Amiga Games: Greatest Hits 1996

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(08.03.1996-30.04.1996) LS-Tron © 1994-1996 by Dennis Müller ============================================================================ = = = Contents: = = = = 0. Comment on this manual = = 1. Introduction = = 2. Copyright etc. ... = = 3. Installation = = 4. Some History = = 5. Manual = = 1. The rules = = 2. The menues = = 1. Start = = 2. Info = = 3. Highscore = = 4. Options 1 = = 5. Options 2 = = 6. Quit = = 6. The mazes = = 7. other things = = 8. 2B continued... = = 9. By the way = = 10. Thanx = = 11. Final annotations = = = ============================================================================ 0. Comment on this manual The German Version of this manual has been written by me, Dennis Müller. This English manual has been translated by Jens Meyer who thinks he is a genius (D.M.: That's not right, because I am the real genius.). [Dennis is a nice, moderate boy, isn´t he? But he is a liar! I am the G E N I U S! JM] This manual will differ from the original. The main aspect where it will differ from the German Version are the comments. Jens commented what I wrote and I commented what he wrote. It is not necessary to read these comments though they will be quite funny (sometimes). One thing that should be made clear is that I'm not responsible for the manual that follows. All anger and illnesses caused by reading this manual are not my fault. But there is someone to blame for: Jens Meyer [If you want to criticize me, write to the MÜLLER FAN-CLUB! Address see below. JM] But now, let´s start with the manual. ============================================================================ 1. Introduction: What is that: "Tron"? Tron itself is a movie, in which a human being was "soaked" into a computer and had to play games against the programs. One of these games was the one which has been published as "tron" again and again and it still is. That's not all, though. One should make one of the opponents drive into a wall and escape through the hole produced by this, indeed. That should not be as easy as it seems and so you get the most points possible. That's what "Tron" should be and now I'll present, what "LS-Tron" is like It is just the same as I've already described above. ============================================================================ 2. Copyright etc... This game is FREEWARE, i.e. it may be copied AS IT IS, but the copyright remains mine, Dennis Müller's (the only exception is this manual, which is copyrighted by Jens Meyer [Copy everything but the English manual! It doesn´t matter at all! JM] AS IT IS means that the files may neither be changed nor deleted. Only the whole package my be transferred, including: LS-Tron LS-Tron.info LS-Tron.p LS-Tron.p.info LS-Tron.i LS-Tron.i.info LS-Tron.o LS-Tron.o.info LS-Tron.mod LS-Tron.mod.info LS-Tron-Types.i LS-Tron-Types.i.info Extra.i Extra.i.info Control.i Control.i.info Init.i Init.i.info Maze.i Maze.i.info Player.i Player.i.info Joystick.mod Joystick.mod.info Joystick.i Joystick.i.info Joystick.o Joystick.o.info LS-Tron.Doc LS-Tron.Doc.info LS-Tron.Dok LS-Tron.Dok.info LS-Tron.Title LS-Tron-Const.i LS-Tron-Const.i.info LS-Tron.config Besides, my own font, LS.Font, has to be used, included in the FONTS- directory. From Version 3 on and then henceforth [cool word,isn´t it?! JM], there are some "Standard-Mazes", which mustn't be changed either. Of course, they can be used for learning, looking at and playing. The whole sourcecode belongs to my copyright as well, and if someone wants to transfer it into his own programs, my name has to appear with it then. I. e. anyone may read it, learn from it but neither modify it (not even slightly) nor say it's his own. When counting all the files last, there were 319KB, which is quite a lot, I guess. Anyone who doesn't aggree should write his own program and then reflect his bloody opinion again ( Comment by D.M.: Youth is getting more and more brutal, isn't it? ) [Things happen! JM]. This package may only be taken for series which don't cost more than 5 DM ( about £2.10 ), even if there are more programs on one disk. Magazines including my game on disk mustn't cost more then 10 DM ( about £4.20 ). Anyone breaking these rules will be persecuted.[by the Spanish Inquisition! Any Monty Python fans out there? JM] The german manual also is my copyright. My special thanx for this brilliant English translation go to Jens Meyer who has its copyright. (Comment D.M.: The last part of this text, which has been written in italics, differs completely from my opinion, but I am not going to go into greater detail. ) ============================================================================ 3. Installation: As this game needs its own font and a few libraries, I have added an installation's-script from version 3 on and henceforth [That cool word again! JM] . The same again, a little bit more exactly: 1) boot from your hard-disk or from the disk you are going to use always when wanting to play "LS-Tron" 2) start