This program was written for my daughter, Cassie, as a Christmas present-- mainly because she expressed an interest in getting a Simon game for Christmas. The game itself is a simple one in concept and I figured it would be something that a computer could do just as well.
The program itself was written on both a Zeos 80386 and a Packard Bell Notebook 80286, both with VGA, using Turbo Pascal 6.0 with the Turbo Vision application framework. Blaise's Turbo Vision Development Toolkit was also used. o
The documentation was written using Quciksoft's rather excellent PC-Write, another fine shareware product. "
Index
Play
The Play option leads to a subview contain menu options for the games available under this version: Zimon and Merlin. $
Index
Zimon
Zimon is a game that sharpens the memory nad can be darn frustrating at times. The basic concept is that the computer will play a series of tones, each tone accompanied with a particular square lighting up. (It helps, believe me). The object of the game is to earn points by playing back the same series of notes by hand. m
Your score advances ONLY if you get the ENTIRE sequence correct. Partially correct answers do not count.
To play, either press the 'P' Key or click the Play button with the mouse. The computer will respond by playing first 1 note, next time 2 notes, and then so forth; the length of the series will increase 1 each time. After you've seen the series, Zimon will wait for you to play your "guess". Simply press the numbers that correspond (or click on the same square) until you finsish the series. Then either press "C" or click on check. l
If you're correct, you hear a click. If you're not, you'll hear an "error" sound (two notes). That's it.
Total number of notes Zimon will play is 76. I can't imagine anyone getting that far very soon. If this turns out too low, get in contact with MorganSoft and we'll get a copy to you that will go to 255 notes. [
The "Reset" button is there to start your series over again, should you make a mistake. &
The "Review" button will play the seeries back again for review. Note that each time you press Review, the maximum score you can get for the series is reduced. (It's considered the same as a "Try"--each try costs you one point off each note. Series checked but in error count as one "Try".
The "Options" button will let you change the speed of the series, as well as the pause between notes. At top speed, Zimon is too darn fast to play, for me at any riate. 7
The "Quit" option does just that. You exit the game. "
Index
Check
This button causes Zimon to check the string of notes you've entered agaist the current string. If correct, you'll hear a kind of chirp sound and, perhaps, a change in the score. (If you have to try too many times, you don't get a score.) "
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Play
This button causes Zimon to play the next string of notes, adding one to the end of the last string. It's the start of a round. "
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Review
This button makes Zimon play back the current string. NOTE: it counts as a try! "
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Quit
This button quits Zimon, taking you to the main menu. The Escape key does the same thing. "
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Reset
This button "resets" the string of notes you're entering. Use this if you make a mistake on typing or clicking. NOTE: Does NOT count as a try. "
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Speed
This button calls up a dialog box that allows you to adjust the duration of each note, and the pause between them. %
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Merlin
Merlin is another simple game in concept. Briefly, the opject is to make all of the squares light up at once, by pressing keys on the number pad. The keys have the following effect:
7
4
1
Key
1: Toggles the numbers 1, 2, 4, & 5
2: Toggles the numbers 1, 2, & 3
3: Toggles the numbers 2, 3, 5, & 6
4: Toggles the numbers 1, 4, & 7
5: Toggles the numbers 2, 4, 5, 6, & 8
6: Toggles the numbers 3, 6, & 9
7: Toggles the numbers 4, 5, 7, & 8
8: Toggles the numbers 2, 5, & 8
9: Toggles the numbers 5, 6, 8, & 9
The game ends when all of the squares are lighted. "
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Configure
This menu option pulls down a secondary menu, that allows you to change the colors, video mode, note length, or pause between notes for the games. You can also elect to save the colors to disk, making them active for future sessions. ,
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Colors
This dialog box allows you to change all of the colors used by Zimon. Please note that any color changes will only become active after you leave the dialog box. "
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Video
This Option lets you change the current video mode; the three options are Color, Black and White, and LCD (which is the same as the color option, but with chars printed in each "merlin/zimon" box, allowing to to see any changes). The current state is saved out to disk at the end each program run, so once you find one you like, it will come up automatically (provied that the configuration file is found). "
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Game
This option allows you to set the pause length between each note and the duration of each note's play. At it's fastest, Zimon will be a bit faster than you like--particualarly so if you have an 80286+ microprocessor. "
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Save Colors
This options writes the current color set out to disk. This is stored in the file Zimon.Cfg. "
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High Score
This option pops up the current list of high scores for the Zimon Game. A maximum of 20 scores can be saved. "
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Merlin Plus
This is the same game as merlin, but expanded. Instead of a 3 x 3 square to work with, you have a 4 x 4 square with 16 keys to toggle the individual squares. Further, you have the option of configuring the game to choose different key responses and save them. The board looks like this:
C D E F
8 9 A B
5 6 7 8
1 2 3 4
The situation shown to the left
is the beginning of a game, just
after the "1" key has been pressed
using the Default Move Set.
