Planet Multimedia 1/GAME.ISO/mancala/mancala.doc

Text File | 1994-10-23 | 19.2 KB | 407 lines

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        │ (C) Copyright 1990-1994, RCSOFT    Written by Renier Crause │
        ╘═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛

┌─────────────────────────┐
│ Introduction            │
╘═════════════════════════╛
  Mancala is often called the national game of Africa.  I've never seen
  a computer implementation, of this simple, but brilliant game, so I've
  decided to write one myself.  It seems fit that someone from Africa
  should write an implementation of an African game.

  Mancala has very simple rules, and each turn only has one of six
  possible moves, but still the it requires quite a bit of skill and
  foresight to realize what the consequences of each move will be.  It
  is not for nothing that Mancala is sometimes called African Chess.

┌─────────────────────────┐
│ Requirements            │
╘═════════════════════════╛
  This program requires the following:
    ■ MS-DOS 3.x of higher
    ■ 286 or higher CPU
    ■ VGA/MCGA Adapter with Color Monitor.
    ■ Mouse with driver loaded.

┌─────────────────────────┐
│ The Rules               │
╘═════════════════════════╛
  Mancala is not really a game on its own, but more a collection of over
  two hundred games, all linked to the same fundamental rules.

  Essentially Mancala is a two-player board game.  The board consits of
  two rows of cups, six cups on each side, and several playing pieces,
  usually called seeds or stones. The board is then divided into two
  halves along the length of the board.  Player 1 in the computer
  version always playes the bottom side and Player two the top cups.
  Each Player also has a home cup which contains the pieces he has
  captured.  The home cup for Player 1 is at the right end of the board,
  and Player 2 at the left.

  This computer version of Mancala, implements 3 different variations of
  play:  ■ Awari
         ■ Ayo
         ■ Oware

  In all these variations, play is based on the principal of sowing.
  Sowing is done by taking up all the stones in any of your cups, and
  then distributing these stones in an anti-clockwise direction around
  the board, starting with the cup adjacent to the cup to be sowed from.
  You must drop excatly one stone in each cup, and no cups may be
  skipped from this sowing procedure.  When the end of your cups are
  reached you keep on sowing in an anti-clockwise direction, by
  continuing on your opponents side.  In Awari the sowing also includes
  the home cups, but not in Ayo or Oware.  Note that you may only start
  sowing from any of the cups on your own side.

  Because the game is based on where the last stone of a sowing lands,
  my implementation as an optional guide, which will highlite the cup
  the last stone will land.  Because it is sometimes difficult to
  distinguish the stones in a cup, the right mouse button will also
  indicate how many stones there are in any cup.  The total number of
  stones in the home cups, are continuesly displayed at the bottom of
  the home cup.

  All three variations start with four stones in each cup, and none in
  the home cups.  Player 1 starts the first game, and the the loser of
  the previous game gets to start the next.  It does have a small
  advantage to start, especially in Awari.

  The purpose of the game is to capture as many stones as possible, the
  player with the most stones, in the end, wins the game.

  Play continues until all the stones on either side of the board are
  depleted.  Since there are only 48 stones in total, any player who has
  25 or more stones naturally wins, and the game is ended.

┌─────────────────────────┐
│ Awari                   │
╘═════════════════════════╛
  Awari is the simplest and easiest of the variations, and should be
  learned first.

  In Awari you can capture stones on any side of the board by sowing,
  and droppping your last stone an empty cup directly opposite the the
  stones you want to capture.  Thus, for example, if your last stone
  lands in your last cup, which is empty, you will capture all the
  stones in your opponents first cup, which is directly opposite the
  empty cup.  This last stone of the sowing is also caputured.  Note
  that any number of stones can be captured in a single sowing.  If your
  last stone lands in a non-empty cup, you caputure no stones.  Either
  way, your turn is over, and your opponent plays, by sowing from any of
  his cups.

