PCjs Machines
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PC-SIG Diskette Library (Disk #2924)
[PCjs Machine "ibm5170"]
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CDROM.TXT
T h e P C - S I G L i b r a r y o n C D - R O M
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This may well be the greatest collection of software ever compiled.
The PC-SIG Library on CD-ROM is our premier collection of the entire
PC-SIG library. Every shareware program we have is on one disc; over
700 megabytes of software you can have immediate access to.
Easy to use, all you have to do is insert the disc and type 'GO' at the
DOS prompt. We've included all the tools you need for fast easy access
to the programs and their descriptions.
The WordCruncher text retrieval software allows you to quickly access
the description for any program you want. All the programs are indexed
by title, filename, PC-SIG disk number, and every word within the
program description. There couldn't be an easier way to find just the
right program.
The Narc utility, newly instituted with the tenth edition, allows you to
look directly at all the compressed program files on the CD without
having to download the program to your hard disk. So if you want to
look at the programmer's notes or on-line documentation before using
valuable hard disk space, you can.
The PC-SIG Encyclopedia of Shareware is included on the disk, and a
printed copy of the book is included so you can peruse the available
programs from the comfort of your favorite chair. All the programs are
logically divided into one-hundred twenty categories making it easier to
find just the right software.
Whether you're interested in Accounting or Windows, there's a shareware
program for you on the PC-SIG Library on CD-ROM.
Winner of the Optical Publishing Assn's Best Consumer Product Award.
Shareware for every imaginable need: Accounting Chemistry Educational
Engineering Games Hypertext Networks Programming Spreadsheets Utilities
Word Processing
System Requirements:
IBM PC/XT/AT PS/2 or compatible with 384K memory DOS 3.1 or higher and
Microsoft MS-DOS CD ROM extensions.
T h e E s s e n t i a l H o m e & B u s i n e s s C o l l e c t i o n
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Never before has such a valuable collection of popular shareware been
compiled on one CD-ROM that everyone can afford." Dr. File Finder a.k.a.
Michael Callahan
Finally, 368 of the most useful, popular, important shareware programs
have been put together on one CD. No matter what your need, it's on The
Essential Home & Business Collection. Everything from Administration to
Windows software is here.
The Essential CD incorporates the WordCruncher text retrieval system.
Every program on the disc is indexed
by title, filename, PC-SIG disk number, and every word in the program
description. A new utility, Narc, is implemented so you can look at the
program files and the author's on-line documentation without having to
first copy the program to your hard disk. By using WordCruncher and
Narc, you can quickly find the program you want and review it to be
sure, without ever having to run it from your hard disk.
If you've got a CD-ROM player at home and want to get more use of it and
your computer, or if you're trying to avoid purchasing another Nintendo
cartridge, or if you just enjoy looking at new software, you need The
Essential Home & Business Collection.
System Requirements:
IBM PC/XT/AT PS/2 or compatible with 384K memory DOS 3.1 or higher and
Microsoft MS-DOS CD ROM extensions.
To Order in the U.S.A.: Call 800-245-6717 and ask for Customer Service.
Outside the U.S.A. call (408) 730-9291 for the name of the dealer in
your country.
FILE2924.TXT
Disk No: 2924
Disk Title: Solitile & Teamtris
PC-SIG Version: S1.01
Program Title: Solitile
Author Version: 3.0
Author Registration: $15.00
Special Requirements: EGA/VGA only. Supports Microsoft compatible mouse.
SOLITILE is a game of solitaire played with "tiles". Derived from
similar games, such as "Shanghai", "Gunshy", and "Mahjongg" which are
played with Mah-Jong tiles, SOLITILE plays the same game, but adds new
starting layouts and the ability for the player to create new layouts
and/or modify the layouts provided. It has built-in, "westernized"
pictures on the faces of the tiles, but can also use alternate
tile-sets. The program includes a tile editor so the user may alter
existing tile pictures or create entirely new sets. SOLITILE can also
read in and use tile sets created for use with Nels Anderson's Mahjongg
game (of which there are hundreds available).
Program Title: Teamtris
Author Version: 2.0
Author Registration: Donations.
Special Requirements: VGA graphics.
Have you ever dreamed of playing Tetris "with someone" and not "against
someone"? Well, it is now possible with Teamtris! This new variant of
the most popular game in the world lets you play one player against the
computer, two players against each other, or two teams with team and
individual score tracking. This new Tetris twist also offers an optional
oversized board that turns the traditional game space into a dynamic
playing field when you're playing against someone else.
PC-SIG
1030D East Duane Avenue
Sunnyvale Ca. 94086
(408) 730-9291
(c) Copyright 1989 PC-SIG, Inc.
PCSIG.TXT
P C - S I G
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Welcome to the world of Shareware, state of the art software you can
actually try before you buy.
Shareware, a term coined in the early eighties, refers to the method of
distribution chosen by the software authors. With shareware, you can
receive a program and put it through its paces without having to pay for
it. If you find the program useful, and choose to keep the program, then
you pay a modest registration fee to the author.
For the last nine years, PC-SIG has been providing shareware and public
domain software to its customers and members. Since 1982 PC-SIG has
developed an unprecedented library of shareware programs, constantly
updated, consistently strong in every category. Our library of
shareware contains over 2700 titles divided into 120 logical categories.
Every program we add to the library is thoroughly reviewed and tested to
insure that each one meets the high standards of reliability and value we
insist upon and you expect. As a result, our library doesn't contain
every shareware program available, just those that really work.
PC-SIG has grown into the premier distributor of shareware and and
shareware information by producing shareware collections on CD-ROM,
publishing an encyclopedia of shareware, and by publishing Shareware
Magazine, a bi-monthly magazine distributed world-wide.
Quality and support - guaranteed. All of our programs are guaranteed
virus free. We've isolated our systems and check every program
submitted to insure that no viruses make their way to your computer or
ours.
Our support staff is available by phone as well as on our BBS to help
you with questions about installation and operation of PC-SIG's
products.
Through our network of international distributors, PC- SIG strives to
bring you the most current, exciting, technically advanced software
available as shareware.
If you can't find the software you need in PC-SIG's library, it may well
not exist.
To order the latest in Shareware, in the U.S.A: Call (800) 245-6717
Outside the U.S.A. call (408) 730-9291 for the name of the dealer in
your country.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SHAREMAG.TXT
S H A R E W A R E M A G A Z I N E
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Shareware Magazine has distinguished itself as the only internationally
distributed periodical devoted to the use and business of shareware.
Shareware Magazine provides detailed reviews of new products,
hard-hitting comparisons of shareware programs with regular retail
software, and timely information about changes in the industry and the
latest technology.
Intriguing columnists and regular features add to the excitement. The
beginners section sheds light on new user's concerns regarding
everything from choosing the right operating system to alleviating the
intimidation of using on-line systems.
Educational sections focus on how low cost shareware can aid in
classroom learning, curriculum development, and as a forum for
discussing the impact of computers and technology in schools.
Graphics Gallery renders expert advice and suggestions on how to better
work with graphics, desktop publishing, CAD systems, and the Windows
environment.
Programmers benefit from others experience in developing new programs or
polishing existing ones as well as choosing the right programming
language.
And columnists provide that subjective component, sometimes
controversial, that calls for a closer look at the way we compute and
how shareware effects what we do.
Published bimonthly, Shareware Magazine is available on a subscription
or at your local newsstand or computer bookstore. In conjunction with
PC-SIG, there are special benefits for subscribers as well as
opportunities for discount purchases from PC-SIG.
To Order, in the U.S.A.: Call 800-245-6717 and ask Customer Service.
