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Amiga Plus Extra 1996 #3
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aminet-spiele
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zwei spieler
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passages
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passages.doc
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1994-09-10
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__ ___
|_)( |_)
| _)| \
S O F T W A R E
presents
______________________________________________________________________
__ _ __
| )|\ ( ( |\ | |_(
|¯ |¯\ ) )|¯\\_||_ ).
______________________________________________________________________
for two players via electronic mail
......................................................................
NOTICE I'm not a great fan of shareware, but when programs
take as much time and effort as Passages did, I see
why other programmers put fees on their work. This
means that I am charging a fee for Passages if you
like and are going to use it, but this fee is small
enough, I feel, to not break anyone's bank balance
or do them out of anything more than a couple of
pints down the local.
SHAREWARE So the fee is fixed at 3.00 UK pounds, or the
equivalent of 3.50 UK pounds in any other currency.
If you so happen to live in any remote country such
the desolate wastelands of outer Rebosia or the frozen
Trebosk, or anywhere where you feel I would have
trouble in changing your currency into mine (ie Iraq),
then please obtain one of the larger currencies,
American dollars etc. are fine.
In order to encourage you to register, the program
has a number of handicaps which are released when
you receive your keyfile. The largest of these is
that you cannot exit from the program, nor multi-task
so it is vital that you save important data before
running Passages. This also means that you will have
to reset before sending your moves to the other
player, but please bare with it and give the game a
chance (and the cat a saucer of milk).
Please send registration fees to the address at the
end of this documentation.
CONTENTS I have this nasty habit of saying too much in docs so
entries below in caps are essential reading, others
are not:
notice About shareware
SHAREWARE Please register
CONTENTS
brief A little about nothing
passages What 'brief' should have been
SETTING UP Assigns and fonts
running passages
main menu
NEW GAME How to start a new game
continue game Your opponent sends a file
practice Practice mode
PLAYING PASSAGES The screen
ICONS What the icons represent
turning and moving
hitting walls
GOLD
BANKS
ROCK
DOORS
DYNAMITE
LEVELLING
time
pausing
multi-tasking Registered only
exit Registered only
PREMATURE END OF... Ending before timer's out.
end of turn in p... Ending in practice mode
END OF TURN REAL Ending a real game
back-up
SPOT How to use with Spot
so
NOTICE Sound problems
PAPER MAIL Contacting PSR Software
FIDONET MAIL Contacting PSR Software
BRIEF I developed the idea for the game, Passages, when I was
sitting around trying to think of an idea for a game.
I'd always had trouble programming computer opponents
with IQs which weren't in the negatives so I decided
to write a two player game. The slight flaw in this
plan was that I didn't have anyone who looked remotely
like a second player, nor anyone who could pose as a
second player - even on a part time basis.
Okay, so I had a dog who could have been a second
player except for the fact that he had no idea what
a joystick was and simply fondled the spherical end
in his jaws when I presented it to him. Consequently,
I now have a a joystick with no 'stick' and as for the
dog...that's another story. Well, actually, that's
this story.
After the experience, my poodle became a little
lazy, he used to be a happy go lucky kind of poodle
but the very next day he refused to go for a walk,
usually his favourite event. What was even more
surprising, and a little worrying too, was that he
also refused point blank to bend his legs.
With a little persuasion I managed to get my
poodle, Winnie, to go for a short walk but his
insistance on keeping his legs completely straight
made the walk which was usually quite enjoyable into
an ordeal. After two hours of dragging Winnie around
the woods I realised that he just wasn't in the mood
and so we retired home...and this is where things took
a turn for the worse. Not only had Winnie taken a vow
to never again bend his legs, he had also stopped eating
and drinking - I presumed he just wanted to punish me
for not letting him play with my computer for as long
as I'd first promised, he did like his revenge did old
Winnie.
At this point I was getting worried about poor
Winnie so I had him neutered, at the suggestion of the
vet and to the results of a balot I held on his
behalf at the local chippy.. Unfortunately, it
was a traumatic process which solved nothing.
