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SUPER-RETRISS Version 3.00 Unregistered Release Not Another TETRIS<tm> Clone Manual of Operations COPYRIGHT (C) 1992 by Rogelio Bernal All Rights Reserved Rogelio Bernal 62 Boylston St. #920 Boston, MA.02116 Originally written using Turbo C++ V1.0 Versions 2.01 and up written using Borland C++ 3.0 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── C O N T E N T S Page ════ 0.- Disclaimer, license and other stuff . . . . . . . 2 0.1 Disclaimer of warranty . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0.2 License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0.3 Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Basic Registration 3 Special Registration 1 3 Special Registration 2 3 How to register 4 Shareware distributors 4 1.- Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.1 Yet Another Tetris Clone? . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.2 What do you need to run Super Retriss? . . . 5 1.3 What's new on this version? . . . . . . . . . 6 2.- Getting started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.1 Quick start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2.2 Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3.- Basic rules of the game . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 3.1 What to do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 3.2 Details and Score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Speed 8 Zones 8 Blocks 8 Score/Bonus 8 4.- Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 4.1 Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 4.2 High Scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 4.3 Graph-Match . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 4.4 Load Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Using a mouse 11 Using the keyboard 11 SuperRetriss v3.00 Contents Page 0 Page ════ 4.5 Zone Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 4.5.1 Entering the Designer . . . . . . . . 12 4.5.2 How to design . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Identifying the areas 12 Block Area 13 Reference & Selection Areas 13 Editing Area 14 Menu Area 14 Copy/Delete/Grid 14 New/Clear 15 4.5.3 Save Zones to Disk . . . . . . . . . . 15 4.6 Redefine Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 4.7 Exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 5.- SoundBlaster support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 6.- Command line options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 6.1 The -p switch 18 7.- The future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 8.- Last Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 9.- Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 ───────────────────────────────── SuperRetriss v3.0 Contents Page 1 ╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ 0 - DISCLAIMER, LICENSE AND REGISTRATION ║ ╚══════════════════════════════════════════╝ 0.1 - DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY ════════════════════════════ THIS SOFTWARE AND MANUAL ARE DISTRIBUTED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. BECAUSE OF THE VARIOUS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE PUT, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED. EVEN THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN THOROUGHLY TESTED UNDER NON-CRITICAL CIRCUMSTANCES, THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM AND THE AUTHOR ASSUMES NO LIABILITY OF ANY KIND. 0.2 - LICENSE ═════════════ THIS IS NOT FREE SOFTWARE!! This program is distributed under the shareware concept. This means that you must register this software if you want to keep using it, after a short time for evaluation. If you think the program fits your needs or you just would like to keep it and use it, then you MUST register it. NEVER CHARGE PEOPLE A FEE FOR GIVING THEM A COPY OF SUPER-RETRISS !! (PD/Shareware distributors read last section) You, as a user, may freely copy and pass this program to others, as far as you include all the files that come in the original package. You cannot add ANY extra files, nor destroy, change or modify any of the original files included in this package in any way. If you have seen previous versions of this game, you may notice that many features previously only available in registered releases have been included now in the shareware release. I've done this because I believe in the shareware concept, and I want you to go as far as you can before you register the program. Now you can use the editor and play using your designs. Only three options were disabled in the shareware release: You cannot save your designs on diskette You can only start playing from zone 1 to zone 10. You cannot play Graph Match These limitations were not implemented to bother you before you register the program, but to keep some features to the users who really deserve them. SuperRetriss v3.00 Disclaimer,License... Page 2 SUPER-RETRISS is copyrighted software, and all rights are reserved. 