Most Valuable Games 1

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Text File | 1993-11-23 | 21KB | 439 lines

1 About Help ------------ Enter Help by selecting Help from the main menu or left clicking on the (H) button. Use the right scroll bar to move up and down within the Help screens, or else press any key except <ESCAPE> to move forward through help screens. To leave Help, left click on the upper left button, right click anywhere, or else press <ESCAPE>. 2 To Shoot ---------- To shoot the cue ball, move the mouse pointer anywhere on the screen where there is NO POOL BALL, and then left click. Now the cue stick will appear pointing at the cue ball. Move the mouse around to aim the cue stick in various directions. The longer the cue stick appears, as you move it about the screen the greater will be the strength of the shot when you finally do shoot. After stopping at your desired angle and strength of shot, just left click to actually execute the cue shot. At this point the cue stick will pull back and then move forward striking the cue ball in the direction and with the strength that you gave it. When playing against the computer, the computer generated player is usually represented in the right hand score box, and the human player in the left hand score box. The current player's turn is indicated by the score box that is highlighted in red. After your turn is over, the highlight will automatically switch to the other box allowing the other player to shoot. In Setup you can enter any name into either score box. If one of the computer Pool Shark player's names is entered into either score box, that player will automatically shoot on his/her turn. If you wish to just practise without the computer taking shots, make sure that both score boxes have non computer names, by using Setup. If you want to watch the computer players challenge one another, enter computer names in both score boxes. (Only Steady Eddy available in unregistered version.) If at any time you want the computer player to shoot, click on his score box. Click on your own to get him to shoot for you. See Section 8 (Moving Balls) if you need to bring up a ball. 3 Aiming -------- Since you cannot stick your eyeball inside the monitor to line up the cue ball with the target ball when taking aim, Pool Shark provides an easier way. While moving the cue stick about before shooting just right click, and a sight line will appear, emanating out from the cue ball in the direction that would be taken if you shot at that point. To stop the sight line, just right click again. 4 Pool Shark Game Overview -------------------------- Pool Shark provides a complete pool playing environment for your PC. Match your skills against the computer or a friend in the ongoing tournament at the Shark's Hall of Fame. By making the right strategic wagers, advance to the top and dethrone Montana Fats from his smug position of pompous grandeur! (Only Steady Eddy available in unregistered version.) This is how the general flow of the game goes. When the game starts up, choose your opponent by left clicking on the desired player. This can also be done by using menu option #3. Next go into the betting room, menu option #4, and put your bet on the table. After placing your bet, a new game will automatically start up. After the game you can see yours and other players' ranked positions and accumulated winnings or accumulated debts in the Shark Hall of Fame. These functions are described in more detail in the following help section screens : 10.3 Pick Opponent 10.4 Betting Room 10.5 New Game Start 10.6 Winner's Hall of Fame 5 Pool Shark Eight Ball Rules ----------------------------- Pool Shark enforces a variation of eight ball rules as follows: The first player to sink all of either the low balls or the high balls, and then subsequently sinks the eight ball is the winner. If you sink the cue ball on a given turn, that turn ends and one of your balls is brought up as a penalty. If you sink the eight on a given turn when you still have some other balls left on the table, then that turn ends and one of your balls is brought up as a penalty. If you sink the eight on a given turn when you still have some other balls left on the table, but your opponent only has the eight left, then you loose the game. If you sink an opponent's ball on a given turn, then that turn ends, but no balls are penalized. If you are going for low balls or for high balls but miss and hit one of the opponents' balls or the eight ball first, then that turn ends and one ball is penalized. It is not necessary to call shots. In other words, flukes count. Even though the computer generated players will call their shots, they will also accept balls that they sunk in other pockets by fluke. 5.1 Easy Key ------------ Sometimes eight ball may be more fun to play when there are no penalty balls brought up regardless of the situation. If you wish to play this way, which can make for faster games with quicker betting outcomes, use the "Easy" key. Just press the "E" key to disable the automatic penalty ball functionality. Press "E" again to re-enable this. This may not be changed after money has has been put onto the table. 6 Pool Shark Betting Rules -------------------------- Each time a new player is entered in Setup, or prompted for at the game beginning, he is allotted $10,000. From then on that player's funds are kept track of in the Pool Shark Hall Of Fame. By entering the Bets room, any player may bet as much as he has available in the Hall of Fame. If a player runs out of funds, he may borrow and bet up to $10,000 per game. The amount bet is automatically subtracted from both the player's funds and subsequently awarded to the winner. In order to enforce the integrity of the bet, Menu options are limited, when there is money on the table. If you quit in the middle of the game, the winnings are awarded to the computer character. Strategically, it is a good idea to start by betting small amounts, and challenging lower players, until you improve your skill. Otherwise you will go into the hole, and find it difficult to get out! 7 Tight Squeeze --------------- There are positions where the cue ball is located at one of the table ends when you may want to shoot with enough power to reach the other end of the table, but the cue stick is backed up against the wall so that it cannot be stretched out longer, to increase the power of the shot. When this happens, to increase the power of the shot, press one of the following keys : "2", "3", "4". The two key will double, the three key will triple, and the four key will quadruple the power of the shot. 8 Moving Balls -------------- Left click on the ball that you wish to move. Move the mouse pointer to the position at which you wish to move the ball to, and left click again. The ball will now be moved to the desired location. 