In this issue:

• Beginning Game Programming, Session 3 - by Richard Ryles
• Pseudo Menubars on a Window - by Alyce Watson
• Binary Numbers - by Norman
• Designing Games Humans Can Play - by Tom McIntire, aka WhizCat
• API Corner - Modifying Liberty BASIC Controls
• Using the JPEG.DLL - by Alyce Watson
• Graphics Text Tutorial - by Alyce Watson
• Tip Corner - The Trapclose Command
• Installers for Liberty BASIC - User Reviews
• Demo Programs from the Community
• Submission Guidelines
• Newsletter help
• Index

Notes from the Editor:

We have lots of great articles again this month. Many of the clever and nice people in the online community have contributed, making this another wonderful issue.

Richard Ryles has provided the third in his series of game tutorials for beginners. Richard explains in a very clear, step-by-step fashion that will have your writing your own games in no time! Thanks, Richard!

Pseudo or fake menubars enable us to simulate a menu in a dialog window, or to change out menus on a regular window fairly easily. This method relies on the POPUPMENU command.

Norman has given us a primer on binary numbers - how they work and how to use them in our programs. He includes a horse race simulation to demonstrate binary numbers in action. Thanks, Norman!

If you don't already know WhizCat, you'll want to visit his website and read his many fine articles on the Basically Programming website provided by Roy Scott. Tom McIntire specializes in GW BASIC programming, and he tells us that he's written 200 games in GWB! His experience and observations on game design will be a great assistance to any game programmer. (He is also very funny!) [Visit WhizWare] -- [Visit Basically Programming]

Some members of our group have given us demos that modify Liberty BASIC controls to get some neat effects. Check out the demos by Brent Thorn and Mike Bradbury in the API Corner. Thanks, Brent and Mike!

Liberty BASIC 3 doesn't have the ability to load or display JPEG images. The file size is much smaller than the same size bitmap image, so there is quite a savings when using them. The JPEG.DLL makes loading them very easy, and it is only 24 KB. Read about it this month.

We've run a series of graphics tutorials in past issues and the latest installment appears this month. Learn all about using graphic text commands.

The Tip Corner this month focuses on the TRAPCLOSE command. If you aren't issuing this command to all of your windows, then you need to read this article!

There are quite a lot of freeware and shareware installation programs available. We can use these when packaging and distributing our LB programs to give a very professional appearance to our applications. Members of the community have shared their thoughts on many of the available installers, discussing the features, ease of use, etc. Bill Beasley and Scott Bannon have reviewed most of the listed installers, and Jay Shrimplin has written a thorough tutorial on the use of his favorite installer. Gordon Rahman has submitted an installation program written in Liberty BASIC as well. Norman, Tooanalytical, theblazingicicle, Dave Thomas and Brad Moore have also provided some very helpful reviews. Thanks to all who shared!

Demos this month include the kaleidoscope demo by Midi Boink. It is very attractive and done in very few lines of code. It is used in his electronic music Tapestry program, which is also included. We also have a decimal to Roman numeral conversion program from Brad Moore, Bill Beasley and Andy Amaya. Thomas Watson checks in with a rotating wire frame cube in 3 dimensions. Thanks everyone!

We've been getting a lot of great submissions from the community, so we're offering some guidelines and suggestions for all of you nice people who want to contribute.

Don't forget to leave some feedback on the forum. Did you find any of the articles to be useful? We try to include articles on many areas of programming, and for many levels of expertise. If there is something you would like to see, please leave a message with your request. If you find an error, please post about it. If you have a comment, or something to add, don't be shy! [Newsletter Forum]