Assassins - Ultimate CD Games Collection 4

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Text File | 1992-09-02 | 23KB | 559 lines

Crazy Eight's V 2.6 by Curt Esser 12/97 Introduction OK, what is it? Technical What do I need? Installation What do I do with it? Instructions So how do I play it? Options What if I don't want to do it that way? Card Sets What about using different cards? Suggestions I think you should do it this way! Bugs I knew it!!! Problems What do I do if it doesn't work? Tools Used How did you do this? History What's new this time? Philosophy What do you think? Contact Who are you, anyway? Other Stuff What else ya got? Your Help What do you want from me? Language Talk to me! Crazy Eight's by Curt Esser Version 2.6 12/97 This is my Amiga version of the old card game of Crazy 8's. This is a two player version, you against the computer, and is fully Mouse-driven. There are no keyboard commands included (Every AMIGA ever made came with a Mouse, didn't it?), although if somebody REALLY wants them, write me for the source code and put them in yourself -- I had enough trouble getting this to work right with the mouse! Well, OK, there is ONE keyboard command - press "M" or "m" to toggle the music off/on.This can only be done when it is your turn (pointer's finger is UP) and it will have no effect if you have turned Music off on the Set Up screen. This program is EmailWare - send me an email and tell me what you think. (Even if you don't like it - tell me why!) Most of the enhancements are due to user feedback - thanks to all who wrote! Use it at your own risk (I assume no responsibility for any damages blah blah, blah). --- Hey, it's Free! The game is copyrighted to me, so don't distribute altered versions without my permission! You may distribute it as you wish, but this file must be included, and make sure you get all the files in the Data subdirectory, or it will surely crash! Do not alter this text file, and if you make any changes to the program, please send me a copy before distributing it! Have fun! See ya next update! Curt Esser + How to Install the Game + Hard disk installation: 1> Drag the entire drawer to wherever you wish 2> That's it (no assigns, no installation program) 3> Play the game Floppy disk installation: 1> Drag the entire drawer to wherever you wish 2> That's it (no assigns, no installation program) 3> Play the game Trashcan installation: 1> Drag the entire drawer into the trashcan 2> Select EMPTY TRASH 3> Write me a nasty letter The game is played with a standard deck of 52 cards. Each player is dealt 5 cards and the next card is turned up to start the discard pile. -> Although your cards are face up, the computer does not know what <- -> is in your hand! (That was for my son, who thinks the computer is<- -> cheating if it wins.) <- The object is to get rid of all your cards, while sticking your opponent with as many cards left as you can. In order to play a card, it must be either the same Suit as the card on top of the discard pile, or the same Rank. Eight's are "wild" and can be played on any card. Also, when an Eight is played, you can select the Suit which must be played on it. For example, let's say the Nine of clubs is the top card. You can play any club on it, or any other Nine (thus changing the Suit), or any Eight (in this case you may select ANY suit). If you don't have a card in your hand that can be played, you must pick up cards from the deck until you can play.However, you are not REQUIRED to play any card in your hand, and you may pick up as many cards as you wish before playing (until the entire deck is used!) Your turn is not over until you play a card on the discard pile. If the entire deck gets used, the discard pile will be shuffled and used again (except the top card) When one player gets rid of all their cards, the hand is over, and cards remaining in the other player's hand are scored. The cards are scored at their face value (6 points for a 6, etc.), picture cards are scored at 10 points each, Aces are 20, and eights are 50 points. Try not to get stuck with an Eight in your hand! When either player goes over the pre-set number of game points (Default is 200) the game is over. Please note that the game is scored in reverse - points are ADDED to your score for the cards you have left when the other player goes out, so the idea, like in golf, is to get the LOWEST score possible! If you would rather have the points added to the WINNER's total, you can change this on the Set Up screen. > You can click either Left or Right Mouse buttons to play. > To play a card, simply click it with the Mouse. > To draw a card, click on the deck. > Your hand is automatically sorted for you at the end of your turn. > Click on Sort if you wish to sort it before your turn ends. (It won't be sorted If it doesn't need it.) > Click EXIT to quit the game at any time. > Press "M" to turn the music off/on (only works when it's your turn) > Press "n" to switch the game to NTSC mode > Press "p" to switch to PAL > Click HIDE to push the screen to the back - this also turns the music off till you come back. You can also grab the very top of the screen and pull it down if you wish (does NOT turn music off) > That's it! Have