@database "RoachFarm.guide"
@$ver: RoachFarm.guide 1.0 

@(c)"Copyright 1994 Lucas A. Swineford"
@author"Lucas A. Swineford"

@font topaz.font 8
@wordwrap


@node main
@next cantgo
@prev cantgo

	Welcome to "Roach Farm"

	A puzzle game by Lucas A. Swineford 
        made with Blitz Basic 2 by Acid Software!


	ROACH FARM Copyright 1994 LUCAS A. SWINEFORD.
	Freely distributable shareware.
	
	


@{"Turn the page" link Start}

@endnode


@node cantgo
@next cantgo
@prev cantgo

	You can't flip forward and backward in this file!


(Hit [RETRACE] now to get back)

@endnode


@node Start
@next cantgo
@prev cantgo
	Congratulations on your new job as head shipping clerk in the roach 
division at Insect Fun Inc.  As you know, Insect Fun Inc. offers a full 
line of recreational insect experimentation and observation kits including
its popular Roach Farm Fun Kit.  Your job is to fill test tubes with live
roaches in preparation for shipping so that eager Roach Farm customers may
stock their farms with livestock.  During your work day, you are presented
with test tubes of varying sizes, each containing an arbitrary number of
roaches. They arrive from the breeding centers this way (center workers
tend to scoop up random numbers of roaches).  You are then presented with
an invoice form which lists the quantities of roaches that customers have
ordered.  The first roach quantity on the invoice is for the tube on the
top, the second quantity is for the tube second from the top, and so on.
	Your problem is that you can't move each roach individually from
one tube to another.  Insect Fun Inc. ships only the strongest Brazilian
cockaroaches, so you don't want to pick them out by hand for fear that they
will escape.  To move the roaches, you must connect the tube that you want
to move roaches from (the source tube) to the tube that you want to move
roaches to (the destination tube) with a flexible hose.  By shaking the
source tube slightly, the roaches are coaxed into moving out into the hose
and then into the destination tube.  As you can see, roaches will therefore
keep moving from one tube to the other until either the destination tube is
full or the source tube is empty.  Use the mouse pointer to direct activity
on the computer screen.  Click on the source tube and then on the 
destination tube.  Keep doing this until the proper quantities of roaches
are in each of the test tubes.

@{"Installation & Requirements" link Installation}
@{"Scoring" link Scoring}
@{"Logic Puzzles" link Logic}
@{"Registration Information" link Registration}
@{"About Blitz Basic 2" link Blitz}

@endnode

@node Installation
@next cantgo
@prev cantgo
	To install, simply copy the Roach Farm directory to any directory
that pleases you.  The Data directory must remain in the Roach Farm
directory.  Run the program from Workbench by opening up the Roach Farm
directory and then clicking on the Roach Farm icon for the executable file.
The 9 point Opal font should be in your fonts directory.  This is a standard
Workbench font that will be in fonts: unless you have removed it for some
reason.
	Roach Farm has been tested on an Amiga 1200 with 2MB chip/ 4MB fast
RAM and on an Amiga 500 with 512KB chip/ 512KB fast RAM and only a floppy
drive.  Roach Farm should run on any existing Amiga system.  Roach Farm
multitasks with anything else that may be running and is not very demanding
of system resources.

@endnode


@node Scoring
	Each puzzle (represented by one invoice for three tubes) has a
difficulty rating.  This rating is actually the least number of moves in
which I have been able to complete the puzzle.  If you are able to complete
a puzzle in fewer moves, then hooray for you.  To score well, you want to
complete the puzzle in as few moves as possible.  The computer keeps track
of the moves you have made so far during the current puzzle.  You may reset
the current puzzle at any time.  This will restore the initial configuration
and will set the moves counter back to zero.  This is useful when your moves
have exceeded the difficulty rating and you suddenly realize the correct
course of action.  Your game score is the total amount by which you have
exeeded or fallen short of the difficulty ratings for each of the puzzles
that you have completed so far.  A positive score represents excess moves
taken in the game to complete the puzzles.  The higher the number, the worse
the score.  A score of zero is a perfect score.  A negative score means that
you have actually found ways to complete one or more puzzles in fewer moves
than I have.  To summarize, the scoring system is kind of like the 'under /
over par' scoring system in golf. 
@next cantgo
@prev cantgo

@endnode

@node Logic
	Do you think traditional logic puzzles would make a good basis for
computer puzzle games?  I do.  I got the idea for Roach Farm from a type of
traditional puzzle that involves pouring water between several pitchers of
varying capacities.  The goal was usually to measure out a specific amount
of water from a different amount of water without the use of a pitcher that
would hold exactly that specific amount.  About two years ago I wrote an
adventure game that had traditional logic puzzles in it but I never released
it for lack of game graphics.

@next cantgo
@prev cantgo

@endnode

@node Registration
	If you like Roach Farm then please register. To register send $5 to:

	Lucas Swineford
	1008 Main St.
	Edmonds, WA 98020
	U.S.A.

	I have nothing to send back to you as an incentive to register,
but if I receive many registrations I will be encouraged to produce more
games for the Amiga to release as shareware.  Feel free to send more than
$5 if you wish, but I simply could not see the sense in asking for more
than that for a game of this kind.
 
@next cantgo
@prev cantgo

@endnode

@node Blitz

	Blitz Basic 2 is awesome!  If you want to make games or productivity
programs on your Amiga quickly and easily then this is your best choice.
The Blitz compiler makes executables that run fast.  Blitz lets you choose 
between either making Workbench friendly programs that multitask or making 
games that disable the operating system in favor of increasing the speed. I
am not associated with Acid Software, the maker of Blitz Basic, in any way.
I just like Blitz a lot!

@next cantgo
@prev cantgo

@endnode