This window shows the present game board which contains the concealed objects layed out in a grid of boxes.
DISCLAIMER:
The author, David Bishop, makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, regarding the fitness of this or any version of Concentration ][ for any purpose. Use it at your own risk. The author claims no liability for data loss or other problems caused directly or indirectly by Concentration ][.
NOTICE:
THIS SOFTWARE IS FREEWARE. YOU MAY DISTRIBUTE CONCENTRATION ][ WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHOR, DAVID BISHOP, SO LONG AS ALL DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED UNALTERED.
GENERAL:
Each player during their turn selects two boxes. If the contents of the two boxes matches, then they are awarded points and they get to choose again. If they guess wrong, then the next player gets to play. When all pairs have been selected the game ends.
If a window has a button and no editable text field, then the button may be selected by pressing the key for the first letter in the name of a button.
The About Concentration window can be closed by either clicking on the window or pressing any typeable key on the keyboard. The timeout only works when Concentration ][ first starts.
HELP WINDOW:
This window manages the documentation for the Concentration ][ application. It is completely resource based. All documentation is store in the styl and TEXT resources.
You may edit any text to your liking. Click the Save button to save your changes.
You may add a new help resource by clicking the Add button. You will be prompted for a new name. The current help text will be saved under the new name (the old help resource is unaffected).
To delete a resource click the Delete button. There must be at least one help resource.
If you want to quit a game in progress, then open this window, it enables the Quit menu selection. This was done to reduce the chance of quiting a game in progress by accident.
HIGH SCORES WINDOW:
This window shows the top 10 high scores separated by game type. The scores are sorted by top score value. The header row read as follows:
# Position number
Name Players name
TS Top Score
LS Score obtained in game recorded
G Games player has made best score
P# Player number when best score was made
G# Game number when best score was made
TM Timer mode when best score was made
TL Timer setting when best score was made
(only meaningfull when TM=1or 2)
D Date when the score was made
T Time when the score was made
The type popup menu, Contents, selects which high scores to display.
Click the Clear button to delete the high score entries shown.
Click the Clear All button to delete all high score entries.
The sort popup menu allows you to sort the high scores based on a column. This directly sorts the high scores data base, so the window will show entries based on the last sort selected. When a game ends, the high scores data base is updated and resorted based on the top score field.
You may save all high score entries to a text file by selectiong, Save As Text from the file menu.
MEMORY MONITOR WINDOW:
Provides real time monitoring of the two heap sizes; Object (managed by the CPX memory manager) and Concentration (managed by the Macintosh memory manager). These two indicators are updated every 5 seconds by default.
The A field shows the amount of memory remaining in the application heap space (managed by the operating system). The O field shows the amount of memory remaining in the object heap space (managed by the CPX object manager).
THE FILE MENU:
New starts a new game with the given preferences.
Close Window closes the front window.
Save As Text writes the contents of the front window to a text file.
Quit exits the program.
THE EDIT MENU:
This menu gives you access to the standard editing functions. The Color submenu allows the use of color in all text fields (but the color change may not be permanent). The Other seletion will bring up the system color wheel.
THE GAME MENU:
This menu gives you access ( and command key selection) to most of the game features.
Pause game play. The timers are stopped.
Preferences brings up the preference window and allows you to change several features of the game.
Reset Totals sets all player's total scores to zero.
Reset Games sets all player's games won to zero and the present game number to one.
High Scores opens the high scores window.
Memory Monitor opens the memory monitor window.
Help brings up the help window.
THE EDITORS MENU:
This menu gives you access to the editors that allow you to select, modify or create the internal structures used in the various game types. The editors name determines which game type that is modified.
NOTES:
Debug menu:
If you see this menu:
You are running the source code which is ok.
or
You are a user who has received an unsupported copy created from modified source code with this feature enabled.
The debug menu is used by my testers to do various things to stress the application (it also makes testing faster than through normal use).
Game Types:
At the time of the release of this version I did not have enough graphics to enable the Symbols game type.
The Puzzels game type is not enabled because of the unacceptable delay it whould have caused in the release of this version.
Game Type Editors:
Many of the editors are scheduled to be available in the next release 1.0.0a1.
On several of the test systems Concentration ][ has crashed under more or less repeatable conditions. The conditions appear to be:
The available A heap space falls to around 200k.
You select Save As Text with the High Scores window in front.
The file name you give the finder causes an older file to be replaced.
PREFERENCE WINDOW:
Row and Column Size:
These selections allow you to choose how many cells will be used, row (top to bottom) and column (left to right).
The number below the size selections indicates the number of matches needed to complete a game.
The minimum number of grid cells is 2. The largest number of grid cells is determined by the number of cells that can fit into the Concentration window. The resolution of your monitor determines the size of the Concentration window.
Players:
One or two players may play at one time.
Player 1 Starts?:
If this box is checked, then player 1 will always play first. Otherwise, the last player to pick in the previous game will go first. In a one player game, player one always goes first regardless of this setting.
The small box to the right of this check box, indicates who the last player was.
Negative Scores:
If this feature is selected, then two points are given for a match and one point is taken away for an incorrect match. Otherwise, one point is given for a match with no loss in points for an incorrect match.
No timer:
This feature allows a player to take as much time as they like, to choose a pair of objects.
Time Limit:
This feature requires a player to choose a pair of boxes before their timer counts down to zero.
Timed Scores:
This feature awards points to a player for a match based on the remaining time on their timer. The sooner they choose a match the more points they are awarded.
Play Over Delay:
This sets the length of time between the end of the present play (present player's turn) to the beginning of the next play (next player's turn) when the two selections do not match (there is no delay when they do match). The time selections are from .5 seconds to 3 seconds in increments of .25 seconds.
Timer Limit:
This sets the length of time a player has to make a match when one of the timer functions is selected. The time is in seconds. The more time selected, the easier to score and the higher a score can become.
Game Type:
The game type selection determines what type of objects are placed in the cells.
Big Pictures
This fills the cells with colored pictures (64 by 64).
Colors
This fills the cells with colored rectangles.
Equations
Objects are setup in pairs. One object in the pair shows a mathmatical equation and the other shows the answer.
Hidden Words
This fills the cells with the letters from a list of words. You must find all the hidden words. As you select the letters of a suspect word, the letters will be hidden. Once you think you have found all the letters to the word, you must click the confirm button. If you have found a word you will recieve points. The letters will then be revealed for the next play. Game ends when all words have been found.
Letters
This fills the cells with the letters A to Z. The cells are filled linearly. That is, if the number of matches is four, then letters A, B, C, and D will be used. If the number of matches is six, then letters A, B, C, D, E and F will be used.
Numbers
This fills the cells with the numbers 0 to the number of matches selected. The cells are filled linearly. That is, if the number of matches is four, then numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 will be used. If the number of matches is six, then numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be used.
Pictures
This fills the cells with colored pictures (32 by 32).
Puzzels
This creates a puzzel like grid. The content of each piece contains a unique object. It's this object that must be found in another puzzel piece to make a match.
Shapes
This fills the cells with pictures of shapes.
Word Pairs
This fills the cells with word pairs. Each word pair has a common relationship (i.e. opposits light - dark).
Words
This fills the cells with words.
Player's Names:
Each player may enter their name. If a blank name is entered, then their name defaults to their player number.
STATUS WINDOW:
This shows each player's present status.
Each player has a name, current score, a running total score, and games won score.
If one of the timer features is selected, then the active player's timer will show how many seconds are left to make a match selection.
Also shown is the present game number.
Below the game number is shown the number of matches remaining or the words <<< GAME OVER >>>.
