The Complete Encyclopedia of Games 3/GAMES1000V3_d1.iso/arcade/funkypuz/puzz-eng.doc

Text File | 1995-11-18 | 12KB | 263 lines

     Funky Bubbles Puzz... V1.5 [Freeware]

                              Programming & Graphics by Lak-Soo Hwang.
                              ID (nick name) : metalion
                              E-Mail address : [e-mail]

0. Copyright notations

 This game is distributed in the form of `Freeware'.

 U can make any copies of this game or upload to BBSs or FTP sites,
  ( N' I encourage U 2 do! )
 Of course, CD-ROM vendors may insert this game to their products.

 But U cannot modify any components of this product when U distribute.


* Contents of this manual. *

  1.  Introduction
  2.  How to use Funky Bubbles Puzz...
  3.  About the match-up.
  4.  Getting the most of Funky Bubbles Puzz... : the Chained Action
  5.  Sounds of Funky Bubbles Puzz..
  99. Additional comments from the author.
  00. Troubleshooting

1. Introduction

 What is Funky Bubbles Puzz ? ( not `puzzle' but `puzz' )
 At first, it's a puzzle game as is shown by the title.
 Then, what is so "Funky" about this game?
 Basically, it's a HEXA-styled and colour-based puzzle game.
  (I should notify that there were some puzzle games of the similar style
   in the Amusement Centers.)

 But, Funky Bubbles Puzz is "funky" in these points.
  ( And it's gonna be so much funkier )
  1) It has various options that may suit almost all needs of many players.
  2) Very human-like and leveled thinkabilities of the computer are supported.
  3) Various playing modes are available.
  4) It is so heavy when played with "Thunderstruck" and the largest stage.
     ( Ah!? Thunderstruck? It's the word taken from a song title..?..
       Yeah.. It's the name of the first number from AC/DC's album.
       I liked the word, "Thunderstruck" very much... so I accepted it. )

 Then, on what points it's gonna B funkier?
  1) More complicated, funky, and heavy characters will B animated instead of
     current characters that's somewhat simple but very neat..
  2) More strong and various thinkability will B supported.
     This game is for heavy, so heavy players playing faster than the speed of
     light (Ah!? It's also a song title.. Guess who?. Yeah.. Yngwie Malmsteen.)
     although it supports "Rookie" level.
  3) "Humanistic learning model" is planned.
      (It's just a plan for now, but I'm convinced it can be so exciting..)
     I'm taking into consideration the BP neural network simulation.
     But it may be too slow... although I haven't tried yet..
     If it should turn out useful, I'll try it certainly..
      ( If you have any suggestions, please send me E-MAIL. )
     If my ability of programming cannot reach to that,
     at least `automatic levelling' mode will be available.
  4) Network play is under plan.
     Tournament play by up to 12 players(or more)..
  5) One player mode with various stages is planned.
  6) Etc... Major points goes like them...
     To make this game easy to use and neatly-arranged, I'll modify some minor
     points as soon as they are found.. (Please mail me what U've found)

2. How to use Funky Bubbles Puzz...

 The menus are fairly straight that what's said are what's done.
 So I omit detailed descriptions.
 It's very desirable to use mouse for pointing and selecting menus.
 They're also available with Arrow keys and ENTER key.
 Up and down arrow are used for going through items. Left and right arrow are
 for further choice if needed. ( Ex: inputting ID or selecting a file )

 To run the game, type in "RUN" from DOS prompt.
 To setup, Type in "SETUP".
 If you get in trouble with running, refer to "TROUBLESHOOTING" section.

 Hot-keys
  F10: Immediate exit to DOS
  TAB: Hi-speed mode. ( Sometimes it may be useful.. !?# )

3. About the match-up.

 When the "Play mode" is set to "Match up",
  two players' and three players' match-ups are supported.
 You can choose how to play match-ups through "Setup match-up" menu.

 In "Setup match-up" menu if you leave one as "?" icon, it'll be disabled.
  ( Then, it's 2 players' match-up )

 Note that 3 players' match up is not only for three human players.
 There can be one or two human players and the others controlled by computers.

 Then, how are the stones dropped? Who is the target of two opponents?
 As U may have expected, a way to determine whom to attack exists.
 U can do it by using the keys for movements to left and right when some
 bubbles are disappearing. ( it's about one or more seconds of moment)
 There's a red arrow in the upper-right corner of the gaming stage.
 And it will change by what you've pressed.
  (If U haven't done anything, it remains the same.)

 U may not be familiar with this at first.
 But I bet it's the best and very interesting way possible.
  ( Careful strategy of dropping is required to win. )
 You must look to it that if one drops and the game is over,
 the arrow will not change to the live player automatically.

 * From the point of the left player
  : Left key -> aims the center-positioned player
    Right key -> aims the right-positioned player
 * the opposite is applied to the right player.

 * Two modes available for 3 players' match-up.
  1) Play till the others' drop.
   When one of the three players drops, he must wait until one of the two
   remaining players drops.(so the game is over) The last one still alive
   is the winner

  2) Player continuously with points.
        ( Related to "points to win 3 players' match-up )
   In this mode, if one drops, he can continue with his points decreased by one.
   The other players gains one or two points according to `the contribution to
   make him drop'. (means the amount of attacks)

   This play mode has the advantage that no needs for waiting exists.

4. Getting the most of Funky Bubbles Puzz... : the Chained Action

 The rule of this game is very simple. When four bubbles of a color are
 connected, they disappear. But it's not all, certainly!!

 What's the Chained Action anyway? And how does it make U to get the most of..?