Outside the U.S.A. call (408) 730-9291 for the name of the dealer in
your country.
REGISTER.DOC
_______________________________________________________________________________
SOLITILE rev 3.0 Copyright 1989-1991 Everett Kaser. All rights reserved.
Registration order form
_______________________________________________________________________________
There is a $7.50 discount for registering 2 games at the same time,
and a $10.00 discount for registering 3 games at the same time. A
description of the various games/disks is at the end of this file.
All games require EGA or VGA, and Sherlock requires a mouse.
games:
SOLITILE registration ............... $15.00 ....... _____________
SHERLOCK registration (mouse required) $15.00 ....... _____________
SNARF registration .................. $15.00 ....... _____________
games sub-total ..... _____________
Discount ($0 for 1, $7.50 for 2, $10.00 for 3 games) -_____________
sub-total ..... _____________
accessories:
SOLITILE ACCESSORY Disk #1 .......... $ 5.00 ....... _____________
SOLITILE ACCESSORY Disk #2 .......... $ 5.00 ....... _____________
TOTAL ......... _____________
Diskette type? (circle one) [ 5.25" ] [ 3.5" ]
_______________________________________________________________________________
Your mailing address:
Name ___________________________________________________________
Street ___________________________________________________________
City _______________________ State _____________ Zip ___________
Country (if not US) ______________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Mail this form along with your check or money order (in US funds) to:
Everett Kaser Phone: (503) 928-5259
Solitile Please limit phone calls to these hours:
35405 Spruce St Weekdays: 6:00pm to 9:30pm (Pacific
Albany, OR 97321 Weekends: 8:30am to 9:30pm Time Zone)
_______________________________________________________________________________
** Thank you very much for your registration. **
________
SOLITILE is a game of solitaire, played with "tiles". It derives
from several similar games, such as "Shanghai", "Gunshy", and
"Mahjongg", which are played with Mah-Jong tiles. Solitile plays
the same game, but adds new starting layouts and the ability for the
player to create new layouts and/or modify the layouts provided. It
has, built-in, "westernized" pictures on the faces of the tiles, and
can also use alternate tile-sets, and the program includes a tile
editor so that the user may alter existing tile pictures or create
entirely new sets. Solitile 3.0 can also read in and use tile sets
created for use with Nels Anderson's Mahjongg game (of which there
are hundreds available).
________
SHERLOCK is a game of deduction. It is your task, based upon the
information available in provided clues, to determine the locations
of 36 blocks. Every puzzle can be solved by using the clues to
eliminate possibilities until the location of a specific block can
be determined. Sherlock may be played by a SINGLE person, or a
TOURNAMENT may be set up, with each person in the TOURNAMENT
attempting to solve the same puzzle as quickly as possible. A
TIME LIMIT may be set if desired.
_____
SNARF is an arcade style game where you have to run around through
various mazes (levels) picking up treasure (rings and crowns) while
avoiding the Snarfs. You can shoot the Snarfs, but you only get points
for the treasure, not for the Snarfs. Each time you're touched by a
Snarf, you're "tagged". You start with a "tag count" of 50. Each time
you're tagged the count is decremented. If you get tagged when the
count is 0, the game is over. You can get "healed" at a first-aid
station (your tag count is pumped back up to 50). There are more
than 30 levels in the registered version of the game, and the user
can create more levels with the built-in Level Editor.
__________________________
Solitile Accessory Disk #1 contains:
3 tilesets: MAHJONG, BATH, and TOOLS
5 layouts: MAYAMASK, ZIGZAG, PLANE, BIDIR, and PI
9 music files: ENTERTAINER, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, HALL
OF THE MOUNTAIN KING, MUSIC BOX DANCER, ROSES, BLUE
DANUBE, LOVE STORY, GODFATHER, A VERY GOOD YEAR
13 GIF files: space walking astronaut, Marylin Monroe, Bulldog,
Star Trek Enterprise, cartoon characters, etc.
_______________________________________________________________________
Solitile Accessory Disk #2 contains:
5 tilesets: STAMPS, BASEBALL, CANDY, WINTILE1, BODY
5 layouts: JAILBRAK,10HIDING,FLATCAT,SPRAYER,SQUARFAC
9 music files: SOUND OF SILENCE, THOSE WERE THE DAYS, BRIDGE
OVER TROUBLED WATER, CABARET, GEORGY GIRL, KING OF THE
ROAD, MOON RIVER, RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING ON MY HEAD,
WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE
21 GIF files: space shuttle take-off, King Tut, cheetah's face,
cartoon characters, etc.
_______________________________________________________________________
More Solitile Accessory Disks may be available by the time you read
this. Please call or write to find out how many are available.
SOLITILE.DOC
SOLITILE rev 3.0 September 22, 1991
Copyright 1989, 1990, 1991 by Everett Kaser
All Rights Reserved
All files listed at the bottom of this page are Copyrighted
and may NOT be redistributed separately from the entire Solitile
package, or other than as outlined on this page and in Sections
I and II of this document.
Solitile is a game of solitaire, played with "tiles". It derives
from several similar games, such as "Shanghai", "Gunshy", and
"Mahjongg", which are played with Mah-Jong tiles. Solitile plays
the same game, but adds new starting layouts and the ability for the
player to create new layouts and/or modify the layouts provided. It
has, built-in, "westernized" pictures on the faces of the tiles, and
can also use alternate tile-sets, and the program includes a tile
editor so that the user may alter existing tile pictures or create
entirely new sets. Solitile 3.0 can also read in and use tile sets
created for use with Nels Anderson's Mahjongg game (of which there
are hundreds available).
Solitile is being distributed as Shareware. If you use the game
for more than one week, you are expected to pay for its use by sending
the registration fee of $15.00 (U.S. funds) to the author. For your
convenience, the file REGISTER.DOC may be printed to obtain a regis-
tration form. The author may be contacted at:
US Mail: Everett Kaser
Solitile
35405 Spruce St
Albany, OR 97321
phone: Weekdays: 6:00pm - 9:00pm Pacific Time
Weekends: 8:30am - 9:00pm
(503) 928-5259
Compuserve: 70673,1547
internet: hplabs!hp-pcd!everett
or everett%hpcvlx@hplabs.hp.com
The game package, which MUST include the files listed below, may be
freely copied and distributed. It's use is subject to the conditions
outlined in this document in section II. Included files:
SOLITILE.EXE ENCIRCLE.LYT NOTE: Additional disks of Solitile
SOLITILE.DOC BEGINNER.LYT support files may be purchased separ-
REGISTER.DOC BRIDGE .LYT ately. Each additional disk contains
VENDOR .DOC STARSHIP.LYT some mixture of tile-sets (.STL), music
SOLITILE.STL SUN .LYT files (.MUS), layouts (.LYT), and .GIF
SHARON .STL VALLEY .LYT background pictures. See the file
EAGLE .GIF FORUM .LYT REGISTER.DOC for a list of available
FANTASIA.GIF PYRAMID .LYT disks or contact the author (see above)
FURELISE.MUS TEMPLE .LYT for the latest information.
HALLELUJ.MUS SPIDER .LYT
WEDGES .LYT
SOLITILE --- Table of Contents
Section
I. Definition of Shareware
II. Disclaimer -- Agreement
III. Installing and Starting the Program
IV. Introduction to Solitile 3.0
V. Playing the Game
VI. Game Menu Items
VII. The MAIN Menu
VIII. The FILE SELECTION Menu
IX. The PLAYER SETUP Menu
X. The EDITORS Menu
XI. The LAYOUT Editor
XII. The TILES Editor
XIII. The FRAME PATTERNS Editor
XIV. The BACKGROUND PATTERN Editor
XV. Hints On Play
XVI. Bugs and Versions
XVII. Products Available From Everett Kaser Software
I. DEFINITION OF SHAREWARE
Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before
buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you
are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details -- some
request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum
trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right
to continue using the software to receiving an updated program with
a printed manual.
Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the
copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as
stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like
commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In
both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference
is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the
right to copy and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or
to a specific group. For example, some authors require written permiss-
ion before a commercial disk vendor may copy their Shareware.
Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should
find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's com-
mercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs
easier, because you can try before you buy. And because the overhead
is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back
guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it.
II. DISCLAIMER - AGREEMENT
Users of SOLITILE must accept this disclaimer of warranty:
"SOLITILE is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties,
expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of
merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no
liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from
the use of SOLITILE."
SOLITILE is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the
user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but
please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The
essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer
users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide
incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you
find this program useful and find that you are using SOLITILE and
continue to use SOLITILE after a reasonable trial period, you must make
a registration payment as described on the first page of this document.
The applicable registration fee will license one copy for use on any
one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like
a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of
people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another,
so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location
while it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by
two different persons at the same time.
Commercial users of SOLITILE must register and pay for their copies of
SOLITILE within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn.
Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting Everett Kaser.
Anyone distributing SOLITILE for any kind of remuneration must first
contact Everett Kaser at the address above for authorization. This
authorization will be automatically granted to distributors recognized
by the (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors,
and such distributors may begin offering SOLITILE immediately (However
Everett Kaser must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept
up-to-date with the latest version of SOLITILE.).
You are encouraged to pass a copy of SOLITILE along to your friends
for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they
find that they can use it. All registered users will receive a copy of
the latest version of the SOLITILE system.
III. INSTALLING AND STARTING THE PROGRAM
It is recommended that you install Solitile in it's own sub-directory
on your hard disk (or on its own floppy disk if you have no hard disk),
because the program has many support files, and placing them in their
own sub-directory will keep them all together and keep your other disk
directories from getting too cluttered.
To create a sub-directory for Solitile, you might type one of the
following commands:
MKDIR \SOLITILE
or MKDIR \GAMES\SOLITILE
or MKDIR \BIN\GAMES\SOLITILE
These are only examples, and you'll have to decide upon a sub-directory
path that makes sense given the structure of YOUR hard disk. Once the
sub-directory has been created, you're ready to install Solitile into
that sub-directory. If you received the files on a floppy disk, as
separate files, you would do something like:
COPY A:\*.* C:\SOLITILE
or COPY A:\*.* D:\GAMES\SOLITILE
or COPY B:\*.* C:\BIN\GAMES\SOLITILE
If the program came as an archive file of some sort (.ZIP, .ARC, .LZH,
etc), you will need to copy the archive file into the sub-directory
that you created (using the COPY command), then type something like:
PKUNZIP SOLITILE.ZIP
or LHARC x SOLITILE.LZH
Once the program is installed, you can change to that sub-directory at
any time and run the program, or you can specify the path to the
SOLITILE sub-directory in your PATH environment variable (set in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file), and then Solitile can be run from anywhere on your
hard disk without first changing to the Solitile sub-directory. (If
you do add SOLITILE to your PATH statement, remember that you will have
to reboot your computer before the PATH actually gets modified.)
The program has no optional arguments and is started by typing
SOLITILE
The program first generates the background (see Section XIV: The
Background Editor), then draws the game screen. A copyright message
is drawn in a panel over everything else, and it may be exited at
any time by pressing a key or clicking a mouse button.
The first time the program is run, the user will be prompted for a
player name. This name must be from 1 to 8 characters long, and it
may only contain valid DOS file name characters as it will be used
to create a .PLY file for storing that player's statistics.
Also, the first time the program is run, the HELP screens will be
displayed. This will ONLY happen the first time the program is run.
Thereafter, the HELP may be accessed via the main MENU.
IV. INTRODUCTION TO SOLITILE 3.0
The set of tiles consist of 168 individual tiles. There are 42
different pictures on the faces of the tiles, with each picture
appearing on four tiles.
The object of the game is to remove all of the tiles from the board.
Tiles are removed in matching pairs. For a tile to be removable, it
must not have any other tiles on top of it, and it must have either
its entire right side exposed, or its entire left side. "Exposed"
means that there is not another tile on the same level and laying
immediately against it.
A few definitions of terms:
LAYOUT: the starting pattern or arrangement of tiles, disregarding
the faces of the tiles. This simply tells the program where
to place tiles when starting a game, but not WHICH tiles to
put in any given place. Layouts are stored individually in
disk files, so there can be many, many different possible
layouts. There are 12 layouts provided with the game.
You may add to, delete, and modify these layouts. Each layout
may contain anywhere from 4 to 168 tiles, in multiples of 4
(ie, 4, 8, 12,...160, 164, 168).
BOARD NUMBER: a number between 0 and 65535, which is used to control
the placement of specific tiles in the starting layout. This
number allows you to replay a specific game at will. The game
normally starts any particular layout at Board 0. It keeps
track of the last board you were playing, and when you solve
a board, the Board number is automatically incremented. You
may specify a new Board number at any time.
MENU ITEMS: On the main game screen, any grey box around the side of
the display that contains BLUE lettering is considered a MENU
ITEM. This means that it can be activated by pointing to it
with the mouse a clicking the LEFT mouse button, or by pressing
the key corresponding to the first letter of the MENU ITEM's
title. (ie, T for Tileset, L for Layout, M for Menu, etc.)
At all other times, the MENU ITEMS are grouped together in one
large grey panel, where each individual item can again be
activated by clicking on it with the mouse or by pressing the
key corresponding to its first letter.
BUTTONS: the Left and Right Buttons refer to the buttons on your
mouse. If you don't have a mouse, the HOME and PGUP keys on
the numeric keypad of your keyboard perform the same functions.
These two buttons are used to control the game action. The
meaning of the two buttons is always shown in the upper right
corner of the game display.
V. PLAYING THE GAME
To select the first tile of a pair to be removed, move the cursor
onto the tile and press the LEFT BUTTON. This will cause that tile
(if it's removable, ie. not blocked by other tiles) to be highlighted.
Once you've selected the first tile of the pair, move the cursor to
the second tile and, again, press the LEFT BUTTON. This will cause
the second tile to be highlighted. At this point, pressing the
LEFT BUTTON a third time will cause those two tiles to be removed,
or pressing both BUTTONs together will de-select the two tiles. If
VERIFY mode is not on, then the two tiles will be removed immediately
that you click on the second one, without requiring the third verific-
ation click. If the BLINK mode is set, then the highlighted tiles
will blink, revealing the tiles beneath them. See Section xxx Player
Configuration.
A shortcut for selecting the second tile is to use the RIGHT BUTTON.
First, select the first tile using the LEFT BUTTON. Then, pressing
the RIGHT BUTTON will cause the computer to search for a removable
matching tile. If one is found, it will be highlighted. Once both
tiles are highlighted, pressing the RIGHT BUTTON again will cause
the computer to look for a different tile to use as the matching
tile. The RIGHT BUTTON can be used repeatedly to cycle through all
possible matches for the first tile you selected. When using this
method to select the second tile, VERIFY mode has no effect, and the
third verification click is required, since you may want to use the
RIGHT BUTTON to cycle through several possible matches.
