Assassins - Ultimate CD Games Collection 4/Assassins 4 (1999)(Weird Science).iso/docs/arcade/poing_6.doc

Text File | 1992-09-02 | 34KB | 1,005 lines

   Poing 6.02
Poing is a horizontal breakout clone, with lots of variation.

Version 6 adds a number of new options, and is more fool proof to
game lockups in any given levelsets. New options include a spinning
wheel, a squah mode, and 2 new bricktypes.


See also  History .



* 13-feb-98

  Poing 5 used "poing5.levels" as default. Poing 6 uses "default.levels".
  This name aestethically decouples the poing executable from a specific
  levelset.

  In practise you'll keep several levelfiles in the POING: directory,
  each of which can be started with the -f option (or from an icon
  with IconX). You might want to copy or rename the most used
  levelfile to default.levels, so that poing started without arguments
  will use this levelset.

  Poing 6 ships with a levelset by Jostein Bergsvik ([e-mail])
  -- "Mathematics" -- which happens to be my favourite one of the moment.
  This file (default.levels) has been converted to poing 6 format with
  some modified visuals, but is otherwise identical to the original
  'jb2' levelset.

  Added a cool two player squash team mode. Play with a friend or
  with the droid!

  Mouse ports are now selectable. Required for squash mode, but
  handy for classical two player mode as well if you are picky about
  input devices.

  The droid uses the last entries in the highscore history to
  adjust it's skill. If it scores better than the human average,
  it's skill will be lowered (refered to as IQ in the highscores),
  else the skill is raised. In effect, the droid will score on
  average about the same as the human player. In practise you'll
  end up with a fair computer controled opponent/compagnion in
  two player/squash mode.

  Newly created  highscorefiles now have the tables prefilled with
  values from 10,000 upto 100,000. You want some challenge right? :)

  When the computer makes a highscore entry, it mentions it's skill
  (IQ-) level in the scoretable.

  Fixed a bug in the (R)andom game option, that could cause empty levels
  on levelsets with less than 8 levels per stage.

  In degrade mode, the eyes and hype display amusement trigger value
  is halved.

  Major source code cleanup and a complete objectfile rebuild.

  Fixed a nasty bug that would result in stack overflow (= crashing
  machine) if 100 or so games were started in succession.

  The "+BONUS" value is kept on screen a bit longer.

  For some reason the stage/level indicators were swapped in 5.20. Fixed.

  The arrow that indicates a promoted ball is more distinguishable.

  Several other cosmetical modifications.

  In poing 5, when a block group consisted of only 1 block, the game
  could hang (loop) on that block. It is basicly a leveldesign fault
  to create a single-block group. However, with the introduction of
  mobile blocks in poing 5, a group could theoretically end up with
  one effective block because mobile blocks might block the rest.

  Poing 6 is protected against size 1 (and 0 for that matter) groups.
  If such situation is detected, the group will remain offscreen for
  that game session.

  In prior versions, the ball could get trapped in indestructable blocks
  in some rare cases, especially if magnets or gravity is involved.

  Poing 6 detects such situations, and will hyperspace the ball
  to a random location after a couple of seconds of being stuck.

  The title screen automatically cycles through the high scores and
  other screens (as in poing 4). It syncs to the music too :-) The
  game will also enter automatic demo mode after some time. Useful
  for letting the droid catching up with your skill, by simply letting
  the program run unattended :)

  A  Spinning Wheel  mode.

  The blocktype info screen has been reprogrammed from scratch.

  Poing 6 now extensively keeps track of fileversions, creation
  and last update dates and more. Most of this info is hidden.
  However:

  The highscores contain entry dates.

  Highscores are protected with a "match-key", which identifies
  a given highscorefile to belong to a certain levelset. This means
  that you can't rename an existing highscore file to be used for
  another levelset anymore.

