MacGrid is an addictive program based on simple logic. Your objective is to determine which squares on a grid contain mines and which do not, within a time frame of 10 minutes.
To do this, begin by clicking on any square in the grid. If you are lucky, it will not contain a mine, but will instead change to either a number or a blank square. This number or empty square tells you how many mines are in the immediately surrounding squares. If the square is empty, it means that there are NO mines in the surrounding squares. You then continue clicking on squares using the numbers they provide, trying to click on all safe squares and avoiding all squares with mines.
To aid you in remembering which squares have mines, you can hold down the Command key and click on a square that you think contains a mine. This will put a "flag" on that square, and from then on you cannot click on the square accidentally (the game just won't let you!) If you think you "flagged" a square incorrectly, simply Command-Click it again, and the flag will disappear.
At the bottom of the game board, you will see an icon for a watch, a mine, and a <R>estart button. The timer on the left starts when you click on the first square. You can 'pause' the game if necessary, either by selecting 'Pause' in the Game menu or by clicking outside MacGrid's game window. The board will be hidden until you 'unpause', either by clicking back in the MacGrid window or by selecting 'Pause' from the menubar again. The Restart button lets you abort and restart the same level. The mine icon and associated number indicate how many mines you have left to flag. Note: the number is based on the number of flags you have set -- it doesn't care if the flags are right or not!
The game ends when either you reveal a mine, or you have found ALL the safe squares AND have flagged ALL the mine squares, or when 10 minutes has elapsed. If you reveal a mine, the program will "explode," and then show you where all the mines are. Any squares that you marked as mines that are not really mines will have an X on them. If you want to continue playing MacGrid, you have to start a new game. If you win, and your score is fast enough, you will be asked for your name. (If you want to clear the high scores, simply drag the 'MacGrid Prefs/Highs' file that is in "System Folder:Preferences" folder to the Trash. The game will automatically create a new, empty file.) Your name and time will be placed in the appropriate Roster for the level you completed. You can then start a new game, or quit.
The Preferences option lets you set the following: Custom Board parameters, initial level on startup, speedy clicks, sound, and hand pointer defaults. The latter four are self explanatory. The custom parameters are up to you, subject to a few rules. The X and Y parameters must be between 8 and 30 inclusive and the number of mines must be at least 15% of the total number of squares. If the numbers you enter are not within these ranges, MacGrid will tell you, and will adjust them as close as possible to what yu requested, subject to these restrictions.
2) MacGrid v2.0 should support all Mac's with any form of QuickDraw, Color or not. I have no way of testing this, as I use a IIsi with CQD built-in. I have tried to anticipate and code for machines like the Plus, Classic, and PowerBook 100 that do not have CQD, but I make no guarantees that it will work. PLEASE let me know if you experience ANY trouble with MacGrid on machines like these OR if you find problems with MacGrid running in Black & White on Mac's that do have CQD.
This game was written in THINK Pascal 4.0 during early 1993. I missed playing "Minesweeper" for Windowsｪ in the PC world, and so decided to implement my own version for the Macintosh.
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If you come across a February 1993 version called MacMines with my name on it, please trash it and use this version, for two reasons. One, this is the newer version of the program, no matter what the version number may say, and two, someone else used that name before I did, so I really shouldn't have used it myself!
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Many thanx go to the readers of 'comp.sys.mac.programmer' for their answers to my late-night questions on random number generators, memory allocation, traps, and dialog boxes! Additional thanx go to my roommate, Dan Hatola, for putting up with late night typing and swearing at both Apple (occasionally) and the compiler (often), to Tyler Langlois and Sven Gukes for beta testing and their numerous ideas, and to Ken Chen for forcing me to play my own game (not to mention catching several bugs). SarahT (a fellow Cornellian -- YAY!) suggested the close box on the game window, which led to a variety of other additions and cosmetic changes that really had to be done. A round of applause goes to Lim Unlimited for Lloyd Lim's "Default CDEF," a very handy routine for putting outlines around the default button in a dialog box. (The "Default CDEF" documentation is included in the official release of this package, and you can extract the CDEF using ResEdit -- its the only CDEF in MacGrid.)
MacGrid has been written and tested on a Mac IIsi under System 7.1, and tested on Mac LC II's, IIvx's, IIci's, and SE/30's. I have no access to any Quadras or the newer Centrises, Performas, etc., so while I have tried to ensure compatibility, I make no promises. I have run MacGrid under B&W, 4, 16, and 256 colors with no problems (it looks MUCH better in 256) and it seems to background with no problems. However, I take NO RESPONSIBILITY for any problems occurring due to the use of MacGrid.
You can use MacGrid for as long as you like, but if you find yourself playing extensively (read "Are you addicted yet?"), please send me a postcard or even just e-mail! I'd like to see how far this thing gets, not to mention bug notifications and those really cool ideas you come up with while playing at 2:00 am! -- If you come across any bugs, typos, etc, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
Portions of MacGrid are ｩSymantec for THINK Pascal. I retain any and all copyrights that apply to my own code, both source and compiled. (Any other mention of copyrighted or trademarked products in this file should be attributed to their trademark holder. Use of their name should NOT be construed as denial of trademark status.)
MacGrid may be distributed as often as you like, provided that it is unmodified and is accompianied by all the README files associated with it. NO money may be charged for the use of MacGrid, except for online and disk-copying charges, or various User Group dues.
I'm a 19-yr-old sophomore at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and probably will be majoring in Computer Science. I program mostly in Pascal, and occasionally fiddle with C and Unix.
Home address (mail will be forwarded to me at college):
Erik Schwiebert
R.D. #1 Box 1326
Brandon, VT 05733
E-mail:
Internet: evs1@cornell.edu
Fidonet: Erik Schwiebert @ 1:325/111 or 1:325/202
(I don't read my Fidonet mail much anymore, but I do check into the above places about once a month. I read my internet mail about 3x a day usually, so that's the fastest way to reach me! Please note that over the summer I will only be checking e-mail once every week or so, as it is a long distance call from home to college. If you do write to me at my home address, please indicate on the outside of the envelope that my parents are to forward it to me at college (note: my parents, not the Post Office!) Again, the internet is probably the fastest, and I can ALMOST guarantee a response!)
*** Note: If you use the TeMPLate resource in the Prefs/Highs file to edit the Preferences via ResEdit, it is now Out-Of-Date. You will need to copy the new one from the Application file to the high scores file, or trash the high scores file in order to use the newer template. DO NOT use the older template, or you will "corrupt" the PREF resource. (The template was changed because lots more info was put into the PREF resource.) Don't worry about the PREF resource itself, the application will update it automatically. ***
