Assassins - Ultimate CD Games Collection 2/Assassins 2 - Ultimate Games No. 2 (1995)(Weird Science)[!][Amiga-CD32-CDTV].iso/arcade/amos_cricket_ii/intro.txt

Text File | 1992-06-16 | 12KB | 279 lines

                                AMOS Cricket
                                ------------

    This is Shareware , not Public Domain. It must be registered after 28
days of use,if you wish to continue using it. Copyright of this
program is held by Paul Robson.

Distribution
------------
    The following files must be included in any distribution of this game
 :- Register,Cricket,Intro.Txt. Any REGISTER.INFO file or one containing
 similar data must NOT be distributed. These files may not be modified.

Registration
------------
    Registration is 4 pounds (see Reg screen for details). The following
changes are made when you register.

    (i)     Save Game & Save Team are enabled
    (ii)    The registration screen will not come up during the game.

    No other changes are made - you now have the complete game , it just
makes life a lot friendlier if you have a registered copy !

    An easy way to tell if you are registered is by clicking on the
title box on the main menu.

Features
--------
    Play with a friend or against the computer
    Full screen Graphics.
    Variable pitch types - can seam or turn,or both (or neither)
    Controllable main game speed
    Skill levels for batting , bowling.
    Control aggressiveness,accuracy,pace and movement.
    Overall skill levels independently adjustable.
    6 Default bowler types to work with and invent your own (!)
    Preset teams (England v Australia) or create your own
    Play 10-60 overs or 3 or 5 day game.
    Play 7 different strokes.
    Bowling & Field placing automatic or player controlled.
    Game in progress can be saved at the end of an over.
    Full Scoreboards.

Greetings
---------

    Hello and Welcome to AMOS Cricket. I wrote this game because,
as a cricket fan, I got fed up waiting for a software house to
produce a decent cricket simulation. When I wrote this I sat down
and worked out what I wanted the game to be like , and then
implemented that. The game is aimed at cricket fans who want
to play their favourite game on silicon. I've written games before
on various micros, but this is the first one I've played other than
for testing (I can't beat it without bending the game in my favour
yet) so I hope you like it too.

    AMOS Cricket has a 'Kick Off' [(C) Anco] look about it ,e.g.
it is a top down view over the main pitch with a scanner for the
rest of the ground. The bowler delivers from the bottom of the screen,
the scanner is in the bottom left corner. In the top right corner is
a summary scoreboard. You can see fielders near the wicket.

    Unlike many Amiga Games,AMOS Cricket is mostly actual code.
There is about 130k of program code (if you take out the samples)
which is about 2200 lines of AMOS, almost all of which is dedicated
to the game,not to producing pretty graphic effects or sounds.

    If you have any good ideas for improvements send them to me and
I will try to include them in future upgrades. You will not need to
re register any subsequent versions of this program. I would also
like to hear of any 'holes' in the Computer Batting - e.g. is there
a way you can consistently get him out ? You can usually dismiss
a batsman by pitching leg and hitting off with a good length ball,
but this seams fairly reasonable to me !
Many sports games can be 'found out' e.g. there is always a trick
which results in a goal being scored for instance - this makes
the game rather dull as the temptation is to use the trick.

    It's dead easy to cheat in this game because you can
adjust the game in mid-game , which isn't really fair. I decided
to allow this because it makes starting easier ! You can 'cheat'
legally by playing your team of spinners against a team of pace
bowlers on a turning wicket for instance.

Contact me at:  The Old Rectory,
                Bridgham,
                Norwich,
                Norfolk.

Thanks to :     Jane (Wife) for putting up with me writing it.
                Francois et.al. for AMOS and its compiler.
                Datel for the Mini Sampler.
                Other cricket simulations for inspiration
                (Sarcasm)

How to Play
-----------
    AMOS Cricket is not a pick up and play gane. While batting , it
will take some time before you can hit the ball reliably at all off the
square (defending isn't too difficult).

However, the game controls themselves are not all that complicated.
This is a quick guide to playing the game from cold.

    Select a 1 or 2 player game. (All menus are selected by clicking
on the appropriate button). The Batsman is ALWAYS the Joystick,and the
Bowler is ALWAYS the Mouse. The Mouse and Joystick go into their
usual sockets.

    Select Play Game , and whether you wish to bat or bowl (if you
win the toss). The scorecard should now be displayed.

Bowling
-------
    If you are bowling,you will first need to select a bowler. The
possible bowlers will be displayed in a menu. The bowler who bowled
the last over at that end will be at the top. After you select a
bowler , a field will be automatically selected, the pitch will be
displayed,and the cursor will change to a cross-hair. You can now
change the field by pointing at the Scanner in the bottom left hand
corner and pressing the Left or Right mouse button (which will
change the field displayed). A left cancels out a right - it is
like you are rotating the display using the appropriate button.
When you are happy with the field,point at the pitch and press the
LEFT mouse button. This will aim the ball at the appropriate
point on the pitch . If you press the RIGHT mouse button,it will go
where you aimed the last one (not for the first ball of an over).
    Unfortunately some of your bowlers aren't quite as accurate as
you would like,especially if they are tired,so the ball may not
go exactly where you intended.
    If you don't want to bother with aiming, put Automatic on and
the computer will aim for you,but this can make playing a bit
'remote' if you are playing a 1 player game, because all you do
is swap bowlers about. You can turn automatic off or on at the
beginning of an over.