If you're having trouble finding a matching pair of removable tiles,
or if you want to see all of the pairs that are currently removable,
press the RIGHT BUTTON before selecting a tile. This will cause the
computer to search for all matching tiles that are removable. It
will highlight them, one set at a time. To cycle through the sets
of removable tiles, repeat pressing the RIGHT BUTTON until a message
appears informing you that there are no more matches. At any time
during this "help cycle", pressing the LEFT BUTTON will abort the
"help cycle". If VERIFY mode is off, there will be no message when
you reach the end of the "help cycle", there will simply be no high-
lighted tiles.
As a general rule in Solitile 3, any pop-up menu may be escaped from
by pressing the ESC key or by clicking the RIGHT BUTTON.
VI. GAME MENU ITEMS
Menu options available (and keystroke to activate them if you don't
have a mouse) while playing the game are:
(M) MENU This activates the MAIN MENU. See Section VII.
(P) PAIRS This searches for any possible matching pairs and tells
you how many are available. Similar to clicking the
RIGHT BUTTON with no tiles selected, except that it
only tells you the number of matches available WITHOUT
showing you the matches.
(U) UNDO This, uh..., un-does your previous moves (it replaces
removed pairs in reverse order) letting you back up.
(R) RETRY This re-starts the current game (same layout, same
board number) from the beginning. Use this when you
get stuck but want to give it another shot.
(D) DOS This will attempt to "spawn" a copy of COMMAND.COM,
without exiting the game. This allows you to get to
the DOS COMMAND prompt without terminating your game.
Possible reasons that it might not work is if you have
insufficient memory to load the COMMAND interpreter on
top of SOLITILE, or if the file COMMAND.COM can't be
found by SOLITILE on your path. Once you've gone to
the DOS prompt this way, you must issue the EXIT
command to return to your SOLITILE game.
(B) BOARD This allows you to select a new board number. Options
provided are:
(N) NEXT increments the board number
(R) RANDOM selects a random board number
(S) Specify allows you to specify the board
(L) LAYOUT Brings up the FILE SELECTION MENU (see Section VIII)
and allows you to select a new LAYOUT file. The
selected layout will become the new default layout for
the current player. All LAYOUT files have a file
extension of .LYT.
(T) TILESET Brings up the FILE SELECTION MENU (see Section VIII)
and allows you to select a new TILESET file. The
selected layout will become the new default tileset for
the current player. All TILESET files have a file
extension of .STL (Solitile style tilesets) or .TIL
(Mahjongg style tilesets). The Tileset File Selection
Menu does not automatically terminate, but rather it
displays the selected tile set for your inspection, and
allows you to select another or EXIT, accepting the
displayed one. This allows you to "browse" through the
various tilesets that you may have available to you.
( ) player name In the top center of the main game display is a box
containing the current player's name. This box may be
clicked upon with the mouse for a quick access to the
Player Setup Menu (see section IX). There is no key-
stroke for quick access to this menu. From the key-
board, you must first bring up the Main Menu (with the
M key), then select the Player Setup Menu.
VII. THE MAIN MENU
In the top portion of the MAIN Menu, there are these options:
(G) GAME This returns you to Main Game Display, where you may
continue playing your game.
(H) HELP Displays the Help screens, which explain the basic
game playing information.
(S) SAVE GAME Saves the current game into a file with the current
player's name and an extension of .SAV.
(R) RESTORE GAME Restores the current player's previously SAVEd game.
(P) PLAYER SETUP Brings up the Player Setup Menu (see Section IX).
(E) EDITORS Brings up the Editors Menu (see Section X).
(Q) QUIT TO DOS Exits the program.
In the bottom portion of the MAIN Menu is information regarding the
current player's performance with the current Layout. It shows the
player's name, the current Layout name, and a window containing the
list of Board numbers that the player has solved on the current Layout.
Not all solved board numbers may fit in the window so scroll buttons
are provided for use with a mouse, and the cursor keys and PgUp/PgDn
keys may be used from the keyboard to scroll the list up/down.
VIII. THE FILE SELECTION MENU
The FILE SELECTION Menu is used at a number of different places in the
game, to select the player, layout, tileset, music, and GIF files. In
all situations, the FILE SELECTION Menu works the same. It provides a
list of all SUB-DIRECTORIES, followed by a list of all available files
with the appropriate file extension. These file extensions are:
.PLY player files
.LYT layout files
.STL Solitile tile set files
.TIL Nels Anderson's Mahjongg tile set files
.MUS music files for Theme and Win music
.GIF picture files for background picture
From the keyboard, files or sub-directories may be chosen by using the
cursor and PgUp/PgDn keys to highlight the desired item, then pressing
the Enter (Return) key. In this way, you can navigate up and down the
sub-directory tree, as well as load the desired file. The current
PATH is always displayed immediately above the "files" window. With
a mouse, the sub-directory or file may be selected by pointing at it
with the mouse cursor and double-clicking the LEFT BUTTON. (If your
double click is not quite quick enough, all that will happen is that
the item you pointed to will become highlighted.) With the mouse you
can also scroll the window and highlighted item up/down by clicking
with the LEFT BUTTON upon the:
DOUBLE UP ARROWS --- page up
SINGLE UP ARROW --- move highlight bar up/scroll up
SINGLE DOWN ARROW --- move highlight bar down/scroll down
DOUBLE DOWN ARROW --- page down
Other items that are available on the FILE SELECTION Menu are:
(L) LOAD ----- Loads the currently highlighted item.
(E) EXIT Exits the FILE SELECTION Menu
(R) RENAME Lets you Rename the currently highlight item.
(C) Copy Copies the currently highlighted item to another file.
(D) DELETE Lets you Delete the currently highlighted file.
IX. THE PLAYER SETUP MENU
Each player may configure the game to his or her own preferred setup.
This setup is then stored in the player's .PLY file, along with all of
the solved board numbers for each layout that the player has tried.
The current player's name is stored in the file SOLITILE.CFG. That
name is then used to access the .PLY file for that player. The current
player may be selected/changed from the PLAYER SETUP Menu:
(P) PLAYER allows you to select or add a player.
(E) EXIT exits the Player Setup Menu
(G) GIF FILE lets you specify the .GIF file to be used as a back-
ground for the current player.
(T) THEME toggles the Theme music on and off. If done from the
keyboard with the T key, also allows selection of the
THEME music file.
(R) REMOVE TILES toggles on and off the sound for removing tiles
(U) UNDO toggles on and off the sound for undo-ing.
(N) NO MOVES toggles on and off the sound for NO-MORE-MOVES
(W) WIN toggles the Win music on/off. From the keyboard with
the W key, also allows selection of the WIN music file.
(B) BLINK toggles on/off "blinking tiles". When on, then during
game play, selected tiles will "blink", alternately
showing the tile beneath them and themselves as a neg-
ative image. This may be considered cheating by some,
so when BLINK is enabled, you'll be unable to select a
tile unless it has a removable matching tile available.
(V) VERIFY toggles on and off "verify tiles". When on, Solitile 3
will play much as previous versions of Solitile, where
you first clicked on one tile to select it, then click-
ed on a second tile to select it, then clicked a third
time to remove those two selected tiles. With VERIFY
off, the selected tiles will be removed automatically
as soon as the second one is selected. However, when
first selecting one tile, then using the RIGHT BUTTON
to locate/highlight the second, a verifying click of
the LEFT BUTTON is still required, as the computer's
selected match may not be the one that you had in mind.
When using a mouse, you may also click upon the items listed at the
bottom of the PLAYER SETUP Menu:
Player The current player's name
GIF The current player's background picture file name.
Theme The file name for the current player's Theme music,
which gets played when the game first starts up (if the
THEME sound is enabled).
