Copyright: Helpfile Generated by VB HelpWriter!


WinPac V1.5

Copyright © 1995 Tyler Dauwalder

About

Controls

WinPac

Level Editor

VBRUN300.DLL

How and Why To Register

How To Contact Me

Legal Stuff

Copyright © 1995 Tyler Dauwalder - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.


About WinPac

WinPac is an arcade style game written for Microsoft Windows version 3.1 or later.  I obviously didn't come up with the idea for this game myself, but this was more of an exercise in Windows graphics than in creativity as far as I was concerned.

All the graphics were rendered with PoV-Ray 2.2 , a freeware raytracing program. WinPac is written almost entirely in Microsoft Visual Basic 3.0, and as such speed may be a concern.  I rewrote one major function in Pascal for Version 1.5, which has made it a little faster and noticably smoother.  Any machine faster than a 486/66 should achieve more than acceptable results (if you have a fast graphics card it REALLY helps). Anything slower remains to be seen. I apologize if the game is too slow for you. (complain to Microsoft, not me. I've completely switched to Pascal anyway.)

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to contact me.

Copyright © 1995 Tyler Dauwalder - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.


WinPac

In case you've never played Pacman before, here's the idea:

You play a little yellow guy who's more or less round and more mouth than anything. The object of the game is to eat all the little white balls in the level without getting eaten by any ghosts. Anytime that a ghost is not purple colored (either red, green, blue, or yellow), he will eat you if you touch him, and you'll lose a life. Lose all three lives, and the game is over. If you eat a "PowerBall" (one of the larger sized balls, there's usually only a few of them), all the ghosts will turn purple and you Pacman will change color and suddenly have teeth. You can then eat the ghosts by touching them or running over them, etc. Once you eat a ghost, its eyes will return to where it started from, and it will change back to normal. If you then try to eat one of these normal ghosts, even if you're still changed and have teeth, you will lose a life. This goes on until you either: 1. lose all your lives (the game is then over), or  2. pass all the levels (10 for unregistered, 50 for registered.)

You'll note when you start up WinPac that there is no regular Menu bar at the top of the window. Instead, there is a solitary button sitting off in the bottom left corner that says "Menu." This is the button you click to bring up the menu. The reason for this is that a regular menu bar took up to much space, and I would have been forced to make the game screen more unreasonably small than it already is (if only everyone would run Windows in 1024x768 mode...)

Menu Choices:

Game Menu:

New Game

Load Game - Loads a previously saved game from disk

Save Game - Saves the current game

Save Game As - Saves the current game under a different filename

Options

Fix Colors

Level Menu

Set Level File

Level Editor

Help Menu

Contents

Register (Shareware Only)

About

Exit - Exits the program

Copyright © 1995 Tyler Dauwalder - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.


Level Editor

I always thought it was neat when a game included a level editor that let me make my own levels. That's why I generally include the level editor I use to create the levels with the game.  It's use should be pretty straightforward: You click on the "Tools" button, choose a piece you want to place on the level, click where you want it to go, and the piece is placed there. You do this until you have the level set up how you want it. There are 50 levels in each file, and each file takes up about 39K of disk space.

When you start the Level Editor, you will see a progress bar as WinPac sets up the levels for a new file.  When it is done an empty level will appear on the screen. In the bottom-left corner there are two buttons. Clicking on the button that says "Menu" will bring up the menu, clicking on the button labelled "Tools" will bring up the ToolBox.

Menu Choices:

File

New - Creates a new level file

Open - Opens an existing level file

Save - Saves the current level file

Save As - Saves the current level file under a different name

Fix Colors

Level

Choose Level - Lets you choose which level in the file to edit

Clear Level - Erases everything on the level

Save Level - Saves the current level

Save Level As - Saves the current level as a different level

Help

Contents

Register (Shareware Only)

About

Exit Level Editor - Exits the Level Editor and Returns to WinPac.

The ToolBox

A Few Guidelines For Creating WinPac Levels

Copyright © 1995 Tyler Dauwalder - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.


How and Why To Register

Well, it's simple. The shareware version doesn't have all the features that the registered does. The shareware version only lets you play up to level 10 (instead of all 50 levels), you can't save levels you create in the level editor, you can't use any file but the default one for the game, and you have only three lives for the entire game.

