Game Fest 1994/gamefeststgcomputerlimited1994.iso/files/gamecard/dynamo/dynamo.doc

Text File | 1993-11-13 | 11KB | 199 lines

          DYNAMO DRAUGHTS
     -----------------
  Welcome to DYNAMO DRAUGHTS! The aim of this program is to introduce
the CONTINENTAL version of draughts to the UK/USA, and hopefully get
people interested in this game. DRAUGHTS has always suffered in
comparison with CHESS - this is a great shame, as both the ENGLISH
8 by 8 and the CONTINENTAL 10 by 10 are very subtle and complex games
- indeed the 10x10 game aurguably offers more permutations than CHESS,
and is very highly regarded in Europe. Please give the SHAREWARE
version to your friends - it is limited to 10 seconds maximum move
time, but you will need to be a good player to beat it! Tests show that
DYNAMO is at least as strong as DAMOCLES, the worlds strongest 10x10
program, proing that DYNAMO is one of the best in the world!
  Note how powerful the sweeping kings are in the continental game
- the side that gets an early king usually has a decisive advantage.
One rule that throws beginners is the one that stipulates that you
MUST jump the maximum number of opponents, when given a choice.
This is necessary to enable the winning side to force some of the
endgames - you will get the idea when you are on the recieving end
of the computers shots! If you ever find yourself unable to make
a move, don't blame the program - you are probably trying to make
an illegal move! You can hit F1 to display all possible moves.
  DYNAMO can also play the SPANISH, POOL, and RUSSIAN variants of
draughts - see below for details on these games. The ENGLISH version
of draughts is implemented in our BLITZ and SAGE programs - see our
adverts for details..

         Installing DYNAMO DRAUGHTS on WINDOWS.
     --------------------------------------
  To install DYNAMO DRAUGHTS to run under windows, follow these steps:-
1)  Run windows, and select the GAMES group.
2)  Hold the ALT key down, and double-click the mouse at an empty
    position where you want DYNAMO DRAUGHTS to appear.
3)  The cursor will be in the DESCRIPTION box - type the name of the
    program - ie. DYNAMO DRAUGHTS.
4)  Now click the cursor on the COMMAND LINE box, and enter the path
    for DYNAMO DRAUGHTS - ie. C:\DYNAMO\DYNA61SH.EXE  - if in doubt, use
    the BROWSE option.
5)  Now click on the CHANGE ICON box - you will be asked to select an icon
    from the Program Manager. Click OK on that, then enter the path
    for DYNAMO DRAUGHTS - ie.   C:\DYNAMO\DYNAMO.ICO    or use browse again.
6)  Click on OK, and you are ready to go!


          PLAYING THE GAME
     ------------------

  EUROPEAN DRAUGHTS is traditionally played on the BLACK squares of a
10 by 10 board - DYNAMO can re-size the board, but for clarity let us
discuss the European game. The squares are numbered from 1 (top left) to
50 (bot right), with black men on squares 1-20 and white on squares
31-50. Men can move diagonally forward 1 step onto empty squares, or
jump over and capture an adjacent opponent's piece IN ANY DIRECTION,
if there's a clear space immediately behind it - Note that men can
leap BACKWARDS, unlike the ENGLISH game. One VERY important rule -
IF YOU CAN JUMP, YOU MUST! If, after jumping, the same piece can make
futher leaps - IT MUST DO SO. Futhermore, if you have an option of
more than one series of jumps, YOU MUST TAKE THE OPTION(S) THAT
CAPTURES THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF PIECES!
  When a man reaches the top row of the board, it becomes a KING.
In European draughts, Kings can sweep ANY distance along a diagonal,
rather like BISHOPS in chess. Futhermore they can leap an opponent,
land on ANY space beyond, and then make futher leaps - in a different
direction if necessary. You are still forced to make moves that jump
the MAXIMUM number of opponents!
  One final rule - a man is not crowned until the END of a multijump
sequence - ie. a man can leap into and then backwards out of the KING
ROW without being crowned - it is only crowned if it finally  comes
to rest on the king row.

  You have the option to select other games from the title screen:-
  The SPANISH game is played on an 8x8 board, with one unusual feature:
the long diagonal runs from bottom right to top left - ie. the board is
'inverted'. While this looks unusual, historically this setup is the
original. The other difference in SPANISH draughts is that men are not
allowed to make backward jumps. In other respects the game is the same
as European (International) Draughts, ie. kings sweep diagonals, and
you are obliged to take the maximum number of pieces.
  The POOL DRAUGHTS game is played on a normal 8x8 board. In this game
you are NOT obliged to take the route that jumps the maximum number
of pieces - you have a free choice. However you still forced to jump
when you can, and kings may NOT pass-up jumps in a multi-jump sequence
by landing on 'quiet' squares - they must take all opportunities until
the sequence is over. This rule is easier to see than describe - try
it out!
  The RUSSIAN DRAUGHTS game is essentially the same as POOL DRAUGHTS
with one difference - a man is crowned INSTANTLY on entering the
king-row, and can then go on to make futher leaps AS A KING within
the same turn. These are called FLYING KINGS.
  There are other variants of draughts - ie. the Canadian 12x12 game,
and I understand there are Portugese, Polish and French versions too.
If you are a Shareware version user, I may have added some of these
versions by the time you read this, so REGISTER!
  Well, that's the rules. Confused? This sort of thing is easier to
see than describe, so play some experimental games, or set AUTO-PLAY
and watch the computer play itself!
  When playing, move your cursor by using the numbers around the
'5' on the numeric keypad and hit RETURN to select piece. If that
piece can move in more than one direction, you will then need to
select a direction key (1,3,7,9) - ie. 7 moves up-left. KING moves
may require you to select a DESTINATION and hit RETURN. If you have
a MOUSE you can simply click the left button on source and
destination squares. You can use the right mouse-button to get
pull-down menus. To abort the computers thinking, hit the ESC
key ONCE, or hit CTRL-F to force an early move.