  The editor has been polished up:
    o Fixed a bad key in the helpscreen.
    o Help now fits on one screen (small font).
    o Tab-Q block is visually fixed (it suggested another block).
    o Pressing Tabs for special blocks brings up a help on the bottom
      of the screen (I always forgot those codes).
    o No more title music when entering the editor.
    o Scores are cleared before testplay.
    o No more annoying eyes and anims in testplay mode.
    o Added conformation check before leaving the editor.
    o Font test accesible from editor option screen.
    o Pressing an invalid key in the option menu doesn't exit that menu
      anymore (use Escape now).

  New extra-ball-based-on-score  method .

  High contrast color palette.

  The number of 'gambles' (= random digit match at end of game), and
  the number of spins for that matter, are on display.

  The speed of the gamble sequence is proportional to the number
  of gambles collected. In practise: the gamble-sequence is less
  boring when more than 3 or so gambles have been collected.

  The eye bonus us a tad faster too.

  The v5.20 info display modes 4 & 5 are redesigned. Especially mode 4
  is attractive now (led display feel).

  The rather ugly italic font (font# 4) has been replaced by a new
  good looking (IMHO) font.

  Two new blocktypes have been added: Teleport and Shoot Left.
  Especially the Teleporter adds new perspectives to leveldesign, but
  you'll have to design your own levels with it :-)

  When creating a new level, the program initializes with reasonable
  default parameters.

  Poing 6 is year 2000 compiant :)



Poing 5.20 summary

   Two new info-display modes:
   double height/width with grid.
   double height/width without grid.

  The end-digit gig is now guaranteed to never pick two identical
  succesive random numbers.

  The end-digit gig can be sequential instead of random. It's a bit
  faster than poing 5.0x too.

  Some screen elements can be configured for a different layout. This
  is required for the new double width info display modes.

  The poing5 levelset has been reworked. It is meant as a replacement
  for the 5.0x levelset. The changes are:

    o Level 1.6: (diagonal wall) this was a somawhat annoying level.
      Some blocks have been removed to make it easier.

    o Level 3.3: (pathfinder). This level has been reported to almost
      endlessly keep the balls into play with those magnets and traps.
      The traps have been removed.

    o Some cosmetic changes (new 5.20 features are utilized).

  Fixed a bug in the top-right hilighted value display, that
    sometimes produced graphical trash.

  The 'hurry up' messages are re-introduced (they were disabled
    in some version) and reworked, and made configurable (initial
    and repeat time).

  Neater centering of title screen menu text, in relation to
    the auto-centered title.

  The poing 4 levelset (recolored, due to a difference in poing4/poing5
  palette) is included. The shuffle method is set to 'full'.

Poing 5.02 summary

  levels included (this was accidently forgotten in the 5.00 archive ;))
  fixed a keyfile issue.

 Summary of changes from poing4 to poing5
 * Built in editor.

 * Configurable cosmetica (fonts/colors).

 * Endgame-random-digit-match-extra-ball-chance :P :)

 * New blocktypes (mobile, exploding, magnetic).

 * A new levelset (18 levels).

 Complete list of changes

 * Builtin level editor.

 * New level set.

 * 4 builtin fonts, selectable by the level designer: old font
 (poing 1-2-3), poing 4 font, and 2 new fonts (bold & italic style).

 * Extensive error checking with appropriate error/warning screens.

 * Endgame-random-digit-match-extra-ball-chance thingy.(remember pinball?)

 * Info display (top of screen) made adjustable: old style (single height)
   poing 4 style (double height bars) and new style (double height solid).

 * Solved a bug in the bonus reward: points above 10,000 were not added
   to the score in poing 4 !

 * Titlescreen completely rewritten, being subject to text/font/color
   choice of leveldesigner. Also multithreads :)

 * User-option screen rewritten from scratch.

 * Added several configuration screens to the editor.

 * Variable title screen font/colors/text.

 * Variable in-game font/colors.

 * Variable number of stages (1 upto 8).