When I saw the vet three months after his
neuturing, he made a huge discovery. He found out
that Winnie hadn't just become incredibly lazy, nor
had he simply become stuborn, in fact he had been dead
all along - he had simultaneously electrocuted himself
and choked on a length of red plastic with a small
sphere on the end.
PASSAGES Passages is a game like none other that I have any
knowledge of (except one, but I wrote that so it
doesn't count). It is a game which is played by
passing a single file between you and your opponent.
These files store details of the current state of
the game and so by giving the opponent information as
to what you've done during your turn they can play on
and try to undo what you've done, and do a little of
their own - for you to undo yourself.
The game is viewed from above so all you see is your
little bloke's head and feet sticking out the front.
I could have arranged it so he looked up at you whilst
you were playing but then he wouldn't get any fun, so
I decided against that.
The idea is to move your character around the
passages in order to collect gold and deposit in one
of the banks of your own colour, using doors to help
prevent the other player from accessing particular
passageways.
SETTING UP Copy the Passages directory to a suitable place on
the disk it is to be run from. Create an assign
to this directory called 'Passages:'. Failing to
do this will result in you not being able to start
a game and you will be unsure as to where the saved
files will be put. When I tested this, my files
ended up on an Airbus 3000 bound for Los Angeles, much
to the amusement of the pilot whose onboard computer
they ended up in.
1> Assign Passages: DH1:Games/Passages
The above line will assign 'Passages:' to a the
'Passages' directory in the 'Games' directory on the
DH1: partition of the user's hard disk, but you knew
that already...
RUNNING Passages can be run from the CLI like any other CLI
PASSAGES program.
1> Passages
Passages can also be run from Workbench using the
icon supplied, or you can make your own and use that.
Upon loading Passages, a screen will appear giving
details of the revision of the game.
If a keyfile is found, information will be shown
about the registratee. If it isn't found, there
will be a time delay as shown by a timer.
To stop the screen of registration information from
disappearing, hold the left mouse button until you
are done.
MAIN MENU Pressing fire when instructed to do so by the ever
helpful joystick will result in the appearance of
silver breadstick on the left of the screen. From
here you can start a new game, continue an old game,
practice or, in the registered version, exit.
For those of you without a joystick, who do not like
using joysticks or who have a dead poodle, the cursor
keys and return will kinda mimick the joystick as best
they can, however, they are nowhere near as good, and
you will find it hard to control the character.
NEW GAME When selecting this either the breadstick will
show 'Player One' or a hole in time will open up and
you will be turned into a vacuum cleaner.
Player one is the red player who starts, in red drag
in the bottom, left hand corner. Player two, blue
starts in the top, right corner and wears a rather
expensive blue suit with grey cycling helmet.
Once you've selected your player, you will have to
select a level. The ones available are from 000 to
015 although extra levels will possibly be released in
the future, along with a level editor (at no extra
registration fee). The files to these are found in
'Passages:levels'.
Use backspace, or the arrow keys and delete, and
change the code to the level you want. The fun then
begins.
CONTINUE GAME Upon receiving the 'input' file from the other player,
select this option and the file will be loaded from
'Passages:'. You may then take your turn.
For those who want to know, the file is called
'Passages.output' when it leaves a machine, and is
renamed to 'Passages.input' when it arrives.
PRACTICE Selecting this option lets you get the feel of the
game without actually having to have a friend ready to
play - it's therefore ideal for those who haven't any
friends.
It's also ideal for those who have never played before
and simply want to know what everything does.
LEAVE PASSAGES This option exits completely from the game. This
option also makes the first sentance of PLAYING
PASSAGES incorrect, so just ignore that bit.
PLAYING No matter which of the options above seleted, you will
PASSAGES be eventually presented with the play arena. A green
box surrounds the actual area where your character can
move within. The fact that it's green has no
relevance to any part of the game and the reason for
it being so is a mystery to me which is peculiar since
I chose the colour scheme.
