Game Killer/Game_Killer.bin/363.SOLITILE.DOC

Text File | 1991-10-06 | 52KB | 1,013 lines

              SOLITILE rev 3.0     September 22, 1991

           Copyright 1989, 1990, 1991 by Everett Kaser
                  All Rights Reserved

      All files listed at the bottom of this page are Copyrighted
      and may NOT be redistributed separately from the entire Solitile
      package, or other than as outlined on this page and in Sections
      I and II of this document.

    Solitile is a game of solitaire, played with "tiles".  It derives
    from several similar games, such as "Shanghai", "Gunshy", and
    "Mahjongg", which are played with Mah-Jong tiles.  Solitile plays
    the same game, but adds new starting layouts and the ability for the
    player to create new layouts and/or modify the layouts provided.  It
    has, built-in, "westernized" pictures on the faces of the tiles, and
    can also use alternate tile-sets, and the program includes a tile
    editor so that the user may alter existing tile pictures or create
    entirely new sets.  Solitile 3.0 can also read in and use tile sets
    created for use with Nels Anderson's Mahjongg game (of which there
    are hundreds available).

    Solitile is being distributed as Shareware.  If you use the game
    for more than one week, you are expected to pay for its use by sending
    the registration fee of $15.00 (U.S. funds) to the author. For your
    convenience, the file REGISTER.DOC may be printed to obtain a regis-
    tration form.  The author may be contacted at:

           US Mail:    Everett Kaser
                Solitile
                35405 Spruce St
                Albany, OR  97321

             phone:    Weekdays: 6:00pm - 9:00pm Pacific Time
                Weekends: 8:30am - 9:00pm

                [phone]

        Compuserve:    70673,1547

          internet:    hplabs!hp-pcd!everett
                 or [e-mail]

    The game package, which MUST include the files listed below, may be
    freely copied and distributed. It's use is subject to the conditions
    outlined in this document in section II.  Included files:

    SOLITILE.EXE    ENCIRCLE.LYT    NOTE: Additional disks of Solitile
    SOLITILE.DOC    BEGINNER.LYT    support files may be purchased separ-
    REGISTER.DOC    BRIDGE  .LYT    ately.  Each additional disk contains
    VENDOR  .DOC    STARSHIP.LYT    some mixture of tile-sets (.STL), music
    SOLITILE.STL    SUN    .LYT    files (.MUS), layouts (.LYT), and .GIF
    SHARON  .STL    VALLEY  .LYT    background pictures. See the file
    EAGLE   .GIF    FORUM    .LYT    REGISTER.DOC for a list of available
    FANTASIA.GIF    PYRAMID .LYT    disks or contact the author (see above)
    FURELISE.MUS    TEMPLE  .LYT    for the latest information.
    HALLELUJ.MUS    SPIDER  .LYT
            WEDGES  .LYT

SOLITILE --- Table of Contents


    Section

        I.  Definition of Shareware
       II.  Disclaimer -- Agreement
      III.  Installing and Starting the Program
       IV.  Introduction to Solitile 3.0
        V.  Playing the Game
       VI.  Game Menu Items
      VII.  The MAIN Menu
     VIII.  The FILE SELECTION Menu
       IX.  The PLAYER SETUP Menu
        X.  The EDITORS Menu
       XI.  The LAYOUT Editor
      XII.  The TILES Editor
     XIII.  The FRAME PATTERNS Editor
      XIV.  The BACKGROUND PATTERN Editor
       XV.  Hints On Play
      XVI.  Bugs and Versions
     XVII.  Products Available From Everett Kaser Software


I. DEFINITION OF SHAREWARE

    Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before
    buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you
    are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details -- some
    request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum
    trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right
    to continue using the software to receiving an updated program with
    a printed manual.

    Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the
    copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as
    stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like
    commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In
    both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference
    is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the
    right to copy and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or
    to a specific group. For example, some authors require written permiss-
    ion before a commercial disk vendor may copy their Shareware.

    Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should
    find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's com-
    mercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs
    easier, because you can try before you buy.  And because the overhead
    is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back
    guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it.

II. DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT

    Users of SOLITILE must accept this disclaimer of warranty:

    "SOLITILE is supplied as is.  The author disclaims all warranties,
    expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of
    merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no
    liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from
    the use of SOLITILE."

    SOLITILE is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the
    user for evaluation.  Feel free to share it with your friends, but
    please do not give it away altered or as part of another system.  The
    essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer
    users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide
    incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products.  If you
    find this program useful and find that you are using SOLITILE and
    continue to use SOLITILE after a reasonable trial period, you must make
    a registration payment as described on the first page of this document.
    The applicable registration fee will license one copy for use on any
    one computer at any one time.  You must treat this software just like
    a book.  An example is that this software may be used by any number of
    people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another,
    so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location
    while it's being used at another.  Just as a book cannot be read by
    two different persons at the same time.

    Commercial users of SOLITILE must register and pay for their copies of
    SOLITILE within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn.
    Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting Everett Kaser.

    Anyone distributing SOLITILE for any kind of remuneration must first
    contact Everett Kaser at the address above for authorization. This
    authorization will be automatically granted to distributors recognized
    by the (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors,
    and such distributors may begin offering SOLITILE immediately (However
    Everett Kaser must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept
    up-to-date with the latest version of SOLITILE.).

    You are encouraged to pass a copy of SOLITILE along to your friends
    for evaluation.  Please encourage them to register their copy if they
    find that they can use it.  All registered users will receive a copy of
    the latest version of the SOLITILE system.

