Software of the Month Club 1996 June

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Text File | 1995-01-01 | 21.4 KB | 446 lines | [TEXT/hscd]

****************************************************************************** ╓── ┐ ╓ ─╖ ╥ ╓─┐ ╥─┐ ╖ ─╖ ╥─┐ ╖ ╟─ │ ║ ║ ║ ║ │ ║ │ ╟─┐ ┬ ╥ ║ ╓┐ ╓┐ ─╖ ╟\│ ╓┐ ┌─╖ ║ ┬─╥─╖ ╨ └─╜ ╙─ ╨ ╙─┘ ╨ └ ╙─┘ └─╢ ╙─ ╙─┘ ╙─┘ ╙─ ╨ └ ╙─┘ └─╨┘ ╙─ ┴ ╨ ╨ ─╜ ******** Copyright (C) 1993-1995 by Ken Zeltner. All rights reserved. ******** Fuzion challenges geniuses to fit together polyomino shapes in a variety of colorful puzzle games. Play with either the 12 familiar Pentominoes or the overwhelming 35 Hexominoes. The automatic solve mode features an amazing "visual algorithm" that exhaustively locates all possible solutions (for all of us that don't quite qualify as geniuses). Fuzion brings the power of PC computers to this fascinating diversion which has intrigued puzzle enthusiasts for years. Most the information below (except for the legal/technical stuff which you will be quizzed on) is covered by online help, so if you want to skip through this file it's quite easy to begin playing right away. Here's a copy of the online help that you can easily print out using your favorite ASCII editor as a handy reference . QUICK FUZION HELP MOVEMENT Select active piece with 1 thru = R - Select active Rack of Hexominoes (or PageDown) Slide piece around board with D - Spin piece clockwise S - Spin piece counter-clockwise F - Flip piece over (twist) G - Flip piece over (timber) EDITING Reselect piece on board with 1 thru = Remove selective pieces with SHIFT+ 1 thru = Remove with CTRL+ 1 thru = (using Num Lock pad) X - Remove pieces in reverse order (or Backspace) N - New board (destroys work in progress) MODES aA- Automatically solve puzzle (ALT+A) Any Manual Mode key (like S D ) exits Auto B - Board selection (3X20 6X10 8X8 12X20 etc.) B - also Board Designer & select Pentomino/Hexomino P - Adjust and customize color Palette F2- Solutions Mode library F3- Play Knozone (ESCape exits) F4- Play Zurvivors (ESCape exits) F5- Display the most Rugged Zurvivors F6- Screen Saver SOLUTIONS MODE Scroll thru solutions with HOME PG END V - View solution (then type # and ENTER) G - Grab typed in solution # to manual board T - Take top left solution to manual board NOT to MENTION ,<- Shrink puzzle board (faster Auto) .>- Enlarge puzzle board (slower Auto) C - Change board Color (ALT+C reverses) H - Toggle Hatching for flipped-over pieces L - Toggle alternate paLette M - Toggle sound (Music) V - Toggle Vacillating the 2 slowest pieces W - Increase search speed (ALT+W reduces speed) Q - QUIT Fuzion and exit to DOS ****FUZION DETAILS**** The object of Fuzion is to fit all the pieces together like a puzzle. This may seem easy considering there are thousands of solutions, but it is quite tough to find even one without computer help. Fuzion is based on the exact science of polyominoes. Each of the playing pieces is formed by joining together squares along the edges. The set of pieces used comprise all possible arrangements. Pieces that can be made to look the same by rotation or flipping over (reflection) are considered the same. A piece will fit differently in the puzzle when flipped over if it has no line of symmetry. Six Pentomino pieces are symmetrical and six are not. Most pieces fit differently for each of the four rotations, but two Pentomino pieces have only two rotations, and the #1 piece is unique in staying the same no matter what. In Manual Mode the "S D F G" keys manipulate and demonstrate these properties. Since there are five squares per Pentomino and twelve pieces, they should fit on boards with exactly sixty squares. Sixty is very factorable, making it possible to solve rectangular 6X10, 5X12, 4X15, and 3X20 boards. Many other interesting board shapes made from sixty squares have been proposed and solved. The 35 Hexominoes fit on boards with exactly 210 squares. There are no known solutions to rectangular Hexomino boards (or any other "even checkerboard" pattern). Each solved board can be flipped-over on the long side, the short side, and both ways combined making it appear there are four different solutions. These rotations and reflections are not considered unique solutions. The 6X10 board has 2339 solutions. However, there are 9356 different ways to solve a new board. The included solutions files are sorted in standard form where the #1 piece is in the upper left quadrant. Having trouble solving Fuzion? Just switch to "A"uto Mode and let your computer show-off. While in Auto,watch arrangements flash by as the CPU races through its exhaustive search algorithm or use "W"arp speed for the fastest solutions. The < and > keys control speed indirectly by altering board size. While running at warp speed, the "A" key can be used to take progress snapshots. Start an Auto search after manually placing as many pieces as you can then interrupt, modify, and restart the search at any time. The Auto algorithm searches in the reverse order of your placements; if all possible fits for a piece have been tried it falls off the bottom right hand corner and is placed back in its natural search order that is