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1994-11-05
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LASERWARS DOCUMENTATION
c1994
Rod Derousseau &
Chris Stewart
Last Updated: November 4, 1994
Legal Notices
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The authors hereby disclaim all warranties relating to this
software, whether expressed or implied, including without
limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness
for a particular purpose. We will not be liable for any special,
incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to
loss of data/damage to hardware or any other reason, even if we
have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
This program is released as "shareware" by the authors. It
is copyrighted and all rights and ownership are kept with the
author. You may use it indefinitely. You may distribute this
Shareware copy of Laserwars freely as long as it
is distributed in its entirety, no modifications are made, and it
is not sold!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
COMPATIBILITY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
THE MAIN MENU. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
CLIPBOARD - SECOND ICON. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
GRID TOOLS - THIRD ICON. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
SETTINGS - FOURTH ICON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
PLAYING THE GAME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Selecting Players . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Sequence of Play. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Icon Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Other Game Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
GAME STRATEGY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
FINAL COMMENTS AND THANK-YOU'S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
OVERVIEW
~~~~~~~~
Laserwars is mainly a game of strategy. Luck may be involved
depending on the options that are set.
The game is played on a square grid. There are two players.
They can be any combination of human or computer players. The
objective is to kill the other player by hitting him with your
laser. Each player has a ship which he can rotate and move. In
addition mirrors are placed on the grid to deflect the lasers.
Each mirror that is hit amplifies your laser, therefore allowing
you to get closer to your enemy and kill him. There is also an
option to play with bombs and blocks, which make the game more
interesting. There are many parameters that may be set for varied
gameplay. The game is mostly mouse driven, with a few text
prompts here and there.
The easiest way to learn the game is to just play for a
while. You will soon get the hang of it.
COMPATIBILITY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laserwars has been played on several different machines. It
has functioned well under OS/2, Windows 3.x, Windows NT as well
as its native DOS. To play using the computer player at level 1
or above we recommend at least a 386.
Laserwars will only run on 286 machines or higher. It WILL
NOT run on a machine earlier than a 286.
Laserwars requires that a mouse driver be loaded at run
time. It also requires at least a VGA card and monitor.
THE MAIN MENU
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the main menu there are 5 selections that can be made.
You may make a selection by clicking the left mouse button on any
icon. This is true throughout the game. By hitting the left mouse
button, you always select the icon your mouse cursor is under.
Following is an explanation of each of those items.
Green Light - First Icon: This icon begins a game of
laserwars. Several screens follow
asking for information.
Clipboard - Second Icon: This icon takes you to a list of
the players stored on disk, and
their stats.
Grid Tools - Third Icon: This icon takes you to the Grid
Editor. Here you can make your own
preset grids and save them for
play.
Settings - Fourth Icon: This icon brings up the Laserwars
configuration screen. Here you can
change settings affecting game
play.
Exit Door - Fifth Icon: This icon exits from Laserwars!
CLIPBOARD - SECOND ICON
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When you select this icon, a list of currently stored
players is brought up. There are two useful icons here. (The
third icon takes you back to the main menu.) The first one, 'Add
Player', adds a new player to the list. This way you can use this
player in all your games so that a record of his wins, losses and
other stats are saved. The second icon, 'Kill Player', will
delete a player that is currently on the list. Note that the
prompts are case sensitive, so if use you use capitals to enter
the name, you will need to use capitals to delete it also.
GRID TOOLS - THIRD ICON
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When you select this icon, you are first prompted for a grid
file name. A list of the available files appears on the left. You
may click on any of these file names or type in a new one. If you
select a file already there, that grid file is loaded and you may
modify it. You may also just hit enter from the prompt, and in
that case a new file is created for you, allowing you to create a
custom grid.
A row of icons appear at the bottom of the screen. These are
used to create the custom grid. On the right are a few boxes.
Click on the box below 'Red Tank' or 'Green Tank' to select the
respective tank color to place and rotate on the grid. The active
tank color will flash.
The first two icons are mirrors. When you click on either
one, you may place the cursor on a grid location and hit the left
mouse button. This will place the mirror of your choice on the
grid.
The next icon over is the remove mirror icon. Use this icon
to remove a mirror you have already placed on the grid.
The next icon is the move icon. Use this icon to place the
players' ships. The ship you are placing depends on which tank
color you have selected by clicking on the boxes on the right.
After clicking on the move icon, click on a grid location and the
ship will appear.
The next two icons are the rotate icons. They rotate the
ship of the currently selected color. That ship will change its
direction according to the direction of the rotation.
