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What are you hoping to see at South-West Show

Posted by Mark Stephens on 08:57, 6/2/2017 | Shows, Opinion

The South-West Show is now less than three weeks away. Given that Companies often gear their updates around the major shows, we generally see a spike in activity around each event.

So this is my top 6 items I am hoping to see at South-West Show....

1. More visitors. There has been a general increase in RISC OS activity over the last 12 months and it would be nice to see that feedback into Show attendance. The event is held at a hotel and there is a special rate for bed and breakfast. If you are going to be there the previous night, why not post a comment and see else might be around?
2. New editions of Archive and DragNDrop. My regular fix of news, reviews, gossip, tutorials and new ideas.
3. Font Dir Pro update from Elesar As Rob Sprowson revealed at the recent Rougol meeting, the updated software is ready and the manual is almost done. I would really like to have this wonderful piece of software installed on my Titanium.
4. New Releases from mw-software !Artworks and !TechWriter have not been updated for some years now. It would be really good to see new releases.
5. Dual Screen software It has been demonstrated so it would be nice to see it completed and released.
6. Some new R-Comp releases Several items 'missed' the London Show. It would be nice to see them at the South-West Show.

What would you like to see?

Book a night at the Webbington Hotel
Show Website

What are you hoping to see at South-West Show

SparkY (13:20 6/2/2017)
  VincceH (18:40 6/2/2017)
    markee174 (19:19 6/2/2017)
      VincceH (20:53 6/2/2017)
    SparkY (21:44 7/2/2017)
      amcog (23:56 8/2/2017)
  flibble (20:40 13/2/2017)

Gavin Smith

Message #124015, posted by SparkY at 13:20, 6/2/2017

Danger! Danger! High Voltage!
Posts: 697

RISC OS 5.24 being released would be nice.

Videos of talks are always appreciated for those who can't get there.

New Drag N Drop / Archive issues.

I'd like to see them updating their website with a list of exhibitors

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VinceH

Message #124016, posted by VincceH at 18:40, 6/2/2017, in reply to message #124015

Lowering the tone since the dawn of time

Posts: 1600

Videos of talks are always appreciated for those who can't get there.

Unfortunately, the current arrangement at the Southwest Show makes that impractical.

The show is in a fairly large hall, with the talks held at the exhibitors' own stands. I'd need to put the camera somewhere in the main hall in front of the relevant stand, and ~~to make sure the battery will last~~ the battery probably won't last through them all, so I'd have to run a mains lead to it - creating a trip hazard.

Depending on where my own stand is, I could possibly record from my stand for one or two of the talks, depending on the layout on the day - that would solve the trip hazard problem, but you just have another problem instead: Because it's not a room set aside for the talks, there are no chairs; the audience stands - so what you'll see on the video is the back of people's heads.

I have considered buying a taller tripod, but I don't think that would really solve the back of people's heads problem. You'd probably just see the back of their heads from a higher angle.

Another problem is the audio - the talks are given with no mic or amp, so with all the background noise, you'd be lucky if you can actually hear the talk in the recording.

This one could be solved - I could buy an amp of some kind (and want to do so, in fact, for when I record talks at the Midlands group, which I've started doing) but cash is a little tight at the mo, and my knowledge in this area is just about non-existent so I could end up buying something useless.

So it's unlikely that the talks will be recorded. I'll have the camera with me, and I'll weigh up whether I can set it up (and whether it'll be worthwhile) - but I'd be doubtful.

I'd like to see them updating their website with a list of exhibitors

Smiley - or tongue-pokey-outy - noted, but agreed! I'm not sure who does the SW Show website, but it's a little underwhelming, and fails to inspire excitement and anticipation about the show.

Not that I can criticise that much. If I was doing it, the site for this year's show probably wouldn't be finished until something like 2020...

[Edited by VincceH at 18:44, 6/2/2017]

[Edited by VincceH at 18:45, 6/2/2017]

[Edited by VincceH at 18:46, 6/2/2017]

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Mark Stephens

Message #124017, posted by markee174 at 19:19, 6/2/2017, in reply to message #124016

Does all the
work around here
Posts: 155

Will you have any new additions to your stand, Vince?

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VinceH

Message #124019, posted by VincceH at 20:53, 6/2/2017, in reply to message #124017

Lowering the tone since the dawn of time

Posts: 1600

Sort of - something old hacked up to look like something new.

I'm working on a rewrite of Escape from Exeria, the first game I released back in 1990, which will have many (MANY!) more screens*, new graphics, and so on - and the key change will be changes to the way the monsters move, which will kick in at certain points within the game.

I've not done much programming on the new version, but what I have done as a means to test the changes is hack the 1994 version to use the new graphics and (so far) the first change of the movement algo from level 41 and above.

I'm up to 36 levels designed for the second stage (levels 41-80) - so that's the main thing.

I'm off on my annual February holiday shortly, so I won't be getting any programming or level design work done - but I'll take my laptop with me to work on the graphics.

You can see what it looks like at the moment on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2WTYdbMgK8

* The original (and 1994) version was 40 screens. I'm aiming for either 160 or 200 for the new version - depending how my movement ideas work out.

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Gavin Smith

Message #124024, posted by SparkY at 21:44, 7/2/2017, in reply to message #124016

Danger! Danger! High Voltage!
Posts: 697

Videos of talks are always appreciated for those who can't get there.
Unfortunately, the current arrangement at the Southwest Show makes that impractical.

Ah! Fair enough, I understand, although even audio recorded up close on a smartphone or using a little mic would be good.

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Anthony Bartram

Message #124027, posted by amcog at 23:56, 8/2/2017, in reply to message #124024

Member
Posts: 3

I'm looking forward to release my update to my Lemmings style game. Although recently I've realised there is a parallel with mine-craft too. Some of the levels require you to build your own solutions...

I'm also hoping to do a presentation on my RISC OS 'virtual' sound chip : RDSP. I've integrated it into 2 games now. Its been fun using the SOUND and ENVELOPE commands on RISC OS as well as running something similar to an 8 channel MOS SID chip. Also finally being able to easily play samples from the SOUND command will be fun to demonstrate.

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Peter Howkins

Message #124029, posted by flibble at 20:40, 13/2/2017, in reply to message #124015

Posts: 892

RISC OS Pi RC15 or similar (it has been 2 years since the last pi release).

SWP/SWPB instruction emulator in the OS, so ARMv8 compatibility doesn't suck so much.

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