III. INSTALLING AND STARTING THE PROGRAM

    It is recommended that you install Solitile in it's own sub-directory
    on your hard disk (or on its own floppy disk if you have no hard disk),
    because the program has many support files, and placing them in their
    own sub-directory will keep them all together and keep your other disk
    directories from getting too cluttered.

    To create a sub-directory for Solitile, you might type one of the
    following commands:

        MKDIR \SOLITILE
        or  MKDIR \GAMES\SOLITILE
        or  MKDIR \BIN\GAMES\SOLITILE

    These are only examples, and you'll have to decide upon a sub-directory
    path that makes sense given the structure of YOUR hard disk.  Once the
    sub-directory has been created, you're ready to install Solitile into
    that sub-directory.  If you received the files on a floppy disk, as
    separate files, you would do something like:

        COPY A:\*.* C:\SOLITILE
        or  COPY A:\*.* D:\GAMES\SOLITILE
        or  COPY B:\*.* C:\BIN\GAMES\SOLITILE

    If the program came as an archive file of some sort (.ZIP, .ARC, .LZH,
    etc), you will need to copy the archive file into the sub-directory
    that you created (using the COPY command), then type something like:

        PKUNZIP SOLITILE.ZIP
        or  LHARC x SOLITILE.LZH

    Once the program is installed, you can change to that sub-directory at
    any time and run the program, or you can specify the path to the
    SOLITILE sub-directory in your PATH environment variable (set in your
    AUTOEXEC.BAT file), and then Solitile can be run from anywhere on your
    hard disk without first changing to the Solitile sub-directory.  (If
    you do add SOLITILE to your PATH statement, remember that you will have
    to reboot your computer before the PATH actually gets modified.)

    The program has no optional arguments and is started by typing

        SOLITILE

    The program first generates the background (see Section XIV: The
    Background Editor), then draws the game screen.  A copyright message
    is drawn in a panel over everything else, and it may be exited at
    any time by pressing a key or clicking a mouse button.

    The first time the program is run, the user will be prompted for a
    player name.  This name must be from 1 to 8 characters long, and it
    may only contain valid DOS file name characters as it will be used
    to create a .PLY file for storing that player's statistics.

    Also, the first time the program is run, the HELP screens will be
    displayed.  This will ONLY happen the first time the program is run.
    Thereafter, the HELP may be accessed via the main MENU.

IV. INTRODUCTION TO SOLITILE 3.0

    The set of tiles consist of 168 individual tiles.  There are 42
    different pictures on the faces of the tiles, with each picture
    appearing on four tiles.

    The object of the game is to remove all of the tiles from the board.
    Tiles are removed in matching pairs.  For a tile to be removable, it
    must not have any other tiles on top of it, and it must have either
    its entire right side exposed, or its entire left side.  "Exposed"
    means that there is not another tile on the same level and laying
    immediately against it.

    A few definitions of terms:

    LAYOUT: the starting pattern or arrangement of tiles, disregarding
        the faces of the tiles.  This simply tells the program where
        to place tiles when starting a game, but not WHICH tiles to
        put in any given place.  Layouts are stored individually in
        disk files, so there can be many, many different possible
        layouts.  There are 12 layouts provided with the game.
        You may add to, delete, and modify these layouts.  Each layout
        may contain anywhere from 4 to 168 tiles, in multiples of 4
        (ie, 4, 8, 12,...160, 164, 168).
    BOARD NUMBER: a number between 0 and 65535, which is used to control
        the placement of specific tiles in the starting layout.  This
        number allows you to replay a specific game at will.  The game
        normally starts any particular layout at Board 0.  It keeps
        track of the last board you were playing, and when you solve
        a board, the Board number is automatically incremented.  You
        may specify a new Board number at any time.
    MENU ITEMS: On the main game screen, any grey box around the side of
        the display that contains BLUE lettering is considered a MENU
        ITEM.  This means that it can be activated by pointing to it
        with the mouse a clicking the LEFT mouse button, or by pressing
        the key corresponding to the first letter of the MENU ITEM's
        title.  (ie, T for Tileset, L for Layout, M for Menu, etc.)
        At all other times, the MENU ITEMS are grouped together in one
        large grey panel, where each individual item can again be
        activated by clicking on it with the mouse or by pressing the
        key corresponding to its first letter.
    BUTTONS: the Left and Right Buttons refer to the buttons on your
        mouse.  If you don't have a mouse, the HOME and PGUP keys on
        the numeric keypad of your keyboard perform the same functions.
        These two buttons are used to control the game action. The
        meaning of the two buttons is always shown in the upper right
        corner of the game display.


V. PLAYING THE GAME

    To select the first tile of a pair to be removed, move the cursor
    onto the tile and press the LEFT BUTTON.  This will cause that tile
    (if it's removable, ie. not blocked by other tiles) to be highlighted.
    Once you've selected the first tile of the pair, move the cursor to
    the second tile and, again, press the LEFT BUTTON.  This will cause
    the second tile to be highlighted.  At this point, pressing the
    LEFT BUTTON a third time will cause those two tiles to be removed,
    or pressing both BUTTONs together will de-select the two tiles.  If
    VERIFY mode is not on, then the two tiles will be removed immediately
    that you click on the second one, without requiring the third verific-
    ation click.  If the BLINK mode is set, then the highlighted tiles
    will blink, revealing the tiles beneath them.  See Section xxx Player
    Configuration.

    A shortcut for selecting the second tile is to use the RIGHT BUTTON.
    First, select the first tile using the LEFT BUTTON.  Then, pressing
    the RIGHT BUTTON will cause the computer to search for a removable
    matching tile.  If one is found, it will be highlighted.  Once both
    tiles are highlighted, pressing the RIGHT BUTTON again will cause
    the computer to look for a different tile to use as the matching
    tile.  The RIGHT BUTTON can be used repeatedly to cycle through all
    possible matches for the first tile you selected.  When using this
    method to select the second tile, VERIFY mode has no effect, and the
    third verification click is required, since you may want to use the
    RIGHT BUTTON to cycle through several possible matches.

