ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ» º HOUNDED - THE GREYHOUND SIMULATION º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ Hounded is a dog racing game. In Hounded you can bet in many ways or buy dogs for yourself. You can play this game alone or with your friends. There are 32 dogs trying the win the cup. There are four heats in which there are eight dogs. Four fastest dogs from each heat go to one of the two semifinals. Four fastest dogs from both semifinals go to the final. A new week with four heats starts after the final. HOW TO LOAD HOUNDED ------------------- You can load HOUNDED with or without a parameter. The only parameter that is available is NEW (or new). If you type 'HOUNDED NEW', the program creates 32 new dogs for the game. If you start Hounded without a parameter, the game uses old data that is stored in the file called DATA.HOU. THE MAIN MENU ------------- Use UpArrow and DownArrow to move pointer up and down. By pressing Enter you can select the function you want. There are also shortcut keys for selecting functions (number keys 1-9, Esc, F and O). Notice that the only way for seeing the FINANCIAL SITUATION or defining OPTIONS is to press F or O, respectively. 1. ADDING PLAYERS ----------------- Select ADD PLAYERS from THE MAIN MENU. You can only have 32 players at the same time in the game and two players cannot have the same name. Type the name of the new player between the arrows. Maximum length of the name is 20 characters. After typing the name press Enter. After pressing Enter you are prompted if the name was spelled correctly. Press Y or N. If you press N you will have to type the name again. You can return anytime to THE MAIN MENU by pressing Esc. 2. REMOVING PLAYERS ------------------- Select REMOVE PLAYERS from THE MAIN MENU. Use Arrow Keys and Enter to select the player to remove. If you don't want to remove any players press Esc. After pressing Enter you are prompted if the player really wants to quit playing. If you press Y you see how much money the player had. If the player had enough money he or she could get his or her name in the PLAYERS' TOP TEN. If the player had any dogs then D.O.G. SYNDICATE will be the new owner of the dogs. D.O.G. SYNDICATE owns all the dogs when the game begins and will buy all the new dogs if a human player does not buy them. 3. INFORMATION ABOUT THE DOGS ----------------------------- Select DATA FORMS from THE MAIN MENU. Use Arrow Keys and Enter to select the dog you want information about or press Esc to return to THE MAIN MENU. The dogs that do not belong to D.O.G. SYNDICATE are displayed with brighter color. After pressing Enter you see information about the dog you selected. The following information is shown: the name of the dog OWNER : the owner of the dog TRAINER : the trainer of the dog TRACK SENSE : extra energy for the sprint FITNESS : the condition of the dog VALUE : the value of the dog - is increased if the dog runs well (places 1-4) STARTS : the number of the races in which the dog has been - 100 is the best (but not the maximum) WINS : the number of the races that the dog has won 2NDS OR 3RDS : the number of the races in which the dog has been second or third UNPLACED : the number of the races in which the dog has not been in the first, second or third place BEST TIME : the best time that the dog has run TEN LATEST STARTS : shows the form of the latest starts - the latest run is on the right CUP WINS : the number of the finals that the dog has won The color of the bar behind the name is the same as the color of the dog. Press (almost) any key to return to the selection of the dogs. 4. RECORDS ---------- Select HALL OF FAME from THE MAIN MENU. First you see the best results of the current game. The following information is shown: THE TYPE OF ³ THE NAME OF THE DOG THAT HAS ³ RECORD A RECORD ³ ACHIEVED THE RECORD ³ AS NUMBERS ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ- The types are: BEST TIME - the track record MOST RACE WINS - the highest number of the wins MOST RACE WINS IN A ROW - the highest number of the successive wins MOST CUP WINS - the highest number of the cup wins MOST CUP WINS IN A ROW - the highest number of the successive cup wins BEST WINNING RATIO - the best ratio between starts and wins - must be at least 15 starts to achieve this record BEST MEDAL RATIO - the best ratio between starts and medal places (1st, 2nd or 3rd place) - must be at least 15 starts MOST STARTS - the highest number of races MOST VALUABLE DOG - the highest value of a dog CURRENT CUP WINNER - the dog that won the latest cup After pressing any key you will see