FLASH WORM (tm) VERSION 1.0 Copyright 1993 by E-Z Computing All Rights Reserved Programming by Michael R. Stanley Flash Protocol by Timothy J. Stryker of Galacticomm, Inc. - DISTRIBUTION AND PROPRIETARY NOTICES - Flash Worm is a registered trademark of E-Z Computing West Jordan UT, and may not be used for any other product without express written permission from E-Z Computing. All software, related files and documentation, includ- ing this document, are Copyright 1993 by E-Z Computing. The program may be copied and distributed at will as shareware, but no files or documentation may be modi- fied in any way without the aforementioned written permission. Included files or documentation may not be deleted or used in conjunction with any application, except for Flash Worm. If you enjoy Flash Worm V1.0, and use it more than a dozen times, you are required to send a donation of $12.00 to: E-Z Computing 7031 South Redwood Rd. Suite 112 West Jordan, UT 84084 Please use the order form at the end of this file The $12.00 includes applicable sales tax. Sending a donation, does not guarantee you the right to anything, except the right to use the beta version, however it is our intention to have the first non-beta version available by April 30, 1993. Anybody who registers by that date will receive a free individual, serialized ten player version of Flash Worm. Additionally, financial rewards will motivate us to spend MORE time on the first, and subsequent versions, and other quality games. If you do send a donation, please include ANY comments/suggestions you might have. If you are an MBBS sysop, you can get in on a special deal. Send the regular check for $12.00 for your individual serialized copy, and if you would like a BBS copy, send an additional check for $53.00 (for a total of $65.00), and we'll send you a BBS serialized copy as soon as it is available. We won't process your check until we ship. You can post date the check for April 30, 1993, and we'll mail it back to you if you request us to before that date (or before we ship, whichever is later). Be sure to include your BBS serial number in your reply. INTRODUCTION: This is the first version of Flash Worm. It is a Beta Test ONLY copy. It will allow up to 6 people per flash pool, and 3 to actually participate in each game. I am releasing this beta version, not only for bug information, but for input. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Sysops, please make this file available for your users to download ASAP, and ask for them to try it and offer their suggestions. If you would, compile their suggestions in some quick and easy way and upload it to 'Michaels' on the Gcomm Demo System. I'd really prefer suggestions as a downloadable file for review! Again ANY suggestions will be appreciated, but high res graphics, and joystick support are in the works already. In particular, I really need input on any problems you might have. I only get a few minutes here and there to test Flash Worm in a multi user setting, so you might find bugs I didn't pick up. The first release might not yet support high res graphics, but the second release definately will. I have limited time to work on games, but of course if there is a good response to this release (money wise speaking), I'll jump on the high res graphics immediately! I think this will be a fun game, and quite different from the typical bang bang shootem up games. Personally I get real tired of those. EXECUTING FLASH WORM: The syntax for Flash Worm at the dos prompt is as follows: FWORM [COM1|COM2|COM3|COM4] [&] If you do not specify a comport on the command line, you will be prompted for one. The [&] option is for EGA/VGA users ONLY who use the enclosed fwfont.com file. If you do have EGA/VGA execute FWFONT prior to executing FWORM. After you leave FWORM, type 'mode co80' at the dos prompt to return to a normal font. It is best to do this from a batch file such as this FWFONT FWORM & MODE CO80 This font makes the game MUCH more intersting looking for EGA/VGA users. Do NOT use the font com file if you do not have EGA/VGA! OBEJECTIVE: The objective is to be the last to survive, or the first to reach a size of 200. If you start as a single user, then the objective is just to get to 200. THE GAME: The worm bed is devided into 9 sections. The sections are devided by greenery. Each section contains food represented by brown asterisks, and some poison represented by little white dots. There is also a worm hole in each section represented by a yellow 'O'. To get into the other sections, you crawl thru the worm hole. You will come out a worm hole (selected at random) in one of the other sections. As you eat food, your worm will grow. You grow 1 segment for each food that you eat. If you eat poison, the last three segments of your worm will turn into