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KING.DOC
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1992-01-22
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King of the Board
Copyrighted June 1988,1989,1990,1991,1992
By Chuck Valecek - Suburban Software
Version 7.15
Janurary 22, 1992
BACKGROUND
King of the Board started about a year ago as a Door written in
QuickBasic, and incorporated Door routines in DOORPATCH. Since then,
it has been modified from version 1.0 through 5.4 with suggestions
by users and Sysops. It has become very popular with PCBoards all
over the country and very popular with the users.
The 7.0 was the first official release of the door which was completly
rewritten using Turbo Pascal and ProKit Door routines. This will, I hope,
satisfy those Sysops who wanted to use the door but could not, due to
the newer modem speeds and system incompatibilities.
FILES
The following files are either included in the package or created by the door.
KINGxxx.EXE The door program itself (xxx would be the version number)
QUESTION.DAT Question file (included)
QUESTION.TXT Question file in text format
NEXTQUES.DAT Next question (created by the door)
NEW_QUES.DAT New questions entered by the users (created by the door)
KINGUTIL.EXE Utility program to list users etc (included)
KINGxxx.CNF Sample config file
KINGxxx Sample batch file
KING.LOG Optional log file (created by the door)
KING.HLP Help file
KINGP.HLP Help file if using the Point version.
KOB.DAT Sign on screen for King
QOB.DAT Sign on screen for Queen
MKKOB715.EXE Program to create the config file for Version 7.08
KINGQUES.EXE Program to add questions quickly
THE DOOR
King is a trivia game in which users try to make it up the pyramid
to the top. To accomplish this, the user must challenge another user
in a position above him. The user is asked a question and if he gets
it right he changes places with the user he challenged. It's a quick
game and won't tie up your board as some games do, because the user is
asked only one question and is allowed only one play per day. He may
call back tomorrow and find himself back were he was or even further
down the pyramid. If the user is beyond the playing grid (only 28
users on the grid) he can challenge only the 26th, 27th, and 28th
positions. If he is on the grid he can only challenge one of the next
three players. After the player has a turn he is asked if he would
like to enter a qustion into the game. These questions are placed in
a hold file for the sysop to review and merge into the question
file. Each time a user calls in the question is changed. The program
reads the question file sequentially so the more questions in the
file the less chance the user will get a repeat. The sysop also has
the option to limit the number of chances the user gets to answer
correctly. I use 3 and it seems to work out just fine. One sysop, I
won't mention his name, changes the number of chances, so his users
never know how many tries they get. The format of the question is
shown to the user. All alpha characters are replaced with a *, all
digits are replaced with a N and special characters (!@#$$%) are
shown as is. After each guess the user is prompted to see if he
would like to try again. If so, the correct letters are replaced so
as to give him a hint. This helps if the user is unsure of the
correct spelling. Only letters that are in the correct position are
replaced.
There is an option that allows the sysop to choose whether he
wants the game to use a point system. The point system assigns a
point value to the person being challenged. The points are assigned
as follows: A person 3 positions above the player is worth 2500
points. A person 2 positions above the player is worth 2000 points.
A person 1 position above the player is worth 1500 points.
If the player answers the question incorrectly the person he
challenged gets a bonus of 500 points.
If you choose to set the point option, an extra file will be created
by the door which will contain the point standings. This will only
appear if the point option is set. The user will also be asked if he
would like to review the file before the door terminates. If you
wish, this file could be copied over as a bulletin in the door batch
file.
Just add "copy kingpts c:\pcb\gen\bltnn" and "copy kingptsg c:\pcb\gen\bltnng
in your batch file before you return to the board.
That's about it for the door operation. It's simple yet fun!
SETUP
Most of you out there are familiar with the setup of a door. This door
follows the standard setup of the ProKit series of Doors.
Since the config file has gotten so large, I have written a program that will
create the config file for you through a series of prompts. Answer the prompts
and a config file will be created. You can always rerun the program to create
another file if you made an error.
If you are a previous registered sysop of King of the Board your old
registration number will work with this door.
And you thought it was hard!
Okay, now to set up a batch file for the door to run. Remember this is just like
any other batch file except there is no ".BAT" extension.
The standard DOOR script for ProKit doors has this format:
echo off
cd \king
KINGxxx KINGxxx.CNF c:\pcb
copy KINGPTS C:\PCB\GEN\BLT30 (Only if the points are in effect) OPTIONAL
copy KINGPTSG C:\PCB\GEN\BLT30G (Only if the points are in effect) OPTIONAL
cd \pcb
board
There is nothing else required in this batch file.
