Maggie - 25th Anniversary by Maggie Team
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__ Welcome to the Readme file, to the place that never ends!__
(Did I laboriously type in that super-massive 'Maggie 25th ASCII logo
all by myself, painstakingly, bit by bit? - No! - So did I cheat a bit?
Well, yes alright, just a little!)
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So here it is, the culmination of the best part of a year's planning
and effort. It's the special 25th Anniversary issue of the (in)famous
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This readme text should be adorning the start directories of both HTML
and traditional diskmag editions. At least that is how it is intended.
This is a chair-breaker of an issue. We thought that it was going to be
neat and proportional. However, it over-extended, like a lot of the
later Maggie issues did. So we've ended up with a huge sprawling thing,
a bit like a tumbling down ruined palace in its own postcode district.
It has all sorts of secret hiding places, including the mad cousin
locked in the attic (which would be 'Poetry Corner'!)
The HTML version is a slightly more evolved version of the thing that
I've been doing as an annual 'Mag' release over the last few years.
There is more text and even more pictures than before, which is great.
There is also still a gratifying demand for a traditional old style
custom diskmag edition, so Felice has been (re)learning how to put one
of those together. At time of writing this, he has been using the very
ancient but cool in a retro sort of way original diskmag source, as
made by New Mode of Delta Force. At least that's what the test builds
that have come my way look like. Please be forewarned that this is
probably not the slightly later Reservoir Gods version that was kicked
into being Falcon 030 compatible.
At this nervous time, before we get it all together, it looks like this
will fit on an 80 sectors 10 tracks floppy disk. I'm talking about the
traditional old style menu shell of course. the HTML version is a tad
larger than than (about 5 megabytes larger!)
With regard to the physical aspects of the diskmag side of things,
certain people may need to look at the ST cover picture with asbestos
clad replacement eyeballs! The quality of the entirely original and
hand-pixelled by Havoc picture is second to none. However, the central
element consists of a former prime minister, known to some as "That
Woman!" We'd better take this opportunity to state that this isn't
intended as some sort of covert tribute to the 1980's!
In fact, here's the creator of the diskmag shell cover picture in his
own words! Take it away, Havoc!
"This was a fun picture to work on and I'm glad you like the result :)"
"It was a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy- I clearly remember that the
first time I saw that name written on a disk I thought of Maggie
Thatcher, and so did other people."
"Maybe the original authors will deny it (for good reasons), but I'm
convinced she was a major inspiration for the disk mag's name, even
if it was only subconsciously ;)"
"I won't deny it was my intention to slightly annoy but more importantly
entertain my British friends (or maybe the other way round ;))"
"If you desire revenge on the Dutch, I hereby volunteer to make another
cover for the next issue (my personal suggestion would be prince
Bernhard with his shotgun next to a dead elephant, you get to choose
if he wears a WWF shirt or his SS uniform ;))"
(How about both of those?)
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Turning to the wider Atari scene, it's been another really great year!
The 2010's seem to have been decent overall, with activity levels and
quality of productions picking up and staying up. It appears that some
people who went, have returned. Others have been tempted to experiment
in different directions. Hell, we're back too, at least for this
special 25th anniversary issue! So it seems (for now) that the slow
decline of the Atari scene has been checked and even reversed to some
extent? We are certainly hitting new heights of quality over these past
few years.
So we've looked at the last couple of years, they have been kickass,
but what may be coming our way in 2016?
Well we're expecting a return of an old faithful party, as Outline will
be back in its Ascension Day slot, most likely at the new venue we
tested last year at Willemsoord. It is a mixed party, but new Atari
stuff is still allowed, last time I checked. The 'other' folks are nice
people as well.
Then we'll get a sunburst of Sommerhack in 2016, July as usual. How
will the Dead Hackers and friends follow up from a very strong 2015
season?
There may well be a whole host of other parties, where random Atarians
will want to poke with the odd release, but the one that we're all
fervently hoping for, is a follow-up to the famous Sillyventure
parties.
A new edition of that is being decided upon, it may even happen
sometime over the summer months. If it does, I hope I can book the time
off..
As for individuals and group releases. That one is hard to predict. I
certainly wasn't expecting the wave of new stuff from people that
hadn't been active for a while from STNICCC. Perhaps the 'usual' talent
will reassert itself next year?
Certainly, some sort of a follow up to the Maggie 25th anniversary will
be needed. There isn't the prospect of a well-earned retirement as
we've got to catch up with all the stuff from the STNICCC party, let
alone what may be coming our way in 2016. But will this be an after-
Maggie production, or something else? I won't say anymore at this
stage, but we had a little bit of productive dialogue with another
former diskmag editor at STNICCC. He's taken part in this special issue
of Maggie as well. We may have to find a way of returning the favour
somehow next year.
Anyway, it's all looking rather good, right now.
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It's time to go and hand this lot in. This isn't the end of words from
me. You will find lots more 'words from me' and other people inside
this special issue. Now enjoy that last little bit of Ascii goodness
below and get on with it!
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\\ (_ o _) (_ o _) //
\\ (_,_) (_,_) //
\`-.\ /_\ /,-'/ This Wee Guy says:
) (\ `-..-' /) (
`---'`--'`--' `---' "Three cheers, for
[ ( ) ] Maggie's here!"
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-EOF-
.:C!H:. in 2016..
[ back to the prod ]