Win The file name for the current player's Win music,
which gets played when a board is solved (if the WIN
sound is enabled).
Besides the "solved board numbers" and the above items, the additional
things that are kept in the player's .PLY file are:
the player's current LAYOUT (selected from main game display)
the player's current TILESET (selected from main game display)
the player's FRAME PATTERNS (created in the Frame Editor)
the player's BACKGROUND PATTERN (created in Background Editor)
X. THE EDITORS MENU
The EDITORS Menu gives you access to the several "editors" available
with Solitile 3:
(L) LAYOUT Modify existing layouts or create new ones of your
own. (See Section XI.)
(T) TILES Modify existing tilesets or create new ones of your
own. (See Section XII.)
(F) FRAME PATTERNS allows the player to change the eight patterns used
to draw the frame (or border) around the edge of the
main game display. Any changes made to these patterns
are reflected in the player's .PLY setup file.
(B) BACKGROUND PATTERN allows the player to change the background
pattern which is drawn on the display before the GIF
image is drawn. Any changes made to this pattern is
reflected in the player's .PLY setup file.
(E) EXIT EDITORS returns you to the MAIN Menu.
The TILES, FRAME, and BACKGROUND editors use a common bitmap editor,
with some differences and embellishments. The rest of this section
describes those portions of the bitmap editor that are common to all
three editors.
The bitmap editor four primary areas:
The color palette
The menu
The zoom/pixel edit area
The item selection area
The item selection area is different for each area and is discussed
in the appropriate section. The "cursor" may be moved from one area
to another from the keyboard by using these keys:
(F1) moves the cursor to the COLOR palette area
(F2) moves the cursor to the ZOOM area
(F3) moves the cursor to the item selection area
In the top-left corner is the color palette of 16 colors. The current
pen-color is outlined with a white-square. The current color may be
selected by clicking the LEFT mouse button on the desired color square,
or by first moving the "cursor" to the color palette area with the F1
key, and then using the cursor keys to select the desired color.
In the center of the display is the ZOOM area. This displays an
enlarged image of the item currently being edited. Many operations are
possible upon this area, as discussed below.
Down the left side of the display is the MENU area, the individual
items of which are discussed in detail below. However, each MENU item
may be activated by either pressing the key corresponding to the first
letter of the item, or by clicking the LEFT mouse button once upon the
item.
Between the MENU and the ZOOM is the:
Work Image --- the life-sized image of the item currently being
edited in the ZOOM area.
Shifter --- This allows you to shift the entire Work Image, or
that portion of it that's been marked, left, right, up,
or down. See below for how to mark an area.
ScratBuf --- This is a temporary buffer to which you may copy
all or the marked portion of the Work Image, either as
a means of saving a copy while you experiment, or so
that you can "paste" it back into the Work Image at
another place. See below for how to mark an area.
There are 4 basic types of "drawing" that may be done upon the ZOOM
area: POINT, LINE, RECTANGLE, and OVAL. One of these is always
selected, as is indicated by the blue highlight on the menu. The
currently highlighted drawing method will determine exactly what will
happen when you press the LEFT or RIGHT BUTTONs while on the ZOOM area.
POINT: If the LEFT mouse button is pressed and released while holding
the mouse still, a single pixel will be set to the currently
selected color. If the LEFT mouse button is pressed and
held down while the mouse is moved, all pixels over which the
mouse cursor passes will be set to the current color. From
the keyboard, you press and release the HOME key once to
simulate the pressing of LEFT mouse button. This causes the
program to enter "drawing" mode. You must then press and
release the HOME key a second time in order to exit "drawing"
mode, or to simulate the releasing of the LEFT mouse button.
While in drawing mode, the cursor keys will move the drawing
cursor (a pencil) about on the zoom area.
LINE: Line drawing is VERY similar to Point drawing. The pixel that
the cursor is on when the LEFT mouse button is pressed (or the
first time the HOME key is pressed) becomes one end point for
the line. As long as the LEFT mouse button is held down (or
until the HOME key is pressed the second time) the location of
the pencil cursor is the other endpoint of the line, and a
non-destructive "rubber-band line" follows the cursor around,
showing you what the image would look like if you were to exit
drawing mode at that point. The line drawn in this mode is
drawn using the current "linetype" (see below).
RECTANGLE: Rectangle drawing is VERY similar to Line drawing. Instead
of endpoints, you're specifying two diagonally-opposite corners
of the rectangle. The rectangle is drawn using the current
"fill mask" setting. If set to Outline, the rectangle is drawn
with the current "linetype" and current color. If set to Solid
the rectangle is solid filled with the current color. If set
to Mask, the rectangle is drawn with the currently selected
FillMask (see below) and current color.
OVAL: Oval drawing is just like Rectangle, except that you're spec-
ifying the center and a corner of a box which "bounds" the
oval. Also, when drawing with Outline mode, the outline is
always a solid line, it doesn't use the Linetype.
SET LINETYPE: The linetype is a 16-bit (or 16-pixel) pattern which is
used for drawing lines and outlined rectangles. Only those
bits (pixels) that are ON (white) in the linetype will actually
be plotted. Imagine that the linetype is overlaid on the line
being drawn. The pixels covered by a "white" linetype pixel
will be changed to the current pen color. The pixels covered
by a "black" linetype pixel will retain their original color,
unchanged. The linetype is used, starting with the left-most
pixel (as viewed in the linetype menu) first, regardless of the
direction in which the line is drawn. If the line is longer
than 16 pixels, the linetype is used repeatedly until the whole
line is done. The Linetype menu shows a zoom of the current
linetype across the bottom of the menu window. Above the zoom
are eight different linetypes. The program initializes these
to eight possible linetypes, but you may edit any of them by
selecting one of them (with the cursor keys or a click of the
LEFT mouse button), then toggling the individual pixels of the
linetype in the zoom area of the linetype window. If you want
a different linetype from those provided, it is suggested that
you don't edit the solid linetype, as you'll likely always want
to have that one available. In the sub-window above the eight
different linetypes is an example of a line drawn with the
current linetype. You exit the linetype window by pressing the
ESC key or by clicking the RIGHT mouse button.
FILLMASK: The fillmask works similarly to the linetype, except
that it is used as a pattern for filling a rectangular or oval
area. The Fillmask menu allows you to chose OUTLINE, SOLID, or
MASK. These options only apply to drawing rectangles and
ovals. When drawing an OUTLINE rectangle, the current LINETYPE
is used to draw the outlining lines. When drawing an OUTLINE
oval, a solid line is always used. A MASK filled rectangle or
oval is done much as a line is done with Linetype, in that the
fillmask is applied repeatedly, both left-right and up-down,
until the entire rectangle or oval is filled. Again, eight
example fillmasks are provided, any of which may be modified to
provide additional fillmasks. You exit the fillmask menu by
pressing the ESC key or by clicking the RIGHT mouse button.
The items in the next area of the Menu all act on the currently marked
area (or the entire image if there is no marked area). You can mark an
area by pointing to one corner of the area with the mouse, pressing and
holding the RIGHT mouse button, moving the mouse to the other corner of
the area to be marked, then releasing the RIGHT mouse button. You will
notice that this leaves a black rectangular outline where the ZOOM grid
normally is drawn. All pixels within this rectangle will be acted upon
by COLOR REPLACE, HOR and VER FLIP, TO SCRATBUF, and FROM SCRATBUF. All
pixels outside of the rectangle will remain unchanged. If no "mark"
rectangle is visible, then the entire working image is operated upon.
To set a Mark using the keyboard, move to one corner of the mark area,
press and release the PgUp key, move to the other corner of the mark
area, then press and release the PgUp key a second time.
