home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Atari Mega Archive 1
/
Atari Mega Archive - Volume 1.iso
/
games
/
puzzle.arc
/
PUZZLE.DOC
< prev
Wrap
Text File
|
1990-04-25
|
4KB
|
91 lines
********************
* Puzzle Accessory *
* Version 1.0 *
********************
written by
Trevin Beattie
April 25, 1990
Greetings! 'Puzzle' is my first attempt at distributable software for
the Atari ST. It's basically the same type of mosiac puzzle that was found on
the first Macintosh computers, and also on a few other B/W systems. Since I
haven't seen anything like it for the ST yet, I thought it would be a good idea
to make one.
To load the puzzle accessory, put it in the root directory of whichever
disk you will boot the computer from and then reboot the system (or else change
the screen resolution if you have a color monitor). Puzzle will now be in the
Desk menu.
Puzzle starts out as a 4x4 grid of squares, but you can make it easier
or harder by clicking the left and right arrows, respectively, at the bottom
of the window. The minimum size is 2x2 (which is ridiculously easy!), and the
current maximum size is 10x10. When changing sizes, the program re-initializes
and scrambles the new puzzle, which may take a couple of seconds for the large
ones (an ellipse ... indicates that the computer is scrambling the puzzle).
The size box in the lower right corner of the window changes the screen size of
the puzzle. Also, the size will automatically be adjusted if the current or
selected setting is too small.
The object of the puzzle is to arrange all of the numbers in order,
counting left to right, with the 'hole' in the lower right corner. The hole
provides a space which you can move numbered boxes around in. More than one
box can be moved at a time. To illustrate:
1 3
4 2 8
7 6 5
To solve this example, first click on the 6. This will move the 2 up into the
hole, the 6 up into 2's place, and leave a new hole in 6's place:
1 2 3
4 6 8
7 5
Now move the 5 left and the eight down by clicking on the 5 then on the 8:
1 2 3
4 6
7 5 8
Next move the 6 right and the 5 up by clicking on 6 then on 5:
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8
Now the numbers are in order, but the hole must be 'moved' in the right spot.
This is done by moving the 8:
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8
A dialog box will come up saying that you correctly solved the puzzle, and will
tell you how many clicks it took you to do it; moving a set of boxes at once
counts as one click (as in the 2-6 pair above). In the example, therefore, it
took 6 clicks. Clicking on 'Re-scramble' will scramble the puzzle for a new
game.
'Puzzle' is distributed as freeware, so you can make as many copies as
you wish. I only ask that this document sticks with every copy of the
accessory. If you feel that this program is worth something, or if you would
like to see some amazing programs come out soon, go ahead and send me a
donation for better development tools. Also feel free to send any comments,
bugs (heaven forbid!), or suggestions you may have. The documented source code
for this program is also available -- please send enough money to cover
printing and mailing costs if you want it. It was made using Mark Johnson's
C compiler, after modifying (and extensively debugging) the GEM library and
program header (the previous version won't work with accessories).
Have fun!
Trevin Beattie
7690 Dell Road
Salt Lake City, UT 84121