permanently displayed on screen. "F2" displays the solutions library which can retrieve solutions to the manual board as starting points. The library grows as each new solution you find is saved. ****ALMOST EVERYTHING ELSE**** "B"oard selection switches among the rectangular Pentomino 3X20, 4X15, 5X12, and 6X10 boards with 2, 368, 1010, and 2339 known solutions respectively. Custom boards are created by selecting the 8X8, 10X15, or 12X20 boards which have 4, 90, and 10 movable "holes". While in Designer Mode holes are selected with "J" and "K" and moved with the arrow keys; double holes are not allowed since all boards must have exactly 60 or 210 squares. Switch to Hexominoes simply by selecting the 12X20 board. Fuzion is designed to keep your left hand on the SDFG keys to rotate and flip pieces while your right hand is on the arrows to slide the piece. New pieces are easy to select with your right hand using the num lock pad. The regular white "-" key and the num lock grey "-" key select the 11th piece . The white "=" key selects the 12th piece as does the grey "/" num lock key. Use "R"ack or PageDown to select among the 3 different Hexomino sets. Pieces can be selectively removed using SHIFT+ 1 thru = (top row regular keys) or using CTRL+ num lock 0 thru 9, -, and /. You also have the option to slide pieces with SHIFT+ num lock arrow keys. If the working piece has been slid out of bounds, pressing "S" or "D" will rotate it back into view. Remove pieces in reverse order with "X" (left hand) or BACKSPACE (right hand). The board size can be zoomed to min or max with shifted "<" and ">". Unshifted "," and "." change the board size in small increments. Near misses are displayed in the bottom right hand corner. Running totals are kept for the number of times _all but_ 1, 2, or 3 pieces fit. If a board solves it can be saved and then easily "G"rabed from Solutions Mode for reuse (press "B"oard again to modify it) If you start with a new board and an "A"uto search displays the "Search was restarted" message before any solutions are found, the board has no solutions. To save a board on which you have manually placed all 12 pieces just press ALT+A. The solution will be saved and can then be viewed with F2. Registered users can press F12 making Auto run continuously and build large solution files. Solutions are stored in files with the .SOL extension with one for each board; 6X10.SOL, 5X12.SOL, etc. A back-up of the complete solutions file can be stored by renaming say 6X10.SOL to 6X10.BAK. New solutions are stored chronologically at the end of the respective file. New solution files will be created if the board's .SOL file is not found on the FUZION.EXE working directory. Fuzion works fine under Windows as a full sized screen (Use Settings on - Menu) but it will not work properly running in a window since Fuzion keeps the CPU very busy as its "visual algorithm" searches for solutions. Weirdness you may trigger by experimenting with the keyboard will not do any harm to your computer; only Fuzion operation and/or bugs are affected. In addition to basic puzzle solving there are also several derived games. ****ZURVIVORS**** In Zurvivors you place six pieces in an arrangement that hopefully will be part of a solved puzzle. Your six pieces are randomly selected at the start of a turn and can not be changed. Make your best arrangement then press ALT+ "A"uto to start a computer solution search using your base. Make sure there are no overlaps, out of bounds, or trapped blank spaces not divisible by 5 or a solution will be impossible. First all six pieces are checked for being part of a solution. If not, the sixth piece moves off and the remaining five pieces are checked. This continues until a solution is found or only two of your pieces remain. You receive one point for each piece left where you placed it. You receive no points if there's no solution before your third piece moves. While Auto searching use only the (A C V W <>) controls, or you are penalized. Once at least six rounds are completed, your "Piece Zurviving Average" is saved as a Rugged Zurvivor (view with F5) if your PZA is good enough. Here are a few technical tips to improve your score. The Auto search goes from top left to bottom right, so try to fill the top left corner. Pieces move off in the reverse order of your placement. Reselecting and moving a piece kept on the board does not change its order, but removal with "X" for example does. When one of your placed piece moves off, the Auto search resumes using its initial orientation. This is a big factor in reaching a solution. For example, the #9 piece has four different rotations and can be flipped over, giving it eight orientations. If you place it in its sixth orientation, the first five are skipped by the Auto search. The pieces on the bottom display are shown in the first orientation. They rotate clockwise, flip over (twist), and rotate clockwise again as the Auto search proceeds. Often there is a trade-off between your favorite high score configuration and the chance of reaching lower point solutions if the 4th, 5th, or 6th piece is placed in a high orientation. ****KNOZONE**** The object of KnoZone