 * Variable number of levels (1 upto 8).

 * Variable stage bonus (0 upto 1590)

 * Variable level-shuffle method (poing 2 or poing 4 style).

 * Mobile block type.

 * Indestructable/exploding block type.

 * Exploding bomb block type.

 * Magnetic block type.

 * Less solid looking energy bar.

 * Trapped ball now generates a peak-shape in the line-art 'lasershow'.

 * New titlemusic.

 * Removed a bug in the audio code that could produce an enforcer read-hit

 * Removed a bug in the audio handling resulting in short dropouts.

 * Reworked some of the audio instruments.

 * Several small code optimizations.

 * Eye-amusement factors have been slightly retuned.

 * Acceleration of accelerating blocktypes is slightly dimmed.

 * Time between natural ball speedups is slightly stretched.

 * 'degradation' ball speed is somewhat slower.

 * Amiguide documentation.

 Poing 6 is copyright (c) 1997 by Paul van der Valk.

 This program comes without warranty. Use it on you own risk.

 This program may be distributed in unmodified form if:
  no profit is made
  this document (poing6.guide) is included

 Installation:

  If you install poing for the first time you should make a drawer
 somewhere and assign POING: to it. This is where the leveldata and scores
 will be stored.

  Once this assignment is made, copy *.levels to this drawer.

  Copy the poing6 executable and it's icon to a suitable location.

 That's it folks. Click the poing6 icon to start.

 If you want to play a levelset other then the default set(default.levels)
 you must start the program from CLI with th -f argument. For example:

   poing6 -fPOING:poing4

 Will use the poing4 levelset.

 See also  Commandline Options

 S         toggle AI  music.
 L         toggle audiofilter.
 Esc       abort game.
 numpad -  pause and scroll screen up.
 numpad +  pause and scroll screen down.
 numpad *  screen to back / to front.

 Any other key (un)pauses, or launches the ball when in serving stage.

 o     No ai-music music.
 ao    No sound at all.
 ad    Audio dirty: use sound even if audio.device locking failed.
 an    Audio nolock: don't lock audio.device.
 0     Disable bottom screen line art. Saves some CPU cycles.

 fFilename
        Specifies the path and filename of the levelset. Example:

           poing5 -fWORK:data/mypoing

     will use the levelset WORK:data/mypoing.leves (and the highscorefile
     WORK:data/mypoing.scores and optional keyfile WORK:data/mypoing.key).

  Eyes
  Energy
  Balltrap
  Star Bonus
  Extra Balls
  Known Issues
  Spinning Wheel

 Poing Future.

 Poing is in a semi active development state. New revisions with fixes
 and/or additions are expected on an irregular base.

 New versions will not be shockingly different from previous ones.The main
 idea behind new versions is that they are functionally backward compatible
 with older versions (read: levelsets).

 Minor revisions will be put on the poing homepage at
 http://www.casema.met/~falcon.Major updates will probably make it through
 traditional distribution channels like Aminet.

 New in poing 6 is the addition of a 'spinning wheel' mode. This mode
 is activated by hitting a balltrap, and having collected at least one
 spin. A spin is rewarded at 10,000, and every further 20,000 points
 (30,000 - 50,000 etc).

 The spinning wheel in this version is rather primitive - just a
 sequence of predefined values to be scored. The longterm plan
 is to have loads of other options in here.

 Known Issues:

  When leaving the editor without saving the levels first (assuming they
  are modified ofcourse), you can't re-enter the editor anymore. In such
  case the program will report an "Invallid Keyfile" error and kick you
  back to shell/wb.

   This 'feature' has not been removed because it's very hard to get
 around all the security checks, even when owning the source code :-)

   Bottom line is that you should be making a habit of saving the levelset
   before leaving the editor. As an extra safety, the Poing 6 editor
   now asks whether you really want to quit. Hitting Esc one time too many
   was too easy after all.

