MINESWEEPER
                        ===========
                           v1.00

                    (C) M.J.Maisey 1994


Synopsis
========

Minesweeper is an Atari version of the popular Windows
puzzle game with a GEM interface.


System requirements
===================

Atari ST/STE/TT/Falcon with any version of TOS or Multi-
TOS.

Medium res. or higher use recommended (in low res. or
equivalent, the expert window will be larger than the
screen). All graphics cards with a VDI interface are sup-
ported.


Features
========

  * High score table
  * Customize feature


Installation
============

Copy the MINE.PRG and MINE.RSC files to any directory you
wish.


Running the game
================

Double click on MINE.PRG from the Desktop.


The game
========

The playing area is a grid. Some of the squares on the grid
contain mines. Uncovering a square containing a mine will
end the game.

Other squares, when clicked, will either be completely blank
(in which case the surrounding squares will be automatically
cleared), or will contain a number indicating the number of
mines in adjacent squares. The aim is to deduce where the
mines are, and clear the other squares. To help you remember
where the mines are, you can mark them by holding down eith-
er the right mouse button or one of the shift keys and click-
ing with the left button. In the info line of the window are
two numbers, separated by a slash. The leftmost is the number
of mines left to mark and the rightmost is the time taken so
far. The game menu allows you to select one of the three
different difficults, or produce your own custom game.


Miscellaneous
=============

Yes, so it isn't particularly flashy. I wanted to try to
write a game as I would set about writing an application.
I believe it was worth the effort, as it should run on
virtually anything and be pretty stable. Possible future
versions may include colour on monitors that support it,
better optimisations to speed up the window redrawing rout-
ines, and anything else that comes to mind or is suggested
to me.


Known bugs
==========

If you have a large screen and set up a huge grid with
very few mines, it is possible that the game will hang when
clearing outwards from an empty square. This is due to the
recursive algorithm for filling that I have used, and the
only way for me to correct this bug is to rewrite the ent-
ire routine. Sorry. (Programmers might suggest increasing
the stack size - I have already done this, and the stack is
already at a stupidly large 50K).

The time taken indicator on the window does not always up-
date if you are clearing mines very quickly. This is a
problem with GEM. If there are lots of events, GEM will
dispatch them before doing any updates on the window info
bars. Don't worry about hiscore times, though - these will
always be recorded absolutely accurately.


Licence
=======

This software is freeware. The copyright is retained by the
author, but the software may be copied as long as no charge
greater than a nominal handling charge is imposed upon the
purchaser. All files included in the original distribution,
including this file, must be present on the copied disk. The
right of any individual or organisation to distribute this
software as granted in this license may be rescinded at any
time by the author.

The author accepts no responsibility for any damage result-
ing directly or indirectly from the use or misuse of this
software including, but not limited to, the loss of data.


Bug reports/suggestions to:

       Martin Maisey
       384 Unthank Rd.
       Norwich
       Norfolk
       ENGLAND

  or   Tel: (0603) 506762