COLOR REPLACE: This allows you to replace all pixels of one particular
color (within the marked area) with another color. You will
be prompted first to select the color to be replaced, then for
the color with which to replace it. The colors may be selected
either from the color palette in the upper left corner, or by
pointing to a specific pixel in the zoom area and clicking the
LEFT mouse button (or pressing the HOME key).
VER FLIP: This flips, or reverses, the marked area vertically, or
top-to-bottom.
HOR FLIP: This flips, or reverses, the marked area horizontally,
or left-to-right.
TO SCRATBUF: This copies the marked area into the ScratBuf, replac-
ing anything that was previously there. This acts as a tempor-
ary holding place, either as a backup while you experiment with
the Work Image, so that you can restore the Work Image if you
don't like your experiment, or it serves as a way of copying a
part of the image to another area of the Work Image. In the
Tile Editor, it also serves as a way to move tiles from one
place in the tile set to another (see Section XII).
FROM SCRATBUF: This copies the ScratBuf contents to a location in the
Work Image. A "moving" mark-like black rectangle appears in
the Work Image area, which can be moved with the mouse or the
cursor keys. This black outline shows the size of the area to
be copied from the ScratBuf, and the location of where it will
be written when HOME or the LEFT mouse button is pressed. The
program remains in the this mode until the RIGHT mouse button
or ESC is pressed. This allows easy copying of a small area
from the ScratBuf to multiple locations in the Work Image
without repeatedly clicking on the FROM SCRATBUF menu item.
The last three items in the common menu are "control" functions:
DISCARD CHANGES: This causes the program to discard any changes
you've made to the Work Image, restoring it's original value.
In the tile editor, this is only valid until you select another
tile, or select GET, KEEP, MERGE, or AUTHOR. These actions
cause the current Work Image to be copied back into the tile
set, thus saving the changes you've made.
BLANK WORK AREA: This has an editor-specific effect: in the
Frame and Background pattern editors, this clears the Work
Image to all black pixels; in the Tile Editor, this causes a
blank, light-grey tile face to be put into the Work Image.
EXIT EDITOR: This exits the editor back to the EDITORS Menu.
The Shifter, located between the Menu, Zoom, Work Image, and ScratBuf,
will shift/scroll a marked area in any of four directions. Just mark
the area (if less than the entire Work Image) then click the LEFT mouse
button on the desired direction on the shifter. The marked area will
be shifted one pixel in that direction for each time that you click the
mouse button. From the keyboard you turn NumLock on (by pressing and
releasing the NumLock key) and then use the cursor keys to shift the
marked area. When shifting is finished, turn NumLock off.
For additional information (specific to each particular editor) see
Sections XII, XIII, and XIV.
If you design a LAYOUTs or TILESETs that you're particularly proud of,
I'd like to see them. If you send me a disk with more than two new
layouts (of YOUR creation) or a new tileset (created by YOU), I'll send
you a Solitile accessory disk in return. (Mention which accessory disks
you already have so I can be sure not to send one you already have.)
I must warn you that designing good layouts that are challenging, but
not overly difficult, is not as easy as you'd think!
And good tilesets take a LOT of hard work!)
XI. The LAYOUT Editor
In the LAYOUT editor, you can add or delete tiles in the current layout
or create an entirely new layout. When finished with your edits, you
MUST have an exact multiple of 4 tiles in the layout (if you intend to
save it), from 4 to 168 tiles.
The LEFT BUTTON adds tiles, and the RIGHT BUTTON deletes them. The
menu down the left side of the display contains these entries:
(E) EXIT Exits the Layout Editor back to the Editors Menu.
(N) NEW Clears the current layout display, making it ready for
you to create a completely new layout.
(O) OPEN Opens a .LYT layout file from disk. This reads in a
previously existing layout so that you can edit it.
(S) SAVE Saves the current state of the layout to a disk file.
The layout MUST have a multiple of 4 tiles. You will
be told how many tiles you must add or subtract to get
the layout to a multiple of 4 (if it's not already).
The name that you provide here is used both as the file
name under which the layout is saved on disk AND as the
name of the layout as displayed at the bottom of the
game display.
(A) AUTHOR NAME Let's you add your name to the layout you've created,
so that it will appear at the bottom of the game disp-
lay whenever someone plays the layout.
The Layout Editor cursor is the size of a tile, but the upper-right
corner is really the "active" part that you should pay attention to.
The Layout Editor draws a grid on the background to indicated where
tiles may be placed. The upper-right most pixel (or corner) of the
cursor should be placed within the grid square where you want that
corner of the tile to be placed.
Tiles that are stacked on top of other tiles must have a solid layer
of tiles beneath them. This means that you can't place one tile on
the bottom, then place another tile on top of it but off to one side
(unless there's another tile beside the first to provide support).
XII. The TILES Editor
See Section X for an explanation of the operation of the basic bitmap
editor.
In addition to the basic bitmap editor, the Tiles Editor provides an
additional four menu items:
(G) GET Gets, or loads, another tileset from disk. If the
current tileset has been modified, you will be prompted
to verify whether you wish to discard the changes. See
Section VIII regarding the File Selection Menu.
(K) KEEP Keeps, or stores, the current tileset to a disk file.
You will be prompted for a file name. You should
always use a file extension of .STL. The program will
let you store the tileset to a filename with a differ-
ent (or no) file extension, but it will first prompt
you to verify that you really want to, since you won't
be able to use the tileset without first exiting to
DOS and renaming it to a .STL filename. DO NOT STORE
tilesets to a filename with a .TIL extension. This
extension is used by tilesets that are stored in the
format used by Nels Anderson's Mahjongg game, and the
internal format of .TIL files is totally different from
that used by .STL files, and the Solitile Tile Editor
only stores in .STL format (although it can read from
the .TIL format). See below regarding use of .TIL
files.
(M) MERGE Allows you to merge individual tiles from one tileset
into another. Can also be used simply to re-arrange
tiles within a tileset, by storing the current tileset
to disk, then using that file as the source file for
a Merge. That way the tiles you're Merging in are the
same as the ones that you're Merging into, and you can
select and copy tiles in such a way as to swap tiles in
their positions. MERGE will first bring up the File
Selection Menu, to allow you to choose the tileset that
you want to Merge from. The tileset you select will
be displayed on the upper left part of the display.
You will then be prompted to select one of the those
tiles from the MERGE set. Then, you'll be prompted to
select the tile in the current set that you want to be
replaced by the tile being Merged in. This is repeated
until you press the ESC key or the RIGHT mouse button,
at which point the Tile Edit display will be redrawn,
and the program returns to normal Tile Edit mode.
(A) AUTHOR Allows you to enter your name as the creator of the
tileset, so that it will show in the TILESET box at the
bottom-right of the main game display when this tileset
is being used.
An easy way to make a copy of one tile onto another, is to use the
ScratBuf. Select the tile you wish to copy, by clicking on it with the
LEFT mouse button (or pressing F3 to move to the Tiles area, then using
the cursor keys to select it, then pressing F2 to move back to the zoom
area). Once the desired tile is selected, activate TO SCRATBUF. This
will make a copy of the tile in the ScratBuf. Now select the tile to
which you wish to copy it. Then activate FROM SCRATBUF. This is an
easy way to duplicate tiles that are only slightly different. If there
are any open tiles in the tileset (tiles that haven't been created yet,
or that you're not going to keep) this can also be used as a means of
moving tiles around. The only reason for concern for where the tiles
are positioned within the set are that it's easier to keep track of
them while editing them (if they have any order-relationship with each
other) and on layouts with less than 168 tiles, the last tiles are
never used or seen during game play. For any given layout with N tiles
only the first N/4 tiles from the tileset are used. The first tile in
the tileset is the top-left most tile, the second, third, and fourth
tiles are to the right of the first. The rest progress left-to-right,
top-to-bottom. The last 14 tiles are across the bottom of the display.