0.3 REGISTRATION ════════════════ Now you can register Super Retriss in the way is more convenient for you. A basic registration and two special registration procedures are available. Basic Registration ────────────────── The basic registration fee is 10 (ten) US dollars. This entitles you to legally use Super Retriss 3.0, as well as to receive a personal registration code. You will receive easy-to-follow instructions on how to setup your copy of Super Retriss 3.0 so you can register your shareware copy (you will be able to save your own set of zones, start from any zone and play Graph-Match). Also, your registration will let me know that you are interested in Super Retriss. The more the registered users, the more work I put on the program. Almost two years since Super Retriss was born, the program would not be what you see now without the support of all the people who have registered the program. Special Registration 1 ────────────────────── Special registration is $20 (U.S.). I will mail you a diskette containing the latest registered version of Super Retriss, as well as various ZNE files that will fit on the diskette. Special Registration 2 ────────────────────── Special registration is $15 (U.S.). It is basically like the Special Registration 1 but you put the diskette. In other words, you send me a formatted diskette (720k or bigger) along with the registration form and payment, and I will mail it back to you with your customized registered copy of the latest Super Retriss version, (and the ZNE files). If I have the time, I will also customize the program so it will display your name (or whatever you want) where you see now in the game the moving "Unregistered Release" title. This also applies to the Special Registration 1. SuperRetriss v3.00 Registration Page 3 How to register ─────────────── To register, print out the file FORM.TXT (type PRINT FORM.TXT from the DOS prompt), fill all the blanks and endorse a check drawn on US funds, payable to Rogelio Bernal, and send it to : Rogelio Bernal 62 Boylston St. Box 920 Boston, MA 02116 Please, add $5 for international shipping and handling. International s&h applies anywhere except U.S. or Canada. If you are registering for the Special Registration 2 ($15), don't forget to include a formatted diskette of at least 720k. You will notice I ask you several questions about your equipment and other specific information about the game performance on your system. You are not required to answer all those questions, but that information will help me fine tune some features of the game, specially the well known problem with the speed. Please take a few minutes and try to answer as many questions as you can, thank you. If you are registering using the Basic Registration method, you MUST enter your personal registration name, when asked for "CUSTOM TEXT...". This registration name can be your name, company name or anything you want, as far as you don't use more than 20 characters (including spaces). This text will be used to obtain your personal id code. Both, your personal registration name and id code will be part of your record as a registered user of Super Retriss. Please, don't reveal them to others, as you could be traced, and don't copy or distribute your registered release (only copies for back-up purposes are allowed). Protect your investment! Shareware distributors ────────────────────── Shareware distributors that would like to include Super Retriss 3.0 on their catalogs, please read the file INFODS.TXT ────────────────────────────────────── SuperRetriss v3.00 Registration Page 4 ╔══════════════════╗ ║ 1 - INTRODUCTION ║ ╚══════════════════╝ 1.1 Yet Another Tetris Clone? ═════════════════════════════ Super Retriss has been defined as what people use to call "a Tetris clone". However that definition is quite ugly and is not inaccurate. Since Tetris was created by a Russian student, and commercialized by Spectrum Holobyte, hundreds of "clones" appeared on the shareware market. Why? Well, the algorithms needed to write a Tetris-like game are not complicated, and almost any 'average' student of computer science should be able to write his own version of this popular game. Most of the different versions of the game you find out there are just that: a poorly written version of the game, sometimes with the main purpose of seeing that he or she is able to write a Tetris-like game. I started collecting as many Tetris clones as I could, to evaluate and compare them. But soon I found out that only one out of ten was worth to register. Now I only check out a Tetris clone if I have heard good comments about it. Then, what makes Super Retriss to be so special? Well, first of all, the rules of the game are slightly different from the original Tetris and, as far as I know, no other