Chomp for Presentation Manager, Version 1.1
Copyright (c) 1990 by Jerry J. Shekhel


DESCRIPTION

Chomp for Presentation Manager is a game closely patterned after 
Pac-Man(tm), for the OS/2 Presentation Manager environment.  It is 
a direct port of Xchomp, which was written for the X window system 
on a Sun workstation.  I've tried to make the game as close to the 
original as possible, in gameplay, but I haven't seen a Pac-Man 
machine in years, so all the elements of the game have been 
recalled from memory.

The object of the game, as in all arcade-style games, is to amass 
the highest possible score.  You may find, however, that the fun in 
the game is in trying to reach the highest possible level; at 
least, that's what I thought was fun about the original.  You, the 
player, are the circular mouth moving around the maze.  You are 
chased by four hungry ghosts who would like to eat you.  The maze 
is filled with dots, all of which you must eat to finish each 
maze.  You eat a dot simply by going over it, and this adds 10 
points to your score.  Allowing one of the ghosts to eat you costs 
you one life; you start each game with 3 lives.

You will also find several large flashing dots on each maze.  These 
are the power dots.  Eating one of these will add 50 points to your 
score and give you the temporary ability to eat the ghosts.  When 
you have this power, the ghosts are transparent, they move at 
half-speed, and they try to run away from you.  Eating a ghost adds 
a number of points to your score, and this number is momentarily 
displayed on the screen.  The number of points you get increases 
with the number of ghosts you eat after eating one power dot.  It 
is reset when you eat another power dot.  When a ghost is eaten, it 
turns into a harmless pair of eyes which moves very quickly, 
seeking return to the ghost box in the center of the maze, where 
the ghost is "reborn" and goes back to chasing you around.

Each level in the game is identified by a symbol.  The first few 
levels are "fruit" levels -- they are identified by little pictures 
of different fruits.  For example, the first level is the "cherry" 
level.  Once in a while, the symbol corresponding to the current 
level shows up on the screen.  Eating it adds a number of points to 
your score, and at some of the higher levels, this is a very 
significant number.  However, you must move fast, because the 
symbols don't stay around for very long.  The number of points you 
get for eating one is displayed on the screen.

Reaching a score of 10,000 points awards you an extra life.


GAME CONTROLS

The controls in this game are very simple, but take some getting 
used to.  The original arcade game had one four-directional joystick.
In Chomp for Presentation Manager, you use the four arrow keys to 
control the player.  Pressing an arrow key is equivalent to tilting 
the joystick in the specified direction and holding it down.  The 
player continues moving in its current direction until (a), it is 
possible to move in the specified direction, or (b), it hits a maze 
wall, in which case it stops.  If this sounds too complicated, just 
play the game -- all you have to remember is that you SHOULD NOT 
hold down the keys or press two keys at a time, and that you 
should, sort of, look ahead a little bit.  When you think that the 
ghost should take the next right turn, hit the right arrow key; the 
keystroke is remembered and acted upon when the right turn comes.  
Note that only one keystroke is remembered at a time, so pressing 
another arrow key overrides the last one pressed.

You can pause the game at any time by pressing the space bar.  When 
in pause mode, you can press F2 to abort the current game and 
return to the title screen, or F3 to quit the program.  The game 
also enters pause mode if the window is minimized.


DIFFERENCES FROM THE ORIGINAL

The following are the significant differences of Chomp for 
Presentation Manager, henceforth simply called Chomp, from the 
original, Pac-Man.  First, Chomp is in black and white.  Color 
support is planned for a future release.  Next, Chomp does not 
implement the side tunnels.  This is also a feature planned for a 
future revision.  Next, Chomp does not vary the speed of gameplay, 
as does Pac-Man.  Finally, while Pac-Man contains a single maze, 
Chomp has several.  The different mazes are used instead of 
increasing the speed of gameplay, to vary the difficulty of the 
game as the player advances to higher levels.


PROGRAM SPECIFICS -- IMPORTANT

Chomp for Presentation Manager was developed under OS/2 Version 
1.1, and I don't think there should be any problems running it 
under later revisions of the operating system.  The following is 
the command line for the game:

	chomp [delay]

The "delay" parameter is an optional number which specifies (very 
approximately) how many milliseconds to wait between animation 
cycles.  The higher the number you specify, the slower the game 
will run.  The default is 15, which works great on my 386SX/16.  
For an 8MHz or 12MHz 286, you should specify 0 as the delay.

Finally, you should move the mouse cursor out of the window when 
you play the game.  Otherwise, it will sometimes flash and slow 
down the gameplay.


REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Chomp for Presentation Manager is not free software; it is 
shareware.  I retain the copyright on all versions of Chomp for 
Presentation Manager.  You may redistribute Chomp for Presentation 
Manager, Version 1.1, if you give it away with all documentation, 
unmodified, free of charge, and without additional restrictions.

If you find Chomp for Presentation Manager to be useful software, a 
registration fee of $20 would be appreciated.  Registered owners 
will receive, free of charge, all future revisions of Chomp for 
Presentation Manager.

The full source code to Chomp for Presentation Manager is 
available, along with registration, for $35.

Please send checks or money orders to:

			Jerry J. Shekhel
			66 Winchester Street
			Unit 102
			Brookline, MA 02146