UTILITIES
Okay, now to the new Sysops. There is a program called KINGUTL4.EXE. This
utility will display the users file, print the users file, Purge users from the users
file, Verify the question file (explained later), Merge the new questions into
the question file, Create a TEXT file from the question file for editing and
rebuild the question file from a TEXT file. Since the question file is a
formatted Pascal file it may look like gibberish to you. Choosing the option
Convert to text will allow you to use any text type editor and edit the questions
or answers, and then rebuild the question file. All the options are
in LOTUS type menus. Select the option with the arrow keys and press
return.
The questions entered by the users go into a file called NEW_QUES.DAT.
This is a standard text file and can be edited with any text editor. Edit this
file before merging the new questions into the question file.
The format of the data is question,answer,user. That is the question followed
by a comma followed by the answer followed by a comma followed by the username.
As of this release all three (3) fields must be present. The KINGUTIL will strip
off the users name before it is merged.
If you convert the question file into a text file, the first line will be
the number of questions in the file. Example: 1147,0. There is no need to change
this record. Leave as it is the KINGUTIL will place the correct number of
questions in the first record. Why this record? The door creates a file called
NEXTQUES.DAT that contains the number of the next question. If this number
exceeds the number of questions it will reset to 2 allowing the first question
to be asked. In future release this may be removed and a editor built into the
KINGUTIL to accomodate editing of the questions. But for now this is the way
it has to be.
PLEASE edit your new question file!!! I have had users call me long
distance to complain that they lost because of a word was entered incorrectly.
This is not MY problem. It's up to you to insure that the answers are correct.
I believe I have tried to cover most of the requirements of the programs.
Sample config files, batch files and questions have been included in the
package.
REGISTRATION
If you wish to register the door it would be greatly appreciated. For a
mere $20.00 you can get rid of that stupid message <EVALUATION COPY> and
$$$$ Please help the sysop Register this door $$$
I will contact you by BBS or mail you the latest version of the door along
with a registration number. This number will turn off the messages and allow
your BBS name to be displayed on the opening and closing screens. As I stated
before this door is not Crippled in any way or form and will run forever even
if you did not register it. All monies received go back to other Door Authors
for their doors that run on my system, the latest version of Pascal etc. In
the past I have contacted registered sysops and uploaded the newest versions.
It has become almost impossible for me to continue this practice since there
have been so many registrations. I always have a open door for sysops on my
board. Sign in and go into my Support Confrence and you will find the latest
version of my doors there for downloading.
Please if you have a problem with setting it up or find a bug (?) Don't
call Salt Air and gripe about it, call my board and you will get a FASTER
response. I know there are some Sysops out there that can vouch for this. I
called many Sysops voice and tried to help them out at my expense, even before
they registered the door.
If you are a Author of a door and want to exchange registered copies let
me know. We can work out something!! I may even throw my kids into the deal!
OH! One more thing. If you have any suggestions, please drop me a line. Please
direct all complaints about the door to my wife, I am trying to get even with
here!!!
All the changes to the door in the past year have been suggestions made by
sysops who have registered the door. I will review all suggestions and if they
have any merit I will incorporate them in the next
release or so. If time permits I will compile a list of suggestions that have
not yet made it into the code for you to review and voice your opinion on.
I would like to take a few lines and thank those who made this
door possible: Clark Development for writing the BEST BBS program
out, Sam Smith for doing such a GREAT job on the routines used in
this door and to all of you that have taken the time to register the
door and have added suggestions to the door.
I have made a request to the authors of PCBoard to be placed on the
list of 3rd party authors and software developers. Hopefully I can receive the
file layouts for 15.0 as soon as they are finalized. This will allow me to
the necessary changes before everyone is on 15.0.
And a special Thanks to Howard Hartman of Network East, Heather Broadhurst
for the edited question file, Israel Silverman, Sysop of The Round Table BBS
for editing this doc file so it is more "readable" and to all the sysops who
have help me test the beta release and for thier suggestions.
If you have an idea that you would like to see turn into a door. Drop me a
line and we can discuss your ideas. And maybe turn it into a door!!
Okay here is the address to send the MILLIONS!!
Chuck Valecek
Suburban Software
P. O. Box 368
Oak Lawn, IL 60454
(708)-636-6694 (Node 1) (708)-636-6697 (Node 2) USR HST 19200
I am PcPursuitable via Chicago
Effective November 1989 our area code was changed from 312 to 708 so please make
a note of it. Oh! Please make the checks or money order payable to me not
Suburban Software. Believe it or not my bank won't cash them unless I open a
business account.
Watch for King of the Board version 8.0 due out in the early part of 1992. This
release will be a complete rewrite of the door and will support most major
BBS software packages.