------------------------------------------------------------------- Shroom Gammon By Paul Burkey (c)1995 Daisy Software This Demo Version is PD ------------------------------------------------------------------- This Demo IS Public Domain software and can be copied or distributed by any means without written consent from the author. Use it on Magazine CoverDisks/CD's or Compilation Disks or anything you want as long as everyone in the world see's it! I would like to see it uploaded to many BBS's. This is the Shroom Gammon Big Demo! It's very rare! Yes, rare! You see my demos are usualy cut down totaly so they only take up a bit of space but this one? I couldn't be bothered cutting down. I like the music too much and I don't have time anyway. The full version has a computer opponent as well as some other extras. The computer opponent is the best feature of the game as it lets sad and lonely people like myself to play on their own...... If you would like the full version as well as demo's and information about my other games then send £4 Postal Order or Cheque to :- Paul Burkey 32 Cottage Close Little Neston South Wirral L64 9RB or Email me at:- paulb@sneech.demon.co.uk If you have Internet Access then I could possibly send you the full version via the net. If you want to contact me on the net about anything then look for me on IRC under the nickname 'shoecake'. I could send you the full game after recieving your cheque on IRC 'Weekends only'. Well get in touch any way you can. When you order your copy it would help me if you were to give me other details, like:- 1. Amiga Set-Up, inc. Hard Drive? Memory, Workbench Version 1.3,3.0 etc. 2. Where you got hold of this demo. If you got it off a mate then tell me that! You see I know exactly where I've sent the demo to so I'll be happy if you can tell me where it's traveled to! When a magazine uses one of my demo's I get loads of orders and I presume thats the reason. But after a few months I might get a new bunch of orders and I always wonder why? I know it will pop up in all sorts of places so let me know! 3. What your favorite games are (Commercial and Shareware). Anyone from outside the U.K. can send a £5 note or at least £5 worth of your own currency! I will accept a 10 Guilder Note and a disk! ************************************************************** Shroom Gammon Instructions I am not trying to claim that the original idea for this game was my own. I am sure that you will have noticed that the title 'Gammon' has given it away. Back gammon was a game I never wanted to learn. It looked boring and it also looked complicated, maybe due to the board having a most peculiar look to it! One day a friend asked me to play the game but I wasn't really interested. But once the rules were sorted out it didn't sound all that hard to play. But, it still sounded boring! It looked like there was no skill involved and it was all down to the Dice! A game based on luck? Sometimes a bit of luck does come into it but let me tell you, it takes a while before you realise how much skill and stratergy IS involved! Shroom Gammon!!!!! Introduction! I have always wanted to write my own Back-Gammon game. Many times I have gone into my graphics programme and drawn Triangles here and Triangles there. Changing the pallete of the screen and using some fancy shading here and there but still there was no way of getting around the fact that a back-gammon board look's too complicated and puts people off from learning how to play. The hardest thing to get used to is the fact that when you get to the end of the board you have to move over to the other side and work your way back! You do get used to this after playing the game a few times but there does come a time when you make a mistake because you miscounted the moves due to the board layout. I have tried to make it look as simple as possible and also fool people into playing Back-Gammon without realising! Some people have said to me, the game is too simple and cant I add a few 'Nasties' or 'teleports!' or something to make it a bit harder. But when they play against someone who is used to playing Back-gammon they hardly ever win. You see it's not all down to the dice! I am not going to re-write Back-Gammon because its just a perfect game! I will however add some extra preferences if you need them. ************************************************************* Rules of Back-gammon. You see there not MY rules! I will say for instance that you are the RED team Playing the BLUE team. Just before the game starts you will be shown who is playing and which side you are on ie RED vs. BLUE. You see from this example RED's Bank is on the left. 1) You have to get all your pieces (Mushies!) across the board to the other side (Bank on the right, Blue Bank). Your Bank is shown by the Hut with your colour on it (Red). His is marked in Blue. 2) You can only move your pieces to the right (In this Example) and he can only move to the left. 3) You take it in turns to roll the dice. There are only two dice and you have to use these numbers independently ie. One at a time. You cannot add them together but you CAN move the same piece twice! This sounds like the same thing doesn't it. Let's say for example you threw a 4 and 3 and you couldn't move 4 or 3, but you could move 7, this is not allowed! You have to use one dice at a time! 4) Now how do you move and what can't you do! You can move any piece to anywhere on the board as long as there is a space for it. You can also move and land on another players piece as long as there is just one piece there! When this happens that piece will go back to his hut and have to start his 'trip' again. So you see from this that it is important not to leave one piece by itself. 