  You should back up your data (highscores, levels and keyfiles). Poing 6
  has an extended fileformat for both level and score files. Upgrades
  from old to new versions are made automatically. To be frank, I haven't
  experienced a single problem so far with this, but in practise things
  could go wrong. Having a corruption of a level / keyfile is very
  annoying, because there is no way to fix this. Period.

  Poing 5 has a nice level version check to ensure it doesn't load
  and misinterpret files it doesn't understand completely. It doesn't
  check highscore version though. It is technically possible to use
  a poing 6 highscore in poing 5, but this will downgrade the score
  file. In practise this will leave you with the score-data only.
  All extended information like entry dates and droid IQ level will
  be lost.

  Poing 6 contains a score version check so it won't repeat this behaviour
  on future versions. It also contains a construction that will inform you
  when a degraded highscore file is detected.

  It is adviced that you dump poing 5 in favour of 6. There is nothing
  that poing 5 can do and poing 6 can't.

  Regardless of what port is selected, only the mousebutton on port 0
  can be used for serving. This will have to be fixed one day. In the
  meantime use the keyboard to serve.

  The game has virtual spectators in the form of eyes. When some relevant
  action takes place the eyes will open and follow the action. If a lot is
  going on the eyes become amused (they flash) and will reward a bonus
  after the ball has gone.

  There are four eyes, and a maximum of 4 simultanious balls in play.
  Each eye is especially amused by a certain ball. In addition:

  Top-left eye is especially amused by frequency of bat hitting bat,
  and by top-info display.

  Top-right eye is especially amused by right scoreboard, and by
  top-info display.

  Right eye is especially amused by the bonus counter, the scoreboard
  and by hitting the right border.

  Bottom eye is especially amused by the bottom score counters.

   The right side of the screen contains an energybar. Whenever the
   field is open (i.e. right border is hit 10 times) the energy level
   will slowly raise (there is some radioactive radiation involved or
   something - include you favourite class-B movie script here).
   The energy level will also raise a bit whenever the right border is
   hit, and will raise a lot whenever you lose a ball and degrade to
   the previous level.

   When the energylevel reaches maximum, and the ball hits the bat
   with a certain minimum speed, the bat will explode and be out of
   service for about 2 seconds.

   The purpose of this energy-mumbo is to prevent longthreaded
   loose-and-recover-ball sitations that sometimes occured in
   poing 3 and before.

   A high energy level has the side-effect of releasing energy-bolts
   when the ball hits something. This has no particulair function
   besides looking cool :^) Actually, from poing 5 onwards these
   sparkles can destroy "energetic wall" blocks.

  When a ball is trapped in a trap-block during multiball, that ball
  will be trapped until the other ball is gone. During this balltrap,
  a continious bonus (5 pts) is rewarded every 'tick' (~0.7 seconds).

  If a ball hits a trap while one or more other balls are traped,
  one of those other balls will be released first.

  If a ball is trapped and no other ball is in play and the player has
  collected a spin,  the wheel will   Spin .

 The star bonus is rewarded when the last ball is lost, or when a
 star-bonus block (double arrow up) is hit. The bonus collected is
 100 for the first star, and 20 more for each succesive star.
 For example: 3 stars = 100 + 120 + 140 = 360 points.

 The Level Editor

 "Read me first! " link knis }
 "Introduction " link edintro }
 "Overview " link edoverv }
 "Tutorial (sort of) " link edtutor }
 "Advanced Options " link adved }

 The poing level editor is relatively easy to work with, but some
 background knowledge is required. Hexadecimal data is used for example.
 If you're uncomfortable with this: sorry.

 The level editor allows you to create your own (surprise) levelsets.
 This levelset will be protected by a keyfile, which is generated
 each time a levelset is saved.

 The keyfile is a permit to modify a levelset. You typically distribute
 *.levels and keep *.key for yourself.

