S H A R E W FINTRIS V1.26 A ----------- R 25th February 1994 E (c) Tommi Tarkiainen 1993,1994 V All rights reserved E R S I O N HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS --------------------- This game requires PC compatible machine with a VGA-card ( MCGA should work just fine ). You must have at least 460,000 bytes of free conventional memory ( 430,000 bytes if you have at least 250kB EMS memory ). Fintris was created using a 486/33, but it has been tested on several 386 and 286 machines and it worked just fine. Mouse is supported. In the registered version there is also Soundblaster support included. BACKGROUND ---------- When I started designing Fintris I had two primary goals in mind. First I wanted to create a tetris with great graphics and second I wanted to add more variety to the ordinary tetris concept. This is my first game and I would like here what you have got to say about it. ALL COMMENTS ARE WELCOME WHETHER THEY ARE POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE. So what's so special about Fintris? Well, first of all there are THREE DIFFERENT GAME MODES: single, simultaneous and duel. There are THREE DIFFERENT BLOCK SETS: simple, normal and complex. Then there's GOOD LOOKING GRAPHICS and last but not the least MANA! BUGS ---- Fintris has been thoroughly tested. At the moment there are no known bugs in it. This, however, doesn't guarantee that there would be no bugs and there probably are a few. If you find one (or more) you can send me a letter and I will try to remove it ASAP. LICENSE ------- The FINTRIS software may not be circulated in any incomplete or modified form, nor sold for profit, without written permission of the author. If you distribute this software to others, you are required to distribute the ENTIRE package consisting of the files mentioned the distribution list ( see section FILES INCLUDED ). DISCLAIMER ---------- The Shareware version for evaluation is provided AS IS. Tommi Tarkiainen MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE AUTHOR WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT OR SIMILAR DAMAGES DUE TO LOSS OF DATA OR ANY OTHER REASON, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR'S LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES EVER EXCEED THE PRICE PAID FOR THE LICENSE TO USE THE SOFTWARE, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF THE CLAIM. REGISTRATION ------------ FINTRIS IS A SHAREWARE GAME. This means that IT ISN'T PUBLIC DOMAIN NOR IS IT FREE. The shareware version of the game is intended for evalution purposes only. If you like the game you should register it. Fintris is not crippleware. The shareware version doesn't lack any features. There is, however, a configuration utility included in the registered version of the game. Another difference between the shareware version and registered one are the usual shareware messages that urge you to register this great software and in that way support the further development of quality software. The registration fee is $11 ( this includes $4 for shipping, handling and media costs ) outside Finland or 50 mk ( this includes 15 mk for shipping etc. ) in Finland. By registering you are supporting further software development under shareware concept. When you register you will get the registered version of Fintris. You can get updates to Fintris for free after you have registered. The registered version of Fintris includes custom configurations and doesn't have the shareware messages. Custom configurations include keyboard definition ( You can choose what keys to use in the game. ) and menu setup ( You can set the default menu settings. For example if you wan't to play with mana on and on level 4 you can set these values as defaults from the configuration utility. When you start the game next time all you have to do is to press P/ENTER/SPACE ( Play ) and that's it. ). In the future you can register Software Illusions software for a lower price as a registered user. At the moment there aren't any other Software Illusions software available except VELORIS, which is a tetris clone for Amiga. There is at least one game project under development. Though we haven't decided yet what it is going to be. HOW TO REGISTER ( THIS IS FOR THE NON-REGISTERED USERS ONLY ) ------------------------------------------------------------- All you have to do is to send me a letter with the registration fee, your name, address and to specify the type of diskette ( eg. 3«" HD ) you want your registered version of Fintris to be delivered. My address can be found at end of this document. WHAT IS MANA ? -------------- Mana is a sort of energy that you can use to activate cannons and manipulate the block queue. You will get more mana when you collapse two or more rows simultaneously. Mana increases by itself over time but very slowly so you gain mana mainly by collapsing rows. In the beginning you won't have very large amount of mana so you should use it sparingly. The following operations can be accomplished with mana. REMOVING A ROW can be done by firing the cannon. This is the most mana consuming operation use it wisely. DUPLICATING A BLOCK is the second most expensive mana operation. When you press block duplication button the next block will be the same as the one before it. Note that the block that was in the block queue next before duplication will come after the duplicate. And last but not the least is BLOCK REMOVAL. This operation is the least expensive of all. When you press block removal button the current block will be removed. When mana is in use you don't get as points from collapsing rows and dropping blocks as when mana is off. This is due to the fact that it is a lot easier to play when mana is on. So you get points a bit more slowly than without mana, but you can continue playing longer than usually. It's possible to get a lot of points very quickly by manipulating the block queue. Block duplication can prove especially useful in this. To get the most out of mana you will have to adopt a new playing style. Here are a couple of tips for you to get started with. Use cannons only when it's absolutely necessary. Use