    If you're having trouble finding a matching pair of removable tiles,
    or if you want to see all of the pairs that are currently removable,
    press the RIGHT BUTTON before selecting a tile.  This will cause the
    computer to search for all matching tiles that are removable.  It
    will highlight them, one set at a time.  To cycle through the sets
    of removable tiles, repeat pressing the RIGHT BUTTON until a message
    appears informing you that there are no more matches.  At any time
    during this "help cycle", pressing the LEFT BUTTON will abort the
    "help cycle".  If VERIFY mode is off, there will be no message when
    you reach the end of the "help cycle", there will simply be no high-
    lighted tiles.

    As a general rule in Solitile 3, any pop-up menu may be escaped from
    by pressing the ESC key or by clicking the RIGHT BUTTON.

VI. GAME MENU ITEMS

    Menu options available (and keystroke to activate them if you don't
    have a mouse) while playing the game are:

    (M) MENU    This activates the MAIN MENU. See Section VII.
    (P) PAIRS    This searches for any possible matching pairs and tells
            you how many are available.  Similar to clicking the
            RIGHT BUTTON with no tiles selected, except that it
            only tells you the number of matches available WITHOUT
            showing you the matches.
    (U) UNDO    This, uh..., un-does your previous moves (it replaces
            removed pairs in reverse order) letting you back up.
    (R) RETRY    This re-starts the current game (same layout, same
            board number) from the beginning.  Use this when you
            get stuck but want to give it another shot.
    (D) DOS        This will attempt to "spawn" a copy of COMMAND.COM,
            without exiting the game.  This allows you to get to
            the DOS COMMAND prompt without terminating your game.
            Possible reasons that it might not work is if you have
            insufficient memory to load the COMMAND interpreter on
            top of SOLITILE, or if the file COMMAND.COM can't be
            found by SOLITILE on your path.  Once you've gone to
            the DOS prompt this way, you must issue the EXIT
            command to return to your SOLITILE game.
    (B) BOARD    This allows you to select a new board number.  Options
            provided are:
                (N) NEXT    increments the board number
                (R) RANDOM    selects a random board number
                (S) Specify    allows you to specify the board
    (L) LAYOUT    Brings up the FILE SELECTION MENU (see Section VIII)
            and allows you to select a new LAYOUT file.  The
            selected layout will become the new default layout for
            the current player.  All LAYOUT files have a file
            extension of .LYT.
    (T) TILESET    Brings up the FILE SELECTION MENU (see Section VIII)
            and allows you to select a new TILESET file.  The
            selected layout will become the new default tileset for
            the current player.  All TILESET files have a file
            extension of .STL (Solitile style tilesets) or .TIL
            (Mahjongg style tilesets).  The Tileset File Selection
            Menu does not automatically terminate, but rather it
            displays the selected tile set for your inspection, and
            allows you to select another or EXIT, accepting the
            displayed one.  This allows you to "browse" through the
            various tilesets that you may have available to you.
    ( ) player name In the top center of the main game display is a box
            containing the current player's name.  This box may be
            clicked upon with the mouse for a quick access to the
            Player Setup Menu (see section IX).  There is no key-
            stroke for quick access to this menu.  From the key-
            board, you must first bring up the Main Menu (with the
            M key), then select the Player Setup Menu.


VII. THE MAIN MENU

    In the top portion of the MAIN Menu, there are these options:

    (G) GAME    This returns you to Main Game Display, where you may
            continue playing your game.
    (H) HELP    Displays the Help screens, which explain the basic
            game playing information.
    (S) SAVE GAME    Saves the current game into a file with the current
            player's name and an extension of .SAV.
    (R) RESTORE GAME  Restores the current player's previously SAVEd game.
    (P) PLAYER SETUP  Brings up the Player Setup Menu (see Section IX).
    (E) EDITORS    Brings up the Editors Menu (see Section X).
    (Q) QUIT TO DOS Exits the program.

    In the bottom portion of the MAIN Menu is information regarding the
    current player's performance with the current Layout.  It shows the
    player's name, the current Layout name, and a window containing the
    list of Board numbers that the player has solved on the current Layout.
    Not all solved board numbers may fit in the window so scroll buttons
    are provided for use with a mouse, and the cursor keys and PgUp/PgDn
    keys may be used from the keyboard to scroll the list up/down.

VIII. THE FILE SELECTION MENU

    The FILE SELECTION Menu is used at a number of different places in the
    game, to select the player, layout, tileset, music, and GIF files.  In
    all situations, the FILE SELECTION Menu works the same.  It provides a
    list of all SUB-DIRECTORIES, followed by a list of all available files
    with the appropriate file extension.  These file extensions are:
        .PLY    player files
        .LYT    layout files
        .STL    Solitile tile set files
        .TIL    Nels Anderson's Mahjongg tile set files
        .MUS    music files for Theme and Win music
        .GIF    picture files for background picture
    From the keyboard, files or sub-directories may be chosen by using the
    cursor and PgUp/PgDn keys to highlight the desired item, then pressing
    the Enter (Return) key.  In this way, you can navigate up and down the
    sub-directory tree, as well as load the desired file.  The current
    PATH is always displayed immediately above the "files" window.  With
    a mouse, the sub-directory or file may be selected by pointing at it
    with the mouse cursor and double-clicking the LEFT BUTTON.  (If your
    double click is not quite quick enough, all that will happen is that
    the item you pointed to will become highlighted.)  With the mouse you
    can also scroll the window and highlighted item up/down by clicking
    with the LEFT BUTTON upon the:
        DOUBLE UP ARROWS  --- page up
        SINGLE UP ARROW      --- move highlight bar up/scroll up
        SINGLE DOWN ARROW --- move highlight bar down/scroll down
        DOUBLE DOWN ARROW --- page down
    Other items that are available on the FILE SELECTION Menu are:

    (L) LOAD -----  Loads the currently highlighted item.
    (E) EXIT    Exits the FILE SELECTION Menu
    (R) RENAME    Lets you Rename the currently highlight item.
    (C) Copy    Copies the currently highlighted item to another file.
    (D) DELETE    Lets you Delete the currently highlighted file.

