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1992-04-15
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TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
T
A TTTTTTTTTTTT A CCCCC K K SSSSSSS
A A T T A A C K K S S
A A T T A A C KK SS
AAAAAAA T T AAAAAAA C K K SSS
A A T T A A C K K SS
A A T T A A CCCCC K K S
SS
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Modeled after the arcade game called Ataxx, it's a new strategy
game for the Amiga world. I'm pretty sure I have all the kinks worked
out. Hope you all like it. But what you all want to know is how to
play.
HOW TO PLAY
-----------
Attacks is a strategy game played by two, one, or no players on
a seven by seven grid. Some of the squares of the grid are empty,
some have barriers, and some are occupied by either of the two playing
sides.
A move is accomplished by selecting a piece of your color
(indicated by the color of the mouse), dragging it to an empty
location, and then releasing the mouse button. This should be a
maneuver that you are all very familiar with. If not, I suggest
reading the manual that came with your Amiga, unless you've thrown it
out already.
An empty square is simply a square that is not occupied
by a block square (shaded dark grey) or a circular piece of either
color. Simply put, an empty square is drawn as a plain light grey
square.
There are two types of moves: GROW and JUMP. If the destination
square is adjacent to the starting square of a move, then the move is
a GROW. In this CASE, a new piece of the player's color is put in the
destination square. A JUMP is when the move goes two squares away
from the starting square. Here, the piece is removed from its
original location and placed in the destination square. These are the
only allowable moves. You cannot move more than two spaces away.
IMPORTANT!
The results of a move are what makes Attacks the game that it is.
Every opposing piece that is adjacent to the destination of a move (be
it a GROW or a JUMP) is changed to the color of the player that made
the move. You'll probably notice that this changes the face of the
game dramatically.
Also, if you're trying to save precious memory by skimping on the
stack, think again. This program needs about 10000 bytes of stack
space to run properly in every mode. So go ahead and beef up your
stack. Your mom would be proud of you.
WINNING
-------
The winner is simply the person with the most squares occupied
with their color at the end of the game. The game is concluded when
either all the empty squares are filled or only one color is remaining.
MENU OPTIONS
------------
Like most things, this program has options. There is most
everything that I wanted implemented, but the menus may not be crystal
clear upon first glance. So here are the gory details about what they
do (at least what they are supposed to do). Like similar keyboard
shortcuts on other programs, using the right Amiga button in
conjunction with the letter indicated in the menu selection will allow
you to do the menu selection with the keyboard only. Only the
indicated menu selections have shortcuts.
Project It seems like every program has a menu column labeled
------- "Project". So why shouldn't I?
New Game
--------
This tells the program that you are done with the current game.
The program responds by drawing a new board randomly selected from an
internal list and setting up a new game.
Edit Board
----------
So, you don't like the boards that I have, hunh? Well, here's
your chance to go ahead and make the perfect setup for yourself.
Interestingly, the game changes dramatically with different board
setups. Experiment to your heart's desire. During editing, the menus
change. This new menu strip is explained later in the Editing
section.
About
-----
This is the obligatory self-glorification part of the program.
It'll show you an address where I can be reached in case you win the
lottery and care to share your wealth. Simply click the left mouse
button to continue on your merry way.
Quit
----
If you don't know what this means, you probably don't know how to
turn your computer on either.
Commands In trouble? or just curious about what's happening? Check
-------- out this menu column. Important: whenever you Backup or
Redo, the program disables the computer's ability to make
moves. This is done so that you can take your time while
looking at the effects of the help functions. Once you
make a move with your mouse or force the computer to move,
the computer will assume that you are done with the help
and will continue to play as usual.
Backup A Move
-------------
When this menu item is selected, the game reverts to the previous
state. That is (in most cases) the last move is undone, and it is now
the previous player's turn to move. This can be done all the way back
to the beginning of the game, but not back to previous games.
Redo A Move
-----------
You backed up a move, but change your mind? No problem. Attacks
remembers not only all the moves you made in the past, but also all
the moves you made in the future, if that makes any sense. What it
means is that moves that were backed up may also be replayed.
However, if you back up some moves and then start playing, you no
longer have those moves that you backed up. Aaah, it's really easier
to do than it is to explain. Just fool around with these two options
until you get the feel of it. Incidentally, it is often instructive
to Backup and then Redo an entire game.
Force Computer to move
----------------------
This allows you to let the computer take over for just this one
turn. It also tells the program that you are through backing up and
redoing moves. Please note that if you back up some moves and then
choose this option, you will no longer be able to "Redo" the moves you
backed up.
Options These are the parameters that you can modify to affect
------- how the game is played. Note that when a new game is
started, the settings in this menu column are not changed.
