent a physical property in a program) - Allows up to 500 sprites on each map! Sprite Creator - All bugs causing lock-ups have been fixed - Added capability to copy block of sprites to another location - PCX and CEL support improved - accompanying utility GIF2BLK provides further conversions - has become the standard for other programmers to beat Turbo C++ system- custom fonts may be loaded and displayed - drop down menu system - flip, warp, and FAST resize block (source for resize incl.) - FLI playing routines (flexible, can resize while playing, can animate sprites over FLI, etc.) - 4 directional scrolling of game worlds in window on screen (window from 2*2 tiles to 17*10, frame rate varies with size) - WGTLIB executable packs any given files into one large file with password protection, your program will automatically load from this file with the addition of only two lines of source code! In the future - Extended control over maps (transparent maps with picture in background, can play FLI in background while map scrolls in front!) - we are considering creation of two-player mode for maps which puts two small windows on the screen and allows two players to play in same game (independent map control will allow players to be in different areas at same time) - EMS support, sound playing routines, etc WGT plans to move forward at a rapid pace following this release. We hope that a wide interest in the product will allow new ideas to arise, and thus product enhancement. We have been asked many times if we intend to add mode X support, and we regret to inform you that there will be no action taken on this avenue. Our system was designed for speed and flexibility in one mode only. Mode X uses an entirely different approach to pixel placement, and would require a complete rewrite of the current code. A final note, no shipments will be made until November 21, 1992. We accept orders before that date, but will not cash any cheques until then. Feel free to write to us concerning any questions you may have. Thanks again, and good luck in 1993! Barry Egerter Chris Egerter *********** PROGRAMMING CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT *********** We are now running a programming contest open to all registered users of WGT systems. The idea of the contest is to create a quality program of any sort (game, utility, etc) using WGT. We are doing this to generate further interest in our product, as well as offer a reward to those who produce with it. All submissions should be sent to our mailing address on, or before December 31, 1993. Judging will take place until February. The winner will be announced on February 1, 1994. They will be notified by mail, as well as a public message broadcast through E-mail on PC-networks and Internet. Submissions will be judged based on concept, design, effectiveness, completeness, documentation, bugs, and overall rating. We are not going to judge based on the type of program, but rather the professional result. The first prize is $80.00 in cash. This would be a full refund of money invested in WGT if you registered everything for version 3. The second prize is a lifetime of free upgrades for all WGT products. All programs must, in some screen during execution, mention WGT and our mailing address. We ask also, that we be given the right to promote our systems by distribution of the shareware version of your product with our future releases. We will fully support your efforts by helping to advertise your final product. When a potential customer asks about WGT, we want to refer them to your software. As far as code goes, we don't want source. We will judge only the final product. You may combine our system with other libraries (eg. sound, memory, disk storage, screen output, etc).