Sunny 1,000 Collection/SUNNY1000.iso/Files/Dos/Sport/STWICKET.ZIP/STICKY.DOC

Text File | 1992-06-25 | 12KB | 254 lines

                         S T I C K Y   W I C K E T  version 2.25 (Shareware)

  CONTENTS

  1) Intoduction
  2) About the game
  3) Hardware requirements
  4) What should be on this disk
  5) Features of shareware version
  6) Starting up
  7) The Game - 'Sticky Wicket'
     i) Menu
    ii) Team Selection
   iii) Playing 'Sticky Wicket'
    iv) If you elect to bat or are put into bat
     v) If you elect to field or are put into field
  8) Changing the speed
  9) Information on changing team and player names
 10) Differences between version 2.25 and version 2.20
 11) If you decide to register


  1) Intoduction

    This is the shareware version of the cricket game 'Sticky Wicket' and may
    be copied freely as long as no profits are made at the author's expense.
    The additional features to the shareware version that are in the
    registered version are: Unlimited 8 week seasons with career averages and
    your career records updated seasonally; save facility; and the 'Sticky' Cup
    (played over 3 rounds at the end of each season). This text file is written
    for the shareware version and not for the registered version.


  2) About the game

   'Sticky Wicket' is the ultimate cricket game for the P.C. It combines the
   art of captaincy with week to week action of playing. Your objective is to
   win the league and 'Sticky' cup. Your predecessor has left, despondent with
   the teams poor run of recent results. By selecting the team, choosing field
   placings, who bowls the crucial overs, where everyone bats and even when a
   player must run you aim to return the team to its former glory. Your success
   at doing so will be compared to the greats  e.g W.G Grace , M.Brearly in the
   hall of fame. Hence the term 'Sticky Wicket' hence the situaton you face
   where winning is the difference between glory and failure! The shareware
   version is limited to 1 LEAGUE season only.


  3) Hardware Requirements

   'Sticky Wicket' should work on any IBM compatible PC with EGA or better,
   graphics card and at least 256K of RAM. The shareware version and registered
   version can both be run from a single 360K floppy drive.


  4) What should be on this disk

   The following files should appear on your disk:
         GAME    .TXT    - Text appearing in the game
         STICKY  .DOC    - On-disk documentation
         SW      .EXE    - The main program
         TEAM    .DAT    - Contains the 8 team names
         WICKET  .DAT    - Data file


  5) Features of shareware version

   * Database of 128 players, 8 teams each with career figures (updated
     seasonally) / Ability / Form / Fitness ratings
   * Seasonal and Career Averages
   * A season of 40-over Sunday League matches including league table, fixture
     list and full results service every week
   * Edited highlights of the game including all the action shots, L.B.W and
     other dismissals
   * Umpire decisions in response to appeals
   * Team Selection
   * 5 different field settings
   * Your personal career page


  6) Starting up

   To start 'Sticky Wicket' type SW at the DOS prompt.
   After the title pages you need to input your name and press enter. Then using
   the 'up' and 'down' cursor keys change the highlighted team to the one that
   you wish to control and press 'space'.


  7) The Game - 'Sticky Wicket'

  i)  Menu
   By pressing any number from 1-8 you will be able to access the option you
   want. The fixture list and league table are self-explanatory. Press any
   key to return to the menu. If you wish to view career or seasonal averages
   use the cursor keys and press ENTER to select the team that is highlighted.
   The batting averages for the top 16 players are shown. By pressing any key
   the bowling averages are shown. Any player that has not played (ie batted or
   bowled) is not shown. This is why the seasonal averages cannot be accessed
   until at least one game has been played. To return to the menu just select
   'End Viewing Averages' and press space.


  ii) Team selection

    Naturally for those who wish to get 'stuck in' the first 11 players will be
    automatically selected. However, you can select eleven of your choice by
    pressing 2 in the main menu.The criteria for selection is that you can
    only have 1 wicket keeper, 5 bowlers and 5 other players. Until this is
    achieved you will be unable to return to the main menu by pressing 'e'.

    Wicket Keepers - There are 2 wicket keepers per team. One must play in
    that role but there is nothing to stop you playing the other as a
    batsman. To select, use the highlight bar to move to the player by using
    the cursor keys and press 'w'. The player name should become green.

    Bowlers - There are approx. 8 bowlers per team. To select use the
    highlight to move to the player and press 'b'. The computer will not allow
    a bowler with 0 (Zero) Bowling ability to be selected.

    Batsmen - Use highlight bar as above and press 'o' to select any player
    for the sole purpose of batting.

    The following qualities (On a scale of zero to ten) act as a guide to
    which players should be selected and gives a brief statement of their
    preferred positions.

    Fitness - This declines rapidly for bowlers, less so for batsmen. To
    counter this you should make regular alterations to the side enabling the
    players to recouperate. Over-use of players makes them become stale and
    will affect their performance ie a player of 1 (one) fitness is useless.