9 Control Panel --------------- At the top of the pool table screen between the two score boxes is a box with four buttons marked "H", "M", "S", and "Q". Left click on these buttons to enter into various Pool Shark program options as follows : (H) is the Help Button that opens this Pool Shark help screen. (M) is the Menu Button that opens the Pool Shark main menu. (S) is the Sound Button that toggles sound on and off. This setting is saved from session to session so that if desired the music that plays on game start-up can be suppressed. When sound is enabled the (S) shows up on this button. When sound is disabled the (S) disappears. (Q) is the Quit Button that allows for program exit. When balls are in motion, the mouse pointer will disappear. When this happens these options can be selected by pressing the corresponding keyboard key. The center of the control panel is used to display the last ball that was sunk. Each time the cue stick is invoked, the displayed ball is cleared. 10 Pool Shark Main Menu ---------------------- The main menu can be entered by clicking on the (M) Menu button from the pool table, by right clicking from the pool table, or by pressing <ESCAPE> or "M" from the pool table. To return to the pool table from the main menu, right click, or else press <ESCAPE>. Once in the menu, options can be selected by either left clicking on the option or pressing the highlighted first character of the menu option. Details of the menu options are described in the following sections : 10.1 Help 10.2 Demo Always Different 10.3 Pick Opponent 10.4 Bets 10.5 New Game Start 10.6 Winner's Hall of Fame 10.7 Replay 10.8 Set Up 10.9 Order Info 10.10 Custom Gift Idea! 10.11 Quit 10.1 Help --------- Enter Help by selecting Help from the main menu or left clicking on the (H) button. Use the scroll bar to move up and down within the Help screens. Use the upper left exit button, right click, or press <ESCAPE> to leave Help. This option gives a high level overall description of the general object and purpose of the Pool Shark game. This section describes the rules of the pool game, and of betting. Individual games are all tied together in the Winner's Hall Of Fame to make Pool Shark an ongoing and exciting pool tournament, where you can always come back! 10.2 Demo Always Different -------------------------- This is an actual live Pool Shark 2.2 game played between two of the best Pool Shark computer generated players, Jimmy Kruz and Montana Fats. The Demo is done with all sixteen pool balls and every demo is different, since the Pool Shark opponents are actually playing and thinking as you watch. 10.3 Pick Opponent ------------------ The Pool Shark Opponent screen allows for selection of the next computer driven character to play against. To pick an opponent left click on the desired personality. The selected person will be highlighted by a yellow frame. Once the desired character is highlighted, right click, or press <ENTER> or <ESC> to play. This character's name will then be displayed in the upper right score box. The computer driven characters normally reside in the right hand score box. If one of the Pool Shark characters' names is displayed within this score box, the computer will automatically take its turn, after the user has finished shooting or has scratched. The different Pool Shark characters play at different skill levels, with some variation in play style. (NOTE: The unregistered version (POOL SHARK 2.1) only allows for play against Steady Eddy, one of the medium level Pool Sharks. You can see the higher level Pool Sharks play in the live action Demo.) See also Setup for other aspects of opponent selection. The user's name is normally displayed in the left hand score box. When a game starts, if there is no current player name in the left score box, the user will be prompted to enter his name when the first ball is sunk. Otherwise you can always enter the human player's name in the second field within the Setup Screen. It will subsequently be displayed in the left score box. 10.4 Bets --------- The Bets screen allows you to make a bet on the next game to be played. Each time a new player's name is entered in Setup, that player is automatically given $10,000 to play with. The Bets screen displays the current fund level of the current human player name, whose name is displayed in the left hand score box. To make a bet, left click on one of the three Pool Shark money notes, $500, $1000, or $5000. Simply move the money over to the pool table, and left click. Continue doing this until the desired bet amount has been placed onto the pool table. Each time an amount is placed on the table, that amount is subtracted from the displayed fund level for the current player and added to the current bet amount. When the desired amount has been bet on the table, exit out to play the game by right clicking or pressing <ESC>. You may bet as much as is credited to your account in the Winner's Hall of Fame. If you loose everything, then you may bet up to $10,000 on credit per game, in which case your account will start to decrease into negative values. After exiting from the betting screen, a new game is automatically started. When a bet is in place, the number of Menu options becomes limited until the game is played out and finished, so as to protect the integrity of the bet. If you exit while a bet is in place, the game goes to the Pool Shark opponent and the bet amount is awarded to that player in the Winner's Hall of Fame. 10.5 New Game Start ------------------- New Game racks up a fresh triangle of balls for a new game, restores the color of the table to the original green felt, and returns to the pool table. 