If any of you use windows on a PC, you
will recognise this game, as the
concept is a copy of a standard PC
windows game "winmine".
It is a little like "Battle ships", but
the computer has hidden 40 mines in a
16x16 grid. You have a red circle to
mark your position which can be moved
around the grid with the keys;
Z - Left X - Right
: - Up / - Down
Pressing space clears a square, and M
marks a square as having a mine.
With your marker on a square, if you
press SPACE, a number will be revealed,
this indicates the number of mines that
are are adjacent to that square
including diagonally. If the square is
blank, no mines are next to that square
and the adjacent squares will be
automatically revealed. If you press
SPACE on a square that has a mine you
will be blown up. If you think a mine
is located on a square, pressing M
marks it with a flag.
You have 40 flags and 40 mines to mark
and all the squares to clear against
the clock (out of time at 999
seconds!!), the fastest times get on
the leader board.
To help you, when you run the game the
red circle always starts on a safe
square, so it is a good idea to press
space before moving. You can then work
from this point clearing any other
squares next to blank ones.
The game requires 3 files SCREEN, MINES
and SCORES, these should be transfered
to an unprotected disc, (or remove the
write protect tab from the issue
disc!!) as when you beat the 8th best
time you can write your name on the
leader board which is saved back to the
file SCORES.
The program "Infile" when run will
reset the hi-score table.
Ok folks, now is your chance to put
those programmers waiting to see who
has won out of their misery. Vote for
your favourite one liner.
Here is a summary of the programs and
how to use them.
1. Game. Use the < and > keys to move
the block at the bottom of the
screen to catch the falling blocks.
2. Examine the long line.
3. Marvel at the decision maker.
4. ADFS compacter. ADFS only.
Repeatedly *COMPACTs the disc until
the free space is in one block.
5. Word processor. The info is printed
before the program runs. BBC users
may find that this program needs to
be run as a single line separated
from the main voting program due to
memory limitations. The program
therefore deletes all the other
program lines if you are using a BBC
and select the word processor.
6. Game. Use Z and X to steer clear of
the objects.
7. Game. Use Z and X to keep in between
the lines.
8. Text presentation. Choose a mode
(try 0). Enter a phrase. Enter the
co-ordinates (X and Y). The phrase
is printed with a box around it
(this utility doesn't always work,
so you will have to experiment with
different modes and XY values).
9. Printer Dump. Dumps the picture
supplied to the printer. It may take
a while.
Here is how to vote:
Copy the program "1Liner" on to your
submission disc and RUN it.
Choose option 0 from the menu.
Press the number of the program that
you like the most (1 to 9).
Press the number of the program that
you think was the runner up (1 to 9).
The file VOTE is then saved to disc.
I shall use this file to determine
the winner who will get a free choice
of discs from the TBI pool (postage
and discs supplied).
Please make an extra special effort
to vote in this competition.
New member K2D has submitted a ready to
roll disc of software for 8BS. It is on
this issue in directory W. The Andrew
Weston menu is available from the main
menu.
The programs are:
Phonebook.
Use: Utility
Program name: W.PBook
Associated program/file/s: None
Language: Basic
Info:
There are five options in the menu.
Enter a phone number. Search for a
phone number. Save the data to disc.
Load the data from disc and list the
data.
Seek and Destroy.
Use: Fighter Simulator
Program name: W.FSim2
Associated program/file/s: S.Bscr W.FO
Language: Basic
Info is contained in the game. The idea
is to shoot the objects that appear
before they destroy you.
Basic Simulator.
Use: Demo
Program name: W.Andl
Associated program/file/s: none
Language: Basic
If I told you what this did it would
spoil half of the fun. Load it in and
try a few BASIC statements.
Eddie Demo.
Use: Demo
Program name: W.Eddie
Associated program/file/s: W.Spr1
Language: Basic
Athlete Hunter.
Use: Game
Program name: W.AHunt
Associated program/file/s: W.KeyAHun
Language: Basic
Title inspired by a 70s comedy
sketch. 1992-athletes run wild
all over the country. Someone
has to stop them! Move your (red)
sights around the screen by using
joystick + fire button to blast
the *?@&%£`! out of their misery!
Alternatively, use the keyboard version
<Z> LEFT
<X> RIGHT
<:> UP
</> DOWN
<SPACE> FIRE
But be careful not to run out
of ammunition or energy.
