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Now That's What I Call Games 3
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Now That's What I Call Games 3 - Games & Goodies (1993)(Multi Media Machine)[!][CD32-CDTV].iso
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syzygy
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1993-12-21
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Syzygy V2.0
===========
(C) 1992 by Keith P. Johnson
============================
Basic important information
===========================
The Archive
This archive should contain the following files:
Syzygy - the game itself
SyzygyHiUtil - utility to erase high score
charts
Syzygy.MoreMe - brief explanation of game and
feature list
Versions.txt - history file for Syzygy
(Colors, too)
Syzygy.Doc - this file you're reading right
now!
Syzygy.Doc.Prw - a ProWrite version of this
doc file
SyzygyHiUtil.Doc - doc file for the Syzygy
high score utility program
SyzygyHi.abk - the high score file
Fonts (dir) - contains the KeeferClean font,
if you like it
All files should also have associated .info
files (including the external drawer icon).
Background
I wrote this game for a number of reasons.
The first reason is because I wanted to get
to know the Amiga a little bit better. The
second reason is because I wanted a game out
that I really liked playing (and I hope that
I'm picky enough that you really enjoy this
game as well). After all, how can anyone
expect someone to like their game if it's
really a half-baked effort and they don't
really like it themselves. The third reason
is because at the time I started thinking
about working on a project like this, there
was a distinct lack of software that was
guaranteed to work on an A3000 with OS 2.04.
Lastly, and probably most of all, was the
quality of shareware and freeware and any
other kind of -ware in this genre. The most
blazing example of this is the game
"Quattro." This game made the AmigaWorld top
10 public domain game list back in '90 I
think it was. I found this game to be of
pretty poor quality and very, VERY badly
programmed. And thinking that if a game like
that could make the list, I could write
something of good enough quality (certainly
better than Quattro) that could also make the
list.
Distribution
This program multitasks fairly well, but due
to the fact that I cannot be responsible for
the integrity of the compiler (though I've
never had any problems with it, especially
not with Syzygy), I cannot be responsible for
any damage to your software/hardware as a
result of using this program. But if you are
optimizing your hard drive, a good rule of
thumb is not to run ANY other program in the
background. If you DO, well, you're just
asking for trouble anyway, so don't come
after me!
This program is distributed as SHAREWARE. The
shareware concept is fairly simple, but it
depends on you, the user, to support it.
Basically, you get this game from your local
board, network, or FTP site. You un-lha it,
you try it for a few days, and decide if you
like it or not. If you do, then you should
send me money. If you don't (why WOULDN'T
you?!?), then just delete it and forget about
it.
The registration fee for this program is a
MERE $10! A BARGAIN! AND, if you own AMOS, or
some other language, and you'd like the
source code, I'll send it to you, both as an
AMOS program, including all the banks used,
and a text file with the AMOS source code,
for a total of $20. Please send money and any
comments to the addresses at the bottom.
A few words about shareware: Shareware is not
commercial software for a number of reasons.
One is that shareware programs can often
rival commercial stuff in quality, and it is
almost always a better value for the money.
Often authors (like me) don't want to deal
with a software house. Since we directly get
all the money, we can offer lower prices. And
the quality is often better because people
aren't going to send you money if the program
is no good. This is a BIG advantage over
commercial software, where you are forced to
shell out the money beforehand, unless you
engage in obtaining "evaluation copies" to
test them out, which is illegal. Also, WE
WANT YOU TO COPY OUR PROGRAMS! Yes, that's
right! Spread this program EVERYWHERE. The
more people get it, the more potential people
to send in contributions. Give it to all your
friends, upload it to your BBS, put it on a
network, etc. Because we want you to do this,
piracy becomes a moot point. Just remember
though, the shareware concept is designed for
YOU THE CONSUMER. And unless you want to just
be stuck with a commercial market (as was the
case for many many years until shareware
became viable and popular), you'll support
the shareware concept. Now, admittedly there
are a lot of crappy programs that don't
deserve to be paid for (like Quattro), but I
really don't feel that this is a crappy
program, and I hope you agree with me. The
future of shareware depends on you. Chances
are very good that this program with only a
fraction more effort, would cost $29.95 at
your local software store. I'm being quite
serious, considering that most games are
going for $39.95 - $49.95. So please do your
part and we can beat the overpriced
commercial system.
