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SOLIPEG.DOC
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1994-10-13
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Solipeg, a Classic Marble Puzzle Game for the Psion Series 3a
Version 1.4 (and 1.4 Lite)
Copyright (C) 1993, 1994 J Cade Roux
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
* N.B. For space reasons the GNU General Public License is not
* included with this Psion palmtop product.
Installation
This program (versions 1.2 onwards) will only run on the Psion Series
3a machine. Running it on a Series 3 Classic will give a warning and
terminate.
To install Solipeg, copy Solipeg.app it to any directory (like \APP\)
and install it using Install (Psion-I) from the system screen.
To access the external library (PUZZLIB.SLL is the same as the internal
library in 1.4 and is provided for the Lite version), copy PUZZLIB.SLL
to any \SOLIPEG\ directory. Other libraries may be provided in the
future.
To enable the digitized sound effects, copy SOLI*.WVE to any \WVE
directory. These sounds are freely distributable.
De-installation
To de-install the program, press Shift-Ctrl-Delete - this causes the
program to free all environment space it uses (currently 19 bytes) and
exit. Then delete the .APP file, the .WVE files, and any .SOL or .SLL
files which were created or installed.
Rules
This is the classic Solitaire game played with marbles or pegs on a
board. Solipeg is the name of an old commercial game produced in the
early part of this century. There are two board shapes, and two rule
sets.
The two board shapes are:
000 000
000 00000
0000000 0000000
000O000 000O000
0000000 0000000
000 00000
000 000
English pattern French pattern
The object is to remove pegs one by one from the board by jumping over
them (similarly to Chinese Checkers), leaving just one peg in the
center hole (or not, as the particular rules decree - in certain
problems, for instance, that is impossible).
The standard rule set allows only N-S-E-W jumps i.e. no diagonals. In
the diagonal rules, jumps are allowed in all eight directions.
In more complicated restrictions - see Hoyle - a specific peg can be
designated as a "ball on the watch", which can only be used to make the
final jump. Other pegs can also be designated as "dead balls", which
are compelled to remain stationary and may only be captured on the
final move(s). These may be implemented in future versions as new ball
types in the board editor and then restrict play accordingly.
The game Puzzle-Peg (Third Edition, 1924, Lubbers & Bell Mfg. Co.,
Clinton, Iowa, USA, 50 cents) included a small booklet (23 pages),
"Problems in Puzzle-Peg", which details over 100 different
end-game-type problems which can be played on the standard English
board, sent in by players of their earlier versions. It also contained
adverts for other games of theirs. All 104 of the problems are
included in this distribution - embedded in the library. The Lite
version contains only the standard two starting positions, although
an external library is provided which is comparable to the internal
library.
The advantage of the internal library is that when a New game is
started, it will automatically start at the starting position of the
last problem - this is especially useful if you are attempting
repeatedly to solve a problem. This is currently not possible with
the external library or regular saved games.
Playing
By pressing the keys in the following pattern, the cursor can be moved
one position in that direction. If the shift key is held, a jump will
be attempted in that direction, removing the peg jumped. Only one peg
may be jumped at a time, and so only one peg is removed with each turn.
NW N NE
9 0 +
W O - E
L * /
SW S SE
Alternatively, the arrow keys can be used in a similar manner, although
no diagonal moves/jumps can be made with them. If shift is held with
the arrow keys a jump is made.
If the move selected is illegal/impossible, a beep will warn the user.
Menu Functions
New - Starts a new game. If the current game is one from the embedded
library, the same starting position will be reloaded. Otherwise, the
starting position will be either the classic English or French.
Open - Opens a single save game
Save - Saves a single game board
Library - Opens a starting position from the internal library.
External - Opens an external library for a list of problems - first
choose a library file (.SLL) and then choose a problem by name
Options - Play options
Statistics - Show statistics of past game play
Exit - Quit Solipeg
Editing
Solipeg includes a board editor. To use this, go into edit mode
using the DIAMOND key, and then pieces can be toggled on and off
using the space bar. Then the game can be saved or one can resume play
mode to play the board. Games saved in either mode are equivalent. By
default, the \SOLIPEG directory is suggested for saved games, but they
can be saved to any directory, and this directory does not need to
exist on any drive.
Compiling
Solipeg was re-written for 1.2 completely with HWIM functions and, as
such, is not portable. The source archive is freely available from the
author. To translate Solipeg to languages other than English, the
resource script can be translated and does not require any changes to
the program.
Credits
Development tools used included:
On PC: Psion SIBO SDK V2 with TopSpeed C compiler and associated tools,
Multi-Edit 7.0 editor for DOS by American Cybernetics
On the Amiga: DeluxePaint IV.
This version benefited from suggestions by: Mark Jelic, Les Hall
Author
Suggestions for improvements are always welcome. Please contact me
(eMail virtually guarantees same day response):
Cade Roux
P.O. Box 513
Boutte, LA 70039 USA
73733.1014@compuserve.com
Revisions
1.4: External libraries of problems can now be loaded. These are
a standardized form of resource files.
Two versions of the program are supplied - solipeg.app
(Normal), solipegl.app (Lite). The Lite version has only a
minimal internal library. Lite version suggested by Mark Jelic
(via CIS).
The internal library represents 26K worth of individually saved
games (using minimum 256-byte blocks on internal disk, 512-byte
blocks on RAM SSD means this would take up 52K if saved as
individual files!) - a quite considerable savings when
compressed to a single 6K resource and then embedded. This is
now supplied as an external library (puzzlib.sll) for Solipeg
Lite.
This version also includes a history of the result of the last
5 completed games, plus the average number of marbles left,
plus the number of games played - these numbers can be reset
using Shift-Ctrl-Delete (the environment variable now requires
19 bytes). Statistics option suggested by Les Hall (via CIS).
1.3: All 104 problems now in embedded library with descriptive names.
Stores some options in environment var "$05$sp1" for recall.
The special key combination Shift-Ctrl-Delete will delete the
environment variable (6 bytes) and exit the game without
updating them - useful for de-installation.
1.2: First HWIM S3a-only release:
Completely rewritten for HWIM with full OO techniques.
Uses grey and sound.
More options - Sound, and window position.
Library embedded as a resource, save and open modified slightly
1.1: First release allowing individual save games. Jump count
removed - not necessary, and minor/cosmetic bug fixes.
1.0a: Initial release