IX. THE PLAYER SETUP MENU

    Each player may configure the game to his or her own preferred setup.
    This setup is then stored in the player's .PLY file, along with all of
    the solved board numbers for each layout that the player has tried.
    The current player's name is stored in the file SOLITILE.CFG.  That
    name is then used to access the .PLY file for that player.  The current
    player may be selected/changed from the PLAYER SETUP Menu:

    (P) PLAYER    allows you to select or add a player.
    (E) EXIT    exits the Player Setup Menu
    (G) GIF FILE    lets you specify the .GIF file to be used as a back-
            ground for the current player.
    (T) THEME    toggles the Theme music on and off.  If done from the
            keyboard with the T key, also allows selection of the
            THEME music file.
    (R) REMOVE TILES  toggles on and off the sound for removing tiles
    (U) UNDO    toggles on and off the sound for undo-ing.
    (N) NO MOVES    toggles on and off the sound for NO-MORE-MOVES
    (W) WIN        toggles the Win music on/off.  From the keyboard with
            the W key, also allows selection of the WIN music file.
    (B) BLINK    toggles on/off "blinking tiles".  When on, then during
            game play, selected tiles will "blink", alternately
            showing the tile beneath them and themselves as a neg-
            ative image.  This may be considered cheating by some,
            so when BLINK is enabled, you'll be unable to select a
            tile unless it has a removable matching tile available.
    (V) VERIFY    toggles on and off "verify tiles".  When on, Solitile 3
            will play much as previous versions of Solitile, where
            you first clicked on one tile to select it, then click-
            ed on a second tile to select it, then clicked a third
            time to remove those two selected tiles.  With VERIFY
            off, the selected tiles will be removed automatically
            as soon as the second one is selected.  However, when
            first selecting one tile, then using the RIGHT BUTTON
            to locate/highlight the second, a verifying click of
            the LEFT BUTTON is still required, as the computer's
            selected match may not be the one that you had in mind.

    When using a mouse, you may also click upon the items listed at the
    bottom of the PLAYER SETUP Menu:

    Player        The current player's name
    GIF        The current player's background picture file name.
    Theme        The file name for the current player's Theme music,
            which gets played when the game first starts up (if the
            THEME sound is enabled).
    Win        The file name for the current player's Win music,
            which gets played when a board is solved (if the WIN
            sound is enabled).

    Besides the "solved board numbers" and the above items, the additional
    things that are kept in the player's .PLY file are:

        the player's current LAYOUT (selected from main game display)
        the player's current TILESET (selected from main game display)
        the player's FRAME PATTERNS (created in the Frame Editor)
        the player's BACKGROUND PATTERN (created in Background Editor)

X. THE EDITORS MENU

    The EDITORS Menu gives you access to the several "editors" available
    with Solitile 3:

    (L) LAYOUT    Modify existing layouts or create new ones of your
            own.  (See Section XI.)
    (T) TILES    Modify existing tilesets or create new ones of your
            own.  (See Section XII.)
    (F) FRAME PATTERNS  allows the player to change the eight patterns used
            to draw the frame (or border) around the edge of the
            main game display.  Any changes made to these patterns
            are reflected in the player's .PLY setup file.
    (B) BACKGROUND PATTERN  allows the player to change the background
            pattern which is drawn on the display before the GIF
            image is drawn.  Any changes made to this pattern is
            reflected in the player's .PLY setup file.
    (E) EXIT EDITORS  returns you to the MAIN Menu.


    The TILES, FRAME, and BACKGROUND editors use a common bitmap editor,
    with some differences and embellishments.  The rest of this section
    describes those portions of the bitmap editor that are common to all
    three editors.

    The bitmap editor four primary areas:
        The color palette
        The menu
        The zoom/pixel edit area
        The item selection area

    The item selection area is different for each area and is discussed
    in the appropriate section.  The "cursor" may be moved from one area
    to another from the keyboard by using these keys:

    (F1) moves the cursor to the COLOR palette area
    (F2) moves the cursor to the ZOOM area
    (F3) moves the cursor to the item selection area

    In the top-left corner is the color palette of 16 colors.  The current
    pen-color is outlined with a white-square.  The current color may be
    selected by clicking the LEFT mouse button on the desired color square,
    or by first moving the "cursor" to the color palette area with the F1
    key, and then using the cursor keys to select the desired color.

    In the center of the display is the ZOOM area.  This displays an
    enlarged image of the item currently being edited.  Many operations are
    possible upon this area, as discussed below.

    Down the left side of the display is the MENU area, the individual
    items of which are discussed in detail below.  However, each MENU item
    may be activated by either pressing the key corresponding to the first
    letter of the item, or by clicking the LEFT mouse button once upon the
    item.

    Between the MENU and the ZOOM is the:
        Work Image --- the life-sized image of the item currently being
            edited in the ZOOM area.
        Shifter --- This allows you to shift the entire Work Image, or
            that portion of it that's been marked, left, right, up,
            or down.  See below for how to mark an area.
        ScratBuf --- This is a temporary buffer to which you may copy
            all or the marked portion of the Work Image, either as
            a means of saving a copy while you experiment, or so
            that you can "paste" it back into the Work Image at
            another place. See below for how to mark an area.