Starting the program
The only requirement for this game is that
the file "SyzygyHi.abk" is in the current
directory (generally the same directory that
the actual program is in). So if you start it
from WorkBench, the SyzygyHi.abk file must be
in the same window as Syzygy. From CLI, you
must be in the directory of the SyzygyHi.abk
file regardless of whether the program is
there or not. IF YOU DON'T HAVE A
SYZYGYHI.ABK FILE, THE GAME WILL NOT RUN.
However, you can create one by running the
SyzygyHiUtil program. This is explained in
detail in the SyzygyHiUtil.Doc file.
After starting the program, you will see a
screen that says "Written with AMOS" and then
a Logical Alternatives logo screen. Then a
quick info page will pop up and wait for you
to hit a key. Finally, the title page
appears, and the game goes into "demo" mode.
This isn't really a demo, but that's just
what I call it. Basically, it flips between
the title page, the quick info page, the
champion score page, and the 6 high score
pages (2 for each game - 1 shows the top 20,
the 2nd shows the next 80). At any point in
demo mode you can start a game or quit the
program.
Basic game play
Even though there are 3 different games to
play, there are several universal key
elements to the game:
PIT - This is the area of play. The pit
measures 9 blocks across by 18 blocks down.
BLOCK - A block is a single spot in the pit.
Each block can either be 1 of the 4 colors or
be a "wild" block. The wild block (signified
by constant flashing) can be 1, 2, 3, or all
4 colors at once. In all games there is an
indicator that shows how many blocks you have
cleared that game.
PIECE - This is what drops from the top of
the screen and is the sole object you have
control over at any point in the game. A
piece is made up of 3 blocks. It can be moved
around, rotated 90 degrees, or dropped. It
should be pointed out that any piece has a 1
in 15 chance of having a wild block in it.
(There'll never be more than one wild block
in a given piece.)
LINE - A line is 4 or more blocks of the same
color in a row either horizontally,
vertically, or diagonally. The longer the
line, the more points are scored. Also,
vertical lines score the least, then
horizontal lines, and diagonal lines score
the most.
DROP - When referred to as a noun in this
game, it means the number of points you
scored (or have to score) as a result of a
single drop of a piece (which may then set
off a series of like 10 chain reactions).
BRICK - In the Arcade Game, there are gray
blocks that are stationary. These "bricks" do
not move nor can they be cleared except by
random chance.
ROUND - In the Arcade and Skill Games, this
indicates the round number you are on. When
you meet the goal, the board is cleared and
you go on to the next round.
LEVEL - Refers to the current speed at which
the piece falls. This is only displayed in
the Endurance Game, but is kept track in all
of them. In the Endurance Game, every 20
lines increases the speed (unless you started
at a higher level in which case the game must
"catch up" before it speeds up). In the
Arcade and Skill Games, it speeds up with
every 15 pieces you go through. The base
speed of the start of each round of the
Arcade Game is determined by what round you
started on and how many rounds you have gone
through. In the Skill Game, the starting
speed is determined as a characteristic of
the round; that is, every you time you start
a certain round, it will ALWAYS start at that
speed. In all cases, level 0 means you have
one second before the piece falls one block,
and it speeds up 1/10th of a second for each
level afterward. Level 9 is the highest; a
piece will drop one line every 1/10th of a
second.
At the start of each game (or each round for
Arcade and Skill Games), you are presented
with a clean pit (except some Arcade Game
rounds have starting pit configurations) and
a piece will start falling from the top.
Using the movement keys, you move the piece
to the left and right, rotate the piece
(there is NO color cycling like in Columns,
so a color that's in the middle of a piece
will STAY in the middle), and speed down the
piece. When you have the piece where you want
it, you should speed it down by holding down
that key. To get credit for the entire drop,
you must hold down the speed down key until
you hear the piece fall with a "thud."
Otherwise, you'll only get points from where
you started pushing it again if you let it
go. Speed-down is helpful if you don't want
to wait the whole time for a piece to pass a
certain point so you can move it under a
brick or something (hold it down, let it go,
move it over, then speed it down the rest of
the way).
