OS/2 Spiele Shareware/os2games.iso/os2games/strategy/bummer/bummer.hlp

OS/2 Help File | 1995-01-28 | 84.9 KB | 399 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. Introduction ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Howzit!

My name is Dan and I'm one of the two people in the picture you see below. I'll
leave it as an exercise for you to figure out which.  The other person is my
beautiful wife, Ke'Aloha Akini.  We were both rich beyond your wildest
imagination even before we got married and so now we are twice that rich. We
live on a small island in Hawaii (our own island) and I transmitted this
program via my personal satellite uplink connected to the Cray II that I
purchased last year with some loose pocket change.

NOT!

 Actually, I am but a poor, starving college student in a dinky apartment in
downtown Honolulu (that I got a great deal on) and the other person in the
photo is just a girl that poses with just about every haole tourist at Paradise
Cove Luau.

Welcome to my first attempt at programming.  This game is the culmination of
about 10 programming books, eight bucks worth of overdue book fines, numerous
magazine articles, a few promptly answered questions on Compuserve, and a
Summer in Hawaii spent peering at this damn screen when I should have been out
exploring the wonders of tropical life -- or perhaps even doing some
schoolwork.

BUMMER! for OS/2 is, of course, an OS/2 Presentation Manager representation of
the classic board game by Parker Brothers.  The rules are quite simple (unless
you happen to be programming them) and the program should be pretty much
self-explanatory.

Version 1.1, although it may not look like it on the surface, is a major
rewrite of the game.  Speed has been improved and there are new options
available in the settings dialog.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Rules of the Game ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

There's RULES??  Come on Man, I thought this was supposed to be a game!

Click here for an explanation of each of the cards

Bart's objections aside, there ARE rules to this game.  Fortunately, they are
quite simple.

Objective
The object of the game is to move all of your pawns from the 'START' circle to
the 'HOME' circle.  Generally, you must move your pawns in a clockwise manner,
although there are some exceptions, which will be discussed in a moment.  Pawns
are moved like any other object in OS/2.  Just click on a pawn with the right
mouse button, drag it to where you want it to be, and release.

Start

There are three ways to get your pawn out of the 'START' circle.  If you get a
one or a two, you can simply take the pawn out and place it on the circle in
front of the 'START' circle.  If you get a BUMMER card, you can take one of
your pawns from 'START' and place it on an opponents square, thus sending them
back to their 'START'.  Unfortunately, they can do the same thing to you!

Home

Once you have made it around the board, you can enter the colored entryway to
your 'HOME'.  It takes an exact roll to actually get into 'HOME', but you are
protected just by being in the entryway.  You cannot be sent back to 'START'
unless you suffer the misfortune of being forced back onto the general pathway
with a four or ten card.

Bummer
There are two ways to send an opponent back to start.  One has already been
mentioned... drawing a BUMMER card.  The second is equally simple.  You just
land on the square occupied by an opponent and back they go!  In fact, you do
not always have to land directly on your opponent, sometimes you can slide into
them...

Sliding

There are eight colored slides located around the board, two for each player.
In order to slide you must land on the large triangle at the beginning of the
slide. You will then slide automatically to the end, obliterating any opponents
in your path!  Note, however, that you cannot use a slide of your own color,
only those of your opponents.

Passing

Unfortunately, you do not always receive the card you need straight away.  If
it is not possible for you to make a move, then you may pass by clicking on the
large "I must Pass" button in the lower right of the window.  If the Allow
Illegal Pass option is set in the Settings dialog, you may do this even if you
don't really have to pass (such as when you don't want a four to take you out
of HOME) but this is considered to be CHEATING!  One exception to this rule is
the eleven card.  If it is not possible to move forward eleven spaces, you may
(legally) pass, even though there may be possible moves if you were to trade
places with an opponent.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. The Cards ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Many of the cards in BUMMER! for OS/2 have unique features.

1 Card This card will allow a pawn to either leave 'START' or advance one
square.

2 Card The two card, like the one card, allows a pawn to move from 'START'.
Otherwise, a pawn may be moved forward two spaces.  Additionally, you may draw
another card and play on it.

3 Card This card is very straight-forward.  Move 3 spaces.

4 Card The four card reverses the pawns direction of travel.  This can be very
convenient when near the start.  Often, a four card will allow you to bypass
95% of the board, and go directly to 'HOME'.  It can be a disadvantage,
however, when you are in your entryway, and then the four card forces you back
out onto the general pathway.