  As sowing in Awari includes the home cups, your last stone can land in
  a home cup.  If your last stone lands in your own home cup, you get
  another turn.  Thus if you have, for example, only one stone in your
  last cup, and decide to sow it, this stone will land in the home cup,
  and you get another turn.

┌─────────────────────────┐
│ Ayo                     │
╘═════════════════════════╛
  Ayo is a little bit more skillful than Awari, but easier than Oware.
  The rules are still simple though.  Ayo is actually the most
  satisfying of the rules for me.

  Sowing doesn't include the home cups.

  To capture your opponent's pieces, your last stone of a sowing must
  land in a cup at the opposite side of the board, which contains either
  1 or 2 stones, (2 or 3 after sowing).  You then capture these 2 or 3
  stones, and they are placed in your home cup.  The capture is also
  recursive of nature.  That is, if the penultimate cup, after sowing,
  also contains 2 or 3 stones, then these stones are also captured, and
  the same for the cup before it, and before it, etc.  This must be in
  running order from the last cup, thus if the penultimate cups has four
  stones, the cup before it is not captured.

  Note that stones can only be captured on the opponent's side of the
  board, not on your own side.  Thus you shoud try to protect the stones
  on your side, by not leaving one or two stones in a cup.  Empty cups,
  or cups with more than 2 stones are safe.

┌─────────────────────────┐
│ Oware                   │
╘═════════════════════════╛
  Oware is the most difficult of the variations implemented, and I would
  strongly advise that you first master Awari and Ayo before playing
  Oware.

  Again sowing excludes the home cups.

  To capture stones, your last stone of a sowing must land in a cup
  that contains excatly 3 stones (4 after sowing).  The last cup can be
  on either side of the board.  If your last stone captures, or lands in
  an empty cup, it marks the end of your turn, and your opponent sows
  next.

  If your last stone of a sowing lands in a cup containing 1,2 or more
  than 3 stones, you take up these stones in the last cup, and continue
  sowing leaving that cup empty.  This keeps on going until your last
  stone lands in an empty cup, or a cup containing 3 stones.

  While you are sowing, if you ever sow a stone into a cup containing
  exactly three stones, the player on whose side these stones are, can
  take them, and place them in his own home cup, except of course for
  the last stone, where the player who sowed gets the stones,
  independently of the side it's on.

┌─────────────────────────┐
│ The controls            │
╘═════════════════════════╛
  The entire game is controlled with mouse.  In all buttons the first
  letter of the text on the button will also activate it.

  The game will start with a title screen.  Press any key, or a mouse
  button to continue to the menu screen.  On the menu screen you can
  select the variation of the game you want to play by clicking with the
  left mouse button on the name of the variation.  The X-mark next to
  the name shows the currently selected variation.

  Clicking on the Exit button (or pressing Escape) will exit to DOS.

  The Help button will display a window with a short summary of the
  rules of each variation.  Click on the small button in the top-left
  corner of the help window to close the window.

  The Options button will display a dialog box with options for:
   ■ Number of Players (1 or 2)
     One player will mean you against the computer.  In two player mode
     two humans can play, by swapping the mouse between them.
   ■ Guide (on or off)
     This turns the highlight guide, which shows you where your last
     stone wil land, on or off.  The guide is especially useful for
     beginners, but even to advanced players it's still faster and
     easier to play with the guide on.
   ■ Sound (on or off)
     Mancala does have some simple digitized sounds, which can be played
     through the SoundBlaster card, or through the PC-Speaker if no
     SoundBlaster is detected.  This switch can turn these sounds off.
     Note that the /N command-line option, will disable all sounds.

  Press the Start button to continue into playing area.  The board will
  be displayed together with a info box at the bottom and a pull-down
  menu at the top.

  The info box at the bottom contains the following:
    ■ A globe
      The lit globe shows whose turn it is.  The other player's globe
      will be dark.
    ■ Accumulative score
      For each player this will show how many games he has won, since
      the last time you were at the menu screen.  Note that the
      accumulative score is reset to zero each time you return to the
      menu screen.
    ■ Player type icon
      The icon at the right of each player's info box just indicate if
      it's a human player or a computer player.