Tetris clone has implemented the idea of the zones and the flicking block so far. Second, Super Retriss has always used a 256 colors VGA mode, even before the first commercial Tetris game using VGA (Super Tetris by Spectrum Holobyte). Third, Super Retriss is not just a tetris player: You can design your own zones and play them later. Fourth, you don't play all the time with the same set of blocks: In Super Retriss you play with square blocks, rounded blocks, tiny square blocks... Up to ten different block shapes. And finally Super Retriss now includes SoundBlaster support. All these features (and others that you will soon discover) make of Super Retriss a different game, with appealing colors and sound, far from the regular Tetris clones we are used to see everywhere. And that is why the name of the game is not just Retriss but SUPER Retriss!! 1.2 What do you need to run Super Retriss? ══════════════════════════════════════════ The basic system you need to run Super Retriss is a computer (8086 family), using MS DOS 3.3 or above, with at least 512k of RAM and a VGA card and monitor. You don't need a mouse (or trackball) to play Super Retriss, but the Zone Designer will not work if you don't have one installed (and the driver loaded). SuperRetriss v3.00 Introduction Page 5 A hard disk is not absolutely necessary, but strongly recommended. Also, if you have a Sound Blaster card, you should have a 286 or faster computer in order to listen the initial music tones. You will also need a copy of one of the SoundBlaster sound drivers (CT-VOICE.DRV) included in the software that comes with your SoundBlaster/SoundBlaster Pro card. Releases of the Sound Blaster (v1.5 and up) have included an option to set up an environment variable to locate the CT-VOICE.DRV file so that it would not be needed all over one's hard drive in whatever directory you needed it in. This environment variable would look something like this: SOUND=C:\SB And the actual driver would then be in a DRV directory underneath the SB directory. Current releases of many software take advantage of this feature, as well as Super Retriss 3.0! All you need is to include a line in your autoexec to set up the environment variable. If you are having troubles setting up the environment variable, then Super Retriss will need the extra copy of the driver in the directory, but using the environment variable, the need for extra copies is not necessary. I was going to include a copy of the driver with Super Retriss 3.0, but I noticed that different Sound Blaster cards installed on different systems sometimes do not recognize drivers obtained from other sources. Besides, I have no rights to copy and distribute the driver, so you will need either to setup the environment variable, or copy your CT-VOICE.DRV to the directory Super Retriss 3.0 was installed. If you are still having problems to have the Sound Blaster work, make sure you don't have SBFMDRV.COM loaded to use your particular Sound Blaster driver. Other than that, please report me any problem you may have and I will fix it up for you. 1.3 What's new on this version? ═══════════════════════════════ Three months since the latest version of Super Retriss (v.2.01). There must be some improvements, right? They are: - Annoying flicking effect when switching between screens should work fine on all computers now. - Now you can quit from the DEFINE KEYS menu by pressing ESC anytime. That will also abort the operation. SuperRetriss v3.00 Introduction Page 6 - When entering a zone number to start playing, when you type a number, the '1' (by default) was moved to the right. Now it will disappear (as suggested by L.T.Y). - After receiving many comments about the speed of the game, I decided to add the -p switch so the speed of the game is now totally up to you! Read to the manual for further information. - SoundBlaster support: SuperRetriss will scream through the speakers of any owner of a SoundBlaster/SoundBlaster Pro card. - Some cosmetic changes have been also added to make Super Retriss a little bit more appealing. - The documentation is now extensive and better organized. And hopefully, you will find less grammar mistakes (English is yet more difficult than C, trust me). ╔═════════════════════╗ ║ 2 - GETTING STARTED ║ ╚═════════════════════╝ 2.1 Quick start ════════════════ The game is very easy to play and the best way to learn the basic rules is by playing it. First, you must copy all the files to a single directory, and then just type SR from the DOS prompt and follow the instructions. If you feel lost, you can come back to the manual anytime for specific information. If you want to use the SoundBlaster capabilities, read below. 