A length of tunnel will also be visible. This is
what your player can see. Facing him in other
directions show you that passage up until his sight
is hindered by a large rock surface. A wall springs
to mind as a handy example of a large rock surface.
To the right of the arena are the amount of money
you have stashed away, whether you are holding gold,
and your opponent's money.
On occasion you may be lucky enough to come across
some gold.
ICONS The icons along the top of the screen above the
playing arena represent (and are labelled as)
the function keys:
F1 gold/up arrow PICK UP GOLD
F2 gold/down arrow DROP GOLD
F3 zip NO FUNCTION
F4 zip NO FUNCTION
F5 lock DEPOSIT GOLD
F6 wall BUILD DOOR
F7 dynamite DYNAMITE
F8 shoevel LEVEL GROUND
F9 zip NO FUNCTION
F10 clock/arrow END TURN WITH SAVE
ESC exit END TURN NO SAVE
P paws PAUSE
TURNING AND Turning and moving are two different things. Turning
MOVING about a point requires movement about two planes
(unless you happen to be a point particle which, in
theory, has no dimensions whatsoever and so may turn
by any degree in any direction without actually moving
in any plane), whereas moving from one place to
another in a straight line only requires movement
in one dimension (and for all you dimensionless points
out there, the same would go for you).
Just a point, but if space is curved, like it is
supposed to be, wouldn't all the planets roll off?
Turning is achieved by moving the joystick in a
new direction, your character will face the desired
way, or at least the way in which you pushed the
joystick. Moving is acomplished by pushing the
joystick (or 'joy' if your dog also bit the stick
off it) in the direction you character is already
facing.
HITTING WALLS Hitting walls is not desirable and although will not
affect the performance of your character, is hardly
fair and will almost certainly put him in a bad mood.
PARACETAMOL Newtons 4th law: Walking into walls may inspire
headaches.
GOLD Gold is the reason for life as far as red or blue
overhead viewed computer sprites go. Gold, unlike the
passageways, can only be seen whilst you are actually
facing it. Walking over it will render it out of
sight but will NOT pick it up. Turn around and it's
still there. Well if you walk over a coin in the
street it doesn't magically appear in your pocket.
Now, chewing gum...
To pick up gold, move on top of it and press either
fire on the joystick, F1 or Return. Only one piece of
gold can be carried at a time and must be deposited
into a bank before it will affect your bank balance or
another piece can be picked up - it's heavy you see.
When you are carrying gold, 'gold held' will be
displayed to the right of the arena. This is to let
you know that your character is holding gold.
Gold can be dropped by moving to a square not
already occupied by gold and pressing F2. Keep it
behind doors if you don't want your opponent to get
it. Again this will not change the amount of money
you have, to do that you have to visit the bank.
It is essential to remember that gold you fail
to pick up will still be present on your oppponent's
go.
BANKS These are a piece of straight vertical or horizontal
passageway with either a red or blue light in each
corner. Look carefully for them.
When carrying gold, move into the bank and press
fire or F5. A shutter will close you in (for
security), your gold will be deposited and the shutter
will open again. If a piece of gold just so happens
to be lying in the centre of a bank, you can still
pick it up with fire or F1. Fire will automatically
pick it up and deposit it. F1 will simply pick it up.
This is called 'robbing a bank'.
Make sure that you visit the correct colour bank
otherwise not a lot happens.
ROCK Corners and junctions are always soft rock. Straight
pieces of passageway may be soft or hard. The hard
rock contains less cracks than soft rock (compare the
passageways with junctions to find its type). The
difference between the rocks is that soft rock,
straight passageway is the only rock that can be
damaged by dynamite. Hard rock is too hard to build
doors on - it also requires larger doses of paracetamol
if you walk into it. See PARACETAMOL.
DOORS Your own doors will not affect you in any way but will
stop your opponent's movement and sight. The reverse
is also true. Doors can be placed on any straight
piece of soft rock passageway by moving onto a sqaure
adjacent to it, facing it and pressing F6. If you have
enough money, and the passageway is suitable, the door
will be built and $4 will be deducted from your
balance.