   The pull-down menu at the top left of the screen can be activated my
   clicking with any mouse button on the menu button, and then holding
   in the button, and releasing at the desired option.  The pull-down
   menu offer the following controls:
     ■ TakeBack
       This will take back the last move made.  Note that only your
       last move can be taken back, and not any number of moves.
       This option can also be ativated by pressing 'T' anytime.
     ■ Resign
       If you see that there is no way of winning this particuar game
       you can resign, and your opponent's accumulative score will be
       increased.  A new game can then be started.
       This option can also be ativated by pressing 'R' anytime.
     ■ Hint
       This is for those moments when you just don't know what the best
       move will be.  The computer will generate the best move, it
       thinks, for you and then it will place your mouse cursor in the
       cup that it recommends.  You can then just click if you want to
       play the hint move.  The hints are based on the same strategy
       that the computer uses to play it's side.
       This option can also be ativated by pressing 'H' anytime.
     ■ Quit
       This will return you to the menu screen.  Note that the
       accumulative scores will also be reset.
       This option can also be ativated by pressing 'Q' or Escape anytime.

  To play the game, you can use the left mouse button in the cup you
  want to sow.  The right mouse button will display the number of stones
  in that cup.  Note that you can just move the mouse cursor into a cup,
  and the guide will be displayed, highlighting where the last stone of
  a sowing from this cup will land.  The guide can be turn off from the
  options dialog box in the menu screen.

  When the game ends, a dialog box will appear showing the scores.  The
  winner's name will be indented.  You will then be asked if you want to
  play another game.

┌─────────────────────────┐
│ Command line options    │
╘═════════════════════════╛
  Usage:  MANCALA [options]

  /N    - No Sound effects
          All sounds are disabled.  The sound files will still be loaded
          and the sounds can be re-enabled with the sound switch in the
          options dialog box.

  /S    - Use PC-Speaker even if SoundBlaster detected
          Use this option, if you have a SoundBlaster but want to here
          how it sound on the PC-Speaker, or if the SoundBlaster doesn't
          work correctly.  This option will force that no SoundBlaster
          detection routine is run.

  /A### - SoundBlaster PORT to use (in hex) ex. /A220
          Specify the BaseIO port to use for the SoundBlaster.  If none
          specified, then Mancala will first check for your BLASTER
          environment setting, and if this is missing it will
          autodetect.  If autodetect fails it will default to 220h.

  /I#   - SoundBlaster IRQ to use ex. /I7
          Specify IRQ value for SB.  If not specified the game will
          first check for BLASTER enviromenment variable, if that fails
          it will default to 7.

┌─────────────────────────┐
│ History                 │
╘═════════════════════════╛
  History of all released versions.  Versions not mentioned were not
  released to the public.

    v1.0   94-10  First version released.

┌─────────────────────────┐
│ Other RC-SOFT products  │
╘═════════════════════════╛
  Some other creations by me, Renier Crause, which should be available
  where you found this program.  All these programs should also be
  available for FTP, on site "ftp.sun.ac.za" directory "/pub/msdos/za"

  DDIR  -  Replacement for the dos "dir" command, with many more
           options, including 4DOS descriptions and extended wildcards,
           like in Unix.  Uses colors to display different filetypes in
           different colors.
           Newest Version:  9.3
           Filename: RCDIR930.ZIP

  DDEL  -  Deletes entire subdirectory trees.  More options and more
           powerful than Deltree.  Also shows how much space will be
           freed.
           Newest Version:  2.7
           Filename: RCDEL270.ZIP

  RCCOPY - A nice interface, to select files and then copy these files
           onto diskettes, filling each upto brim, by seach for a file
           until a file is found that will fit onto the floppy.  Gives a
           constant display of statistics while copying.
           Newest Version:  3.1
           Filename: RCCOPY31.ZIP

