ATARI'TOONS CONTEST WINNERS

The winning entry in Antic's Atari 'Toons Contest didn't use any fancy graphics such as redefined character sets or multiple colors, but every time the Antic staff booted up Brian Hastings' "Class," we got a hearty, non-stop, 60-second laugh.

"Class" depicted a teacher's vain attempts to cope with a roomful of unruly students. Antic bestowed the Grand Prize on this Atari 'Toon because it used slapstick comedy, facial expressions and humorous punchlines like a full-fledged animated cartoon. (We also liked the way the teacher's eyebrows rolled around when he got mad.)

Winning animator Hastings is from Durham, NC. He has owned his Atari for three years and likes to design games. Brian will now be logging onto his favorite bulletin boards at 1200 baud with his prize, an Anchor Signalman Express modem.

Before Player/Missiles or bit-mapping, there was a graphics technique known as "cursor art" – essentially a process of moving text and sets around the screen. Antic's cursor art contest was announced in the August 1985 issue. All entries had to be created with with Matthew Ratcliff's Atari 'Toons program from that issue and could run no longer than one minute.

...AND RUNNERS-UP

Five runner-up winners will each receive a copy of HomePak. This integrated software package from Batteries Included contains HomeTerm, one of the best telecommunications programs for the Atari.

"Help!" by Alan Kirk of Salem, OR, was a very close second-place winner. Using redefined character sets, Kirk created a detailed and highly artistic forest scene with lots of effective violet and green coloring. A smoothly moving hurnan figure struggled to climb up a mountainous Atari fuji symbol. Just when all seemed lost, an airplane with an Antic banner flew by to drop a rescue rope via parachute.

"Wizard" was another close runner-up. A whimsical green wizard chanted silly magic spells and tossed sparkling fairy-dust that gradually formed into letters spelling out the word – you guessed it – Antic. Thirteen-year-old Edward Lim of Diamond Bar, CA, has owned an 800 for four years. He also crammed a game and four microscreens onto his 'Toons entry disk!

"Fireworks" was an inventive simulation of a pyrotechnical display. Albert Baggetta, a 40-year-old high school English teacher from Agawam, MA, managed to create the sparkling fireworks show without using redefined characters.

We appreciated the comically realistic Karate moves in "Martial Arts," by Peter Ritchie of Chesterfield, MO. Peter is 16 and has owned an Atari for 2 1/2 years now. "Model Car Show" by Dennis Bennett, 35, of Torrance, CA displayed some heautifully detailed animated graphics. Dennis created his own character sets with Instedit from the Antic Catalog.

We'd like to thank all of the future Walt Disneys, Ralph Bakshis and Chuck Jones' who enthusiastically responded to the Atari 'Toons contest. (One perturbed entrant wrote, "Who the heck is Chuck Jones, anyway?" Trivia buffs can note that Jones created some of Warner Brothers' strangest cartoon characters, such as the Tasmanian Devil). Antic Disk subscribers will find all the wining entries as this month's disk bonus. We also plan to upload all six winning 'Toons onto CompuServe SIG*Atari.

ATARTOON.BAS Download
ATARTOON.SYS Download
CLASS.SHO Download
COUNTRY.SHO Download
FIREWRKS.SHO Download
HELPTOON.SHO Download
MARTIAL.SHO Download
WIZARD.SHO Download