Registering lets you play all 50 levels, save files in the level editor, use those level files in the game, and gives you three lives for each level. You don't have to register to play the first ten levels over and over, just to get all the extra stuff.

Registration is just $10 US for one license ($5 per each additional licence), sent to me at the address below.  It's best to send a check or money order, don't send cash unless you have to (be sure to conceal it well if you do), If you include an e-mail address when you register I'll e-mail you the registration code right away, and then send you a copy of it by postal mail as well. If you don't include an e-mail address I'll just send you the postal version. Entering the registration code unlocks all of WinPac's features.  (To enter the code, click the menu button, click on "Help", then click on "Register...". Enter the code in the dialog that appears.)

You can run the program ORDER.EXE for a ready-made order form that you can print out, or just include your name, address, e-mail address, etc. when you mail your registration.

The address is:

Tyler Dauwalder

One Angford  Drive

Ellensburg, WA, 98926

USA

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Copyright © 1995 Tyler Dauwalder - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.


Legal Stuff

WinPac - Copyright © 1995 Tyler Dauwalder,  All Rights Reserved.

Warranty / Disclaimer:

WinPac is provided as is with no warranty, expressed or implied.  Any use of this product by you is done so at your own risk.  The author of this product will not be help liable for ANY damages incurred through the use or inability to use this product.  The shareware version of WinPac may be distributed freely, although I would appreciate being contacted if it is going to be included on any CD's or the like.

A Note to all:

Feel free to give a copy of WinPac Shareware to all your friend, neighbors, realtives, employees, bosses, acquaintances, and so on. You may not, however, distribute a copy of the Registered version of WinPac, or the registration code.

Copyright © 1995 Tyler Dauwalder - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.


WinPac Options

Window Options

"Center window on startup" causes the WinPac window to be centered when it is run.  "Save window postion on exit" saves the position of the WinPac window when you exit, and positions the window in that same position the next time you run the program.

Speed Options

This changes how fast the game runs. The default setting is 10, the fastest, and is probably where you'll want to leave it. If you have a really fast Pentium or P6, you may want to lower it a bit.  It's really not there to speed things up if they're too slow, but to slow things down if they're too fast.

Sound Options

This one's a no brainer. "Turn on sound effects" turns on the sounds, "Turn off sound effects" turns them off.

Difficulty Options

There are three settings here, Easy, Medium, and Hard. They may be changed at any time (even during the middle of a game). On Easy, the ghosts will pretty much run from you when you are normal and run to you when you can eat them (they're fairly dumb). On Medium, it's about half and half (Not quite as dumb as before). On Hard, the ghosts will usually run to you when you are normal and away from you when you can eat them (Pretty smart for ghosts).

Copyright © 1995 Tyler Dauwalder - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.


Setting the level file

Clicking on "Set Level File" brings up a dialog box. The list box always contains at least one entry, the default file, WINPAC.WPL. You can add other level files to the list that you or someone else has created with a registered version of WinPac by clicking the "Add" button and chosing a file from the dialog. Clicking on a file listed and the clicking the "Remove" button will remove it from the list. Clicking the "Clear" button clears all items from the list.

To set which level file you want to use, either double click a choice in the list, or click a choice and then click the "OK" button.

Copyright © 1995 Tyler Dauwalder - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.


The ToolBox

There are 33 different tools used to create a WinPac level. Twenty-five of the tools are used to make the structure of the level (15 for pipes,  10 for blocks). Four of the tools are for the starting points of the ghosts. One is for the starting point of the Pacman. The remaining three are for the Regular Balls, PowerBalls, and blank spaces. You create a level by piecing it together with the various tools. A breakdown of the types of tools follows:

Piping:

Straight Pipe:

A straight section of pipe going up and down or left and right.

Corner:

A corner connecting two pipes at a 90 degree angle.

Three-way Intersection:

A connector that joins three pipes going in different directions.

Four-way Intersection:

A connector that joins four pipes all going in a different direction.

Endcap:

A rounded end for where a pipe stops.

Blocking:

Corner Block:

A Corner for a block

Flat Block:

The middle parts of blocks.

Side Block:

The sides of a block.

Round Block:

A block  the size of one square.

Starting Points:

Red Ghost:

This designates the starting point of one red ghost

Green Ghost:

This designates the starting point of one green ghost

Blue Ghost:

This designates the starting point of one blue ghost

Yellow Ghost:

This designates the starting point of one yellow ghost

Starting position:

This Designates the starting point of Pacman (you can move this spot around, but not write over it)

Everything else:

Regular Ball:

A regular small-white ball. These make up the bulk of Pacman's diet.