2.2 Configuration ══════════════════ By default, the game is configured to use the PC speaker. To configure Super Retriss to use the SoundBlaster sound capabilities, run SETUP before running SR. You will be asked to enter the following information: - Sound device. Options are the PC speaker and a SounBlaster card. - Address used by your SoundBlaster card. This is a hexadecimal number usually between 200 and 2A0. - IRQ used by your SoundBlaster card. This is a number usually between 1 and 10 (generally 5 or 7). SuperRetriss v3.00 Getting Started Page 7 Once you run SETUP, the information will be permanently saved on a file (SR3-CFG.DAT) in the current directory (which should be the directory where Super Retriss was installed). You can run SETUP anytime later to change the configuration. ╔═════════════════════════════╗ ║ 3 - BASIC RULES OF THE GAME ║ ╚═════════════════════════════╝ 3.1 What to do ══════════════ What you have to do is very simple. Every zone (or screen) will show ONE flicking brick. You must ELIMINATE the row where the brick is located, by filling all the empty spaces with the pieces falling from the top of the screen. When you're done, you will receive bonus depending on how many seconds it took you to finish and how many empty lines are from the top of the board to the highest brick found. Then you will see another zone (or screen), and so on... 3.2 Details and Score ═════════════════════ A few things keep changing as you keep playing a game. They are: Speed of the falling blocks, the zones being played and the design of the blocks. Of course the score changes too, but I assume you know that. - Speed: The speed of the falling blocks is indicated by the LEVEL where you are. You will go to a faster level every time you finish 5 (five) lines. When you pass level ten (the fastest one), you will go back to level zero (the slowest level). - Zones: It is obvious. When you finish one zone, you go to the next zone. When you finish the last zone (since different sets can have a different number of zones, the last zone is not a fixed number) of the current set, you will go back to the first zone again. - Blocks: The shape of the blocks changes as you go to a higher level. That is, every time you finish 5 lines, a new block type will be used. This also helps you to know when you entered on a faster level. - Score/Bonus: Your score is increased according to the following rules: 1.- For every falling block you get 10 points. 2.- For every finished line you get 100 points. SuperRetriss v3.00 Basic Rules of the Game Page 8 3.- BONUS: Bonuses are given every time you finish one zone. The points you receive are calculated using the following formula: (100 - seconds) * number of empty lines 'seconds' is how many seconds you needed to finish the zone. If you needed more than 100 seconds, NO BONUSES ARE GIVEN. The number of empty lines is how many empty lines are from the top of the screen to the highest brick found (the empty lines will be filled with red bricks). For instance, if you finished a zone in 45 seconds and there are 7 empty lines, you will receive: (100-45) * 7 = 385 points ╔═══════════════════════╗ ║ 4 - MAIN MENU OPTIONS ║ ╚═══════════════════════╝ The main menu has a few changes. The options available and their function are : 1.- PLAY ───> Go to play ! 2.- HIGH SCORES ───> See the high score's table 3.- GRAPH-MATCH ───> Not included in the shareware release 4.- LOAD ZONES ───> Load new set of zones 5.- ZONE DESIGNER ───> Design your own zones 6.- REDEFINE KEYS ───> Select your favorite keys to play 7.- EXIT ───> Guess... You can select any option by entering the option number (ie. type '1' to play, '2' to see the high scores...) or by pointing and clicking the left button of the mouse on the desired option. Don't click on the option number, but on the description. 4.1 Play ════════ You will see a familiar menu to select the set of pieces (as in previous versions) you want to play with. (1) - The set #1 contains the typical pieces found in every Tetris-like game (7 different pieces / 4 bricks per piece). (2) - The set #2 adds three more pieces. (3) - The set #3 uses the pieces from sets #1 and #2 plus a few more, with a total of 15 different pieces. SuperRetriss v3.00 Main Menu: Play Page 9 The pieces have not changed from previous versions. I suggest you to use always the set #3. The set 3 may contain some pieces difficult to play with, but there are also some pieces very helpful, not present in the smaller sets. I always play using the set #3. If you decide not to play, the ESCape key will bring you back to the main menu. After you press 1,2 or 3, you will be asked for the zone you want to start playing. Registered release allows you to start from any zone you want, always within the limit of the zones available in that set. Shareware release lets you start from zones 1 thru 10. If you are not sure how many zones are in the current set, you can find the number by selecting the options 4 or 5 in the main menu. The default set contains 25 zones. You can also go back to the previous menu pressing the ESCape key. After you enter the