Checkers v1.1 Copyright(c) 1999, Sven Boden All Rights Reserved Thank you for trying Checkers v1.1 for the Palm Pilot. The latest version of this game can be found at www.pilotgear.com and any of the larger palm pilot archives. The game can be registered at www.pilotgear.com 1. Installation As with all software installations, you should back up your Palm Pilot before installing new software. You are responsible for assuring that your pilot has been properly backed up before installation. Ensure you have enough free memory before attempting to install the program. Delete any previous versions of the program before installing this release. Use the standard Pilot installer to install the .prc to your Pilot. 2. Game play Checkers is a pilot version of the well-known game of checkers/draughts. It has a competent Pilot opponent. Currently it can only play checkers by the official rules as defined by the "American Checker Federation" and the "British Draught Federation". This means e.g. that kings can't fly and men can only capture forward. The game supports 1 player games with a competent opponent especially at levels 3 and 4. The only difference between the evaluation and the registered version is that gameboards are not saved in the former version and that the evaluation version will expire after a while. The exact rules that were implemented can be found at the following URLs: http://www.mcn.net/~jimloy/rules.html http://www.primenet.com/~krow/rules.htm The menu options that are available: Commands New... Shows a dialog that can be used to start a new game. You can choose the player mode: You vs Pilot and Pilot vs You. Notice that black always begins and that after the first game is played the colors are switched every round regardless of who has won or last. Furthermore you can specify the strength of the computer player here. If you begin a new game while an old one is still in progress this will be recorded as a draw. For the moment the counting rule is not implemented, you're the one that determines a draw (the pilot player will always oblige). Statistics... Shows statistics on the current streak of games. Who has won, lost how many games. These numbers are only reset when you press the reset button. Help About... The mandatory about screen 3. Registration --------------- This program is shareware. You will notice this fact whenever you start Checkers 10 times. The shareware version won't also save you'r game when you exit the program. For the rest the registered and the evaluation version are the same. Registration can be done by contacting PilotGear H.Q. at www.pilotgear.com When you have registered with pilotgear your email address and id information will be mailed to me. I will mail you the registration info for the MS-DOS registration program. Allow 4 days for delivery of the key. Normally you should receive it within 48 hours, depending on the speed of processing. You should note your registration key, as it will be required should you wish to take advantage of future releases of the application, or if your Pilot batteries fail. 4. Support ---------- Support for either an unregistered version or a registered version of this product is neither offered, nor implied in any way. However, we will do our best to answer any questions. You are encouraged to email any problems and/or bugs to sboden@crosswinds.net where registered users will be given resolution priority. 5. Disclaimer ------------- Users of Checkers must accept this disclaimer of warranty: 'Checkers' is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assume no liability for loss of data, damage, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of "Checkers". 6. History ---------- v1.1 01/06/1999: - First public release. v1.0 10/04/1999: - First playable version. 7. Future --------- I did not implement every feature that I thought of. What follows is a list of not yet implemented features. Write me a mail to vote for the ones that you think should be incorporated in a next version or if you have other ideas for future features: * Allow for variations of the official rules as "man can jump backwards", "flying kings". * Interruption: Be able to interrupt the computer player at all times. This was not implemented yet since the computer player does not think too long. Implementing it would make the thinking a little slower and some way of interrupting the game would have to be devised: some sort of suspend/resume command via the menu's. * Undo ability: This is implemented in the game (because of the algorithm for the computer player), but it is not visible to the user. I found it unfair towards the pilot. He can't undo your moves, can he? 8. Contacts ----------- e-mail: sboden@crosswinds.net Copyright(c) 1999, Sven Boden All Rights Reserved 9. Other games by the same author --------------------------------- Connect 4: This game can be found at the following URL: http://www.palmpilotgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?prodID=3221 It's an implementation of the "Four in a row"/"Connect 4" game with a higly intelligent opponent.