One strange thing about dropping pieces that
is unique to this game: When a piece can't go
any further because it hit a brick or because
part of it hit other pieces already in the
pit, if ANY OTHER PART OF THE PIECE CAN
CONTINUE TO FALL, IT WILL! Example: You stack
a bunch of pieces vertically in the middle of
the screen, then put a horizontal piece on
top of the column. If the center of the piece
hits the column, the 2 ends will split off
and fall toward the bottom of the screen. If
you put on of the ends on the column, the
center and other end of the piece will
continue to fall. This will take a few games
to get used to! But after playing around with
it a little bit, you will get the idea. This
makes the game much more interesting (and a
LOT easier to program). The number of points
you get for the fall, however, is determined
by where the piece originally couldn't move
anymore, not by how far the breakaway pieces
fell.
At each piece drop, the game checks to see if
any lines were formed. If so, those lines are
shown (by flashing white and the color) and
then removed. After the pieces are removed,
the rest of the pieces will fall if the can,
and the game will check for lines again.
Currently, the best I have seen is 6 chain
reactions after the original drop. You get a
bonus for each chain reaction, and values for
lines formed after chain reactions are
increased. It is a good idea to try to form
chain reactions because scores can really go
up.
This process will continue until you finish a
round or the game ends. The game can end by
one of 2 ways: A) You totally finish every
Arcade round or Skill round that there is
(yeah, right!), or B) There is a block in the
middle of the top of the pit where the new
pieces come on screen. When this happens, hit
a key and see if you made the high score
chart.
Sounds simple, right? Well, this game will
certainly take you awhile to get really good
at it. And hopefully, with 3 different games
to play, when you get really good at one you
can go on and work on the next one. The
ultimate goal of Syzygy is to get through all
of the Skill Game rounds that there are. The
Arcade Game is designed more for Arcade-Type
play, therefore not as much emphasis is
placed on that game as the Skill Game to get
to the end. In fact, I doubt anyone
(including me) will ever get to the end of
the Arcade Game. But I have gotten through
every Skill Game level I've made so far, so
you can rest assured that it's technically
POSSIBLE to win the Skill Game!
Game descriptions
=================
Endurance Game
The object of this game is simply to make as
many lines as you can. Although well-played
games that have 9-long diagonals and some
other lines will do fairly well, in general
if you only try for lines you'll do a lot
better. At the start of the Endurance Game,
you'll be prompted to select the starting
level for play. This has 2 major impacts on
game play: A) The speed at which the game
starts (the higher the level, the faster, as
explained above) and B) The bonus at the end
of the game. The end-of-game bonus is
described in the scoring section below, but
the higher level you start out on, the more
bonus points you score.
As stated above, every 20 lines you clear
increases your level unless you started at a
higher one. In this case, you must get the
right number of lines as it would take
starting from level 0. So if you started at
level 4, you'd still need to clear 100 lines
before the game went to level 5.
Arcade Game
This game is loosely based on the arcade
version of T*tris. It provides the basic idea
of Syzygy but throws in "arcade-y" elements
such as starting board configurations, and in
later rounds random events, such as blocks
just suddenly popping up, bricks appearing,
or blocks disappearing causing the entire
board to shift. This game can be played
either to get as many points as possible by
clearing exotic types of lines or by meeting
the goals of the rounds early enough to get
huge bonus points.
The rounds have three different types of
goals that must be completed:
x LINES - Clear x number of lines to go on to
the next round.
x POINTS - Earn x many points (any way you
can) to finish the round.
x DIAGONALS - Get x diagonal lines to clear
the round. You still get points for other
lines, but only diagonal lines (of any
length) count toward moving on.
When you select Arcade Game, you will be
presented with a menu of possible starting
points. Each of these is a line round. Rounds
always come in the order presented above,
then starting over in the same order. Here
are the obstacles presented in the game:
Round Obstacles
----- ---------------------
1 Nothing!
4 Starting color configuration
7 Starting brick configuration
10 Randomly appearing colors
13 Randomly appearing bricks
16 Starting color configuration & randomly
appearing colors
19 Starting brick configuration & randomly
appearing bricks
22 Randomly appearing colors and bricks
25 Starting color configuration & randomly
appearing colors and bricks
28 Starting brick configuration & randomly
appearing colors and bricks
31-42 Randomly appearing colors and bricks &
alternating configurations
The highest round you can start at is round
22. The way the speed for a round is
determined is based on two things: The round
you started and how many rounds you've
completed. No matter what round you start on,
you'll start off at level 0 (the slowest).