zone number, wait one second and start playing. The keys are shown in the initial screen, and they are basically the arrow keys, in the same manner most of the Tetris-like games use them, but you can select any keys you want using the option 6 in the main menu. 4.2 High Scores ═══════════════ All entries in the table coming with this program have been reset to 10,000. If you have a table you wish to keep using, delete the file SRETRISS.SCO from the directory where this game has been installed, and copy the old STETRIS.SCO (or SRETRISS.SCO) from the last release to the new directory. Then, rename it to SR3-SCO.DAT. The format of the data file is the same as the format used in the very first version of Super Retriss, so you should not experience any problem. If you still have some problems, let me know and I will fix it for you. 4.3 Graph-Match ═══════════════ The game is self-explanatory. The object of the game is to match cards with the same picture. It's a very simple VGA game I wrote some time ago. Don't ask me why I included it. Consider is as a gift if you decide to register the game. It is absolutely not needed in order to play Super Retriss, and it does not affect the game at all. You can use the keyboard, but a mouse is strongly recommended. It was designed for two players only, but you can still have some fun playing it alone. SuperRetriss v3.00 Main Menu: Graph Match Page 10 4.4 Load Zones ══════════════ This option allows you to load different sets of zones from the disk that you previously created or obtained from other sources. There are some restrictions : - You can only play ONE set of zones (or file) at a time. This means that if you create a file by using the ZONE DESIGNER, and you create four zones, when you exit the zone designer and go to play the game, you will play only those four zones, until you exit the game and run it again, or you select a different set. Every time you run the program, the default set will be the standard set, also included in the trial release (SR3-BRD.DAT). Further zones you create with the Zone Designer will use the file extension ZNE. - When you load a new file of zones, such file MUST be in the same directory as the game in order to be found by Super Retriss. Another important limitation is that the program will display only the first 20 files found (extension *.ZNE). This doesn't mean that you are limited to 20 zone files (i.e. you can create a subdirectory and move the old zone files to it), but you are to do the job. ───────────── Using a mouse ───────────── Point & click with the mouse on the file name you want to use. It will be marked using red color. If you want to select a different one before you exit the menu, just point & click on the new name. To exit the menu, point & click on the title screen to load the selected zone (the one in red). If you click on the title screen before selecting any file, you will leave the menu with the current set of zones unchanged. Also, if you don't want to load any file, just press ESCape. ────────────────── Using the keyboard ────────────────── Use the arrow keys to move the blue arrow and point to the file you want to retrieve. Then, press ENTER or SPACE to select, or ESCape to exit without changes. SuperRetriss v3.00 Main Menu: Load Zones Page 11 4.5 Zone Designer ═════════════════ ─────────────────────────── 4.5.1 Entering the Designer ─────────────────────────── If you don't have a mouse or a trackball (and the corresponding driver is installed), this option will be displayed as UNAVAILABLE, and you will not be able to use the designer. If that is your case, I strongly suggest you to purchase a mouse. They are cheap, and very useful. If you do have a mouse, when you select this option, before entering the designer screen, the program will ask you : DO YOU WANT TO MODIFY THE CURRENT SET OR START WITH A NEW ONE (C/N) ? If you type C, you'll be able to edit and change the current set. However a new name will be asked for it when you save it. So, no matter what you do, you will never lose the current set, unless you save it with the same name. If you type N, a new, clean, empty set will be ready for you to create whatever you like. It will have only one zone (empty) for you to start working. Later I shall explain how to add more zones. You can also use the mouse and click on the C or N using the left button. The right button will quit, going back to the main menu. To go back to the main menu, you can also press ESCape. ───────────── How to design ───────────── Identifying the areas ───────────────────── For a clear explanation and to avoid repeating screen locations, we'll assign intuitive names to each of the different areas on the screen : * BLOCK AREA: Located on the left side of the screen, you will see some small windows with all the available block colors. * REFERENCE AREA: On the top of the middle of the screen, you'll see three