Doors can only be built on straight pieces of
passageway which do not already contain a door, which
are level (they cannot be built on craters) and which
are soft rock.
Remember, a door will be built on a sqaure which you
FACE, not which you are actually ON.
Make sure that you are facing the correct way; you
are facing soft rock; you have enough money.
DYNAMITE Dynamiting is similar to door building. Only straight
passageway can be blown up (the game prevents you from
committing hari-kari by deystroying a junction).
There are two types of dynamiting: passageway and
doors. Blowing a hole in a piece of passageway will
cost you $3 and will mean the other player (and you)
will have to level the ground before a door can be
built, it does not restrict movement nor sight though.
Blowing up doors will remove the door and leave a
crater, but as more dynamite is required, it will
fetch you back $4 - rip off, isn't it?
To dynamite, face the square to be blown up and hit
F7.
LEVELLING To remove a crater so that you can build a door, you
can face the square and press F8. The crater will be
removed and your balance will go down by $2.
TIME As if all that doesn't sound hard enough, you only get
two minutes to make your mark, collect as much gold as
possible and save it away either in banks, or by
keeping it (relatively) safe in blocked (and locked)
off pieces of passageway where you can sort it out
next time (providing it hasn't gone).
PAUSING Pause at any time by pressing P. Press anything when
you want to restart.
MULTI-TASKING Left Amiga-P will take you back to the world of
Intuition. The game will automatically be paused.
Press the same again to come back. This won't work
without the keyfile.
EXIT To save going back to the menu, you can quit with
CONTROL-C, again you must be registered.
PREMATURE To end your turn before you run out of time, you can
END OF TURN press F10 or ESCAPE. F10 will save the game if you
are not in 'practice mode' and will result in the same
as the clock running out. ESCAPE will abort the save
and so in 'practice', the two are no different.
F10 will simply speed up the clock, hold it down
until the time runs out.
END OF TURN If you are simply practicing, you will be returned to
IN PRACTICE the menu when your turn has ended.
END OF TURN When the time is up or you have had enough, a blank
REAL screen will appear...well, it won't 'appear' as such:
an absence of light can't 'appear', but the previous
screen will disappear to give the 'illusion' of a
blank screen appearing.
A disk icon will then appear and the 'keep' file and
'output' file will be saved to your 'Passages:' assign.
The output file is called 'Passages.output' and will
be loaded as an input file by the other player.
Renaming of the 'output' file to the 'input' file
is done automatically by the scripts (see below) or
can be done manually if you are communicating some
other way ie. telepathically, via diskette etc.
In more simple terms:
When your go ends the 'output' file is made (the
last) is backed up.
The 'output' file is sent to the other player.
The other player renames the 'output' file to an
'input' file (all done by script).
The other player plays on.
BACK-UP Passages will create backups of the file before
overwriting it at the end of turn point, this is
called: 'Passages.output.bak'.
SPOT Included are two scripts for use with Spot (auth: Nico
François). 'Passages.EXPORT.spot' will send an
'output' file. Go to the message area you wish to
send it in (you should obtain permission if this isn't
a netmail area) and run the script (see Spot
documentation if you are unsure how to do this).
The 'output' file will be converted into a message
and you will simply have to supply details of who to
send it to.
The 'Passages.IMPORT.spot' script will take a
message which contains the Passages data and convert
it into an 'input' file so that you can simply select
'continue game' and play on.
SO I hope you enjoy playing Passages and have the
patience to keep reseting your machine to see what
it's like. :-)
NOTICE Some programs such as commodities which use sound
whilst Passages is running may screw up the sound in
Passages (samples might start repeating).
REGISTRATION Please send the following details:
o Your name
o Your mail address
o Your netmail address (fidonet)
o Any other comments.
PAPER MAIL PSR Software
Paul Ruane
26 Birdwood Close,
Selsdon, Surrey.
England.
CR2 8QG.
EMAIL Currently there is no way to contact me via any net.
Please write via paper mail.
__________________________________________________________________NULL
