History ------- This is an adaptation of an old boulder dash game (1988) by Steven Shipway and others. You can find a recent MSDOS/Windows95 implementation of this game in the file wandr330.zip at the ftp site, x2ftp.oulu.fi in the pub/msdos/programming/gamesrc subdirectory. That version more closely resembles the earlier version of the game with the character graphics and curses/termcap user interface. In this version, I have replaced the character graphics with more appealing SVGA graphics and included audio sound effects. (Unfortunately, not all video graphics cards support these graphics in MSDOS since the program requires a resolution of 640 by 480 and 256 colours.) I have eliminated the passwords between levels and the high score table. I have not had time to include the level editor. If you require those features, you should revert to the older version, which is file compatible with this version. Since this is a rather difficult game/puzzle (at least for me), I have made the record/playback feature automatic in this game. The game now stores all your moves and you can replay them up to a certain point by pressing the F5 key. More details are given in the help.txt file which is also accessible by means of the F1 key. I have also added a set of five beginner levels which are in a separate subdirectory called easy. These levels come with solutions which you can load into the game using the control-l key. The training levels were derived from the first few levels in the screens directory which came with the original game. I also had time to solve the first two levels as well as levels 7 and 8 in the screens subdirectory (standard levels). If you solve other levels, the program will auto- matically save the solution in a subdirectory called solu in the screens subdirectory. Installation ------------ The program is ready to run after you have unzipped it into a directory, being careful to preserve the subdirectory structure recorded in this zip file. In Windows95 you may start it by clicking on the file wandallg.exe or running this program from a DOS window. If you are running this program in real DOS mode, it will automatically install the dpmi server using the program CWSDPMI.EXE. Hint ---- Level 13 is not impossible. You start the level by pressing any key other than a movement key (eg space bar). The monster will move causing the arrow to be released. The game stores some status variables (i.e. level, sprites, audio...) in the file wandallg.ini. If you wish to reset the program to initial settings, you may delete this file. A new one will be created with the factory setting the next time the program is executed. Old Remnants ------------ I have left a few remnants of the older version of wanderer (see wandr330.zip) which may or may not be useful. Pressing the S key will open a dialog box for saving the game and pressing the R key will open a dialog box for restoring the game. I only use this for tracing bugs in the program. Pressing control-r will open a dialog box for reading a solution path and control-w will open a dialog box for writing a solution path. These 4 functions may not be fully integrated into this game. Treat them as unsupported features. Credits ------- The game was ported to the PC using the free DJGPP GNU C compiler, the ALLEGRO game development package by Shawn Hargreaves and the sprite editor program xspre202 by Antoine Requet. Audio samples were found in the web site www.webcity.it/wavefiles/thewav_e.html and were shortened for this game. The some of the fonts were obtained from the GRX20 graphics package. The midi file in the cover screen was composed and is copyrighted by Ron Renaud, Ottawa. I am of course indebted to Steven Shipway for designing the original game and to all the people listed in the screens/credits file for designing the levels and improving the game. Customization ------------- The directory .\mids contains midi files which are played at the start of a new level. These files were gathered from web sites. To see credits, examine the property sheet of the midi files (assuming you have Windows 95). You may substitute or add any of your favourite midi files to this directory provided you update the text file called "index" in this directory. The program will store up to 20 midi file names. If you have the DJGPP and Allegro package it is easy to do additional customization. For example, if you are artistic and would like to use your own sprites, you can use the xspre202 program to modify the sprites in the wandspr0.dat or wandspr1.dat files. Be careful not to change the names of the sprites, as they are embedded into the source code. After modifying the file, it is necessary to reload and save the file using Shawn Hargreaves' grabber program in the Allegro package in the tools subdirectory. (Note that only the sources of grabber come with the Allegro package and you need DJGPP to compile grabber and create the allegro library.) Additional Notes ---------------- You can find the DJGPP and ALLEGRO development systems at x2ftp.oulu.fi in the pub/msdos/programming/djgpp subdirectory, or alternatively in simtelnet in the msdos/gnu/djgpp subdirectory. Seymour Shlien Ottawa, Canada 6 Sept 1997