Red is Human <- Default
Red is Computer
Blue is Human
Blue is Computer <- Default
----------------
These tell Attacks how many players you want. The sides which
aren't played by humans (who must all use the regular mouse--yep, you
have to share) are automatically tackled by the computer. The check
marks indicate what the current settings are. The default is Red (who
usually plays first) is Human, and Blue is played by the Computer.
Since most people who have computers are lonely geeks who aren't too
bright, I figured that this is the most popular configuation. (Moving
first is typically, but not always an advantage.)
Tries to Lose
Easy
Kinda' Good <- Default
Good
Very Good
-----------
Here you find the difficulty level at which the computer will play.
The first one means that the computer will play to lose (but it's not
terribly bright about it). The other settings are pretty explanatory,
but you should know that the brighter the computer gets, the longer
it takes to think through its moves. The levels beyond Very Good take
so long that I have not even bothered to allow them as options. As
you know, the difficulty is a combinatoric explosion, or Order(n!).
WHILE THE COMPUTER IS THINKING
------------------------------
Well, your options are limited. All you really can do is abort the
computer's thinking. It then stops playing, allowing you to move for
it, back up and redo, and of course you can always force the computer
to move again. This is a life-saver if you set the game to the bizarre
setting of computer vs. computer and they are both playing to lose.
At the lower levels, the computer generally moves so fast that you
won't have time to access the menus, but it's here and it works
nevertheless.
EDITING
-------
So, you want to venture out and play god with my program, eh?
Great! I was hoping you'd get the nerve to try it. The cursor should
help you figure out which kind of square you are currently building.
to change a square, simply click with the left mouse button while the
mouse is above the square to change. The Square menu column allows
you to change the current square type. You options are an empty
square, a block square, and a square occupied by the red player or a
blue player.
While in the Edit mode, the menu bar changes. Here are the
descriptions of the new menu selections. One final note: while in
the Edit mode, you cannot access any of the regular menu selections.
in other words, the "hot keys" don't work when editing.
Project Exactly what does "Project" mean anyway?
-------
Exit Edit Mode
--------------
Does what it says it does. Play resumes as normal on the board
as it looks when this item is selected.
Player This allows you to change whose turn it is to move. The
------ checkmark and the message above the playfield indicate
who is currently about to play.
Red to move
Blue to move
------------
Build Here you can change which kind of square you are making.
----- The menu shows a check mark and the mouse cursor alters
to display which kind of square has been selected. To
then alter the board, simply click on the desired
location.
Empty <- Default. Makes an empty location.
Block Draws an impassable block.
Red Puts a red player at the location.
Blue Same for blue.
-----
Major As it turns out, there are some useful editing features
----- that are a pain to do. This provides some shortcuts and
an easy way for you to change your mind.
Cancel All
----------
Ahh, isn't life easier when you can so simply change your mind?
Selecting this menu option reverts the board to exactly the way it was
when you started editing.
All Empty
---------
Not particularly intuitive, but I was running out of space in the
menus. What this does is it clears the entire board, making every
space an empty space. This is very useful for creating a brand new
board to play on.
All Blocks
----------
Similar to All Empty, this makes every square on the board a
block square. I find this menu selection surprisingly useful.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Okay, here's the boring stuff. You should be thankful that I put
it way back at the end so you don't have to wade through this muck
like you do in most documentations.
First, and most importantly, this program is public domain. It's
my gift to you the Amiga community. I don't care if the source code
is distributed or not, since most people don't want it anyway. But if
you'd like to see the code for whatever reason and don't have it with
your copy of the program, drop me a note. I can be found at locations
listed at the end of this document.
It'd be damn shitty if someone decided to charge $$ for this
program. It's FREE! Get it? I'd prefer if public domain distributors
and bulletin boards wouldn't charge anything for distributing this
software, but I really shouldn't complain about very minor fees to
recoup media costs (but I don't have to like it though).
Next, I'd like to thank Chris Mlsna for doing all the grunt work
for the menus. Jennifer Comeau should also be given a big hug for
putting up with me while I've been working on this big waste of time.
This program took me about a hundred hours or so to do. It was
programmed in Modula-2, using the Benchmark compiler by Leon Frenkel
(Avant Garde Software). I use an Amiga 500 with a hard drive and
some extra memory. I also run just about everything in Workbench 1.2
using various versions of the Amiga Replacement Project (ARP) that I
find lying around. I don't access anything in any funny ways, so
there should be no compatability problems, but who knows? I'll be
damned if I'm gonna stick my neck out and say it's guaranteed to work
on every machine in the world.
If there are some bugs that you've just gotta have fixed, or if
your just want to correspond, or if YOU'VE GOT A JOB TO OFFER, I can
be reached at the following locations:
biggs@cs.utexas.edu
6313 Walnut Hills
Austin, TX 78723
Wallingford Electronics BBS
(512) 452-0955
I'm user number 39
Well, that's about it. Maybe we'll run into each other. Maybe not.
So it goes.
Scott Biggs
aka Mighty Dog