MANIC MINEFIELD BY THE INFAMOUS BLOOD! (C)1994 CHEESE FREAK SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTION Please spread this game everywhere. I don't care where it goes, copy it for your friends, upload it to your favourite BBS, send it to your favourite PD library in return for free disks. These are the only rules to be followed : 1. You must NOT change any of the files. 2. The original ZIP distribution file should always be used when uploading to a bbs. 3. All of the below files MUST be included with any distribution : MFIELD.PRG SOUND.DAT MUSIC.DAT MFIELD.TXT CHEESE.DAT DESKTOP.INF 4. No money aside from distribution costs must be made from this program. 5. You don't whinge at me about it. INTRODUCTION As if you hadn't guessed already, Manic Minefield is a new game based on an old concept. The first game of its type (that I know of, anyway) was called MinedOut and was available on the Spectrum in 1984. The most famous version, however, and the one that this version is closest to, is Minesweeper for Windows on the PC. Having spent hours playing this at work when I was supposed to be earning a living, I thought it would be great to have a version that I could play on my ST. Just around that time, ST Format put a beefed up version on their coverdisk, but when this turned out to be for 1meg STEs only I decided it was time to give the people what they want - twenty grand each. No, I mean a version of Minesweeper that was faithful to the original and would run on ANY ST, not just a minority. Manic Minefield was born.... PLAYING THE GAME The concept is very simple. You are shown a board consisting of a number of squares. Under some of the squares are mines. It is your job to discover where the mines are without actually uncovering any in the process, in the fastest time possible. The game is controlled entirely with the mouse, and different button combinations have different effects on the square you are pointing to. LEFT MOUSE BUTTON - This will uncover the square you are aiming at. If there happens to be a mine beneath it, you're dead - no questions asked! RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON - Place a marker. You have the same number of these as there are mines on the board. They are used to mark a place where you think a mine could be. In case of confusion, you can swap a marker for a ? if you're not sure about a couple of squares, or you can remove it completely and add it back to your marker pool by clicking on it with the right mouse button until it disappears. When you remove your first square, you will see one of a number of things. If there is a bomb, you'll die. End of story. Usually, however, you will see a number. This number represents the number of mines present in the eight squares that surround the square you clicked. If you click on a square that has no mines in its adjacent squares, all nine squares will clear, and any further clear squares will also reveal their contents. In this way you can make large sections of the board safe in one click. Using this method, you can determine the positions of the mines. If, for example, you uncover a square which has a 2 on it and there are only two surrounding square that haven't been uncovered, the two mines must be under them. These can then be marked and you have two less problems to worry about. Continuing in this fashion, it is possible to find all of the mines on the board. BOTH MOUSE BUTTONS - This control can be used to speed things up. If you have an uncovered square with a number on it, and that same number of markers in the adjacent squares, a click on both mouse buttons will clear all of the remaining unmarked squares around the centre one. Of course, if you marked the wrong squares, a mine will be uncovered and you'll be dogmeat! Using this method when you have marked more or less squares than the shown number will cause the surrounding squares to flash, warning you that you've made a mistake. The game is over when you are blown up, when the timer reaches 1000 seconds, or when it is obvious where all of the mines are hidden. At this point the mines will be revealed to show you how well you did. A new game can then be started by left clicking on the yellow face in the bottom left corner, or you can return to the main menu to select new skill levels, etc. by clicking on the face with the right button instead. This might all sound a bit complicated, but believe me it's a lot easier than it sounds. The best way to get to know the game is to load it up and give it a go. I promise you'll be hooked! MENUS The main menu lets you start a game, view the high scores, exit to GEM, or change the game options. The options menu allows you to change a number of game variables. There are four skill levels available - EASY, MEDIUM, HARD, and CUSTOM. Easy is 8x8 squares with 10 bombs, medium is 16x16 squares with 40 bombs, and hard is 30x16 squares with 99 bombs. Each of these levels has its own high score table (see below). The custom setting allows you to create your own size levels as difficult or as easy as you want. It is also possible to change the backdrop (to one of 20 gorgeous designs), turn the sound effects on or off (see below), change the screen frequency to 60hz, or reset the high score tables (if it's too hard for you!). HIGH SCORES There are three high score tables, one for each of the skill levels (there's no table for the custom levels, 'cos they're all different so it would be useless). These will be saved to disk automatically if you leave the disk write enabled. If you don't want anyone else to see your efforts, write protecting the disk will automatically bypass the save. SOUND Unfortunately sound is only an option if you have an ST with 1meg or more of memory. It just wouldn't all fit into a half meg machine, I'm sorry. Maybe now is a good time to buy that upgrade, eh? This is, however, the only difference on the two machines. 1meg owners will be treated to full sampled sound and tracker music. Personally, I can't stand the sound effects switched on, but they're in there because some people seem to like them. You can turn the noises off from the options menu if they get your back up. SHAREWARE Yes folks, I'm afraid this game is Shareware, so it's chequebooks out time! I've put a lot of effort into this game, and if you like it and play it, I hope you'll find it in your hearts to send me a fiver as a means of showing your gratitude. In return, I'll be happy to provide the full source code and all the little twiddly bits so you can check it out and see how bad I am at coding. I've been trusting and given you the whole prog (with no functions disabled), so now it's up to you to repay that trust and do the right thing (and we're not talking crappo Terry Wogan quiz shows here). Send all donations to : Cheese Freak Software 57 Myrtle Avenue Selby North Yorkshire YO8 9BG ENGLAND You may also be able to reach me via SKYNET BBS (hpx6.aid.no), my name is Blood (in case you hadn't noticed). I won't tell you how to log on to SKYNET 'cos it's crowded enough as it is. Let's just say that if you already have an account you'll know. Sorry, no proper EMAIL address at present, but I may be able to sort one out in the near future. I'll answer any letters, and try to answer any questions you may have (if they're not too hard). Thanks for listening. MORE ST GAMES Right guys, you know the score. The ST isn't what it used to be and there are a number of parties out there who are already giving it the last rites, so here's what you've got to do. The only people who are going to keep the ST going in the very near future are the PD, Shareware and Licenceware authors so you've got to support them! Send them money, send them letters, 'phone them up and tell them they're great, do anything except let them get fed up with writing ST software. If you do, the ST will die, and it won't be MY fault. SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT ST CODERS! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! Right, I've had a shedfull of this. Go and play the game while I finish off the versions list just in case there are bugs.... Blood. UNBIASED OPINION I've tried all of the other versions of Minesweeper in the Atari archive at MSDOS.ARCHIVE.UMICH.EDU and it is my honest opinion that this version is the best of the lot. But then, I would say that I suppose, wouldn't I? REVISIONS Version 1.0, 17th April 1994 Initial Version, everything looks hunky dory.