Fun & Games 2 (Canada)

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Text File | 1992-08-10 | 17.9 KB | 305 lines

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ┌─┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ C y b e r b o x II ......... A challenging MS-DOS puzzle game revisited │ │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ by Doug Beeferman. August 1992. See end of file for distribution info. ├─┘ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ O V E R V I E W The response to the original Cyberbox game that I released exactly a year ago well exceeded my expectations. This sequel is a completely rewritten game with a host of improvements, but with the same theme as its predecessor. There are twice as many logic puzzles and a far superior interface, but the keys to winning the game are still forethought and careful problem-solving. S T A R T I N G C Y B E R B O X II To run Cyberbox II from the MS-DOS command line, switch to the directory that contains the file C2.EXE and type "C2". If your display is monochrome, type "C2 /m" instead. The "/m" switch forces black-and-white output and will, of course, work on a color display. Regardless of whether you use the "/m" switch, your machine must have an EGA or VGA display adaptor in order for the program to run. The files C2-01.DAT through C2-04.DAT are level data files (described later) that I've included with the game. Be sure these files stay in the same directory as C2.EXE. At the startup screen, enter your initials, or three letters that will distinguish you from whomever else might play Cyberbox II on your machine. Use these initials each time you login. Now select a level to play. Select level 1 if you're new to the game, level 2 for a challenge, or level 3 for a REAL challenge. Alternatively, select "User-made" and type in two digits to load the level defined in the file C2-##.DAT; do this if you want to play a level that you've created (described later) or that you've added to the game's directory. Once you select a level, Cyberbox II will try to load the level and will report any errors that were encountered in the data file at this time. If no errors are encountered, the game screen will appear and play can begin. L E A R N I N G T O U S E T H E G A M E The screen you see is divided into sections. In the center is the view square, which displays a section of the level you're playing. Above this you'll find a line that displays the number of gems that remain for you to obtain in order to win, as well as a counter of the number of moves you've made. To the left are the keyboard instructions, showing you the various key commands that are available in the game and what they do. At the top right you'll find a miniature overview of the entire level you're playing, and below that, information about the current sound, scrolling, and size statuses. Acquaint yourself with the game by moving your game token (the dot that is initially in the center of the screen) by hitting the arrow keys. Experiment with the following keys as well: ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ┌─┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ Slash (`/`): This key toggles the SCROLLING. When scrolling is ON, │ │ │ your token is always displayed in the center of the view square, and │ │ │ the background moves around it as you move. When the scrolling is │ │ │ OFF, your token changes position, and the background changes only │ │ │ when it goes outside of the view square. Note that the scrolling │ │ │ status DOES NOT AFFECT GAMEPLAY, only your view of things. You may │ │ │ also find that the game is a bit faster when scrolling is off. │ │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ Equals sign (`=`): Hitting this key toggles the SOUND. If you find │ │ │ the beeps of the game annoying, you may wish to turn this OFF. │ │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ Space bar: Hitting the space bar toggles the SIZE. Initially the │ │ │ size is SMALL, but if you'd like to see more of your surroundings │ │ │ you can increase the size of the view square by making it LARGE. │ │ │ In LARGE mode, the instructions are not visible and the status line │ │ │ (gems left and moves) appears undocumented above the miniature level │ │ │ overview on the right of the screen. You'll have to remember, then, │ │ │ to hit the space bar again if you want to return to SMALL mode or │ │ │ peek at the instructions. Note that while both the size is LARGE │ │ │ and the scrolling is ON, the speed of the game is quite a bit slower │ │ │ and may be painfully slow on an 8 Mhz or lower machine. Sorry! │ │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ The number keys: Want to see your surroundings beyond what's │ │ │ there in the view square? Use the numeric keypad to look around a │ │ │ bit without having any effect on the game: 2 to go down, 8 to go │ │ │ up, 9 to go upper-right, etc. When you hit any other key (5 is a │ │ │ handy choice), the view will return to what it was initially. │ │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ ESC: Hit this key and then "Y" at the prompt to quit the game │ │ │ and go back to the login screen. Hit ESC again at the login screen │ │ │ to exit to DOS. │ │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ Question mark (`?