    There are 4 basic types of "drawing" that may be done upon the ZOOM
    area: POINT, LINE, RECTANGLE, and OVAL.  One of these is always
    selected, as is indicated by the blue highlight on the menu.  The
    currently highlighted drawing method will determine exactly what will
    happen when you press the LEFT or RIGHT BUTTONs while on the ZOOM area.

    POINT:  If the LEFT mouse button is pressed and released while holding
        the mouse still, a single pixel will be set to the currently
        selected color.  If the LEFT mouse button is pressed and
        held down while the mouse is moved, all pixels over which the
        mouse cursor passes will be set to the current color.  From
        the keyboard, you press and release the HOME key once to
        simulate the pressing of LEFT mouse button.  This causes the
        program to enter "drawing" mode.  You must then press and
        release the HOME key a second time in order to exit "drawing"
        mode, or to simulate the releasing of the LEFT mouse button.
        While in drawing mode, the cursor keys will move the drawing
        cursor (a pencil) about on the zoom area.
    LINE:    Line drawing is VERY similar to Point drawing.  The pixel that
        the cursor is on when the LEFT mouse button is pressed (or the
        first time the HOME key is pressed) becomes one end point for
        the line.  As long as the LEFT mouse button is held down (or
        until the HOME key is pressed the second time) the location of
        the pencil cursor is the other endpoint of the line, and a
        non-destructive "rubber-band line" follows the cursor around,
        showing you what the image would look like if you were to exit
        drawing mode at that point.  The line drawn in this mode is
        drawn using the current "linetype" (see below).
    RECTANGLE: Rectangle drawing is VERY similar to Line drawing.  Instead
        of endpoints, you're specifying two diagonally-opposite corners
        of the rectangle.  The rectangle is drawn using the current
        "fill mask" setting.  If set to Outline, the rectangle is drawn
        with the current "linetype" and current color.  If set to Solid
        the rectangle is solid filled with the current color.  If set
        to Mask, the rectangle is drawn with the currently selected
        FillMask (see below) and current color.
    OVAL:    Oval drawing is just like Rectangle, except that you're spec-
        ifying the center and a corner of a box which "bounds" the
        oval.  Also, when drawing with Outline mode, the outline is
        always a solid line, it doesn't use the Linetype.

    SET LINETYPE:    The linetype is a 16-bit (or 16-pixel) pattern which is
        used for drawing lines and outlined rectangles.  Only those
        bits (pixels) that are ON (white) in the linetype will actually
        be plotted.  Imagine that the linetype is overlaid on the line
        being drawn.  The pixels covered by a "white" linetype pixel
        will be changed to the current pen color.  The pixels covered
        by a "black" linetype pixel will retain their original color,
        unchanged.  The linetype is used, starting with the left-most
        pixel (as viewed in the linetype menu) first, regardless of the
        direction in which the line is drawn.  If the line is longer
        than 16 pixels, the linetype is used repeatedly until the whole
        line is done.  The Linetype menu shows a zoom of the current
        linetype across the bottom of the menu window.  Above the zoom
        are eight different linetypes.  The program initializes these
        to eight possible linetypes, but you may edit any of them by
        selecting one of them (with the cursor keys or a click of the
        LEFT mouse button), then toggling the individual pixels of the
        linetype in the zoom area of the linetype window.  If you want
        a different linetype from those provided, it is suggested that
        you don't edit the solid linetype, as you'll likely always want
        to have that one available.  In the sub-window above the eight
        different linetypes is an example of a line drawn with the
        current linetype.  You exit the linetype window by pressing the
        ESC key or by clicking the RIGHT mouse button.
    FILLMASK:    The fillmask works similarly to the linetype, except
        that it is used as a pattern for filling a rectangular or oval
        area.  The Fillmask menu allows you to chose OUTLINE, SOLID, or
        MASK.  These options only apply to drawing rectangles and
        ovals.  When drawing an OUTLINE rectangle, the current LINETYPE
        is used to draw the outlining lines.  When drawing an OUTLINE
        oval, a solid line is always used.  A MASK filled rectangle or
        oval is done much as a line is done with Linetype, in that the
        fillmask is applied repeatedly, both left-right and up-down,
        until the entire rectangle or oval is filled.  Again, eight
        example fillmasks are provided, any of which may be modified to
        provide additional fillmasks.  You exit the fillmask menu by
        pressing the ESC key or by clicking the RIGHT mouse button.

    The items in the next area of the Menu all act on the currently marked
    area (or the entire image if there is no marked area).  You can mark an
    area by pointing to one corner of the area with the mouse, pressing and
    holding the RIGHT mouse button, moving the mouse to the other corner of
    the area to be marked, then releasing the RIGHT mouse button.  You will
    notice that this leaves a black rectangular outline where the ZOOM grid
    normally is drawn.  All pixels within this rectangle will be acted upon
    by COLOR REPLACE, HOR and VER FLIP, TO SCRATBUF, and FROM SCRATBUF. All
    pixels outside of the rectangle will remain unchanged.  If no "mark"
    rectangle is visible, then the entire working image is operated upon.
    To set a Mark using the keyboard, move to one corner of the mark area,
    press and release the PgUp key, move to the other corner of the mark
    area, then press and release the PgUp key a second time.