The game, with the default keystrokes, is solvable though I'm not sure what the minimum number of moves are. I've done it in 12. (The best I've done on Boat is about 14).
And with a "roll your own" set of key strokes, who knows? It's quite possible that some key patterns will not be able to highlight the entire square. Anyone who comes up with some interesting key assignments is requested to contact MorganSoft and we'll send them on out to others.
Playing
Merlin
Plus Index
Playing Merlin Plus
The basic game is played the same way that Merlin is: press a number (or letter) or click the left mouse button on a number (or letter), or the corresponding box. Several boxes will highlight. The object of the game is to turn all of the boxes "on". |
It's interesting to note that symetric moves produce symetric patterns, and that the order of execution of doesn't matter.
Board Index
High Score List
This dialog box keeps a list of the top twenty high scores. Any scores that are higher than the lowest value in the list will be added, with the lowest consequently being lost. "
Index
Move Sets
This dialog box allows you to manage your list of Merlin Plus move sets--a set being the list of "blocks" affected by keystroke. Several sets are provided with Zimon and you can add what ever ones you wish. T
Buttons:
Use Insert Delete Okay Cancel
Index
Use
: set to be the currently used one.
Buttons
Index
Insert
: This button inserts the current set (in the
input lines) into the list, at the top.
Buttons
Index
Delete
: This button deletes the currently highlighted
set.
Buttons
Index
Okay
: Returns to Merlin Plus, using the current set.
Buttons
Index
Cancel
: Returns to Merlin Plus, but keeps the old active
set active. Even if deleted.
Buttons
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Registration
Shareware is a type of marketing that works on a the principle of only paying for what you use. Prices tend to be much lower than the standard commercial program prices, mainly due to the absence of marketing costs such as advertising and shrink wrapping. e
Shareware programs are available to be "tested" before any purchase is made. If the program pleases you, is useful, is one that you WILL use, then you are required to send the the registration fee to the shareware company. In addition to the program, you then can expect to receive technical support for the shareware program and notice of future updates.
Zimon is shareware and is copyrighted. You are encouraged to try it out and see if it does what you want it to do. If it does, please fill out the registration form dialog box and send the payment (in check or money order) to: _
MorganSoft
2170 Raynor St. SE
Salem, OR 97302
PH:503-364-2002
When you register, you will receive the following: A Registered version of the program on Disk, technical support should you need it, and one free update whenever you wish (and a newer version of Zimon exists). In eddition, purchasing Zimon will qualify you for a 25% discount on any other MorganSoft product you decide to register. #
Index
Using the Mouse
If you're not familiar with a mouse or the Borland style interface, there's several things that could make moving around in Zimon simpler. Refer to the frame of the box that you are presently viewing; moving clockwise, from the upper left, you will note:
1: The close button. This is in the upper left hand corner of dialog boxes. Clicking the Left Mouse button here will act the same as if you had pressed Escape--the Dialog Box will close. ;
2: This is Zoom Button, in the upper right corner of the box. Clicking the Left Mouse button here will "Zoom" the dialog box to take up the entire screen. If the dialog button is already "Zoomed", you would see an Up/Down arrow here, and the action would be to make the Dialog box as small as it was originally.
3: Arrows (actually triangles) on the right size and or the bottom line are called Accelerator arrow. Clicking or holding the left mouse button down will cause the box to scroll upwards/sideways one line/column at a time.
4: Thumb tabs are located in the Accelerators. So called becaue this causes a much more rapid scrolling (tabbing as it were). Multiple line scrolls are best accomplished with this. Note, it marks the current position of the text displayed (ie top, middle, or bottom). X
5: The the Accelerator proper (left or bottom). They shows the range of the text.
6: Resize corner (lower right corner, marked by single line corner. Holding the left mouse button down here, allows you to resize the box, draggin the corner around to where you want it. l
7: The Horizontal Accelerator. Exactly the same as the Vertical, but for the horizontal direction only. "
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