    Ability - This changes from season to season unlike fitness, which varies
    every game. It is determined by the player's personnal success over the
    season. Bowling and Batting figures are given. The higher the value the
    more likely he is to be successful when wielding the bat or bowling,
    fitness permitting.

    Form - This changes from match to match and is an indication of the players
    current form. High values will mean he is very confident and has been
    successful with the bat or ball. A loss in form may result in poor
    performances.


   iii) Playing 'Sticky Wicket'

    Pressing '1' in the main menu will take you to the next match.
    The opposition and your teams strengths and weaknesses are compared. If
    your fitness is significantly low the likelyhood of catches being dropped,
    fielder mistakes and a general lethargic performance overall are increased.
    Alterations should be made when you next return to the main menu. A coin
    is tossed and the opposition will inform you of its intention to bat or
    field if it wins, press space to continue. If you win use 'b' to bat or
    'f' to field.


   iv) If you elect or are put into bat

    Select your two openers. They should be chosen to see off the new ball to
    enable the middle order to slog. Openers are specialist batsmen and by
    looking at player qualities when choosing the team you can see which
    normally do the job. Enter the batsman number and press 'return'.
    Edited Highlights will be displayed.... Make sure your finger is poised
    over The 'r' button. If the ball doesn't cross the boundary as a 4 or 6 it
    will be fielded by the opposition. By pressing 'r' will enable your batsmen
    to run, you must decide if it is safe to do so. Failure to keep the score-
    board ticking over by taking quick runs will reduce the overall team
    score. However, run outs can be equally disasterous. Even if you are
    outside the crease there is still a possibility that the opposition fielder
    will miss the stumps. If a decision is close the umpire will be called
    upon to adjudicate. Unfortunately this is open to human error and may be
    dubious but that's cricket!


   v) If you elect to field or are put into field

    Utilising your bowlers to the optinum performance is an acquired skill.
    With practise you will discover which can conserve runs and which will take
    wickets. When in the scorecard (ie at fall of Wicket or at the end of each
    over) by pressing 'f' you will be able to select from five fields -
    orthodox, defensive, attacking, highly attacking and unorthodox each with
    their own merits. The first 10 overs with the new ball and the last are
    the most critical. Bowlers are restricted to 8 overs none of which can be
    bowled consecutively. If you are unable to select a particular bowler
    or the computer automatically selects someone else this is to enable the
    above rules for bowling to apply. This can be remedied by trying another
    bowler who hasn't completed his spell.

    After your match has finished all the league results that week are shown.
    (including high scores and best bowling figures). All league and cup wins
    are recorded for posterity under career records in the menu, as are the
    successes of your nearest rivals in the Hall of Fame.


  8) Changing the speed

   This game should run at the same speed on any PC. However, if you find the
   game is running too quickly or to slowly try typing the following at the DOS
   prompt when you next run 'Sticky Wicket':

                    SW X  (Where X is a whole number from 1 to 300)

   As a rough guide, a 286-12 machine should run perfectly if you type

                    SW 14     to begin the program.

   You may have to play around with finding the best value for your P.C.


  9) Information on changing team and player names

   If you decide that you want to change some of the names you can easily
   change the data files using a text editor. However, if you do this you must
   make sure that you have backed up this program in case anything goes wrong.
   If you try to change anything other than the player and team names, the
   program will almost certainly go wrong since the data file has been
   protected against this.


 10) Differences between version 2.25 and version 2.20

   This version is a bug-fix update to version 2.20. Some differences are:

   * The game should be more realistic.
   * A strange bug where the '8' key on the numeric key pad did not work has
     now been located and corrected.
   * A few other bug fixes.


 11) If you decide to register

   If you continue to use this game you should register with the author.
   The registered version enables you to play full 8 week seasons for as
   many seasons as you like. There is also a 'Sticky Wicket' Cup competition
   at the end of each season of three rounds. Career averages are updated
   seasonally and you have a chance of ranking alongside the greats such as
   M.Brearly and G.Gooch. A save facility retains all data enabling you to
   save mid-season positions. All averages are also retained giving you the
   chance to see star players develop their careers.

   The registered version of 'Sticky Wicket' will cost just 11 pounds with no
   additional charges. If you feel you would like to add another dimension
   to playing cricket on your PC you can buy, for an extra 4 pounds, a two
   player game similar to the actual graphics side of 'Sticky Wicket' without
   any editing of the action. However this cannot be bought on its own and so
   can only be purchased with the registered version 'Sticky Wicket' at a cost
   of 15 pounds. When registering please feel free to make any comments you
   have about the game. We would to thank you for your honesty and support of
   the shareware concept.

   Write to:      M.J.Carter                 Cheques or postal orders please
                  'Westmead'                 payable to  M.J.Carter .
                  13, Chestnut Close,
                  Amersham,                  Remember to include your address
                  Bucks.                     and specify which disk size you
                  HP6 6EQ                    would prefer.