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Text File | 1995-06-14 | 15.5 KB | 348 lines

╔══════════════════════════╗ ║ H E X X A G O N ║ ╚══════════════════════════╝ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ A PSION Series-3a conversion of the famous board game │ │ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ (c) Copyright 1995 - Marco Aicardi ┌───────────┐ ───────────────────────────────┤ SHAREWARE ├────────────────────────────────── └───────────┘ Hexxagon is Shareware. You can use it freely for 14 days. If you find this program nice and you like it, please register it by sending £7 (UK Pounds) or $10 (US Dollars) cash. If you wish to send a cheque, please send Lit. 25000; the slight difference between cash and cheque amounts is due to bank fees for the international operation. Please note that it would be a nice idea to put one ore two blank sheets so that the postmen cannot see the inner money and make the letter misteriously disappear. Please send registration fees to: Marco Aicardi, Via G. Acerbi 6/3 16148 - GENOVA (Italy). Registered users will receive a code for registering the program with the following features: ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ * No more nag-screen │ │ * Default options saving and loading │ │ * Possibility of deleting the help file │ │ * Possibility of changing default sounds │ └──────────────────────────────────────────┘ When registering, please include your e-mail address of Fax number (if you have one); this way I will send your registration code by e-mail or fax, as they are faster and just a bit more secure. You use this program at your own risk: the Author will not be liable of any damage caused by use or misuse of this program. I have found none, but if you find any bug, please report me. ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ │ E-MAIL: puericultura@ge.infn.it │ └─────────────────────────────────┘ If the above e-mail address should fail, please ask Steve Litchfield (slitchfield@cix.compulink.co.uk) for my latest account. Please remember that writing a game takes a long work and that you can help Series-3a Authors in making new games and programs just registering their programs. Please support Shareware! ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ ┌───┤ NOTE FOR 3A-TETRIS REGISTERED USERS ├───┐ ┌─────────────┴───┴─────────────────────────────────────┴───┴────────────────┐ │ If you already have registered my 3a-Tetris, the above fees become £5 or │ │ $7; Lit. 20000 if you send me a bank cheque. │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌──────────────┐ ─────────────────────────────┤ DISTRIBUTION ├───────────────────────────────── └──────────────┘ The Hexxagon game and auxiliary files are copyrighted, but you are hereby granted permission to make and distribute copies for personal, non-commercial use. Use them yourself, give copies to friends and co-workers, or distribute them for a cost-based fee as part of a user's group or bulletin board service. If you wish to distribute these programs in connection with any other product, or for use in commercial applications, please contact me for a license agreement. All of the files that make up this product must be distributed together, in an UNMODIFIED form. ┌──────────────┐ ─────────────────────────────┤ INSTALLATION ├───────────────────────────────── └──────────────┘ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ If you have RCOM installed on your PC, just start INSTALL.BAT from DOS │ │ prompt and follow the on-screen instructions. │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The files you should have in the archive are: FILE NAME WHERE TO COPY DESCRIPTION ---------------------------------------------- * HEXXAGON.OPA \APP\ The executable game file * HEXXAGON.BIN \APP\HEXXAGON\ The S3a thinking routines * HEXXAGON.PIC \APP\HEXXAGON\ The graphics data file * HEXXAGON.HLP \APP\HEXXAGON\ The help file HEXX_1.WVE \APP\HEXXAGON\ In-game sound ─┐ HEXX_2.WVE \APP\HEXXAGON\ In-game sound ├─ Hexxagon can run HEXX_3.WVE \APP\HEXXAGON\ In-game sound │ without these HEXX_4.WVE \APP\HEXXAGON\ In-game sound │ files installed HEXX_5.WVE \APP\HEXXAGON\ In-game sound ─┘ HEXXAGON.DOC *DON'T COPY* This documentation INSTALL.BAT *DON'T COPY* The batch file for installation INSTALL.SCR *DON'T COPY* The RCOM installation batch If you do not have RCOM or you do not succeed in using the installer given with the package, simply copy these files ALL ON THE SAME DRIVE to the above directories, then install the System icon as you normally would with another program... And enjoy playing Hexxagon! (File indicated by * are vital for running the game). ─┤ IMPORTANT ├─ If you have downloaded the small version of the game, you will notice you do not have some files (HEXX_*.WVE). The game will run perfectly without these sounds, and, if you like, you can download the complete version and enjoy the digitized sounds. Remember that unregistered users cannot change the HEXX_?.WVE files, while registered users can choose the WVE files they prefer and put in the directory \APP\HEXXAGON\, naming them HEXX_[1-5].WVE (and Hexxagon will play them). Unregistered users must install the Help file, while registered users can delete it. ┌────────────┐ ──────────────────────────────┤ USER GUIDE ├────────────────────────────────── └────────────┘ THE GAME The Game Hexxagon is a game of strategy in which it is your task to take over as much of the board as your opponent will allow. Your opponent is either another human or your thinking Series-3a. PLAYING RULES The game starts with 3 pieces each player and every player must select a piece and move it. There are two possible kind of moves while playing Hexxagon: you can move by one or by two spaces. When you move by one space, your piece is duplicated into that space. When you move by two spaces, your piece jumps to that position. You can only move to free positions. When you move (or duplicate), you will turn the oppontent's pieces next to your own moved piece to your colour. WHEN THE GAME ENDS The game ends when a player has no more piecese on the board, when there are are no more free positions on the board or when a player has been blocked and cannot move. In the first case, the player who has vanished the other wins. In the latter case, the game is won by the player who has the more pieces on the board. In the last case, the free positions on the board are all assigned to the player who blocked the other. The game is won by the player who has the more pieces on the board. HOW TO PLAY You can use either the keyboard or a mouse. If you wish to use