the installation's-script with a double-click of your LMB. Now you can play "LS-Tron" from your disk. If you even want to copy the complete "LS-Tron" to your hard-disk [I can't imagine that! JM], pull the Tron-directory-icon into the hard-disk-directory you like. NOTE: In the Aminet-Version the libraries (MEDplayer.library and reqtools.library) are not included. So that you have to install them yourself. :-( System requirements: An AMIGA with 1MB of memory and at least KICK 1.3 :-) The functions of the Diskfont.library and the reqtools.library v. 38 are used. The use of the MEDplayer.library is optional (cf. chapter 5: Extras ). I'll be looking for an own song for one of the next versions, by the way: I am NOT responsible for any harm caused by the use of this program at all [write to the FAN CLUB though! JM] ============================================================================ 4. Some history Well, this is not the original form in which LS-Tron appeared. One HIRES screen on which everything ad to be done, only one player and a freaky- horror-power-like speed [whow!] (D.M.: This is a nice description, isn't it? ). Don't be afraid - I won't describe the whole development of LS-Tron here, but only a few hints for people who know as much as I knew before I started to write "LS-Tron", to help them not to make the same mistakes as I did. Speed: - a LORES screen is faster in building up a picture. Pixels are drawn faster and you don't need to put 2 pixels for a square. - Don't check if a player is still alive in often-needed routines or if the pixel right in front of him is really black again and again : Check it once and save it in a variable; that's much faster. - in order to prevent the game from trembling, one should look at one thing when searching for routines in the game's most important passages. There are routines which are, in the best case relatively rather, in a way, quite quick, but in a miserable case rather quite, in a way, relatively [Dennis didn´t notice the absurd use of all those adverbs! JM] (D.M.: I did!) [HaHa! JM] (D.M.: I noticed it! Believe me!) slow, indeed, which causes an effect one wants to avoid normally. Procedures with a good average are practicle in such cases, when they don't swerve from this average too much. Try a bit, I'd say. Colours: - Save 'em in an external file and load it everytime when starting the program. You don't have to compile the game again in order to change only the colours, then. (By the way, it takes some time with 2000 lines) Options: - Don't try to program billions of options at the beginning. Start with little steps: A running program is enough when starting ( I know what I am talking about ) - Read my procedure "Optionen", and you know how not to do it. Survey: - comments, comments, comments That is a nasty piece of labour, but can save a lot of time when searching a particular place half a year later. - Even when the program gets longer, write the whole calculations; you can change it lateron. It can help you when there is (320/2)-20, i.e. you go from the screen's centre 20 pixels to the left, instead of writing "140" only. Well from Version 2.0 on, I have a more detailed history: v2.0 : ( first publishing [:-( JM] - some Bugfixes und improves - complete keyboard operation (Thanx 2 A. Neumann) v2.1 : ( published ) - Joystick operation for players 1 + 2 v2.1.5 (29.07.95) : - Bugfix ( saves 1888 Bytes per start ) - No "Set Assigns" any more (Help by A. Neumann) v2.2 (02.08.95) : - Info-Menu extended - deleted some superfluous variables v2.2.1 (05.08.95) : - Bugfix ( configuration was not searched <TBase^.TronDir> => Error :-( ) v2.2.2 (09.08.95) : - added new obstacle :-) v2.3 (01.11.95) : - New loadingroutine for the titlepicture ( Thanx 2 A. Neumann ) => Superview.library isn't needed any more => The program is Kick 1.3 compatible again :-) v2.4 (02.11.95) : - some internal changes (basically the steering) v2.5 (07.11.95) : - Steering can be selected by the player ( cf. "Options" ) -> Info-Menu was shortened again - Bugfix ( Medplayer.library wasn't used properly ) - LS.Font improved v3.0 (14.01.96) : - 2. Options-Menu added: - Sound on/off - Load maze - Maze on/off - some Bugfixes - some some other little changes... => more than 4000 Pascal lines v3.0 (30.01.96) : - The writing of the German manual was finished v3.0.1 (27.02.96) : - Corrections of the Manual ( Thanx Andreas :-)) - Bugfix ( Thanx Andreas :-)) - some peanuts ( " " " ) v3.0.2 (01.