Robots are not the only beasts which evolve with time. The RoboWar application has gone through numerous versions, expanding features, patching bugs, and introducing new and wonderful bugs. This version history records the changes from version 1.5 onward.
Version 1.5 (May 18, 1990)
This version introduces two major new features: automated combat and password protection. In anticipation of the upcoming tournament, I added these features to help run the large number of combats and to keep everyone’s code secret. Notice: I hate passwords, so if anyone has their robot garbled by the password protection, I’ll just laugh. Version 1.5 also adds the “Don’t show battle” menu option. This speeds up battles significantly, especially on a color monitor. After extensive testing I found that 256 color mode slowed RoboWar down the greatest amount during most combats; however, a large number of bullets on the screen at one time (as used by Matt’s Pearl and his seventh generation robots) slows the game even further. Worse yet, not showing the battle scarcely improves the performance of missiles. I dread running large numbers of combats with his robots. They usually take at least ten minutes. A final change: a number of intrepid RoboWar hackers discovered a method of cheating to create nearly invincible robots by going through a back door in the program. Unfortunately for them, I now check for this method of cheating and tweak any robots who violate the rules. Don’t worry: you won’t stumble upon this method of cheating by accident.
Version 1.5.1 (May 28, 1990)
This version is a bug fix on version 1.5. Most significantly, I found that the DUP command does not work in the old versions. This causes great problems and confusion for robots using DUP. Now DUP behaves correctly. I also fixed some glitches in the password protection, regarding opening robots. I also added tallying features for group battles to the automated combat menu. Finally, I updated these instructions to include some of these advanced features.
Version 2.0 (February 3, 1991)
A major redesign of RoboWar, attempting to keep maximal compatibility while greatly increasing the range of possible robot designs and fixing some long-standing bugs. A synopsis of the new features appears below; more information can be found in appropriate sections of the manual above. WARNING: Robots edited in the RoboWar 2.0 hardware store are no longer readable by version 1.5.1 (due to a change in the format of the hardware information). Also, robots that go below -200 energy melt their power supplies and blow up. This fixes a loop hole in 1.5.1 but means that some robots, like MX‚Ñ¢ III and Lich Sr. no longer work. These two changes are the only incompatibilities I know of between 1.5.1 and 2.0.
New Instructions: LOOK, SCAN, ABS, CHRONON, SIN, COS, TAN, SQRT, ICON0-ICON9, PRINT, SYNC, ROBOTS, FRIEND, VSTORE, VRECALL, HELLBORE, DRONE, MINE, LASER. Also, the maximum number of instructions is now 5000 and the maximum number of labels is 400.
Bug Fixes: Collision detection bug squashed (on the nth attempt), bullets no longer “jump over” the edge of their targets, the almost-invisible yellow robot is no longer a color used in the Arena.
Battle changes: Robots graphically explode, battles don’t end until 20 chronons after the robot dies (to allow retaliatory shots to hit), robots with bugs or robots that cheat blow up instead of halt the combat, a chronons per second count monitors the speed of the battle.
User interface: The user interface has vastly changed. Check out the new about box, too...
Version 2.0.1 (March 23, 1991)
This version fixes some severe bugs discovered in version 2.0. It fixes printing, which caused a bomb on 68000 machines, and catches a memory allocation error which could trash robots accidentally. 2.0.1 also makes some minor changes to the update routines to reduce unnecessary flashes and glitches.
Version 2.1 (March 31, 1991)
This version adds sound to the Arena. It also adds a new instruction (BULLET) which lets robots with explosive bullets also fire regular bullets. It checks that arithmetic operations stay within the bounds of legal numbers. Finally, it adds these instructions on line accessible from the help command.
Version 2.1.1 (April 7, 1991)
This version fixes a bug that causes RoboWar to crash while playing sounds on older Macs. It fixes the sine and cosine operators so that they return the actual sine or cosine of the angle and fixes a bug in the roll operator. Also, it adds the DIST operator to compute distances.
Version 2.1.2 (April 17, 1991)
This version makes a number of small fixes and improvements. It repairs a serious bug that prevents robots from having more than 100 labels. It lets battles start with a single robot for testing purposes. Finally, it displays the chronon at which a given robot died.
Version 2.1.3 (July 8, 1991)
Ye olde bugs strike again. This version corrects a problem with radar detecting targets located straight above a robot and fixes another error in the collision routine that sometimes prevents collisions from registering. For the fourth or fifth time, I hope that the collision detection bugs are thoroughly crushed! This version also addes color icons for System 7 and adds a cancel box to the print dialog box so that users can cancel out-of-control print loops without resorting to Ye Olde Programmers' Switch. When leaving one of the editors, RoboWar now only updates the last modification dates if changes have actually been made.
The IFG, IFEG instructions and the DOPPLER register are now available.
Version 2.2 Beta (January 24, 1992)
This is a preliminary version of the next major release of RoboWar. Hellbores now behave differently; this change is not backward compatible. Robots now have 50 processor speed rather than 30. One can grab (click on) a robot during a battle and move it about for debugging purposes. Shields are more efficient, decaying at only 1/2 point per chronon. A bug in Save As has been corrected so robots save properly to other folders, and a few other small arena bugs have been corrected. In order to compile a robot of more than 100 lines, one must register for RoboWar and obtain a code number. The maximum allowable hardware points may now be user-specified, creating the possibility of "Titain" (unlimited advantages) or "Little League" (very few points) competitions. The instructions can be saved to disk by the user. Finally, the initial hooks for a source level debugger are installed. Still missing, however, is the debugger and the improved tournament utility.
Version 2.2 (March 24, 1992)
The tournament utility is now complete. It currently supports both old custom tournaments and the new automated forms for the Fourth RoboWar Tournament. Error alerts now time out after 30 seconds so a crashed robot won't tie up an unattended tournament.
Version 2.2.1 (May 15, 1992)
The Fourth RoboWar tournament brough to light several subtle bugs in version 2.2 that are fixed here. This version fixes a bug that causes battles to end prematurely and also corrects a glitch that allows robots to fire bullets of negative energy that do huge amounts of damage!
Version 2.3 (June 7, 1992)
This version introduces the new RoboTalk debugger, something promised for a year and a half now! The DEBUG instruction is also available. This manual has been somewhat updated to define Little League and Titan class tournaments and a few other minor changes. If one sets that maximum advantage value under the Arena menu to 99, cheating robots are permitted; i.e. ResEdit hacks to modify hardware values are allowed. Errors in printing and saving these instructions are corrected.