Every 2 rounds you complete, the base speed
goes up by one level. So if you started at
round 1, round 10 would be going at level 4
speed. You'd be going at level 9 speed at
round 19. The best I've done starting at
round 1 is getting to round 20. The highest
I've ever gotten is round 28.
There are 3 different color and brick
configurations each. Also, the higher you go,
the more likely that random colors and bricks
are going to appear. There are certain
conditions when bricks and colors will NOT
appear: Any time you've completed one line or
more, nothing random will show up. Also, if
the column a color is supposed to appear is
too close to the top (within 3 lines) of the
pit, it won't come up. Things work a little
differently with bricks: They may appear
ANYWHERE on the screen (not just on top of
one of the columns). However, if a brick is
supposed to show up, there is a 50-50 chance
that INSTEAD of a brick appearing, that block
will be cleared. If this is in "mid-air,"
then obviously nothing will happen. If it
happens to be where you already have a block,
it disappears and the entire column falls.
Sometimes this can lead to a series of chain
reactions (especially in those last
desparation moments near the end of a round).
Skill Game
This game is similar to the Arcade Game in
many aspects, except there are no arcade
elements and the emphasis is on getting past
all of the rounds. Also, each round is the
same speed and same goal no matter how many
times you play it or where you start. The
only differnce is in the pieces that come out
which is always random in any game.
A good idea would be to start with one of the
other 2 games first, since they provide a
better learning area than the skill game. The
skill game is so specific in some of its
goals that it would probably bog down the
first-time player until he/she gets used to
the game.
There are 4 different types of goals that
must be met, and although many of them are
similar to the arcade version, some have
unusual twists.
x LINES OF y BLOCKS - x lines must be
cleared, but each line that counts toward the
goal must be at least y blocks long.
x POINTS - Same as the arcade. Get x points
to go on.
x BLOCKS - Clear x blocks. Notice that blocks
that are cleared in more than one line (such
as a cross of horizontal and vertical lines)
only count once!
x DROPS OF y POINTS - As stated above, a DROP
is the result of one single piece drop. Here,
you must set up the board so that you get x
drops that are worth at least y points. These
can get really hard!
After starting to design the rounds, I came
up with the idea of using the drop round type
as a "survival" type of round. So every now
and again, you'll see a massive number of
drops with a super-low point value. In these
cases, the objective is simply to survive
that number of pieces, as every single drop
will meet the point requirement (no matter
how short of a fall distance there is).
This game features the use of a password
system for playing at higher levels. This is
so that once you get to certain points you
can get to them fairly easily and not have to
play the lesser boards over and over. You are
given a password after clearing 10 levels. So
passwords will start you at rounds 11, 21,
31, etc. If you type a bad password at the
start, you'll start at round 1. The reason
passwords are used is because I want people
to have to go through all of the levels,
unlike the Arcade Game, where it really
doesn't matter.
The first 10 rounds are fairly easy; they are
intended to get your feet wet in the skill
game. The hardest ones will probably wind up
being the drop rounds. Starting at round 11,
the goals will start to get progressively
harder. I have tried to make each group of 10
somewhat equal in difficulty, but that is not
always possible. There will always be the
real easy rounds and the really hard ones.
Starting at round 31, more and more "speed"
rounds are introduced where you really have
to start thinking quickly. Round 41 features
the first round that you are required to get
a 9-long line. At round 51, most of the goals
are either speed rounds or fairly difficult
types of goals (notably surviving 200 pieces
in round 56).
At the point of this writing, there are 60
rounds to complete. I hope to have at least
100 for full distribution.
Scoring
=======
Introduction
There are a billion ways to score points in
this game (at least it seems that way). There
is one important concept used in my scoring
system: The progressive bonus. By this, I
mean that the more times you score a certain
bonus, the more it is worth. Every time
progressive scoring or bonuses are discussed,
there'll be mention of a BASE SCORE. In all
cases, the base score is the number of points
earned the first time, and it is also the
number of points the bonus is increased.
Example: A bonus has a base score of 10. The
first time you earn that bonus, you get 10
points. The second time you get it, you get
20 points. The third time, 30. By that time,
you have gotten 60 points total (10 + 20 +
30). When something is called a progressive
score or bonus, you'll be given a base score,
how it's earned, and when it's reset back to
the base score.
