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Desktop Entertainment Pack¿ - Volume 1
Game accessories for the Atari ST & TT Computer
½ by
G.A. Szekely
Introduction
Desktop Entertainment Pack is a collection of three game
accessories for the Atari ST and TT computers. Each game was
designed to appeal to children between 5 and 13 years of age.
Each volume contains a computer adaptation of three timeless
games that children of this age group have been playing for
decades. Volume one contains: Puzzle Slide where the player
tries to put fifteen sliding tiles in alphabetical order, Tic
Tac Toe, and a variation of the board game Othello called Flip
Flop. Each game can work in any desktop screen resolution (low,
medium or high), and uses simple sound effects to make the game
more interesting. Puzzle slide is a single player game, but both
Tic Tac Toe, and Flip Flop are two player games. In the two
player games, you can play another person, or test your skill by
matching wits with the computer, or just for fun, watch the
computer try to beat itself!
Background
Each of the games from the Desktop Entertainment Pack series
can be run as a standard program or as a desktop accessory
program. A desktop accessory is what is known as a "terminate
but stay resident" program. What this means, is that when the
computer is turned on, the programs are automatically loaded into
the computer's memory. After some initialization work, the
program returns control back to the computer. But, the accessory
program actually stays in the computer memory, so that you can
instantly call on it to play a game. And, the best part is, that
the game is exactly the way you left it. So you can play the
game for a while, quit in the middle of a game and then you can
run another program or accessory. When you want to jump back to
the accessory game, it will be exactly as you last left it.
The Atari ST and TT line of computers can handle up to six
desktop accessories at one time. A desktop accessory can not
only be called from the green desktop when you first turn on your
program, but they can also be called from inside any GEM program
that has a menu bar across the top of the screen. So, for
example, if you were using your favorite GEM based word processor
to type up a report and wanted to take a break to play a game,
you could pull up any of the games from the Desktop Entertainment
Pack. When you've finished playing the game, you can go back to
typing your report right where you left off. You can even have
up to six games on the screen at once and take turns making moves
against the computer in each game. In fact, if you put six
copies of the same desktop accessory game (for example Tic Tac
Toe) on a disk, each with a different file name, you can
simultaneously play six different Tic Tac Toe games against the
computer.
How to Run Game as a Standard Program
To run one of the games as a standard program, rename the
game from whatever.ACC to whatever.PRG. Then double click the
program with the mouse pointer as you would any other program.
How to Run Game as a Desktop Accessory
To use a desktop accessory, put the disk that contains your
desktop accessories in floppy disk drive A and turn on your
computer. (If you have a hard disk, you need to copy your
accessories to the root directory of drive C). The desktop
accessories will automatically load into the computers memory
when you turn the computer on. To activate an accessory, move
your mouse pointer to the top left of the menu bar to the word
"Desk". A list of all the accessories that where loaded into the
computer will be displayed. To select a desktop accessory,
position the mouse button over top of the name of the game
accessory that you would like and press the left mouse button.
The game accessory will pop up in the center of the screen if
this is the first time you selected this particular game. If you
selected the accessory before, it will pop up where ever on the
screen you last left the game if this is not the first time you
selected this particular game accessory.
Only one desktop accessory at a time can be the active
desktop accessory. Whichever desktop accessory is active will
have a white and gray striped bar along the top of the desktop
accessory window where the name of the desktop accessory appears.
All non-active desktop accessories will have a white bar across
the top. When you open any desktop accessory, it becomes the
active desktop accessory. If you have more than one desktop
accessory on the screen at a time, you can select which one you
want to be active by moving the mouse pointer over top of the
desired desktop accessory, and press the left mouse button.
You can move the active desktop accessory around on the
screen by positioning the mouse pointer on top of the stripped
bar along the top of the active desktop accessory. Pushing and
holding down the left mouse button, and moving the mouse, you can
move the desktop accessory window around on the screen. Whenever
you release the mouse button, the desktop accessory window
remains where ever it is.
