FoliDash for the Atari Portfolio SHAREWARE VERSION 1.35 ================================ (last modified: March 18th 2007) Getting started: ---------------- Important note: Please backup important data before starting the program for the first time. I assume no liability for any damage which may result from the use of this software. System requirements: The game runs on the Atari Portfolio Palmtop Computer only. Disk space: 7804 Bytes + approx. 400 Bytes for each cave free RAM: at least 33 KB To play FoliDash, you need to copy FOLIDASH.COM and one or more cave-files like FOLIDASH.A, FOLIDASH.B etc. to your Portfolio. FoliDash needs to be run from inside the directory where the cave-files are located. If it won't start at all, you might not have enough free memory. Please WAIT ABOUT 10 SECONDS while the program code is being decompressed. Parameters: The sound can be disabled by typing "FOLIDASH -nosound" (or anything else as parameter). The package contains a level-compiler called "MAKECAVE.EXE" which is used to generate new puzzles for the game. Type "MAKECAVE /?" to see how it works. MAKECAVE is designed to be run on a normal PC rather than on the Portfolio. Currently, there are 7 levels included: FOLIDASH.A - the title screen, not intended to be played FOLIDASH.B - "The Pyramid", for beginners only FOLIDASH.C - "The Reactor" FOLIDASH.D - "Castle of Horror" FOLIDASH.E - "St.Nikolaus'Cave" FOLIDASH.F - "Pacman's Cave" FOLIDASH.G - "Pleas Wait" The corresponding sources are called title.txt, pyramid.txt, etc. You can modify them using a texteditor. What's new: ----------- Version 1.35: + Bugfix: Turning on/off sound or joystick control during the game did not work correctly. Version 1.34: + Bugfix: Immunity against fireflies did not always work Version 1.33: + Fixed a bug which was introduced in version 1.32: Amoeba did not transform into diamonds. Version 1.32: + Bugfix 1: In some caves, a "phantom" man appeared if you left the birth location too soon. + Bugfix 2: If sound was switched off during the game, the current tune was played forever. + When being hit by a rock, the game stopped a little too early. Version 1.31: + Faster loading of cave files + New undocumented feature. Gefunden hat's, wer "Ultraminiature" auf dem Bildschirm liest. Version 1.30: + Faster Thumbnail preview. + When a cave is entered, it emerges out of a screen full of moving steel wall. + Integrated screen-grabber which produces Windows-BMP-files. This feature needs pretty much valuable memory and CPU time, therefore it is not included in this version. Send an email if you would like to receive that special build of the program. + Some minor changes. Version 1.25: A bug was removed that eat up half the graphics speed when no slime was growing in V 1.24. Version 1.24: The most obvious change is the new character set, but there have also been some bugs removed. Unfortunately I had to find them all by myself. Version 1.23: This release contains many of the improvements wich before have been availabe to registered users only. The latest modification is the new sound generation routine. It calculates true polyphonic music and plays it using pulse width modulation. You can choose a more precise modulation or a louder one by pressing M in the options screen. If you feel the music is still not loud enough: Simply put a radio beside the Portfolio. The computer sound can be heard in nearly all bands even when being disabled in the options menu! The game: --------- FoliDash is a clone of the classic Boulderdash (R) wich has already been available for the Atari 8-Bit-computers and the Commodore 64. The original concept was designed by Peter Liepa and Boulderdash (R) is now distributed by Firststar Software Inc. The Atari Portfolio is probably one of the few computers where no clone of this game has been available yet. The aim of the game is to collect diamonds and to find a way to the exit in a short time. But be careful! There are rocks falling down, amoeba growing and dangerous fireflies flitting around. Controls: Space / Joystick-Button = Status information Cursor left = move left Cursor right = move right Del / Cursor up = move up Cursor Down = move down S = Switch sound on/off O = Turn off the machine ESC = End game U = By no means, press this key! Note that the keyboard-interrupt is revectored, so no hotkeys will work. The auto-power-off feature won't work either. Use the 'o'-key to turn off the Portfolio. Joystick-support: Optionally, a digital Joystick (as for use with C=64, Atari 800 etc.) can be connected to the parallel port with a simple adaptor. The specifications of the adaptor were defined by Jan Sedlak in October 1995 and are very close to these of the Joystick-adaptor for PC64, a C=64-emulator by W. Lorenz for IBM-compatible PCs. Please contact me for further info or get the file joystick.lzh. The autodetect-routine of FoliDash enables Joystick-control by default, if the adaptor is found at the start of the program. Scoring: -------- Collected diamond = 5 pts Collected bonus diamond = 20 pts Time bonus for each second left = 1 pt The top five highscores are stored in the cave-file. Copyright: ---------- (C) 1996 - 2003 by Klaus Peichl and Firststar Software Inc. This is the shareware version 1.34 of FoliDash. It may be freely distributed. I encourage you to tell me about everything that you feel should be changed. Good cave-files are also very welcome. (But do not imitate those from the original Boulderdash (R), as these are copyright protected). I will collect your puzzles and make it available to the public. Please visit my WWW-page (see below) to see if there's something new available. How to register: ---------------- Registered users will receive the latest version of FoliDash. Unlike the shareware version it will be smaller in size and the decompression phase at the start will be much quicker. To order the registered version of FoliDash, send $5 or the equivalent in whatever currency to one of the below adresses. You may also ask me for my bank account and transfer the money. You will receive your personal copy as soon as possible. What I need from you: 1. $5 2. Your e-mail-address. You will receive your licensed copy uuencoded via e-mail. If this is not acceptable for you, then - add $3 for sending a disk to you, - specify desired disk format (5.25"/3.5"/360k/720k/1.2M/1.4M), - tell me your postal address. 3. A three-letter-code that will then appear in your highscores. BTW: All updates to newer versions of FoliDash will be free. Addresses: ---------- Klaus Peichl Dornbergstr. 10 91058 Erlangen Germany or Klaus Peichl Oestliche Ringstr. 7 85113 Boehmfeld Germany E-mail: pei@freenet.de World Wide Web (currently only German language): http://leute.server.de:/peichl/pf.htm That's all. Enjoy!