is to place pieces you select so your opponent will be unable to place his final piece. There is a lot of flexibility with the first few moves, but plan ahead or you will get squeezed out of the last move. Press "K"eep to alternate turns when satisfied with your placements. If you can not place any of the remaining pieces (or you don't see a move), press "N"ew to end the round. The round winner receives one point for each piece left unplaced. The player starting the next round is randomly selected. A smiley face always flags the placer. There is no set point total to reach. Careful, piece selection can not be changed and "K"ept pieces can not be moved again. To play the computer opponent algorithm, Al Gorim, just enter enter for player #2. ****POLYOMINO SCIENCE**** (Not included in online Help) Pentomino board arrangements and possible solutions have been studied for decades. The total number of unique solutions for the rectangular 6X10, 5X12, 4X15 and 3X20 boards have been verified independently. In fact, way back in 1958 the MANIAC computer was programmed to search for Pentomino solutions. Fuzion running in Continuous Mode (press F12 on registered versions) will list out all 2339 possible 6X10 solutions in about an hour on a 486 66MHz. Care must be taken to include only solutions with the #1 piece (+) in the upper left quadrant. Some duplicate solutions are generated by Fuzion; for example, the #2 piece (all squares in line) can fit on the far left side or the far right side of the 5X12 board with the #1 piece in the upper left quadrant. One of these sets is a reflection of the other 11 pieces. _The_ classic solution (the other solution is a simple "break-off" rotation of the first) to the 3X20 board should be attempted without computer help, if you want a truly gratifying experience. Speaking of "break-offs/outs"... many solutions contain subsections of pairs, triplets, or more, that switch around while the remainder of the solution pieces stay fixed. In fact, there are 2 and only 2 rectangular 5X6 shapes that can be formed using all 12 pieces (see 6X10 Solution #1369) and one group has a movable pair, so 16 different solutions can be easily demonstrated starting with any one of the group. If anyone has figured-out how many of the 2339 6X10 solutions, for example, are unique not counting "break-offs", let us all know. So far, the greatest number of jagged edges or "steps" known on a solved Pentomino board is 19 (see 10X15 Solution #10). Careful examination of the individual pieces indicates as many as 21 "steps" may be possible. So far, at least 1 solution has been found for every 8X8 board with the 4 holes anywhere, except for the obvious case of trapping a single square between 4 holes grouped together with the corners touching. It is very difficult to find Hexomino solutions, even using warp Auto speed. We suggest carefully fitting together approximately 20 of the 35 pieces before launching an Auto search. Rearrange if the near miss counters dont pile-up after about 15 minutes. Golomb's theory shows that 11 Hexominoes have an "even" checkerboard pattern so it's impossible to solve rectangular boards (7X30, 10X21, etc). Wonder how long he tried to solve the boards before deciding it would be easier to prove it couldn't be done. In other words, 24 pieces have a checkerboard pattern with 3 "white" and 3 "black" squares, these will cancel each other out. The remaining 11 "even" pieces have 4 "whites" and 2 "blacks" (or vice versa). So, if 10 of these cancel each other (a 4white-2black cancels a 2white-4black), the last piece will have an extra white (or black). Therefore, boards with 106 white and 104 black squares (or vice versa) are solvable but 105 whites and 105 blacks (rectangular for example) are not. By similar reasoning, boards with 108 whites and 102 blacks, or 98 whites and 112 blacks, for example, are also solvable. Generally, boards with symetrical hole patterns are not solvable. When designing a new board check for a valid checkerboard pattern, unless you are trying to find an exception to Golomb's rule (good luck). Using the fastest Fuzion search algorithm on present day PC computers, it takes years to try all possible arrangements for solving a Hexomino board (compared to hours for Pentomino boards). ****PalPal**** (Not included in online Help) PalPal is a simple little utility designed to quickly and easily change the color of the polyomino pieces. Just press "P" to use it. The controls on PalPal are quite intuitive once you have tried it for a few seconds. First select which of the colors to change with the "<" and ">" keys, notice the selection pointer. Then select either Red, Green, or Blue hue with the left and right arrows. Finally, adjust the actual color with the up and down arrows keys. Background color (normally black) is adjusted as color #0. It is best to enter PalPal with a solved board so you can check the contrast between pieces. A typical setting is shown like this: 32 Red 55. The first number is the initial value that was there before you started fooling with it and the second value is your new hue setting. The value runs from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 