windows showing a reduced drawing of the zone being edited, and the two adjacent zones (previous and next). SuperRetriss v3.00 Main Menu: Zone Designer Page 12 * INFORMATION AREA: Under the reference area you'll see a window showing the number of the area being edited, and a big block used to indicate the current color being used by the editor. * EDITING AREA: Under the information area, there is a big green grid. * MENU AREA: Located on the right side of the screen, there is a menu with several options. * SELECTION AREA: Under the menu area there are two buttons with a left and right arrows. ┌──> REFERENCE AREA │ ┌─────────────> INFORMATION ┌ ┌─┴───────────────┐ │ AREA │ ┌─┬─┐ ┌───┐ ┌───┐ ┌───┐ │ ╔════╗ ┐ BLOCK <─┤ ├─┼─┤ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ╚════╝ ├─> MENU AREA │ ├─┼─┤ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ╔════╗ │ AREA │ ├─┼─┤ └───┘ └───┘ └───┘ │ ╚════╝ │ │ ├─┼─┤ ╔═══════╗ ┐ │ ╔════╗ │ │ ├─┼─┤ ║ BLOCK ║ ██ ├──┘ ╚════╝ │ │ ├─┼─┤ ╚═══════╝ ┘ ╔════╗ │ │ ├─┼─┤ ╔╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╗ ╚════╝ │ │ ├─┼─┤ ╟┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼╢ ╔════╗ │ │ ├─┼─┤ ╟┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼╢ ╚════╝ ┘ │ ├─┼─┤ ╟┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼╢ ┐ │ ├─┼─┤ ╟┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼╢ ┌────────┐ │ │ ├─┼─┤ ╟┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼┼╢ │ < > │ ├─> SELECTION │ └─┴─┘ ╚╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╧╝ └────────┘ │ AREA └ └─┬───────────────┘ ┘ └─> EDITING AREA Block Area ────────── Use it to select the color you want to use. Just point & click on the window with the block color desired, and you will see how the big block in the information area is redrawn using the same color. Then, anything you draw on the editing area will be drawn using that color. Reference & Selection Areas ─────────────────────────── To move from one zone to another you can use the arrow keys LEFT & RIGHT, or point & click on any button in the selection area. The editing area will show the new zone to be edited, and the reference area will also be updated. SuperRetriss v3.00 Main Menu: Zone Designer Page 13 IMPORTANT: When you move to a different zone, you will lose the changes in the last zone, UNLESS you COPY it to the file (option 1 of the menu). Editing Area ──────────── The usage of the mouse for drawing a new zone (or make changes) on the grid is very intuitive. All green small squares indicate the available locations for single blocks. The left and right buttons of the mouse have different functions : * Left Mouse Button : When you click this button pointing inside one of the green squares in the grid, a block in that location will be drawn with the current block color (big block shown in the information area). If there was already a block OF THE SAME COLOR, instead of redraw it, it will delete it. You just need to click again to redraw the block. * Right Mouse Button : This button is used to delete blocks. Whenever you want to delete some particular blocks, use this button. If you want to start over, select the option 5 (CLEAR) from the menu. Menu Area ───────── There are five options available from the menu. Select anyone by pointing and clicking on it. 1.- COPY: It updates the changes to memory. The zone being edited will not be saved on memory until you select this option. For example, if you have been working on the zone 1, and now you want to save it and start with the number 2, you must select COPY in order to save this zone before you go to the zone 2. On the other hand, if you try to modify a particular zone, but you don't like what you did, you can retrieve the original by leaving that zone and going back to it. Notice that when you draw on the editing area, the reference area does not show the modifications. The reference area shows the zones AS IN MEMORY. Remember, the zone will not be saved until you press copy and see it updated on the reference area. 2.- DEL: It eliminates the current zone from the set. No undo option is available. However, it will ask you if you are sure. Just press Y or N, or simply click on them (on the screen) with the mouse. You can't use delete if there is only one zone in the set. In other words, you cannot have a set with 0 (zero) zones. 3.- GRID: Toggle on/off display of the green grid on the editing area. SuperRetriss v3.00 Main Menu: Zone Designer Page 14 4.- NEW: It will add an empty zone at the end of the set. So far, a maximum of 100 (one hundred) zones are allowed. If you already have 100 zones, this option will not work. 5.