5) If you have a piece on the bank, you can only move that piece. It has to be moved before you can start moving any other pieces. If you can't move it eg. all possible moves are blocked by the other player you will miss a go! 6) You will have to use all you dice up unless you can't make a legal move. You can't give up your go, just because you would leave yourself open. You must use ALL dice if at all possible! 7) Now, I said at the start that you have to get onto the other players 'bank'. Well there is one limitation here, and that is you can't take any pieces off until ALL your pieces are past the last 'POST' or to put it another way in the last 6 places. 8) When taking your pieces off you must use whole moves, eg. if you were in the second to last 'place' or (Island) and you throw a 2, you can move that piece off. you could however move one of the other pieces, accept the piece on the last place because that would waste a move. the only time you can waste moves is when there are NO higher placed pieces, eg. if you threw a 6 and you had a piece on the '5th to last' place and you didn't have a piece on '6th to last' place then you are allowed to move him. 9) The game is ended when one player gets all pieces off the board. 10) There are three types of 'win' and they are:- Back Gammon 3pts The other player still has pieces in his half. Gammon 2pts The other player has passed half way but has not moved any pieces off the board. Won 1pt The other player has started to take off his own pieces. 11) Extra Options. As well as the rules above there are some optional rules:- Limit. (Default's to 5) This is a limit to the amount of pieces that can be stacked on top of each other. Some people have this set to 5 and some people turn it off. Bonus. (Default is double) When you throw two of the same number with the dice it is classed as being 4 of the same. eg. 2 + 2 will become 2 + 2 + 2 + 2. Most people use this system but if you want you can turn it off. It might make the game last longer and it will take out some of the luck element (Random Factor!). These settings can be changed from the main menu and also just before a game! Select the RULES button to change the options. This is where I would like to here some suggestions for improvements. If you play Back gammon with different settings then let me know and I will add your ideas to the game. Well that's the rules sorted out. This document was written straight from memory and I might of missed some rules out. Also some people play with slightly different rules so let me know! ************************************************************* Shroom Gammon Game Controls ----------------------------------- When you are playing the game you have to press on the dice button to spin them! Then when they have stopped you will know which pieces CAN move because the pointer will change into two pointers pointing in! If you want to select this piece you press once then you will be able to see where you can move to because the pointer will change to point down if you can move and if you are pointing over a place you cant move to the pointer will change into a BLUE CROSS. If you choose to move to one of your pieces that you can't possible move to then that piece will then be selected if he can move! You will get used to it! If you can't make a legal move then you will be told and you then have a chance to check if you want to and then click on the small button next to where it says BLOCKED! this will end your go. At any time during the game you can choose to see the map. this will let you see the whole screen squashed up! Choose map again to exit. If you don't understand any of the rules then just write to me and I will change this document file a little to make it clear. And tell you anything you don't understand. ************************************************************** You can change the rule settings or go into the game from the main screen. Then you can select either a one off match or a league game. The quick match lets you choose names and mushroom colours to be used. then you will play one game and then it's back to the main menu. Quick league:- Same as above but you can have 2-5 players playing each other 1-5 times. You can see from this that it is possible to play a two player best of 5. This is recommended for two player games as it will rule out any lucky dice! As mentioned above there are pts awarded for different win types 1-3 and this is what goes into the league standings. If two players have the same pts at the end of a league then the player who had the least doubles will win! ************************************************************* In the options you can select the type of controls used so if you want to use only the mouse then select 'mouse' you will have to share the same mouse though. If you want to use a joystick as well then select 'Both' else you can select '2 joy' for both players using there own joystick. or '1 joy' for both players sharing ' joystick! ************************************************************ Anyway That's all for now Thanks for playing! Paul Burkey (15-10-95)