 To begin with, you cannot edit a levelset if you don't own the keyfile.
 For this tutorial we'll use a new levelfile. Start poing with:

   poing6 -fMyLevels

 This will create MyLevels.levels (and MyLevels.scores & MyLevels.key) in
 the current directory. Pressing E from the main menu takes you to the
 editor, which looks something like:

               xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                      C  A
  -----------------------------------------------------  ---------
                                                      | | PQR VVV |
                                                      | | PQR VVV |
                                                      | | PQR VVV |
                                                      | | PQR VVV |
                                                      | | PQR VVV |
                                                      | | PQR VVV |
                                                      |  ---------
                                                      |   \
                                                      |    blocklist
                                                      |
                                                      |-- playfield
                                                      |
  -----------------------------------------------------
  STAGE S          LEVEL L       GROUP G         BONUS BBBB

Legenda:
  xxxx    Message display.
  C       Current block for drawing.
  A       Armour (number of hits required) of grey blocks.
  PQR     3 blocktype (plus 2 hidden) in 6 colors.
  VVV     Scoring value associated to a block of this color.
  S       The current stage (A..H).
  L       The current level (1..8) within this stage.
  G       The current group within this level (A..P).
  B       The bonus value associated with the current group.

 -=-= Drawing Blocks =-=-

 To draw a block select a block from the blocklist with the left
 mouse button (LMB). Click anywhere in the playfield with the LMB to
 place the block. Use the right mouse button (RMB) to erase a block.

 * Note: the leftmost column can't be used. The editor will display blocks
        here, but they won't be stored in the level database.

 -=-= About Groups =-=-

 When putting a block in the playfield you'll notice a black spot on the
 block. This is the group mark. When - during play - all the blocks in
 a group have gone, the group will re-appear and a bonus will be rewarded.
 This bonus can be defined from the editor screen by pressing B followed
 by a 4-digit value (use leading zeroes if needed, i.e. 0250).

 There are 16 groups per level, named A upto P. To select a group press
 G followed by the groupletter. As an alternative use '>' to select the
 next, or '<' to select the previous group.

 -=-= Block Values =-=-

 The value that a block scores depends on it's color. There are seven
 colorgroups (actually 6 + 1, the 1st color is always grey). To associate
 a score value to a color, click the desired colorgroup in the blocklist
 and press V followed by a 3-digit value (use leading zeroes if needed).

 -=-= Colors =-=-

 To modify the block colors click on the desired colorgroup and press C.
 Numeric keypad 4 and 6 will select the previos/next color out of a palette
 of 64. As an alternative you can enter the character associated with this
 color. This character is shown in the message display, and consists of
 the ascii value of the color (0..63) + 64. Numeric keypad 8 and 2 will
 select the previous/next color group.

 The first colorgroup can't be altered, it's always grey.

 -=-= Storing a level =-=-

 To store the fruits of your work press S. This will store the level
 in the memory resident database. Use Shift-S to actually save the levels
 to disk. This will create/update <file>.levels and <file>.key, where
 <file> stands for the name specified with the commandline option -f.

 NOTE: make regular backup of your levelsets (including the keyfile)
 prior to editing them. If anything goes wrong (tm) during the datasave
 with either the level- or keyfile, you can start over again. You have
 been warned.

 If you make a fatal mistake in a leveldesign, you can go back to the
 previous stored version by pressing U (for Undo).

 -=-= Da Bugs =-=-

 If you play around with groups and stuff a bit, you'll notice that
 certain blocks transform into mobile ones. Don't worry, this is a
 visul bug only - the data is still intact.

 -=-= Block Types =-=-

 Ok, take a deep breath before reading on because the following section
 is boring :-)

 There are 3 columns of blockts visible in the blocklist.

 Basic block #1

 The leftmost block is the plain simple hit-and-disappear block.
 It is however one of the most important blocks, because this is the only
 block that can cover option blocks (like [S]low, [B]all, etc.)

