BBS Toolkit/BBS Toolkit.iso/doors_2/ston100k.zip/STO_TEXT.EXE/GAME.DOC

Text File | 1993-03-28 | 14KB | 323 lines

                               POWER STONES
                               Version 1.00
                     By Radical Wave and Steven H. Lin
                      Copyright 1993 by Steven H. Lin
                            All Rights Reserved

                               PLAYERS GUIDE

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CONTENTS

 1.0  Introduction
 2.0  The Main Menu
 3.0  The Game Board
 4.0  How to Capture Stones
 5.0  The Scoring System



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1.0  INTRODUCTION

POWER STONES is a simple online boardgame which allows two players to play
against each other by moving "stones" along a virtual gameboard in an
attempt to "capture" each other's stones. Capturing stones is achieved by
surrounding a stone of your opponent with two of your own.

Easy, eh?

1.1  Starting in Power Stones -

        When you first enter Power Stones, the game searches for a place to
        record information about you. This may take some time, depending on
        how much space your sysop has allocated for players' records: the
        more slots your sysop allows, the longer it may take. However, it is
        pretty much all a matter of seconds on a relatively fast computer
        system; perhaps if the BBS you call has lots of lines that tie down
        the computer systems, maybe it'd be something to worry about.

        Once you get into Power Stones, and you are assigned a record to put
        all of the information that the game generates for and about you,
        you are asked to enter a handle for yourself in the game. This way,
        you can play Power Stones with anonymity, so other players won't
        send you hate mail in the BBS and really make your life miserable.
        You can be free to play aggressively in Power Stones and be a
        mild-mannered Nice Person (NP) elsewhere on the BBS. Good deal, eh?

1.2  Continuing Play in Power Stones -

        After starting in Power Stones that initial time, every subsequent
        time that you log into the game, you will be presented with a
        "Today's News" list of things that players have done that day (or
        cycle). There is a maintenance program that your sysop runs to do
        various things at least once a day; this maintenance program will
        clean out the "Today's News".



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2.0  THE MAIN MENU

To help you conduct your games, the Main Menu has several features that can
make your playing sessions comfortable. The following options are available
from the Main Menu:

2.1  "[1] Read POWER STONES player's instructions" -

        This document is available within Power Stones itself, straight from
        the Main Menu, just in case your sysop has not put this in his/her
        BBS bulletins section or file area for you to read.

2.2  "[2] Commit suicide! Re-initialize your record (make a fresh start)" -

        In case you feel like you're not getting anywhere in Power Stones,
        you can have your account turned "blank" and then you can have a
        fresh start in playing the game. This shouldn't be necessary too
        often, because you don't really get penalized for losing games; you
        just get rewarded with points for winning games.

2.3  "[3] Show your game status" -

        This command available from the Main Menu allows you to see several
        vital statistics from your record in Power Stones. Things like how
        many games and points you have won and how many times you can start
        or accept games will really help you keep your playing in focus.

2.4  "[4] Show list of active games and whose turn it is" -

        This command available from the Main Menu does exactly what it says:
        it will display a list of games that already have two players and
        will tell you which player is required to move next in those games
        in order to advance play.

        If you are already in a game (or a few games, or several games!),
        this feature will help you keep track of which games you must make a
        move in.

        Please don't keep your opponent waiting! Don't be a heel!

2.5  "[5] Show list of games needing another player" -

        This command will show a list of games that have been started by
        another player but still require an opponent for the game's creator
        in order to start play.

        If you wish to play the game with the person listed, then use option
        "8" (see Section 2.8 below).

2.6  "[6] Show list of current players" -

        Just for your own personal knowledge, this will list all of the
        players currently in the Power Stones game, with a few other bits of
        information (their ID number in the game, how many games they've
        won, and how many points they've accumulated).

        You want to play against an aggressive player? Check this list of
        players to see who's a Nice Person and who's not.

2.7  "[7] Create a new game" -

        If you want to start a new game, you will need to use this command to
        do it. What the command does is allocate some space for a new game if
        there is any. If there isn't any space, you will be courteously told
        so.

        Once space for a new game has been set aside, you must wait for
        another player to agree to play with you... that is, another player
        must access Power Stones and type "8" in the Main Menu and then the
        ID number of the game that you created in order to play with you.

        On a multinode BBS running Power Stones in a multinode setup, this
        may not be a big deal; you might log in, create a couple of new
        games, then go to play against someone else, and when you're done
        making all of those moves, it's possible that yet another person has
        logged in and accepted to play in one or more of those games that
        you had created... you could then get in some moves in those games!
        Wow!

        Unlike many other "online boardgames" out there, Power Stones will
        let two or more players alternate their turns in their games without
        having to wait 24 hours to make each move. When we tested Power
        Stones on a DevPal LAN, four of us called in and created three games
        apiece and then while some of us did our turns, the others waited a
        few seconds in the Main Menu and kept a lookout on the list of
        active games to see when we could go back in and make more moves. It
        was great!

2.8  "[8] Accept a game needing another player, and do your first turn" -

        When you wish to play in a game which needs another player to start,
        you would use this command to do so.

2.9  "[9] Do your turn in an active game" -

        This is the command you use to continue playing in an active game
        that you are already participating in. Your opponent is most likely
        eagerly awaiting your move, so make sure to make all of your moves
        in the games that you are signed up for!