When discussing the scores, unless otherwise
indicated, all scores apply to all of the
games. When a score is applicable to 1 or 2
games only, it is indicated next to the name
of the score.
Fall score
The points earned for dropping the piece.
This score varies from game to game, but it
is roughly determined by the round you are on
(for Skill and Arcade), how fast the piece is
moving, and how far it falls. In all cases,
the further it falls, the more points you
get. Remember you must HOLD DOWN the
speed-down key to get credit for the full
distance.
Lines
Obviously, this is the entire point of the
game. Here is a table of line scoring base
values:
Length Vertical Horizontal Diagonal
------ -------- ---------- --------
4 100 500 1000
5 1000 1500 2500
6 2500 3000 5000
7 5000 6000 10000
8 10000 12000 25000
9 15000 25000 50000
10 30000 - -
11 40000 - -
12 50000 - -
13 100000 - -
14 150000 - -
Any line that has a wild block in it will
score 1/2 its usual base value. It is
absolutely impossible to get more than 9
horizontally or diagonally at a time, since
the pit is only 9 blocks wide. I am
next-to-almost sure that 14 is the greatest
length possible vertically. Anyone who wants
to prove otherwise is welcome to try to do
so, and if you can, well, you get
international recognition by having me print
your name in this file and the satisfaction
that you proved me wrong!
Chain reaction multiplier
The chain reaction multiplier is given
becuase of the difficulty of setting up lines
right after the immediate drop. Basically,
for each chain reaction, the multiplier for
the base value of the line (as given above)
is increased by .5x. Let's say you clear a
4-long diagonal line. That's 1000 points.
Then say after the pieces drop, a horizontal
line (4-long) is formed. This would normally
be worth 500, but because of the chain
reaction multiplier, it is worth 750 points.
If it was cleared on the 3rd chain reaction,
it would've been worth 1000 (500 x (1 + .5 +
.5 [=2])).
Colors multiplier
This bonus is given based on the number of
colors cleared on one drop. The total points
earned for clearing lines (including the
chain reaction multiplier) is multiplied by
this bonus.
Colors Bonus
------ -----
1 1x
2 2x
3 3x
4 5x
So clearing all 4 colors at once can greatly
increase your score (especially if one of
those lines was a 9-long diagonal!). The
purpose of this bonus is to reward the
incredible foresight of good players. Also,
it's a lot harder to set up different colored
lines on 1 drop than to get several lines of
the same color on one drop.
Line bonus
This is a progressive bonus with a base value
of 500. For every line cleared after the
first one on a single drop, this bonus is
scored. So if you cleared 3 lines, you get a
total bonus of 1500 (500 + 1000).
Chain reaction bonus
This is a progressive bonus given for each
chain reaction that happens on a single drop.
The base score, which is 1500, is reset after
each drop.
Round bonus (Arcade)
The Arcade Game round bonus is 2500 points x
the round number, cumulative. This is not
cumulative just on that game, but instead the
round bonus is always the same for that
round. Round 1 bonus would be 2500; round 2,
7500 (2500 + 5000); round 3, 15,000 (2500 +
5000 + 7500); round 15, 300,000; etc.
Round bonus (Skill)
This is a lot easier. 10,000 points x the
round number.
Empty bonus (Arcade, Skill)
This is a progressive bonus given at the end
of a round. The base score is based on the
round number (it's higher for the Arcade
Game), and it is given for each and every
empty square at the end of the round.
Over bonus (Arcade)
This is given for going OVER the goal of the
round (that is, clearing more lines that
required, etc.). For line rounds, you get
5000 points for each extra line you cleared.
For diagonal rounds, 10,000 points for each
extra diagonal line. For points rounds, the
number of points you went over the goal
rounded DOWN to the closest 100 points, with
a cap of 50,000 points. There is no cap on
any of the other rounds.
Brick bonus (Arcade)
This bonus is for putting up with the hassle
of bricks. For rounds with starting brick
configurations, each brick that was there is
worth 200 points. Any extra bricks that are
added randomly are worth 5000 points. (If
during the game some bricks are "eaten," then
you won't get credit for them. All that
matters is what's there at the end of the
round.)