 Exception for grey block here (colorgroup 1): this block needs to be hit
 several times before it disappears. How many depends depends on the
 armour settings. To define the armour setting press A followed by 1-9.
 A grey block can't cover option blocks.

 Basic block #2

 This one needs two hits before it disappears.

 Exception for grey block (colorgroup 1): this block is indestructable!
 Note
 Basic block #3

 Score a bonus instead of a direct score.

 There are two more basic blocktypes (added in poing 2). The first can be
 selected by clicking on the first digit of the block value, the second one
 by clickin on the second digit.

 Basic block #4

 This block is initially invisible. When hit it will appear as a normal
 block (#1).

Basic block #5

 This brick-wall alike block needs several hits. It does however break
 neighbour-bricks when hit. The intensity of this domino effect depends
 on the number of stars that a player has collected.

 From poing 3 on, more blocks are introduced. They can be selected from
 witihin the editor by pressing Tab, followed by the appropriate letter.
 Note the new special-block help list in the bottom of the screen (you
 still have to use the keyboard for data entry).

 Special block #1 - Mobile Block (Tab-A)

 This block will move depending on the side on which is was hit. If it
 can't move any further it will explode.

 Special block #2 - Ball Trap (Tab-B)

 This block temporarily holds a ball and relaunches it in a random
 direction. If there are other balls in play the ball will be kept
 and score a bonus for as long as it's held.

 Special block #3 - Accelerate (Tab-C)

 This block temporarily accelerates the ball.

 Special block #4 - Potential Accelerate (Tab-D)

 This is the potential version of special block #3. Potential blocks
 don't appear until an entire group has gone. Potential blocks can be
 identified in the editor screen by having a darker bottom half.

 Special block #5 - SwapXY (Tab-E)

 This block swaps the X-speed of a ball with it's Y-speed, effectively
 modifying the ball direction by a 45 degree angle.

 Special block #6 - Potential SwapXY (Tab-F)

 Potential version of #5.

 Special block #7 - Diamond (Tab-G)

 Diamonds are the only 'move-through' blocks. They score both a bonus
 and a direct score.

 Special block #8 - Potential Diamond (Tab-H)

 Potential version of #7.

 Special block #9 - Expander (Tab-I)

 When hit, this block expands diagonal in 4 normal (Basic type #1) blocks.

 Special block #10 - Closed Trap (Tab-J)

 This is a closed-balltrap block. Used internally, although it may serve
 as an indestructable wall.

 Special block #11 - Indestructable (Tab-K)

 This block can only be killed by sparkles from nearby explosions. This
 block itself explodes, usually generating a snowball effect.

 Special block #12 - Power Bounce (Tab-L)

 Accelerates and bounces the ball back in a random direction.

 Special block #13 - Potential Power Bounce (Tab-M)

 Potential version of #12.

 Special block #14 - Potential Balltrap (Tab-N)

 Potential version of #2.

 Special block #15 - Potential Expander (Tab-O)

 Potential version of #9.

 Special block #16 - Potential Invisible block (Tab-P)

 Potential version of basic block #4.

 Special block #17 - Potential Mobile block (Tab-Q)

 Potential version of #1.

 Special block #18 - Potential Brick block (Tab-R)

 Potential version of basic block #5.

 Special block #19 - One-way block (Tab-S)

 Can only be killed by being hit from the right side.

 Special block #20 - Magnet (Tab-T)

 This block attracts the ball. Upto 8 magnets may be defined per level.

 Special block #21 - Bomb (Tab-U)

 Explodes heavily when hit. Can usually be found near 'indestructable'
 blocks (#11).

 Special block #22 - Teleporter (Tab-W)   (v6.00)

 Moves from one teleporter to the other. Teleporters should be defined
 in pairs: no more or less than two of the same type should be placed
 in a given level. Teleporters are of the same type if:
   the colors match
   the group to which they belong match

 You should be careful to not place corresponding teleporters too close
 to each other, or they may loop. There is some randomizing of the ball
 angle with teleporters to prevent systematic loops. Still, about 5 or 6
 blocks distance between teleporters is a recomended minimum.