REGARDING .TIL FILES, THEIR USE, AND THEIR EDITING
Nels Anderson sells a shareware game called Mahjongg which is very
similar to Solitile. For some time, his game has included a tileset
editor, allowing the user to create new tilesets. There are hundreds
of tilesets available. They all have a filename extension of .TIL and
Solitile 3 is able to read and use these tilesets. However:
1) Nels' Mahjongg game uses a different color palette from that used
in Solitile. Many of the colors are the same (or very similar) and
can be mapped to each other. However, there are two places where
the Mahjongg color palette and the Solitile color palette differ so
much that there is no good mapping. For this reason, when a .TIL
file is loaded for use directly in a game, the color palette is set
such that those two colors are good for the Mahjongg tilesets. When
a .STL file is loaded, the color palette is set such that those two
colors are good for the Solitile tilesets. A side effect of this
is that the .GIF background image may not look as good when a .TIL
set is used, since the .GIF colormap decoding is targeted at the
.STL color palette. Therefore, if you wish to use a .TIL set for
long, it is best to load it into the tile editor and modify it to
use the Solitile color palette as described below.
2) In Mahjongg, there is one layout with exactly 144 tiles. There are
34 tiles that are each used four times, for a total of 136 tiles.
There are an additional 8 tiles that are used once each, in two
groups of four. Any two tiles within each group of four makes a
matching removable pair. This gives a total of 42 physically
different tiles. Because of this matching in the last two sets of
four tiles, many of the tilesets created for use with Mahjongg have
the exact same picture on all of the last four tiles, and another
picture on all four of the next to last four tiles. When loaded
into Solitile, this causes no problems on layouts with 144 tiles or
less, but on layouts with more than 144 tiles, this causes there to
be more than four tiles with the same picture, but not all of them
are matchable with each other. To avoid this problem, you should
load these tilesets into the tile editor, and create six new tiles
in the last eight, so that there are 42 unique tile faces. Then,
store this tileset back out to a .STL file.
Because of the above potential problems, you may decide to convert a
.TIL set into a .STL set. To aide in doing so, when a .TIL set is
loaded into the Tile Editor, an additional menu box is provided at the
bottom of the screen, that will allow you to toggle between the two
different palettes. This allows you to see what a particular tile
looks like with the Mahjongg palette, then change to the Solitile
palette, decide what colors need to be replaced with a different color,
and do so using the COLOR REPLACE function. Generally, there are only
two colors that need to be modified, and then only on some of the tiles
so the change-over process is not too difficult.
Some of the better .TIL sets have already been converted to .STL sets,
and are available from the author on additional accessory disks along
with additional layouts, GIF images, and music files. See the file
REGISTER.DOC for more information.
Also, many .TIL sets are available from various bulletin boards and
shareware disk vendors. An excellent collection of .TIL sets is
available from:
Public Brand Software
PO Box 51315
Indianapolis, IN 46251
1-800-426-3475
XIII. The FRAME PATTERNS Editor
See Section X for detailed information regarding the bitmap editor.
The Frame Patterns are used to build the frame, or outline, or border,
around the Background Pattern on the main game display. There are
eight Frame Patterns, four corners and four sides. A sample is
shown to the right of the zoom area, with the Background and Frame
patterns, and the eight Frame Patterns are displayed individually
around the sample. Select an individual pattern for editing by click-
ing on it with the LEFT mouse button, or from the keyboard use the F3
key to move the cursor to the sample area, then use the cursor keys
to select an individual pattern; once selected, use F2 to move the
cursor back to the zoom area.
The Frame Patterns are automatically saved in the players setup file.
XIV. The BACKGROUND PATTERN Editor
See Section X for detailed information regarding the bitmap editor.
The Background Pattern is drawn on the display before anything else.
Each player may have their own background pattern, different from
each others. This pattern is automatically saved in the players
setup file.
XV. HINTS ON PLAY
If you're having trouble solving boards, try playing the same BOARD
over several times. Many people will run out of moves on a board, then
select BOARD/RANDOM or NEXT, starting all over on a completely new one.
Instead, you should select RETRY. You've already played the board at
least once, and gotten stuck, so you'll remember where some of the
hidden tiles were, and which parts of the board you got stuck on. You
can use your knowledge of where hidden tiles are to get to them sooner,
and you can use your knowledge of where you previously got stuck to
work towards those areas first, or from a different direction.
Occasionally when I'm playing the game I will solve a board on the
first try, but more often than not, I have to replay a board at least
once or twice before solving it. Some of the tougher boards, I've
worked on for four or five hours before solving. And remember, SOME
of the boards are impossible (but not more than 25% to 30% on most
layouts)! Part of the fun of the game is trying to decide (or prove)
that a board is possible or not. After you play the game for a while
with this strategy, you'll learn to very quickly spot the likely
difficult spots in a board, and to work towards them early in the game.
Another thing to try, is when you get stuck with no more moves, "UNDO"
some moves until you get to a "decision point", a place where you
removed the first pair of a particular tile. Then, try taking a
different pairing of that tile, which will release for play a different
set of other tiles (sometimes).
XVI. BUGS AND VERSIONS
There have been a few scattered reports of problems with certain
combinations of a mouse (mouse driver) and the display, where moving
the cursor with the mouse leaves garbage in its wake. This trashes the
display and makes the game unplayable. I've not duplicated this, but
have made changes to this version that I think should fix the problem.
If your system still exhibits this problem, please let me know.
Known bugs:
1) In the layout editor, it is sometimes possible to add a tile on the
same level and to the left of another tile, such that the left-most
tile is half-way into the right-most tile. As a workaround, just
delete the offending tile, and try it again.
==== CHANGES IN RELEASE 3.0 ====
Release 3.0 of Solitile is an almost complete re-write of the game, and
the number of new features is extensive. The major changes include:
1) New user interface
2) Background and Frame patterns (and editors) and a .GIF image
3) A Tile Editor and loadable tilesets
4) Layouts stored separately in files
5) Layouts with anywhere from 4 to 168 tiles (rather than just 144).
6) Music and sound
7) Blinking selected tiles
8) Removed REPLAY function; replaced with simple list of solved boards
9) Multiple player setups/win lists
XVII. PRODUCTS AVAILABLE FROM EVERETT KASER SOFTWARE
Solitile 3.0 --- A game of solitaire, played with tiles. The object of
the game is to remove all of the tiles from the pile,
following a small number of rules. Includes a layout
editor and a tileset editor.
$15.00 Requires EGA or VGA and 380K free memory.
Sherlock 1.1 --- The computer scrambles the locations of 36 items, then
provides you with sufficient clues to determine their
exact locations. Challenging game of logic with rich
graphics display. Includes an image editor and one
extra set of 36 block images.
$15.00 Requires EGA or VGA and a Microsoft compatible mouse.
Snarf 2.03 --- Snarf is an arcade style game of mazes, treasures,
First-Aid stations, locks and keys, teleports, and of
course those nasty, sneaky, sniveling Snarfs. The game
currently contains 39 different levels, and includes
a level editor so the user can create new levels.
$15.00 Requires EGA or VGA.