63 for each of 3 hues, for each of 16 colors, which gives you something like a million different possible arrangements. ****TECHNICAL STUFF**** Requires: EGA/VGA 640 X 480 16 color mode Fuzion only requires about 140K bytes of memory. All these Fuzion files should be in the same directory: FUZION.EXE - The main program; just get in the Fuzion directory and enter Fuzion at the DOS prompt to start the game. 6X10.SOL - File containing solutions. (Fuzion can recreate) 8X8.SOL - File containing solutions. (Fuzion can recreate) 10X15.SOL - File containing solutions. (Fuzion can recreate) (Version 2.6 [].sol files are not compatible with earlier versions.) RUGGED.ZUR - Best scores in Zurvivors. (Fuzion can recreate) FUZION.DOC - This file. FILE_ID.DIZ - Automatically writes game description on BBSs. In case the original file_id.diz is lost or altered; here it is again: ▄█ A variety of colorful VGA puzzle games █▄ Play with the 12 familiar Pentominoes or 35 awesome all new Hexomino shapes on an overwhelming puzzle board of 210 squares. Thousands of known solutions, but finding one is quite tough. Or...switch to auto and solutions amazingly pop-up in seconds! Features new board designer & screen-saver Includes derived games: Zurvivors & Knozone ▀█ Updated 1995 version 2.6 by ZeezRealm █▀ Everyone is encouraged to give copies of this Shareware package to friends and uploading on local BBSs is greatly appreciated. The compressed files package should be named FUZION26.[ZIP]. Permission is granted to distribute copies of this software subject to the following conditions: 1. The software may not be altered in any way and shall include the FUZION.EXE, FUZION.DOC, and sample .sol files. 2. Distribution terms shall explain that this software is for a limited time demonstration and that further payment to the Shareware author by the customer is required for continued usage, registration upgrade and ownership. 3. Software distribution charges shall be limited to recovery of copying and overhead costs and shall not exceed $5. 4. The software may not be bundled with other commercial products, except on shareware CD-ROMs, without prior written permission. ****REGISTRATION INFO**** We won't go through the whole Shareware spiel again, let's just say a lot of effort went into the development of this program, so if you like it and use it regularly, payment of the requested registration fee will be greatly appreciated. Upon registering you will receive the latest (and fastest) version of Fuzion with the newest enhanced features. Automatic solution mode is allowed on all boards, so boards you have created in Designer mode can be rapidly solved. Your favorite solved boards can be saved and reused for KnoZone or Zurvivors. Al Gorim, the KnoZone computer opponent is more advanced and challenging. For reference, complete solutions files are included for each rectangular board, including each of the 2339 unique 6X10 solutions. Improvements and all new derived games are also included. If you have any ideas for a new derived game, send us the ground rules and we'll try to develop software for the next release. You will also be supporting work for the next Fuzion level using Heptominoes. There are 108 possible pieces formed with 7 squares, so boards will have 756 squares. Let's hope there's a "Hexium" chip by then. Working out all 108 possible arrangements on paper is quite a challenge. Trust us, there are 108. Registered users will be notified when higher level programs are available and will be eligible for discounts. Fuzion v2.6 is distributed as Shareware by: * ZeezRealm * * 19786 Hildebrand St * * South Bend, IN 46614 * The registration fee of only $10 US should be sent to the permanent address above which is guaranteed valid through the year 2002. Notice to players outside the United States: To send payment, go to your local post office and get a POSTAL MONEY ORDER made out in U.S. Dollars. Your post office can then mail your game order form and money order for you. Hope you enjoy regular Fuzion transfusions! Thanks for your support. Here's a Registration Form you can print out using your favorite ASCII editor. Fuzion v2.6 Registration Form Please send me the registered version of Fuzion. This registered version gives me the ability to design and automatically solve a wide variety playing boards and includes solutions files, derived games, and latest enhancements. As a ZeezRealm member I will also receive discounts and notices of future product releases. Name:________________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________ Apt:___________ City: _______________________ State: ______ Zip:__________ Price is only $10 US per registered copy. TOTAL ENCLOSED: _______ Diskette Type: 3.5 [ ] 5.25 [ ] Please make payment by check or money order payable to "ZeezRealm". Shareware version obtained from:_____________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Please include any comments, suggestions, or bug reports to improve the quality of this program: ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Send to the following (permanent) address: ZeezRealm 19786 Hildebrand St. South Bend, IN 46614 (Cut & Glue me)