`): This key will bring up a page that briefly │ │ │ and oh-so-poetically describes what the game's various boxes do. │ │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ S, R, CTRL-R: These keys are described in their own section below. ├─┘ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Note that when you're viewing your surroundings with the number keys while scrolling is off, you can continue to move the token as long as it's in view. When you approach a puzzle, you may want to turn scrolling off and make the size large if it is not already; then adjust your view as necessary (to see the entire puzzle, for example) with the number keys. P L A Y I N G T H E G A M E The original Cyberbox contained several small levels. I decided it would be more interesting to have much larger levels with several challenges in each level for the sequel; to facilitate this, I needed to change the goal a bit. Your goal is not to escape, as it was in Cyberbox; instead, it is to find and obtain all of the GEMS on a level and then exit the level via an EXIT SIGN. Finding the gems is the easy part. To obtain each gem you will need to keep in mind the same three objectives that you did if you played the original Cyberbox: 1. Clear a pathway to the gem; 2. Avoid obstructing a needed pathway to the gem; 3. Avoid trapping yourself. You can move your game piece ("TOKEN") to a new space only if that space is FREE or if that space contains a BOX that can be pushed in the direction of motion; you can push a stack of blocks if all blocks in the stack can be pushed in the direction of motion. A space is considered to be free if it is LAND or ICE with no box on top. (Land looks like nothing at all, while ice looks like diagonal blue lines.) Invariably, you will obtain gems by pushing boxes around so as to fulfill the objectives above. The boxes in Cyberbox II are summarized below: ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ┌─┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ BLOCKERS: These are the solid red "walls" that not only make up the │ │ │ skeleton of a level but serve to restrict the motion of the token. │ │ │ Blockers never move, and neither the token nor any block type can go │ │ │ through them. │ │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ SLIDERS: There are three kinds of sliders (boxes with arrows): │ │ │ there are yellow sliders, which move up and down; there are blue │ │ │ sliders, which move left and right; and there are green sliders, │ │ │ which move in all four directions. Sliders in general can only be │ │ │ moved in the directions which their arrowheads point. The token, or │ │ │ other blocks, can push sliders, but in the legal directions only. │ │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ PUSHERS: Pushers (cyan boxes with large arrowheads) are like slider │ │ │ that point in only one direction, but they're self-automated. That │ │ │ is, if at ANY TIME during gameplay one of these blocks CAN push in │ │ │ its direction, it WILL. It will push sliders and selectors (below) │ │ │ if legal, but it will NOT push the token. │ │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ SELECTORS: Selectors (white X'd frames) are like green sliders in │ │ │ that they can move in all four directions, but they CAN'T BE PUSHED │ │ │ BY THE TOKEN DIRECTLY. In other words, you will have to push a │ │ │ slider into or cause a pusher to "fall" onto one of these in order │ │ │ to get them to move. │ │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ META-BLOCKERS: These look like blockers (they're red but with │ │ │ large white arrowheads or a white plus sign) and they act like │ │ │ them, too, in that they never move. They also prevent BLOCKS from │ │ │ moving across them, but not the TOKEN. They exist strictly to │ │ │ transport the token to another position. If the token pushes │ │ │ against one of the four "arrowhead" meta-blockers, from ANY SIDE, │ │ │ it will instead push against the square to which the meta-blocker │ │ │ immediately points, and in that direction. If the token pushes │ │ │ against the "plus sign" meta-blocker, it will push against the │ │ │ square opposite the square from which it's pushing. The destination │ │ │ square may be occupied, or it may be another meta-blocker; the same │ │ │ rules apply. If the destination square has a block that cannot be │ │ │ pushed in the appropriate direction, the move is illegal. Note that │ │ │ meta-blockers can be stacked together to act as a single object that │ │ │ moves you from one place to a possibly remote destination. ├─┘ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ If some of these definitions sound confusing, you'll certainly get a better feel for the game by experimenting, particularly in level 1. The concept of ICE is another thing you'll have to explore. Ice is not a type of box, but rather a type of "terrain". The token can exist on top of ice, as can any box type. Consider ice to be "slippery": when you step onto ice you slide, and you continue to slide until either you are no longer on the ice or you run into something! More precisely, upon hitting ice the token (or any box type) tries to push forward in the direction of motion. If this is illegal, it remains where it is-- on top of the ice. Be aware that some blocks are initially at rest on top of ice. Mind the "Gems left" counter at the top of the screen in SMALL mode or above the level overview in LARGE mode. When this reaches zero, you are done with the level and have