fun! > Oh, there is a "secret" way to change the screen colours - see if you can find it (No, it's not a keypress!). If you find it and save the prefs the game will always start in your selected colours (there are 8 sets) If you don't like any of them, you will find the palettes saved in the "data" drawer. You can load the game screen up in your paint program and edit the palette the way you like. Then save it, but don't change the name or the program will crash! Your comments, suggestions, questions, bug reports, complaints, etc. are always welcome. My address is as follows: Curt Esser 113 Pauline Avenue Crystal Lake Il. 60014 USA Email: camge@ix.netcom.com Letters with stamped Return envelope and Email will be answered. If you would like a disk with the source code (BLITZ Basic II) as well as the pictures the shapes were made from and any other of my work I can cram on it, please enclose $5.00 with your letter or send me a disk of your stuff + return postage - NO PIRATED STUFF PLEASE! Only send things which are marked as freely distributable! (It will say in the docs.) The source can also be found on Aminet. -- Please let me know what machine you are using and what workbench! - Although I usually pick up my email every day or two, at times I'm traveling so be patient - I DO answer all Email. Other stuff by me available from Aminet: The complete source code for Crazy 8's is available in dev/basic This is written in Blitz, but it is fully commented and might be of some use to those programming in other languages. Dungeon Explorer games/role/DungeonEx.lha A Top-Down joystick controlled action adventure game * selectable players (male or female) * stereo sound or sound & music * music selector * includes a room editor and 3 complete 44 room adventures * IT'S ALSO FREE! * Source for this one is also in dev/basic Blitz Icons in pix/icon Two small sets of icons for Blitz users in MWB and NI style Blitz Tips in dev/basic An AmigaGuide of various useful tips for Blitz programmers covering stuff not found in the manual Coming soon: (Well, as soon as it's done!) Shirley Nunbettor - Private Eye A Monkey-Island style point & click adventure I believe that a game, computer or otherwise, should be FUN and I don't think a game should take itself too seriously so I have tried to put in a lot of sound effects and also tried to give the computer opponent a bit of personality. I also have included many options to allow you to configure the game to you to configure the game to your own taste, and more are planned. I hope you enjoy my efforts, but if not please see Trashcan Installation Thanks to all the people who have written me already (so far everybody liked it - or maybe the people who don't didn't bother to write!) I DO read and respond to my Email, and constructive criticism is always welcomed. Program History: -> It was different before, and now it's like this. Seriously, those who have played the previous versions will notice: Version 2.0 -> Music has been added -> More sounds have been added -> The game screen will center itself on overscan screens -> I re-wrote this doc so (hopefully) it's easier to read -> I re-did the in-game help page so (hopefully) it's easier to read Version 2.1 -> I took out a forgotten "meltdown" routine test (if you pushed the right mouse button the screen would melt and end the game) -> 512k version included for low chip mem systems Version 2.2 -> Music Selector program added -> Hide button & dragable screen added for easier multi-tasking Version 2.3 -> In-game set up screen added -> Graphics updated -> Doc file converted to AmigaGuide format -> Friend is now spelled correctly -> More sounds added -> Bug fixed - computer no longer picks wrong suit for it's last card Version 2.4 -> Improved palette fades when changing screens -> Corrected ANOTHER spelling mistake! -> Sound problem which occurred on some accelerated machines now fixed Version 2.5 -> Language support added (including easy way to add other languages) -> German Guide added -> German Locale file included -> NTSC-PAL switching added -> You can now select from 8 colour schemes for the game screen Version 2.6 12-1997 -> You can now select and edit different card sets for the game -> Portugese translation included -> Swedish translation added -> Dates added to the History texts (Big deal!) FUTURE: In the future more game options will be added (number of starting cards,and the ability to have different cards cause events such as if you play a 2 the other player must pick up 2 cards, etc.) Also planned is "hall of fame" showing player's won/loss records, and the ability for different players to save their own prefs for the game. Click on the Set Up icon before starting the game or between games to change the following game options: Player names - you may enter new names (up to 8 characters) for the human player and the computer opponent. Music - you may select a different music module to be played during the game. Modules must be 4-channel med mods. If you don't know, try it - unusable modules will be rejected. Also note that the game masks off two of the channels when the sounds are played - depending on how your module is arrainged, this might make it sound funny. You can also switch the