the best records ever (D.O.G. HALL OF FAME). The types are the same as above except CURRENT CUP WINNER is missing. You can clear these records by pressing C. Then press Delete to confirm it. Once again you will have to press any key to continue. The last hall of fame is PLAYERS' TOP TEN. There are those ten players who have managed the get the most money. The list is collected from the players who have quit the game through REMOVE PLAYERS. Destroy these records by pressing C and then Delete or press any other key to return to THE MAIN MENU. 5. CHANGING TRAINER ------------------- Select CHANGE TRAINER from THE MAIN MENU. If D.O.G. SYNDICATE owns all the dogs you will not be able to change any trainers. You will see the list of dogs, which is familiar to you from DATA FORMS. If there are names displayed with brighter colour it means that these dogs belong to a human player. Choose one of the human players' dogs using Cursor Keys and Enter. After pressing Enter you will see some information about the dog and something like this: CHANGE TRAINER 1. PETER PAYFORBEST $1000 / WEEK (per dog) 2. NEVILLE NOTSOBAD $800 3. NEIL NOTSOGOOD $400 4. HARRY HITANDRUN $100 CHOOSE (1-4) Now you should press a number key between 1 and 4 or Esc to cancel changing. With trainers you can increase the fitness of your dog(s). The trainers have the following abilities (or lack of them): 1. PETER PAYFORBEST - increases the FITNESS of a dog from 8 to 16 percent units until it has raised up to 75 % - if FITNESS is less than 75 %, increases TRACK SENSE from 0 to 2 percent units until it has raised up to 90 % 2. NEVILLE NOTSOBAD - increases fitness from 0-4 percent units until it has raised up to 96 % - if fitness is less than 96 %, increases track sense sometimes by 1 percent unit (90 % being the maximum) 3. NEIL NOTSOGOOD - keeps your dog fit (no change for fitness) - may increase track sense by 1 percent unit (95 % being the maximum) 4. HARRY HITANDRUN - decreases fitness from 5 to 10 percent units until it has lowered down to 20 % - no change for track sense The FITNESS and TRACK SENSE values change once a week. They change after FINAL and before HEAT-1. At the same time you pay for trainers of your dogs. 6. THE RACE AND BETTING ----------------------- Select NEXT RUN from THE MAIN MENU. The screen is black a while. The program is counting odds for betting. The program simulates as many runs as defined in OPTIONS (THE ACCURACY OF BETTINGS). After counting you will see the list of the runners of the current race. After the name there is TEN LATEST STARTS and the winning ratio. If you press M you will see more odds (or ratios). The first column shows the ratio for WINNER, the second for 2ND PLACE, the third for 3RD PLACE and the fourth for LOSER. Here is an example: RACE-5 SEMIFINAL-1 OF THE COMMODORE CUP NO NAME 1. 2. 3. 8.(=loser) 2. GOOD TIMES 1:6 1:5 Ú> 1:5 1:10 ³ ³ Let us suppose that you bet $1000 on 3RD PLACE ÄÄÄÄÙ and you choose dog number 2 to be the third. You will receive $6000 (that is 5+1 times $1000) if GOOD TIMES is the third when the race is over. You are asked if you want to bet. If you press N, the next player is asked the same question. When the last player have bet the race begins. If you press Y you will see eight different ways to lose your money (read: win money): 1. WINNER - the winner of the race 2. 2ND PLACE - the dog that will be on the second place 3. 3RD PLACE - the dog that will be on the third place 4. LOSER - the dog that will lose the race 5. 1ST OR 2ND PLACE - the dog that will be on the first or second place 6. MEDALIST - the dog that will be on the first, second or third place 7. 2 BEST DOGS - two best dogs (1ST and 2ND) in the right order 8. 3 BEST DOGS - three best dogs in any order - three best dogs in the right order (this will give you 6 times more money than in any order) When you have chosen how to bet, press a number between 1 and 8. If you press number 8 you are asked in addition if you want to bet THREE BEST DOGS in any order. Then you will have to type the number(s) of the dog(s) you like to bet on. After that you will have to type your amount of bet. The maximum bet is $99999. Then you are asked if the numbers are typed correctly. Press Y to continue. One player can have ten different bettings per race. Remember: You can press Esc during the betting to go one step back. When all the players have finished their bettings THE RACE begins. Up in the middle you can see the time that the dogs have spent in their race. Lower in the middle you can see the names and numbers of the runners. Dog number 1 is the one that runs in lane 1. Dog number 