 First of all, the Chained Action means
  : successive disappearance of colored bubbles.
    It does not mean disappearing at once.

 When some bubbles disappear, there may be some holes. Then the upper-positioned
 ones drop down to the holes. When they're dropped down, there can be some
 bubbles matched to be disappeared. Then it disappears. and so on..
    ( feeding back... as many as possible )

 This course is what's called "the Chained Action".
 And it matters the number of the feeding back.
 As the number goes, the attack (Dropping stones to the other) is strengthened.

 If U are new to this game, U may not B familiar with the chained action.
 It's somewhat simple pattern that you may find it soon
   (although four,five chains or more may be difficult)
 It can be effective to imitate what computers do.
   (But low-leveled computers,if ever, will rarely do this.)

 (** I plan to produce some kind of training-mode for teaching novice-players
     how to make the chained actions. )

 * About the option of "Power of chained action"
  : I said the number of feeding back matters. Then, how much does it?
    As the number increases, the number of stones also increases.
    If "Thunderstruck" is on, it will increase drastically by the number of
    feeding back. That's why I said "Thunderstruck" is heavy.
    "NONE" means that chained actions are N/A.
    "NORMAL" means that the increasing rate is relatively small.

5. Sounds of Funky Bubbles Puzz..

 It might be that sound effects is the most difficult aspect of developing a
 game, for a amateur programmer who covers all that is in need. (like me)

 I've used some sound clips from CD-ROM resources with free sound effects.
  ( I feel so appreciated to those who develop such CD-ROMs. )
 Later versions incoming will support more sound effects than V1.5

 There's another feature about sounds not to be found in other games.
   : U can edit the BGMs (BackGround Musics) played as you wish.
 ( I made this feature to play the game with heavy metal songs I like.
   U can play the game with your preferred musics. )
 U can edit them through the sub-menu of "Set up sounds"

 Beforehand, U must record some music materials and convert it to fit this game.
   1) Record some musics using RECORD, or VOCEDIT. (or WAVE STUDIO.. etc..)
      Format: 11000HZ, 8BIT, MONO
       ( If it's 16BIT or STEREO, it may be unacceptably large file.
         But it's still useful with 8BIT and MONO. )

   2) It must be converted to a raw file with the extension of '.SND'
      If U've recorded to a VOC file, there's a utility shipped with this game.
      type in
        C:\PUZZ> VOC2SND VOICE-FILENAME

      If it's recorded to a WAV file, save it as a RAW file from WAVE STUDIO.
       ( The extension of that file must be renamed to .SND )
       ( Old versions of WAVE STUDIO may not support this feature. )

   3) It may be not much of a problem if you use VOC or WAV directly renamed to
      'XXX.SND' without converting to raw format. (especially if WAV format)
      But there may be some noises when playing back.

  * About the volume..
   To my experience, the best way of recording is to connect the output of your
   audio system to the "Line-in" plug, because the volume of the sound can be
   maximized without any degradation of quality.

   When I've recorded from CD-ROM drive, the volume was somewhat low.
      ( even with maximized output volume of CD-ROM )
   The sound effects may be too much louder than the BGM that you've recorded.
   If it's so, amplify the volume as much as possible using your editor.

99. Additional comments from the author.

 I'm a freshman of a university, and it's first to distribute internationally.
   (i.e. through internet)

 I'm gonna make this game a shareware product with the upgraded features.
 If you have any suggestions about this, please send me E-Mail.

 Because I'm just a freshman with not much of marketing experiences,
 I'm somewhat worried about making this one shareware product.
  ( especially legal issues about the piracies of copyrights. )
 If you have experiences to tell me, please send me E-Mail.
  ( E-Mail address is in the head-title of this text. )

 Mails about your impressions of this game are welcome.


00. Troubleshooting

 This game is compiled with Symantec C++ pro 6.1 using 'DOSX' 32bit model.
 It works well with almost all machines with 386 or higher processors.
 But in rare cases, especially in systems with old 486 boards and old versions
 of AMI ROM-BIOS, the system breaks down.

 In these cases, try following solutions and run this game.
  1) Clean boot your DOS ignoring CONFIG.SYS/AUTOEXEC.BAT
  2) Boot up with Quarterdeck's QEMM386.SYS instead of EMM386.(with NO TSRs)
        (If you're using QEMM386, try to boot up only with HIMEM.SYS)
  3) Turn off sounds (through SETUP)
            -> very unlikely and never-seen-before case, but probable.
     Crashes can occur with not perfectly Sound Blaster-compatible Sound Card.

 * Other problems
  1) If your sound card is one of the oldest Sound Blaster or its compatibles,
       (ex: Sound Blaster 8BIT V1.0/V1.5)
     the quality of sound effects and musics may be low.
       (cliches repeated in some periods.)
  2) If there are some problems on graphics (ex: noisy lines in the screen),
     run Universal VESA driver (ex: UNIVESA or UNIVBE) and run.
  3) If the animation is slow or not smooth even with Local BUS SVGA card,
     make a VESA driver ram-resident and run.
     In very rare cases, there are VESA BIOSes built in ROMs which is very slow.
  4) ATI Mach 64 and VESA SVGA graphics
     It is known that VESA BIOS of Mach 64 has some problems with some major
      SVGA-supported games. (Ex: Hardball 4)
     It might be the same case to this game.
     In this case, U must use special VESA driver supplied for Mach64.
  5) Conflicts with computer viruses
     This game tend to stop and hang up when a computer virus is running.
        (especially when MT-PUZZ.EXE is infected.)
     If it mysteriously stops, check this.