Software of the Month Club (Children's) 1997 March

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Text File | 1996-12-21 | 17KB | 395 lines

REVISIONS TO... T H E C O N T I N U I N G A D V E N T U R E S O F C Y B E R B O X Changes in Version 6.41 ─────────────────────── ■ Changed the MOVER logic BACK to the way that it was in version 6.16. Changes in Version 6.31 ─────────────────────── ■ It turns out that the MOVER logic that was changed in the 6.16 update was still not 100% identical with Petr Simon's CyberBox Forever program. This is now fixed. Changes in Version 6.25 ─────────────────────── ■ Corrected a very minor glitch in the logic which displays the documentation file. ■ Jazzed up the documentation file ever further. ■ The program was adding an extra UP keystroke tacked on to the end of the each solution of each solved room. The result was that while later VIEWING this solution, the program was reporting that it took you an extra move to get out than what it really did. This is now fixed. ■ Removed the REVISONS section from the documentation file. This section is now being kept in its own revisions.txt file. This frees up more conventional memory for the program. ■ The color choices that the player selects for the both the menu foreground color and menu background, while viewing the documentation file, are now being saved in the configuration file. (They weren't before and probably always should have been.) I'm saving all the OTHER player preferences. Why not these as well! Changes in Version 6.16 ─────────────────────── ■ Added the new "north-south" and "east-west" SELECTORS. ■ Re-coded the logic in regards to how the MOVERS operate in relationship to each other. The logic is now consistent with Petr Simon's CYBERBOX FOREVER game and we both feel it looks much more professional. (Different MOVERS now move simultaneously!) ■ Renamed the cursor-image data files to "cursr-xx.dat." The previous naming convention ("images-xx.dat") might be mistaken for the new box-image data files. ■ Jazzed up the way I display my headers in the documentation file while viewing the above mentioned file from within this program. ■ While returning to a room from the Jump Screen or Options Screen etc., the entire room arrangement is displayed all at once. ■ Corrected a minor bug in the Options Screen. Thanks, Petr. Changes in Version 6.01 ─────────────────────── ■ Added the "no-doc" command-line switch, which forces the program to NOT load the documentation file. This allows the program to run in almost 75K less of conventional memory. Changes in Version 6.00 ─────────────────────── ■ Changed the format of the cursor-image data files. The current format takes up less hard disk space, loads slightly faster and is easier to modify. ■ Completely changed the format of the solution files. Each solution file is now approximately 1,300 bytes in size, (when all 15 rooms have been solved) compared to 75,030 before! ■ Reduced the number of valid keystrokes allowed from 5000 to 3000. This reduction allows the program to run in less conventional memory than before. (I can't see a room EVER requiring anywhere NEAR 3000 moves to exit, much less 5000.) ■ Eliminated the hard-coding of the boxes. Instead, this information is being read in from the new box-image data files. (This further reduces the amount of conventional memory required by the program as well as allowing the player to change the way any of the boxes look to suit them if they so desire!) ■ Since I've introduced a new box (the PULLERS) since Doug's original game, and since the opposite of "pull" is "push", I decided to rename the SLIDERS to PUSHERS and the PUSHERS to MOVERS throughout both the program and documentation. (Sorry, Doug.) ■ I'm no longer writing the configuration file and solution files with the hidden attribute byte. ■ I'm now including a solution file with the non-deluxe package which includes the solution to the first three rooms. ■ The entire high-score logic has been eliminated. Your "high-score" is simply your "best solution" which is now saved in the solution file SEPERATELY from mine. ■ The player can now immediately jump to a room that they've just completed if they wish to immediately attempt to better their solution. ■ Re-wrote the code that I use to display my documentation file. The screen writes are slightly smoother now (not that it was bad before). Also, I added a 'bookmark' feature which allows the user to place a bookmark in a page and then return to that page at any time with just a keystroke. ■ Added the SAVE feature (ALT-S) which allows the player to SAVE a position in memory which they can then recall (ALT-R) at any time before leaving the room. ■ If the name of the author of the room being loaded is different than the previous author's name, this new name will now blink a few times, to help call attention to the fact. ■ Added the new MOVER animation code. ■ The opening and title screens both now appear slightly faster. ■ Upon returning to a room, the player's cursor now blinks for a slightly shorter period of time. ■ Added the code to immediately jump to the next room (ALT-N) or the previous room (ALT-P). ■ Added the Summary of Available Keys screen. ■ Changed the way that the closing screens look in both the Deluxe and Non-deluxe versions. ■ Improved the format of the Jump Screen. Now, the lowest solution to all 15 rooms can be seen at a glance. ■ The screen-writes to both the Jump Screen and the Options Screen are noticeably faster. ■ Eliminated the checkdigit figure from the room-volume data files. The program now keeps the checkdigit figure in the solution file and if the room has been changed in any way, the program simply deletes the current solution. ■ Changed the length of the room number from four digits to three. Changes in Version 5.00 ─────────────────────── ■ No such version. I made so many changes after 4.62 that I felt a another full digit increase in the version number was warranted. Changes in Version 4.61 ─────────────────────── ■ Corrected a bug indirectly caused by the bug fix in the last update. Changes in Version 4.60 ─────────────────────── ■ Corrected a bug. The program, under certain conditions, was not saving the high-score file correctly. I can't believe this wasn't noticed by someone earlier. Many thanks to Petr Simon of the Czech Republic for informing me of this. Changes in Version 4.54 ─────────────────────── ■ Added the TAKE BACK feature. ■ Corrected another minor programming bug in the Deluxe version. If a player attempted to load a non-existent cursor-image file via the ALT-I key combination and then exited the program, the same problem that I mentioned in the 4.43 update occurred; the program was saving that invalid filename in the configuration file before checking to see if it was valid. The program would then not load properly the next time it was started. Now fixed. ■ Changed the program logic for paging up and down in the documentation file. The program will now display a entirely new set of 23 lines of text per screen rather than 22. ■ Changed the requirements in one of the "annoying delay screens" seen at the end of the non-deluxe version. I now recommend that SIX files, rather than four, be included when distributing the non-deluxe version. The new additions are the icon file (ca-cyber.icn) and the file description file (file_id.diz). Changes in Version 4.43 ─────────────────────── ■ Corrected a minor programming bug in the Deluxe version. If a player attempted to load a non-existent room-volume via the ALT-R key combination and then exited the program, the programming logic would update the configuration file with this invalid room-volume name. The next time that the program was loaded, an error message would appear stating that it was attempting to load this file and could not find it. (The configuration file saves the last room-volume that has been played. It was saving a filename BEFORE checking to make sure that it was valid.) This bug has now been fixed. Thanks to Lyle Engle of Mesa, Arizona for discovering this. ■ After exiting the program and returning to DOS, the screen is restored to the way it looked before the program was executed. ■ Added some undocumented features for my own benefit. Changes in Version 4.35 ─────────────────────── ■ Corrected a minor flaw in the way that I was drawing a few of my letters for one of my fonts. ■ Added program logic to verify that the rooms in the vol-xxx.dat data files are in the correct order. (Previously, one could go in and edit these data files and, for example, swap rooms 1 and 2.) I didn't have a problem with anyone doing this (although I'm not sure why anyone would ever WANT to) but the vol-xxx.sol files contain the SOLUTION to these rooms and if one swapped any of the rooms in the data files then one would HAVE to swap these two solutions in the solution file as well (to keep the program from doing strange things). And my solution files, being non-text files, would be extremely difficult (if not impossible) for the average player to manipulate anyway. ■ Since the documentation file is now REQUIRED to run the program, I added a "read-only" attribute byte on this documentation file, to lessen the chance that it will be deleted accidentally. ■ Allowed the player to select