for downloads and information on all g.i. products,
visit our new web site at http://www.graphicaindustria.com/interactive
or contact the author at: lakovic@graphicaindustria.com (registration mailing address below)
New to Version 2.5:
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• Rewritten from the ground up! Better routines, bugs be gone!
• Faster play on slow machines (no more slowdowns caused by having sound on).
• New Auto-Build option: All foundation moves happen automatically, try it you'll like it.
• Remembers your preferences: Always turn the sound off? Don't like auto-build? BTD now remembers your options.
• All 'Dragon Dialogs' go away with a single click! I got alot of email from people saying "What does it mean when the dragon says he wins? Is this random? He's blocking some of the cards, but I'm pretty sure I still have moves left.' Now you can click him away, and see for yourself, that when he says he wins, smarmy though he is, he means it!
• Plus a little surprise as the dragon busts you lazy players out there!
Bug Motel: Bugs checked in, but they didn't check out
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• Wacky King bug finally cracked! Previous addicts noticed that every hundred games or so, a crazy card appeared making that game a write-off. Now that elusive bug is finally gone.
• Very high stats bug gone: Some people who need to get out more reported that after a thousand wins or games played etc. the stats numbers started to get confused, showing letters instead. The new score counter is water-tight in this respect (now, having said that, I'm sure I'll get email saying "BTD is acting weird, it's not showing that I played 1,000,000 games and yet I know I have!" ;)
• Several Minor fixes too technical to mention.
Objectives & Rules:
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BEAT THE DRAGON is a solitaire card game. As with most games in the solitaire family, the object is to build four foundation piles (1 in each suit) from Ace to King. The main play area is called the tableau. The rules for play (as well as the registration information) can be found under the apple menu in the main application program. Basically, you move a card or a pile of cards onto the top of another pile. For example, if a King of Hearts is exposed--ie, if it's the top- most card in a pile--you can move a card or a pile of cards onto it only if the card you click on is the Queen of Hearts. This, of course, is only possible if the Queen of Hearts is already in the tableau. If it is, all you have to do is click on the Queen and it (along with any cards that may be resting on it) will be moved automatically to the destination pile (ie, the pile with the King on top). There are also a number of face-down piles, the cards of which can only be brought into play once there are no cards remaining on top of that face-down pile. So, bringing all the face-down cards into play constitutes the main strategy of the game, and any important decisions you make will probably be based on bringing the maximum number of cards into the tableau. Eventually you will create an empty pile: you can play any King (along with any cards that may be resting on that King) into an empty space, again, by simply clicking on the King to be moved. To build onto foundation piles, start by clicking a lone Ace of any suit and then build up and in suit, one card at a time. If you click on a card that can be moved either onto a foundation or elsewhere in the tableau, it will automatically be played onto the foundation since there is no reason whatsoever to postpone a foundation move in this particular version of solitaire (you will discover this for yourself after a game or two). That's it! Sounds easy? Not quite. You're in for hours of adictive fun (at least I hope so).
Shareware Note:
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Please, please, please, read the registration info in the 'About' box under the apple menu in BEAT THE DRAGON. A program like this takes countless hours to design, implement, image, test and debug (and this cycle is itself repeated countless times), before it can be brought to you. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't resent you for having it on your Mac, that was the aim of the project after all! It's just that if you do feel that I have given you more than about $10 worth of entertainment, you might, just possibly, return the favour (let's say, by sending $10 to the author). Many people's intentions are good, but then, who can find a stamp? etc. etc. The idea of Shareware is essentially that you have received a product before you have paid for it, with no particular onus upon you to ever pay for it (now, where else on this planet does that happen?). If you can't afford it, consider it a gift. All I ask is that if you do enjoy the game, if you decide to keep it, put the phrase "Send Tom $10" on your "To-Do" list for today (U.S. Funds are best, but if you live in Canada, $10 Canadian is fine). If you send cash, which is not really a problem, just make sure that it is not visible through your envelope for obvious reasons. Money-orders (which you can get quickly from your next visit to the bank or, in most cases, any post-office as well) are perfectly fine, and cheques are to be prefered but only if they are from Canadian or U.S. banks, since they can cost more than $10 to cash if the funds are drawn from a foreign account. Otherwise just send the equivalent in your country's currency. Be sure to include your email address, comments and/or suggestions for future versions (there is about a 90% chance that if you ask for some specific feature, I will build it in especially for you). At any rate, you are free to distribute BTD so long as you include this ReadMe file with it.
[The address for registering Beat the Dragon appears at the end of this document and in the games 'About' box]
CD-ROM or Mass Media Publishers:
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Any mass-media-type distribution or other publishing proposals must always be directed to the author for approval. GRAPHICAindustria's policy is to help Shareware CD-ROM publishers sell their product only if those publishers reciprocate by sending the Shareware author a complimentary copy of the CD-ROM and/or register a copy of the game for every CD-ROM title it appears on. Also, it must be made clear, somewhere on their packaging that buying the CD is not equivalent to having registered the Shareware contained on it. CD-ROM publishers who do not share this policy of a reciprocal industry, must look elsewhere for their content. Oh yes, special thanks to BMUG.
"Small" Mac owners (Classic, Plus, SE, Portable, SE/30, Classic II)
Version 1.0 of Beat the Dragon was made with you in mind. Though this version (2.5) was made to take full advantage of color macintosh models--it will not work on your computer. If you received this version by accident, you can always download the black and white, mini-Mac version (1.0) from:
http://www.graphicaindustria.com/interactive
or ftp it from your favourite mac archive.
The section on "Small" Macs in that version's Read-Me file tells you more about how and why I support your machines.
Some people registered version 1.0 even though they had colour Macs. This version is dedicated to them and is my way of saying thank you.
Requirements
============
That's easy. If you have a color Mac, this game should work for you (although, no one can predict the behaviour of an application if you are running some buggy inits/extensions).
And finally, very special thanks to Louie and Elliot Mintz, Fred and Stephanie Buck, Leslie Smith and especially Allison (for whom the game was made) for their patient testing and suggestions (though I suspect they had some fun in the process).
