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ASCII text, with escape sequences
— 5K bytes
— 1992-09-02
— PP20 compressed
[32mV1.0[0m --[33m January 5, 1992[0m -----------------------------------------------------
First releaseable version.
BUG REPORT:
None, really. However, there is a noticeable flicker when the piece first
starts off. Also, for some reason, every now and again garbage will appear
on the screen for no apparent reason. Maybe someday I'll figure it out...
[32mV1.1[0m -- [33mFebruary 1, 1992[0m -- [33m(5th floor release)[0m -----------------------------
Several minor enhancements:
* Added a pause key (can't believe I forgot that before!)
* Added a game abort key (only works during game, not in level menus)
* Added commas to numbers over 1,000 (nifty touch)
* Changed the way the main high score board looks a little bit (main dif. is
the 80-column display for future expansion)
* Added ability to view the last 80 high scores (so you REALLY know how well/
bad you did...)
* New piece-drop sound (instead of AMOS "shoot" command!)
MAJOR scoring changes:
* Added progressive chain reaction bonus with base of 1,500.
* Added chain reaction line score multiplier.
* Doubled end-of-game line value in endurance game.
* Greatly increased bonuses in arcade game.
> (In general, scores are MUCH higher now.)
BUG REPORT:
None. I'm such a perfectionist... (I think)
[32mV1.2[0m -- [33mMarch 14, 1992[0m -- [33m(Unreleased)[0m --------------------------------------
MAJOR game play change:
* Added "wild" piece. Flashing piece now acts as a wildcard, matching EVERY
color. (So it is possible for 1 block to clear 4 different colored lines.)
Semi-major scoring changes:
* Any line cleared with one or more wild blocks in it scores half as many
points as it normally would.
* New point values have been added to vertical lines above 6-long. This is
because a friend of mine was bent on setting up an 11-long vertical line or
something like that. Since I didn't take into consideration the
possibility of someone actually wanting to try that, and realizing how hard
it was to do, I gave it more signifigant points.
Minor enhancements:
* Added the "best drop" display during the game. Keeps track of the most
points you got on a single drop of one piece.
* Added blocks cleared display.
* Gave people more room in the high score table to write what they want in
25 characters. Also now shows number of blocks cleared in the game.
* Added "champions" high scores page. Shows uneraseable high scores for the
arcade and endurance game, as well as the best drop ever. If someone runs
ColorsHiUtil after deleting the original high score file, then the champion
scores are assigned defaults (that are still fairly high). Anyone getting
a champion score gets 40 characters to type in a message, too.
* Added auto-pause: If you send AMOS to back via left-amiga-a in the middle
of a game, it will detect this and go into pause mode.
* Added a cool "Logical Alternatives" picture at the beginning. (Like it?)
TODO REPORT:
I'm working on a new arcade game that will feature different goals and a
password system to get to the higher levels. This should encourage higher-
level play more (I hope). Also, someday I wish to have music in this game.
If any of you are musicians or something like that, and want to contribute
something, let me know! I might even be willing to pay for it!
BUG REPORT:
None that I'm aware of. Adding the wild card block was a major, major
addition to this game and might have screwed something up somewhere that I'm
not aware of. I've already found several bugs which I've eliminated as a
result of the wild block. These included giving out wrong points, vanishing
wild blocks, and / diagonals not getting cleared. BE SURE TO TELL ME IF YOU
FIND ANOTHER ONE!!! But I've tested this game so much, I just don't see you
finding any more. (Fingers crossed!) One annoyance is the flickering seen
when a wild block is in the piece currently falling down. I don't know what
I'm going to do about this. So close to perfect, yet.....
[32mV2.0[0m -- [33mAugust 5, 1992[0m -- [33m(Unreleased)[0m --------------------------------------
Game named changed! Now the game is called "Syzygy."
MAJOR game play change:
* A whole new game has been added as per the previous "todo" report. Syzygy
now features the SKILL GAME. More emphasis is placed on getting past
levels that test just how well the player can adapt to all aspects of doing
well at Syzygy. (This is kinda the decathalon of Syzygy.)
Bug fixes:
* Well, as it turns out, there WAS a bug in the previous version. Every now
and again wild pieces along the right side of the playfield would disappear
without explanation. I had seen it happen several times but could not for
the life of me figure out what was causing. After looking at the code for
(MANY) hours, I got an idea and managed to create the problem. As it turns
out, becuase of the way I checked for / diagonals, a wild block would
signal the start of a line, and everywhere else OTHER than the right wall
if there's a piece change, or a lack of piece, it would force a length
check for wild pieces (in case there was a line of just wilds). However,
failure to check along the right wall and failure to reset a couple of
variables that would have been reset if the line was checked for led to the
wild block being counted with the next / line being checked. Basically, a
line would be started at the right wall, then continued from the bottom of
the pit one block to the right of the previous / row being checked. So a
wild block followed by 3 or more of the same color along the next / caused
the block to be cleared but nothing else because of the clearing algorithm.
ANYWAY, the problem is fixed, now (even with the wild block), the game is
perfect again!
* Fixed a couple of bwee problems that didn't clear a text line all the way
and sometimes left an 's' on the extreme right of the screen.
* Fixed a bug that popped up in unusually long vertical lines (my friend
finally got about a 10-vertical or something). The game would crash with
an "illegal quantity error" or something because the bell pitch that would
be generated by a line so big was out of range for the function.
* Fixed a bug in the clearing algorithm that would count "sub-lines" in lines
cleared that had a wild block in them. (E.g. a 5-long vertical line where
the second block from the top was wild would get counted as both a 5-long
AND a 4-long line.) This was mostly evident in clearing vertical lines
because of the nature of the algorithm.
Semi-major scoring changes:
* The colors multiplier has been changed. Before it was 1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x
for 1, 2, 3, and 4 colors respectively. Now it is 1x, 2x, 3x, and 5x.
* The chain reaction bonus has been scaled down. Instead of 1x being added
to a line score multiplier for every chain reaction, it is now .5x. (E.g.
a 4-long horizontal line cleared on the first chain reaction would've been
worth 1,000 (500 x 2), now it is worth 750 (500 x 1.5).)
> (In general, scores are quite a bit lower, but not nearly as low as the
original version.)
Minor enhancements:
* Changed the champion score page to make room for the newly added Skill Game
champion score.
* Added a neat little flash to the "Colors" display if you cleared all 4
colors.
* Added the same neat little flash to the "Goal" display of the Arcade and
Skill Games when you get within 10% of the original goal (or if there's
just one left).
* Made the wild block flash whatever color line it was being cleared with.
At first, the block just continued flashing as normal, but a couple of my
friends didn't like it like that. When the same block clears more than one
color at once, it can look a little weird. (Try it sometime!)
* Now the game pretty-prints (puts commas in) just about every number
displayed. This was not done at first becuase I didn't think certain
numbers would go over 1,000. But some did, so I just gave up and every
time there's a number (almost), it'll go to the pretty-print routine.
TODO REPORT:
Would still like to put music in the game. Also need to finish up all of the
Skill Game levels.
BUG REPORT:
Until I finish the Skill Game levels, the game will crash after finshing the
last level currently in existence. I should certainly put something in there
to fix that. Same with the Arcade Game, but I really don't think anyone will
get past level 30 (so far the best I've done is 28), and there's currently 42
defined levels. The clearing algorithm is clean at this point as far as I
know. PLEASE LET ME KNOW OF ANY BUGS! At this point, I am REALLY sure (I
was a little unsure about the last version; rightfully so) that it is bug-
free.