PC-SIG: Games/PC-SIG Games (PC-SIG).iso/2493/MLOTRA.DOC

Text File | 1989-10-28 | 12.7 KB | 395 lines

              MicroLink Personal Computer Users' Group

                             Presents

                               Otra

                 v1.2, Copyright 1989, Bob Lancaster


INTRODUCTION

   Do you remember Simon?

   Simon was a hand-held electronic game, introduced in the mid
   1970's.  In it, you were challenged to reproduce an ever-growing
   sequence of flashing lights and musical tones, using four colored
   buttons.

   Its great success and simplicity spawned a huge number of
   imitators, and was largely responsible for the hand-held electronic
   game craze which continues to this day.

   Otra (from the spanish "otra vez", or "one more time") is a
   computerized memory game in the spirit of Simon.


EQUIPMENT REQUIRED

   Otra will run on any IBM PC/AT/XT/PS2 or close clone thereof, with
   at least 100k of memory available after DOS is loaded.

   Although the game looks best when played on a color monitor, it
   plays just fine on a monochrome.  (If you are using a monochrome or
   composite monitor with a color graphics card, please see "Black And
   White Mode" in the Games Parameters section below)

   A Microsoft-compatible mouse, can be used.  (Remember to load your
   mouse driver before loading Otra).

   If you run across a configuration on which the game will not run,
   please let me know (address at end of this file)!


GAME FEATURES

      Microsoft Mouse Support
      Fast Mode
      Monochrome/Composite monitor support
      Top Ten Scores file
      Statistics on multiple games
      Bosskey
      On-line help


THE OBJECT

   In Otra, you are shown a group of nine panels in a three by three
   grouping, as shown in figure 1.

                   +---+---+---+         +---+---+---+
                   |   +   +   |         | 7 | 8 | 9 |
                   +---+---+---+         +---+---+---+
                   |   +   +   |         | 4 | 5 | 6 |
                   +---+---+---+         +---+---+---+
                   |   +   +   |         | 1 | 2 | 3 |
                   +---+---+---+         +---+---+---+
                      Figure 1              Figure 2

   At the beginning of a round, one of these panels will flash
   briefly, and, if the Sound Mode is on, a tone will play (See Sound
   Mode in COMMANDS AND TOGGLES section of this file).

   You must then repeat that "sequence" by pressing the correct key on
   the numeric keypad of your keyboard.  Figure 2 shows how the keys
   correspond to the panels.

   If you repeat the sequence correctly, the computer replays the
   sequence, adding one more panel.

   This continues, with you repeating an increasingly long sequence of
   panels, until you make a mistake, or you complete the sequence.

   Each round plays a little faster, and has a longer sequence of
   panels to complete!

   Points are accumulated for every correct panel, and bonus points
   are given for completing a sequence.  At the end of four rounds,
   high score wins!

SCORING

   At the start of each turn, you are shown:

      Your current score
      Number of panels in the round
      Points per panel in this round
      Bonus points for a perfect round

   After the round is over, you are awarded points based on the number
   of panels in the longest sequence you correctly repeated.  For
   example, in round two, panels are worth two points.  If you
   correctly repeated a sequence of seven panels, you would earn
   fourteen points (seven panels X two points each).

   If you complete the entire sequence for the round (for example,
   fifteen panels in round two), you are given bonus points.


STARTING THE GAME

   At this point, you should be able to play the game, and get a feel
   for it.  You can read the rest of this document now at your leisure
   to clarify points, and to explain some of the features you might
   not understand your first few times through the game.

   So, make sure you are in DOS, and type "MLOTRA" (without the
   quotes) and press return.  Follow the prompts, and enjoy!


GAME CONTROLS

   Otra can be played either using the keyboard or a Microsoft-
   compatible mouse.


   KEYBOARD INPUT

      The legend (the last line on the screen) always contains a list
      of keys that are valid at any point in the game, along with a
      one-word description of their function. (See "COMMANDS" below)


   MOUSE INPUT

      Most of the keys listed on the bottom line of the screen can be
      entered via the mouse by pointing to the command and clicking
      the left button of the mouse.  (If you are new to mice,
      "clicking" something means to place the mouse cursor on it and
      press the appropriate button, in this case, the left.)

      Also, boxes higher on the screen with messages such as "Press
      return for next player" will allow you to click the box itself
      to continue, rather than the command at the bottom of the
      screen.

      When selecting the panels to replay in a sequence, clicking a
      panel will select it.

      So, experiment with the mouse, and see what works.  I think it's
      fairly straightforward, but would appreciate any feedback on
      ways you think it could be improved (address at end of file).

COMMANDS AND TOGGLES

   A number of commands and toggles are available to enhance play, or
   to allow you to tailor the game a little to suit your taste.
   Alphabetically, these are:

   A (AllScores command)

      This displays a scorecard of all players, to compare how
      everyone is doing in relation to each other.  The highest
      score(s) are emphasized with a flashing arrow.

   B (BossKey command)

      This displays a phony DOS screen.  I'll explain for you honest
      folks: this key is used when you are playing the game on company
      time, and the boss suddenly appears. To return to the game, key
      OK at the phony DOS prompt.

   Esc (Exit command)

     Use this key to end MLOtra before the game is over.

   F (Fast Mode toggle)

      If you just want to play the game, and not look at some of the
      "animation" (such as the moving panels), turning the Fast Mode
      on will do it.  NOTE: This does not cause the sequence of panels
      to show any faster.

      Defaults to "No", showing all animation.

   I (Program Info)

      Displays information about the program and the author.

