home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
-
- Gravity Wars
- by Sohrab Ismail-Beigi completed 4/23/89
- SYSOP of The 3D Graphics BBS
- 300/1200/2400 baud, N-8-1 Full duplex
- (201) 444-4154
-
- ******************************************************************************
- Note: This game requires a VGA display capable of the 640x480x16 color mode.
- The program does no checking, so don't run it without VGA 640x480x16.
- ******************************************************************************
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- INCLUDED FILES:
-
- Length Name
- ------- ------
- 9519 GRAVWARS.DOC - This file
- 32172 GRAVWARS.PAS - Turbo Pascal 4.0 Source Code
- 42640 GRAVWARS.EXE - The actual game program
- 5139 EGAVGA.BGI - Required VGA driver
- 5452 SANS.CHR - Required Font
- -------
- 94922
-
- NOTE: EGAVGA.BGI and SANS.CHR must exist in the same directory that
- GRAVWARS.EXE is running for the program to run properly
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- The game and all attached material are released to the public domain (PD.)
- The author does not ask for any monetary contributions, but instead asks you to
- call his BBS and leave messages, comments, new ideas, contributions, bug
- reports, etc. on his BBS.
-
- DISCLAIMER: The author, Sohrab Ismail-Beigi, is not in any way responsible
- for any damaged caused by, due to, in conjuction, in relation, in proximity,
- in discussion of the use, transport, manipulation, misuse, contemplation,
- mismanagement, etc. etc. etc. of the program GRAVWARS.EXE and the associated
- files GRAVWARS.DOC and GRAVWARS.PAS.
-
- Gravity Wars was originally a Shareware game on the Amiga. I liked the
- game and decided to convert it for the IBM. GRAVWARS.EXE is the result and
- I hope you like it.
-
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- GENERAL OVERVIEW:
-
- Gravity Wars is a two-player game (or one-player if he plays against
- himself.) The players choose ships (one the Enterprise, the other Klingon) and
- try to shoot down each other by specifying angles and initial velocities for the
- missiles.
- Missiles move under the influence of the gravitational fields of the
- various planets in the Gravity Wars universe. The planets are the spherical
- and colored (Red, Green, or Blue) with each color representing a density:
- Red=1.0, Green=1.5, Blue=2.0. The force of gravity is the well known inverse
- square law, namely F=GMm/(r^2) (where ^ means exponent.)
- There are also black holes (haha!) which appear as the blacking out of the
- stars in the background (you have to watch for them when the scene is drawn.)
- They are not very massive, and from far away, they act like small planets. But
- when missiles approach them, their behavior becomes quite erratic, SO BE CAREFUL
- WHEN FIRING CLOSE TO A BLACK HOLE!
-
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE MENUS:
-
- The game is menu driven. You see the choices and the associated numbers.
- Press the number corresponding to your choice. Esc quits a submenu and
- returns to the main menu. Esc also aborts other commands such as Move planet,
- Make planet, etc.
- Each submenu of the main menu is explained below.
-
- Main Menu:
-
- 1. Playing the game - Choose a random setup or play the current one.
- 2. Options - Redraw the screen and turn sound on/off.
- 3. Changes - move ships, move, make, change, and delete planets.
- 4. Quit
-
- Sub menu: 1. Playing the game
- 1. Random setup - the computer picks a random setup, destroying the current
- setup and displaying the new one. If you don't like a
- setup, either pick a new random one, or use the 3. Changes
- menu (or both) to make a better setup.
-
- 2. Play game - Play the current setup. The players take turns entering
- angles and initial velocities for the missiles. Angles are
- in the standard 0-360 mode where 0 is horizontal and to the
- right. Velocities are from 0 to 10. Note that non-integer
- angles and velocities are allowed, so you can refine your
- firing considerably.
- The computer keeps tab of the last angle and velocity you used
- and displays them inside the [] brackets. To use the same
- angle and/or velocity, just press RETURN or ENTER alone and
- the value in the bracket will be used.