  Just as a little sample, here is a game of SPANISH draughts illustrating
a neat little trap.
Note how the 17-13 move forces the advantage - all captures are compulsory!
Once black has that early king, white is powerless. You can play this
game on DYNAMO by using two-player mode (Hit F5).

10-14, 22-18, 12-15, 23-20, 5-10, 27-22,   1-5, 20-16,  14-19, 21-17, 10-14,
25-21,  5-10, 30-27,  7-12, 16-7,  3-12, 27-23, 12-16?, 17-13!,10-17, 23-20,
16-23, 24-20, 15-24, 22-15, 11-20, 28-19-10-3=K.. for black win.


For a real-action demo, run the DYNADEMO.BAT file...


               +     C O M M A N D   S U M M A R Y     +

 ESC - Abort back to main menu.
 -,+ - Alter average response time in seconds. (Zero for EASYMODE)
 F1  - Show moves, ie. all of your movable pieces.
 F2  - Make me take your go.
 F3  - Auto-play. (Hit ESC to end)
 F5  - Toggle Two-player/Setup mode on/off - Allows moves without comp reply.
 F6  - Invert board, so that BLACK is at bottom.
 F7  - Switch sound on/off.
 F9  - Kills flashing cursor.
  m  - Toggle graphics for MONO-VGA.
  u  - Undo a move.
  .  - Display board numbering.
CTRL-B - Toggles the Computers Best line of play THINK-DISPLAY on/off.
       While the computer is thinking CTRL-F forces an 'early' move, or
       ESC will abort its move.

     + EXTRA commands on FULL NON-SHAREWARE VERSION...

 F4  - Change IQ  (Only used if TIME is zero) WARNING - very high IQ's
       can take forever! Generally you should set a target response time.
 s,l - Save/Load game to disk. Enter a filename when prompted.
 o   - Output game moves to screen, printer or text-file.
 r   - Replay game - SPACE for next move, ESC to abort (and play on..)
       or +/- for forwards/backwards.
 c   - Change/Enter Game-comment text.
 x   - Exchange side to play.
 &   - (SHIFT-7) Clears the whole board.
 e,k,w,b,W,B - Set current square to empty/killed/white/black Man/K.
       To use the above command, move the CURSOR to the square you want
       to edit, and hit e/k/w/b/W/B. When you KILL a square it becomes
       non-playable - ie. for novelty board shapes, etc. NOTE - when
       you edit the board, you lose stored moves up to that point -
       ie. the board becomes a new START POSITION.

  SHAREWARE VERSION USERS NOTE:-

  This version of DYNAMO is released as shareware. You may distribute
it as long as you don't charge more than a small disk-copying fee for it,
or alter it in any way.
  PC SOLUTIONS holds all rights to this program, and we reserve the right
to withdraw permission to use or distribute this program from any individual
or organisation, if we feel they are abusing this privilege.
  People often ask how we generate such small, fast programs - well special
thanks must go to Borland and thier excellent Turbo-C compiler - this can
generate much, much faster/smaller code than, say, Quickbasic. Forget the
rest, Turbo-C is the best! Contact Borland on Freephone 0800 212727
(or 0734 321150) for futher info. You will find some of our own special
C-Tools for Turbo-C on our Util-Pack..
  If you like DYNAMO, please buy the full version on GAMES-PACK-4
which has extra Strength Levels above 10 secs/move, position
Edit, Game Replay/Load/Save/Backtrack and more. It also plays a MUCH
stronger, faster game. In addition we are constantly updating and
improving our programs - by the time you get this program, it is probably
already out of date! Remember SHAREWARE IS NOT, I REPEAT NOT, FREE SOFTWARE
- IT IS TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!!! If you like and use this program you are
OBLIGED to register! The registered version comes with printed documents
and professional packaging.
  PLEASE support quality shareware like this!!

        NEWSFLASH
       -----------
  If you are using a shareware program and want to get the full version,
note that we can now take registrations in FRENCH Francs, US Dollars, or
GERMAN D.Mark - Prices as follows:-

TOTAL for any SOFTWARE-PACK:-

UK           7.95 pounds  plus 1.20 pounds UK Post (or 4 pounds overseas).
USA        $15.00        plus  $9     Post/Money Conversion.
France      79.00 Fr     plus  19 Fr. Post/Money Conversion.
Germany     23.00 Dm     plus  7  Dm. Post/Money Conversion.
Netherlands 28.00 Fl     plus  9  Fl. Post/Money Conversion.

Minimum order of TWO PACKS for overseas customers.
Just use your normal cheques - NO MONEY ORDER NECESSARY!!
BUT PLEASE SPECIFY DISK SIZE WHEN ORDERING! Also indicate where you saw
our advert.