The next icon is the show laser icon. Use this icon to turn
on or off the players' lasers.
The next icon is the show grid icon. This icon turns on or
off the grid.
The exit icon exits the edit grid screen. You are asked to
confirm. When you confirm to exit, you are prompted for a name to
save your grid under. You may just hit enter if you wish to
discard the grid you just made. If you wish to keep it, enter a
file name (without the extension). If it already exists you will
be prompted to replace or not. Answer the prompts accordingly.
The last two icons let you place bombs and blocks
respectively. Just click on the grid to place the bomb or block.
SETTINGS - FOURTH ICON
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This icon brings you to the Laserwars configuration screen.
Here you may click the left mouse button on any of the settings.
When you do, you are prompted to enter a new value. You must
enter a valid value that is within the limits provided. If you do
not, the program will continue to prompt you for a value until a
valid one is entered. Each of the settings is described below.
The save icon can be used to save the current configuration
to disk. The load icon is currently inactive.
The original settings as we have them, are a good basic starting
point for playing LaserWars. This is the 'classic' game of LaserWars.
Number
of starting mirrors - This is the number of random mirrors
that will appear when you choose to play
with a random grid.
Number
of starting bombs - This is the number of random bombs that
will appear when you choose to play with
a random grid.
Number
of starting blocks - This is the number of random blocks that
will appear when you choose to play with
a random grid.
Starting energy - This is how many grid squares you laser
will travel without hitting any mirrors.
Energy gained
per mirror - This is how many extra grid squares your
laser will travel for every mirror it
hits.
Random mirror
percentage - This is the percentage chance that a
mirror will appear on any given turn.
Random bomb
percentage - This is the percentage chance that a
bomb will appear on any given turn.
Random block
percentage - This is the percentage chance that a
block will appear on any given turn.
Time limit
per round - This is the amount of time a human
player will have to make a move on his
turn. Enter '0' if you wish to play
without time limits. This value is
entered in seconds.
Computer
lookahead level - This is the number of moves the computer
looks ahead. '0' means the computer only
looks at the current move. '1' means the
computer looks ahead one move, and so
on. (A 486 is recommended when using
lookahead 1 or 2!)
Computer
skill level - This is the skill level the computer
plays at. When set to '0', the computer
is as good as it can be. (The computer
is imperfect to begin with!) The higher
the setting, the more likely it is that
the computer will make mistakes and/or
make bad moves.
PLAYING THE GAME
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Selecting Players
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When you select the 'green light' icon from the main
menu you must answer a few questions. First you select
attributes for Player 1. You are first asked if the player
is human or computer. Click on the desired icon.
If you selected human, you are shown the list of
available players. You may click on any of these if you
wish, in which case their respective records will be
updated. If you which to enter a new name (which will not be
saved to the records) click on the lower right box, and type
a new name. You can then select the ship you wish to use by
clicking on it. (The ships are all identical with respect to
playability. They only differ in appearance.)
If you selected a computer player, everything else is
set automatically. There is no need to enter any more
information.
You then do the same for Player 2. When you are done
that, you are asked if you wish to play with a random or
saved grid. Click on the desired icon.
If you select random, you are now ready to play! A
random grid will appear on the screen and you may begin
playing.
If you select saved, a list of available grid files
appears at left. You may click on the name of the grid you
wish to use. (Do no use extensions) The grid will be loaded
and displayed and you are ready to play!
Sequence of Play
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The game is played in turns. Each player may make one
move, then it is the other player's move. When both players
have gone, that is one turn. Any actions performed using any
of the icons described below except 'laser on/off' and 'grid
on/off' count as one move.
If the time per round setting is anything but zero, you
will only have the allotted time to make your move. If time
runs out before you make a move, you lose your move. The
other player then gets to go.
If you have the bomb, block or mirror percentage higher
than zero and no computer players playing, a bomb, block or
mirror may appear in between player's moves.
Icon Functions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The icons available at the bottom of the screen during
gameplay are the same icons as in the 'edit grid' option.
The first two icons are mirrors. You may click on the
icon and then click on a location on the grid. This will
place the chosen mirror on the grid.
The next icon removes a mirror previously placed on the
grid. A player may only remove mirrors that are the same
color as he is. He may not remove mirrors belonging to the
other player, and he may not remove mirrors that are blue in
color. There is a way to destroy other player's mirrors. You
can do so by moving your ship into them.
The next icon will move your ship. Click on the icon,
and then click on a grid location a maximum of one square
away from your current location. You will be moved there.
Note you can only move one square away from your present
location. (Diagonal moves are possible.) You may move onto a
square that contains a mirror. If you do, that mirror will
be destroyed. You may also move into a square which contains
a bomb. If you do, the bomb will disappear permanently.