Batting
-------
    When you are about to receive a ball, there will be a cross on
the pitch where it will bounce (not necessarily where the bowler
aimed it !). The Bowler will run up to the wicket , and Grunt and
deliver the ball,which will bounce or seam (possibly), and
since I haven't told you how to control the batsman yet,may well
hit the stumps.
    You can move the batsman in the crease by moving the Joystick
Left or Right appropriately. If you pull the Joystick Up or Down,
this will lock the batsman into position (useful for Driving,
Cutting and Pulling). You then (as the ball arrives) select the
shot by moving the Joystick in the appropriate direction and
pressing the fire button. Start off with Forward and Backward
Defensive shots , then try driving,cutting and pulling and
finally try square of the wicket. The bounce is always consistent
(but a fast bowler will get more bounce than a slow one), so you
don't have to worry about shooters if you play back to a short ball.

          Cut    Back Defense    Pull
             \         |        /
              \        |       /
               \       |      /
                \      |     /

       Cover ---- Fwd Defense ---- Clip off Legs
       Drive
                /      |     \
               /       |      \
              /        |       \
             /         |        \
        Off Drive    Fwd Def    On Drive

Configuration
-------------
    It is possible to make the game easier or harder through the
configuration menu - a set of 9 slider bars that allow you to
change all aspects of the game. This is accessed either from the
main menu or from the save game menu. Bowlers can access Save Game
from the Select Bowler Menu (it is the bottom option). Batsman
get to the menu by pulling the Joystick down when pressing fire
to leave the scoreboard display (the menus are always controlled
by the Mouse,even if you are batting). Adjust the
sliders appropriately - you can change batsman or bowler skills
for the Computer and Player , and the amount of deviation of the
pitch each can get. You can also change the state of the pitch
at the start of the game (it will take more spin on the last 2
days of a 5 day game - some would say this actually isn't all
that realistic !). Pushing the slider up increases the values
(or makes the pitch take more seam/spin). The default turn is
quite high , so you may want to bring that down initially
    Most useful when starting is the Speed control which changes
the delivery speed for Human Players. This means you can slow
batting down when you start ! It reduces the fastest bowler to
a fairly gentle trundle. For a real challenge, put the speed up
to high and try and see the ball !
    Note that skills are all values between 1 and 9. If you set
a batsmans skills to 9, it will peak at 9 irrespective of the
slider setting.

Main Menu
---------
    The main menu is simple enough - you can edit teams (more later)
switch between 1 or 2 player , swap the teams round,change the
game type,start the game or continue an old game. Up to 9 games
can be saved. Click on the appropriate button.

    AMOS Cricket is primarily designed to simulate 2 innings cricket.
The Computers Batting Logic is in favour of not losing wickets rather
than run scoring,so it plays better 2 innings than 1 innings cricket.

Save Game
---------
    This is accessed either directly from the bowler selection menu,
or by pulling the Joystick down when pressing the Fire button to
exit the scoreboard. You can reconfigure the game,abandon it to
start a new one,or save a game. Up to 9 games can be saved.

Edit Team
---------
    You can create your own teams , or modify the provided ones here.
When you start AMOS Cricket, the same two teams will always be there
(England v Australia 1992). From here , you can Save or Load teams
swap 2 players in the batting order , or edit a player. You also use
Edit Player to change the Team Name and team short name (the one that
is displayed on the scorecard). If you change a team , it will stay
in memory until you re-run the program or load a different one.
    The wicketkeeper is either (i) the lowest person in the batting order
who doesn't bowl and all bowling skills 9 or (ii) the lowest non-bowler in
the batting order.

Edit Player
----------
    This allows you to change the following. Note that high values in
the skill fields = high skill ! Change a field by typing in it.
Select a field either using the TAB key (changes to next field down)
or by using the mouse to click on the appropriate box.

    Short name of team (displayed at top right of screen)
    Full name of team
    Player Name
    Batting Skill (1..9)
    Aggressiveness (1..9 1=Boycott on a bad day,9=Inzamam-Ul-Haq!)
    Bowler Delivery Type
    Accuracy (1..9)
    Pace (1..9) (Spin bowlers 1-3,Seam Bowlers 4-9)
    Leg Deviation (0..9) Degree to which bowler can move ball away from
                         right hander.
    Off Deviation (0..9) Ditto, for moving ball in.

The 6 buttons below predefine a bowler type . Ok or pressing return
exits the display,clicking on cancel will forget all the changes
made. You must have at least 7 bowlers. It is also possible to invent
your own unorthodox bowlers. E.g. you could create an Iverson/Gleeson
type of bowler,or a big inswing bowler (well inseam anyway) like Lance
Cairns (NZ). Or you can create an 'all 9' bowler !

Bugs
----
    I actually play this game a lot ! (something I have never done with
any other game I have written).As a result of this, it is quite bug-free
I would be grateful for any bug reports.

    However (theres always one isn't there !) the screen will flicker
sometimes (especially the bottom line of text). Also the sprites get
out of sync occassionally. I don't know why this is, but I have read
recently that double buffering has been improved in AMOS release 1.34
so I will try and get this and re-compile it sometime.

Versions
--------
1.0 : First Release
1.1 : Improvements to Bowler Selection Algorithm
1.2 : Fixed -   Screen Flickering (occasional) now less common !
                If saved if mid over redisplays field on load
                CR on edit ctrl in dialog caused it to be cleared,
                    player could be in an invalid state.
                Lots of little game improvements.


PSR'92