MINDLESS! May 28, 1993 ========= Copyright (c) 1993, John P. Logsdon - All Rights Reserved Designed By: John and Lorelei Logsdon Game Programmed By: John Logsdon Artwork By: John Logsdon Video Utility: Fastgraph(tm) HISTORY ======= This program was written in an effort to determine how quickly I could develop a game (albeit simplistic) using the Fastgraph(tm) Development tools and some paint programs. I have been a programmer since '86 and use mainly C and Assembly for coding. Approximately 3 years ago, I began writing video games...or rather, writing a graphics toolbox to allow me to write video games. I gathered books, code, anything I could get my hands on that would help me accomplish this task. And I have some really neat routines that I chisled out, BUT... I didn't have the time to dedicate full time (other job, wife, kid, arrgh!) to this project and it has therefore been a long time in the making. Two months ago I was on GEnie (a terrific computer network that has fantastic Multi-Player games and has been a wonderful source for information on programming...thier number - by the way - is 1-800-638-9636) and was asking around about graphics when I noticed a message explaining how easy it was to use the Fastgraph(tm) toolbox. I asked for information on the product and stuck the information on the shelf until about a month ago. I ordered the package and played with it for a few weeks on and off...finding on the way that my code was not nearly as complete and only supported a few video modes. To make a long story short, my wife and I came up with a generic idea for a game and I used Fastgraph(tm) to help me write it. I worked on the game for a total of 27 hours! Here is the breakdown: 3 hours doing artwork (I'm not an artist...oh, you noticed.) 17 hours doing generic coding (array handling, player control, settings, etc...) 2 hours doing AI (It's not that good, but it's okay.) 1 hour putting the Fastgraph(tm) stuff in (HONEST!) 2 hours debugging and testing and making the computer play itself. 2 hours on this dang file! You will notice, however, that this game is not flashy (no animation or anything...but comeon...only 27 hours was spent here, you'll be seeing more from me with animation and the like in a few months...3D stuff too), but EVERYTHING you see on the screen is done by using the Fastgraph(tm) toolbox. The Screen displays, the Icon displays, the fading effects, the mouse, the popup menu's...all Fastgraph(tm). I know this sounds like a sales pitch and I want you to know that I am in now way affiliated with the Fastgraph(tm) folks. But, I also know how tough it is to get the ball rolling in video programming and how difficult it is to find anyone with the knowledge that is willing to share. If I would have had this product 3 years ago, I would have completed numerous games. Anyway, you should really consider (if you're a developer) checking out the Fastgraph(tm) package...it's worth it. Here are a few specs from the contents: Supports 23 standard Video Modes and some SVGA modes All the primitives - dots, lines, circles, polygons, text, etc... Mouse, Joystick, Keyboard, PC-Speaker PCX Diplays, fade-ins (outs), animation techniques, virtual pages, EMS/XMS control, etc... The place you get it (or more info about it) is: Ted Gruber Software P.O. Box 13408 Las Vegas, NV 89112 VOICE: (702) 735-1980 BBS: (702) 735-4603 -- Good demo's! The game ======== The game is simple. Objective: To get more points than the other guy/gal/computer. Game Play: ========== The screen fills with a bunch of random icons (pictures) and remains visable for about 2-3 seconds. These IMAGES are then covered up. The computer then randomly selects two of the IMAGES that you had previous seen. It places one of these IMAGES on the top left (and the other on the top right) of the screen. The image on the top left is called a GOOD IMAGE. Your goal is to click on the playing screen and try to find this image. If you find it you will be awarded points. The image on the top right is called a BAD IMAGE. If you find this image while clicking away, you will be penalized by subtracting points from your score. There are 3 SPECIAL IMAGES that you may also find during your search. The first is called the GOOD HUNTER which, if found, goes through the entire set of IMAGES and pulls out all of the GOOD IMAGES and awards you the points for each found; So, if you clicked on a GOOD HUNTER and It found 10 GOOD IMAGES (and let's assume that each image is worth 2 points), you will be awared 20 points. You are not given any points for the GOOD HUNTER, but you ARE given points for everything it finds. This IMAGE looks like a bowl of flowers (it was supposed to look like the Flame holder at the Olympics, but my lack of artistic ability made it look more like a bowl of flowers...sigh.) The second IMAGE is called the BAD HUNTER. I'm sure you can guess this one...but basically, if you hit this one It will go through the entire set of IMAGES and find all of the BAD IMAGES...which causes you to lose the total number of BAD IMAGES found multiplied by penalty points. This IMAGE looks like a Demon face. The third is called the SHUFFLER IMAGE. This IMAGE basically "shuffles" the set of IMAGES. This image looks like 3 Cards stacked on top of each other. There is "cheat" feature that I've enabled called "SneakAPeek". This displays ALL of the unfound IMAGES for a period of time that you set. This may, if you set it so, cause the loss of points for each use. This feature also counts as 1 turn! Settings: ========= WIDTH & HEIGHT - This allows the expansion or contraction of the number of images. The minimum for both is 6 (thus giving 36 IMAGES). The maximum WIDTH is 25 and the maximum HEIGHT is 12 (thus giving 300 IMAGES). PLAYER CONFIGURATIONS - There are 3 player configuration - when clicked the system wobbles through them. Computer Vs. Computer Player Vs. Computer Player Vs. Player *NOTE!!: If you choose Computer Vs. Computer, you will have to follow a few steps to Exit the game. First, you will need to press a key on your keyboard to interrupt play. This will bring up the Settings menu. From here you will have to change the Player Configuration to either Player Vs. Computer or Player Vs. Player. Then the mouse will come back and you can click on EXIT. Sorry, but hey, whaddya want for 27 hours??? DIFFICULTY LEVEL - This one's pretty self-explanatory. I would like to point out that as yet (only three people have played, but hey!) nobody has been able to beat the HARD level. You could "cheat" by Shuffling the IMAGES often which would make the computer's memory lapse a bit :) HUNTERS and SHUFFLERS (described above) - This setting allows you to customize how many of each SPECIAL IMAGE is allowed in the set of IMAGES. POINTS - This allows you to customize how much each GOOD/BAD IMAGE is worth and how much you lose on the SneakAPeek option (described above). SNEAKAPEEK TIME - This allows you to set the length of time the images will be display if SneakAPeek is called. The maximum is 30 (which is about 1 3/4 seconds. TRIES PER PLAYER - Let's you set up how many chances each player gets per turn. See, simple. Try and beat it...good luck! ****WARNING**** THIS GAME WILL NOT RUN IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A MOUSE INSTALLED!!!! Files contained in the MINDLESS.LZH file should be as follows: MINDLESS.EXE MINDLESS.TXT MINDLESS.MND MINDOPEN.MND Legal stuff =========== This game is FREEWARE and may be copied and distributed if no profit is made by doing so. In other words, you may NOT charge anyone for this game or any contents included in the MINDLESS.LZH file as described above. By using this game you agree that I am not, under any circumstances, responsible if some weird mishap occurs and your system blows up (as if this would happen -- I've never seen it happen to anyone, but it's gotta be in here). Thanks for your cooperation. If you wanna leave any comments about the game, I can be reached on GEnie or on the Fastgraph BBS. GEnie Mail ID is: GAME.DUDE (Dust Devil BBS) Fastgraph ID is: John Logsdon I look at this game as a quick effort to do something to exploit some features and test others of Fastgraph. I am not going to pursue, at this time, this game further...so, if you wanna send ideas that's cool, but I wouldn't expect to have them implemented until I've released some "Real" games. :) Thanks,yet again, for your cooperation.