 Also, don't enclose a (target) teleporter on it's 4 orthogonal sides
 with bricks or walls. This will in practise loose you a ball. In the
 current version anyway.

 Special block #23 - Shoot Left (Tab-X)   (v6.00)

 Accelerates heavily in a straight horizontal line towards the left.

 Still reading this? On to the  Advanced Editor Options .

 Do not place indestructable blocks in the rightmost part of the
 playfield, because a degraded ball can easily get trapped there.

 Poing 6 will recover from this situation, but I will still call it
 a leveldesign fault, unless it is ment as a special effect :-)

 Indestructable blocks can also produce seemingly endless
 situations, for example when an Y-option is hit. The game engine
 however detects such loops after some time, and will respond with
 a new random ball angle in such cases.

 Pressing 'O' within the editor screen takes you to the option menu:

 1. Global visual settings
 2. Game visual settings
 3. Game functional settings
 4. Text

 F. Font Test

 M. More...

 You find color and font settings here. Colors apply mostly to the
 titlescreen and are pretty self explanatory.

 Click here for an explanation of the  fonts .

 As with all/most menus, the data-entry is in hex. Numpad 8 and 2 move
 the cursor up and down. Numpad 6 and 4 increment/decrement the value
 by 1. You can also enter a 2-digit hex number manually. If this doesn't
 work you probably have the CapcLock enabled ;)

 Values of 00 will result in internal hardcoded values. Some of these
 factory setting may change in a future version, so don't rely on them
 for sure.

 The following fonts are available:

 01   The Poing 4 font.

 02   The original Poing 1..3 font. Thin and square.

 03   Bold, with 'tech-digits'.

 04   Newstyle poing6 font. This used to be an unattractive italic font.

 The Font Test displays the internal fonts. FYI.

 Score Digit Font
    Font used for numeric data.

 Score Label Font
    Font used for "1UP", "BONUS" etc.

 Info Display Font
    Font used for the animated info display.

 Info Display Mode
    01   Poing 4 mode: double height horizontal bar display.
    02   Poing 5 mode: double height solid display.
    03   Poing 1 mode: single height.
    04   Double width/height with grid.      (v5.20)
    05   Double width/height without grid.   (v5.20)

 Layout  (v5.20)
   upper nibble
   0  Normal eyes position.
   1  Wide eyes position. You must set this mode when using a double-width
       info-display mode.

      If this option is enabled you'll need to set alternative level/stage
      markesrs as well (see below).

   lower nibble
      0   Standard level/stage markers position.
      1   Alternative level/stage markers position. You must set this mode
          when using a double-width info-display mode.

 Hurry Up Time  (v5.20)
  Defines the time (in seconds) before the first hurry-up message appears.
  A value of 0 disables the hurry-up messages.

 Hurry Up Repeat Time  (v5.20)
  Defines the time (in seconds) for succesive hurry up messages.

 Levels Per Stage
    Since Poing 5 selectable from 1 upto 8.

 Number Of Stages
    Since Poing 5 selectable from 1 upto 8.

 Stage Bonus Value
    This is a tricky hexadecimal/bcd value. Treat this value as a
    'binary coded decimal value', with the addition that the leftmost
    digit may be above 9. Multiply the result by 10 and you have the
    stage bonus value :)

    Examples:

    01 -> 10
    0A -> Illegal!
    12 -> 120
    A2 -> 1020
    F9 -> 1590, the maximum bonus value.

 Level Randomizer Method.
    Selects whether the shuffle is global, i.e. applies to all levels,
    or apllies only to the levels played so far.

       00   Global
       01   Up to played

 XB Challenge Mode  (v5.20)
    Determines in which way the gamble at the end of the game behaves:

       00   Random order.
       01   In sequence.

 LEVEL NAME
    Specifies the name for this levelset. This will be displayed on
    the titlescreen.