8 runs in lane number 8. The arrow that is on the left points to the current leader. Dogs will run as long as defined in OPTIONS (THE LENGTH OF THE RACE). The race is over when the last dogs reaches the finish. After pressing any key you will see the final results of the race. Four best dogs will run again in a semifinal or in the final. Press any key to see how much you could have won if you had bet right. You should see something like this: THE RESULTS 1. DEEP SLEEP $3000 (5) 2. GOOD TIMES $1500 (2) 3. EAT MY SHORTS $1000 (7) 4. DOG CALLED GERALD $500 8. J.J. LEHTO (1) BETTING: WITH 100 DOLLARS YOU GET: WINNER: $1100 (5) 2ND PLACE: $600 (2) 3RD PLACE: $500 (7) LOSER: $600 (1) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1ST OR 2ND PLACE: 1. $600, 2. $300 MEDALIST: 1. $400, 2. $250, 3. $200 ÍÍÍÍÍ TWO BEST DOGS: $6600 THREE BEST DOGS: $33000 THREE BEST DOGS WITHOUT RIGHT ORDER: $5500 I think an example can clarify this: If you bet $100 on MEDALIST and chose dog number 5 (DEEP SLEEP), you will receive $400 dollars back (look above the double underlining). The sums after the names of the dogs is the prize the owners receive. Also the values of these dogs increase with this sum. DOG YORK TIMES appears after a key is pressed. There is nothing important in it, except a few cosmic phrases. The loser of the HEAT will be de-registered. It means that this dog is not in this game any more. The owner of the loser is given half of the value of the dog. The losing dog is replaced by the dog which the breeder offers. If there are any players in the game the breeder offers the new dog for one of the players. If the player decides to buy the dog he or she has to give a name for the dog. Two dogs cannot have the same name. The player can also press Enter only, if he or she cannot think of any new names. If the player does not buy the dog then D.O.G. SYNDICATE will do it. After pressing a key you are back in THE MAIN MENU. The dogs that the breeder offers are not equal. The FITNESS of the dogs is 40 percent but TRACK SENSE varies. Track sense is the same as the value of the dog in thousand dollars. For example if the dog costs $62000, track sense is 62 percent. The range of the value is $11000 - $90000. Quite often the value of the new dog is about $50000. The closer the value of the new dog is to $10000 or $89000 the more uncommon it is. If you have money less than zero dollars, you will have to pay interest (0.6 percent) after every week. You may overdraw your account but be careful and do not get into trouble. 7. SELLING A DOG ---------------- Select SELL DOGS from THE MAIN MENU. You can only sell the dogs which belong to you. You should now see the list of the dogs in two columns. Choose one of the dogs displayed in brighter colour using Cursor Keys and Enter. After pressing Enter you see some information about the dog. You are asked if you really want to sell it. If you press Y you will have to choose who is going to buy it. Once again you will have to use Cursor Keys and Enter. After pressing Enter the purchaser should type his offer. If the owner of the dog accepts this offer the dog has a new owner. And remember, D.O.G. SYNDICATE pays always half of the value of the dog. You can press Esc to go one step back if there is a text in the screen that says so. 8. SAVING A GAME ---------------- Select SAVE GAME from THE MAIN MENU. If you are not a registered user you will not be able to save or load your game. You should see the list of previously saved games. You will have to choose a number for your saving. Press a number key between 1 and 9. After pressing you should type a name for your saving. Maximum length is 20 characters. If you do not give a name for your saving the name will be HOUNDED SAVED GAME!. If you are playing a loaded game the name will remain the same as it was when you last time saved it. ( You can delete your saved games if you want to. In order to delete saved game number 5 type 'DEL SAVE5.HOU'. Make sure that you are in DOS mode and in the right directory. ) 9. LOADING A SAVED GAME ----------------------- Select LOAD GAME from THE MAIN MENU. If you are not a registered user you will not be able to save or load your game. You should see the list of saved games. Choose the number of the game to load. Press a number key between 1 and 9. After pressing the key you are asked if you really want to do that. Notice that the current game you are playing will be destroyed if you load a saved game. You can press Esc to return to THE MAIN MENU. FINANCIAL SITUATION ------------------- Press F in THE MAIN MENU to see the financial situation. You will see the names of the players and how much money they have. The richest one is number one. The second richest is number two etc. Press any key to return to THE MAIN MENU. THE OPTIONS ----------- Press O in THE MAIN MENU to define options. In OPTIONS you can define the following things: THE LENGTH OF THE RACE - range: 500 - 4000 (pixels) - the default value is 2000 FADE SPEED - range: 5 - 250 (vertical retraces) - the default value is 60 - if the refresh rate of your screen is for example 70 Hz and FADE SPEED is set to 140, color fadings will take 2 seconds (that is 140/70). THE ACCURACY OF BETTINGS - range: 50 - 1000 (the number of the runs that the program simulates after you have selected NEXT RUN from THE MAIN MENU) - the default value is 150 - the bigger value the better (ratios in betting are more accurate) - the smaller value the faster ( - '' - less accurate) - should not be under 100 THE MULTIPLIER OF STEP LENGTH - range: 0.50 - 2.00 - the default value is 1.00 - increase this value if your hardware setup is not fast enough - for example if the value is 1.5: The dogs move (in one second) 1.5 times the distance that they would have moved (in one second) if the value was 1.0. ENTERING THE REGISTRATION CODE - press E in OPTIONS - type the registration code you are given and press Enter - you are told if the registration was accepted or not If you change the value of THE MULTIPLIER OF STEP LENGTH or THE LENGTH OF THE RACE, TRACK RECORD and BEST TIME are set to 99.99. Only the records of the current game are modified. You should clear highscores in D.O.G. HALL OF FAME if you change these values. If you don't understand what these options mean you should try them with different values. If you do not have a 'fast' 386 (25 MHz or better) the running of the dogs may seem to be slow. There are two steps to correct it: 1) Increase THE MULTIPLIER OF STEP LENGTH so that the running of the dogs looks good for you. 2) Increase/decrease THE LENGTH OF THE RACE so that the winning time in the race is about 22 seconds. Of course, this is only a recommendation. EXITING THE GAME ---------------- Select EXIT (or press Esc) from THE MAIN MENU. You are asked if you are sure that you want to quit. If you really want to quit press End. Otherwise press any other key. After pressing End highscores are saved to your disk. Then you are back in DOS. Don't forget to save your game before exiting the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ DISCLAIMER ---------- I take no responsibility for any damage, incidental or otherwise, which results from the playing this game or using the editor. HOW TO REGISTER --------------- Because I am not asking so big amount of money, the ways to send money are very limited. Send me cash US$8 (or more if you feel this software is worth it) by surface or air mail. You can use registered letter, if you want to. You should also include an envelope with your name and address on it. If you have an access to Internet, send me your email address instead of an S.A.E. Of course you will have to send the requested amount of money, too. Via email you will receive the registration code much quicker. Though sending me your email address, tell me your name and address, too. When I receive your money, I will send you a registration code which is needed for getting the 100% working version of the game. If you want more than one licence send US$4 for each extra licence. For example registration for three computers costs $16 ($8+$4+$4). I also accept other currencies. The money you send me has to be worth of US$8 or FIM 50 (for one licence). If you are living in Finland, you should send me Finnish marks. One licence costs 30 marks. The others cost 15 marks each. In registered version you can save and load your game. This means that you can also use the Hounded Editor. In addition reminders about registration are excluded from the game. My home address is: Hannu Ter„v„ Karakalliontie 14 R 106 SF-02620 ESPOO Finland My Internet address is: terava@alpha.hut.fi ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks to: - Kai Rohrbacher for the sprite-unit (Anivga version 1.2) - my English teacher for correcting few mistakes in this document - my class mates and friends for being so critical beta-testers - that guy who made the original version of Hounded for Commodore 64 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you have any comments, suggestions, questions or anything to tell me (e.g. if you find bugs) please send me email. My Internet email address: terava@alpha.hut.fi ------------------------------------------------------------------------------