norge.freeshell.org (192.94.73.8)

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ norge.freeshell.org (192.94.73.8) / 192.94.73.8.tar / 192.94.73.8 / pub / computers / pcjr / graphics / PACMAN11.LZH / PACMANIA.DOC next >

Wrap

Text File | 1990-04-22 | 18KB | 445 lines

PACMANIA 1.1 Programmed by Gregg Seelhoff Copyright (c) 1990, Sophisticated Software Systems GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS -------------------- In PACMANIA, you use either the keyboard or a joystick to guide a pacmaniac through a maze, trying to score as many points as possible before he is caught by one of the four ghosts that are chasing him. When the pacmaniac is caught, he loses one of his lives. The game ends when he has no more lives left. The pacmaniac receives one extra life when you score 10,000 points. As the pacmaniac moves, he eats everything in his path except healthy ghosts. You are awarded 10 points for each dot the pacmaniac eats, as well as points for fruit and other objects that appear periodically. When all of the dots have been eaten, a new maze appears and the game increases in difficulty. When the pacmaniac eats one of the four large dots, the ghosts temporarily change colors and try to run away. If the pacmaniac catches a ghost in this weakened state, the ghost is sent away and you receive additional points. When the ghosts are about to change back to their original color and chase the pacmaniac again, they begin to flash. The pacmaniac can still catch a flashing ghost for points, but it is more dangerous. STARTING THE GAME ----------------- To start the game, simply type "PACMANIA" and press the <Enter> key. When the program starts, a screen of legal information is displayed on the screen. You may exit this screen by pressing any key. If you do not respond within several seconds, the program will continue automatically. If any joysticks are detected, the program will automatically ask you to calibrate the joysticks. See the section on joystick calibration below. The program will now display a menu of options. You are ready to play the game. To begin playing, press the <F1> key for a one player game or the <F2> key for a two player game. You may, as an alternative, use the direction keys to move the highlight bar to the desired option, and press <Enter> to select that option. If you have a joystick installed and properly calibrated, you may use the joystick buttons instead of the <F1> and <F2> keys to begin a new game. Note: If you are using a Tandy 1000 computer, please select the alternate keyset as desribed below before trying to play the game using the keyboard. SELECTING INPUT DEVICE ---------------------- The options selected with the <F3> and <F4> keys allow players to choose which input device they would like to use to play the game. Two settings are always available here, standard keyset and alternate keyset. The standard keyset consists of the four arrow keys on the numberic keypad of IBM compatible computers. The alternate keyset is the redefinable keyset. When you start the game, the alternate keyset in set to the arrow keys on a Tandy 1000 computer. (See note above.) If you have a joystick properly calibrated, a joystick setting will also be available to you. If you have two joysticks, there will be two joystick settings available, "Joystick 0" and "Joystick 1". CALIBRATING JOYSTICKS --------------------- The joystick calibration option is selected by pressing the <F5> key. This will allow the program to properly read the joysticks. If a joystick is not properly calibrated, PACMANIA will ignore all input from it. The program will ask you to calibrate each joystick it detects. If no joysticks are detected, there will be a short pause and the program will return to the option menu. To calibrate a joystick, the program asks you to position the joystick at the upper, left corner of its range and press a button or the <Enter> key, to which it responds with a polite "beep". The program then requests for you to repeat this while positioning the joystick in the bottom, right corner, and then again in the center. After centering the joystick and pressing a button, you will either hear another polite beep, meaning that the calibration was successful, or a low tone ("bad" sound), which indicates that the calibration was not within acceptible tolerances. If the calibration is not successful, or if you press the <Esc> key during the calibration, the joystick will be ignored. If joystick calibration is successful, the program will automatically change the players' input devices to joystick. REDEFINING THE KEYSET --------------------- The alternate keyset for the keyboard may be redefined by pressing the <F6> key. This will allow players to select which keys they prefer to use to control the pacmaniac. When the program prompts you, press the keys you wish to use for moving up, down, left, and right, respectively. If you press the <Esc> key, the redefinition will be aborted and the previously defined keyset will be restored. Most keys are permissible here; however, the function keys and the <Alt>, <Esc>, and <Enter> keys are not allowed. Also, you may not reuse a key that has already been used to indicate another direction. If you try to enter an invalid key, the program will make a low tone and prompt you again. If any player is set up to use the keyboard, that player's input device will be automatically changed to alternate keyset. Keyboard redefinition only needs to be done once, when the game