Color Rhodes, version 1.0
Copyright © 1992
Michael D. Speir
All Rights Reserved

Shareware fee:  $5.00

	I put a quarter into a newspaper dispenser the other day, and inside the door was this message:  ÒYour conscience is my only protection.Ó  Truth is, a lot of people think nothing of taking more papers than they pay for.  But somebody depends on that money for his or her living.  Maybe if the thieves knew the paper person personally theyÕd be less inclined to steal.  I donÕt know.  Conscience seems to be in short supply nowadays.

	Sometimes I wonder just what it would take to get everyone who uses my games to send in the shareware fees.  Do they understand that those fees make up a significant portion of my rather meager income?  Why do people whoÕd never consider shoplifting a piece of software from the computer store think nothing of using shareware without paying?  The one is no more or less legal than the other.  I suppose itÕs just that one is easier to get away with.  That doesnÕt make it less wrong, just less risky.  ThereÕs no way I could afford to prosecute anyone, even if I had the heart for it.

	Your conscience really is my only protection.  Very few who use this game will send in the registration fee.  IÕd like to ask you to be the exception.  If you like it and keep it, please send the $5.  ItÕs not much.  If you don't plan to keep it, spread it around.  If there's something wrong with the game, please let me know.  IÕll fix it.

	I originally loaded Color Rhodes onto America Online.  The compatibility limitations were described (as best I understand them) in the comments associated with it on that service.  I know how frustrating it can be to spend the time and money to download something that just wonÕt work with a certain hardware/software configuration.  I apologize if Rhodes wonÕt work well on your system, but I only have so much control over how itÕs distributed.
	
	Also, thereÕs just no way I can predict with complete certainty the way an application I develop will work on all systems or how it will interact with other software running on a machine.  As a shareware developer, I simply havenÕt the test facilities available to commercial companies, and examples come to every mind of how even they often fall far short of perfection.  Computer programming is, alas, still very much an art.  That said, though, IÕll tell you Color Rhodes runs very well on my IIci under System 6.07 and better.  IT ABSOLUTELY REQUIRES 8-BIT COLOR!  

	Shareware companies may distribute Color Rhodes, provided, of course, nothing is changed, proper attribution is made, and that the payment of shareware fees is urged.  I DO NOT consent to its distribution if customers are charged for the program itself.  The usual custom of charging by the disk, when bundled with other similar programs, is fine.

	All thatÕs quite a prelude for whatÕs really just a little toy.  But youÕd be surprised how necessary it is.  Weird world! 
	
	Okay, Color Rhodes is yet another maze game.  The object is to get the Rhodes Scholar through the hedge maze at Oxford.  (Name him whatever you want.  ÒBillÓ comes most immediately to my mind.  ThatÕs what IÕll call him.)  But Bill is unusually dull for a Rhodes Scholar.  HeÕll need your help to maneuever through the different levels of the maze.  (Levels?  Okay, so itÕs not real authentic.)  What you want to do is see how far you can get him before he runs out of patience.  If you do well enough, you might get to be a Rhodes Scholar yourself.

	Bill starts at the top of the maze and tries to get to the exit at the bottom, but he gets confused easily.  If he runs into the hedge, heÕll turn and try another way.  (Running into hedges makes Bill impatient.)  ItÕs not uncommon for him to end up going in circles.  Sometimes you have to add or remove a piece of the hedge to help him get where he wants to go.  To do that, just click in the window.  If a hedge is there, it will disappear; if not, it will appear.  (You canÕt mess with the border hedges.)  Adding and removing hedges, though, takes quite a toll on BillÕs patience, since itÕs an obvious demonstration that he canÕt find the way himself.  (Adding is quite a lot less taxing than removing.  Add hedges instead of removing them if you can.)  If you succeed in getting him to the exit, the next level will slide up and youÕll start again.  When he moves to another level, BillÕs confidence grows, and so thereÕll be a little increase in patience, depending on the level.  But, because of his now higher expectations, hitting hedges or having hedges added or removed causes greater impatience than before.  When he finally runs out of patience, the gameÕs over.  If youÕve maneuevered him through enough levels, youÕll be offered a Rhodes Scholarship of your own.

	YouÕll notice red, blue, and silver pills.  These are Òpatience pillsÓ (available by prescription only).  If Bill swallows one, his patience increases.  The silver pills are the best; blue, a little less effective; and red, least effective.  HereÕs a recommendation:  donÕt make Bill go out of his way to swallow pills.  They often donÕt have enough benefit to warrant the extra aggravation.  ItÕs usually best to have him take only the ones he can get to easily.

