House of Games 2 (Hi-Tech Products)/House_of_Games_II_Hi-Tech_Products.iso/games/274/phage.doc

Text File | 1992-05-27 | 16KB | 337 lines

                                  PHAGEFIGHT
                            Written By Tom Lentz.
                          Copyright 1992, Tom Lentz.


  Phage (fäj) n.  Short for Bacteriophage, a viral organism that
                  destroys bacteria.

          Welcome to Phagefight, this is my second shareware IBM game, and
  for this one I have decided for more of a strategy game.  I know, it's not
  the best name for a game, but nobody would want to download a game with the
  word "Virus" in the name, including myself!  The game appears to be a
  success, I have had lots of fun playing it, and so have the playtesters.  I
  hope you enjoy it as much.

          First, some legal technicalities.  This program is shareware, it
  may be distributed freely via electronic, magnetic, or any other computer
  media, so long as the following conditions are met:

            1) Nothing is charged or required in exchange for
               obtaining this program, except a fee of no more
               than $3.00, and that only to cover the cost of the
               computer media and handling.

            2) The program is distributed in its entirety.  The
               program, documents, order form, and data files must
               all be included.

            3) Nothing is added to this program, and the program
               is not changed in any way.  This includes, but is not
               limited to, foreign programs (compression or storage
               programs such as PKZSFX permitted), virii, and
               advertisements.

          This program is copyrighted, registered copyright pending.  All
  rights reserved by the author.  Program modification of any kind is
  expressly prohibited.  No warranty is expressed or implied with regard to
  program function, or suitability to any purpose.  The author will not be
  responsible for any damages caused by use, misuse or inability to use this
  program.  Exception: if this program was ordered via mail from the author,
  the program disk will be replaced if it is found to be defective media upon
  first use.



  And now. . .

     we return you to your regularly scheduled game. . .






                              System Requirements
                              ===================

          Phagefight was designed for high-end systems, since I wished to
  take advantage of all the features we paid so much for, yet seldom get to
  use.  This is a small market, best reachable by shareware.

          This program requires VGA and will use a Microsoft (tm) compatible
  mouse if you have it.  Alternatively, the keyboard may also be used.
  Although PhageFight will run on lower-end XT computers if they meet the
  above requirements, you might be waiting a bit for the computer to make a
  move on the higher difficulty levels.  This program will function from a
  floppy drive (in fact, it will fit entirely on a 360K floppy).  A hard
  drive is recommended for best performance, as most of the program's
  graphics and sound are loaded directly from disk.






                                  The Setting
                                  ===========

          You are in control of an army of bacteriophage.  Small viral
  organisms engaged in an epic battle over an area a few microns wide.  The
  object of the game is to have the most phages on the battle ground when the
  battle ends.  A battle ends when the board is filled, when one player is
  deadlocked and can no longer move, or when one player is totally wiped out
  and has no more phages on the board.

          Each phage is capable of doing two things, dividing or jumping.  If
  a phage chooses to divide, another, identical phage may be placed in an
  adjacent empty square.  When a phage makes a jump, it vacates it's original
  location and moves to a vacant square that is two squares distant.

          When a phage lands, whether it be from a jump, or from division,
  all enemy phages adjacent to the new location are virally infected by the
  new phage, and become converted to friendly units.






                               The Playing board
                               =================

          When the game loads, the title screen shows red, green, and blue
  buttons down in the lower left corner.  Press the plus or minus buttons of
  any color to increase or decrease the amount of that color contained in the
  playing board.  A sample bar to the right of the buttons shows what the
  current color of the playing field is.  When you are satisfied, press the
  START button.  The game board will then load.

          F1 may be pressed at any time for help!

          The game board contains several buttons on the right hand side.
  Under players, 1 or 2 may be pressed for one or two players.  Default is 1.

          Under DIFFICULTY, there is a bar graph showing the difficulty level
  of the computer opponent.  Press the minus button to decrease the
  difficulty, or the plus button to increase the difficulty.  This switch is
  inoperative in 2 player mode.

          Under STANCE, a small dot shows the computer opponent's stance. On
  the left side is a 'D' button for defensive, and on the right side is an
  'O' button for offensive.  Press the Offensive button to make the computer
  opponent more offensive, or press the Defensive button to make the computer
  opponent more defensive.  When the computer opponent is more defensive, it
  will value it's phages more than yours.  When the computer opponent is
  offensive, it will value your phages more than it's own.  This controls the
  way the computer will play it's game, more on the offensive or more on the
  defensive.  The default value is neutral, halfway in-between. This setting
  is recommended for the best (most challenging) game.

          Press the NEW GAME button to load a new playing field and start a
  new game.  A group of playing boards will be shown.  Click the mouse on a
  playing board to load and begin play on that board.  Click the CANCEL
  button to return to game play without loading a new board.

          Press the QUIT/DOS button to exit the game altogether and return to
  DOS.  You will be given the opportunity to confirm this action by choosing
  QUIT, or by choosing CANCEL if you change your mind.

          Press the ROTATION button to toggle playing board color (palette)
  rotation on or off.

          Use the + (plus) and - (minus) keys to speed up or slow down the
  speed at which the playing board color (palette) rotates.

          Position the pointer over either player's name (if in single
  player mode, 'Computer' cannot be selected) and press the mouse button
  to bring up the player menu.  The player menu is used to save and load
  player statistics, and to change player names.  You can use the player
  menu to keep a record of your game performance.  Among those stats kept
  are wins, losses, win to loss ratio, and the average difficulty level
  played against (only applicable to one player games).

          If in two player mode, some of the buttons are disabled when it is
  the second player's turn, computer player controls in particular.