- CLEAR: It will delete all blocks currently in the editing area. So you can start over on a particular zone. Save Zones to Disk (Not available in the Shareware release) ────────────────── If you want to save the zones to disk or just abort and use them, press ESC while in the design screen. The program will ask you if you want to save the set on the disk. - If you answer N, you will be able to play with the new zones, and, if you like them, you can go back to the designer, select C to edit the current one, make some changes and save it. If you don't save it and you load/create a new one, or exit the game, it'll be lost forever. - If you answer Y, it will ask you for a file name. DO NOT INCLUDE EXTENSION, neither invalid characters for DOS filenames such * : ? ... If the name is not valid or DOS reports any error, your data file will not be saved and probably the program will exit to DOS. So make sure you give valid names and have free space in your disk. For this game, it would not make sense to have a zone containing no blocks at all. Every single zone needs to have at least ONE block on it (so it can locate the blinking block while playing). If you try to ESCape when there is at least one empty zone, the program will inform you of that fact, and it will bring you back to the editor with the first empty zone found as the current zone to edit. If you want to abort everything you did and play the set as it was before your editing session, follow these steps : - Make sure there are no empty zones (you don't really need to check that, since the program will do it for you). - If any, delete them, and exit again. - Do not save the file (if you really don't want it at all) when asked. - Select LOAD ZONE from the main menu, and load the previously loaded set. If you create a set of zones that you didn't save, but after playing it, you decide to save it, you must select ZONE DESIGNER, then select 'C'ontinue editing current set, click with the mouse on the COPY option, press ESCape and answer Y when asked. If you don't click on COPY at least once, the program will assume that you didn't make any changes and it will not ask you whether you want to save it or not. SuperRetriss v3.00 Main Menu: Zone Designer Page 15 4.6 REDEFINE KEYS ═════════════════ This option has been added because many users requested so. In order to make life much easier, after selecting the keys you want to use, you will be asked if you want to save that configuration as permanent, so you don't need to redefine the keys every time you load the game. But notice that after you save them, you will not be able to play with the default keys anymore. You may say "Well, I just need to redefine them again as they were before". But notice that the default set uses multiple keys for the same function (ie.: SPACE BAR, ENTER and UP-KEY to rotate), while redefining the keys allows only one key for each function. Anyway, you can always copy the file SR3-KBD.DAT from the original ZIP or ARJ file to restore the default keys in case you miss them and want them back... The function keys cannot be used, and the program will not do anything if you try to select them. Keys such PrtScr,Shift,Alt... will also not be accepted. You can now press ESCape anytime to abort the keys selection and go back to the main menu. 4.7 Exit ════════ The easiest part of the game. It will quit Super Retriss and exit to DOS. You can exit by entering '7', clicking on the option using the left mouse button, or pressing ESCape. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ╔══════════════════════════╗ ║ 5 - SOUNDBLASTER SUPPORT ║ ╚══════════════════════════╝ Probably, the major difference between previous versions of Super Retriss and Super Retriss 3.0 is the capability of using a SoundBlaster as the sound device, instead of the PC speaker. To configure Super Retriss to use the SoundBlaster capabilities, you must run SETUP.EXE first. Read the previous chapter 2.2 Configuration for more details. Please, note that this is my first attempt to include SoundBlaster support to a program. I've been checking the program on several computers with different speed performance (286/16Mhz, 386sx/16Mhz, 486/33Mhz...) and experienced no problems at all. Things should run smooth and bug-free. SuperRetriss v3.00 Sound Blaster Support Page 16 However being my first attempt on programming the SoundBlaster, I cannot assure that no weird behavior might occur on some systems. It doesn't matter whether you decide to register or not, please, let me know of any unusual situation you find while using the SoundBlaster with Super Retriss. A post card with your telephone number or address, explaining the problem will do. If you are a registered user, you can expect me to call you (if the call is to United States, Canada or Spain) to ask for details about your particular problem. Thanks to Joel Lucsy for his VOC routines, as well as Mark J. Cox for the MODOBJ code (I'm sending out my registration right now, Mark!). Without them, Super Retriss would still be limited to the poor PC speaker sound capabilities. Here I do credit these two programmers for their very helpful routines. The code used to play the initial