 AUTHOR
    Specifies the name of the levelset author.  This will be displayed
    on the titlescreen.

 Main Menu Options

 S - Starts the game.

 R - Randomizes the levels, then starts the game.
     Note: this randomizing is permanent. If you play a normal after
     a random game, the levels will be in the last played order.

 O - "Options " link mainopts}.

 E -  Editor . You need a valid keyfile for this else no go.

 1 - Highscore table for skill level 1.

 2 - Highscore table for skill level 2.

 3 - Highscore table for skill level 3.

 4 - Highscore table for skill level 4.

 5 - Highscore table for skill level 5.

 6 - Block types info.

 7 - Option blocks info.

 8 - Human vs computer score history. The computer will adjust its skill
     according to this table!

 Q - Quit program.

 The more menu currently contains a single option:

 #. Generate New Highscore Key

 The Generate New Highscore Key option assigns a new unique key to
 the levelset. This key is recorded in the highscore file(s) as
 well, as a verification that a given highscorefile indeed belongs
 to a given levelset. This eliminates the possibility of cheating
 by playing an easy levelset, and renaming the scorefile afterwards
 to be used by another levelset.

 There are three reasons why you might want to regenerate this key:

 You have created a levelset in poing 5. Such levelsets do
  not contain a key.

 You have written a levelset that is based on a copy of another
 levelset.

 You have a levelset which has been modified drastically enough
 (probably with different score value settings) to justify the
 need of declaring existing highscorefiles invalid.

 Before poing 6, an extra ball was rewarded every 20,000 points.This could
 sometimes lead to situations where you (or usually the droid :)) ended up
 with 7 balls, and the challenge was basicly gone. In random game mode,
 the game tended to get *easier* the further you played, because there
 are usually more rewarding option blocks in the later levels.

 To compensate, it now increasingly gets harder to score an extra ball.
 After every 3 extra balls earned, the gap to score the next extra
 ball widens by 10,000 points. Thus, extra balls are rewarded at:

   20,000; 40,000; 60,000 points.

   Then at:

   90,000; 120,000; 150,000 points.

   Then at:

   190,000; 230,000; 270,000 points.

   Etc.

 Main Options

 M - Mode. Cycles through one player, two player and squash mode.

 A - Player 1 skill. Basicly defines the initial speed. Setting ranges
     from 1 to 5.

 B - Player 2 skill.

 1 - Player 1 control. Mouse or computer controlled.

 2 - Player 2 control.

 P - Player 1 mouse: port 1 or 2.

 Q - Player 2 mouse.

 Space, Enter or Esc to leave this menu.

 Feedback/support (note the change in email/web address):

   Paul van der Valk
   [e-mail]
   http://www.casema.net/~falcon

 * 21-feb-98   Poing 6.02

  Fixed two minor bugs:

     * Mousebutton events are cleared before serving. It is no more
       possible to have a 'spontanious' serve if you have been playing
       with the mousebuttons before the serving starts.

     * In v6.00, IF squash mode is selected AND one player is mouse
       controlled AND one player is computer controlled AND the
       computer player is the one to make it to the next level THEN
       the computer controlled player was controlled for 1 turn by mouse.
       This is fixed in this version.

 - The highscore competition is now official. You can send in highscore
   files (see  feedback ) and compete with the world!

 * 13-feb-98   Poing 6.00
   Summary

 * 10-dec-97   Poing 5.20
   Summary

 * 17-aug-97   Poing 5.02
   Summary

 * 14-aug-97   Poing 5.00
   Summary

 * 01-jan-97   Poing 4

 * 14-jan-95   Poing 3

 * 03-dec-94   Poing 2.2

 * 15-oct-94   Poing 2.1

 * 13-feb-94   Poing 2.0

 * ??-???-92   Poing 1