You can close or remove an accessory from the desktop by
positioning the mouse pointer over the close box in the upper
left hand corner of the desktop accessory window. If you
re-activate the desktop accessory by selecting it from under the
desktop label of the menu bar, it will appear on the screen where
you last left it.
Puzzle Slide
The purpose of the game Puzzle Slide is to slide fifteen
squares labeled A through O around on the board to get them in
alphabetical order. The empty square on the board is represented
by a black area. To move a letter square into the empty space,
position the mouse pointer to the left, right, above or below the
empty space and press the left mouse button. More than one
square may be be slid toward the empty space at one time, by
clicking the mouse on a square further left, right, above or
below the empty space. Clicking the mouse on a square that is
not left, right, above or below the empty space has no effect.
Puzzle Slide uses 21.1 kbytes of computer memory.
Tic Tac Toe
Tic Tac Toe is a computer version of the ever popular game
of the same name. Tic Tac Toe is a two player game where you can
play against another person, test your skill against the
computer, or just for fun watch the computer play itself. By
selecting setup from the menu on the right side of the game, you
can select who is X, who is O, who goes first and who goes
second, and whether each player is human or a computer. You can
also enter your name in by clicking on the name field at the top
of the player menu and typing in your name.
When a human player is to make the first move, simply use
the mouse to click on the desired location of the move. When the
computer is to move first, the start button on the right side of
the game must be pressed. In addition to using the mouse to
point and click to where you would like to make a move, you can
use the number keys 1-9 on the numeric keypad on the right side
of your Atari computer to select a move.
Pressing the start button any time after the game has been
started causes the current game to be declared a draw, and a new
game to be started. When the game is over, the next game may be
started by pressing anywhere on the playing board. The player
that moves first will alternate with each game, regardless of who
won the last game.
By clicking the mouse on the last move you made, you can
undo the last move. This is particularly useful to teach young
players how to play the game. You can check how many games were
won by each player by selecting score from the right side of the
game window. The game that you are currently playing will show
up as a tie. Since even the last move can be taken over, a game
is not counted as over until the next game has been started.
Tic Tac Toe uses 37.9 kbytes of computer memory.
Flip Flop
Flip Flop is a computer game similar to the board game
Othello. The game starts with two white and two black playing
pieces already on the board. One player's colored pieces on the
board are white, and the other player's pieces are black. Each
player takes turns placing a playing piece of his color on the
board. You can only place your colored piece on the board next
to an opponent's colored piece already on the board. After you
make a move, all of your opponent's colored playing pieces
between the playing piece you just put down on the board and any
of the other playing pieces that are your color on the board are
flipped over to your color. The object of the game is to have
more pieces of your color, than of your opponents color, on the
board at the end of the game.
Flip Flop is a two player game where you can play against
another person, test your skill against the computer, or just for
fun watch the computer play itself. By selecting setup from the
menu on the right side of the game, you can select who is the
black color and who is the white color, who goes first and who
goes second, and whether each player is human or a computer. You
can also enter your name in by clicking on the name field at the
top of the player menu and typing in your name. Selecting the
help button from the right side of the game board will give you a
brief description of the game and the object of the game.
When a human player is to make the first move, simply use
the mouse to click on the desired location of the move. When the
computer is to move first, the start button on the right side of
the game must be pressed. By pressing the start button any time
after the game has been started causes the current game to be
declared a draw, and a new game to be started. When the game is
over, the next game may be started by pressing anywhere on the
playing board. The player that moves first will alternate with
each game, regardless of who won the last game.
By clicking the mouse on the last move you made, you can
undo the last move. This is particularly useful to teach young
players how to play the game. You can check how many games were
won by each player by selecting score from the right side of the
game window. The game that you are currently playing will show
up as a tie. Since even the last move can be taken over, a game
is not counted as over until the next game has been started.
Flip Flop uses 40.5 kbytes of computer memory.
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