-02.03.96) : - Bugfix ( Mazes weren't loaded correctly ) - Added <Save configuration> - Added an In-Game-Key (F10 for faster end of game) v3.0.9 (08.03.96) : - "LS-Tron" can now be used with English and German language - Computerplayers are now a bit better v3.0.10 (16.03.96) : - Changed the Computerplayers a bit - Some little changes in the file "player.i" - finished typing the English manual - some graphical changes v3.1 (30.04.96) : ( published ) - made some changes in the Layout (I think it look better now) - You can now reach almost everything with the mouse - Last corrections - Complete English manual by Jens Meyer *__\ * / ============================================================================ 5. Manual I don't know if anyone reads this manual though it is written in a rather brilliant English. ( D.M.: Jens is genius, isn't he? ) [Indeed, he is.JM] Basically, one can say, that the whole game can be controlled by keyboard ( One can reach a lot by mouse, though ). I've invented a (simple) system, for which you only need the F-keys. The gadgets are arranged beneath each other and so the top gadget can be chosen with F1 an so on. The only exception is the last gadget which can always be chosen with F10. Another important aspect for this manual is that I try to shorten it as well as possible. There are games with a contrary manual, such as "Frontier - Elite II" which says something on page 2 that could be translated into English like : "Selection of a symbol: you activate the symbols when touching them with the tip of the mouse- controlled pointer first and then pushing down the left mouse button." OK? I'll start right now. 1. The rules They're quite easy, indeed: - each player has got - 3 keys: - one for turning himself to the left - one for turning himself to the right - one for the acceleration; i.e. his line accelerates when pressing the key again and again. or - a Joystick: - left and right are the normal functions - acceleration with the firebutton - you have to avoid crashing into the obstacles or walls with the help of your means - The players who survive the longest get 15, 10 and 5 points - for each player, whom you "kill" with your line, you get 3 points (if you haven't been killed before) As the program can only work with the pieces [that was "peaces" before I corrected it! F*!@ Chirac! JM] of information that come through, it can be possible that some information get lost when playing with many players on the keyboard. That could be changed, but it would have to be done without multitasking (and I don't want to do so). The last aspect missing here are the in-game-keys, which are the following: <Esc> - quits the current game :-( < P > - (tea) break :-) <F 1> - final acceleration, i.e. the speed is switched to the turbo mode (this can´t be changed again afterwards) <F10> - quits the current game, but the points are distributed to all the players survived (survival bonus) 2. The menues Normally, they should explain themselves, considering the names, but here is a short description of them, though. 1. Start Start means start, in fact. When you push this button, the game starts. How should there be a different explanation? 2. Info This gadget leads to an information screen, which changes from version to version. But at the moment, it's including a "Thanx"- list and the LS-Tron versionnumber. 3. Highscore Difficult, isn't it? The players, appearing in their particular colours, are presented in a chart-like order. The best on the top... Push "New" in order to reset it. Click on the "Ok"-Gadget to leave the menu. 4. Options 1 Having pushed this gadget, the user can choose between different gadgets again. The Highscore is reset when you change any of the following options: "Level","Speed","Players","Human" or "Tracktracing". Here there is an explanation of all options in this menu: Level: You choose how many obstacles are set on the screen at the beginning. The more boxes are filled blue, the more obstacles appear on the screen when starting. An exception in the "suicide" mode (all 6 boxes are blue), which means that new obstacles are drawn throughout the whole game. Speed: Well, how fast do like it? This item contains the same system, i.e. the more boxes are blue, the faster is the game. Be careful in the "Turbo"-mode, because the game is not braked at all and it's rather fast on an A500. This mode should be unplayable on an A4000, but just try it... Players: You set the number of competitors here, including the computer- controlled ones. This rises to 6 and goes down to 2. The present number here always is at least equal to the one in "human". Human: You can set the number of human players. It can be 0 but can't be bigger then the one in "Players". Colour: Playing on the same colour all the time can get boring, I guess. Here is a choice of 4 colours. Try them and use the one you prefer. They can be seen better on the total screen, because 3 of them seem to be black in the box but only one is. Tracktracing: As everybody controls a stroke, you can set the maximum length of these strokes. (The more boxes, the longer the stroke...) If you choose "Off", the strokes aren't deleted at all. Language: Here you can set the language, which is used by LS-Tron. At the moment you have the choice between English and German. [we´ll add Latin, Polish and Swahili soon. JM] Quit: Back to the main menu... 5. Options 2 Probably not used as often as "Options 1", but still offering some interesting options. Names: You can type in all the players' names, appearing both at the end of each game and in the highscore. The 1st gadget is activated at the beginning; hit <Enter> to get to the 2nd one, and so on. Having reached the 6th one, and having hit <Enter> there, you can get to the 1st gadget again by pressing F1 or exit by pressing F10 (You can use the mouse as well, of course). Steering: You can choose if you want to play with the joysticks or with the keyboard. Then you can even choose the keys you want to use. Unfortunately, only the HEX-codes of the keys are printed here (I'll change this soon). Load maze: You can load a maze here which is used in the game. Further explanation are given in the part "6. The mazes". Maze on/off: Having loaded a maze, you can choose, if you want to use it or not. This gadget can only be used, when you've loaded a maze. Sound on/off: Having loaded a MED-Song, you can switch the music on or off 6. Quit Click on "Nein!" when you really want to quit (or hit <enter>) or click on "Ja!Ja!" to return (or hit <Escape>). [or the other way around?! consult a German dictionary JM] (D.M.: I am so great. In the requester now "Yes!" stands instead of "Ja!Ja!" and "No!" instead of "Nein!" :-) ) [ f*@k you! JM] ============================================================================ 6. The mazes The latest improval in LS-Tron. the mazes are made for guys and gals who are already bored by the standard-screen. Here is an explanation how to write such a maze: [Dennis´s explanations are difficult to understand. If you do so, though, write to the FAN CLUB! JM] You need a text editor which saves pure ASCII-Texts. All maze-files are of the same structure. The mazeformat is similar to the IFF-ILBM- standart. The file starts with the line "#LS-Tron Maze"; this shows that it is a maze file. The blocks follow in any order. They start with an identity-line; the following line indicates how many lines still follow in this block; then there are the data lines. Here is an list of the possible chunks (Since version 3.0.10 English and German identifiers can be used) : Identifier | Function | | #Lines | Here you can draw lines which are shown instead of | the standard lines. First, you indicate their (#Linien) | colour from 0-3 (0=white, 3=dark grey), and after | that the first and second coordinate pairs, e.g. | | #Lines | 5 ; Amount of the following lines | 1 ; Colour ( light grey ) | 20 ; first X-coordinate | 30 ; first Y- " | 50 ; 2nd X- " | 30 ; " Y- " | | You draw a horizontal line of 31 pixels in light | grey. | | #Player | With the help of this function you can put a player | into another place. The number of the following (#Spieler) | lines is always 5 (expected by LS-Tron!). After | that, you indicate the player's number, his | position and the movement wanted, e.g. | | #Player | 5 ; Amount of the following lines | 2 ; Number of the player | 40 ; X-coordinate of the starting position | 60 ; Y-coordinate of the " " | 1 ; movement into X-direction | 0 ; movement into Y-direction | | Like this, you put player 2 into the place (40/60) | and make him move to the right. With the help of the | movement you can do loads of things, just like | players who move diagonally or don't move at all. | | Here is a list of standard moves: | | 1/ 0 : move to the right | 0/ 1 : move downwards | -1/ 0 : move to the left | 0/-1 : move upwards | | #Level | This is the easiest function, I suppose. You preset | a level. It only makes sence, if you don't want | to put additional obstacles onto the screen. | Possible choices for a level are 0-5, e.g. | | #Level | 1 ; Amount of following lines | 0 ; Number of level (very easy) | | #Delete | You preset, if the starting area shell be cleaned | from obstacles. Possible answers are "Ja" (Yes) or (#Lösche) | "Nein" (No); It doesn't matter if you use capital | letters or not [or where]. e.g. | | #Delete | 1 ; Amount of following lines | nO ; area is not cleared | | #Comment | You can add a comment that is shown each time you | load this maze, e.g. (#Kommentar) | | #Comment | 400 ; Amount of following lines | This is my maze! ; First line of the text | I've developed... ; 2nd line | ... ; ... | This is the 400th line ; 400th line | | 400 windows each with one line text will be shown | after each other. | | #Info | This is no function and won't ever get one. That is | a definite meaning. If you want to add a comment | that shouldn't be displayed, use this command, e.g. | | #Info | 1 ; Amount of following lines | This line isn't shown ; text that isn't shown OK, anyone who has got still questions [I can´t imagine...JM] (D.M.: I can't imagine that either!) can look at the standard mazes in the directory "Mazes" or/and write to me. My address is shown at the end of this manual. The ones who have reached this part of the text shall have fun with the mazes and the following chapters. ============================================================================ 7. Other things A short item up to now, including LS-Tron's abilities that haven't been presented yet. Backgroundmusic: Having installed the MEDplayer.library in the LIBS:-directory, you can play MED-songs in LS-Tron. You have two possibilities: You can either copy a song you want to listen to while playing LS-Tron into the LS-Tron directory under the description MED.LS-Tron or you type the path and the name of the song as parameters when starting LS-Tron from the Shell, e.g. LS-Tron -lmypath/mysong and it will be played in LS-Tron! This can be switched on or off by hitting the s-key in the main menu or by using the gadget "Sound on/off" in the menu "Options 2". ============================================================================ 8. 