Mac Bzone is a version of bzone derived from the Fortran sources written by Justin S. Revenaugh. It also contains some of the improvements found in the cbzone program written by Todd W. Mummert.
Revision history:
1.0 - Initial release
1.1 - Fixed to run on 68040 based machines
1.2 - Added:
keyboard controls
automatic screen depth adjustment
accelerated line drawing routines
enhanced radar
1.3 - Added:
multi-channel sound routines
new preferences/options
non-default highscores
speed control
disable screen depth warning
de-register option
"joystick" centering key
Other internal stuff...
1.3.1- Jumped the gun a bit with 1.3, fixed bad options recall
Hardware Requirements
The Mac Bzone program requires the following: A 68020 with an FPU (or higher) and system 6.0.7 or higher. It will run on Mac IIs and SEs with accelerator cards. The game does make use of the 64 point Helivetica font which may not be available on all systems. The use of TrueType is suggested for best text display. Mac Bzone will make use of color if available. A color display/machine is not required. Note that the program runs best in 1bit and 4bit modes but will run in most video modes and, as of version 1.2, will automatically adapt to dynamic changes in screen depth.
Game Objective
In Mac Bzone you drive a tank through a playing field filled with indestructable obstacles and enemy tanks, missiles and landers. The object is simple: kill all the enemy tanks (a hopeless task as there are an infinite number of them), missles, and helicopters and shoot the landers for extra points. Enemy tanks come in two varieties, plain and super with the proportion of each changing in relation with the score.
Scoring
Enemy tank: 3,000
Super tank: 5,000
Missile: 5,000
Helicopter: 5,000
Lander: 10,000
A free tank is awarded every 100,000 points.
The Controls
The playing field looks somewhat like this:
 
Control of the your tank is primarily through the mouse, although some keyboard commands are accepted. The mouse button will fire a salvo; the 'S' key will switch between low/high mouse sensitivity (sensitivity determines how sensitive the joystick is to pointer motion, high-sensitivity is generally required to reach higher score levels.). The current sensitivity is shown by a boxed 'L' or 'H' in the lower right corner for low or high sensitivity. The 'C' key will center the joystick, stopping your motion. The 'P' key will pause the current game and the spacebar will resume the game. The 'Q' key will abort the current game. Directional control of the tank is by moving the mouse to different portions of the screen. The joystick in the lower right hand of the screen will correspond to your tanks current movement and rotation. The user may enable/disable the sound via a menu toggle. The user may also clear the high score file via a menu option. The game can be reconfigured as to the number of simultaneous objects and complete radar via a menu selection. Scores are only eligible for the high score list if they are played with the default game options. On the radar, dangerous enemy targets appear as red crosses. Non-deadly enemy targets, such as landers, appear as red squares. Salvos appear as single yellow pixels. If the 'Obstacles on radar' option is used, the obstacles appear as short, cyan, horizontal lines. The user may also control the overall speed of the program. Two preferences are available (in the options dialog). The first will disable the screen depth warnings. The second will allow the user to record high scores with custom option settings. The user may also set the sound level for game play. All scores achieved this way will be tagged with an 'Ô£ø' in the highscore list. There is also a menu option to remove the serial number from a registered copy of MacBzone. This will return the program to its original distributable (and ammo restricted) state.
Keyboard Tank Controls
Version 1.2 adds keyboard tank controls. There are seven functions which can be assigned to keys. It is possible to add multiple functions to the same key (generally this is to create a full stop key from the pan stop and motion stop keys). The defaults keys are shown below:
'M' - pan left
',' - stop panning and center
'.' - pan right
'F' - forward motion
'B' - stop forward/backward motion and center
'V' - backward motion
spacebar - fire a salvo
The sensitivity setting ('S') does affect the keyboard controls also. To apply any of these functions repeatedly just hold the key down. A menu option allows the user to select between mouse and keyboard games. Menu options are also available to reset the keys to their defaults and to manually select new keys. Key selections are saved to disk in the high scores file.
Game Play Notes
• KEEP MOVING. Do not just sit and turn or a tank will lock on to you and you will be hit.
• Cut down the enemy tank's firing angle by closing quickly at a narrow angle and many of his shots will fly wide. Remember you can close in reverse as well as forward.
• Count your shots. Don't put yourself in a position where you must wait for a salvo to die out with a tank hot on your tail.
• Use the high sensitivity mode. It is nearly a requirement for the highest scores.
• Helicopters begin to replace the missiles when your score passes 75,000.
• You can entice a missile run by keeping a tank alive for a long time without killing it.
• Helicopters cannot be hit when they are in the air. They must come down to the ground level to fire and are vulnerable at this time only. Because they don't stay low long you must anticipate their motion and fire before they are on the ground. At the same time you must be already dodging his shell. It can be done fairly easily.
• Use the obstacles as protection when you are really in a bad spot. They will stop all salvos.
• To kill a lander, fire a spread of salvos, a couple ahead and a couple behind the lander. Otherwise the lander will dodge your fire.
• Don't second guess yourself. The time it takes to change your approach will probably doom your attack.
Shareware
This program is being released as shareware. The program has a serial number system in it which limits non-registered copies to 20 salvos per game. Registering the copy removes this limit. If you send me $10US to the address below, I will send you a serial number. Please feel free to pass the unregistered version of the program about freely.
To obtain a serial number send $10US to:
Randy Frank
1936 Northridge Dr
Coralville, IA 52241
Please include your name, USmail address, and Email address (where applicable).
