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###### P.B.Switch v1.50 Player's Guide
P.B.Switch Version 1.50 9th. July 1993
Copyright © 1991-93 Les E. Lamb
This program is FREEWARE (it's free).
This program is NOT Public Domain.
This program must NOT be altered in any way.
This program may be freely distributed
provided that no profit is made.
Design and Programing:
Les E. Lamb
What is P.B.Switch?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
P.B.Switch (Push-Button Switch) is another clone of the board game Othello.
Why another Othello clone?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
P.B.Switch was written in March 1991 as a training exercise to become
more familiar with the C Language & Amiga Intuition & to develop some
standard routines for use in other programs.
In July 1993 I decided to tidy it up a bit and spread it round.
P.B.Switch Features
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Game play is standard Othello.
- The play area is an 8 x 8 grid of push-button switches.
- The game is normally played with the mouse, but
- For those who cannot use or dislike using a mouse there are
(single key) keyboard equivalents for all operations.
- Two players can play against each other or
- One player can play against the Computer.
- The Computer Opponent has 3 levels of ability.
- A Champions Table is maintained containing the 12 highest scores for
each of the 3 levels.
- The Champions Table score is based on your accumulated winning margin
after a number of Games. (a maximum of 10 Games for levels 1 & 2)
(a maximum of 40 Games for level 3)
- A Colour Modifier is included to tailor your own colour scheme.
- Your colour scheme can be saved for automatic use on startup.
- Your selected menu options can be saved for automatic use on startup.
- Vocal comments are available via the Amiga's narrator device.
The P.B.Switch Layout
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+-------------------------------+
| Progressive Score Display |<-- This area displays the number of
|-------------------------------| Games played so far in a Round and
|_______________________________| your Total Score (accumulated winning
| | | | | | | | | margin) so far for those Games.
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___| This Total Score is what you
| | | | | | | | | play for to get on to the
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___| P.B.Switch Champions Table.
| | | | | |
|___|__ The 8 x 8 __|___| Note:
| | Game Play Buttons | | Your Total Score will only be eligible
|___|___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___|___| for the Champions Table when:
| | | | | | | | | 1/ The Computer is your opponent.
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___| 2/ First Move option is set at Random.
| | | | | | | | |
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___| If the above conditions 1 and 2 are
| | | | | | | | | not met, the background and text
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___| colours in the display area will be
| | | | | | | | | reversed to indicate non eligibility.
|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|
|-------------------------------| If any of the game play options are
| Message Display | changed during a Round, the Round will
|----------+----------+---------| end and your Total Score will become
| Me 02 | You 02 | Pass | your FINAL SCORE.
+----------+----------+---------+
^ ^ ^
| | |
| | Your Pass (you have no moves) Button.
| |
| Your Game Score Display (when your opponent is the Computer).
|
The Computer's Game Score Display (when your opponent is the Computer).
Note: When the Human Opponent option is selected 1 person plays the
"Me" colour and the other person plays the "You" colour and the
colour of "Pass" on the pass button reflects who's move it is.
Game Option Selection
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Game options are selected by using the mouse on Amiga pull down Menus,
or by pressing their (single key) Keyboard Equivalents.
Note: A list of the Keyboard Equivalents is displayed
by pressing the Help key, press Help to resume.
Menus & Keyboard Equivalents -
Action Menu:
Next Game N - starts a new Game.
Champs C - displays the P.B.Switch Champions Table, to resume
press C, V, or R, or click Resume.
End Round E - ends a Round of Games before the maximum number of
Games for a Round has been reached.
Notice V - displays the version / copyright notice, to resume
press C, V, or R, or click Resume.
Quit Q - shuts down the P.B.Switch program.
Opponent Menu:
Computer A - selects the computer as your opponent (1 player mode).
Human H - selects the 2 player mode (you against a friend).
Level of Play Menu:
Level 1 1 - your computer opponent plays a frivolous style of game.
Level 2 2 - your computer opponent plays with a flawed strategy,
like an average player.
Level 3 3 - your computer opponent also has a flawed strategy but
will finish strongly if your not careful.
Preferences Menu:
Play Colour
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Random F1 - your playing colour for a Game is chosen |
| randomly at the start of each Game. |
| Always F2 - your playing colour is always Color4. |
| Always F3 - your playing colour is always Color5. |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
First Move
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Random F4 - the player to have the first move is chosen |
| randomly at the start of each Game. |
| |
| Note: if either of the following 2 option is selected |
| you will not be eligible for the Champions Table. |
| |
| Always F5 - Color4 always has first move. |
| Always F6 - Color5 always has first move. |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Level Display L - a small display area is placed on the screen to
show the chosen Level of Play.
