@database Abacus @master Abacus.guide @$VER: Abacus Documentation 1.00 (09.09.95) @author "Kai Nickel" @(c) "Copyright ©1995 Kai Nickel" @node "MAIN" "Main page" @{b}@{u}A b a c u s@{ub}@{uu} One or two player board game Version 1.00 (09.09.1995) Author: Kai Nickel 1. Miscellanious 1.1 @{" Description " link "DESCRIPTION" } - What is Abacus? 1.2 @{" Author " link "AUTHOR" } - Who wrote it? 1.3 @{" Copyright " link "COPYRIGHT" } - Who cares... 1.4 @{" Installation " link "INSTALLATION"} - Very easy 2. Usage 2.1 @{" Rules " link "RULES" } - How to play Abacus 2.2 @{" Main window " link "MAINWINDOW" } - The main window 2.3 @{" Settings " link "SETTINGS" } - The settings window 3. Appendix 3.1 @{" History " link "HISTORY" } - Changes to former versions 3.2 @{" MUI " link "MUI" } - The GUI system 3.3 @{" Q&A " link "QUESTIONS" } - Answers to often asked questions @endnode @node "DESCRIPTION" "Description" @{u}1.1 Description@{uu} Abacus is a one or two player board game. It is played on a hexagonal board. Each player starts up with 14 balls and the goal is to kick the enemy balls off the board. If a player lost 6 of his balls he lost the game. Abacus runs on the Workbench, has got an install-script and is localized to English and German. This program is FREEWARE. @{u}System requirements:@{uu} - Amiga with Kickstart 2.0 or higher (Kick 2.1 for german catalog) - Installed @{"MUI-System" link "MUI"} Version 2.3 or higher @endnode @node "AUTHOR" "Author" @{u}1.2 Author@{uu} Abacus was written by Kai Nickel Mail : Herzogstrasse 29 67435 Neustadt Germany eMail : un7x@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de kai@rpsbbs.pfalz.de (Kai Nickel) @{u}About this documentation:@{uu} As you can see my English is not very good, and I know that there are a lot of mistakes in this documentation. But despite this I hope that you can at least figure out what I wanted to say... If anybody wants to put this documentation or the catalog into "real" English or even translate it into any other language: please contact me! @{u}How to get updates:@{uu} I will send updates of Abacus to Aminet/game/board. But you may also call the german Abacus-Support-BBS (24h online) called RPSBBS: Modem: 49-6329-1624 (HST/V32b V42b) ISDN : 49-6329-990015 (X75) Login: graph2d Path : /Lokal/Support/Amiga/Graph2D (my username is "Kai") @endnode @node "COPYRIGHT" "Copyright" @{u}1.3 Copyright@{uu} Abacus is copyright ©1995 Kai Nickel. Abacus is FREEWARE. You are allowed to play it and copy it as long as you don't have commercial interests. The original-archive must remain complete and unchanged when you spread Abacus. The author cannot guarantee the correct function of Abacus and cannot be made responsible for any negative consequences that may result from the use of Abacus. Abacus was developed with the Amiga-Oberon-Compiler V3.20 by the A+L AG. Abacus uses the @{"MUI-system" link "MUI"} by Stefan Stuntz. MagicWB and some of the icons in the Abacus package are copyright by Martin Huttenloher. @endnode @node "INSTALLATION" "Installation" @{u}1.4 Installation@{uu} The best way to get Abacus installed is to start the script "Abacus- Install". Don't be afraid: If you chose "expert user" at the installation you may confirm really every action! If the script does not work because you do not own the Installer, just drag the "Abacus" drawer somewhere to your harddisk. Then take the "Abacus.guide" of your preferred language from "Abacus/Docs//" and move it to the "Abacus/" drawer so that it can be used for online help. You can start Abacus after the installation just by clicking its icon from the workbench. @endnode @node "RULES" "Playing rules" @{u}2.1 Playing rules@{uu} The game Abacus is played by two players on a hexagonal board. Each player starts up with 14 balls and the goal is to kick the enemy balls off the board. If a player lost 6 of his balls he lost the game. What the players have to do is to move one of their balls by turns. A ball can be moved from his place to one of the six nighbour places. When the destination place is occupied by an other ball, this ball gets shifted into the same direction and so on. So you can shift not only one but a row of balls at once - and if a ball is shifted over the board limits it gets lost. But not all kinds of moves are allowed! To move balls of the opponent you got to have the majority of balls in this move. You are only allowed to move maximal three of you own balls at once, which also means that the number of shifted enemy balls is limited to two. The color of balls in a row may not be mixed. First have to be all balls of the player followed by all balls of the opponent. The following list