Copyright: Copyright (C) Sergei Gussev 1998


Ball Master General Information
  Ball Master

Ball Master is easy-to-play mind game for Windows 95.

Thanks for trying Ball Master! I hope you'll enjoy this game!

System requirements:

•	Windows 95

•	Version 4.72 or later of COMCTL32.DLL required. You can find it with all newest programs (e.g. IE 4.0)

•	Video card with 16-bit color support  (64K colors)

Help topics:

•	How to play Ball Master?

•	Scoring

•	Program windows

•	Program menu

•	License

•	About author

•	Ball Master II - new version of Ball Master.

Feel free to contact me with questions and bug reports.

Thanks again! Have fun playing Ball Master!


How to play Ball Master
  Ball Master

How to play Ball Master?

The aim of game is to play as much as possible, while there's empty space on board. When board becomes full of balls the game is over. During one game step you can move one ball to any empty space accessible from ball position. Ball can move horizontally and vertically but not by diagonal. If after move there's line of one-color balls containing as many balls as set in Get property of Game Setup then these balls will be removed from board and you'll get some empty space. You can put vertical, horizontal or diagonal line or even some of them together to remove balls. If after your move no such lines found on board computer will put some balls (as many as set in Put property of Game Setup) and you can move another ball. This will continue until there's empty places on board.


Scoring
  Ball Master

Scoring

Every removed ball gives 1 point.

Bonuses

•	If you remove more balls than set in Get property of Game setup you will receive 1 bonus point for every additional ball.

•	If you remove balls in more than one line every ball give as many bonus points as many lines you removed. Ball that was in several lines gives you number of points equal to number of lines where it was.

•	If you remove more than one line on one turn you will receive as many bonus points as many lines you removed.

•	If you remove line with length equal to one of board dimensions you will receive board dimension divided by 3 bonus points.

•	If you clear game board you will receive Board Height multiplied with Board Width divided by 3 bonus points.


Program menu
  Ball Master

Program menu

Game Menu

•	Restart (F2) - Restarts current game.

•	Pause (F3) - Pauses current game. Use this menu item to stop animation and sound. Tip: Pause works automatically when you deactivate window.

•	Undo (Ctrl+Z) - Undoes last move. Use this menu item if you've made a move by mistake.

•	Load... (Ctrl+O) - Loads saved game. Displays standard Windows File Open dialog where you can select game name to load.

•	Save... (Ctrl+S) - Saves current game. Displays standard Windows File Save dialog where you can select game name to save to.

•	Best Results... (F9) - Displays Top 3 scores in current setup. Press OK to close this window, Reset to reset scores to zeros (You have to play this setup before you can reset scores).

•	Preferences... - Displays Preferences dialog where you can set such program properties like music file and animation speed.

•	Exit (Alt+F4) - Exits the program.

Options Menu

•	Show next (F4) - Toggles show next mode. You can check this menu item if you want to see next balls putted by computer. Tip: If you want to see current game setup uncheck this option for a while.

•	Music (F5) - Toggles music playing mode. Check this option if you'd like to play music in background while playing game. Uncheck it if not.

•	Sound (F6) - Toggles sound playing mode. Check this option if you'd like to play event sounds while playing game. Uncheck it if not. Tip: You can replace sounds by your owns by replacing files Sound*.WAV in program folder to another wave files.

•	Game setup... (F10) - Displays Game Setup dialog where you can change game settings.

Help Menu

•	Contents (F1) - Displays this help file.

•	About... - Shows information about this program and its author.


Program windows
  Ball Master

Program windows

Main window

Game board. To select ball move mouse pointer to it and click it or move board cursor to it with keyboard arrows and press Enter or Spacebar. Ball will start jumping.

To move selected ball select reachable empty space on board with mouse or keyboard and click it or press Enter or Spacebar. Ball will jump to that empty space.

Score panel shows how much points you got. Oval in that panel changes its color during game depending on what place in Top 3 you will have. Green oval means that you aren't in Top 3 yet, yellow means that you will have 3d place, orange - 2nd, red 1st.

Best result/Bonus panel shows how much point is the best result. When you've got bonus you will see how much bonus points you got in that panel.

Next/Current setup panel.  If you set Show Next that panel shows balls which computer will put on its next move or, if Show Next is not checked, current game setup.

Preferences

Music MIDI file. Ball Master can play any music MIDI file during game. You can select one by clicking button with three points. You will see standard Windows File Open dialog where you can select your favorite MIDI file.

