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ASCII text
— 8K bytes
— 1991-10-18
Crazy Pipes
A Shareware game by
Joe Rumsey
Rules
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Crazy Pipes is a game of strategy and reflexes played by one person. The
object is to keep a liquid from spilling on the playing surface for as long
as possible. You will need to lay enough pipe to keep this from happening.
To accomplish this, a factory has been built which will supply you with an
unlimited stream of pipes. However, the delivery system is as poor as the
factory is efficient. Only one pipe is available for use at a given time.
This means you may have to wait for the pipe you need, possibly until it is
too late. To avoid running out of time, you should leave yourself several
escape routes whenever possible.
Each level of the game will have a section of pipe already in place and
labeled "S." This is the point where the flow begins. Focus all of your
attention on its mouth and act quickly, or you will surely be drowned.
There are two ways to win. The easier way, generally, is to direct the
water into the piece of pipe labelled "F" for finish. However, this option
will not be available on all levels. The higher the level, the more likely
there will be a finish piece. At the highest levels (level 80 up) there
will almost always be a finish. The other way to win, available on every
level, is to bring the "Count" displayed at the top of the screen down to
zero. Count will decrease by one for each section the liquid flows into.
The speed of the water increases every 20 levels. The amount of time
before the water starts flowing decreases every level, but resets to
maximum at the same levels the speed increases. Thus, level 79 has the
minimum amount of time at the next to fastest speed, while level 80 has
maximum amount of time at the highest speed. Considering all this, if you
can complete the last few levels without using a finish piece, you are
truly a God-like being, and should probably stop wasting your time on
video games, and start mapping human DNA without a microscope, or computing
trajectories for interplanetary probes in your head.
Scoring
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Points are scored for every square the water enters. Extra points are
added for flowing twice through an intersection piece(the one that looks
like a plus sign). Once a piece has been placed, it can be replaced by
another, until the water has flown into it. This will cost you both points
and some time(you won't be able to place any more pipe for a short amount
of time.) At the end of a level, any unused sections of pipe will be
counted up, and points subtracted. All scores vary depending on the level
being played. In addition, a bonus is given for finishing the starting
level (which can be set from the menus). The starting bonus increases by
2,000 points each level, so that level 2 is worth 2,000 points, level 10
scores 18,000 etc. Note that in general this score is lower than if you
actually played all the preceeding levels.
The top ten all-time high scores are kept on disk. The top ten "daily"
high scores are also kept. The highest level achieved for each high score
is recorded as well. The format is: "Name score/level".
Other features
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On every level except for the first few, there will be some sort of
obstacle on the playing field which can not be built over. The number of
obstacles per level increases as the level does. Also, there will be holes
in the wall around the edge of the board. If the water happens to flow
into one of these, it will re-emerge at the hole on the opposite side of
the board. These holes can be used to get out of tight situations, or if
you're not looking, to get into them. Be careful!
A new "finish level" key has been added. By pressing 'F' the water goes
into overdrive, quickly reaching the end of your pipe. The normal rules
for winning and losing still apply. This is provided to avoid long
waits(mainly on lower levels) when you know you've won, but the water still
has a ways to go.
To set the starting level, select Level from the Options menu, and enter
the two digit level number (level 5 = "05" etc.) You do not need to press
enter.
During the game, all menus are disabled. The Esc key can be used to quit
the current game.
Stuff you don't need to know, but may want to
----- --- ----- ---- -- ----- --- --- ---- --
All graphics in the game are completely customizeable. The shapes for
each level are stored in the files pipes0.iff through pipes9.iff. As the
names imply, these are regular iff brushes, editable with dpaint or any
other suitable graphics package. The program uses the set corresponding
with the last digit of the current level. None of the sets are required to
be present, except for pipes0.iff, which is the default in case of a read
error on another set. Feel free to change the sets as much as you want,
keeping in mind that the flow of water is "hardwired" into the game. That
is, the positions of the pipes MUST remain the same, but their images do
not have to. If you redistribute this game, please include the original
graphics set. Any alternate sets may be freely distributed on their own,
but I would like to have a copy sent to me. If I like a set, I will
include it in a future release of Crazy Pipes, with your name in the creits..
The sounds are also iff samples, created with Perfect Sound. Feel free
to use them in anything you like.
Stuff you don't want to know, but may need to
----- --- ----- ---- -- ----- --- --- ---- --
The following files should be included in this archive:
pipe The main program
pipe.doc This file
The following files must be in the same directory as pipe:
pipe.hs The hisgh score file. Scores can be cleared by deleting this.
pipes0.iff\
.. } the graphics sets
pipes9.iff/
pipe.title The title screen
pipe.hlp The text file for the help option in the Game menu.
In the "sounds" directory:
exp, clang, loop, over Various sound effects.
Optional: music, music2 Simple music files. "music" is played in a
loop, and then music2 is played to end the
song. These are in a seperate archive.
Registration
------------
Crazy Pipes is Shareware. I am asking for a donation of $10.00 to help
compensate me for my time. While I hardly expect to make a living this
way, I have spent a good amount of time working on this, and it's much
easier to justify writing more programs if I can make a little money at it.
I feel that $10 is not too much to ask when commercial games often cost 5
times as much. When you send your money, please let me know which version
of the game you are playing (this being version 2.0). If there is a newer
version, I will send it to you, along with some other goodies.
My address is:
Joe Rumsey
265 W. Big Springs Rd. Apt L.
Rverside, CA 92507
GEnie: J.RUMSEY
Changes:
V2.0:
--added multiple graphics sets, ability to change them easily.
--fixed bug causing "About" to crash under 2.0. Now works under either OS.
--Made the level number much more meaningful, water gets faster, time
gets less, scores reflect this.
--Now records level in high score table.
--Added finish pieces
--various other things only I will notice.
Other progams available, now or soon:
Bomb Squad: A strategy game in which you must find all the bombs on a
board of variable size. A record of the best times is kept.
features sampled sounds and customizeable graphics. Freeware.
Serpent: A smooth scrolling maze game in which you guide a snake around
collecting eggs to protect them from predators.
Wheelo: Drive an inverted unicycly through a world of ramps, platforms,
and other things trying to save the universe from the evil
something or other(I haven't decided yet)
A note: Bomb Squad is the only only one out as of this writing. Serpent
and Wheelo are close.