2 B continued Another short chapter, only consisting of a list of new ideas, planned for one of the next LS-Tron versions: - Additions to the "maze"-format - IFF-pictures as background (Holger Gundelach, Jens Meyer [you know me] (D.M.: Jens Meyer? Who is that?), [the great translator JM] Andreas Neumann) - variable screen size - more colours for the gamescreen - variable colours - some changes in the layout I hope that some of you have other ideas. Please write to me. ============================================================================ 9. By the way I think one can see that I'm interested in programming. I'm very pleased if sth. I have programmed works like I want it to. And I don't have to say how proud I am when I can publish a programm. But there is one thing that makes me really sad: You publish a program, put your address into the manual, appeal to the readers ... and nothing ever happens, and you wonder [Fool´s Garden]. You are demotivated by this because you don't know if someone has used your program. Of course I know the other side as well, because I'm a user of other people´s programs, too; I never was intended to write to them either indeed. Besides, you don't know whom to write to and perhaps you are laughed at by some BIG personalities... Well, perhaps it'll help you when I explain my point of view. I'm a beginner. I only know my friends' [friends?! JM] (D.M.: Thanx go to Jens for this nice comment) opinions about LS-Tron and I want to know the opinions of others as well. But let's get a step behind and try to solve the problem of anonymity: That's me: Name : Dennis Müller Address : Bruchwiesenweg 27 45891 Gelsenkirchen Germany DOB : 10.06.77 Age : 18 [as you can derive from his DOB! JM] (He is so brilliant!) Hobbies : Computers, swimming and playing the rolegame "Das schwarze Auge" Some events concerning my hobby "computer": Let's start with my first computer. A little C64 with a 5 1/4" diskfloppy and I was 10... I've played a lot and lateron even tried programming for 4 years (but not very successfully). Then I got my A500, which still exists today. Having had problems with the Amiga Basic, I've stopped programming. But 1 1/2 years ago I learned Pascal at school and looked for a compiler for the Amiga, finding PCQ-PAscal (Freeware up to version 1.2b). That's how I stumbled into the APC&TCP computerclub, now having the possibility of learning sth. from other Amiga users. This history last result is LS-Tron (on your screen right now!). ============================================================================ 10. Thanx Thanx go to those people : Andreas "Wurzelsepp" Neumann for the Pascal-workshop, his info, aid etc... "Diesel" Bernd Künnen for his aid etc... Maximilian Egon Freiherr von Fürstenberg for his ideas (all the time, sometimes too often) for giving his address for the Dennis Müller FANCLUB Wiedehopfstr. 35 45892 Buer/Westf. Germany Jens Meyer for being my one and only betatester for translating my [LK D Betz-German] manual into [3½ Jahre Wirth-] English for correcting so many orthographical mistakes in this manual for spending so much time on such a f*!@ing text Thomas Müller ============================================================================ 11. The end I've been working on this game for quite a long time and it would be a pity if I should stop with this version. Anyone who would like to add anything should please write to me in an adequate way. Here's my address [for the 2nd time! JM]: Dennis Müller Bruchwiesenweg 27 D-45891 Gelsenkirchen But you won't get my telephone number, because I would like to choose time when I work with my computer an when I answer a letter. Further- more, I'm still a pupil... [Don´t take this seriously! He is the laziest one on earth, in fact {apart from Holger Gundelach} JM] (D.M.: I can't say that I disagree with him.) I hope that some of you invent own mazes and send them to me, as I have no new ideas. I'll put them on the disk as long as there is free space left (not changing the copyright and comments). ============================================================================ 11. Final annotations ********************************************* * LATIN rules the world! * * Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam... * ********************************************* I´ve added most comments in square brackets("[]")and put my "JM" behind it. The (D.M.: most brilliant) translator JENS MEYER ============================================================================ to be continued... THAT´S ALL, FOLKS!