    COLOR REPLACE: This allows you to replace all pixels of one particular
        color (within the marked area) with another color.  You will
        be prompted first to select the color to be replaced, then for
        the color with which to replace it.  The colors may be selected
        either from the color palette in the upper left corner, or by
        pointing to a specific pixel in the zoom area and clicking the
        LEFT mouse button (or pressing the HOME key).
    VER FLIP:    This flips, or reverses, the marked area vertically, or
        top-to-bottom.
    HOR FLIP:    This flips, or reverses, the marked area horizontally,
        or left-to-right.
    TO SCRATBUF:    This copies the marked area into the ScratBuf, replac-
        ing anything that was previously there.  This acts as a tempor-
        ary holding place, either as a backup while you experiment with
        the Work Image, so that you can restore the Work Image if you
        don't like your experiment, or it serves as a way of copying a
        part of the image to another area of the Work Image.  In the
        Tile Editor, it also serves as a way to move tiles from one
        place in the tile set to another (see Section XII).
    FROM SCRATBUF:  This copies the ScratBuf contents to a location in the
        Work Image.  A "moving" mark-like black rectangle appears in
        the Work Image area, which can be moved with the mouse or the
        cursor keys.  This black outline shows the size of the area to
        be copied from the ScratBuf, and the location of where it will
        be written when HOME or the LEFT mouse button is pressed.  The
        program remains in the this mode until the RIGHT mouse button
        or ESC is pressed.  This allows easy copying of a small area
        from the ScratBuf to multiple locations in the Work Image
        without repeatedly clicking on the FROM SCRATBUF menu item.

    The last three items in the common menu are "control" functions:

    DISCARD CHANGES:    This causes the program to discard any changes
        you've made to the Work Image, restoring it's original value.
        In the tile editor, this is only valid until you select another
        tile, or select GET, KEEP, MERGE, or AUTHOR.  These actions
        cause the current Work Image to be copied back into the tile
        set, thus saving the changes you've made.
    BLANK WORK AREA:    This has an editor-specific effect: in the
        Frame and Background pattern editors, this clears the Work
        Image to all black pixels; in the Tile Editor, this causes a
        blank, light-grey tile face to be put into the Work Image.
    EXIT EDITOR:    This exits the editor back to the EDITORS Menu.

    The Shifter, located between the Menu, Zoom, Work Image, and ScratBuf,
    will shift/scroll a marked area in any of four directions.  Just mark
    the area (if less than the entire Work Image) then click the LEFT mouse
    button on the desired direction on the shifter.  The marked area will
    be shifted one pixel in that direction for each time that you click the
    mouse button.  From the keyboard you turn NumLock on (by pressing and
    releasing the NumLock key) and then use the cursor keys to shift the
    marked area.  When shifting is finished, turn NumLock off.

    For additional information (specific to each particular editor) see
    Sections XII, XIII, and XIV.

    If you design a LAYOUTs or TILESETs that you're particularly proud of,
    I'd like to see them.  If you send me a disk with more than two new
    layouts (of YOUR creation) or a new tileset (created by YOU), I'll send
    you a Solitile accessory disk in return. (Mention which accessory disks
    you already have so I can be sure not to send one you already have.)

    I must warn you that designing good layouts that are challenging, but
    not overly difficult, is not as easy as you'd think!
    And good tilesets take a LOT of hard work!)

XI.    The LAYOUT Editor

    In the LAYOUT editor, you can add or delete tiles in the current layout
    or create an entirely new layout. When finished with your edits, you
    MUST have an exact multiple of 4 tiles in the layout (if you intend to
    save it), from 4 to 168 tiles.

    The LEFT BUTTON adds tiles, and the RIGHT BUTTON deletes them.  The
    menu down the left side of the display contains these entries:

    (E) EXIT    Exits the Layout Editor back to the Editors Menu.
    (N) NEW        Clears the current layout display, making it ready for
            you to create a completely new layout.
    (O) OPEN    Opens a .LYT layout file from disk.  This reads in a
            previously existing layout so that you can edit it.
    (S) SAVE    Saves the current state of the layout to a disk file.
            The layout MUST have a multiple of 4 tiles.  You will
            be told how many tiles you must add or subtract to get
            the layout to a multiple of 4 (if it's not already).
            The name that you provide here is used both as the file
            name under which the layout is saved on disk AND as the
            name of the layout as displayed at the bottom of the
            game display.
    (A) AUTHOR NAME Let's you add your name to the layout you've created,
            so that it will appear at the bottom of the game disp-
            lay whenever someone plays the layout.

    The Layout Editor cursor is the size of a tile, but the upper-right
    corner is really the "active" part that you should pay attention to.
    The Layout Editor draws a grid on the background to indicated where
    tiles may be placed.  The upper-right most pixel (or corner) of the
    cursor should be placed within the grid square where you want that
    corner of the tile to be placed.

    Tiles that are stacked on top of other tiles must have a solid layer
    of tiles beneath them.  This means that you can't place one tile on
    the bottom, then place another tile on top of it but off to one side
    (unless there's another tile beside the first to provide support).


XII.    The TILES Editor

    See Section X for an explanation of the operation of the basic bitmap
    editor.

