home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
The Arsenal Files 6
/
The Arsenal Files 6 (Arsenal Computer).ISO
/
games
/
lball.zip
/
LBALL.DOC
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1996-02-05
|
9KB
|
213 lines
Loser Ball
Copyright(C) 1996 by Toady One Productions
Programmed
By
Tarn Adams
Program Design
Zach & Tarn Adams
Sound Engine
DiamondWare's Sound Toolkit
By
DiamondWare
Graphics Engine
Fastgraph 4.0
By
Ted Gruber Software
Special Thanks to:
Alan & Aris Ames
Section 1 - Introduction/Game Play
Section 2 - Navigating the Menus
Section 3 - Author's Notice
Section 1 - Introduction
──────────────────────────
A. General Features
Welcome to the game of Loser Ball. The game action centers
around some slime blobs set up on a 9x9 checkerboard. There are 18
computer players with individualized intelligences and tendencies,
ranging from the Loser Ball champions to just plain losers, and a
human player roster that can hold the records of up to 100 people.
There is also a tournament mode which pits 8 players against each
other in a fight over the coveted Loser Ball Title.
B. Game Play
As stated before, the game is centered around blobs set up on
a 9x9 checkerboard (with an option for 18x18). Depending on the number
of players, you begin with either one or two pieces set up in the corners.
The goal is to control the most squares on the board at the end of the
game (when there are no empty squares to move to) or, better yet, wipe
out all opposing pieces. You capture (change color) of enemy pieces by
moving next to them. Moves are set up like this:
You may copy your blob from the selected square to an empty adjacent square.
You may jump your blob over 1 adjacent square to an empty square.
Jumping is an effective method of attack because of the increased range,
but it can be bad because it exposes the pieces around the square being
jumped from to attack. Copying is good because it creates an extra piece.
The more pieces you have, the better. Your score is the number of pieces
on the board, after all (plus 100 points for shutting out all opponents).
If you've tried to play the game before reading this, you probably have
noticed the darker green squares on the board. These squares are obstacles,
they block movement. They can be jumped over, but not jumped on. In fact,
anything can be jumped over, but both jumps and copies must go into empty
squares.
**Moving is accomplished by clicking and holding the left mouse button on
the piece that is to be moved, then releasing the button over the square
that is to be moved to.
C. Requirements/Recommendations
A mouse is required, as well as VGA. A sound card is recommended,
preferably one that is Sound Blaster compatible. Some sort a disk-caching
utility, such as SMARTDrive, is HIGHLY recommended, especially on slower
machines (a meg of memory should be enough).
Section 2 - Navigating the Menus
──────────────────────────────────
**Press Esc at any time during the game to leave a place you don't want
to be at.
A. Main Menu
When you first begin the game, after you are greeted by Mikey,
you should see a menu with five options in front of you. This is the
Main Menu.
I. Single Game
This means play a single game with two to four players. The
players can be all human, all computer, or a mixture of the two. After
left-clicking on the Single Game button, a setup screen appears.
**Right Click After you have made your selections.
**Left Click on the symbol that is next to the slot you wish to fill.
The X figure sets the slot equal to None (No Player).
The human-shaped figure next to the X calls up a list of the human players.
Left Click on the human player that you wish to play.
Right Click to change pages if you have more than 20 active players.
The computer-shaped figure to the right of the slot calls up a list of
computer players.
Left Click on the computer player that you wish to play against.
The RAND figure on the far right side of the screen sets the slot to
Random Computer. The computer player will be determined after the setup
screen is exited.
You can also change the board size from 9x9 to 18x18 by left-clicking
on the "Small Board" text at the bottom of the screen.
After right-clicking to leave the setup screen, you will see
the board and the faces of any computer opponents. The human players will
be assigned colors. Have fun!
II. Tournament
This button will send you to a tournament setup screen. The
instructions for this screen are exactly to those for single game setup,
so refer to that section if you have trouble in the tournament setup screen.
One difference between the two is that you cannot select specific computer
opponents to play against. Also, you cannot set any of the eight slots
to None, as this would upset the tournament balance.
After right-clicking to leave the setup screen, you will see
the tournament screen, with the eight contestants lined up in a row.
Human players are represented as block of solid color. The color depends
on your placement in the tournament slots and has nothing to do with
your color in the actual matches.
** Left-Click to Start the next match.
You will see the two contestants that will play, or you will see the one
contestant playing if a human is involved. If no computers are playing,
you will see the names of the two human contestants. Follow the
instructions on the screen to play the match. Scores are multiplied by
the current round of the tournament at the end of the fight, to reflect
the trouble it took you to get as far as you have.
** Press Esc to leave the Tournament at any time.
** Press Esc to leave the Tournament after a winner has been determined.
If a human player wins the tournament, next time you play a
tournament, the human champion will be asked if he/she wishes to defend
the title. If that player is available, press Enter to defend. If not,
either press Space to forfeit or Esc to abort the tournament, if you
think that the player will be mad if you force them to forfeit when
he/she is not around.
III. View Hall of Fame
This is the simplest of the menu options. Left-Click on it and
you will see a list of the ten human players with the highest scores.
Golden players are active, and brown players are retired. All retired
players pushed off the high score list are erased from the roster
(100 players max on roster), so you shouldn't worry about retiring too
many players. Retiring is explained in Sub Section V (Edit Player Roster).
Exit the Hall of Fame by left-clicking.
IV. View Enemy Roster
If you want to look at the records of all of the computer opponents,
and hear them talk (if you have a supported sound card), this is the button
to press. You will see a record of wins, losses, shut-outs, and the score.
Right-click to cycle through the players one way, left-click to cycle the
other way. Press Esc when you are done viewing.
V. Edit Player Roster
This is the place where you can create, delete, retire, view, and
retire your players. Creating players is simple. Left-click on the
create button and type you name. After you type your name press Enter.
Try to hold it to about fifteen letters. Spaces and non-letter symbols
are allowed. Deleting players is also easy. After pressing the delete
button, just right- and left-click to scroll through the names and press
Enter to delete. As usual, Esc will Abort. Retiring is the same way.
Retiring players is the way to immortalize players in the Hall
of Fame. Do not bother retiring players that are not in the top ten.
They will be deleted.
The Delete Entire Roster option does exactly that. Press Enter
to eliminate all records, including retirees. Press Esc to abort.
Viewing characters works in the same way as viewing the computer
opponents. Refer to the last section for help.
Section 3 - Author's Notice
─────────────────────────────
This program is FreeWare. This means that you have no
obligations. You do not have to pay to continue using it. If, however,
you liked the program and would like to see more like it, or if you
have comments about this game or ideas about games you would like to have
us write, please send it all to:
Toady One Productions
11504 Logg Rd.
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
Any money contributions are welcome as the creators of this game are
trying to finance college and have very few skills other than programming
to live off.
Toady One Productions is not responsible for any damage done to your
computer by this or any other program.