	The menus arenÕt complicated.  Under the Apple menu is the standard ÒAboutÓ option and desk accessories (or, whatever you have in the Apple Menu Items folder for System 7 and above).

	ÒNewÓ under the File menu gets you a new game.  It gets a new maze, resets patience to 50000 and the level to one.  In effect, ÒNewÓ is a way to start over.  If Bill isnÕt moving, ÒGoÓ gets him going.  If heÕs not, the same item (now called ÒStop,Ó as you might guess) pauses him.  Select ÒQuitÓ in the unlikely event youÕll ever want to stop playing.

	The Edit menu is for desk accessories.  It means nothing to the game.

	The first item in Options is ÒRhodes Scholars.Ó  It will get you a list of the ten highest scorers.  ÒClear Rhodes ScholarsÓ will clear the list.  You can turn the sound off and on with the ÒTurn Sound OffÓ and ÒTurn Sound OnÓ item.  The last item brings up the maze editor.  IÕll discuss that more later.

	The Speed menu menu determines how fast Bill will move.  I really meant this let you configure Rhodes for your system.  For my IIci, (25 megahertz) I like the setting at about 4 or 5.  For an fx or Quadra (no guarantees it will work on those machines), it would probably need to be slower because theyÕre faster.  Try out different settings to see what you thinkÕs comfortable.  The speed has no bearing on scoring.  WARNING:  For an extemely fast machine, a fast setting might be hazardous.  I had to slow it down a bit because on the ÒFastestÓ setting my IIci would outrun the Sound Manager, which caused a variety of nastiness.  If you must try it at high speed (IÕm talking to those with the fast machines), turn the sound off first.  (Options menu)

IÕve set the Color RhodesÕ partition to 640K, somewhat higher than it needs.  If youÕre trying to conserve memory, you can set it as low as 256K.  If youÕre looking for better performance, set it higher.  This is done using the ÓGet InfoÓ dialog under the File menu in the Finder.

THE MAZE EDITOR

	Color Rhodes lets you add, delete, or edit the mazes it uses.  To get to the maze editor, select ÒMaze EditorÓ from the Options menu.  When you do that, youÕll notice that the Maze Editor menu appears in the menu bar and that Bill and any patience pills disappear from the maze.  The window will lengthen a little at the bottom to make room for some controls.  YouÕll see a list of ten maze icons there, with the one for the current maze surrounded by a gold box.  To the right of the list is a number telling you which maze in the list is being edited.  If you click on one of the icons, youÕll see it selected with a gold box and the maze will appear above in the window.  Below the list of maze icons is a standard scroll bar.  Use this to go to the maze you want to edit.  At either end of the scroll bar are more numbers.  The left one shows which maze the left icon represents; the right number shows which maze the right icon showing represents.

	When the cursor is up in the maze, it turns into a cross.  If you click on a hedge, it will disappear.  Click on a blank space, and a hedge will appear.  You canÕt get rid of the hedges along the sides.  The game depends on them being there.  Also the top and bottom of the maze must have one and only one opening.  The editor wonÕt let you close the only hole in the hedges there.  It also wonÕt let you make more than one.

The Maze Editor Menu

	ÒNew MazeÓ adds a new blank maze to the end of the maze list.  When a maze is first created, it has only the hedges along the sides, with one opening each in the top and bottom.  You can fill in where you want the rest of the hedges.  When you have your maze the way you want it, select ÒSave Maze.Ó  ÒDelete MazeÓ deletes the currently selected maze from the Color RhodesÕ resource fork.  ÒFillÓ fills the middle section of the maze with hedges; ÒEraseÓ gets rid of them.  Neither ÒFillÓ not ÒEraseÓ have any effect upon the  side hedges.  When youÕre finished editing, select ÒExit Maze Editor.Ó  YouÕll return to the game.

	When you leave the maze editor, youÕll return to the maze you last selected, so if you want to resume with the maze you were playing before invoking the editor, make sure to reselect it before exiting.  NOTE:  The patience pills will not be in the same place they were before you invoked the editor.

	ANOTHER NOTE:  When youÕre using the maze editor, all menus except the Apple menu, the Edit menu, and the Maze Editor menu are dimmed.  Bear in mind that the maze editor has no Undo function.  The Edit menu and all of its items remain enabled for desk accessories only.

Have fun!  DonÕt forget the $5!

If you think itÕs worthy of comment or you have a problem, IÕm ÒLogogripÓ on America Online, or

	Michael D. Speir
	3001 Horatio, #9
	Tampa, FL 33609