                                   Movement
                                   ========

          To move a phage, click the left mouse button when the mouse pointer
  is on it's square.  Then select it's destination square and press the left
  button again.  The phage will then move to that square.  If you change your
  mind, you may unselect a selected phage (one with a square around it) by
  clicking on it again.  You are then free to select another phage for
  movement.

          You may use the keyboard for movement in addition to the mouse.
  The pointer may be moved by the arrow keys, the q-w-e-a-d-z-x-c key group,
  or by the numbers on the numeric keypad.  The keys s, enter, 5, and the
  space bar are all equivalent to the left mouse button.  Note that the two
  different key areas (the key group on the left end of the keyboard, and
  the keypad) make it easy for two players to simultaneously play PhageFight.






                                     Hints
                                     =====

          On the easiest difficulty level, you can "set up" the computer.
  Give him what looks like a good move and force him to jump a key phage.
  Then move in and take his spot.

          Try to use the blocked squares (grey) to your advantage.  Use them
  as fronts, hide behind them, and jump out when you see an opportunity.

          Unless you see a golden opportunity, it's usually best to wait
  for your opponent to come to you at the start of a game.  While waiting,
  build up a nice front, and don't leave any holes for him.  If you move
  a phage out to attack his front, he usually takes it back the next move,
  along with a bit more.  For that reason, stay on the defensive until
  things start to get ugly.

          Don't jump unless you have to.  If you jump a phage and don't take
  any enemy phages, you haven't scored a point for that turn.  If you jump
  a phage only to take one enemy phage, you'll only get 1 point.  By just
  dividing, you can also get one point, and not leave a "hole".

          Stance is intended to make for a more "interesting" game, and not
  to increase the effectiveness of the computer opponent.  The computer plays
  best when stance is left in the center in a neutral posture.  The function
  of stance, as previously explained, is to control how valuable the computer
  finds each phage.  When the computer is more defensive it will consider
  saving or creating one of it's phages more valuable than taking one of
  yours.  When more offensive, the opposite will happen.  In the neutral
  posture all phages are valued equally, as they should be, since as far as
  scoring is concerned, a "phage is a phage" whether it be a created, saved,
  or captured one.

          Difficulty basically controls how far into the "future" the
  computer will look.  On the lowest level, the computer simply takes
  whatever move it feels like, it can make mistakes on this level.  On level
  two it simply makes the move that will get it the most phages right away.
  On level three, the computer looks two moves into the future, once to see
  it's best move, and a second time to find the best move you could possibly
  make to counter.  It then takes the move which will leave itself with the
  most pieces at the end of two moves.  Higher difficulties work similarly,
  but look three, four, or five moves into the future, respectively.

          Time for the computer to compute it's move increases geometrically
  with the level.  Each higher difficulty level requires 49 times more
  computing time than the previous one.  Unless you feel like waiting an
  hour or so between moves, do NOT try the highest difficulty setting, unless
  you are running a 486 or a very fast 386.






                                   Shareware
                                   =========

  Thank you for trying this game!

          This game is distributed under the shareware policy.  In the true
  spirit of "try before you buy" shareware, this program is distributed in
  it's complete and finished form.  No features have been disabled or
  crippled in this game.

          The idea behind shareware is to "try before you buy".  You are free
  to try out this program as long as you want, and are free to share it with
  as many people as you wish.  It is truly capitalism at work.  A program in
  a retail store, for example, has a flashy box and advertising to entice you
  into buying it.  How many times have you bought a game only to take it home
  and find out that it really stinks, and wish you had your money back?
  Shareware, on the other hand, has nothing but the program to show to the
  user.  Therefore, only the best programs get anywhere.  And in the end, may
  the best program win.

          But shareware will only work if YOU, the end user, help it to.  If
  you do not help to support shareware by sending a registration fee or
  donation for your favorite programs, then the market will die out, and the
  concept of shareware as we know it will die out as program authors discover
  that there isn't any profit in it.  So please, support the shareware policy
  and the authors who have worked so hard to make it work.  Whether it be
  this program, or any other that you register, I'm sure the author will be
  grateful.

          If you wish to register this game, please send a registration fee
  of $10, or any amount you feel the program is worth to:

                 Tom Lentz
                 E. 1028 Newark
                 Spokane, WA   99202

          In addition to registering a fine program, easing your conscience,
  and obtaining my eternal gratitude, you will be notified, free of charge
  via postcard, of any new program updates and will have the opportunity to
  have them shipped to you for a very minimal postage and handling fee.

          Even if you don't like this game, I would still appreciate your
  comments, questions, or ideas.  I can be reached on WWIVnet, user number
  53@5912 (Alien).  I've had a lot of fun writing this program, and wish to
  continue to provide such services in the future.  And if you can beat the
  computer on level 4, or even come close on level 5 (the highest level),
  with stance in a neutral posture, please let me know!  I feel like I've
  created a monster, I can't beat my own game!






                                Known Problems
                                ==============

          There are no known bugs in this program, it has been extensively
  playtested.  But should you find something you would consider a problem,
  please contact me.

          With some mouse drivers (my Mouse Systems one in particular), the
  mouse pointer will change color with the playing field background.  This is
  harmless and will not affect program function.  You may wish to turn the
  rotation off, or try another mouse driver to circumvent this.



                                    Credits
                                    =======

          This program was created by Tom Lentz, in association
          with The Genesis Engineering Group of Spokane, Washington.

          Design and Coding                    Tom Lentz

          Graphics                             Tom Lentz

          Ideas and inspiration                Ronn Doty

          Testing                              Ronn Doty
                                               Mike Hill
                                               Tom Lentz

          Playtesters                          Brian Baker
                                               Corey Doty
                                               Ronn Doty
                                               Debbie Hill
                                               Mike Hill
                                               Tom Lentz
                                               Marc Schroeder
                                               Dennis Washburn
                                               Marc Weddle