Animation speed. You can set animation speed by dragging slider, less is faster, more is slower.

OK, Cancel. Press OK to save changes or Cancel to discard changes.

Game Setup

Scheme. You can select saved scheme from list. You can save current scheme by pressing Save as... and typing new scheme name or selecting scheme name from list of saved schemes. You can delete selected scheme by pressing Delete.

Dimensions. You can set dimensions of game board by entering appropriate values for Width and height. Possible values for both width and height are from 3 to 10.

Balls. You can set number of balls putted on game step by computer in Put property, possible values are from 2 to 5. You can set number of balls to remove from board when you put them into line in Get property, possible values are from 3 to 5. You can set number of different ball colors by entering value in Colors property, possible values are from 3 to 8, possible colors are black, green, blue, purple, red, brown, gray, orange. You can set number of balls to put at beginning of game in Initially property, possible values are from value of Get property to Width x Height.


Ball Master license
  Ball Master

Ball Master license

Ball Master is free. You can use it for any time in non-commercial aims if program files are not modified.

Ball Master installation can be distributed in non-commercial aims.

If you'd like to put Ball Master on some shareware/freeware CD-ROM please send one of this CDs to author as a gift.

If you liked Ball Master please send me something as a gift (e.g. Audio CD, Poster, postcard or something else). If you do so I'll send you all updates, you'll get also limited technical support by E-mail and special offers when buying other software written by me.

Sorry, no free technical support available.


About the author
  Ball Master

About the author of Ball Master

Sergei Gussev is software engineer, developer and programmer from Estonia. I write software for Microsoft(r) Windows(tm) 95/NT. Also I wrote some Java(tm) applets and applications.

Some information about my projects:

Tip: Visit my homepage http://www.cs.ut.ee/~gsa/ for more information about me and my projects.

•	MultiPlayer - Microsoft ActiveMovie based player for most multimedia files.

•	FlashScroller - Smooth text scroller Java(tm) applet.

•	Surface Applet - Applet that allows to draw surfaces right on the Web.

•	LinkBar & LinkVBar - Java applets. Navigating Internet in Win95 taskbar-like interface.

•	RT Soft - full technology/planning infosystem for one specific factory. After some changes it can work for your manufacture too.

•	GSA Phones - computer phonebook, supports fast and intelligent search, commercial and private phone directories, "yellow pages".

•	GSA Korter - householder software for registration and accounting.

•	Ball Master - freeware mind game for Windows 95. (You must be reading its help).

•	Calls Control - program set, which allows you to control your organization outgoing calls.

If you interested in some of that programs feel free to contact me.

I can make some programs for you too (in other words I'm seeking for "remote programmer" job). If you need high-quality, cheap and fast software

developing contact me now!

Development prices depend on priority, available time and other reasons.

Minimal prices are:

Windows software development 	10US $/hour

Java software development 	20US $/hour

Even with minimal priority you'll have software you need very quickly (for example this game was 100% developed with minimal priority within one week).

Contact Information

E-mail: 	gsa@ut.ee

Phone (GSM): 	+372-55 35 429

Phone/Fax:	+372-33 76 722

Web page:	http://www.cs.ut.ee/~gsa/

ICQ#:	8494428

Address:	Sergei Gussev

Kasteheina 2-6

Kohtla-Järve

EE2020 Estonia


  Ball Master II

Ball Master II is Internet version of Ball Master.

Features:

•	Score synchronizing with other players over the net

•	2-player Ball Master based games via Internet:

•	Ball Master Intellect test, compare intellect with your friends over the net, who will play longer?

•	Ball Master Fast mind test, who is thinking faster, you or your partner, who will play faster?

•	Other games to come in new versions...

•	Ball Master Chat, chat with your partner while playing the game

•	Many other options...

•	And Ball Master II is still easy-to-play mind game!

Ball Master II is commercial software, but it costs only 10 US $.

Order Ball Master II and you will get all updates, limited technical support and special offers when buying other software from me.

Only possibility to order Ball Master II now is to send me money via bank or via snail-mail. Online purchasing is coming soon. Contact me for latest information.

If you decided to send money via bank, contact me by e-mail to gsa@ut.ee or phone +372-55 35 429 for bank information.

If you decided to send money via snail-mail send 10 US $ with letter (registered letter preferable) to

Sergei Gussev

Kasteheina 2-6

Kohtla-Jarve

EE2020 Estonia

If you have any questions about Ball Master II always feel free to contact me by e-mail to gsa@ut.ee or phone +372-55 35 429.