    In addition to the basic bitmap editor, the Tiles Editor provides an
    additional four menu items:

    (G) GET        Gets, or loads, another tileset from disk.  If the
            current tileset has been modified, you will be prompted
            to verify whether you wish to discard the changes. See
            Section VIII regarding the File Selection Menu.
    (K) KEEP    Keeps, or stores, the current tileset to a disk file.
            You will be prompted for a file name.  You should
            always use a file extension of .STL.  The program will
            let you store the tileset to a filename with a differ-
            ent (or no) file extension, but it will first prompt
            you to verify that you really want to, since you won't
            be able to use the tileset without first exiting to
            DOS and renaming it to a .STL filename.  DO NOT STORE
            tilesets to a filename with a .TIL extension.  This
            extension is used by tilesets that are stored in the
            format used by Nels Anderson's Mahjongg game, and the
            internal format of .TIL files is totally different from
            that used by .STL files, and the Solitile Tile Editor
            only stores in .STL format (although it can read from
            the .TIL format).  See below regarding use of .TIL
            files.
    (M) MERGE    Allows you to merge individual tiles from one tileset
            into another.  Can also be used simply to re-arrange
            tiles within a tileset, by storing the current tileset
            to disk, then using that file as the source file for
            a Merge.  That way the tiles you're Merging in are the
            same as the ones that you're Merging into, and you can
            select and copy tiles in such a way as to swap tiles in
            their positions.  MERGE will first bring up the File
            Selection Menu, to allow you to choose the tileset that
            you want to Merge from.  The tileset you select will
            be displayed on the upper left part of the display.
            You will then be prompted to select one of the those
            tiles from the MERGE set.  Then, you'll be prompted to
            select the tile in the current set that you want to be
            replaced by the tile being Merged in.  This is repeated
            until you press the ESC key or the RIGHT mouse button,
            at which point the Tile Edit display will be redrawn,
            and the program returns to normal Tile Edit mode.
    (A) AUTHOR    Allows you to enter your name as the creator of the
            tileset, so that it will show in the TILESET box at the
            bottom-right of the main game display when this tileset
            is being used.

    An easy way to make a copy of one tile onto another, is to use the
    ScratBuf.  Select the tile you wish to copy, by clicking on it with the
    LEFT mouse button (or pressing F3 to move to the Tiles area, then using
    the cursor keys to select it, then pressing F2 to move back to the zoom
    area).  Once the desired tile is selected, activate TO SCRATBUF.  This
    will make a copy of the tile in the ScratBuf.  Now select the tile to
    which you wish to copy it.  Then activate FROM SCRATBUF.  This is an
    easy way to duplicate tiles that are only slightly different.  If there
    are any open tiles in the tileset (tiles that haven't been created yet,
    or that you're not going to keep) this can also be used as a means of
    moving tiles around.  The only reason for concern for where the tiles
    are positioned within the set are that it's easier to keep track of
    them while editing them (if they have any order-relationship with each
    other) and on layouts with less than 168 tiles, the last tiles are
    never used or seen during game play.  For any given layout with N tiles
    only the first N/4 tiles from the tileset are used.  The first tile in
    the tileset is the top-left most tile, the second, third, and fourth
    tiles are to the right of the first.  The rest progress left-to-right,
    top-to-bottom.  The last 14 tiles are across the bottom of the display.

    REGARDING .TIL FILES, THEIR USE, AND THEIR EDITING

    Nels Anderson sells a shareware game called Mahjongg which is very
    similar to Solitile.  For some time, his game has included a tileset
    editor, allowing the user to create new tilesets.  There are hundreds
    of tilesets available.  They all have a filename extension of .TIL and
    Solitile 3 is able to read and use these tilesets. However:

    1) Nels' Mahjongg game uses a different color palette from that used
       in Solitile.  Many of the colors are the same (or very similar) and
       can be mapped to each other.  However, there are two places where
       the Mahjongg color palette and the Solitile color palette differ so
       much that there is no good mapping.  For this reason, when a .TIL
       file is loaded for use directly in a game, the color palette is set
       such that those two colors are good for the Mahjongg tilesets.  When
       a .STL file is loaded, the color palette is set such that those two
       colors are good for the Solitile tilesets.  A side effect of this
       is that the .GIF background image may not look as good when a .TIL
       set is used, since the .GIF colormap decoding is targeted at the
       .STL color palette.  Therefore, if you wish to use a .TIL set for
       long, it is best to load it into the tile editor and modify it to
       use the Solitile color palette as described below.
    2) In Mahjongg, there is one layout with exactly 144 tiles.  There are
       34 tiles that are each used four times, for a total of 136 tiles.
       There are an additional 8 tiles that are used once each, in two
       groups of four.  Any two tiles within each group of four makes a
       matching removable pair.  This gives a total of 42 physically
       different tiles.  Because of this matching in the last two sets of
       four tiles, many of the tilesets created for use with Mahjongg have
       the exact same picture on all of the last four tiles, and another
       picture on all four of the next to last four tiles.  When loaded
       into Solitile, this causes no problems on layouts with 144 tiles or
       less, but on layouts with more than 144 tiles, this causes there to
       be more than four tiles with the same picture, but not all of them
       are matchable with each other.  To avoid this problem, you should
       load these tilesets into the tile editor, and create six new tiles
       in the last eight, so that there are 42 unique tile faces.  Then,
       store this tileset back out to a .STL file.

    Because of the above potential problems, you may decide to convert a
    .TIL set into a .STL set.  To aide in doing so, when a .TIL set is
    loaded into the Tile Editor, an additional menu box is provided at the
    bottom of the screen, that will allow you to toggle between the two
    different palettes.  This allows you to see what a particular tile
    looks like with the Mahjongg palette, then change to the Solitile
    palette, decide what colors need to be replaced with a different color,
    and do so using the COLOR REPLACE function.  Generally, there are only
    two colors that need to be modified, and then only on some of the tiles
    so the change-over process is not too difficult.

    Some of the better .TIL sets have already been converted to .STL sets,
    and are available from the author on additional accessory disks along
    with additional layouts, GIF images, and music files.  See the file
    REGISTER.DOC for more information.

    Also, many .TIL sets are available from various bulletin boards and
    shareware disk vendors.  An excellent collection of .TIL sets is
    available from:
        Public Brand Software
        PO Box 51315
        Indianapolis, IN  46251
        1-800-426-3475


XIII. The FRAME PATTERNS Editor

    See Section X for detailed information regarding the bitmap editor.

