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EGAINT.TXT
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1989-06-25
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SPECIAL NOTE
This is a pre-release version of egaint! The program is not
yet complete, but is finished enough to be distributed. Also
note that when completed (i.e., egaint 1), it will abide by the
GNU General Public License, Version 1; however, since this is
pre-release version of egaint, it abides by the above except that
source code is not being distributed (but can be obtained ... get
into contact with New More Order for details).
INSTRUCTIONS
To run egaint, simply type "egaint" at the command prompt;
if you have either a black-and-white or gas plasma display,
suffix an "m" or "p" respectively (that is, type "egaint m" and
"egaint p," not "egaintm" or "egaintp").
After the title screen, you will come to an options screen;
a brief explanation of each option follows.
Tournament Game There are two hundred and fifty-six
possible tournament games built into
egaint; each tournament game will run
exactly that same, which is ideal for
competing two egaint players against
each other. Note that all conditions
must be exactly identical for the games
to be identical; i.e., the same initial
level, the same initial height, the same
version of egaint, the same computer,
etc. Initially turned off.
Tournament Game Number Allows you to choose which particular
game (out of two hundred and fifty-six
possible) you wish to play. Initially
set to game zero.
Initial Level one is the easiest while level ten is
the hardest. In addition, level
advancement before level ten is also
automatic; you will be advanced, if
necessary, to level x after clearing ten
times x rows (i.e., level 2 after 20
rows, level 3 after 30 rows, etc.).
Initially set to level five.
Initial Height Specifies how high (in blocks) an area
should be filled with randomly placed
blocks (ranges from one to twelve). In
addition, you can also specify that the
blocks be hidden (i.e., invisible).
Initially turned off.
Show Next Specifies that the next piece be shown
in a window on the upper-left corner of
the screen. Initially turned on.
Show Shadow An yet-to-be-implemented feature, this
is still being worked on; the gist of
this idea is to have a "shadow" cast on
the area where the block will fall,
which should, in theory, make it easier
to line up the pieces. Initially (and
permanently) turned off.
Extended Shapes Allows you to specify which set of
pieces to use (Classic, Easy, Medium,
and Hard). Initially set to Classic,
which are the original seven pieces).
Block Style Allows you to specify which style of
blocks to use, which ranges from New to
Old (the original egaint style) to
Pumped Full of Drugs to Really Pumped
Full of Drugs (a combination of all
three).
Note that you are awarded bonus points for not using Show
Next and Show Shadow.
MACHINE REQUIREMENTS
The machine used for development was a Toshiba T5100
Portable Personal Computer; it had a 16 MHz 80386 processor with
2 megabytes of RAM, an EGA card with 256K, and a 40 megabyte hard
disk. In addition, Turbo Pascal 4.0 running under MS-DOS 3.30
was used to compile this particular version of egaint (later
versions will probably use Turbo Pascal 5.5, which I am in the
process of obtaining).
What does this mean to you? Well, for starters, a one
hundred percent IBM Personal Computer compatible with an EGA card
with 256K is strictly required. I also recommend having
something faster than a stock 4.77 MHz 8088; an 80286 running at
8 MHz or so should do quite nicely (but I wouldn't know; I
developed this at 16 MHz).
Theoretically, egaint should work with a VGA card, being
that it was coded to use a VGA if one was found, but because I
did not have access to one at any stage during development, I
cannot guarantee compatibility with it.
REVISION HISTORY
aint 0.0 (19-Apr-89) The original, bare-bones version of
aint, it represented a falling object game, though
not much else.
aint 0.1 (20-Apr-89) The first version of aint to
adequately capture the basic essence of TETRIS
(i.e., constructing rows) without possessing any
really major bugs; it, in turn, lacked the
"standard features" of generic computer games
(scoring being one notable example).
aint 0.2 (20-Apr-89) The alpha-test version of aint: the
really major bugs that were later discovered were
fixed and "standard features" like scoring and
levels were added. The very exclusive alpha-test
group received copies tailored specifically for
their machines, and the general response was
excellent (and addicting).
aint 0.8 (21-Apr-89) The beta-test version of aint: pretty
much rewritten, it used more reliable machine-
independent timing functions and more realistic
scoring functions while show next piece, show
statistics, initial height, (not particularly
reliable) tournament games, an options screen, and
a true high score list were added.
aint 0.9 (26-Apr-89) The pre-release version of aint: a
major bug which caused a fatal system crash at
peculiar moments was fixed while debug features
like smart bomb, polymorph, and nuke were added.
This was the first version to be issued beyond the
initial alpha/beta-test groups, though its
distribution was still quite limited.
egaint 0.9 (02-May-89) The initial version of egaint
("enhanced graphics aint"): written specifically
for EGAs with 256K, it, unfortunately, didn't take
advantage of the full sixteen colors which the EGA
could offer in 640x350 mode (but rather, took
advantage of the four shades of orange on the
Toshiba T5100's gas plasma display). Originally
conceived as a rewritten, portable aint, it slowly
evolved (due to laziness) into a hideously slow,
flickery, EGA-specific version.
