Loadstar 128 #42/q42.d81/t.harbormaster

Text File | 1998-01-01 | 7.7 KB | 189 lines

                     H  A  R  B  O  R  M  A  S  T  E  R

                     Program and Text by Knees Calhoon


 FENDER'S PRE-MUMBLE: There are 25 brand new fiascos (levels) to
HARBORMASTER, all taken from Binary Arts RUSH HOUR puzzle. They start with
Intermediate difficulty and end with Grand Master, so if you can solve them
all you are a fantastic Harbormaster. The following is the text from the
original version of HARBORMASTER on LS 128 #33.


 THE HARBOR
 ----------

    When you boot HARBORMASTER you're asked for the input device: mouse,
joystick or keyboard. Sorry, you must pick one and stick with it. The mouse
is best, of course, and the keyboard is the worst (slowest). If you've got
a mouse in Port #1, use it. If you're using the keyboard, use the CRSR keys
and RETURN. Joystick is in Port #2.

    Then you're asked for your name. The routine accepts a SPACE as a
RETURN so if you insist on having two names, separate them with a period or
something.

    The Harbor is the 6x6 grid on the left. Each fiasco consists of a
configuration of light blue boats in the Harbor, surrounding the brown
LOADSTAR Raft. Your job is to move the boats around so that you can move
the Raft out into the LS Ocean -- which is always on the right of the
Harbor, on the same row as the Raft.

    Each boat can only be moved in two directions, indicated by the arrows
on it. If you click on the top arrow of a vertical boat, it will move one
square up -- IF there's room. If there's not, you'll hear a buzz and
nothing will move. Horizontal boats move in a similar fashion.

    On the right is a box which shows you the number of the Fiasco you are
working on, as well as the number of moves you have made on this Fiasco.
You should try to get the Raft into freedom in as FEW moves as possible,
but there will be times when all you care about is freeing the Raft. The
moves count won't go beyond 255. All of the 25 fiascos can be solved in
many fewer than 255 moves, but don't be surprised if you need over 100, or
even 200, for some of the higher Fiascos.

    The top row of the screen has seven buttons for you to click on. Here's
what they do.


 START
 -----

    Click on this to "play" the Fiasco that's showing on the screen. To
change Fiascos you need to click on LOAD, which is explained later. If you
get the boats all mixed up and decide that it would be better to just start
over, click on START and the Fiasco will be reloaded and you'll start at
the beginning again.


 SCORES
 ------

    A record of the number of moves that you required for each solved
Fiasco is kept in a file on disk. It's what you'll see when you click on
SCORES at the top of the screen. Your best score, as well as the overall
best score by anyone who's used the disk, is displayed. If you beat your
score or the best score, the scores file is automatically updated on disk.


 INFO
 ----

    This shows you a synopsis of the verbose instructions you're mired in
right now.


 LOAD
 ----

    Click on this and you'll get a menu of 30 Fiascos, numbered from 1
through 30. Twenty-five of the Fiascos are on the LOADSTAR 128 disk. The
last five Fiascos are blank and unplayable at this time. They're waiting
for you to create some Fiascos of your own. After you solve a few of the
HARBORMASTER Fiascos, you may decide you'd like to make up some for others
to try to solve. If you have a memory like mine, you can even make up
Fiascos for yourself to solve. See MAKE for more details.

    LOAD is the best way to go to another Fiasco.


 SAVE
 ----

    This CAN be used as a "save game in progress" feature, but it's not
designed for that. If you're in the middle of a Fiasco and click on SAVE,
the file for that Fiasco ("hm.fiasco x") will be scratched and saved, so
the next time you LOAD that Fiasco, you'll get the saved position. This
will effectively change the game for anyone who uses the program after
you.

    SAVE was designed to allow you to SAVE Fiascos #26 through #30 after
you have designed them with MAKE. It is the recommended way to exit from
the MAKE sequence.

    For best results, stay away from SAVE except for saving one of your
custom-designed Fiascos (#26 through #30).


 MAKE
 ----

    Click on this and you can change or "make" a Fiasco. You'll get a menu
similar to the LOAD menu. Click on an unMADE Fiasco and you'll see the
Harbor on the left with the five possible boat types on the right. Click on
a boat on the right and the cursor will switch to a hollow rectangle shape.
Then click on a square on the Harbor and the boat will be drawn there.

 NOTE! The boat will be drawn starting on the clicked on square and
extending to the RIGHT or DOWN. If there's no room, you'll hear a buzz.
Remember, horizontal boats always extend to the RIGHT of the square you
clicked on, and vertical boats always extend DOWN from the square you
clicked on.

    You can erase a placed boat by clicking on it, but you MUST click on
the leftmost or topmost part of the boat. If you click on a middle, bottom
or right part of a boat to erase it, you'll just get a buzz.

    You may place as many cruisers (the larger, three-squared boats) or
destroyers (the smaller, two-squared boats) as will fit, but you must have
one and only one Raft in the Harbor. The LOADSTAR Ocean area will be
automatically placed for you when the Fiasco is played.

    You'll probably need to proceed by trial and error to design a good
Fiasco. Place some boats and the Raft then SAVE. Then click on START and
try the Fiasco out. If it's too easy or impossible, click on MAKE, then the
Fiasco from the menu, and then remove, add or move around some boats, and
then try it again.

    MAKE, except when you select an unMADE Fiasco, leaves the Harbor as it
is, so you may need to LOAD the Fiasco-being-designed before clicking on
MAKE so that it will start the same. I entered each of the 25 Fiascos using
the MAKE function and it works as I expected it to. I can't say for sure
that it will work correctly if you bounce around clicking on things in an
order that I never envisioned.


 QUIT
 ----

    This takes you immediately to LOADSTAR 128 if there's a LOADSTAR disk
in the drive, or to BASIC if there's not.


 THE FIASCOS
 -----------

    The general idea for this kind of puzzle probably comes from Henry
Dudeny or Sam Loyd, two masters of puzzles who designed thousands of
puzzles about a hundred years ago. Nob Yoshigahara studied the concept and
after devising many excellent layouts (or as I call them, Fiascos) made it
into a plastic, hand-held game called RUSH HOUR. I ordered the game from
the BITS & PIECES Catalog, 1-800-JIGSAWS. It sells for $15 plus shipping.
The order number is #09-N8764. It's a very good puzzle game.

    Nob Yoshigahara has designed several games for Binary Arts, 1321
Cameron Street, Alexandria VA 22314-3449, and if they're as good as RUSH
HOUR, I look forward to trying them. Some of the higher Fiascos had me
cackling in appreciation of their fiendish cleverness...but only after I
solved them. Prior to that I was doing more cursing than cackling.


 OVERVIEW
 --------

    All of the 25 Fiascos can be solved, but some may take you a while.
Some of the higher numbered Fiascos require you to move boats one
direction, then another, then back again before you can extricate the Raft.
Keep in mind that even after a Fiasco is solved, you can always try to get
it done in fewer moves than the SCORES file shows. Try to get your moniker
on as many Fiascos on the SCORES screen as possible.

    Keep the disk in the drive at all times. There is a LOT of disk access
in this game, but it's just small files. Of course the best way to play
HARBORMASTER is from a RAMLink.

                   \\\\\ R - Run   RETURN - Menu \\\\\