5 Card This card has no unique features.  Move 5 spaces.

7 Card The seven card is very unique.  You may use this card to divide up your
seven moves between two different pawns... on the same turn!  If the
corresponding option is enabled, you may also divide the seven into two moves
for the SAME pawn.  This can be advantageous when there is a slide a short
distance away.

8 Card The eight card has no unusual features.  Move forward 8 spaces.

10 Card The ten card gives you two options.  You can, of course, move forward
10 spaces. You can also move backwards 1 space.  This may seem like a slow mode
of travel, but it can come in handy at times.

11 Card The eleven card also give you a couple of options.  You may move
forward eleven spaces.  Or, if you would rather, you can change places with any
opponent, so long as they are on the general pathway.  In this regard, it is
much like the BUMMER card, except that you trade places instead of sending them
back to start. It is important to keep this in mind, as you may actually end up
helping your opponent more than yourself.

12 Card The twelve card has no unusual features other than being the largest
card. Incidentally, if you have just gotten out of 'START' and get a twelve
card, you will end up sliding every time.

BUMMER! Card This is what its all about!  Get this card while you are in
'START', and you can send any of your opponents crawling back to where they
came from... BUMMER DUDE!


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Game Menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The File menu has four choices.

Start New Game
This option is self explanatory.

Save Game
You can save and retrieve your old BUMMER! games.  This option brings up a
standard OS/2 file dialog.

Load Game
This option loads an old game. It is no longer necessary to start a new game
before loading an old one.

Close
Exits the program. If you have started a new game, you will be prompted to save
it.  Hit OK to save your game, or Cancel to exit.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. Options Menu ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The Options menu has two choices:

Settings
Undo Last Move


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. Settings Dialog ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The settings dialog contains three areas which allow you to customize the game
to fit your preferences:

Players
Miscellaneous
Computer Speed


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. Computer Speed ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The slide at the bottom of the dialog controls the amount of time the computer
pauses before moving.  When set to fast, you may not even be able to see what
card the computer is playing on. It even becomes difficult to tell who's turn
it is. If set to slow, you may notice a long period of unresponsiveness,
depending on your computer speeds. A little experimentation enable you to
determine the optimum setting for your computer / playing style.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8. Players Options ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The Players box contains two subtitles, "Type" and "Name".

The check boxes beneath the "Type" heading are three state buttons.  If they
are checked, then that player will be human.  If they are shaded, the
corresponding player will be controlled by the computer.  If they are not
selected at all, then that player will not play at all.  This offers a higher
degree of customization than was previously available.

The entry boxes beneath the "Name" heading contain the name assigned to each of
the players. You may use the default, or assign your own name.  If you click
the down arrow next to the entry field, up to five of your previous names for
that player will be displayed and you may select any one of them.

So, in the picture above, "Green Beret" is a human player.  "Red Sonya" is
controlled by the computer.  "Big Blue" and "Yellow Belly" are both inactive.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9. Miscellaneous Options ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Display Move Options
Display Turn Indicator
Play Till All Finish
Split Seven on Single Pawn
Allow Illegal Pass
Enable Sound
Allow Undo


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10. Display Move Options ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ


If this option is enabled, all the possible moves will be highlighted each time
you select a pawn.  Note that on slower computers this option may slow down
responsiveness.

Also, the calculation that displays the highliting for the home circles is very
math intensive. I've noticed that on computers which do not have a math
coprocessor (SX's), there may be a delay of up to a couple seconds.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11. Display Turn Indicator ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The turn indicator displays an enlarged image of the current player's pawn,
along with an identifying string for the player.  This can be especially useful
when playing the computer and you can't keep up with who's turn it is.  Again,
on slower machines or those with slow graphics cards, this option may slow
things down.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12. Play Till All Finish ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The default (unchecked) value will end the game as soon as the first player
gets all four of his pawns into Home.  If, however, this option is selected,
play will continue until every last player has gone around the board.  This is
how it worked in Bummer version 1.0.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 13. Split Seven on Single Pawn ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Normally, the seven card is meant to be divided by two pawns.  However, it can
be advantageous to split a single pawn's moves.  This adds a bit more
complexity to the game as you may now be able to slide twice or send home an
opponent that is less than seven spaces away.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 14. Allow Illegal Pass ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

If this option is enabled, you may pass even when there is a possible move for
one of your players. This can be especially useful when you are in the Home
entryway and you get a Four card.  Still, a diehard Bummer player would rather
die than enable this option (if there are any.) Note that this is not an option
for the poor computer.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 15. Enable Sound ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Sound has not been implemented yet.  Look for it in the next version.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 16. Allow Undo ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This option has not been fully implemented yet.  I encountered bugs and decided
to wait until the next version to release it.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 17. Registering ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Why you should register...