poison. You can also grow by biting another worm. If you are bitten, part of your worm will turn into food. This is true even if you bite your- self, so be careful not to run into yourself. You can kill a worm by snipping it right behind the ear. Each worm must maintain a minimum size of 3 in order to stay alive. You can see the size of each worm in the player windows. If a worm is dead, it's size will read '***'. The game screen shows a slot for 10 players, this is because the final version will allow up to 10 players at a time. INTERFACING WITH YOUR WORM: To make your worm change directions, you can use the arrow keys. Joysticks are not supported yet, but will be on the next version. Remember that your worm has two heads. You can also use the arrow keys to reverse your worm. You do this by using the arrow key that is in the opposite direction as your current head is traveling. When you do this your tail and head switch places and you start going the other way. Be careful however, because this can send off in direction syou weren't intending to go. If your head is traveling UP, and your tail is pointed left, pressing the DOWN arrow key will reverse your worm and you will be going left. Use the Insert Key to put your worm in Turbo mode. Your worm moves twice as fast when in Turbo. Bumping into shrubery, another worms head, or poison will automatically take you out of turbo. OTHER VALID KEYS: When a game first starts, you visible area will always be the sector that the head of your worm is in. The view area will follow where ever you go, unless you use the HOME, END, PGUP, and PGDN keys to view different areas. Use the TAB key to lock the view screen on your worm again. Hope you have fun Flash Worming! A TECHINICAL NOTE Flash Worm is written in C++, and compiled under Borland C++ 3.1. It uses the Flash Objects Library which is currently also under development by E-Z Computing. This library handles all of the typical overhead a flash game seems to require (i.e. front end terminal utility, chat utility, flash intialization, lineup processing, soundoff processing, sound, random number seeding, etc.). This allows developers to concentrate their efforts on the game side of a flash program rather than the somewhat complicated Flash communications overhead. Flash Objects will make it so much easier to develop flash games, that once it is available, I think flash games will be coming out on a monthly rather than bi-annual basis. Flash Objects will also contain a debugging utility that makes it much easier to isolate communication errors in a flash game. That is one of the things that makes developing flash games difficult. You cannot run a flash game in a debugger (except in solo mode), since you must be constantly processing input from the host or you get kicked off. The first version of Flash Objects should be available in May or June. We want to develop a couple of games with it before we release it to make sure it is consistent and flexible enough for use. The Library will include well documented source, project files, samples, and templates. If you have written, or have a basic understanding of creating a windows application, you'll find Flash Objects a snap. If not, then Flash Objects may seem a bit ambiguous at first, but once you catch onto what we're doing, you'll likely appreciate it. ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º º º Remit to: E-Z Computing º º 7031 South Redwood Rd voice:801-964-0482 º º Suite 112 email:Impetus@BNN on the Mjrnet º º West Jordan, UT 84084 Fax:call first º º º ÇÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄĶ º º º Name: ____________________________________________ disk type º º ÚÄÄ¿ ÚÄÄ¿ º º Addr: ____________________________________________ ³3«³ ³5¬³ º º ÀÄÄÙ ÀÄÄÙ º º ____________________________________________ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ º º ³ internal use only ³ º º ____________________________________________ ³ ³ º º ³ ³ º º ³ ³ º º Voice Phone (optional): __________________________ ³ ³ º º ³ ³ º º BBS Phone: __________________________ ³ ³ º º ³ ³ º º Fax Phone: __________________________ ³ fw10demo ³ º º ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ º º º º Amount Remitted: _________________ (sorry, no credit cards yet) º º º º Galacticomm S/N: _________________ (BBS copies only) º º º º Comments/Suggestions: ______________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º ____________________________________________________________________________ º º º º º º NOTE: If you offer suggestions, or are reporting a bug, please give us your º º voice phone number so that we may call you if we have questions. Also º º note when might be the best time to reach you. º º º º Thanx, º º Michael R. Stanley º º º º º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