Power Ball:

The big balls that let Pacman eat ghosts.

Blank Space:

A blank spot with nothing in it.

Copyright © 1995 Tyler Dauwalder - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.


Guidlines For Creating WinPac Levels

These a just a three basic guidlines to follow (although you certainly don't have to) when creating your own levels,

Make all paths only one square wide.

The WinPac screen is divided up into a grid 23 squares wide by 17 squares high. You really should keep all paths to one square wide, the exception being a "holding area" for the ghosts (in that case however, you would not put any balls inside the "holding area", so the player would never have to venture that far.). Things don't work well otherwise,

Don't make any dead ends.

A level with dead ends doesn't flow very well, because the player has to stop and turn around when it comes to the dead end. It also provides no escape route if a ghost comes in behind him/her. Levels without dead ends seem to be more enjoyable to play (to me at least...)

Keep the number of ghosts below 50.

This is more a speed thing than anything. The more ghosts there are, the more ghosts the computer has to "think" for, and the slower the game gets. About  30 ghosts is the limit for acceptable speed on my machine. The other reason is that it makes the level to dang hard unless you have PowerBalls all over the place (like level 47 of WINPAC.WPL)

Again, these are just some basic guidlines that I came up with during the course of designing 50 levels. Follow them if you like.

Copyright © 1995 Tyler Dauwalder - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.


Controls

The controls in WinPac are simple. For Player 1, use the arrow keys to move around. For Player 2, use the "W" key to go up, the "S" key to go down, the "A" key to go left, and the "D" key to go right. Pressing the space bar pauses the game. When the game is paused you can type in the cheat codes, if you can figure them out.

Player 1's keys (they're supposed to look like arrows):

/\

       <      >

\/

Player 2's keys:

          W

       A     D

           S

Copyright © 1995 Tyler Dauwalder - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.


How To Contact Me

I can be contacted in one of two ways:

By e-mail at:

dauwaldt@adsnet.net

or by postal mail at:

Tyler Dauwalder

One Angford Drive

Ellensburg, WA 98926

USA

Copyright © 1995 Tyler Dauwalder - Helpfile generated by VB HelpWriter.


Glossary

A

About

C

Contents

F

Fix Colors

N

New Game

P

PoV-Ray 2.2

R

Register (Shareware Only)

V

VBRUN300.DLL


PoV-Ray 2.2

PoV-Ray is a freeware program that reads a text file containing a scene discription and renders from that a 3D image. PoV-Ray is available at ftp.povray.org, in the pub/povray/official directory.


New Game

Starts up a new game. You are given the choice of a Single Player, Two Player Cooperative, or Two Player Competitive game. Single player is for one person. Two Player Cooperative is for two people playing together (if one eats a power ball they both change, if one is eaten they are both reset, etc.). Two Player Competitive is for two people playing against each other (if one person eats a power ball, the other stays normal, if one person is eaten, only he/she is reset, etc.


Fix Colors

Sometimes on 256 color systems, the palette will get messed up by some other program (especially graphics intensive ones). Clicking Fix Colors will attempt to remedy this problem. Pressing the F4 key will achieve the same result. NOTE: If this does not work satisfactorialy, try exiting the program and starting it up again. If this still doesn't work, try starting the program with all other programs minimized. If still you can't get it right, try changing the Windows background to one with only 16 colors. Otherwise, yell, scream, and curse at everything within throwing distance.


Contents

Brings up this helpfile to the table of contents.


Register (Shareware Only)

Brings up the registration dialog into which you can type the registration code. Entering the correct code unlocks the save functions in the level editor, lets you play all 50 levels instead of just the first ten, plus other goodies mentioned in the How and Why to Register section.


About

Brings up the About WinPac box.


VBRUN300.DLL

The Visual Basic Runtime Module, VBRUN300.DLL, is required to run WinPac. If this file isn't in you WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory, WinPac won't run. You can get VBRUN300.DLL at ftp://ftp.cica.indiana.edu/pub/pc/win3/util/vbrun300.exe or from the Microsoft BBS at 1-206-936-6735. If you don't have a modem, write to me and I'll send you a copy.