Display Monitor, or if you are using tv, SCART-cable recommended.
Signal through tv-modulator may not be good enough so that
you could identify cards and read the small letters.
Tested on:
A1200/020 2MB DD OS3.0 (basic configuraton)
A1200/030/50 10MB(2+8) HD OS3.0 (Blizzard-IV boosted)
This game is not tested on other configurations, sorry. I have not had a
chance. However, it should work from unexpanded A600 to 060 boosted A4000
without any problems, because it is totally (100%) system friendly.
Anyway, I would be grateful if you could send me information about your
configuration and tell whether it worked or not.
Installation of Deep Red Hearts could not be easier: just simply unpack
Hearts.lha-archive or copy Hearts-directory and its contents to your
desired place. No assigns are needed, just make sure you have asl.library
and mathieeedoubbas.library in your LIBS: directory.
trick = 4 cards
round = 13 tricks
game = 4-16 rounds
a point card = a heart (1 p.) or the queen of spades (13 p.)
Changing cards
In the beginning of a round you must change three cards. It is good idea
to give away big cards or to get rid of a suit.
Note that every 4th round you cannot change cards.
Starting a round
The player who has two of clubs will start.
On the first trick you cannot use point cards, unless you have no choice.
Playing
You must follow suit if possible. The player who takes the trick will get
possible minus points and start the next trick.Each heart gives one point
and the Queen of spades 13. It is okay to take other cards, bacause they
give no minus points.
You can also try to collect all the point cards. Then you get no points,
but all the other players will get 26 minus points. Fun but risky.
Note that you cannot start the trick with a heart,if hearts have not been
opened(=have not been used before). Of course, if you do not have any
other other cards, you must use hearts.
Winner
The game will end when one of the players has reached 100 points.
This will take four to 16 rounds. The winner is the player, who has
collected least points.
Players
Before you can play you must create a player for you. Open setup-window
and type your name (one to 10 characters) and an optional code word
(maximum of 4 characters). Changing the code word afterwords is not
possible, but you can easily rename your player or delete it using
standard DOS-commands. Players are stored in Players-directory
(logical, eh).
Points
If you want to know who is leading or who won (highlighted) you should
open points window. You can switch between two modes: points collected
per round or total points by the end of every round.
Statistics
Player information shows your average points during last 100 games and
situation in last 15 and last five games compared to the average points.
'+' = average points (last 15/five games) < average points -1
'·' = average points (last 15/five games) = average points +/-1
'-' = average points (last 15/five games) > average points +1
Ranking is players' top 10 in average points (last 100 games).
History
Artificial intelligence
v1.00 Basic artificial intelligence
Game
30/6/1997 AI v1.00 and probably almost the final look of the game
2/7/1997 some problems with points fixed (thanks to my little brother)
Present
Do not expect any updates within a year (before autumn 1998), because my military service lasts eight to 11 months. That's why there will be only bug fixes. However, I have not found any bugs, but write to me if you find one, please.
Future
Artificial intelligence
Upgrade is under consideration. My goal is to make the world's best hearts game and release it as Deep Red Hearts Pro, which will be shareware program.
Game
Link game would be really cool. (I know it ;-))Unfortunately I have only one machine and no knowledge about networks. If you know something about them, please write to me. You can also tell your opinion about the best way to do it (eg. using null cable).
User interface will probably remain the same; I am not planning any big changes. Huge improvements will only be internal.
To send me feedback (bug reports, suggestions, postcards, any reasonable feedback is welcome) write to me to:
Antti Siirtola
Minkinpolku 1
86300 Oulainen
Finland
E-mail address is not available until autumn 1998, because I do not have Internet access at the moment. So please, anyone, upload this game (Hearts.lha or all the files) to Aminet (game/think). Before that you can obtain your copy of Deep Red Hearts from me. Just send me 20 FIM or amount of 35 FIM (~ $7 ~ £4 ~ 12 DEM, no coins, please) if you want to use some other currency (exchanging money is not free).
Suomalaiset voivat lähettää myös pelkän levykkeen palautuskuorella ja -postimerkeillä varustettuna.
Bug reports
If you are sending me bug reports remember to describe as precisely as possible what happened and when, what were you doing and what is your computer configuration.
Help me to create link playing option!
To help me create a link play, please send me suggestions about the best way to do it (eg. using null cable). If you have any information about linking computers together or you know where to get it, please, share your knowledge with me.
