You can now race against time. The maximum time may be set for each game, and is reset for each move. If a player exceeds the time limit, the turn is lost and the other player gets an extra turn. The challenge is to set shorter and shorter time limits, as you develop fast scanning skills. Larger game boards will further increase the difficulty.
The time left is displayed in the status window below the score of the active player. The timer doesnΓÇÖt start till the previous player who has moved releases the mouse.
If a player times out either or both a regular and extra move, the opponent gets only one extra move.
The ΓÇ£WinnerΓÇÖs AlertΓÇ¥ now has an exit button which disables or enables the alert audio for future occurrences. Disabling the alert sounds allows you to proceed to the next game more quickly.
SQUARE WARS PLUS
The game board is made up of an arbitrary number of evenly spaced rows and columns of dots. Players take turns creating borders by connecting adjacent dots in either the vertical or horizontal orientation. If a playerΓÇÖs border completes the four sides of a square, its claimed by the playerΓÇÖs mark in the square. Completing a square also gives the player another turn. The goal is to end up with the most squares.
STATUS WINDOW
The status window shows the active player in reverse video. Along side each playerΓÇÖs name is the number of squares claimed. The ΓÇÿLeftΓÇÖ entry is the number of squares left to be claimed.
The window can be moved around by the usual click and drag technique.
The score for each player will be displayed in their color. The player in the leadΓÇÖs color will be used for the ΓÇÿLeftΓÇÖ entry except during tie states, in which case it will be black.
The time left for a move is displayed below the score for the active player.
PLAY
While the mouse button is held down, a pending border is shown with lines to the closest available border position. The player can move the border around as long as the button is asserted. Once the button is released, the border snaps to the indicated position.
If the move is not made within the allocated time, the turn is lost. If the player has an extra turn, it can now be played. If a player looses their regular and/or extra turn, the opponent gets one extra turn.
The last placed border is shown thicker than the previously set ones. This alleviates the ΓÇ£Where did you go?ΓÇ¥ question that always seems to be asked.
There is no ΓÇÿUNDOΓÇÖ. Just like chess or checkers: you let go of the piece, and your move has been made.
It remains a playerΓÇÖs turn as long as a border setting claims at least one square.
If the game board is larger than the window, the scroll bars can be used to display the desired portion of the game area. You may also move the cursor with the mouse down outside of the game window, and the playing field will scroll towards it.
The ‘Winner is…’ panel will appear as soon as a player has won the game. Often this will be before all squares are taken. If you check the status window you’ll see that there are not enough squares remaining for the other player to catch up.
STRATEGY
Square Wars Plus is one of those deceptively simple looking games. It turns out there are a lot of possible moves, and complicated strategies. Quite often it is advantageous not to claim a square. This is because the other player will acquire even more squares as a result of your next border setting.
As you get better at playing the game, try decreasing the per turn time limit. The challenge will increase.
Next Game Options…
The settings under this heading take effect for the next game started by the ΓÇÿNew GameΓÇÖ command.
The top most player in the dialog always goes first.
The playersΓÇÖ names can be set. The second playerΓÇÖs first letter is always underlined in claimed cells. This allows two names beginning with the same letter to be differentiated.
You can specify one or both players to be the computer. (The computer playing itself is cute to watch once or twice.) You may prematurely stop the game by pressing the Command and Period keys together (ΓÇÿΓîÿ.ΓÇÖ). To pick up the play, make one move yourself.
The number of rows and columns for a game can be independently set. (See Registration about enabling this feature.)
Changing the per move time limit allows you to increase or decrease the difficulty of the game. Mixing game board sizes and time limits also varies the challenge.
Autogenerate Borders…
Square Wars Plus usually has two tedious parts to it when played on paper: drawing the board and generating the initial borders before serious concentration is required. Computer generation of course easily eliminates the first problem. To ease the second one, I’ve added an ‘Autogenerate Borders…’ menu option. It allows you to set, at any point in the game, a percentage of the remaining borders that should be randomly generated. There is also a check box to allow or disallow the routine from completing squares. If square completion is allowed and occurs, the squares are not assigned to either of the players.
The player may optionally disable audio during the automatic border generation. This greatly speeds up the process, since the program doesnΓÇÖt have to hesitate the fraction of a second required for each ΓÇÿclickΓÇÖ sound to occur. The time gain probably isnΓÇÖt worth it for small game boards, but when hundreds of borders are involved, the savings is significant.
You may prematurely stop the generation by pressing the Command and Period keys together (ΓÇÿΓîÿ.ΓÇÖ). To continue use the menu item again.
Sound
Overall game sounds may be turned off or on by the ‘SOUND’ item under the ‘Square Wars Plus’ menu. (It may also be controlled in the ‘Autogenerate Borders…’ dialog just for this function’s operation.)
The ΓÇ£WinnerΓÇÖs AlertΓÇ¥ has an exit button which will toggle the use of audio for the alert. You can proceed to the next game faster by disabling the alertΓÇÖs audio.
NEW, SAVING & OPENING
You may play as many games simultaneously as memory will allow. Games may be saved to disk at any point. (See Registration about enabling this feature.) Opening a saved game reestablishes it exactly as when saved. In fact you may open multiple editions of the same saved game. This is useful if you want to try various strategies at a particular point in a game: Open several copies of the game and place them side by side. Play each one with a different strategy, and observe the results.
CLAIM MARKERS
The form of the claim marker can be adjusted at any time. Under the ΓÇÿPlayer One MarkerΓÇÖ and ΓÇÿPlayer Two MarkerΓÇÖ menus are the following:
Color - This selects the color of the claim marker and the status display for a player.
Use Letter - If checked the claim marker is the first letter of the playerΓÇÖs name. Player 2ΓÇÖs letter is always underlined to differentiate it in case both names have the same first letter.
Pattern - If ΓÇÿUse LetterΓÇÖ isnΓÇÖt checked, the pattern selected is used. Selecting a pattern will automatically disable letter usage.
PRINTING
You may print the game board at any stage. This can be useful just to generate a playing field for that next trip to a restaurant. A partial filled game by means of the ‘Autogenerate Borders…’ feature is an even better idea.
REGISTRATION
If you register your copy of the game, IΓÇÖll send you a code which allows other than five rows and/or columns of dots to be used, and allows saving of the games at any stage of play. Send your name, address, and a check for $5 to:
Steven Goldberg
4409 Foxfire Way
Fort Worth, Texas 76133
Prior Versions
The first version of this game was called ΓÇÿDotsΓÇÖ. The second ΓÇÿSquare WarsΓÇÖ. The codes for the prior versions will not work with Square Wars Plus. My testers felt the timing capability changed the challenge of the game enough to justify all users registering. Prior registrants however will notice that IΓÇÖve reduced the fee! If you liked the other versions, IΓÇÖm sure you find the timer limits a new challenge.
SHAREWARE POLICY
This game is copyrighted by Steven J. Goldberg (©1995). You may freely distribute the Square Wars Plus game program as long as you DO NOT pass along the file containing the registration data, or inform any one of your code. The file is generated by the program when you enter your registration name and code, and is called ‘Square Wars Plus Code’. Since this is the only place the code exists, a person receiving just the game will find it unregistered.
LIABILITY
I assume no liability for any problems, lost or corruption of data, or damage this game may cause to your computer system or peripherals. It has been tested on the following Macintosh models without any observed problems:
