JCSM Shareware Collection 1993 November/JCSM Shareware Collection - 1993-11.iso/cl310/dart251j.lzh/DARTS.DOC

Text File | 1992-07-12 | 15KB | 282 lines

  Darts-  ver 2.51, Copyright (C) 1991/92 by Scott Semon, All Rights Reserved.


   This is the game of darts, popular in America and England, often as semi-
organized leagues in bars and pubs. To run the program, you must have an IBM
pc or compatible computer with EGA or VGA video hardware and a Microsoft
compatible mouse. This program is being distributed as Shareware. You are
welcome to use the program for your enjoyment and may distribute it to your
friends, without modification to any of the files, provided you accept no
compensation. If you enjoy the program, you are encouraged to register as a
user with a contribution of $10 dollars or more. Shareware contributions pro-
mote further program development, to the benefit of all computer users. All
registered users will be notified of any future updates.

   To register, send your contribution along with any comments to-


                              Darts
                              Scott Semon
                              19 Alegre Court
                              Danville, Ca. 94526

Remember to include your name and address.


   The following documentation may be easily accessed from within the program.




                              ----------------
                              Welcome to DARTS
                              ----------------


    Upon startup of the program, the data screen appears. It consists of the
main menu at the top of the screen, a large version of the word "DARTS" below
that, the game selection menu at center left, and the player selection grid
at the screen bottom.



                                MAIN MENU
                                ---- ----

Start Game:
----------

    Clicking the mouse button when the cursor is over this item takes you to
the playing screen. A conventional dart board is displayed near the center of
the screen, with what specific dart game to be played shown in large letters
above it (see Select Games section below). On the right is a chalk scoreboard
with the players names written on it. A white line below a name indicates who
is currently shooting. At bottom left are two darts to be thrown, with the
third dart in the center of the board ready to be aimed, and at top left are
prompts for aiming and throwing the darts (the status box).

   To aim the dart, move the mouse around, thereby moving the dart, until the
tip of the dart is right where you want the dart to land in the board, and
click the left button to set it. If you make a mistake in aiming, you can re-
aim the dart by clicking the right mouse button before throwing it.
   To throw the dart, move the mouse to the bottom of the mouse pad so there
is plenty of room ahead, and push and hold down the left button. Then begin
moving the mouse forward a few inches per second as near to vertical as pos-
sible, and release the button while still moving the mouse. To assure a good
throw you must keep the mouse moving steadily just before, during and direct-
ly after releasing the button. The dart will arc through the air and land
somewhere near the aiming spot. As each dart lands, its final resting place
is indicated on the upper right corner of the screen. As in real-life darts,
a dart hitting the metal dividing wire separating the numbers (the spider)
may bounce off of the board and fall onto the floor. If you have difficulty
achieving a good throw consistently, see the section on the 'Practice Game'
below.

   Any score achieved on the throw of the dart will be reflected on the
scoreboard. Scoring is discussed in each section describing the various games
that can be played. To move on to the next dart, click a button. The next
dart will move to the center of the board, and you aim and throw it as above.
After three darts have been thrown, it is the next player's turn. Clicking a
button displays a new set of darts and advances the "player up" line to the
next player.
   After the game is over you will be returned to the data screen. You may
also exit to the data screen by hitting the 'ESC' key any time the program
is not waiting for you to click a mouse button.



Select Game:
-----------

   The game of Round-the-Clock is the default game. To choose another game to
play, click the mouse when the cursor is over this item. The cursor moves in-
side the game box and the current game is highlighted. Move the cursor over
the desired game and click a button. When the game has been selected, move
the cursor into the 'Exit' rectangle and click a button. A description of the
games follows.


Round-the-Clock:  Each player's starting "point" is '1'. The current "point"
value is always displayed on the scoreboard under the person's name. A player
shoots at his "point" number until it is hit. Once hit, the point value ad-
vances to the next higher number ('2' follows '1', etc.). The first player to
hit his point '20' is the winner. See the 'Multiple' option in the 'Options'
section for a variation on this game.


Slider:  This is similar to Round-the-Clock. The starting "point" is '10'. A
player shoots at his point, and if hit, advances to the next point. If a
player hits a point other than the desired point, his point reverts to the
next lower value (from '10' to '9', etc.). The first person to hit '20' wins.
Any player missing on an attempt at '1', is out of the game. See 'Multiple'
and 'Safety' options in the 'Options' section below for variations.


301:  This is the popular 301 pub game. Each player starts with 301 points.
A player can not begin scoring until he has hit a 'double' (the outermost
ring of any number). Once the player has doubled in, each number hit is sub-
tracted from his current score, including the first double. For instance, a
player throws several darts and finally hits a 'doube 6'. He has now 'doubled
in' and subtracts 12 (2 * 6) from 301 leaving 289. If his next dart is '20'
he then has 269. All following darts can be any combination of singles,
doubles, triples, or Bulls. In this game, a 'Double Bull', the inner red dot
is worth 50 points and the single 'Bull', the green ring is worth 25 points.

    A player wins the game by reducing his score exactly to 0 by and only
by throwing a double. Thus if the player has a score of 20, he can win by
throwing a 'double 10' but not by throwing a '20'. Any time a player reduces
his score to 1, 0 other than with a double, or less than 0, his turn ends
immediately, regardless of how many darts he has left, and all previous darts
thrown on this turn do not count. An 'OUT CHART' can be accessed before aim-
ing a dart by typing the letter 'O' or by clicking the middle mouse button.
The chart suggests what to throw at once your score is less than 171. After
checking the chart, click a mouse button to return to the dart aim mode.

501:  The same as 301 except that players start off with 501 points.


Cricket:  This is the popular game of American Cricket. Players throw at the
numbers '20' through '15' and the 'Bull' in any order desired in an effort to
close them. A number is closed by a player when he has hit it 3 times (tri-
ples and doubles score as 3 and 2 hits respectively). Once a player has
closed a particular number, he can score on that number with further hits if
any of his opponents has not yet closed it, or he may try to close another
number at this point. On the scoreboard, a single hit on a number is display-
ed as a slash, '/', two hits are indicated by an 'X', and 3 hits, signifying
the number is closed, is indicated by a circle.
   Once a player has closed all of the relevant numbers, if he has the high-
est score at this point he is the winner. If he does not have the highest
score, he should shoot at any numbers not yet closed by one or more oppo-
nents to score more points. See Options for a variation.



Practice:  This is not a game but instead a tool to help you throw the dart
better. Only one player at a time can practice. You can throw each dart at
anything you want to. No score is kept. Practice mode includes some infor-
mation concerning the dynamics of the mouse at release time. In the upper
left corner, 2 items are displayed: vx and vy. These are the simulated x and
y (horizontal and vertical) velocities of the mouse at the time of release of
the button. vx should ideally be 0 for each throw, indicating that the mouse
was moving perfectly vertically at release. A negative vx value means the
mouse was moving left of vertical, resulting in the dart landing left of the
aimed spot, and a positive vx means the mouse was moving right of vertical,
whereupon the dart will land right of the desired spot. If vx is 0, the dart
will land somewhere on a vertical line which passes through the aimed spot.

   Ideally, vy should be 16.0. If vy is greater than 16.0, the vertical mo-
tion of the mouse was too great and the dart will land above the desired
spot. In effect, it was thrown too hard, and gravity did not act on it long
enough to pull it back down. If vy is less than 16.0, the mouse was moving
too slowly, and the dart will land below the desired spot. If vy = 16.0, the
dart will land somewhere on a horizontal line which passes through the aimed
spot. From the foregoing discussion, if vx=0 and vy=16.0, the dart will land
exactly where it was aimed.
   On the chalkboard, you will see a plot of the mouse path after each dart
is thrown. A grey vertical line splits the board from the bottom to near the
top. This line represents the ideal path of the mouse, and coincides with the
x position of the mouse at the time the mouse button is released. The actual
mouse path is indicated by a series of colored lines. Green indicates mouse
positions prior to the release of the mouse button, yellow is around release
time, and red is after release.

