                          GORILLAS: The Deluxe Edition
                        Version 2.1, 24th September 2005

                       http://telcontar.net/Misc/Gorillas/


                                 ** READ ME **


-- Credits --
 Original program (c)1990 Microsoft Corporation and/or IBM
 Modifications (c)1997-2005 Daniel Beardsmore
 Chris Redit (PhAtfiSh), John Hughan, Julie Feeney, Thomas and Marco Stahl for
  comments, bug reports and suggestions

 A shout out goes to all the Gorillas and Gorillas Deluxe fans.


-- Introduction --
 Gorillas is a two-player turn-based action game where the players, represented
 by gorillas, sit atop a cityscape taking turns to throw exploding bananas at
 each other in an attempt to kill their opponent. Bananas are thrown by typing
 in an angle and velocity for the throw.
 
 Gorillas is an old DOS game written in QBasic, which was shipped with MS-DOS 5
 in 1990. Gorillas Deluxe is my enhanced version of the game which has a number
 of what I consider to be improvements over the original:
 
  * Made playable on modern computers (speed calibration fixes)
  * All the rough edges of the user interface are gone
  * Twenty place league table (first ten places viewable)
  * Bigger and better explosions
  * Further configuration by way of Gorillas.ini


-- History --
 In about 1997, or perhaps before, I began tinkering with the program at home,
 making changes. In 1998, I did the same with a copy on a school computer, and
 finally, I decided to put all the modifications into a single deluxe version,
 which I worked on for about a year; Gorillas Deluxe was finally released in
 August 1999.
 
 It sat idle on my drive until late summer 2003, when I finally placed it on
 the Web. Unexpectedly proving to be a popular download, I've taken into account
 some suggestions I was given and the program is in active development again,
 14 years after it was originally released.


-- Requirements --
 Any machine (or virtualiser/emulator) capable of running QBasic and screen mode
 9 (EGA, 640x350), so any 386 or better IBM-compatible PC running DOS 5 or
 later, or DOS under Windows. Gorillas originally supported CGA, but somewhere
 along the line I broke CGA support during my updating :)
 
 The game requires Microsoft QBasic in order to run. If you do not have a copy
 of QBasic around, please consult the Gorillas Deluxe website for more
 information on obtaining QBasic, or download the copy of the game which
 includes QBasic.


-- Getting started --
 To load the game from DOS, type GORILLAS [ENTER] within the game's directory.
 To load the game from Windows, double-click Gorillas.bat. If Windows has hidden
 its extension, it is the file named "Gorillas" with an icon of a window
 containing a gear-wheel.
 
 This expects Microsoft QBasic to be either in the same folder as Gorillas or
 (for those who understand DOS/cmd), in your path.


-- Playing the game --
 Once you have loaded the game, you are presented with the name, credits and
 dedication, followed by basic gameplay instructions. When you have read
 them, press any key to continue. It is followed by the Game Setup screen.
 There are on-screen instructions to guide you, but a little guidance is
 given here too.

The players table:
 If there are less than two players already in the league table, such as when
 you load the game for the first time, the game asks you for the extra names,
 to ensure that there is a minimum of two players in the table. As many as 20
 players can be added, by pressing N for new player. R will rename players,
 and DELETE will delete them (after a confirmation). You are first prompted
 for Player 1, and then Player 2. Using the arrow keys, you choose which
 players will be in the game. Pressing ENTER confirms. You can use N, R and
 DELETE to modify the player list any time that you are being asked to choose
 players. (Note: player 1 is always on the left hand side of the screen
 during a game, and player 2 always on the right.) After confirming both
 players, enter and confirm the number of rounds to play, and the gravity.
 (If that didn't make sense, then it's my fault. Just run the game and you'll
 soon get the hang of it.)

 (Note: pressing DELETE rather than BACKSPACE completely clears any entry
 field within the program, i.e. it acts like repeated presses of BACKSPACE)

Notes on rounds and gravity:
 The default number of rounds is four. Having an even number of rounds is the
 most fair; because the loser always goes first, it is possible with, say, a
 three round game for player 1 to win in one throw, player 2 to win in one
 throw and then player 1 to win in one throw. Player 2 would not get a fourth
 throw to prove that he or she is as good as player 1. Therefore, it is
 recommended that you play with even numbers of rounds.

 Gravity is set to 17 by default, as that is the way that I like it. It is
 also the "official" gravity. Set it to something else if you want.
 Afficionados of the 1990 version will want to use the original default
 setting of 10, although owing to changes in the game's speed regulation, it
 may not feel the same as it used to. If you want to permanently use the
 original default gravity of 10, set the defaultGravity line in Gorillas.ini
 to 10.

Putting right incorrect entries:
 If you get one of the options wrong, you can press TAB instead of ENTER to
 confirm the value for gravity, and you will be taken back up to Player 1. If
 you got the players the wrong way round (i.e. the left/right layout of the
 game does not tie in with which side the two players are sat on) then, press
 TAB at Gravity to take you back to Player 1, and use the arrow keys to try
 to assign Player 1 to the player already assigned to Player 2. When you
 press ENTER, then the two players are swapped over. The TAB feature also
 allows you to correct the player assignments and to change the number of
 rounds and the amount of gravity that you chose.