- To quit the play while entering angles and velocities, enter Q
- or q as a response.
- To abort a missile trajectory calculation in progress, press
- any key. A message will appear. Pressing Esc will bring you
- back to the menu. Pressing any other key will continue the
- game.
-
- Sub menu: 2. Options
- 1. Redraw screen - Redraws screen. The screen is cleared, and the planets
- ships are drawn in their current positions. This is
- useful when the missile trails are too many and are
- irritating. The Redraw will clear them all out while
- leaving the setup unchanged.
-
- 2. Sound on/off - turns the music option on/off. By default, music is on
- (for example, the tune played when one player wins.)
- Pressing 2 once will turn this off, 2 again will turn it
- on.
-
- Sub menu: 3. Changes
- 1. Move ship - This allows you to move either of the ships to any legal
- position. Press the number corresponding to the ship you want
- to move (or Esc to abort.) Then use the numeric keypad (with
- Num Lock ON) up, down, left, and right to move the ship about.
- Press RETURN or ENTER to place ship there, or Esc to abort.
- If the position is illegal, the screen will flash, and you
- will be informed. Move the ship to another position and
- retry.
-
- 2. Move planet - This allows you to move any of the planets on the screen to
- another legal location (including black holes!) A pointer
- will appear. Use the numeric keypad to move the pointer
- close to the planet you wish to move and press ENTER to
- pick that planet, or Esc to abort (the computer will pick
- the planet closest to the tip of the pointer.) You can use
- the + and - keys to increase or descrease the size of the
- jumps the pointer makes.
- Move the pointer to the position new center of the planet to
- and hit ENTER to place it there (or Esc to abort.) If the
- location is legal, it will be accepted and the planet/black
- hole will move there; if not, the screen will flash and you
- will have to retry.
-
- 3. Make planet - Allows you to make a new planet. The maximum number of
- planets allowed is 9, so if there are already 9, you will
- have to 5. Delete some first.
- Use the pointer to choose a location for the center of the
- new planet and press ENTER to pick a spot. (The screen
- will flash and you'll have to retry if the spot is not
- legal.) Then use the pointer to move to a point which
- will lie on the surface of the planet (thereby specifying
- the radius) and press ENTER. Press Esc at any point to
- abort.
- Note that you can not make black holes, planets only.
-
- 4. Change planet - Allows you to change the density (color) of an existing
- planet. Use the pointer and move close to the planet in
- question (only planets can be changed; black holes can
- not.) Press ENTER to pick the planet (the computer will
- pick the planet closest to the pointer tip.) Then press
- 1, 2, or 3 for the planet density (a message will inform
- you of the choices): 1=Red 2=Green 3=Blue. Press Esc at
- any point to abort.
-
- 5. Delete planet - You can delete a planet or a black hole. Use the
- pointer to move close to the planet or black hole in
- question and press ENTER (again, planet/black hole
- closest is chosen.) The planet/black hole will be
- deleted. Press Esc to abort.
-
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- FINAL WORDS OF WISDOM:
-
- Ok. There are the rules and descriptions. Notice that black holes are
- "God-given." You can't create them, but you can keep picking random setups
- until you get one (or more!)
- Also, in the above text, "the planet closest to the tip of the pointer"
- means the planet whose center is closest to the pointer tip, not the planets'
- surface.
- There are many ways of refining firing angles. You can either change the
- angle, change the velocity, or do both, or pick new paths, or even try to put
- the missiles in orbit so they will wrap around! But be careful with orbits,
- they may wrap around and hit your own ship!
- If you notice that the calculations for the missile trajectory are too
- slow, that means that there are many planets. Delete some useless ones to
- speed things up a bit.
-
- If you like the game and have any suggestions, bug reports,
- contributions, complaints, etc., call the above BBS and leave me (the SYSOP)
- some mail. If you want new updates, PLEASE tell me and if you have written
- your own updates and modifications, please tell me. Thank you very much!
-
- HAVE FUN, AND BEWARE OF BLACK HOLES!!!!!!
-
-