Password bonus (Skill)
This is a bonus given every time you get a
password in the skill game. It is a
progressive bonus, with the first password
you get being worth 1,000,000. This is not
for the level of password you get, it is for
the number of passwords you get. If you start
at round 11 and get to round 21 (earning a
password) the bonus is only 1,000,000. If you
had started at round 1 and gotten to round
21, THEN the password bonus would be worth
2,000,000.
End-of-game line bonus (Endurance)
Since the main purpose of the Endurance Game
is to form lines, I needed to put in a
substantial bonus for getting a lot of lines
in a game. The is a progressive bonus given
for every line made at the end of the game.
The base score is 100 points + 10 x the
starting level. If you start at a fairly high
level (say 6 or 7) and get in the
neighborhood of 150-160 lines, you'll get at
least a couple million bonus points.
Game display
============
Demo mode
Demo mode was described above in "Starting
the program." However, not everything was
discussed about it. The main menu is on the
title page, telling you how to start the
game. Anytime you play a game and score more
than 0 points, the result of the last game is
shown at the top of the title page. It tells
you what game was last played, how many
points you got, and how many lines were
formed.
On the high score pages, your rank is listed
in blue at the bottom of the 2 pages of the
game you played. Also, if you made the top
100, your score is highlighted by color
flashing. The first place score is
highlighted by a flashing gray color.
Game mode
The huge area on the left of the screen
outlined in purple is the pit. On the right,
you'll see 2 or 3 status areas. The topmost
area shows your total game stats: Your score,
the total number of lines and blocks you've
cleared, and the round (Arcade and Skill) or
level (Endurance) you're currently on.
Right below that, the results of the last
piece drop are shown. You see the fall
points, the number of colors cleared (it
flashes if you cleared all 4 colors), the
total value of the lines you cleared
(including the color and chain reaction
multiplier), and any bonuses you might have
received (the line and chain reaction
bonuses).
Under the last drop status, in the Arcade and
Skill Games, you'll see the goal for the
current round. It will flash when you get
within 10% of your original goal or if
there's just one of your goal left (and
that's over 10%).
Finally, on the bottom of the right side,
you'll see the next piece you'll get. Note
that if you clear a round, there are no
guarantees that the next piece will be the
one that was last shown. To the right of the
"Next," you'll see a number in parentheses.
This number indicates what number piece the
next one is. (E.g. if the number is ( 120 ),
then the next piece is the 120th piece you'll
play.) This is reset at the start of each
round but is cumulative for the Endurance
Game.
After a round is cleared, the goal display
will change to a bonus breakdown. The total
bonus you've received is shown in the "Bonus"
readout in the last drop section.
End-of-game screen
Here you see your total score, lines, and
blocks cleared. The game will determine your
rank and display that as well. (If you didn't
rank, it'll let you know!) Any ties in score
go to the person (people) who first got that
score. So if you tie 1st place, you'll get
2nd.
If you made the top 20 for the game you
played, you'll get the chance to put in your
name (or anything else you want to say). The
limit is 25 characters, and this is shown by
the underline placed on the screen right
before the cursor.
If you made one of the grand champion scores,
you'll also get a chance to put a quote or
saying or whatever up to 40 characters long
that'll be seen by everyone who plays your
copy of the game.
Keys and commands
=================
Demo mode
During demo mode, there are several keys that
will do something:
<space> - advance to the next page of the demo
a - start the Arcade Game
e - start the Endurance Game
s - start the Skill Game
q - quit Syzygy
CTRL-C - KILL THE PROGRAM (CAUTION!)
l-/|-A - send program to background (or bring
it back up)
* These last 2 keys work ANYWHERE in the program.
Any other key returns the game to the title
screen. Notice that you must use left-amiga-a
to toggle between WorkBench and Syzygy. The
left-amiga-m or left-amiga-n combination WILL
NOT WORK, unless you are currently in
WorkBench or another WorkBench-launched
program. No matter where you are,
left-amiga-a will bring Syzygy back to front
(unless you start another AMOS-made program).
Notice that due to my foresight and because
I'm such a nice guy, if you send the program
to the background in the middle of a game, it
will AUTOMATICALLY GO INTO PAUSE MODE! Neat,
huh? This is in case some super-emergency
comes up elsewhere and you don't want to
bother hitting <ESC> before hitting left-
amiga-a, such as your terminal program just
got through to your favorite board after
wardialing for 45 minutes.
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