NAME egaint - Enhanced graphics aint SYNOPSIS egaint [cmp] DESCRIPTION Egaint is an particular variation of TETRIS for the IBM PC and PS/2 and Toshiba Personal Portable Computer families (and most compatible machines). MACHINE REQUIREMENTS Egaint requires an IBM PC-AT, PS/2, or compatible 80286 or 80386 machine; an EGA with 256 KB of RAM or a VGA; and at least 256 KB free system RAM. OBJECTIVE To construct as many contiguous rows as possible by manipulating (via both rotational and translational motion) variously shaped blocks which will be dropped from the top of the screen. Play ends when the resulting structure reaches the top of the screen. COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS Egaint accepts one option specifying what sort of display device is present: c an IBM Enhanced Color Display (or any compatible device capable of displaying sixteen distinctive attributes at one time) m an IBM ECD-compatible device capable of displaying only two distinctive attributes at one time (i.e., "black" and "white") p an IBM ECD-compatible device capable of displaying only four distinctive attributes at one time (namely, the gas plasma display of the Toshiba T5100 Portable Personal Computer) GAME OPTIONS Once inside egaint, several game options are available, all of which will be summarized below. Tournament Game allows players to compete against each other by providing for reproducible games; a particular tournament game will play exactly the same each time it is invoked. Note that all conditions must be identical for games to be identical (i.e., the same version of egaint, the same initial level, etc.). Tournament Game Number specifies which of the 256 possible games to play. Initial Level where one is the easiest (slowest) and eleven is the hardest (fastest). Initial Height specifies how high (in blocks) an area should be filled with randomly placed blocks (ranges from one to twelve). Hidden blocks are (as the name connotes) invisible. Show Next toggles whether or not the next shape to be put into play should be displayed in the window in the upper-left corner of the screen. Extended Shapes determines which particular set of shapes should be used during play. Classic (the seven basic shapes) is a subset of Easy, Easy is a subset of Medium, and Medium is a subset of Hard. Block Style for aesthetic reasons, specifies which particular set of graphic blocks should be used to represent the shapes in play. Key Binding determines which keyboard binding set is to be used during play; in the following descriptions, the keys are given as follows: (1) move left, (2) rotate counter-clockwise, (3) move right, (4) rotate clockwise, and (5) drop. Classic J I L K Space Berkeley H J K L Space (UNIX vi-style) Left-handed S E F D Space San Francisco A S D F Space (Left-handed Berkeley) Arrow 4 8 6 5 Space (number pad) User-defined allows the user to define the key bindings; these key bindings will remain in effect until the Key Binding option is changed, at which the defined bindings will disappear. OTHER KEY BINDINGS The following bindings are also in effect no matter which key set is chosen: Escape when first hit, pauses play: if hit again while paused, aborts play; otherwise, play resumes. Pressing Escape during while selecting options will exit the user to the operating system. Ctrl-B cycles the current block style Ctrl-L increments the current level Ctrl-N toggles show next Ctrl-S toggles sound effects Ctrl-X cycles the current shape set Ctrl-\ quick exit to the operating system SCORING Each shape has been assigned a point value based on its difficulty of placement and frequency of necessity. This value is first multiplied by the current level and then incremented by the relevant bonuses (bonuses are awarded for not using show next, not using show shadow, having an initial height, etc.). The point value for the current shape is displayed within the score window next to the "value" heading. In addition, points are awarded for dropping pieces (the higher the drop, the greater the points) and for, naturally, clearing rows. These points are also multiplied by the current level and incremented by the relevant bonuses. LEVEL ADVANCEMENT The rule for level advancement is as follows: after the xth row is cleared and if x is a multiple of ten, current level will become n, where n=(x/10)-1 (if n is greater than the current level). However, the attainment of level eleven will only occur after clearing 200 rows (rather than the expected 100 rows). CONFIGURATION FILE Egaint will save the current options (upon exit to the operating system) in a file in the current directory called EGAINT.RC; the format is pretty self-explanatory upon inspection. If egaint cannot find its configuration file in the current directory, it will create one with its default options. HIGH SCORE RECORD Egaint will save the top fifteen high scores in a file in the current directory called EGAINT.REC. Again, if egaint cannot find its high score record in the current directory, it will create one. UNRESTRICTIONS Egaint is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty whatsoever, without even the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. See the accompanying GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; see the file COPYING. If not, write to: Free Software Foundation, Inc. 675 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN NOR SHAREWARE This program is neither public domain nor is it shareware (nor freeware, nor whateveritiscalledthisweekware). Note that I am not asking you to send me any money, but also note that I have retained a copyright on this program. What does this mean to you? Well, if you enjoy and are a regular user of egaint, I actively and strongly encourage you to donate whatever you can give (be it time or money or anything else) to your favorite cause (or my favorite cause); if you don't enjoy egaint, I encourage you all the same. Consult the included file HELP for more information on this. SOURCE CODE For information on obtaining the full Turbo Pascal source code and/or the latest version, consult the included file GETTING.