Hint: Look for crosses + crates
Destroy the athletes before
they shoot at you. A police helicopter
will fly overhead continuously until
it is destroyed. Each hit from the
the athletes will cost you 1 point
of energy. Destroy 10 (helicopters
or athletes) to go to the next level
Extra energy and ammunition crates
will appear, but do not stay in
one place for long.
By C.J.Richardson. Before some nasty person swiped my good
cycle last year, I had a Cateye Cycle
Computer that told you how fast you
were going, how far you had gone and
your average speed. Not feeling like
spending money on anything decent again
I lashed out 10 quid on an exercise
bike instead. This bike has a
speedometer and odometer, but that
wasn't enough. So I counted the revs
per mile and wrote a program to do the
rest of the calculations for me.
Cyclo is the result.
When you RUN the program, the program
is waiting for you to press a key. Get
up the revs and press a key.
The words "Pedal revolution" flash on
and off, you will also hear a
simultaneous "beep". This is meant to
indicate the rate at which you are
pedalling. If the initial rate (set at
about 23 MPH for my bike) is too fast
or slow you can alter this. You can
also pause the Cyclo computer. In the
pause mode you can load and save your
position to continue later.
The keys: SPACE - Slow the rate down.
Z - Speed the rate up.
X - Pause
During pause mode:
L - Load position from disc and
continue.
S - Save position to disc and
continue.
C - Continue.
Press ESCAPE at any time to restart.
My cycle does 257 pedal revolutions to
the mile. This is known by the program.
To change this figure alter A% at the
start of the program.
By Miroslaw Bobrowski My submission is a machine code
utility 'SHRINK'. This program reduces
the dimensions of any MODE 0, MODE 1 or
MODE 2 screen stored on the disc into a
small graphics window defined by the
user. The syntax is as follows:
*SHRINK <x1>,<y1>,<x2>,<y2>,<filename>
where: x1 and y1 are coordinates of the
bottom left-hand corner of the graphics
window, x2 and y2 are coordinates of
the top right-hand corner of the
window, and 'filename' is the name
of screen file stored on the discs.
Thus, the sequence of the command's
paramaters is the same as with VDU 24
definition. The parameters can be
separated by commas, semicolons or
spaces, and the command SHRINK should
be separated from its parameters by a
space. The command can be issued in the
immediate mode, eg.
MODE 1:*SHRINK 100,200,300,400 Screen2
or as a line in a Basic program, eg.
10 MODE 2:VDU 23,1,0;0;0;0;:VDU
19,2,4;0;
20 *SHRINK 200,340,450,870 Screen1
30 *SHRINK 300,580,1240,920 Screen2
40 REM .... rest of program
In contrast to similar program that had
been listed in the BAU magazine in
1989, the SHRINK utility works
perfectly not only on the model B but
also on the Master and even on the
Electron.
You can evaluate the effects obtained
with the *SHRINK utility looking at the
front page of the Puzzle package (ADFS
version only).
The example program "ShrDemo" must
first be copied on to a blank disc
along with the program "Shrink". When
run the program draws a random screen
and saves it to disc. The saved screen
is then displayed in several different
sizes.
By C.J.Richardson.
I wrote this program after John Ilsley
started sending me "projects" to make
up using various electronic bits.
My ambition was to build a robot
controlled by my Master. The program
allows me to switch on and off various
motors on a lego car that my lad built.
If you plug something into the user
port (a robot for instance), you can
either send messages out or in through
the 8 lines available.
Two addresses in memory (&FE60 &FE62)
can be altered to tell the computer
whether these lines are to read data in
(from a sensor for instance) or send
data out (to light an LED or throw a
switch for example).
The program UPortCt is self
explanatory really. Use SPACE to move
the blue bar between the two addresses
that you can alter. If the blue bar is
adjacent to &FE60, then &FE60 is the
address that will be altered
Press 0 to 7 or f0 to f7 to toggle the
bits on and off.
So for instance if you have an LED
connected to one of the lines of the
user port, to make the LED come on you
need to have the relevant bit of &FE60
switched ON and the relevant bit in
&FE62 switched to OUT.
I would appreciate someone writing an
article explaining the user port and
how it is controlled. Any offers?