The introduction:
 Once you have chosen the game settings, one of two things happens:  If you
 are playing the first game ever, then you are treated to the introduction
 to the game. If it is not the first ever game, then you are prompted whether
 or not you wish to see the introduction. (Since no-one will want to see it,
 I made it compulsory for the first time. My introduction looks really good
 and I don't want you to miss out. (Pride masked as fake concern for user's
 well being)). You can at this point also quit the  program. If, somewhere in
 the Game Setup screen, decide to quit the program, then just press ENTER
 until you reach here, then press Q to quit.

 If you ever want to skip the introduction while it is being displayed, hit
 any key and wait a few seconds for it to notice.

The game:
 After pressing P for play or after the introduction is over, the game
 begins. Here, you have to estimate the angle and velocity needed to throw
 the exploding banana at your opponent, factoring in wind and gravity. Type
 in your chosen angle and velocity, and watch where the banana goes. Simple.
 If neither player scores a hit, then have another try.
 
 Press ESCAPE while you are being prompted for angle or velocity if you want
 to abort the game. Y confirms, and N cancels.

Gameplay hints:
 * It is not wise to alter both the angle and the velocity in one turn unless
 you really know what you are doing, because it almost always fails.
 * If the two gorillas seem to be at the same height, and your opponent just
 fired a shot that got very close to you, you may be tempted to work out what
 the shot should have been, and type the corrected values in. Beware: this
 method is not reliable, not least because of the wind. Always work out your
 own throw values.

 A warning: A flaw in the game engine means that a banana can pass right
 through a gorilla. It is very rare, and almost always happens at very
 high velocity, such as a straight throw at maximum velocity aimed at a
 gorilla's legs. Another variation is when a banana clips a gorilla's head
 without going off. It is up to you and whoever you are playing with to
 decide whether it was really a kill, and whether to take special action to
 credit the player who should have won.

Statistics:
 After the game, you are presented with the statistics. Players are ranked on
 the percentage of rounds that they have won, and up to the top ten players
 are shown. The mean accuracy is the average number of bananas that a player
 has taken to kill his or her opponent. A dash is given if they have never
 killed anyone. While mean accuracy is probably not scientifically accurate, I
 hope it provides something to brag about. The mean accuracy probably becomes
 more accurate over time, when both players have had an equal share of easy
 and hard landscapes.

 The league table is automatically saved at the end of the game. The program
 will abort if it has difficulty saving the league table file. (QBasic
 limitation, I'm afraid)

 After the game, you can opt to play another game, whereupon you return to
 the Game Setup screen, or you can finish with slaughtering your opponent for
 the day.

 The Game Setup settings are preserved during the game; if you do not wish to 
 change any of the settings for the next game then you can just press ENTER 
 four times to confirm them. It must be noted that the league table and the
 list of players in Game Setup are stored in the same order: this is why,
 after a game, the players in the table can be in a different order. Don't
 worry about this, although, if it annoys you, tell me, and I'll consider a
 fix. The re-ordering does not affect which players are assigned to Player 1
 and Player 2 for the next game.

 I think that that is it. You deserve a reward for reading all this! Now, go
 find a opponent and play the game.


-- Customisation --
Custom icon:
 I have designed an icon for the game, called Icon.ico. You can attach this
 to a shortcut to Gorillas.bat if you wish.
 
Gorillas.ini:
 This is a text file (opens in Notepad in Windows) containing a set of
 options for the game. Each line is of the form "name = value"; the possible
 setting lines you can use are:
 
  name:               value:   default:  purpose:
  showIntro           yes/no   yes       Enable/disable the title text,
                                          credits, and introduction
  useSlidingText      yes/no   yes       Enable/disable sliding text
                                          animation

  defaultGravity      1-99     17        Specify the default gravity
  defaultRoundQty     1-99     4         Specify the default maximum number
                                          of rounds to play in a game 

  useSound            yes/no   yes       Enable/disable sound

  useOldExplosions    yes/no   no        Choose whether to use the old-style
                                          explosions from the original game
  newExplosionRadius           40        Set the explosion radius to be used
                                          with the new style explosions

 To make changes to the game settings, edit the file in Notepad, save, and
 the reload Gorillas Deluxe.


-- Version history --
 2.1, 24.09.2005
  * Fixed a potential crash in the banana-falling sound [Marco Stahl]

 2.1b2, 19.12.2004
  * Attempted fix of a crashing bug in the speed calibration [Thomas]
  * The .ini file is now case-insensitive
  * The current default round quantity now shown during game set-up
  * Validation for the defaultGravity and defaultRoundQty lines in the .ini file
  * You can now just about sort of cancel the gorilla intro by hitting a key
  * The irritating no-league-table message is now banished

 2.1b1, 18.10.2003
  * Fixed a crashing bug in the banana fall sound code [John Hughan]
  * Games are now won once a player has won enough rounds (more than half) such
    that the other player could not possibly win [PhAtfiSh]
  * A slew of settings can now be customised via Gorillas.ini, including sound
    on/off [Julie Feeney], explosion radius [John Hughan], default gravity, and
    whether the intro text is seen.
  * Other small modifications
 
 2.0.1 (aka 2.0r2), 20.01.2000
  * Changed the extension of the league table from .DAT to .LGE to avoid
    confusion with the files of other products.
  * Made numerous corrections to this ReadMe.txt file.

 2.0.0, 27.08.1999
  * First official release


-- On the internet --
 Web: http://telcontar.net/Misc/Gorillas/
 Contact: telcontar.net, resident@... (bad spammers, bad!)