Greetings. The included executable, WORM.EXE is version 2.1 of a silly (but addictive) little game. Running Requirements ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In order to run Worm, you need an IBM compatible with a floppy drive or a hard drive. A color monitor (CGA or above) is prefered, but Worm will run on a monochrome monitor as well. You'll need a copy of ANSI.SYS or equivilent installed, and some free memory. Not much, but more than 2. What is Worm? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Worm is an ANSI style game where you control an ever growing worm as he travels over the screen in search of food. It's a sort of maze game with a twist, you create the maze as you go. In this respect, it is comparable to the Lightcycles in the movie Tron. What do the symbols mean? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the tradition of simplicity, there ore only four objects in the game of Worm. They are : The Worm (Û) Barriers (±) Food ($) Superfood (#) You control the Worm. Barriers and food pop up in random locations throughout the playingfield as you play the game. Running into barriers or a section of the Worm kills you, ending the game. Running over food raises your score. Once in a great while, Superfood will pop up somewhere in the game. Consuming Superfood turns you into the Superworm, which allows you to "shoot" barriers and old sections of the worm, making them clear space again. CAUTION! You can also destroy food if you're not careful, and your shots go a random length. Also, you can never be sure how much "ammo" you have left, so use it sparingly. Options ~~~~~~~ The main menu allows you to toggle certain options, play Worm, or Quit to DOS. At this time, Options menu allows you to change colors and toggle Superworms on and off. If superworms are off, you won't see Superfood. In addition, you may reset the options to the default, where it will ask you if you want color. If you choose no color, it will set the object to monochrome-friendly colors. These may need some adjustment, but as I have no access to a mono monitor, I'm not sure. The Controls ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Turn numlock on when you enter the game. Use 8,4,6, and 2 to move your worm up, left, right, and down. Hit the 'Q' key anytime to Quit. When you are the Superworm, hit the spacebar followed by a directional key (8,4,6,2) to fire in the direction of your choice. Scoring ~~~~~~~ Moving into an empty space scores you one (1) point. Moving into a food space scores you twenty five (25) points. Bugs, Features, Etc. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ o At this stage the only bug I've seen has been that the worm will occasionally change from his colour to color 01, blue. I'm uncertain as to WHY this happens, but as it doesn't effect play, I'm willing to release version 2.1 anyhow. o Food has been known to appear in a space occupied by a block or a section of The Worm as the game progresses. Origanally, this was considered a bug, but as I thought about it I decided to leave it as is. When food appears in an occupied space, it makes that space "safe" again, and has been known to lead to some interesting twists in the game. o Blocks may also appear in spaces occupied by food, destroying the food. o Blocks may NOT appear in the space the "head" of your worm is. Allowing this to happen could cause the game to end in death abruptly, much to the dismay of the player. Future Plans For Worm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ o A "Top Five Players" list at the end of the game. o A "door" version, potentially. Disclaimer and Stuff ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Worm works fine on my 80386 and I see no reason for it to NOT work on any other IBM compatible computer. However, I am not liable for any damages caused by running it on your system. Worm is a sort of DonationWare. I don't really expect to see any money for it, but if you like it, feel free to send a donation to : Curt Martin 39 Phillips Street Greenfield, MA 01301 Also send comments, suggestions, bug reports, fan mail and hate mail to the above address. Version History ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2.1 - Made the user options saveable, so you don't have to rearange everything every time you play. - Added a "Head" (™) to the worm, to make keeping track of your location a bit easier. - Revamped the color selection routine, made it much more user friendly. - Added a color/monochrome option. - Cleaned up the source code a bit. - This version of Worm is released in celebration of my mother's 40th birthday. Happy birthday, Mom! 2.0 - MAJOR upgrade. Added color and options menu, which allows a user to define the colors and toggle superworms off and on. 1.1 - Added the "Superworm" feature. First "official" release. 1.0 - Beta version of Worm, released 9/01/93.