��������������������Ŀ
� BLOCKS FROM HELL �
����������������������
Version 1.3
by Toren K. Smith
(tbone@cs.utexas.edu)
"Yet another T*tris ripoff"
I. INTRODUCTION
Please read this documentation file in full before attempting to run
this game. Very important infor-- Oh, what's the use? You already ran it,
didn't you? Didn't you?!? C'mon, don't lie! You unzipped this puppy, and
right away, ran the program! You only read this because you wanted to find
out what the keys were for some of the functions, or because you just got
bored, or because the program just crashed your priceless computer! You
make me sick!
...On the other hand, if you *did* start off by reading this file,
then pat yourself on the back. Then run the game. You can finish reading
this if you want to find out what the keys are, or if you get bored, or if
it crashes your computer.
II. LEGAL MATTERS (or lack thereof)
This game is free. It is *not*, repeat *not* to be sold in any form,
for any price. I retain all rights to it, and I am not releasing it into the
public domain. There is no registration fee. You may distribute it freely
provided the contents (program file, documentation) remain intact. If you do
attempt to sell this game, or alter it, or do anything else I wouldn't approve
of, then one by one, everything you hold as sacred or valuable will slowly
fall apart, all your friends and loved ones will find better things to do than
deal with you, and any milk you buy will turn sour before the expiration date.
Finally, your entire grip on reality will be thrown from its moorings, and
you will end up living under a bridge, arguing with aluminum cans. All this
can be avoided by following these simple rules -- and common courtesy.
I do ask one thing in return for giving you uncountable hours of
potentially unproductive fun, though. I enjoy what I do, and I like to think
that other people do. So, I ask that you lift my spirits, brighten my day,
and let me know what you think of this game. I can be reached best by my
InterNet address: "tbone@cs.utexas.edu". So, if you end up playing this
game like your life depended on it, or if you think it's the biggest waste
of electrons you've ever seen, then drop me a line. I'll be glad to hear
from you, and you'll automatically be included on my List Of People To Give
Huge Bonuses To When I Become Ruler Of All I Survey. If you must reach me
by methods other than the net, then you can either call Austin directory
assistance (512-555-1212) and ask for my number, or send mail to my parent's
address: 7606 Ashcrest Ln., Dallas, Tx., 75249. I'd like to see how far
this thing gets distributed -- let me know.
III. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Now, to the technical stuff. This requires a PC-compatible system.
Any speed should do. I tested it on my 386, but I slowed it down to 2Mhz,
which was about 1.1 times the speed of the original 4.77Mhz 8088 machines,
and it ran fine. It's not optimized for the 286, or the 386, or much of
anything else, for that matter. The only thing it really requires is a VGA
or MCGA compatible video card and monitor. It doesn't support sound cards,
because when I wrote it initially a few years ago, there weren't really
many sound cards out there. It also doesn't support a mouse, because I
really didn't think it would help.
Please don't let these specs scare you. I know if I got a game that
was 14K in size, and would run the same on a 4.77Mhz XT as it would on a
486-66Mhz machine, I would not be expecting much. It really is a very
capable game -- it ran perfectly fine on a slow machine, so I saw no need
to change it.
IV. INSTRUCTIONS
Pretty simple. There are no command-line arguments, just run the
executable. There is only one data file -- the high score table, BLOCKS.SCR.
If it isn't there (I didn't include one), don't worry -- it'll be created.
It looks for this file in whatever directory the executable is in, so feel
free to place it in your path, and run it from anywhere. For example, I
put mine in my utility directory -- it really doesn't seem big enough to me
for it to have its own directory.
V. GAMEPLAY
If you hadn't guessed, the gameplay itself is far from new. It is,
in fact, almost identical to that of many others: move and rotate 4-block
pieces while they fall, and try to arrange them to fill horizontal lines.
If you don't know how to play this game already, I'm amazed.
The keyboard control is simple -- I suggest using the numeric keypad
to play. Move the piece left and right with the arrow keys (or 4 and 6 on
the keypad), rotate with 5 and 8, down (or 2) to speed its fall, and space
to drop it immediately. Pressing P will toggle the pause mode, and pressing
S will toggle the sound when lines are cleared. Escape will abort the
current game, and F10 will exit the program immediately from any point.
VI. SCORING
The scoring is also pretty easy -- you get 6 points for each piece
you play, plus a bonus for the level number you're on, plus a bonus for each
line that it fell while being dropped with the space bar, plus a bonus if you
don't use the "Next Piece" option. When you clear lines, the scoring is as
follows:
1 line : 100 points
2 lines : 200 points
3 lines : 400 points
4 lines : 800 points
Incidentally, I'd definitely like to hear from you if you can beat
my high score -- 38,151 with 223 lines cleared.
VII. JUSTIFICATION
I honestly feel like I've got to explain why I made this -- after all,
it's not like there aren't already too many games like this to count. Well,
basically I liked the idea of the game a lot, and I wanted to have something
to write, and the versions I saw were kind of disappointing. I thought I
could make something with better graphics and better control, without taking
up the space that the others did. I think I succeeded. So it doesn't sound
like I'm boasting, here's the list of features:
� The game runs at *exactly* the same speed on any machine, from a
4.77Mhz XT to the fastest 486's.
� The game is timer-based, so if you turn off the turbo switch in the
middle of the game, it remains the same speed. (The sound will be
affected, though.)
� It uses hardware-interfacing for the keyboard input, so you can use
more than one key at once, and the keys repeat at the same rate on
any machine, without changing the normal repeat-rate.
� The blocks are about as large as they possibly could be, making the
game as clear as possible.
� It *will* keep up with you -- if you don't believe me, try starting
at level 19.
� It features two different rotation keys for different directions,
plus the ability to either speed up the falling of a block, or to
drop it immediately.
� At just over 14K in size, it's smaller than just about any other
game of its type.
� It's totally free.
VIII. TECHNICAL INFORMATION
This game was written in Turbo Pascal 6.0, with a modicum of inline
assembler for speed. It was compressed with PKLite(tm), so in all honesty,
it wasn't originally 14K. It was, in fact, about 25K. Still, small is
small. It uses direct hardware-access of the keyboard, the clock timer, and
the palette registers of the VGA card. If you want to know more specifics,
don't try to disassemble it. I know it can be done, but it would be pretty
pointless, because if you contact me, and seem like a nice person, I'd
probably give you the source code anyway. What do I care? I'm not getting
paid for it, and it's pretty incomprehensible anyway.
IX. CLOSING REMARKS
I've decided to stop working on this game now -- I think it's pretty
done, and I've got bigger, greater things in mind. I'll again ask that you
drop me some sort of line -- this is the first program I've really sent out
of my hands, and I'd like to see how far it goes. Keep an eye out for me --
there's more to come, and it won't take up much space...
-- Toren K. Smith, tbone@cs.utexas.edu, Software from HELL.