is installed. After that, the redefined keyset is read from the PACMANIA.DAT file. You will, however, have to select the alternate keyset when you reload the game. VIEWING GAME DEMONSTRATION -------------------------- A demonstration of the game may be viewed by pressing the <F7> key. This will simply show the play of one computer-controlled pacmaniac. The program will return to the option menu when the pacmania either gets caught or completes an entire maze. If no selection is made from the option menu in several seconds, the game demonstration will commence automatically. While the game demonstration is in progress, the <F1> and <F2> keys will begin games, as well as the joystick buttons. The <F8>, <F9>, <F10>, and <Esc> keys will also perform the same functions as they do at the option menu. VIEWING HIGH SCORES ------------------- Pressing the <F8> key will display a screen which shows the current PACMANIA high scores. These scores are stored in the PACMANIA.DAT file, so they are not cleared when you exit the game. This screen also shows the name of the highest scoring player since the game was loaded. This is the high score which is seen while a game is in progress. If you desire to clear the high scores, simply erase the PACMANIA.DAT file. Note, however, that the keyboard redefinition is also stored in this file, so if you do this you may have to define the alternate keyset again. To return to the option menu, press any key on the keyboard. This option is also available while the game demonstration is in progress. VIEWING INSTRUCTIONS -------------------- A general instructions screen may be viewed by pressing the <F9> key. This is nearly indentical to the general instructions contained in this document. To return to the option menu, press any key on the keyboard. This option is also available while the game demonstration is in progress. CHANGING SOUND STATUS --------------------- To change the sound status, press the <F10> key. This allows you to choose from four different sound settings. These four settings are: all sounds enabled, all sounds disabled, dot sounds disabled, and siren sounds disabled. When all sounds are enabled, you will get all of the sounds effects available during the game. When all of the sounds are disabled, you will get no sounds during the game; however, you will still get acknowledgement tones from other menu options. When the siren sounds are disabled, you will not get the background sound effects which would normally occur when you are not currently eating dots. All other sound effects will be active. When dot sounds are disabled, you will not get the sound of the pacmaniac eating dots, nor will you get the siren sounds. All sound effects will be due to specific, less frequent, situations or actions, such as eating fruit or winning an extra life. During the demonstration, the <F10> key simply toggles the sound status between all sounds disabled and dot sounds disabled. The demonstration cannot be set to make dot sounds or siren sounds. During game play, the <F10> key toggles between the menu sound setting and all sounds disabled. If all sounds are already disabled, the program will enable all sounds. EXITING THE PROGRAM ------------------- Pressing the <Esc> key from either the option menu or the game demonstration will cause the program to end. Remember that the high scores and the alternate keyset definition are saved and are restored when the game is restarted. ABORTING A GAME --------------- Pressing the <Esc> key during a game in progress will cause the game to come to an immediate end as return to the option menu as if the game had ended normally. There is no way to restart an aborted game. PAUSING THE GAME ---------------- Pressing the <Alt> key during a game in progress will cause the game to pause. All sounds are ceased, and the program will wait until the <Alt> key is pressed again. The only other key that will work during a pause is the <Esc> key, which will abort the game as previously described. SCORING POINTS -------------- The following is a list of the point scores associated with different objects which can be eaten during the course of the game. The scores listed for ghosts only apply when the ghosts are vulnerable, and the number refers to the ghosts eaten since the last large dot was eaten. SMALL DOT 10 LARGE DOT 100 CHERRY 100 STRAWBERRY 300 ORANGE 500 APPLE 700 BANANA 1000 PEAR 2000 BELL 3000 KEY 5000 FIRST GHOST 200 SECOND GHOST 400 THIRD GHOST 800 FOURTH GHOST 1600 ENTERING HIGH SCORES -------------------- If you have either beaten the high score for a gaming session, or have scored high enough to earn a place in the top ten scores, you will be allowed to enter your name for the record. If your name is placed in the top ten, it will be stored with the high scores. To enter your name, simply type it in and press the <Enter> key when you are finished. The backspace key will delete the last character in the name, so you can correct any mistakes. The shift keys work, as well as most special characters; however, the <Caps Lock> key has no effect. If you do not want the score saved, press <Esc> and the program will not add the score to the high score list. If a two player game is played and both players earned a place in the high scores, the player with the higher score will enter her name first. Also, if a player earns a place in the high scores before aborting the game, he will still be allowed to enter his name. INCLUDED FILES -------------- The following files