sound filter on or off depending on your taste. If you wish, you can also disable Music entirely. If you select this and save the prefs, no music will be loaded the next time you play the game. Finally, you can set the game points and select if the points should be added to the Winner's or the Loser's score. Select "Save" to save the current selections as defaults to be used every time the game is played, or "Use" to keep them in effect for this time only. (Yes, just like an applications Prefs editor - Why not?) The game requires at least v2.0 Workbench (Does anybody still use 1.3?) For those interested, the original program was written on an A1000 with 512k chip and 2 megs of fast ram using Workbench 1.3. Ver 2.0 was done on an A2000 with 1meg chip and 4meg fast Workbench 3.1 Ver 2.1 - 2.3 were done on an A2500(A2000 w factory installed 68020) 1meg chip 8meg fast ram Workbench 3.1 Ver 2.4 was done on my new :) A1400T 2 meg chip 4 meg fast WB 3.1 It has been reported to also run fine on the following: A500 Wb 2.04 A2000/68040 A3000 A4000 A1200 Wb. 3.0 CD32 w SX1 The game releases all the memory it uses, and will multi-task if you have enough memory. The med Module is one I found on a PD disk and unfortunately I don't know who wrote it. If anybody does, please let me know. These tools were used to create this game: Blitz Basic v2.1 (If you are interested in learning to program on the Amiga, I suggest you try the demo version of Blitz that is found on Aminet. This is an excellent and flexible language that combines elements of basic, c, and can even be used for assembly language programming.) FNS Fonts An add-on library for Blitz by Steve Matty of RWE It allows the improved printing routines used since ver 2.3 and also allows the fonts to be included in the program (Notice you didn't need to stuff more fonts into your overloaded Fonts: drawer?) DeluxePaint IV For the graphics Brilliance For the graphics PPaint For the graphics and icons OctaMed v4 For editing the sound samples from Aminet: GadToolsBox GUI tool for laying out GadTools windows GTBoxConv Converts the GadToolsBox source to Blitz source Blacks Editor Text Editor Heddley AmigaGuide Editor MADS Drag & Drop file archiver (and de-archiver) ARC Creates Aminet Readme file Iconian Icon editor The most important resource, however, was the knowledge I gained from the members of the Blitz-list. Without their tips and advice, I wouldn't have had a clue on how to do some of the things you'll find in the program. If you experience any problems trying to run the game, try rebooting your machine. Some programs do not release all the memory when they exit, and your memory may have become "Fragmented" if you have run several other programs first. If a Warm Reboot ([Ctrl] + [L Amiga] + [R Amiga] doesn't help, try doing a Cold Reboot - turn the computer off, wait about 1 minute, and turn it on. Some programs leave things in memory that even a Warm Reboot won't remove. If you don't have a lot of chip mem available (the program needs about 420k chip and 558k total to run with the included module) make sure you close any open windows first - you can even drag the game icon out onto the Workbench and close the game drawer window and "Put Away" any icons that have been "Left Out" on the workbench screen. Now try running the game. If it works OK now, you can go to the Set Up screen and turn the Music option off. Now hit the Save button. The next time you play, the game won't load any music, and will use about 60k less chip ram. If you can't seem to free up enough chip memory to get the game to run at all, as a last resort you can edit the prefs file by hand. The file is : data/8prefs. It is a standard text file. Being careful not to add or delete anything else (especially do not add or remove any linefeeds!) change the number "1" at the end to "0". This turns the Music loading off. If you mess up, just delete the 8prefs file and the game will fall back to the default settings when it loads. If this doesn't help, contact me and let me know what happened. Please let me know what system you have, what Workbench, how much chip memory and fast memory were available just before trying to run the game, and what other programs or system patches were running at the same time. Your comments, suggestions, and bug reports are always welcome. Most of the improvements that have been added to this program have been suggested by the users -- in fact,I probably would have never bothered to update the program at all if it hadn't been for the many emails I have recieved from the users of this program. If you have any sound samples you think would be appropriate for the game please send them to me and I will try to include them (and you will recieve credit in the docs) I would appreciate anybody's help with the following: For the next version,I would like to be able to let the player be able to substitute different sound samples if they want to replace the ones included in the game.To do this, I need to be able to determine either: (in Blitz) when the audio channel has finished playing a sample I have tried using the SetInt commands to check when a sound channel is finished, but I can't get this to work. Has any Blitz programmer been able to