10.6 Winner's Hall of Fame -------------------------- The Winner's Hall of Fame keeps an on-going account of all players' funds, ranked in descending order so as to show the top players first. You can use the scroll bar to view all players in the Hall of Fame, up to a limit of 99 players. If a new player begins after 99 players have been entered into the Hall of Fame the lowest level player gets bumped out. 10.7 Replay ----------- Replay can be used to do instant replays of a current game in progress or to create your own demos. If a game is currently in progress, to do an instant replay, just right click to the main menu and choose this option. All of the shots made during the current game will be replayed, and the pool table will be left in the position where the game left off, awaiting your next shot. If a game is played right through to the winner screen, you will be given an opportunity to save that game. If you save a game, it can be replayed any time by selecting the New Game option from the main menu and then immediately selecting the Replay option from the main menu. In summary, Replay can be used to do an instant replay of a current game in progress, or to run your own demo of a previously saved game. Which action Replay takes depends on whether it is run from the beginning of a new game, or from the middle of a game that has already had some shots taken. Pool Shark only provides for saving one user-made demo. If you want to save more, go into the Pool Shark directory and make a copy of the file named "REPLAY". Selecting other menu options in the middle of a game and returning may cause minor problems with the replay of that game. 10.8 Setup ---------- Setup is used to control various Pool Shark program options. Left click on a field to select it for change or just hit <ENTER> to move through the fields. To exit Setup left click on the upper right exit button, right click, or else press <ESCAPE>. The setup fields work as follows : Pocket Size (1,2,3): Controls the play level difficulty. One is the smallest and three is the largest pocket size. Although changing pocket size has an immediate effect in changing difficulty of play, the actual size of the pocket as appearing on the pool table will not be seen until after selecting the New Game option from the main menu. Low Ball Player : Use this option to change the name of the player that appears in the upper left hand score box. This name will usually represent the human player. High Ball Player : Use this option to change the name of the player that appears in the upper right hand score box. This name will usually represent the Pool Shark computer driven character. Speed Control Pause: This number is used to control the minimal time between display frames, measured in mili- seconds. Pool Shark comes with a default speed control pause of 10 mili seconds. This is good for a typical 386 processor. For faster machines you may want to increase this in order to slow down the speed of the balls. With a slower processor set the speed control pause to zero for best results. The effective range of this variable is from 0 to 300. Anything outside this range gets translated to 0 or 300. Table Color: Clicking on any of the sixteen color boxes in this option will immediately change the felt color of the table. The large color box at the left displays the current table color. Using the New Game option from main menu will always restore the table to the original green color. 10.9 Order Info ---------------- The Order Info option gives ordering instructions on how to order Pool Shark 2.2 by toll free phone using a credit card, or by mail order using check or money order. For convenience of mail order, the last screen of Order Info provides an easy to use on-line order form. 10.10 Custom Gift Idea! ------------------------ This option explains how you can get your own specially customized version of Pool Shark with a personal twist directed at someone you know. While Pool Shark plays, it makes comments on the game action. Now you supply the comments, and we will incorporate them into the game to add to Pool Shark's conversational repertoire. This could result in a very unusual, surprising and possibly funny gift for someone that you know! 10.11 Quit ---------- Use Quit from the main menu to exit Pool Shark. This can also be done by left clicking on the (Q) button on the top control panel. After selecting Quit, Pool Shark will ask whether you really want to quit in case the option was chosen accidentally. To answer yes press the "Y" key or left click. To answer no press the "N" key or right click. For instant quit without any bothersome questions press the "E" (End) key from the pool table. If you have to quit to do something else in the middle of a game that you would like to finish later, there is no problem because Pool Shark will keep the current state of the game intact, and start up from the same positions the next time you start up the program. The following settings are saved from session to session: All ball positions. Player Names Player Scores Sound (On or Off) Mode of Play (Practise/Competition) 11 Yes/No --------- Anywhere in the game when Pool Shark asks a question and is waiting for a yes or no answer, you can enter a "Y" or "N" from the keyboard or left click to answer yes and right click to answer no. 12 Balloon Comments ------------------- As Pool Shark plays, the computer generated characters make comments in a balloon at the top of screen. If you wish to disable this, press "V" (for voice). To re-enable the comments, press "V" again.