    The Frame Patterns are used to build the frame, or outline, or border,
    around the Background Pattern on the main game display.  There are
    eight Frame Patterns, four corners and four sides.  A sample is
    shown to the right of the zoom area, with the Background and Frame
    patterns, and the eight Frame Patterns are displayed individually
    around the sample.  Select an individual pattern for editing by click-
    ing on it with the LEFT mouse button, or from the keyboard use the F3
    key to move the cursor to the sample area, then use the cursor keys
    to select an individual pattern; once selected, use F2 to move the
    cursor back to the zoom area.

    The Frame Patterns are automatically saved in the players setup file.


XIV. The BACKGROUND PATTERN Editor

    See Section X for detailed information regarding the bitmap editor.

    The Background Pattern is drawn on the display before anything else.
    Each player may have their own background pattern, different from
    each others.  This pattern is automatically saved in the players
    setup file.


XV. HINTS ON PLAY

    If you're having trouble solving boards, try playing the same BOARD
    over several times.  Many people will run out of moves on a board, then
    select BOARD/RANDOM or NEXT, starting all over on a completely new one.
    Instead, you should select RETRY.  You've already played the board at
    least once, and gotten stuck, so you'll remember where some of the
    hidden tiles were, and which parts of the board you got stuck on.  You
    can use your knowledge of where hidden tiles are to get to them sooner,
    and you can use your knowledge of where you previously got stuck to
    work towards those areas first, or from a different direction.

    Occasionally when I'm playing the game I will solve a board on the
    first try, but more often than not, I have to replay a board at least
    once or twice before solving it.  Some of the tougher boards, I've
    worked on for four or five hours before solving.  And remember, SOME
    of the boards are impossible (but not more than 25% to 30% on most
    layouts)!  Part of the fun of the game is trying to decide (or prove)
    that a board is possible or not.  After you play the game for a while
    with this strategy, you'll learn to very quickly spot the likely
    difficult spots in a board, and to work towards them early in the game.

    Another thing to try, is when you get stuck with no more moves, "UNDO"
    some moves until you get to a "decision point", a place where you
    removed the first pair of a particular tile.  Then, try taking a
    different pairing of that tile, which will release for play a different
    set of other tiles (sometimes).

XVI. BUGS AND VERSIONS

    There have been a few scattered reports of problems with certain
    combinations of a mouse (mouse driver) and the display, where moving
    the cursor with the mouse leaves garbage in its wake.  This trashes the
    display and makes the game unplayable.  I've not duplicated this, but
    have made changes to this version that I think should fix the problem.
    If your system still exhibits this problem, please let me know.

    Known bugs:

    1) In the layout editor, it is sometimes possible to add a tile on the
       same level and to the left of another tile, such that the left-most
       tile is half-way into the right-most tile.  As a workaround, just
       delete the offending tile, and try it again.

    ==== CHANGES IN RELEASE 3.0 ====

    Release 3.0 of Solitile is an almost complete re-write of the game, and
    the number of new features is extensive.  The major changes include:

    1) New user interface
    2) Background and Frame patterns (and editors) and a .GIF image
    3) A Tile Editor and loadable tilesets
    4) Layouts stored separately in files
    5) Layouts with anywhere from 4 to 168 tiles (rather than just 144).
    6) Music and sound
    7) Blinking selected tiles
    8) Removed REPLAY function; replaced with simple list of solved boards
    9) Multiple player setups/win lists

XVII. PRODUCTS AVAILABLE FROM EVERETT KASER SOFTWARE

    Solitile 3.0 --- A game of solitaire, played with tiles.  The object of
            the game is to remove all of the tiles from the pile,
            following a small number of rules.  Includes a layout
            editor and a tileset editor.
        $15.00  Requires EGA or VGA and 380K free memory.

    Sherlock 1.1 --- The computer scrambles the locations of 36 items, then
            provides you with sufficient clues to determine their
            exact locations.  Challenging game of logic with rich
            graphics display. Includes an image editor and one
            extra set of 36 block images.
        $15.00  Requires EGA or VGA and a Microsoft compatible mouse.

    Snarf 2.03 ---  Snarf is an arcade style game of mazes, treasures,
            First-Aid stations, locks and keys, teleports, and of
            course those nasty, sneaky, sniveling Snarfs. The game
            currently contains 39 different levels, and includes
            a level editor so the user can create new levels.
        $15.00  Requires EGA or VGA.

    Solitile Accessory Disks are $5.00 each:

        Disk #1 --- Contains:
            3 tilesets: MAHJONG, BATH, and TOOLS
            5 layouts: MAYAMASK, ZIGZAG, PLANE, BIDIR, and PI
            9 music files: ENTERTAINER, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
                HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING, MUSIC BOX DANCER,
                ROSES, BLUE DANUBE, LOVE STORY, GODFATHER,
                A VERY GOOD YEAR
            13 GIF files: space walking astronaut, Marylin Monroe,
                Bulldog, Star Trek Enterprise, cartoon charact-
                ers, etc.
        Disk #2 --- Contains:
            5 tilesets: STAMPS, BASEBALL, CANDY, WINTILE1, BODY
            5 layouts: JAILBRAK,10HIDING,FLATCAT,SPRAYER,SQUARFAC
            9 music files: SOUND OF SILENCE, THOSE WERE THE DAYS,
                BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER, CABARET, GEORGY
                GIRL, KING OF THE ROAD, MOON RIVER, RAINDROPS
                KEEP FALLING ON MY HEAD, WHERE HAVE ALL THE
                FLOWERS GONE
            21 GIF files: space shuttle take-off, King Tut,
                a cheetah's face, cartoon characters, etc.


End of SOLITILE.DOC