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Text File
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1994-01-01
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9KB
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313 lines
MOLECULE
Another Relaxing Game
by Jean-Etienne Doucet
(version 1.0, Dec. 93)
Molecule is a game where one player has
to discover the places of 4 to 6 atoms
on a board by firing laser rays that may
be absorbed, deviated or reflected by
the atoms. It looks like a classic game
named Black Box, but as I've never
played it, there may be differences...
It is designed for Atari ST/STE, but
only runs in LOW RESOLUTION! (sorry for
people with only Hi-Rez, but I can't
afford to buy a B/W monitor.) I don't
know if the game runs on TT and/or
Falcon.
RULES
One game is made out of some levels
(usually 15 to 25). Each level is a
puzzle: find where the atoms stand on a
(8x8) board; time on each level is
slightly shorter than the previous one,
and finally becomes impossible to win:
this ensures the game has an end !!
The game ends when the player has lost
his last life; one loses one life when
(1) time is out or (2) the places the
player has found are wrong; in this
case, the player stays at the same
level.
The 10 best scores are kept separately
for each of the 3 categories of the
game: 4, 5 or 6 atoms.
FUNCTION
(Note: Molecule only uses the left mouse
button during the game; keyboard is only
used to enter your name in the best
scores -- if you deserve it.)
Before anything else, the player must
choose his category of play:
- 4 atoms: easy puzzles; mostly
designed for training;
- 5 atoms: normal complexity game,
strange solutions from time to time;
- 6 atoms: hard game; for intoxicated
people only; needs some luck...
To set this parameter, click on one of
the buttons (4, 5 or 6) twice.
This being done, there's no way to alter
the number of atoms without quitting the
current game.
The game panel is made of the board (and
buttons) on the left, and the control &
information panel on the right.
The game board consists of the board
itself (8 rows of 8 tiles), and the
laser ray buttons and sensors:
- tiles: clicking on a tile will make
an atom appear or disappear; note that
you can't put more atoms than there are
to discover...
- laser buttons: clicking on one of
them will emit a laser ray inside the
atoms field (the molecule); this ray may
be absorbed, deviated or reflected by
the atoms; see the section dealing with
the trajectories, below;
- sensors: they are located in the
black line around the board, one sensor
in front of each laser button; they
light up when touched by laser rays.
Information and Control panel contains
from top to bottom:
- time indication: time left before
time out; the timer is started with the
first click on a laser button or a tile;
- "Solution" button: click here when
you think you've discovered the atoms
places (and marked them on the board);
if you win, you get added points to your
score and go to next level; else, you
lose one life and stay at the same level
(or game ends if lives = 0);
- lives: number of lives left;
- level: current level;
- atoms: number of atoms yet to be
placed; you can't click on "Solution"
before this number has hit 0;
- score: current score; as you've maybe
already noticed, one never loses points:
when you miss a level, you lose a life
but your score is untouched;
- "Cont" button: takes you to the next
puzzle; if you've got no lives left,
Cont acts as Quit:
- "Quit" button: ends the game; if your
score is high enough, you can enter the
"10 best scores list".
Laser Rays:
- when fired, the laser button lights
up in red colors;
- normally, the corresponding sensor
also lights up in red; the sensor where
the ray comes out the board lights up in
green;
- if the "starting sensor" lights up in
green, it means the ray came back to its
starting point;
- if the "starting sensor" doesn't
light up, it means the ray has been
absorbed.
- the rules for ray's absorption /
deviation / reflection are as follows:
o when a ray comes over an atom, it
is absorbed:
| | |
--+-------+-------+--
| _ | |
| (_)<<<<<<<<<<<<<
| | |
--+-------+-------+--
| | |
o when a ray passes near an atom, it
is deviated diagonaly:
| | |
--+-------+-------+--
| _ | |
| (_) | |
| | |
--+-------+-------+--
| | |
| | >>>>>>>
| | ^ |
--+-------+---^---+--
| | ^ |
| | ^ |
o when a ray should pass between two
atoms, it is reflected:
| | |
--+-------+-------+--
| _ | |
| (_) | |
| | |
--+-------+-------+--
| | >>>>>>>>
| | ^ |
| | ^ <<<<<<<
--+-------+-------+--
| _ | |
| (_) | |
| | |
--+-------+-------+--
| | |
(you may notice it's the deviation rule
applied twice...)
o when fired near an atom on the
side of the board, a ray is reflected (a
less obvious deviation):
| | ||
--+-------+-------+|
| | >>>>>>>
| | ^ ||
| | ^ <<<<<<
--+-------+-------+|
| | _ ||
| | (_) ||
| | ||
--+-------+-------+|
| | ||
(if the ray had been fired one row
lower, in front of the atom, it would
have been absorbed, as usual!)
An interesting thing is that when a
level is over (either won or lost), you
still have the ability to fire rays, and
thus to study the trajectories while
knowing where the atoms are.
SCORES
When you win a level, you score points:
the quicker you are, the more points you
win; the number of points is also
affected by the level number.
You also get a bonus if you win a level
on the first time.
Details about the scoring scheme are
somewhat boring, so I skip them...
HIGH SCORES
The best 10 scores in each of the
categories (4/5/6 atoms) are kept in a
file (MOLECULE.SCR) that stands in the
same directory as the game. To reset the
scores, you just have to delete the
file.
There are 3 panels: a green one for the
4 atoms game, a blue one for the 5 atoms
game, and a red one for the 6 atoms
game.
Use the keyboard to enter your name;
allowed keys are: letters, digits,
space, escape (to delete all the
characters), backspace (to delete the
last character), return to validate.
The only limit on your name's length is
the width of the corresponding text
using this !@#$%^&* Chicago font.
\______/
(This is an old French expression for
beautiful...)
If you enter an empty name, the score
is not registered.
OTHER THINGS
As you may have noticed, there are no
musics or sounds: I haven't had enough
time to include them; this could be a
feature of v1.1 ??
TECHNICAL DETAILS
Molecule is written in GFA Basic 3.07F
(+compiler 3.01), and packed with PFXPAK
(it brings the whole thing down from
>60K to 35K).
All the graphics are made with CrackArt
v1.20, my favorite drawing program for
the ST.
HORRIBLE DETAILS
As you may already know, -- it's on the
first displayed panel -- Molecule is a
postcard ware: if you play more than one
hour, you are required to send me a
postcard from your place/town/country/
as you like. If you don't do it, you may
suffer horrible things, such as bad
conscience, so you'd better send one...
About distribution: you may freely
spread this version of the game as long
as the .PRG and the .DOC files stay
together. You can add your SCR file if
you want to try to impress the world...
Normal address is:
Jean-Etienne Doucet
38 chemin Malclabel
31500 TOULOUSE
France
I've also got an E-mail address:
doucet@laas.fr
but e-mail posts don't count as
postcards!!! This one is for comments
and bugs reports.
Don't you think this text begins to be a
little long ??
OK, have fun !
________________________
__ _____ _____
__| | ___| \
| | | ___| | |
\_____|_____|_____/
________________________
PS: I've also written some other games
that you can find on numerous sites:
- HEXMINES, a hexagonal minesweeper,
- SPIDER and MARIANT: two solitaires
using 104 cards.
Try them.