   N (Next Prompt toggle)

      This allows you to get rid of the "Press return for so-and-so's
      turn" message, which some folks find annoying.

      Defaults to "Yes", allowing the message to show.

   O (Otra vez, or "repeat")

      This gives you the ability to replay a sequence, but only once
      per round.

   P (Numbered Panel toggle)

      This allows you to have numbers display in the panels instead
      of the colored squares.

      Defaults to "No", displaying colored blocks.

   R (Round Prompt toggle)

      This allows you to get rid of the "Round" message, which some
      folks find annoying.

      Defaults to "Yes", allowing the message to show.

   S (Sound Mode toggle)

      This allows you to turn on and off the sounds produced by the
      game, which some folks find annoying.

      Defaults to "Yes", producing sound.

   T (TopTen scores command)

      Displays the highest ten scores achieved on your machine.  (This
      information is stored in the file MLOTRA.SCR.  To clear the top
      ten, delete the file.)


COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS

   In the section above, several options are referred to as "toggles".
   This simply means that they can be in a "Yes" or "No" state.

   (Note that the state of these toggles can be determined by looking
   at the legend appearing at the bottom of your screen.  If the
   toggle description there begins with a capital letter, the toggle
   is in a "Yes" state.  For example, if a legend reads "Sound fast",
   the sound toggle is set to "yes", and the fast toggle is set to
   "no".)

   Each of them has a "default", which is the state (either yes or no)
   in which they start out when Otra begins.

   I set the defaults to the way I felt was best, but you may think
   differently!

   If you find yourself always changing one or more of the toggles
   each time you play, you might want to set them on the DOS command
   line instead.

   Any toggle can be flipped to the opposite of its default (Fast Mode
   = "Yes", for example) by keying the toggle's letter following the
   program name (MLOTRA) when you start up the game.

   So, if you wanted to set "Round Prompt" to No, and Numbered Panels
   Mode to "Yes" (the opposites of their defaults), at DOS you would
   key:

           "MLOTRA R P"

   ...without the quotes, followed by the Return key.  Be careful that
   you leave a space between MLOTRA and the toggle(s), or DOS won't
   recognize what you are trying to do.

   This allows you to tailor the game a little to your taste, and if
   you put this statement into a DOS batch file or menu processor, it
   will save you from setting these toggles each time you start the
   game.

   Toggles only valid from the command line:

   B (Black And White mode)

      If you are running a composite monitor on a color graphics card,
      and the colors in MLOtra are hard to discern, keying "MLOTRA B"
      at the DOS prompt will make MLOtra run in Black And White Mode.

      Defaults to "Yes" if Monochrome adapter detected, "No"
      otherwise.

   M (Mouse)

      If you have your mouse driver installed, but do not want to use
      the mouse during MLOtra, keying "MLOTRA M" at the DOS prompt
      will cause MLOtra to ignore the mouse.

      If you run the program without this parameter, you can still
      use the keyboard.  Using this parameter simply keeps the mouse
      cursor from being displayed.

      If the mouse driver is not installed, this parameter has no
      effect.

      Defaults to "Yes" if mouse driver detected, "No" otherwise.

   T (Top Ten Scores)

      This is different than the "T" command available during game
      play.  It specifies whether a Top Ten Scores file should be
      saved, and is useful if you are running the game from a write-
      protected disk.

      Defaults to "Yes".


DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VERSIONS

   VERSION 0.1  -  10/01/89

      Demonstrated at MicroLink ShareFaire

   VERSION 1.0  -  10/14/89

      Released only to a few beta testers.

   VERSION 1.1  -  10/20/89

      Corrected spelling.

      Changed Sound Mode default to Yes.

   VERSION 1.2  -  10/28/89

      Changed number of panels per round.

      Released to bulletin boards.


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

   Thanks to all those folks who wrote nice letters and left great BBS
   messages in response to my other games.

   Thanks to Jay "Beta Test" Graham, for his input.

   Thanks to Reed Harding for his spelling lesson!

   A tip o' the hat as always to the officers and members of MicroLink
   PCUG for the encouragement and support they always give my PC
   endeavors.

   Thanks to Eagle Performance Software, whose Shareware product
   "QWIK" allows for some blazingly fast screenwrites in Turbo Pascal
   and Turbo C.

     Programmers interested in QWIK should contact Eagle at:

       Eagle Performance Software      Or Call Jim LeMay at:
       TP products                       [phone]
       P.O. Box 122237
       Fort Worth, TX  76121-2237


ALSO BY THE AUTHOR

   MicroLink Yaht - The popular dice game

   MicroLink Shut The Box - The traditional board game


FEEDBACK

   I would appreciate any comments, complaints, or wish lists of
   features you'd like to see!  And, if you have any favorite old
   games you'd like to see programmed, I'm always looking for another
   which would interest me!

   Also, if you like the game enough (and can afford) to send a small
   ($5) donation, I won't argue.  And my wife will understand my long
   nights at the PC a little better!

   Either way: Enjoy the game, and give copies of it to all your
   friends.  And enemies.  Strangers on the street...

   I can be contacted by mail at:

      Bob Lancaster / P.O. Box 5612 / Hacienda Heights, CA  91745

   Or by modem at:

      MicroLink PCUG BBS (AKA So. Cal Builder's Board)
      818/961-7903 - 24hrs/365 days - 300/1200/2400/9600

   Please include the version number of Otra in correspondence.

   Those interested in finding out more about MicroLink can contact
   the board listed above, or by mail:

      MicroLink PCUG Headquarters
      15865-B E. Gale Ave. Box 1003
      Hacienda Heights, CA  91745

   Tell them Otra sent you!