do this? If you have please let me know how you did this. Or, if someone could tell me how to determine the playing time of an iff sound sample from the iff header? I don't know much about this, so you would need to be quite specific, for example: "The playing speed is found in the (?) bytes at (?) offset from the beginning of the sample, and if you use this formula (????) it will give you the playing time in 1/50's of a second." Also, completely unrelated to this program: Does anyone know where to find the color pallette information in a ColorFont? I have been trying to locate this information for quite a while, but I have not had any luck. Any help with either of these problems would be appreciated. Well, not really a bug I suppose, more of a nuisance: If you use a hotkey or middle mouse button to change to a different screen the program thinks it is still active, and will respond to your first mouseclick with the error sound. Also, the music will continue to play. The only way to avoid this is to use the "Hide" button to leave the game screen. The solution to this would be simple, but I don't know how to tell which screen is at the front of the display. (Not the active screen, the one which is currently in front whether it is active or not).I would be very greatful if someone knows how to determine this. If you know how, please write me and let me know. I will send you a free registered copy of the game for your trouble... Oh, wait -- the game is free anyway! Would you settle for a nice email and credit in the next version? New for version 2.5 is language support. Supplied with the game in addition to the English language is a German translation by Matthias Puch. To use the German in place of the English, just open the Locale drawer and click on the DEUTSCH icon. Matthias also has kindly supplied the German translation of the Guide file. Thank you for your efforts, Matthias! For 2.6, Portugese and Swedish translations are also included. These both were co-ordinated by Dirk Neubauer Portugese translation was done by Roberto Santana and Rúben Alvi. Swedish translation was done by Martin Johansson My thanks to you all! If you would like to add your own language to the program, this is easy. In the Locale directory you will find the language files. These are ordinary text files, and may be edited with any text editor. All lines starting with a ; are comments, and will not appear in the program. You can change these as you wish. Simply change the other lines as necessary.Some lines have a limit on the length of the text. Please respect these limits, as the program will not use any longer lines than indicated. Also, the text file should be kept in the same format - do not add any blank lines or extra linefeeds. etc. You may find that the program's font does not contain all the letters that are needed for your language.If this happens, please send me a list of the letters that are missing and I will include them into the font. Available in the game: AÃÅaäãáåBbCcDdEÉeéêFfGgHhIiJjKkLlMmNnOÖoöóPpQqRrSsTtUuüVvWwXxYyÿýZz All characters are available on the preferences screen. When your text is finished, save it in the locale drawer give it a project icon with SetLocale as the default tool. Then click on this icon to change the program's locale setting. The next time you start the Game your new language should be used! If you create a new language file, I ask that you please send me a copy so I can include it with future releases.You will be given proper credit Also, if you wish to translate the Guide file to your language, this would be greatly appreciated. This is not necessary, I can still include your file with the game without it. Please do NOT include any bad language in your translation, this game is for use by children as well as adults! And please report any version to me that you find any offensive language in! Now included is a Card Prefs program and some card pictures - including theoriginal card set, and a set with larger characters which should be easier toread for those with eyesight problems or monitors or TV's that aren't the best- or if you just like bigger characters. To use a different card set: Double click on the Card Pref icon, and follow the instructions. To make a new card set - edit one of the card pictures in the cards drawer in any paint program. NOTE: DO NOT change the positions or sizes of the cards. DO NOT use colour 0 (the background) in the card pictures DO NOT change the size of the picture or screen - the program needs a 320 x 200 pic! It is recommended that you DO NOT Over-write the original pictures! Just save your card picture with a different name. DO NOT save your picture with a stencil left on - this will cause problems! Just make sure stencils are turned off before saving your picture. There is no point in changing the palette - the game uses it's own palettes anyway, the card picture's palette will be ignored. The pics are set to match the game's default palette. There is no harm in adding things to the area surrounding the cards. If you make a set you would like to be included in the distribution, feel free to add your signature or logo or anything else. Have fun, and if you come up with a nice set of cards, send 'em along!