any of the menu key options via the TAB and/or the CTRL-arrow keys. ■ Made a minor change to the program logic when the cursor exits a room and actually enters the hallway. (If the cursor-movement sound was active for any pitch, a slight pause occurred before the sound was heard.) Changes in Version 4.23 ─────────────────────── ■ Changed the order of the options of the <M>enu Toggle so that the ALT-key options appears second rather than third. ■ Changed the logic so that if the player is reading the documentation file and then returns to the game, the same page that the player was reading is automatically brought up again if and when the player decides to read the doc file a second time. ■ Allowed the player to change the foreground and background colors while reading my documentation file. Changes in Version 4.15 ─────────────────────── ■ Deluxe version - changed the configuration file so that it would save the last cursor-image data file that you were using as well as the last room-volume data file that you were working on. ■ Changed the program logic so that this configuration file is now read first. The program will now no longer default to loading the vol-001.dat file and cursr-01.dat file. The default now becomes whatever files you previously had loaded. ■ Deluxe version - added code so that the player can load additional room-volumes and cursor-image files from right inside the program. ■ If the player's efforts are good enough for the CyberBox Hall of Fame, for convenience, the program will now automatically display the last name that was previously entered in this screen. If the player wishes to use this same name, now all he or she has to do is hit ENTER. ■ Allowed the player to read my documentation file from right inside the program. Changes in Version 4.0 ────────────────────── ■ Added the DOS shell. ■ Added the entire solution-file logic. The program now saves your shortest solution to disk. ■ Swapped a couple of rooms in the vol-001.dat file that were a little too difficult to solve for first-time players, with some rooms in my vol-002.dat file. ■ Added logic so that the player can break out of the "victory song" if so desired, by hitting the ESCAPE key. ■ Increased the number of <I>nstant Replay keystrokes saved in memory from 2000 to 5000. Changes in Version 3.0 ────────────────────── ■ Renamed my cursor-image data files to IMAGESxx.DAT (where "x" indicates the file number) instead of CACYBERx.IMG ■ Added the entire <I>nstant Replay logic. ■ Added the "About CyberBox" screen. ■ The program now puts a read-only attribute byte on both the room-volume and cursor-image files. ■ Changed the appearance of one of the BLOCKER options from a sorry looking solid-red block to a neat little criss-cross type pattern. ■ When entering a room for the first time, the NAME of each room is animated from right to left until it is centered in the right hand portion of the screen. ■ Removed my LINE INPUT statement for accepting the player's name in my Hall of Fame screen and replaced it with my own editor. (Which allows for the player to utilize the HOME key, the END key, etc.) Changes in Version 2.0 ────────────────────── ■ The program now puts a hidden attribute byte on the high-score and configuration files. ■ Re-wrote the logic for drawing all boxes. (The screen-writes on slower PC's was a little too slow for my taste. It is now noticeably faster only at the cost of the program now requiring slightly more RAM to load and run.) ■ The ESCAPE key will now bring up the "Do you really want to quit?" message, in addition to the "X" (e<x>it program) key. ■ If the replay animation speed is set on "very fast," the program will now replay the solution WITHOUT the "cursor sound." (Assuming the cursor movement sound was active for any pitch in the first place.) The sound could not keep up with the cursor movement and the result was the cursor running around with one big beeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.) ■ Changed all references of "non-registered game" to "non-deluxe game." ■ When entering a room for the first time, your cursor now blinks a few times to make it easier to find. ■ Added the <B>ox Review screen to help out first-time players. Changes in Version 1.14 ─────────────────────── ■ Changed the default text color from white to brown and the default highlight color from bright white to yellow. ■ The program will now re-write the configuration file only if anything has changed since initially loading it. ■ Changed the opening screen to display the message "Hit any key to continue..." at the bottom. ■ Slightly altered the way that the PULLERS are represented.