Solitile Accessory Disks are $5.00 each:
Disk #1 --- Contains:
3 tilesets: MAHJONG, BATH, and TOOLS
5 layouts: MAYAMASK, ZIGZAG, PLANE, BIDIR, and PI
9 music files: ENTERTAINER, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING, MUSIC BOX DANCER,
ROSES, BLUE DANUBE, LOVE STORY, GODFATHER,
A VERY GOOD YEAR
13 GIF files: space walking astronaut, Marylin Monroe,
Bulldog, Star Trek Enterprise, cartoon charact-
ers, etc.
Disk #2 --- Contains:
5 tilesets: STAMPS, BASEBALL, CANDY, WINTILE1, BODY
5 layouts: JAILBRAK,10HIDING,FLATCAT,SPRAYER,SQUARFAC
9 music files: SOUND OF SILENCE, THOSE WERE THE DAYS,
BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER, CABARET, GEORGY
GIRL, KING OF THE ROAD, MOON RIVER, RAINDROPS
KEEP FALLING ON MY HEAD, WHERE HAVE ALL THE
FLOWERS GONE
21 GIF files: space shuttle take-off, King Tut,
a cheetah's face, cartoon characters, etc.
End of SOLITILE.DOC
VENDOR.DOC
SOLITILE 3.0
Distribution information
This is a game for the IBM PC family of compatible computers.
Solitile is a game of solitaire, played with "tiles". It derives
from several similar games, such as "Shanghai", "Gunshy", and
"Mahjongg", which are played with Mah-Jong tiles. Solitile plays
the same game, but adds new starting layouts and the ability for the
player to create new layouts and/or modify the layouts provided. It
has, built-in, "westernized" pictures on the faces of the tiles, and
can also use alternate tile-sets, and the program includes a tile
editor so that the user may alter existing tile pictures or create
entirely new sets. Solitile 3.0 can also read in and use tile sets
created for use with Nels Anderson's Mahjongg game (of which there
are hundreds available).
Program requirements:
IBM PC compatible.
EGA or VGA compatible display adapter (with a minimum of 256K
of RAM on the display adapter; early IBM EGA cards
will not work). It will NOT work on CGA, MDA, or
Hercules display adapters.
Works from keyboard or with Microsoft compatible mouse.
Solitile is being distributed as Shareware. If you use the game
for more than one week, you are expected to pay for its use by sending
the registration fee of $15.00 (U.S. funds) to the author. For your
convenience, the file REGISTER.DOC may be printed to obtain a regis-
tration form. The author may be contacted at:
US Mail: Everett Kaser
Solitile
35405 Spruce St
Albany, OR 97321
phone: Weekdays: 6:00pm - 9:00pm Pacific Time
Weekends: 8:30am - 9:00pm
(503) 928-5259
Compuserve: 70673,1547
internet: hplabs!hp-pcd!everett
or everett%hpcvlx@hplabs.hp.com
The game package, which MUST include the files listed below, may be
freely copied and distributed. The individual files may NOT be copied
or distributed seperately. The use of this package is subject to the
conditions outlined in the file SOLITILE.DOC. Included files:
SOLITILE.EXE ENCIRCLE.LYT NOTE: Additional disks of Solitile
SOLITILE.DOC BEGINNER.LYT support files may be purchased seper-
REGISTER.DOC BRIDGE .LYT ately. Each additional disk contains
VENDOR .DOC STARSHIP.LYT some mixture of tile-sets (.STL), music
SOLITILE.STL SUN .LYT files (.MUS), layouts (.LYT), and .GIF
SHARON .STL VALLEY .LYT background pictures. See the file
EAGLE .GIF FORUM .LYT REGISTER.DOC for a list of available
FANTASIA.GIF PYRAMID .LYT disks or contact the author (see above)
FURELISE.MUS TEMPLE .LYT for the latest information.
HALLELUJ.MUS SPIDER .LYT
WEDGES .LYT
TEAMTRIS.TXT
TEAMTRIS 2.0
by Philippe Blais
Copyright 1991-92 Cinétic Systems, All Rights Reserved
Yet another Tetris clone
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Have you ever dreamed of playing Tetris "with someone" and not "against
someone"?
Well, it is now possible with Teamtris!
This exiting new variant of the most popular game of the world let you play
in four different modes:
o One player / small board (standard)
o One player / large board (twice as large as standard board)
o Two players / competition mode (standard two players game)
o Two player / team mode (two players on the same large board!)
When entering the game, F1 toggles the number of players and F2 chooses the
game mode you want to play and <SPACE BAR> starts the game.
The scores are kept in 5 different boards according to the type of game you're
playing:
o 1 player (small board)
o 1 player (large board)
o 2 players (team - individual scores)
o 2 players (team - team score)
o 2 players (competition)
The program creates a high score file called "TEAMTRIS.HS" wich will be
located in the same directory as "TEAMTRIS.EXE"
The key mapping for the two players are:
Player #1 Player #2
Left A <LEFT ARROW> or <KEYPAD-4>
Right D <RIGHT ARROW> or <KEYPAD-6>
Rotate S <UP ARROW> or <ENTER> or <KEYPAD-5/8>
Quick Drop <SPACE BAR> <DOWN ARROW> or <KEYPAD-2>
Drop F <KEYPAD-0> or <KEYPAD-PLUS>
The quick drop key drops the piece right down the bottom of the board (well,
at least as far it can get!) The drop key get the piece one step downward.
This feature is useful if you're not sure about the alingment of a piece or
if you just want to fill up a whole and you don't want to waste all of your
precious bonus... You'll it's use when you'll be in the action!
When playing, hitting the 'N' key toggles the "Noise" ON and OFF. To pause
the game hit the 'PAUSE' key. To continue playing, hit any key.
In two player team mode, if one of the players drops his piece on the moving
piece of the other player, the piece will get stock in the middle of the board
as if it has reached the bottom, so be careful!
Teamtris runs on color and monochrome VGA display. To start the game in
monochrome mode, type "teamtris mono" at the DOS prompt and the colors
will be ajusted to be viewable on a monochrome display.
This program is FREEWARE and has been given to the public domain on the 28th
day of October 1991. Version 2 was released the 3th of November 1991.
Donations are welcome. If you like this game, PLEASE TELL US!
"TEAMTRIS"
Enjoy the game!
║ ║
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Send comments and suggestions to: ║ ▒▒▒▒ ║
║ ║
Cinétic Systems ║ ▓▓▓▓▓▓ ║
║ ▓▓ ║
║ ║
Regular mail: 56 Lefrançois ║ ▒▒║
Delson, Quebec, ║▒▒▒▒ ▒▒ ░░░░ ▒▒║
J0L 1G0 ║▒▒▒▒ ▓▓ ▒▒▒▒▒▒ ░░░░ ▒▒║
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Interet: Cinetic@Speedy.CAM.ORG ║ ░░░░▒▒▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░▒▒▒▒░░░░░░░░░║
Compuserve: 71640,666 ╚═════════════════════════════════╝
Directory of PC-SIG Library Disk #2924
Volume in drive A has no label
Directory of A:\
SOLITILE ZIP 196539 12-06-91 2:26a
CDROM TXT 3693 1-21-92 6:10a
SHAREMAG TXT 1837 1-21-92 6:11a
PCSIG TXT 2335 1-21-92 6:09a
GO EXE 26022 1-10-92 12:14p
GO-FORM DAT 2401 1-20-92 10:24a
GO-STRT DAT 534 2-27-92 11:31a
PKUNZIP EXE 23528 3-15-90 1:10a
FILE2924 TXT 1615 3-09-92 5:00p
TTRIS2 ZIP 42635 12-07-91 6:24p
10 file(s) 301139 bytes
17408 bytes free