@database "Flut! v4 Add-on documentation" Copyright (C)1996 by Pieter Hollants alias Fate/1oo% CNet/Anscii Innovation $VER: Flut.guide 1.0 (23.03.96) @node main "Flut! v4 Add-on AmigaGuide documentation" Flut! v4.0 (23.03.96) for CNet 3.05+ Copyright (C) 1995-1996 by Michael Arlt (Qwert) Add-on AmigaGuide documentation v1.0 (23.03.96) Copyright (C) 1996 by Pieter Hollants (Fate/1oo%) This software is subject to the "Standard Amiga FD-Software Copyright Note" It is Mailware as defined in paragraph 4b. For more information please read @{"AFD-COPYRIGHT" link "AFD-COPYRIGHT/main"} (Version 1 or higher). @{" What is Flut and why should I install it? " link whatisitdude} @{" Give me some Snapshots! " link snapshots} @{" What's different from 3.x? " link oldversions} @{" Okay, how do I install this thingy? " link installation} @{" Playing the game " link playing} @{" Sysop stuff " link sysopstuff} @{" Credits for this version " link credits} @{" Contacting the author(s) " link contacting} @endnode @node whatisitdude "What is Flut and why should I install it?" Okay, after more than two months of testing, bugfixing, spell checking and several beers Flut! v4 has been released! It's recommended that you read this Guide *completely* before you run the game. Flut! is a online game for the CNet Amiga BBS software, version 3.05. It does NOT use standard I/O and can thus NOT be run on other BBS software. It is a board game where the board consists of a field of buckets. The size is variable, but limited to 20x8 = 160 buckets. These buckets are subject to be filled. "Flut" is german for "flood", maybe you can already imagine what it's all about... Every player has 1/3 bucket of his own colour per turn. It can be used to fill empty buckets or buckets already filled with his own colour. When the bucket is full (that is, it has been filled with 3/3 of a colour) it floods surrounding buckets: either horizontically and vertically or diagonally. Flooding means the affected buckets are filled with 1/3 of your own colour. You can neither fill a bucket that has already been flooded nor one which already contains a different player's colour. Nevertheless a flood affects ALL buckets, regardless of their colour. Thus, you can't steal a bucket directly, you need a flood to do so. That's the basic idea. Visually it requires the user to use an IBM font as it contains wonderful Ansis and, unless told otherwise, uses IBM characters to eg. show how full a bucket is. Flut! is one of the few online games that takes fully advantage of the Amiga's multitasking capabilities. It uses a client-server model where the server is dynamically loaded when needed and removed afterwards. This saves money and allows for real multiport capabilities such as the built-in message system and live playing against each other. Up to 60 games can be played by 2-6 users at the same time, thus allowing for up to 360 users! 10 of these games are so-called online games, where online actually means "online". You play live against the other players. Don't blame us if all of your 6 modem ports are occupied by users playing a live Flut! session 8). And, if you even have more, the other ports may be occupied by users watching this session as spectators... The other 50 games are so-called tournament games. Here each player has one turn per day with at least 12 hours pause, just like in Global War. If a user does not play for three days he gets one additional turn. Furthermore Flut! features a built-in online message system where users may tease each others while playing, news reports where the results of the last games can be reviewed, two rankings (one for online games, one for tournament games) and a Hall of Flut! which requires 1000 points to enter. Your users can write some shit on the built-in grafitty walls (one per game and a global one) or use the online help if they need to. Another big plus: it does NOT require any Assign! Look here, you wanna-be coders, it IS possible to get the path the program was executed from through AmigaDOS itself. It's a bit of code, but Hey!, I HATE having a long list of Assigns for every shit! You see, it's loaded with lots of features. It is a must for every CNet BBS, especially if you're running more than one port. And the best is: it is for free! You don't need to pay a shareware fee, all we ask is some FEEDBACK, especially from outside Germany! If you use it, please write a Mail or call Qwert's BBS. Contact information is @{"here" link contacting}. Last minute note: as CNet 4.x is already being tested... we could NOT test whether it will run on 4.x, however since Ken Pletzer says that the PortData and CNet's other structures have not changed it should do so. Note: This program comes from Germany. However our horizont goes so far that we also like american sysops to install this game. That's why the game itself is in English. However, English is not our native language. Please excuse, or even better, report any misunderstandable or strange expressions. Another thing: when Qwert asked on Future World for sysops to test it he got very negative responses. He could have written the whole thing in German, then we'd be the only ones to enjoy it. However he did not. And I supplied this extra documentation. So please especially YOU USA guys let us know if you like it or not. The world is big and CNet is NOT a USA-only product! Think about it. Last not least sorry to the German sysops, but at this moment none of us is willing to translate the Guide into German ;) @endnode @node snapshots "Give me some snapshots!" No problem, just follow the following steps. If it doesn't work, you may not have the RequestFile command in your C: directory or the Viewer can't be found any longer. You can also view the pictures directly from within the Pics/ directory. 