only to reach the "exit sign" to win. The exit sign looks like the word "EXIT" in white, and in all three levels it's pretty easy to access. S A V I N G, R E S T O R I N G, A N D R E S T A R T I N G If, in your pursuit of gems, you accidentally trap yourself or cut off access to a particular gem, you can't continue play and expect to win. You'll need to either RESTORE or RESTART. If you're just starting to play the level and haven't yet SAVED a game, you'll have to restore. Do this by hitting Ctrl-R. The level data file will be re-read, and you'll start from the beginning as though you had loaded up the game again. But what if you make some progress, and you don't want to start from the beginning if you make a mistake or quit the game for a while? You should save your game by hitting "S" followed by a number of your choice between 1 and 9. Then when you make a mistake or come back later you can restore the game EXACTLY as it was when you saved it by hitting "R" followed by the slot number under which you saved. Games are saved in a file that's distinguished by your initials, the level you're working on, and the slot number under which you saved. So you can save up to nine games per person, per level, assuming you have the disk space! (Each file runs about 6 Kbytes.) When you first start the program and choose a level, the level starts from the beginning. So if you want to continue a saved game from a previous session you need to use restore. Save your game often, particularly in level 3. There's usually no harm in saving after each gem you acquire - unless, of course, you're trapped. In general, the puzzles I've made are in enclosed "rooms", so if you can get a gem and then get out, it's unlikely that you'll affect something somewhere else in the level. Other keys available in the game are Ctrl-B, which switches between color and monochrome modes, Ctrl-N, which blanks the screen until another keypress, and backslash (`\`), which displays your token's coordinates. S C O R I N G The number of legal moves you've made is counted and displayed at the top of the screen or above the level overview, depending on whether the view square size is small or large. This number becomes your score if you ever finish the level you're working on. Lower scores are better, and you therefore want to minimize your moves while retrieving all of a level's gems. Low-score information for the three provided levels is shown on the login screen and is kept in the file C2.SCR. My initials and the score 99999 are shown by default on the login screen, but they're just there to be beaten. My real low scores are as follows: level 1, 373; level 2, 1251; and level 3, 2256. In the Cyberbox documentation I challenged people to beat my score and was dismayed to hear from dozens of people who did it easily. (The best score, incidentally, that's been reported so far for Cyberbox is 2648.) I probably shouldn't make the same challenge here, but I will. Good luck! M A K I N G L E V E L D A T A F I L E S Please see the file included in this archive called DATFILE.DOC. It explains how to make your own levels for Cyberbox II. If you make a level that you feel is interesting, please send it to me. I'll distribute it to registered users as described below. D I S T R I B U T I O N I N F O This game can be distributed freely (with all and only all files included in the .ZIP archive). If you enjoy the game, I'd appreciate a small donation for the effort I put into writing the program and making the levels. My mailing address is: ┌────────────────────────────┐ │ DOUG BEEFERMAN │ │ 904 W. GREEN ST., RM 506 │ │ URBANA, IL 61801 │ └────────────────────────────┘ If you send $7 ($5 plus $2 to cover postage and materials), I'll return the following: (Registered users of Cyberbox or Fiddle, or those who send a self-addressed stamped mailer with disk, need not send the extra $2.) 1. Cyberbox II on disk with its predecessor, Cyberbox. 2. a game of visualization called Fiddle. 3. a small puzzle game called Gripple. 4. the source code in Turbo C to all of these programs. 5. any level data files that I've received from users up to the point your donation is received, if any, and possibly one of my own. 6. notification of any other programs I write while at university. 7. hints on specific areas of level 2 or 3 if you need them. (To easily identify an area for me, go to the area and hit the backslash ('\') key; its coordinates will be displayed. Give me this info as well as the level number.) Please specify 5.25" or 3.5" disk format when you donate. Please note that Fiddle, Cyberbox (not the sequel), and Gripple require VGA display. If you don't want to donate, please consider sending comments to the address above or to dougb@uiuc.edu on Internet, H.BEEFERMAN on GEnie, or DougB5 on America Online. Due to the larger nature of this game I can't make a step-by-step solution sheet, but I'll provide such a solution to a specific puzzle if you ask nicely and with the coordinates as described in (7) above. A K N O W L E D G M E N T S Turbo C++ is copyright (C) 1990 by and is a registered trademark of Borland International, Inc. Thanks to Dale G. Shields for debugging help and the routine that turns on Num Lock, and thanks to both Dale and Glenn W. Ulrich for extensive testing and feedback. Thanks as well to all the generous registered Cyberbox users for their suggestions and donations! 11-Aug-92