/*********************************************************************/ Simon 68k Version 1.0 by John David Ratliff jdratlif@cs.indiana.edu http://www.technoplaza.net /*********************************************************************/ 1.0 Basic Information Simon 68k is a very simple pattern matching game. It is based loosely on Electron Simon from Milton Bradley, and very loosely on the children's game Simon Says. Basically, you play against the computer. The computer will generate a pattern, and you need to match that pattern. The pattern consists of very easy to understand sprites which tell you which direction to press. Left, Up, Right, and Down are the 4 directions. They are arranged in a position suiting their direction. For example, the Up sprite is drawn farther up on the screen than the other sprites. The left sprite is drawn to the left of the screen, and so on. You can see the positions very easily when you start the game. Milton Bradley's version used colors and sounds, neither of which are available to users of the TI-89 (I know, we have grayscale and sound libraries, but they're not really worth the effort for such a simple game. Maybe in a future version) 2.0 Gameplay To play the game, send the program to the calculator. Type the name of the program "simon" and follow it with open and closed parentheses (), so type "simon()" (without the quotes) into the calculator's home screen and press ENTER. The main intro screen will display the logo and tell you to press ENTER to start a new game. Start the game, and the computer will start generating patterns. You then match the patterns that are displayed on the screen. If you match so many patterns in a row, you win. To match the patterns, press the arrow corresponding to the sprite drawn. When it says to press UP, press the UP arrow. It's rather intuitive, since I have no ability to draw. If someone wants to make me some 32x32 sprites though, I'd probably use them. :-) To make the game more fun, I added a score system, and hiscore board. It's always fun to keep score, right? Well, here's how it works. Every time you correctly match a simon pattern, you get more points. The number of points is dependent upon your difficulty level (average by default), speed (again, average by default), which pattern you matched (the patterns get more complex, so each pattern adds an extra level. In addition, after you have completed all the patterns, you get a winners bonus (which is also dependent upon speed and difficulty). The formula for computing score is: add (10 * pattern number * speed (1-5) * difficulty (1-5)) for each pattern you match. Pattern number range is 1-16 for the very hard level. Speed 1 is very slow, 5 is very hard, difficulty mirrors this. The winner's bonus is (250,1000,4000,10000,20000) for the difficulty level (from very easy to very hard, respectively), and (250, 1000, 3000, 6000, 12000) for the speeds, from very slow to very fast, respectively. When you complete one set of patterns, the game starts over and you continue with a new set. Beating 5 sets in a row gets you the ultimate bonus, which is your difficulty bonus plus your speed bonus * 10. You can get a big score on the very easy level with fast speed, but you can get much much much more on the very hard very fast level. It's a challenge. :-) 3.0 Display Information There are several things that are drawn on the Simon 68k game screen. The screen borders (boxes in the screen), the Simon letters spelled out vertically on the left side of the screen, the score, which is located on the bottom left side of the screen. The other things displayed are the patterns, which are 32x32 sprites which have the direction written on them. The sprites are drawn in locations corresponding with their direction. The final display on the game screen is the completed patterns indicator. In the middle of the screen is a small 16x16 sprite with a number in the center. This number tells you how many patterns you have left to match. When you start out, you have 10 patterns left to match. That doesn't include the one that was just played. That means, after you match the pattern Simon just played, you have 10 left. The 10 only applies to the average difficulty level. The Hard level has 13, the Very Hard has 16, the Very Easy has 4, and the Easy has 7. 4.0 Hiscore Information The scoring system comes equipped with a hiscore board. After you forfeit, lose, or win 5 sets in a row, the game checks your score against the hiscore board. If you earned a place on the board (you must exceed the number 5 position by at least 1 point. Equal scores are not placed on the hiscore board, and if you tie the number one position, you get 2nd place, not 1st). If you did earn a place on the board, a dialog box will ask you to enter your name, and then it will display the hiscore board. There are 5 possible entries on the hiscore board. If you just downloaded the game new, they will all be blank, and the first score you get will be the hiscore. The hiscore board does not work if you archive the program. This is because archived programs are copied to memory before they are run, so you are using a copy of the program, not the actual program, and the program cannot unarchive itself to run. So, if you run the program from the archive, hiscores will not be saved when the program is exited. 5.0 Revision History Version 1.0 - June 8, 2001 * Initial Release 6.0 Contact Information You can contact me via email, or through my web-based feedback form. Web Feedback: http://www.technoplaza.net/index.cgi?p=feedback E-Mail: jdratlif@cs.indiana.edu This game does not yet have a web site, but it will have a page on the Techno-Plaza site under the 'Our Software' link as soon as I have time to make it. http://www.technoplaza.net/software/ 7.0 Updates and Revisions The latest version of the program will most likely be either on my website, http://www.technoplaza.net, or on ticalc at http://www.ticalc.org. I try to put my programs on Dim-TI, but they won't fix my password, so I can't right now. 8.0 Copyright Information This program is copyright (C) 2001 John David Ratliff. The program is freely redistributable under the terms of the GNU General Public License. For the full terms of the GNU GPL, visit http://www.technoplaza.net/index.cgi?p=license, or visit http://www.gnu.org and search for the GPL, or the copyleft license agreement. Basically, you may not restrict distribution of this program in any way. You can change it, but you have to make those changes available to the public. You may have the source code, but if you distribute it, you must release the source also.