Certain modular programming aspects which were
built into egaint originally were abandoned for
some faster, less elegant, less flickery code. In
addition, all the cheap bells and whistles (like
smart bomb, polymorph, and nuke) were removed in
favor of more professional-looking bells and
whistles, like actually drawing the shapes in the
statistics window, not calling them funny names
like "ell" and "lel."
egaint 0.91 (02-Jun-89) A kludged version of egaint, it added
color, but only because I left college for summer
vacation and came into the possession of an old
IBM Enhanced Color Display; still very flickery,
but at least flickery in color.
egaint 0.92 (13-Jun-89) "The Lost Version" of egaint:
conceived as an idea on paper, this was the start
of a complete rewrite of egaint which would add
support for CGAs, EGAs with only 64K, HGCs, MCGAs,
and VGAs. In addition, the "flagship" version of
egaint for EGAs with 256K (and VGAs) would employ
the use of video page switching (in an attempt to
remove the flicker).
Unfortunately, this version is still that, an idea
on paper.
egaint 0.91.99 (18-Jun-89) Being too lazy (and busy) to actually
rewrite egaint at this point and time, this
version was a kludge to include specific
improvements from egaint 0.92. The most important
fix was the test of video pages in the title
screen (which, after several almost hilarious
attempts, turned out great). In addition,
extended shapes were added, though many of them
were quite ridiculous. Also, minor fixes, like
the usage of Esc as an editing key while entering
high score names and the deletion of the wilder
block styles came into effect.
A major change was the removal of the Show
Statistics code, brought about in part by the
implementation of extended shapes and the notion
that no one really looks at them, anyway.
egaint 0.92.01 (18-Jun-89) Still no rewrite: however, since so
many of 0.92's features were implemented, it's
namesake was used. Shadowing, a feature seen on
an implementation for UNIX by Adam Margulies was
begun (and later scuttled). In addition, the use
of Esc to pause, double Esc to quit was added, as
was the ability to toggle features during play.
Also, initial height blocks were given their own
special, muted-color style (in order to
distinguish them from "real" blocks).
egaint 0.92.02 (18-Jun-89) This version added true shadowing
(though very, very flickery). In addition, an
attempt to use video pages in the actual play
itself (the only portion of egaint which does not)
was attempted and (as always) abandoned.
egaint 0.93.01 (24-Jun-89) The actual rewrite of egaint began
with this version: however, due to laziness, it
turned into a half-rewrite, half-recopy. On the
other hand, all of the rewrite code turned out to
be code which needed to be rewritten (i.e., the
options screen code remained the same). A more
elegant video paging scheme was implemented
throughout the entire program. Shadowing code
was, at the very last moment, commented out due to
an inability at this point in time to implement
this feature in an elegant (or at least efficient)
manner.
Also, code was added which allowed the user to
determine which shape set was currently in use.
In addition, the "New" block style was introduced,
though not for game play, but rather for the title
screen and the game over screen. Finally, the
game screen was changed: the score window was
moved over to the upper-right hand corner, and two
help windows were introduced.
egaint 0.93.02 (25-Jun-89) This version mainly consisted of
improvements upon the previous version; the most
notable was the addition of the "New" block style
as an alternative to the "Old" block style. Also,
the score window was updated after each toggle,
making it less confusing (originally it was
updated only after each shape).
The game over code was removed because the "New"
block style was being used within the game itself.
egaint 0.93.03 (25-Jun-89) The pre-release version of egaint: it
added minor features, like the "Pumped Full of
Drugs" and "Really Pumped Full of Drugs" block
styles, a new game over screen, and a completely
re-implemented extended shape set. In addition,
the "Value" entry in the score window was added to
show what the particular shape was worth in
points. Finally, the format of the high score was
changed to also include the version of egaint
used.
This version also featured pre-release
documentation, a hastily put-together mish-mash of
old aint documents with egaint modifications.
STILL TO COME (HOPEFULLY)
Realistically, there is still a long way to go before egaint
1 can be released; the following are only a few of improvements
which must be implemented before that release becomes a reality:
* Support (via different versions, like cgaint, hgaint,
mcgaint, etc.) for different graphics cards, including the
EGA with only 64K.
* Shadowing.
* More efficient code, allowing egaint to be run on slower
machines.
In addition, there are ideas which are being considered, such as:
* Background screens: I've been looking at the idea of
loading .GIF or .MAC screens onto the background so that
each user can customize his/her backgrounds to fit his/her
individual choices. Another idea is to obtain digitized
pictures of Berkeley so that we don't have stupid cartoons
of Russian activities on our screens.
* A different game premise (I mean, this is getting kind of
boring).