1. First @{"choose your favourite picture viewer" SYSTEM "SetEnv FLUTPV `RequestFile C:`"}. 2. Then you can look at the included snapshots: @{" Main Screen " SYSTEM "$FLUTPV Pics/Title.iff"} @{" Normal Game " SYSTEM "$FLUTPV Pics/GameN.iff"} @{" X-Flut Game " SYSTEM "$FLUTPV Pics/GameX.iff"} @{" The old numeric display " SYSTEM "$FLUTPV Pics/GameD.iff"} @{" The Wall screen " SYSTEM "$FLUTPV Pics/Wall.iff"} @{" The News screen " SYSTEM "$FLUTPV Pics/News.iff"} @{" The Rankings screen " SYSTEM "$FLUTPV Pics/Rank.iff"} @{" The Hall of Flut screen " SYSTEM "$FLUTPV Pics/Hall.iff"} @{" The sysop menu " SYSTEM "$FLUTPV Pics/Sysop.iff"} 3. Afterwards just some @{"quick clean-up" SYSTEM "Delete ENV:FLUTPV"}. @endnode @node oldversions "What's different from 3.x?" New Flut! v4 features: + Different size and form of the playfield (now 20x8, previously 11x11) + Online games (LIVE against each others) + Score displays for games + Users may select between excellent IBM-ANSI and the old numeric display + The possibility to watch others playing an Online game + Up to 100 Ansis for the title, winner and losers pictures + Two different Ansis supplied + News reports with the results of all games + Server starts and removes itself + Extended sysopmenu (Maintenance flag required) + Online messages against other Flut! players online + Interactive Help system (both english/german versions) + Installerscript using Commodore's Installer + Converter for 3.x playfields/games (run from within the install script) The only disadvantage is that it uses a bit more memory. Nevertheless the executable is only slightly bigger as it as a complete rewrite - this tool is NOT from Microsoft ;) @endnode @node installation "Okay, how do I install this thingy?" Sit back and relax. Qwert has provided you with an install script. And it's not one of those AmigaDOS scripts where you never know what it does nor which you can really control. It uses Commodore's/Escom's standard Installer. Just double-click on the icon with your language. Then follow the instructions. The 'Help...' button works at most places. If you're upgrading from a previous Flut! version you can choose whether you wish to convert the old game data into the new format. Note that this however only works for games with eight or less lines due to the changed format of the playfields. Afterwards all that is left to do is to add it in your PFiles Section: Item type : CNet C DOS filename : PFiles:Flut!/Flut Description : Flut! v4 - a multiport strategy game Arguments : 2 2 2 One user at a time: No (hehe :) Of course, if you installed Flut! somewhere else than in PFiles: you need to change the DOS filename accordingly. Please don't touch the Arguments for now. You're finished now. Unless you want to @{"create your own Ansis" link creatingansis}. Otherwise you might want to know about @{"playing" link playing}... @endnode @node playing "Playing the game" You don't necessarily need to read this section but may wish to use it as reference. What exactly do you want to know about? @{" The screen layout " link screenlayout} @{" Keyboard commands " link keyboardcommands} @{" Joining a game " link joingame} @{" How to score points " link scoringpoints} Strategical and tactical hints can be found in the online help. @endnode @node screenlayout "The screen layout" Well, let's explain the screen layout first: in the upper left you see a table listing the 60 games. The lower 10 represent the online games, the others are the tournament games. The different colors have the following meaning: Games which affect (or have affected) you ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Red (MCI color 1) You have joined this game and it's your turn. You can use AutoSelect to have this game selected. - Brown (MCI color 3) You have joined this game but it's not your turn. - Dark blue (MCI color 4) You have joined this game but there are not enough players yet. - White (MCI color 7) You have joined this game but can't move any longer. Other games ~~~~~~~~~~~ - Purple (MCI color 5) You've not joined this game and it's full. - Green (MCI color 2) You've not joined this game but yet may join. - Cyan (MCI color 6) No player has joined this game yet. If you select it you may join and set its settings. - White on red These are the online games. You can't see their status from within the table, however if you select it you will see whether you may join it or not. The upper right section lists the players active in the current game along with their scores, their last turn and (with tournament games) when they can take a turn again. In the middle of the screen you can see a single line. This is where all kinds of messages are displayed. Below the status line you see a list of the available commands. Below this Ansis, the playfield, the news etc. are displayed. @endnode @node keyboardcommands "Keyboard commands" [+]/[-] Use the Plus and Minus keys to select the next and the previous game. Remote users should however pay attention to the "+++" escape string. [A]utoselect Automatically selects the next game where it is your turn. If you're taken your turns for today it won't do anything. [S]elect Lets you manually select a game. Selecting game 0 can be considered as having no game selected at all, eg. to enter the global Wall. [C]lock Displays the current time and the time of your next turn. [D]isplay Switches between IBM-ANSI and numeric display of the buckets. [I]nfo Informations/Online help. [M]essage Allows you to enter a message which will be