China Tiles Documentation.

                        China Tiles V1.0
               Copyright (c) 1993-5 Stephen Hughes.

System Requirements:-
=====================

  To run this game, you need an Amiga, at least 1MB of memory and a mouse.
It was developed on a 1MB A500 with Kickstart 1.3, and an A1200, so it
should work on any Kickstart or Workbench, provided AMOS is compatible with
it.
Note:- China Tiles is PAL only.


  The Game:-
  ========

  This game is based on the old Chinese game Mahjong. It is extremely
simple to play, and provides hours of hair-tearing fun.
  The basic idea of the game is to remove all 120 tiles from the board. The
problem comes in the fact that you can only remove matching pairs of tiles.
Easy eh? Well it would be if that were the only restriction. To further
complicate matters, a tile has to be 'free' before it can be selected. By
free, I mean it has to have a blank space to either the left of right of
it. There can be tiles on the piles to either side, as long as there are
none on the same level.
  Once all 120 tiles have been removed, or there are no more available pairs,
the game is over. And, there you have it. That is basically all there is to
the game. It's so simple, even John Major could play it!  But, What is this
I hear? Cries of 'Old Hat!' and 'Been done hundreds of times before!' from
the Honourable Gentleman opposite? Well, of course it's been done before,
haven't most games? Of course, there are a few features that make this
version better than any of the competition. For instance, the game features
a built in help function, easily enough for even the slowest learner. Then,
there is the fantastically useful search function, to help people who can't
tell a pair of floppy disks from a can of coke. Of course, there is that old
favourite undo for people who couldn't hit a dead elephant at 6 inches with a
frying pan. And for the lazy among you, there is a cheat function built in.
Of course, you don't get any satisfaction from cheating, but it also helps of
you make a complete mess of the level.
  'But surely, these are nothing major?' Well, if my Honourable friend will
kindly button it for a bit longer, I will reveal the feature that will have
you gasping in the polluted air. The feature that puts all other games of
this type to shame. Now, many of you will have seen other games of this type.
  Hands up how many have seen them with just one level? Quite a large number
I see. Now how many have seen them with between 2 and 15 levels? Thankyou,
the lady in the corner. Now I wonder if anyone out there can guess how many
levels this game has? 5? Now come on, be serious! 20? Still way short. 100?
Not a hope. Well, I'll tell you. The game has infinite levels. (Well almost)
You see, This game has that most revered of features, a LEVEL EDITOR! And,
unlike most, you are not limited to the number of levels you can design. The
only limit to the number of level files you can create is the available disk
space. And, with 15 levels to each file, it will take you a long time to
complete even a hand full of files. Thankyou, Madam Speaker, that is all.


 Features:-
 ========

  Here is a quick rundown of all the features in the game.

FIND  -  Finds and removes a matching pair of free tiles.

UNDO  -  Takes you back a move.

HELP  -  Pops up a help page if you forget what to do in the game.

CHEAT  -  Allows you to remove a pair even if they are not free, or even
          visible.

Level Editor  -  Allows you to design levels to your hearts content. The
                 only restriction is that a level must contain 120 tiles
                 before it can be used. Following are a list of the features
                 to be found in the level editor.

       LOAD  and  SAVE  -  Allows levels to be save to or read from disk.

       HELP  -  In case you forget what a button does.

       SHOW  -  Gives you a preview of what the level will look like in
                the game.

       CLEAR and RESET  -  Deletes level data from memory.

  For more information, read the Level_Editor documentation.


Final Word
==========

  I think that's all you need to know about how to work the program. If
you do have any problems or suggestions for improvements, then contact me
at:-

             Stephen Hughes
              21 Milton Lane
               Easington
                Peterlee
                 Co. Durham
                  SR8 3DR.

or until June 1997. E-Mail me at ee0u4056@liverpool.ac.uk.

See you in China Tiles 2, or any other Easisoft productions that may
appear in the near future!