The next two icons will rotate your ship counter-
clockwise and clockwise, respectively. When you click on
either of these two icons, your ship rotates, and your move
is over.
The next icon turns on or off the players laser.
The next icon turns on or off the grid lines.
The last icon exits from the current game. You are
prompted to verify.
Other Game Concepts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bombs - Bombs appear randomly on the grid. They will
not appear on a square that is occupied by
either mirrors, players, or a laser path.
When you hit a bomb with your laser, the bomb
explodes. The bomb explodes two squares in
every direction except diagonally, where it
explodes only one square. Anything within
that radius is destroyed except for blocks,
including a player. If another bomb is within
that radius, that bomb will also explode.
Blocks - Blocks are indestructible. Your laser will
not go further if it hits a block.
GAME STRATEGY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since hitting mirrors increases your laser's length, it is
important to make you laser hit as many mirrors as possible so
that you may reach your opponent. There are many moves a player
may make. You must be aware of all of them so that you may defend
yourself, as well as plan offensively. Remember that you may
place mirrors, remove them, move your ship, and rotate your ship.
This gives you many options on any given turn. It will take a
while for you to learn all the strategies and use them
effectively.
Defensively, you should always do one thing every turn.
Always follow the four possible paths away from your own ship.
This way you can trace where any possible opponent's laser may
come from. (Think about it - you can only get hit from any of
four directions.) If you can do this at the beginning of each of
your turns, you will be guaranteed not to get hit. Of course, you
have to realize what moves your opponent can make in order to get
that laser to go down any one of those four directions. Once you
recognize that your opponent can hit you, you must make a
defensive move.
You have many choices. You can place a mirror in his laser
path to block him, you may move over a square, you may remove one
of your mirrors, or you may be able to make a move which will
kill him on that turn. There are advantages and disadvantages to
every strategy. We will let you discover them.
FINAL COMMENTS AND THANK-YOU'S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We have worked on this game off and on for a long time. The code
is crappy and we're getting tired of working on it. But we wanted
to put it out as shareware anyway just to see if people would
like itl. The game was originally played without bombs or
blocks. They were added later just for fun. The computer player
is also just an afterthought. If you know how to beat it,
it becomes fairly easy. Anyway, enjoy!
If you have any comments, or if you discover any bugs in the
program please e-mail either of these two internet addresses:
RDEROUSS@NOVICE.UWATERLOO.CA
CRSTEWAR@ELECTRICAL.WATSTAR.UWATERLOO.CA
We would like to thank the following people who aided in the
design and programming of Laserwars either directly or
indirectly:
Rod 'I don't recall this from the lectures' Derousseau - for
programming.
Chris 'Its too windy' Stewart - for more programming.
Mario 'I've got to go home for the weekend' Filipas - for
his car.
Bryan 'I've got a knife' Hunt - for his cartoons (and his
car).
Ali 'Worst impressionist in the world' Murtaza - for
being someone we could laugh at indefinitely.
Chris 'I've got too many CDs' Flaman - for not being
ordinary.
Cam 'I've got a synth' Macereth - for teaching me Piano.
Ben 'I've got a band' Coulson - for endless play testing
while I wanted to go to bed.
Anil 'Disc jockey' Rhemtulla - for changing the CDs (once or
twice).
Dreeni 'I'm allergic to everything' Geer - for increasing my
win percentage.
Wes 'I wanted to work an extra term anyway' Root - for play
testing while he should have been studying.
Jeff 'That game sucks, man' Ng Thow Hing - for the movies and for the
consistant complaining about PC's.
Mike 'I'm better than you' Cutler - for ridiculing this
project (and his car).
Professor 'Yes I know the lab takes 24 hours' Barby - for
delaying this release by one term. (And for failing our friends)
Spike 'Its just like your stereo' - for giving us indispensible insight
about how to do our labs.
The guy who invented computers - It's bitchin' what these
things can do... [From Under The Pink by T.A.]
Our brains for not having any run-time errors.
UW Computer Engineering - for an education and shortening
our life expectancy.
Future thanks to all those that illegally plagiarize this
product and lose their law suit.
(The preceding was intended to be solely humorous. Any
similarity to anything serious is completely coincidental.)
(If you don't get the inside jokes - don't worry you weren't
supposed to.)
This game is dedicated to,
Rod: My friends that failed out. (At least it wasn't me.)
Chris: My Father - I miss him...
Laserwars is copyrighted 1994 by Rod Derousseau & Chris Stewart