sent to all other Flut! players. [W]all Takes you to either the global Wall (if game 0 is selected) or the Wall for the selected game. [R]ankings Views the High scores for both tournament and online games. [N]ews Reports Views the results of recently finished games. [H]all of Flut! Views the Hall of Flut!. Basically the same as the Rankings, only that you need 1000 points to enter it. There are different Halls for tournament and online games, too. [T]ake Turn Allows you to select a bucket to be filled. This option is only available if you have joined this game and it is your turn. As said above, if you don't take a turn for three days you get an additional turn. [J]oin Game See @{"Joining a game" link joingame} for details. @endnode @node joingame "Joining a game" You can only join a game if it still needs players and you have not joined it yet. If there are already players in this game you can take your turn immediately. If not, you can adjust the settings for this game: [CRSR]-Keys Changes the size of the playfield. Cursor Left/Right changes the X-Size while Up/Down changes the Y-Size. [2]-[6] Use the numeric keys to set the number of players for this game. It will require as much as you specify until the game can start. [G]ametype Switches between "Normal" and "X-Flut". When "Normal", a flood occurs horizontically and vertically. When "X-Flut", a flood occurs diagonally. [B]orders When set to "No", flooding buckets at the borders of the playfield will also affect the opposite side. Hit ENTER when you're done. You will have to wait for a player to join the game and take a turn. Note that these settings can't be modified afterwards! @endnode @node scoringpoints "How to score points" During all games you get one point for each filled bucket. In tournament games there are two additonal rules: a) When you WIN a game you get a number of points ADDED using the following formula: X-Size of the Playfield * Y-Size of the Playfield * Players / 6 b) When you LOSE a game you get a number of points SUBSTRACTED using the following formula: X-Size of the Playfield * Y-Size of the Playfield / 6 Here are some examples: X | Y | Players | Winner | Loser ----+----+---------+--------+------- 20 | 8 | 6 | 160 | -26 12 | 8 | 4 | 64 | -16 12 | 6 | 4 | 48 | -12 7 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 (*) 10 | 6 | 2 | 20 | -10 6 | 5 | 3 | 15 | -5 (*): This is a online game, thus you won't get any additional points. @endnode @node sysopstuff "Sysop stuff" Two items interesting for you, the sysop: @{" The sysop menu " link sysopmenu} @{" Creating your own ansis " link creatingansis} @endnode @node sysopmenu "The sysop menu" The sysop menu is available for users with maintenance access. It offers you the following options: [C]reate route file This function will create a route file for CNet's MultiMail function. The route file may include either the players of a specific game or of all games. This allows you to mail all Flut! users without hassle: just enter Fluter when CNet asks you. CNet make it possible ;) [T]est new Ansi This function will read and display the file "Test" in Flut's Ansis/ directory. Refer to @{"Creating your own Ansis" link creatingansis} for more information. [D]elete Game This function will delete the currently selected Game. Use it carefully and only when absolutely required! Any other key will leave this menu. @endnode @node creatingansis "Creating your own Ansis" The Ansis must be in 79x17 format. You can create replacements for the title picture, the picture displayed when someone wins a game and the picture displayed when someone loses a game. As the default Ansis already use the IBM charset there's no reason why you should not. Leave the first line empty and don't forget to put a linefeed after Line 17, so that the cursor is positioned on Line 18 afterwards. To test it, save it in the Ansis/ directory as "Test" and test it from within Flut!'s sysopmenu (you can reach it using the [O]perator key). If it's fine, save it as: a) Titel.xx - if it's a title picture b) Winner.xx - if it's a winner picture c) Looser.xx - if it's a loser picture where xx is a number between 00 and 99. The standard Ansis are numbered from 00 to 01, thus you would call it eg. Winner.02. Next change the Argument line. The three numbers reflect the numbers of Ansis you have for the three types: 2 2 2. The order is shown above. So, if you create another Winner Ansi you would change it to "2 3 2". @endnode @node credits "Credits for this version" Original idea: Kongoman All programming, installer script, online help, sysop's readme: Qwert English versions of the Online Help and the Installer script as well as this Guide: Fate/1oo% Excellent IBM-ANSI graphics: Miracle 3.x translations/corrections/proof-reading: Benno @endnode @node contacting "Contacting the author(s)" If you have any suggestions, find any bugs, or just like it, feel free to contact the author: Qwert (Michael Arlt) InterNet: Not any longer, but you may send mail to Fate (address below) CoCo-Net: Qwert@99:107/20.0 Gambler's Hall II: ++49 9187 902455-57 (TKR Tristar v34 28k8) 902456-57 (Euro-ISDN X.75) (or at Fate's BBS) Should you have any problems or suggestions within my responsibility (that is, spelling mistakes, unclear expressions etc. within this documentation, the english online help or install script), feel free to contact me: Fate/1oo% CNet^Anscii Innovation (Pieter Hollants) InterNet: fxmts205@rz.uni-frankfurt.de http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~fxmts205 CoCo-Net: Fate@99:107/20.0 Digital Dungeons: ++49 6192 910718 (USR v34+ 33k6, 24h, BBS/Voice) The CNet Homebase in Central Germany! @endnode