Conversation T - turns on vocal comments via the Amiga's narrator device.
Keyboard On - makes the (single key) Keyboard Equivalents available.
Modify Colours M - brings up the Colour Modifier.
Save Menu Set-up S - saves your selected menu options to file
PBSwitchColor.def.
Comment: The Play Colour and First Move options are possibly a bit
redundant, they were placed in the first version of P.B.Switch
to help in program testing and I've just left them there.
Making The Moves
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The pointer (hand) is moved round the play area using the Mouse or
the 4 Cursor Keys on the Keyboard.
Moves are made by clicking the Left Mouse Button
with the pointer over the required button or
by pressing the Keyboard's Return Key <-'.
Playing a Game
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To commence a new Game select the menu item "Next Game" (or press N).
A Game commences with 4 buttons in the centre already switched,
2 buttons your colour and 2 buttons your opponents colour.
There is only one play rule, click on an un-pressed button that will trap at
least one of your opponents buttons between that button and one of your
buttons in any direction. Trapped buttons in all directions will then change
to your colour.
When you have no moves, click Pass (or press P).
Note: Pass can be clicked (or P pressed) at any time to display
the number of moves available.
A Game is finished when there are no moves left for you and your opponent
to make.
The Highest Game Score wins the Game.
Playing a Round
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Round is just a number of Games played one after the other up to some
maximum number of Games (or until you select End Round or press E)
to accumulate a Total Score.
At the start of a Round your Total Score is 0, after each Game the
Total Score if updated using the following formula.
new Total Score = Total Score + Your Game Score - Your Opponent's Game Score
The maximum number of Games that can be played in a Round depends on the
selected Level of Play.
On Level 1 the maximum number of Games in a Round is 10.
On Level 2 the maximum number of Games in a Round is 10.
On Level 3 the maximum number of Games in a Round is 40.
The Careful Warning
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
During a Round of Games against the computer you may wish to change an option,
end the Round or quit, which would automatically end that Round. So that you
don't accidentally end a Round, a (Be Careful) requester comes up giving you a
chance to continue with the Round.
Click Cancel or press C - cancels the accidental action and continues
the Round.
Click OK or press O - accepts the action and ends the Round.
The P.B.Switch Files
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
P.B.Switch doesn't required any other files to run. But it does use some
files if they're available. The following is an explanation so as you'll know
what's going on if you observe that some new files have appeared (they will
only be written to the same directory that P.B.Switch is in). Also if you want
to copy P.B.Switch to another disk/directory you may want to copy these other
files as well.
File Name Comment
""""""""" """""""
P.B.Switch The program.
P.B.Switch.info This is just the standard .info (Icon) file.
PBSwitchChamp.tbl This is where the P.B.Switch Champions are stored.
If it doesn't exist it will be created when there is
a P.B.Switch Champion to store.
PBSwitchColor.def This is where the users preferred colours are stored.
If it doesn't exist it will be created when the user
wants to Save the screen colours.
PBSwitchSetup.def This is where the users preferred menu options are
stored. If it doesn't exist it will be created when
the user wants to Save Menu Set-up.
Narrator.device This is the standard Amiga Narrator device and should
be in the Devs directory (it usually is), if it isn't
it only means that the Conversation option wont work.
The only time it may not be in the Devs directory is
if someone has made a bootable disk containing a
trimmed workbench to make more room on the disk.
Colour Modifier Operations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Operate with the mouse in the standard fashion.
Keyboard Equivalents:
Use the Cursor Keys to select a colour.
R - moves the Red proportional gadget Left.
T - moves the Red proportional gadget Right.
G - moves the Green proportional gadget Left.
H - moves the Green proportional gadget Right.
B - moves the Blue proportional gadget Left.
N - moves the Blue proportional gadget Right.
L - Load loads a previously saved palette from file PBSwitchColor.def.
S - Save saves the current palette to file PBSwitchColor.def.
D - Reset selects the default palette built in to the program.
U - Use exits the Colour Modifier using the current palette.
C - Cancel exits the Colour Modifier ignoring any palette changes.
Computer Vs. Computer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This capability is only here because when you change your Playing Colour, the
computer automatically makes a move for its new Colour. If you continually
change your Playing Colour from one Colour to the other you force the computer
to make all the moves.
Press F5 - this takes the game out of "Champions Table" mode and allows you
to continually change the Playing Colour without ending the Game.
Press N - this starts a new Game.
Now just alternate between F2 & F3.
Press F2 then F3 then F2 then F3 then F2...and so on.
If you alternate between F2 & F3 as fast as you can, at least 32 times,
the computer will remember the key presses and you can sit back and watch
the moves.
THE END