song on the main menu is copyright of Mark J. Cox. ╔══════════════════════════╗ ║ 6 - COMMAND LINE OPTIONS ║ ╚══════════════════════════╝ The executable file SRETRISS.EXE accepts a few command line parameters. This are their function and syntax : Syntax: SRETRISS [parm] ──> Characters [ and ] must not be typed. They indicate that "parm" is optional. Where "parm" is one, and only one of the following : -h : Displays the help screen, similar to this page. -? : Same as -h. -v : Displays version number. -s : Displays the results of the machine's speed test. -pXXX : Select customized game speed. The character / may be used instead of -. Characters may be upper or lower case letters. Also, characters / or - may be omitted. SuperRetriss v3.00 Command Line Options Page 17 6.1 The -p switch ───────────────── After receiving many comments from users regarding the speed of the game (ie: too fast on a 486, too slow on an 8086...), and since I don't have a real-time delay function (yet), I decided to add the -p switch. Loading SuperRetriss using the -p switch (SR -pXXX) where XXX is a number between 1 and 999, will setup a customized speed for the game. SR -p1 will run the game too fast (even on a floppy and an 8088), and SR -p200 will run it too slow, even on a 486/50Mhz. You can experience with different values, and when you find a satisfactory speed, you can write a batch file that calls SRETRISS.EXE with the same switch all the time. "Regular" values for -p are from 20 to 200. The default value is based on the old method used in Super Retriss 2.00 and SuperRetriss 2.01, and even it has been improved, it is not very accurate yet. For fast 386 and 486 machines, you may want to enter a higher value than the value reported by the speed test (by default) that will make the game to run slower, and for very slow machines, you would probably want to decrease the default value in order to make it run faster. Be honest when entering a different value than the default. If you always play Super Retriss with a value that makes the game run very slow, the game would be so easy to play and there will be no challenge. Use always a fair value to keep Super Retriss somehow challenging. You don't want to set it up at a speed that will allow you to keep playing forever... ╔════════════════╗ ║ 7 - THE FUTURE ║ ╚════════════════╝ Super Retriss 3.0 is a big step from Super Retriss 2.01 but, does it end here? Definitely not! New and exciting features are waiting to be added to Super Retriss as soon as I have the time. Some of them are: - Full SoundBlaster/Pro support: The current SB fx are fine, but expect much more in future versions. Also I may go on other sound cards if I receive some requests from users. - Piece Designer : Finally, a very awaited tool. Tired of the same old blocks? Not anymore. You will be able to design your own set of pieces to play Super Retriss. - Two players against the clock : Self explanatory! Who can make more points in X minutes? SuperRetriss v3.00 The Future Page 18 - Save/Restore game : You will be able to save a game at any time, and later restore it to keep playing (you can even enter a secret password so nobody can 'play your game'). - Multiple score tables : Organize separated championships, using different score tables. Also, a new, more completed scoring data is stored on the data tables. - Unlimited number of ZNE files. The LOAD ZONES option will not be limited to 20 ZNE files anymore. - Some new graphic touches. New fonts and screens. These are some of the features I have in mind. I'll be working on them during the first months of 1993. Registered users will be notified of any official update. ╔═══════════════════╗ ║ 8 - LAST COMMENTS ║ ╚═══════════════════╝ Should you happen to run across one of those little "bugs" (even a minor one), or are you having problems using this program, please be sure to notify me (no obligation to register it) so that it can be fixed in the next version of Super Retriss. Any comments regarding program features, documentation, presentation, etc. are always appreciated. ╔═════════════════════╗ ║ 9 - ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ║ ╚═════════════════════╝ - Tetris is a registered trademark of Spectrum Holobyte. - Super Tetris is a registered trademark of Spectrum Holobyte. - Sound Blaster is a registered trademark of Creative Labs, Inc. - Sound Blaster Pro is a registered trademark of Creative Labs, Inc. - SBFMDRV.COM is copyright (c) 1990,91 by Creative Labs, Inc. - CT-VOICE.DRV is copyright (c) 1989,90 by Creative Labs, Inc. - Borland C++ Version 3.0 is copyright (c) 1990,1991 by Borland International, Inc. - Turbo C++ Version 1.0 is copyright (c) 1989,1990 by Borland International, Inc. - MS DOS is copyright (c) 1981-1992 by Microsoft Corp. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ──────────────────────── ────────── ── SuperRetriss v3.00 Acknowledgments Page 19