Loadstar 128 #25/q25.d81/t.wordsmith

Text File | 1991-01-01 | 5.2 KB | 113 lines

                             W O R D S M I T H

                              by Fender Tucker


    WORDSMITH is taken from an old game from one of the very first
LOADSTARs.  In fact, Knees Calhoon is the guy who took it.  He uses
"dictionary 9400" which is a handy file full of almost all of the four- and
five-letter words in the English language.   In the game Knees will present
a word and then challenge you to create a new, real word from it by changing
one (and only one) letter.  Then you and Knees take turns doing this until
one of you can't find a word.

    The original WORDSMITH worked because the dictionary it used was very
small.  Since this version has a fairly good dictionary I decided to skew
the game a little in your favor.  The only way Knees can win is if:

 (1) You can't find a real word so you press F7, but Knees finds one.

    You, on the other hand, can win in three ways:

 (1) Knees can't find a word, or

 (2) You can't find a word (so you press F7), but Knees also can't find a
     word, or

 (3) You make it to Word #200.

    As with most of my games like this, it asks you for your name.  This is
so that anyone who plays the game can have their own scores file.  To keep a
running total, just use the same name.  To clear a file, scratch it or just
use another name.  There are just a couple of blocks free on this side of
LOADSTAR 128 #25.  Each scores file takes up 1 block so please don't play
too many games under different names or you'll get a "disk full" error.
It's always a good idea to copy a LOADSTAR program to a disk with plenty of
blocks free.

    There are two modes to the game: four-letter and five-letter.  The five-
letter game may actually be easier because you probably won't get into a
marathon game as you can in the four-letter mode.  The program keeps track
of your stats for both modes and displays them when you select SEE YOUR
SCORES from the menu.  You, of course, are trying to win more than you lose.
The AVERAGE TIME is the time it takes to decide to press F7, indicating that
you can't come up with a word.  You are rewarded by deciding swiftly and
penalized if it takes you a long time.  You are given a RATING based upon
this formula:

  RATING = ((GAMES WON-GAMES LOST)*1000)/AVERAGE TIME

so you'll have a positive rating if you have won more than you have lost;
negative if you have lost more than you've won.  To really get a high rating
you have to have a low AVERAGE TIME.  I'd be interested in hearing how high
you are able to get your RATING.

    To switch to another player, select NEW PLAYER from the Main Menu.

    The play screen shows Knees' words on the left and yours on the right in
big letters.  When it's your turn move the cursor with the CRSR RIGHT or
LEFT keys to the letter you want to change and press the letter you want it
changed to.  If it's a word in Knees' dictionary, it's his turn.  If it's
not a word, or if the word has been used before in the same game, you will
be told and the word disallowed.

    You can look at the list of words used so far by pressing F1.  Your
words will be highlighted (except for maybe the last one).

    Knees has a diabolically incomplete vocabulary, especially with four-
letter words.  He knows thousands of words, including some strange ones, but
may surprise you by not knowing something simple.  That's all part of the
game.

    The only strategy I can think of is to use oddball letters like J, Q, X
or Z whenever possible, hoping that there won't be another word to follow.
After you've played a few games you might memorize some patterns that can
lead to a win.  Winning by the 200-word rule is a possibility but I wouldn't
try it often.  It's almost impossible in the five-letter game.  The best way
to get a high RATING is to be accurate when you decide there are no words
(and press F7), and be quick about it.  If you ponder all of the 26*4 (or 5)
possibilities before pressing F7 you'll have a positive rating, but a low
one.

 DISCLAIMER AND APOLOGY
 ----------------------

    Finally, I was able to find a potential bug in the dictionary program
when it's called over and over as it is in this game.  Everytime it's
called, between 200 and 400 bytes of variable space are used up in BANK1.
Since the dictionary file takes up 25K or so of BANK1, variable space is
less than usual.  Sooner or later, space will run out and garbage collection
will take place.  This is ordinarily no problem -- the C-128 does it VERY
FAST.  But the bug shows up (in the form of garbage characters) if space
runs out WHILE the dictionary routine is being called.  It can't handle
garbage collection.

    I think I have come up with a way to keep the bug from happening.  When
variable space gets below 500 bytes I have the program create some dummy
variables, FORCING garbage collection.  This prevents the garbage collection
from happening during the dictionary routine.  I tried using FRE(1) to force
garbage collection but it didn't stop the bug.  If you do somehow get
garbage on the screen (or an abrupt crash), please accept my apologies and
reset and reRUN the program.  Only the last game will be lost.

    I think this is a great vocabulary-building game.  I hope you like it
and can soundly defeat Knees Calhoon over and over again.

FT

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