   Each horizontal line starts at the center line and extends left or right
to indicate the deviation of the mouse to the ideal path at that point in
time. The endpoints of the deviation lines are connected to better indicate
the degree of the error. A good 'throw' will be indicated by a relatively
straight, vertical line. Note that only the mouse path near button release
(the yellow line) is relevant to the accuracy of the throw. By observing the
mouse path, you should be able to eliminate habitual throwing errors.


   Some points to remember about throwing the darts are:

a) You must have a good follow through just as in real darts. The trajectory
of the dart is determined by the motion of the mouse just before, during, and
just after releasing the button. DO NOT stop moving the mouse at the same
time that you release the button.
b) If you use a pad for the mouse, do not run off the pad near the release.
The mouse may not think it is moving when off the pad (especially an optical
mouse). Try to release somewhere near the middle of the pad.
c) Try to release the button smoothly, without disturbing the path of the
mouse.
d) Most mouse drivers offer a means to change the mouse sensitivity. If the
sensitivity is too high, the cursor will reach the top of the screen before
you can release the button. Its vertical motion will be 0 at that point, and
so the dart will fall straight down if this occurs. Consult your mouse man-
ual on how to change the sensivity if this is a problem. You might also want
to disable any 'Ballistic' or double speed effect if you mouse supports it.


 Change Players:
 --------------

   Selecting this menu item allows you to change the players or player op-
tions. The cursor will move inside the player grid. In general, from 1 to 4
players may play. To add a player to the grid, or change the name of a player
move the cursor to the appropriate rectangle under the Name column and click
a mouse button. Any existing name will be erased and the rectangle will be
highlighted. Now type in the player's name up to 10 characters and end it
with <ENTER>. To have the computer act as a player, enter a name starting
with the letters 'COMP'. There can be more than one computer player, named
COMP1, COMP2, etc., for instance.
   If there are 4 players, they can be grouped into teams. Team A will al-
ways be players 1 & 3, and team B will be players 2 & 4. Keep this in mind if
you are going to play teams so you can enter the player's names in appropri-
tely. To toggle team play on or off, move the cursor into the Team column and
click a mouse button.

   Players can also be given one of 3 levels of skill. For human players,
the Beginner level is the easiest. Use this level initially until your throw-
skill has improved. The Expert level is the most difficult. Small errors in
mouse motion will result in poor shots. For computer players, a skill level
of Beginner will result in fairly wild shots. A computer player of Expert
skill level is deadly accurate, and will also play with a more sound strat-
egy.
   To change the skill level of a player, move the cursor into the appropri-
ate box under the Skill level column. Clicking the left button cycles through
the 3 choices backwards, and clicking the right button cycles through the 3
choices forwards.



Options:
-------

   Selecting this item allows you to change some of the ways the program
works or the games are played.

FastDraw- If you believe that the dart moves too slowly in flight, you can
speed it up by turning the FASTDRAW option on. The flight time will be cut
about in half. This will result in a more jerky motion, however.

Sensitivity- Computer mice can be given different levels of sensitivity. A
high sensitivity results in large cursor movements for small mouse movements.
A low sensitivity gives smaller cursor movements for a given mouse movement.
The program automatically selects a low sensitivity when it starts, since for
most computers this results in a more easily controlled throw. Select a high
level if it gives you better results, or consult your mouse manual on how to
change the sesnsitivity through the mouse driver. This should be done after
you start DARTS.



Multiple- When ON, a double or triple scores more than 1 in the games of
Round-the-Clock and Slider. The other games are not affected by this option.
For example, if a player's "point" is 5, and the dart lands in the triple 5
area- with Multiple OFF his next "point" is 6 and with Multiple ON his next
"point" is instead 8.

Safety- This option only affects the game of Slider. When ON, a dart which
lands within the Bull area or outside of any numbered wedges will not cause
the "point" value to be decremented. When ON, the "point" value will always
be decremented with each dart unless the dart lands somewhere within the
wedge of the current "point".

Slop- This option only affects Cricket. When OFF, a dart only counts when it
lands in the number where it was aimed. When ON, dart counts even if it lands
in a number at which it was not aimed (i.e. aimed somewhere in 20 but hit
somewhere in 18).




Instructions:
------------

   Prints these instructions.


Quit:
----

   Exits the program and returns you to DOS.



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