ST Breakanoid by Ken Newman
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ST Breakanoid was created to fill a huge gap in ST entertainment
software, namely the lack of a really good Breakout*-type game. The
several bizarre Breakout-in-a-tiny-window games around don't meet this
critical need. ST Breakanoid is a full-screen, full-colour game that
is actually a cross between Breakout and Arkanoid*, hence its name.
The binary is in the public domain and may be freely distributed as
long as it is not modified in any way and is not sold. The current
version only runs in low-res, I will consider a monochrome version
if people want it.
There are 6 types of bricks and each has different properties. In
addition, the game is data-driven and each screen is read from a "noid"
file. The first screen is expected in the file NOID0.DAT, the second
in NOID1.DAT, and so on. The limit on the number of screens is therefore
about 10,000. Any number of noid files may be present, as long as they
start at 0; the program keeps incrementing the number in the file name
until it can't find that file, then starts at 0 again.
You can easily create your own noid files. The easiest way is to
look at one of the ones included with the program, and edit a copy of
it. Each file is very small and consists of an 11x15 matrix of integers.
Each integer represents one brick in the same orientation as it will be
on the screen. The full matrix must always be in the file, even if there
are many missing bricks. Missing bricks (blank spots) are represented
by -1 in the file. The other possible numbers are from 0 to 5 for the
6 types of bricks. These are as follows:
0 - needs 1 hit
1 - needs 2 hits
2 - needs 3 hits
3 - invisible, 1 hit
4 - indestructible
5 - generator, 1 hit, but creates
a random brick of type 0, 1, or 2
You can change the order of the screens by just renaming the files.
Be careful with the indestructible bricks, they can lead to infinite
bouncing loops, or can block off a brick making it impossible to finish
a screen. If you get into a bouncing loop, hitting the "b" key a few
times will make the ball disappear, cost you a ball, and start at the
bottom of the screen again. Each screen is finished when you destroy
all the bricks (except of course the indestructible bricks). You start
with 5 balls and you get a free ball every 2000 points.
Enjoy! Upload your own noid files!
kn
* Breakout is a tm of Atari and Arkanoid is a tm of Taito (I think).