are included in the PACMANIA 1.1 package: PACMANIA.EXE 53284 4-22-90 1:10a PACMANIA.DOC 17932 4-22-90 1:10a The file PACMANIA.DAT will be created automatically when PACMANIA is executed. It contains the game high scores and the alternate keyset definition. It should not be included with the package when it is distributed. These files, when archived, are distributed in a file named PACMANIA.ZIP, which is produced using PKZIP version 1.01. This is the prefered archival method. If it is necessary to archive these files using a different version or different method, please name the file PACMANIA.ext, where ext is the appropriate extension for the packing method. DISTRIBUTION ------------ PACMANIA is a Shareware product. You are granted the right to distribute this software freely, provided you always distribute the executable program along with all of the original documentation and you do not charge for the software. PACMANIA is copyrighted. The author reserves all rights to the software and these rights are protected by United States and international copyright law. You may not alter any file included in this package, nor may you modify the package through the addition or omission of any file. PACMANIA is quality software. The author spent a great deal of time writing this software for your enjoyment. If you use this program, you are required to register it with the author. See below for further information. DISCLAIMER ---------- This software is distributed "AS IS" with no warranty whatsoever. Although every effort has been made to assure that the software performs properly, we cannot assure its fitness for a particular purpose, nor can we assume any responsibility for any damages caused by this software or by its use. Due to the distribution method employed, there is always a possibility that a program can be modified illegally without our knowledge. The best way to assure that your program is unmodified is to pay for a preferred registration (see below) to receive an uncorrupted copy directly from Sophisticated Software Systems. If you do experience any problems with the software, or software using the same or similar name, please contact us at the address listed below. REGISTRATION ------------ If you continue to use this program after running it once for evaluation purposes, you are required to register it with the author and pay the registration fee. If you distribute PACMANIA through any commercial means, you are required to pay for a commercial registration. This includes any retail store which distributes or demonstrates the software, any BBS at which a payment would be required to be able to download PACMANIA, or Shareware distribution houses. The standard registration fee is $10 US. In return for your registration, you will be notified of all updates to PACMANIA. You will also receive information on other products offered by Sophisticated Software Systems, and you will be included in any special product or update offers. If you do not want to receive this information, simply state this fact on your registration form and you will be excluded from the mailing list. The preferred registration fee is $15 US. Preferred registration entitles you to all benefits of a standard registration, plus you are entitled to receive a disk containing the latest version of PACMANIA, or, if you prefer, a disk containing the next release of PACMANIA as soon as it becomes available. If you choose to wait for the next release, you may, at any time, request instead to receive an unregistered copy of any other Shareware package produced by Sophisticated Software. If you do not specify disk format, you will receive a 5.25", 360K floppy disk. The commercial registration fee is $30 US. Commercial registration entitles you to all benefits of preferred registration. You will also receive disks containing every additional Shareware release of PACMANIA as soon as each is available. You may also receive unregistered versions of other Shareware products produced by Sophisticated Software. The purpose of the commercial registration is to assure that major distribution sources have the latest releases of our software and that the copies are not corrupted. Non-commercial users may pay for a commercial registration to receive all of these benefits. Finally, you may register by sending us a US Quarter for each and every game ever started on your copy of PACMANIA. Registration forms, as well as comments and suggestions, should be sent to: Sophisticated Software Systems Post Office Box 4936 East Lansing, MI 48826-4936 REGISTRATION FORM ----------------- To register PACMANIA, please print this form, complete it, and mail it to the following address: Sophisticated Software Systems Post Office Box 4936 East Lansing, MI 48826-4936 If you do not want to use the registration form, please provide all of this information to us with your registration. Registrant: _____________________________________________________ Address: _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ What software and version number are you registering? _____________________________________________________ Is this a: (please circle) Standard registration [$10 US] Preferred registration [$15 US] Commercial registration [$30 US] Where did you obtain your copy of this software? Please be specific. _____________________________________________________ Other comments or suggestions: _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ Thank you for taking the time to register!