block duplication to get blocks with which you can collapse as many rows as possible. Use block removal to remove the blocks that don't fit your pile. Here are some statistics to help you with your mana usage. Number of rows collapsed simultaneously Mana gained --------------------------------------- ----------- 4 rows 11 3 rows 4 2 rows 1 Action Mana consumption ------ ---------------- Fire cannon 6 Duplicate current block 5 Remove current block 3 A WORD OR TWO FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE TITLE MUSIC ( written by Kalle Salminen ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The title music of Fintris was composed, arranged and performed by Kalle Salminen. I composed the piece using Amiga's Pro Tracker. Samples originate from various sources. I digitized some of the samples from Korg 01/W FD synthetisizer. The samples were digitized using Sound Blaster V1.0 ( it's sampling rate is 13kHz ). That's why the resulting sound quality is so far from quality of the original one. Even though the title music is techno I mainly compose different kind of music. I strive for a similar style as Jean-Michel Jarre's, Vangelis' and Kitaro's. If you want to have music composed for your game ( preferably a commercial one ) you can contact me for more information ( my address is at the end of this passage ). Movie style music will cost much more than techno which I can compose for small fee. You can also send me note sheets and I will try to make a Sound Tracker module out of them for a nominal fee. I'll use as good samples as possible, naturally. You should also remember to tell the maximum size of the module you want. One more thing. Please, try to be patient and listen the title music at least through, because there's something like melody in it too. You can send mail to this address: Kalle Salminen Toritunkatu 4 33580 Tampere FINLAND KEYS ---- MAIN MENU: Key Comment --- ------- P Play game Same as above Same as above M Switch mana ON/OFF ( See paragraph "WHAT IS MANA" for more information on subject ) H Highscore table S Switch simple blockset ON/OFF C Switch complex blockset ON/OFF r Change the direction of block rotation (applies to both players) R Change the direction of block rotation (applies to player 2 only) f Change the falling speed of the block (applies to both players) F Change the falling speed of the block (applies to player 2 only) V Version number A About Fintris U The name of the registered user One player mode Two player mode Duel mode ( two players against each other ) 1-9 Choose level Quit DURING GAME: Key Comment --- ------- P Pause game ( Press to continue game ) 1 Player 1: Fire cannon (default) 2 Player 1: Drop block (default) 3 Player 1: Move cannon downwards (default) 4 Player 1: Move block leftwards (default) 5 Player 1: Rotate block (default) 6 Player 1: Move block rightwards (default) 7 Player 1: Move cannon upwards (default) 8 Player 1: Remove current block (default) 9 Player 1: Duplicate current block (default) 0 Player 1: Show next block (default) N Player 2: Fire cannon (default) Player 2: Drop block (default) . Player 2: Move cannon downwards (default) J Player 2: Move block leftwards (default) K Player 2: Rotate block (default) L Player 2: Move block rightwards (default) U Player 2: Move cannon upwards (default) I Player 2: Remove current block (default) O Player 2: Duplicate current block (default) Player 2: Show next block (default) Abort game All keys except "P" (Pause) and "ESC" (abort) can be defined with the configuration utility ( CONFIG.EXE ) that comes with the registered version of the game. FILES INCLUDED -------------- Filename Description -------- ----------- FINTRIS.EXE The main program CONFIG.FIN The configuration file ( This file can be deleted. It is automatically created when the game begins. ) SCORE.DAT Highscore table ( Same as above. When deleted the highscore table is reset. ) DEFAULT1.KEY Default player 1 keyboard layout DEFAULT2.KEY Default player 2 keyboard layout FINBACK.DAT Graphics file FINBEG.DAT Graphics file FINEND.DAT Graphics file FINMENU.DAT Graphics file FINSTAT.DAT Graphics file FINTEXT.DAT Graphics file FINTRIS.DAT Graphics file SILOGO.DAT Graphics file TOPTEN.DAT Graphics file TOPTEXT.DAT Graphics file EFINTRIS.TXT Document file in English SFINTRIS.TXT Same in Finnish FILE_ID.DIZ Short description of the game The following files can only be found in the REGISTERED version: Filename Description -------- ----------- CONFIG.EXE The configuration program ( NOT INCLUDED IN SHAREWARE VERSION ) ECONFIG.TXT Documentation for the configuration program ( NOT INCLUDED IN SHAREWARE VERSION ) SCONFIG.TXT Same as above, but in Finnish ( NOT INCLUDED IN SHAREWARE VERSION ) FINMUZ.DAT Title music played through Soundblaster ( NOT INCLUDED IN SHAREWARE VERSION ) SOUNDFX.DAT Sound effects played during the game ( NOT INCLUDED IN SHAREWARE VERSION ) CREDITS ------- Design and programming: Tommi Tarkiainen Software Illusions logo: Miikka Vilermo Tommi Tarkiainen Title music ( included only in the registered version ): Kalle Salminen Technical advice: Antti Leinonen Kalle Salminen Additional ideas: Kalle Salminen Timo Haanp„„ Miikka Vilermo Pasi Perttil„ Beta testing: Erkko Lehtonen ( Special thanks to Erkko for exhaustive game testing ) Teppo Lehtonen Timo Haanp„„ Kalle Salminen Miikka Vilermo Pasi Perttil„ Juha Tarkiainen Hannu Tarkiainen Matti Koskinen and many others SOURCE CODE AVAILABILITY ------------------------ YES, you can get source code for Fintris. Fintris was programmed using assembly language and C. The low level graphics routines are completely assembly language, the game itself is done using C-language. But because of the hard work involved in graphics routines and others, I am forced to ask a fairly large amount of money for them. If you are interested you can contact me at the address below. HOW TO CONTACT THE AUTHOR ------------------------- You can contact me through mail at the following address. All ideas, bug reports and other comments are welcome. Tommi Tarkiainen Pienkodinkatu 10 33560 Tampere FINLAND I can be contacted also through e-mail at: t150430@cc.tut.fi