Crazy Pipes A Shareware game by Joe Rumsey Rules ----- Crazy Pipes is a game of strategy and reflexes played by one person. The object is to keep a liquid from spilling on the playing surface for as long as possible. You will need to lay enough pipe to keep this from happening. To accomplish this, a factory has been built which will supply you with an unlimited stream of pipes. However, the delivery system is as poor as the factory is efficient. Only one pipe is available for use at a given time. This means you may have to wait for the pipe you need, possibly until it is too late. To avoid running out of time, you should leave yourself several escape routes whenever possible. Each level of the game will have a section of pipe already in place and labeled "S." This is the point where the flow begins. Focus all of your attention on its mouth and act quickly, or you will surely be drowned. There are two ways to win. The easier way, generally, is to direct the water into the piece of pipe labelled "F" for finish. However, this option will not be available on all levels. The higher the level, the more likely there will be a finish piece. At the highest levels (level 80 up) there will almost always be a finish. The other way to win, available on every level, is to bring the "Count" displayed at the top of the screen down to zero. Count will decrease by one for each section the liquid flows into. The speed of the water increases every 20 levels. The amount of time before the water starts flowing decreases every level, but resets to maximum at the same levels the speed increases. Thus, level 79 has the minimum amount of time at the next to fastest speed, while level 80 has maximum amount of time at the highest speed. Considering all this, if you can complete the last few levels without using a finish piece, you are truly a God-like being, and should probably stop wasting your time on video games, and start mapping human DNA without a microscope, or computing trajectories for inter planetary probes in your head. Scoring ------- Points are scored for every square the water enters. Extra points are added for flowing twice through an intersection piece(the one that looks like a plus sign). Once a piece has been placed, it can be replaced by another, until the water has flowed into it. This will cost you both points and some time(you won't be able to place any more pipe for a short amount of time.) At the end of a level, any unused sections of pipe will be counted up, and points subtracted. All scores vary depending on the level being played. In addition, a bonus is given for finishing the starting level (which can be set from the menus). The starting bonus increases by 2,000 points each level, so that level 2 is worth 2,000 points, level 10 scores 18,000 etc. Note that in general this score is lower than if you actually played all the preceding levels. The top ten all-time high scores are kept on disk. The top ten "daily" high scores are also kept. The highest level achieved for each high score is recorded as well. The format is: "Name score/level". Other features ----- -------- On every level except for the first few, there will be some sort of obstacle on the playing field which can not be built over. The number of obstacles per level increases as the level does. Also, there will be holes in the wall around the edge of the board. If the water happens to flow into one of these, it will re-emerge at the hole on the opposite side of the board. These holes can be used to get out of tight situations, or if you're not looking, to get into them. Be careful! A new "finish level" key has been added. By pressing 'F' the water goes into overdrive, quickly reaching the end of your pipe. The normal rules for winning and losing still apply. This is provided to avoid long waits (mainly on lower levels) when you know you've won, but the water still has a ways to go. To set the starting level, select Level from the Options menu, and enter the two digit level number (level 5 = "05" etc.) You do not need to press enter. During the game, all menus are disabled. The Esc key can be used to quit the current game. Stuff you don't need to know, but may want to All graphics in the game are completely customizeable. The shapes for each level are stored in the files pipes0.iff through pipes9.iff. As the names imply, these are regular iff brushes, editable with dpaint or any other suitable graphics package. The program uses the set corresponding with the last digit of the current level. None of the sets are required to be present, except for pipes0.iff, which is the default in case of a read error on another set. Feel free to change the sets as much as you want, keeping in mind that the flow of water is "hardwired" into the game. That is, the positions of the pipes MUST remain the same, but their images do not have to. If you redistribute this game, please include the original graphics set. Any alternate sets may be freely distributed on their own, but I would like to have a copy sent to me. If I like a set, I will include it in a future release of Crazy Pipes, with your name in the credits.. The sounds are also iff samples, created with Perfect Sound. Feel free to use them in anything you like. Stuff you don't want to know, but may need to The following files should be included in this archive: pipe The main program pipe.doc This file The following files must be in the same directory as pipe: pipe.hs The high score file. Scores can be cleared by deleting this. pipes0.iff\ .. } the graphics sets pipes9.iff/ pipe.title The title screen pipe.hlp The text file for the help option in the Game menu. In the "sounds" directory: exp, clang, loop, over Various sound effects. Optional: music, music2 Simple music files. "music" is played in a loop, and then music2 is played to end the song. These are in a separate archive. Registration ------------ Crazy Pipes is Shareware. I am asking for a donation of $10.00 to help compensate me for my time. While I hardly expect to make a living this way, I have spent a good amount of time working on this, and it's much easier to justify writing more programs if I can make a little money at it. I feel that $10 is not too much to ask when commercial games often cost 5 times as much. When you send your money, please let me know which version of the game you are playing (this being version 2.0). If there is a newer version, I will send it to you, along with some other goodies. My address is: Joe Rumsey 265 W. Big Springs Rd. Apt L. Rverside, CA 92507 GEnie: J.RUMSEY Changes: V2.0: added multiple graphics sets, ability to change them easily. fixed bug causing "About" to crash under 2.0. Now works under either OS. Made the level number much more meaningful, water gets faster Now records level in high score table. Added finish pieces various other things only I will notice. Other progams available, now or soon: Bomb Squad: A strategy game in which you must find all the bombs on a board of variable size. A record of the best times is kept. features sampled sounds and customizable graphics. Freeware. Serpent: A smooth scrolling maze game in which you guide a snake around collecting eggs to protect them from predators. Wheelo: Drive an inverted unicycly through a world of ramps, platforms, and other things trying to save the universe from the evil something or other(I haven't decided yet) A note: Bomb Squad is the only only one out as of this writing. Serpent and Wheelo are close.