Script-Central 2020 Special Edition

My Homage to the HyperCard IIGS Disk Magazine

About HyperCard and HyperCard IIGS

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HyperCard is an Apple Computer application developed by Bill Atkinson and released in 1987 for the Macintosh. It was bundled with all new Macintoshes and provided an easy way for Mac users to develop applications, called "stacks", that utilized the WIMP interface (windows, icons, mouse, pull down menus) popularized by the platform. This made Macintosh development accessible to thousands of Macintosh owners in much the same way that AppleSoft BASIC had made programming on the Apple II series computers accessible to thousands of owners of Apple IIs. Because it was developed at a time when Mac allowed only shades of gray, HyperCard did not support color. HyperCard used the concept of a Home stack (much like the iPhone Home button) from which HyperCard stacks could (1) be organized and easily launched, and (2) provided a customizable programmable layer between application stacks and the HyperCard application itself. 

Macintosh HyperCard Home stack

The primary language of HyperCard, HyperTalk, is an object based event driven English like language that allowed rapid prototyping of concepts even for non-programmers. It was the inspiration for AppleScript, the Macintosh automation language, and is what JavaScript might have been if the developers of JavaScript had been native speakers of English rather than C. HyperCard is the direct parent of both the visual application product Microsoft Visual BASIC and ViolaWWW, which preceded Mosaic as the first popular web browser. The overall impact of HyperCard on the digital world far exceeds the impact of all the thousands of stacks developed for it.

HyperCard IIGS was developed by Apple Computer for the Apple IIGS computer and released in 1990 with an upgrade in 1992 to v1.1. HyperCard IIGS has many of the same capabilities as Mac HyperCard v1.2.5 with the notable addition of native color support for all object types. HyperCard IIGS was meant by Apple to be a gift to the Apple IIGS owners and facilitate their transition to the Macintosh platform. Apple even released a free utility called HyperMover which could dissemble and reassemble HyperCard stacks between Mac HyperCard and HyperCard IIGS. Because of its native color support HyperCard IIGS stacks often looked significantly better than their Mac HyperCard equivalents.

HyperCard IIGS Home stack

Also in 1990 Apple released Macintosh HyperCard 2.0, and finally added color support in HyperCard 2.2 which was released in 1992. Though Apple ceased HyperCard IIGS development in 1992 with v1.1, they continued Mac HyperCard development until its final update v2.4.1 in 1998.

About Script-Central

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Script-Central was a bi-monthly magazine for HyperCard IIGS enthusiasts published by Kansas City publisher Resource-Central. There were 22 issues published from July 1991 to January 1995, each issue distributed on two 800K 3.5" floppy disks. Implemented as a HyperCard IIGS stack, the disk magazine used a building as a metaphor, with 1st floor rooms dedicated to regular features and a 2nd floor for special features. Each issue had a theme based on the time of year, and the magazine was entertaining as well as educational. I was fortunate enough to contribute a few stacks to Script-Central during its run, and at the time of its abrupt cancellation had several stacks ready for publication.

Along with the rest of the Resource-Central catalog, Script-Central was released under Creative Commons license 3.0 in 2010.

Script-Central 2020 Special Edition

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In the summer of 2020 I found myself prototyping a personal application with HyperCard IIGS and then using HyperMover to convert it to Mac HyperCard, and finally importing it into LiveCode for completion. I also began interacting with the online Apple II and Apple IIGS enthusiast communities. With HyperCard IIGS on my mind, I decided to polish and complete some of my never-released HyperCard IIGS stacks and release them to the community.  I decided that there would be no better way to release a collection of HyperCard IIGS stacks than to produce a special edition of Script-Central. I tried to contact both Bruce "HangTime" Caplin and Tom Weishaar, the respective editor and publisher of Script-Central, and was unable to reach either of them. Learning that Script-Central had been released under the Creative Commons license in 2010, I decided to move forward on the project and do my best to not only provide a vehicle for the release of my stacks, but to also dissect, document, and enhance the Script-Central front end and regular feature stacks so that it would be possible for other issues to be made in the future, if community interest warranted it.

Getting content for the special edition was not a problem though.  A standard issue of Script-Central usually included four feature stacks and I had recently written stacks as well as stacks from the early 1990's that could be included.  I did not want to require a follow-up issue, so I took the time to add a basement level to the Script-Central "building", allowing an additional 6 feature stacks.

In addition I reviewed all existing issues of Script-Central developing a glossary of all content, and developed documentation that provides enough information on the Script-Central front end and regular feature stacks for future issues to be developed. All the while adding visual and utility enhancements, cleaning up code, and correcting minor bugs.

Script-Central 2020 Special Edition is based on the latest issues of Script-Central but includes features from the entire run, and therefore should appeal to anyone who was a fan of the original magazine.

In addition to its regular features: Tips & Trix, the Lounge, Q+A, Scripter's Workshop, the office, the mailroom, and the bathroom, there are a number of special features, some entirely new and some updated versions previously released on Script-Central or online:

• Word Scrambler
• Stack Analyzer (a Mac HyperCard conversion)
• HyperTalk Tutor 101 with all 4 lessons
• Merlin GS, an enhanced emulation of the handheld Merlin device
• No Worries, a launcher modeled on Apple's Macintosh At Ease program
• Reminder
• DateFun
• Splash Color - A GS/OS Splash Color screen editor
• IIc+ Technical Look (an enhanced Mac HyperCard conversion)
• BlankerConfig - a HyperCard based Screen Blanker with multiple configuration options
• Fangborne, a 350 card 2 MB HyperAdventure single-player RPG (recommended CPU speed > 40 MHz). Inspired by Dungeon Master, Bard's Tale GS, and EAMON.

There are also a number of tools and applications that were used by the author to create Script-Central 2020 SE included.  In total over 11 MB of material distributed on a 16 MB hard drive image.

Visit https://sites.google.com/view/silverwandsoftware/ to download Script-Central 2020 SE.