  DARTS -  Darts game with VGA graphics, and a mouse.  Different darts
           games like 301,501,Killer and N.J.M ar supported.  All games
           are played with the mosue, which isn't as stable as it
           usually is.  Upto 4 players can play, or you can test your
           skills against the computer.
           Newest Version:  4.01
           Filename: DARTS401.ZIP

  SPUZZLE - Sliding puzzle game that works on VESA compatible SuperVGA
            cards.  Uses Sound Blaster or PC-Speaker for sound.
            Strategy game that isn't as easy as it looks.
            Requires 1Meg SVGA or 512k SVGA with 512k XMS free.
            Newest Version:  1.25
            Filename: SPZLE125.ZIP

  MANCALA - A computer implementation of the very popular Afican board
            game called Mancala.  Uses nice VGA/MCGA graphics and a
            mouse to control.  SoundBlaster of PC-Speaker supported.
            All rules are included, so beginners can learn the game.
            This game is often called African Chess.
            Newest version:  1.0
            Filename: MANCLA10.ZIP

  If you have eMail access, and you can't get any of the above programs,
  feel free to contact me, and I'll send it to you.  (eMail only)
  Please Note that the Newest Version mentioned above is the newset when
  this files was written, so newer versions may appear later, since I'm
  always updating my programs, and thus filenmaes may also change to
  show the newer version number.

┌─────────────────────────┐
│ License and copyright   │
╘═════════════════════════╛
  Mancala 1.0  (C) Copyright 1994 RC-SOFT,  All rights reserved!
                                            Written by Renier Crause.

  This program is copyrighted by me, Renier Crause.  That doesn't mean
  you shouldn't copy this program, in fact I order you to give this
  program to every living person you know (it would of course help, if
  the person you give it to, owns a PC).  No, this copyright means you may
  not change my program, or disassemble it without my permission.  This
  program is NOT freeware.

  This program is copyrighted under the Shareware concept.  It is not free
  software, it is rather is look first, pay later scheme.  You may freely
  copy this software (providing you include all files, including this
  document) and I actually ask you to show or give this program to everyone
  you see (heck, I've said that before so maybe it's important!).  If you
  find this program good (or likeable at least) and you continue to use it
  after 30 days, you are required to send me R50 (or $25).  Please send
  International Postal Orders, since cashing a foreign, personal check
  here is a pain, and exspensive.  If you do send a check, then you are
  required to pay $30. See below for my address.  After paying, you will
  become a registered user, and maybe receive free or low-cost
  information and updates, (nothing guaranteed).  eMail users WILL
  receive updates and information, as long as I have access to the
  internet.

  Other credits must go to:
    ■  Barry Naujok for his excellent BNGUI unit which provides graphic
       routines for VGA/SVGA, for use in Pascal.
    ■  Ethan Brodsky for his SBDSP unit which provided the code to play
       the simple sounds through the SoundBlaster.

┌─────────────────────────┐
│ How to contact me       │
╘═════════════════════════╛
  I would prefer you to contact me through eMail.  My internet address
  is:
      [e-mail]
      ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
  Yes you read correctly I'm from South-Africa, and we can actually program
  here (well some of us anyway).  If you don't have access to internet eMail
  (shame on you) you can also reach me at:
      R.G. Crause
      P.O. Box 38141
      Garsfontein X10
      0042 PRETORIA
      South-Africa
  All money should also be sent to the above sMail address.

  PLEASE contact me if you have any comments, suggestions, wish lists,
  bug reports, hate mail etc.  I'll answer all meaningful eMail, and
  even some meaningless ones.  Sorry I can't answer any snail mail
  comments, but I can sure act on any suggestions you mailed to me.

  If you decide to register please tell me what your system looks like,
  you know stuff like which CPU, which graphics etc.  And please include
  what you thought of this program. (Also include the VERSION number please)

  My eMail address would probably only be available until the end of 1994,
  but please still sMail me your eMail address, and maybe I can contact you.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Renier.

  (written on October 24, 1994)

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