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Text File | 1989-02-01 | 9.8 KB | 217 lines

G U E S S - A - S K E T C H Version 1.0 by Creative Images - Program and documentation written by David A. Pollette - ***************************************************************** After un-archiving GUESS.ARC you should find the following files: 1 .DAT 2 .DAT ADD .CL1 BOARD39 .CL1 BOARD63 .CL1 BOARD71 .CL1 CARD .CL1 CI .CL1 CNTBACK .CL1 CUT .CL1 DESCRIPT.CL1 DICE1 .CL1 DICE2 .CL1 DICE3 .CL1 DICE4 .CL1 DICE5 .CL1 DICE6 .CL1 EAR .CL1 GUESS .PRG HOWTOPLA.DOC P1 .CL1 P2 .CL1 SCRIPT .DAT SYMBOLS .CL1 WBOX .CL1 WORDS .WRD All of the above files are Copyright MCMLXXXIX CREATIVE IMAGES ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The game should run out of any directory or folder as long as ALL of the above files are in that directory or folder. ***************************************************************** - History of GUESS-A-SKETCH - Professionally, I work in television production. Computing is really just a hobby for me. A production company that I was working for was planning to do a game show based on the popular board game Pictionary, and I was asked to draw the game board on my ST. Alas, the game show never got past the planning stages, and the picture of the game board sat in my hard drive unused for about 6 months. One day while purging my files, I saw the picture and a little lightbulb appeared over my head. "Why not create a computerized Pictionary game?", I thought. After about 100 hours of work on the project, the game was ready to beta test. I distributed it among a few friends who also owned ST's and watched the results. This led to about 5 more revisions (another 40-50 hours) and it was finally ready to send to Pictionary Inc. At that time I was informed that Pictionary Inc. had already entered into a contract with another company to create the computerized version of the game. After that PICTION.PRG and all of its data files sat uselessly in my hard drive, seemingly forever. One day I got tired of looking at the space being taken up in my hard drive by a useless program. Almost ready to delete it forever, another idea came to mind. Shareware! So now, after around 350 hours of work, 20 revisions and three name changes (four if you include the company name I write under), GUESS-A-SKETCH is finally a reality! I do hope you enjoy it. ***************************************************************** - Directions for play - First of all, the program is designed for four players on two teams. At the start of the game, the program will ask for the initials of each of the four players. This is necessary so that the program will be able to remind the players who will be next to draw. Next, a standard GEM fileselector box will appear asking you to select a word file to use during the game. Word files will only be used if they are generated by the GUESS-A- SKETCH WORD FILE EDITOR. Files of any size can be used, but it is strongly suggested that you should use files with many cards. Sure, it takes longer to create them, but it will be a lot longer before you start seeing repeat cards. The word file included in the archive ("WORDS.WRD") has 150 cards in it, and even that could be considered a small file. Three different game boards are available to play on. You will be asked if you wish to play on a board with 39, 63 or 71 spaces. After this, the program will ask if you want to practice. If you say yes, you will be taken through the whole drawing process explained later. Answering no brings you to the game board. The dice will then roll to see which team will be drawing first. If both teams roll the same number, this process will be repeated. When one team's roll is higher than the other's, the team with the higher roll is selected to draw first. The screen will then tell that team which player is next to draw, and the program will wait until the mouse is clicked before continuing. This wait exists so that the person guessing the word will have time to look away before the word is displayed. After the mouse is clicked, the screen will display a card with five topics on it; the current topic will flash 8 times while sounding off a series of increasing tones. At the end of these tones the screen will switch to the drawing board and three bells will go off in rapid succession. This is a signal to the person who is guessing the word, saying that he/she can now look at the screen. The person drawing now has one minute to make his or her teammate guess the word. The left button of the mouse draws in the box, while pressing both buttons clears that same box, much like using a new sheet of paper. The size of the brush can be adjusted by clicking the right mouse button in one of the three brush-size squares at the bottom of the screen. Also available here are fill and rubberband options. By using fill, the artist can instantly fill in any contained area on the draw screen. The rubberband option is perfect for those of us who have trouble making straight lines. The color of the brush can be changed by clicking the right mouse button in one of the colored squares on the bottom-right of the screen. The person who is drawing can give certain hints to his or her partner by clicking the right mouse button in one of the three symbols in the far left-hand lower corner of the screen. These symbols stand for "SOUNDS LIKE", "CUT" and "ADD". If the minute expires before the word is guessed, that team loses control of the mouse and the other team can now play. If the word is guessed within the minute, press any key on the keyboard to signal the program that your team has succeeded in conveying the word. In between turns, the program will ask you if you wish to see a redraw of the last word. If you answer yes to this question the program will then duplicate every mouse movement and action from the drawing of the last word. This can at times be very entertaining. Any time you see "(S) = STATUS" at the bottom of the screen, you have the options of calling up the status of the game by pressing the letter "S". This will display the team number of the leaders, how many spaces they are leading by and the number of times each person has had control of the mouse during the game. This information is constantly being updated as the game goes on. A team must roll the exact number to land on the final space on the game board. (This is usually a good chance for the other team to catch up.) The game may be exited at any time simply by pressing the CONTROL, LEFT SHIFT AND ALTERNATE buttons simultaneously. ***************************************************************** - Etiquette of playing - While drawing, do not use any numbers, letters or symbols. These only make the game too easy. GUESS-A-SKETCH was created to challenge the players ability to draw with the mouse, so I dare you not to take the easy way out. Also, I have found that using arrows should be discouraged. If you need to point out a certain area of the drawscreen, draw a circle around it instead. The various drawing tools were provided for the convienience of the artist, but I do suggest that novice mouse-users stay away from them. If you aren't used to them, they will only slow you down. ***************************************************************** - Final comments - Please enjoy this program, and if you have any comments, suggestions, criticisms or praise, please let us hear them. You can contact Creative Images on the GEnie computer network (GEmail address = J.SEAVER), or write to: Creative Images 57 Acushnet Avenue Springfield, MA 01105-2216 (413) 733-1277 GUESS-A-SKETCH is a SHAREWARE program. If you enjoy this game (as I'm sure you will) please contribute $10.00. That doesn't seem like much to ask for hours of fun and enjoyment. Please make your check payable to: David A. Pollette Upon receiving your registration fee, you will be sent a copy of the GUESS-A-SKETCH word file editor so you can create your own fun. Oh, and by the way, you are free to distribute this program as you wish, on any BBS, computer network or just among your friends. I will ask you, however, to please include ALL of the above files. The GUESS-A-SKETCH word file editor is NOT for distribution to anyone but registered users of GUESS-A-SKETCH. Creative Images is an independently owned and operated organization devoted to the creation of entertaining, user- friendly software for the Atari ST. David A. Pollette (at least at the moment) writes programs exclusively in GFA-Basic. GFA-Basic was created by GFA Systemtechnik of Germany and was formerly distributed in the U.S.A. by MichTron (313 334-5700), Copyright 1985. They may still be supporting GFA-Basic for a while, but as of February 1, 1989, noone is really sure who will be handling GFA distribution and support for the USA in the future. The board game "PICTIONARY, THE GAME OF QUICK DRAW" is Copyright 1985 Pictionary Incorporated, Seattle, Washington 98109 Staff of Creative Images: David A. Pollette Programmer / Graphic Artist Sandra M. Cleveland Creative Consultant / Sanity Preserver ***************************************************************** P.S. We will be looking forward to hearing from you. Please write, I love getting mail other than bills!