shows all possible moves. "X" marks a ball of the actual player and "O" a ball of the opponent. "." is an empty place or a place outside the board. The shift-direction is alway from left to right: X . X X . X X X . X X O . X X X O . X X X O O . Not allowed are the following examples: X O . ( no majority ) X X O O . ( no majority ) X X X O O O . ( no majority ) X X X X . ( more than three own balls ) X X O X . ( mixed ball order ) X X X O O X . ( mixed ball order ) @endnode @node "MAINWINDOW" "Main window" @{u}2.2 Main window@{uu} This window contains the game board. The empty/filled small circles on the right indicate the number of balls from each color that have been kicked out yet. If a game is running, the text line on the bottom shows the name and color of the player who is expected to do his turn now. To move a ball just click on it and then click on the destination field. If the move is against the @{"rules" link "RULES"}, it will be ignored and you can try another move. To deselect an accidentally selected ball just click on it again. If you press the HELP-key you will get an online-help window containing this documentation. Meaning of the menus: @{u}Project@{uu} Start game - Reset the game board and start an new game. White player always starts. Stop game - Abort a running game. Load game... - Load a previously saves game board. Save game... - Save the present game board. About... - Open an information requester. Quit - Quit the program. @{u}Move@{uu} Undo move - Take back the last move of the last player. Automove - Make an automatic move for the active player. Skip player - Go to the next player without making a move. @{u}Settings@{uu} Player... - Change the @{"settings" link "SETTINGS"}. @endnode @node "SETTINGS" "Settings" @{u}2.3 Settings@{uu} Here you can enter a "Name" for each player. If you activate the option "Computer" for a player, the computer will do all moves for this player. This allows you to play against another human, against the computer or even let two computers play against each other... "Save" uses the settings permanently, "Use" uses the settings until the next time you start Abacus and "Cancel" leaves the requester without accepting the changes. If you press the HELP-key you will get an online help window with this documentation on it. @endnode @node "HISTORY" "History" @{u}3.1 History@{uu} @{u}V1.00 (09.09.95):@{uu} - first Version @endnode @node "MUI" "MUI" @{u}3.2 MUI@{uu} @{u}MUI-Copyright:@{uu} This application uses MUI - MagicUserInterface (c) Copyright 1993/94 by Stefan Stuntz MUI is a system to generate and maintain graphical user interfaces. With the aid of a preferences program, the user of an application has the ability to customize the outfit according to his personal taste. MUI is distributed as shareware. To obtain a complete package containing lots of examples and more information about registration please look for a file called "muiXXusr.lha" (XX means the latest version number) on your local bulletin boards or on public domain disks. If you want to register directly, feel free to send DM 30.- or US$ 20.- to Stefan Stuntz Eduard-Spranger-Straße 7 80935 München GERMANY @{u}Comments on MUI concerning Abacus:@{uu} Abacus needs MUI 2.3 or higher to be installed. You are allowed to use MUI @{b}without@{ub} registering for it - but when you register you can take advantage of some extended functions in the MUI preferences. It is very recommended to read the MUI documentation carefully - especially of the MUI preferences. Despite that I would like to show you in the following list @{i}some@{ui} advantages of MUI-programs that could be useful using Abacus: If you want Abacus to work on an own @{b}screen@{ub} and not on the Workbench then simply configure Abacus with the MUI preferences to use any screen you like. Windows of MUI applications are @{b}resizeable@{ub} and completely @{b}fontsensitive@{ub} what means, that they look fine with every font. MUI applications may be @{b}iconified@{ub} at every time with an extra-gadget in the windows title bar. MUI applications can optionally completely be @{b}handled with the keyboard@{ub}. Via Tab-cycling and shortcuts every gadget may be (de-)activated without having to use the mouse. The gadget actually receiving keyboard input is always marked with a border or something like this. Windows can be closed normally by pressing ESC. MUI applications are known to the system as @{b}commodities@{ub} and can so be handled with the commodity-exchange program. @endnode @node "QUESTIONS" "Questions and Answers" @{u}3.3 Questions and Answers@{uu} Well, I haven't heard of questions yet. Just contact me, if you have one ;-) @endnode