a mouse connected to your 3-Link cable, you simply have to put a null modem adapter between your 3-Link and your mouse, then start the game. Please read the mouse documentation at the end of this file before connecting it. You can press the Menu or the Help key in every moment. If the Series-3a is thinking about his own move, you will have to wait about 2-5 seconds before the game responds your wishes. THE MAIN MENU When the game starts or when the user presses the Menu key, Hexxagon will show its main menu. You can select players level simply by clicking on the respective button or on the corresponding writing. The little icons on the bottom of the screen gives, in order, to exit from the game, to start a new game, to continue a running game (this option can be unselectable if there is no current game), or to enter the sound volume menu. Pressing the Menu key while in the main menu takes you back to the current game or, is none, starts a new one. HOW TO PLAY Using the keyboard, you move the pointer by pressing the arrow keys and pressing Space or Enter to select a piece. To make a move, first select your own piece (it will see it changing its colour), then select a destination position. If you decide you will not move a piece you have already selected, you can deselect it the same way. Please note that, as Hexxagon make an extensive use of the CPU, it automatically enter the Pause Mode when you switch to another task (or when an alarm rings). If S3a is thinking about its move when you switch to another task, it will enter Pause Mode after doing its move. Finally, note that Hexxagon will not let the S3a switch off if it is not in the Pause Mode. ┌─────────────────────┐ ──────────────────────────┤ MEMORY REQUIREMENTS ├─────────────────────────────── └─────────────────────┘ Hexxagon has been written mostly thinking about graphics, but never forgetting that the Series-3a is a multitasking computer and, therefore, that memory could be needed and used by other running programs. That's why graphics is accessed on-the-fly instead that loading it permanently in memory. During initialization, Hexxagon requires about 62k; after inizialization, it requires about 35-40k. ┌──────────────────────────────────────┐ ──────────────────┤ JUST A FEW WORDS ON COMPUTER PLAYING ├────────────────────── └──────────────────────────────────────┘ The hardest part in the development of this game was, obviously, the S3a thinking. I started with a simple level (now the Basic level) which simply evaluated his own best move. How you will see during playing, this is not a very good playing technique, as the S3a cannot understand when you are going to blast him away 5 or even 6 pieces. So, I thought about writing a more sophisticated routine which evaluates the best move in contrapposition of the next player's best move. Such a way, S3a can close himself in defense if he sees that you are going to strike him. When the OPL routine was ready, I made the S3a Hard level play vs himself, and noticed what I already thought: the thinking times were 30-90 seconds each move. Absolutely unacceptable! I ported the OPL routines to C, compiled it via assembly and optimized the assembly code. Results were fantastic: now the S3a moves in about 1-5 seconds. Just think that the DOS version of Hexxagon (running on an Intel Pentium 90MHz) takes 0-4 seconds to move. I have made several testing games with both the DOS and Windows shareware versions of this game and (I did not belive what I saw) the S3a always crushed away his computer opponents. Nowadays, the only one who beated the Hard level is my girlfriend Francesca (she won 30-28, then the had a tie). I do not want to say that this game is the most powerful opponent you will ever see, but only that I succeeded in making it playing over my own dreams: I never thought I could write a I/A routine which could play with a human a such sophisticated game without always losing (and without making a move each minute)! At the time of writing, the thinking routines cannot recognize if the other player is going to block him or, if the S3a is losing the game, is not able to decide of jumping instead of duplicating to make the game last longer and being able to win. I think that such routines would have increased the thinking time to much, while seldom would be truly used while playing. ┌─────────────────────────────┐ ──────────────────────┤ USING A RS-232 SERIAL MOUSE ├─────────────────────────── └─────────────────────────────┘ The main idea of connecting a mouse to the S3a was taken from Marko Schuster, who wrote the first program accessing serial mouse with S3/S3a. I thought its idea was good, so I developed a new version of his software without the bugs of the original one (for example, the program often did not synchronize the mouse 5 bytes packet and was not able to understand if the mouse was connected or not). I tested my routines some months ago, then I lost my 3-Mouse connector, so I was not able to test them on Hexxagon. If it does not work, please inform me and I will fix it as soon as I can. Remember that on S3a only one process can open the serial port; if you want to connect and use a mouse, you must disable the Remote Link before running the game. If you do not have the original Marko package, here is a small passage taken from his text file: "The mouse .. it must be a serial PC-mouse. Mouses for Amiga/C64/Atari/.. will not work. To use a mouse, it must be connected with the serial link of the S3(a). But between both you need a (null)modem-adapter (changes SD&RD, DTR&DSR, RTS&CTS). An other solution is to make your own cable or to change the pins directly on the S3-Link-cable (for example, i have cut the 9pin-connector and have made a 9pin-connecter which i can directly connect with my mouse. Note if you do this: be sure that the other connector is NOT connected to your PC! It wouldn't work.. if all Serial links have the same colors on their pins, such a new 9pin- connecter must be make as followed: Pin Color 1 empty 2 brown 3 red 4 black 5 blue & shield 6 green 7 yellow 8 orange 9 empty I MAKE NO WARRANTY IF THIS IS CORRECT. I MAKE NO WARRANTY IF YOU DAMAGE YOUR PSION!!!" ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ ────────────────────┤ TRADEMARKS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ├───────────────────────── └─────────────────────────────────┘ Series-3a is trademark of PSION. Help compiler by Jezar at PSION. ╔═══════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ THANKS FOR PLAYING HEXXAGON ║ ║ (AND FOR REGISTERING IT!) ║ ║ ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════╝