2.10  "[Q]UIT POWER STONES" -

        When you are ready to leave the game, use this command to return to
        the BBS.



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3.0  THE GAME BOARD

When you enter this part of the game (basically, when you go to make your
move in a game against another player), you will be displayed a full
screen's worth of information, and you have to be able to manage all of this
"stuff" in order to make the right decision on the 'board.

3.1  The Game Board -

        The item which encompasses the whole left side of the screen is none
        other than the virtual playing surface itself, showing both your
        stones and your opponent's stones.

        How can you tell the difference between your stones and your
        opponent's? First, the color scheme for the rest of the screen will
        match that of your pieces. Also, the word "YOUR" is spelled out on
        their the top of the screen of the bottom of the game board: if
        "YOUR" appears at the top, then your stones are the ones marked in
        bright yellow on brown or red... if "YOUR" appears at the bottom,
        then your stones are the ones marked in bright blue or cyan on blue.
        Easy, eh?

        You may also note that each stone is marked with a letter. You can
        find that letter also in a box located to the upper-right of the
        game board: the box lists the number of spaces that the
        corresponding stones on the game board MUST move if you select one
        of those stones to use.

3.2  The Movement Box -

        As mentioned above, there is a box listing the number of spaces that
        your stones may move. This is the "Power Level" box, which consists
        of two columns listing all of your available stones.

        When you select a stone to move on the game board, you MUST move the
        stone through its total movement!

        IF you see that one of the entries is listed as a "0", that means
        that that particular stone was "captured" by your opponent. Check
        the game board to confirm this, if you are not sure.

3.3  Moving Your Stones -

        Your stones are lettered "A" through "R", inclusive. If you want to
        move one, just hit its appropriate key on your keyboard, and then
        use your numeric keypad to actually direct your stone on the game
        board.

        PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOUR <NumLock> KEY IS ACTIVE!!!

        Alternatively, you can use the number keys arrayed along the top of
        your keyboard, but you need to use the movement rosette listed in
        the lower-right corner to tell you which keys to use for which
        directions.

        You have a maximum of eight different directions that you can move a
        stone. However, if there are other stones around the stone you pick
        to move, or if your stone is located at the border of the game
        board, you may have less than eight possible directions available.

        This is a key mapping of all eight directions:

                        NW-7     N-8    NE-9

                         W-4             E-6

                        SW-1     S-2    SE-3

        As mentioned before, you must move your stone through its full range
        of motion: if stone A is listed in your Power Level box as having a
        movement power of 7, then you MUST move the stone through SEVEN
        squares on the game board. You CAN go onto the same square more than
        once if necessary.

        If you pick a stone which has already been eliminated from game play
        by your opponent, you are considered to be voluntarily Skipping Your
        Turn (see Section 3.4 below).

3.4  Skipping Your Turn -

        If you elect to skip your turn (forfeit your turn) and let your
        opponent move, then either hit "S" or the key to access any of your
        stones which have been eliminated by your opponent. You will be
        returned to the Main Menu at this point.

3.5  Yielding the Game to Your Opponent -

        If you believe that your cause in a game is hopeless, you may yield
        the game (forfeit the entire game) to your opponent.

        Be forewarned! You may be helping your opponent! Read Section 5.0
        below for the details.



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4.0  HOW TO CAPTURE STONES

Now we come to the fun part of the instructions: how to capture your
opponent's stones!

This is very simple: all you need to do is get one of your opponent's stones
in-between any two of your stones, in any orientation (vertically,
horizontally, diagonally).

Easy, though? Not hardly! If your opponent is very crafty, he MAY NOT move
any of his stones with high movement points (9 is the maximum) unless
absolutely necessary, so you can't tell offhand which of his stones can
escape your clutches or any traps that you may set on the game board. Plus,
any stones in the four corners of the game board CANNOT be captured!

A good thing, though, is that if there is plenty of room for your stones to
maneuver, you can "hide" the movement capabilities of your high-movement
stones by crossing and re-crossing the same squares on the game board to
fool your opponent into thinking that your high-movement stones are really
the lower-movement ones.



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5.0  THE SCORING SYSTEM

The scoring system is relatively simple, too, but it has some restrictions
you should know about.

First, the actual calculation of game points collected by a player is the
movement power of the stone captured, squared. That is, it's the following:

        ( captured stone's movement power ) ²

So you get more points for defeating the high-movement stones of your
opponent.

Also, you may earn a bonus amount of points for capturing all of your
opponent's stones quickly. This is obviously a rare event; only one game
tester was able to do this, and we think it was either blind luck or
collusion between the two players.

Here's something important to remember, though: ONLY THE WINNER OF A GAME
GETS HIS/HER GAME POINTS! That is, while it is true that both players gather
game points for capturing his opponent's stones, those points are held in
escrow in a "bank". The "bank" only awards the deposited points to the
winner of the game; the loser (or the person who forfeits the game) gets
nothing (in layman's terms, zero-zilch-zippo-nada).



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That's pretty much it! If you have questions about the game, or if your
sysop has not registered POWER STONES yet, please talk to your sysop ASAP!


                                        - The designers at Radical Wave