1.  You will be free of that annoying dialog box that pops up every time you
make a move.  You will also be able to save your preferences between games.
You will be able to save and load games.  You may also experience a warm, fuzzy
feeling derived from the knowledge that you are an honest person with real
integrity.

2.  I will continue to enhance this product, probably at a rate thats
proportional to the number of registrations I receive.  You, if you have
registered for free upgrades, will receive updates for as long as I continue to
create them, which should be quite a while considering all the plans I have in
store for it.

3.  When (if) I receive money for this product, I will finally pay to register
the last few shareware programs residing (guiltily) on my hard drive.  Thus
your registration will not only benefit you (future upgrades, clear conscience,
etc.), me (money to continue development and perhaps further my education), it
will also be helping other Shareware authors in the OS/2 community.

To Register
If you would like free upgrades forever, please send $20.  If you would like
only to register the current version, send $5.  For information on what to
expect in later versions, please refer to the future.

Send money, version # of Bummer, your name and address to:

Dan Libby
RE: Bummer for OS/2
1313 Limekiln Rd
Hollister, CA  95023

I will send you a password to register your copy with.  If you have an e-mail
account, please leave that and I will try to get ahold of you that way before
resorting to snail mail.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 18. Bugs / Contacting the Author ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

If you have a bug to report, suggestion for the game, or if you just want to
chat, you can reach me via e-mail at:

Compuserve: 73672,3002
Internet: [e-mail]
America Online: Dan1234


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 19. Screen Considerations ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Resolution
BUMMER! for OS/2 currently only supports resolutions of 800 x 600 and above.
This is because the size of the squares is determined by the size of the icons
in OS/2.  Each icon is 32 pixels (or so) wide and there are 16 squares on each
side of the board.  Since 16 x 32 = 512, the board itself is already larger
than the height of a standard VGA screen.  There is probably a way around this,
using smaller icon files or something, so if any of you programmers out there
know of a way around the problem, perhaps I could implement a fully scaleable
version in the future.

Black Screen Problem
I have had problems on a test machine that was using a 16 color driver where
the bitmaps would not show up.  This problems seems to go away when using
non-compressed bitmaps, but the size of the game increases considerably.  Let
me know if this is a problem for you (blackness where pictures should be) and I
will try to accomodate.  You may find that changing your driver will also
eliminate the problem.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 20. The Future ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

In the near future, I plan to add:

  2.  Sound!

   First I will have to learn how to program with MMPM/2 -- but hey, how hard
can it be?  Then I need to find some really cool sounds that I can associate
with different events in the game.  Some of the events I had in mind were:
begin new game, win or end game, drawing new card,  eleven card trading places,
BUMMER!, two card -- go again, pawn made it out of start, and turn completed.
   If you have any ideas for other areas of the game that might be enhanced by
sound, or if (even better) you have a sound file that goes with one of these
events, please e-mail it to me.

  3.  Performance Enhancements

   The game is still single-threaded.  I had hoped to change that in this
version but after losing half my source file, I had enough trouble just getting
the game back to how it was, much less implementing new features.  Look for a
multi-threaded version in the near future.

In the distant future, I would like to:

  1.  Fully integrate the game with the workplace shell.

   Eventually, games should be able to be saved by dragging the titlebar into a
folder or onto the desktop.  A new game would be started by simply pulling a
game off the BUMMER! template.  The color and scheme palettes, as well as the
font box, should be supported.

  2.  Customize the graphics a bit more.

   I think that a 3-d look for the board and the cards would look nice.  I
might also include different card backs, or load the card bitmaps externally so
that users can customize them.  Of course, I would have to get some sort of
demand for this before I tried it.  She might fit in well somewhere too! <g>

  3.  Modem Play.

   Admittedly, this is very far off, and even if I did implement this feature,
probably no one would ever use it. Nevertheless, I would like to try, since
this program is, after all, a learning experience and I think it would be
beneficial for me to know something about computer communications since we are
reaching the era of connectivity, after all.  By the same token, I might
implement some sort of printing option in both B/W and Color (I hate programs
that don't take advantage of my color printer) since that is something I would
like to learn about as well.