Psion robots game
-----------------
Evil robots threaten your Psion 3a

Version 1.26

Visit the WWW page at
http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~arm/psion/robots.html or email
arm@tardis.ed.ac.uk for more details.


What is robots?
---------------

This game puts you in an arena with a bunch of evil robots who want to
kill you! They keep heading towards you, every time you make a
move. The only way to escape is to take advantage of the fact that
they are so intent on getting you they do not see each other. If they
crash in to each other, they form a heap. You can then get other
robots to crash into this heap too. 

Each dead robot is worth 10 points. When you have killed all the
robots in one arena, you will be moved on to the next. Robots are
represented by "+", dead robot piles by "*" and you are "@". The
control keys are traditional, and based on the "vi" UNIX editor (so
don't blame me: there's an aide memoire on screen, anyway):


        h       move one square left
        l       move one square right
        k       move one square up
        j       move one square down
        y       move up and left
        u       move up and right
        b       move down and left
        n       move down and right
        .       do nothing for one turn
        t       teleport: move to a random location. If you land
                beside a robot, you will be captured!
        w       wait until they all die... or you do
        x       quit this game


NEW! version 1.26 lets you use the cursor keys to move. The movement
is based upon the PC numeric keypad, so those of you using this at
high speed on an emulator will be fine. It doesn't map to the 3a
keyboard too well, though. Up, down, left and right are as you would
expect. Rightwards diagonals are Page Up and Page Down, leftwards
diagonals are Home (Up) and End (Down). Yes, it is horrible, but you
can always use the other keys!

If you use the wait command and survive, you get a bonus for each
robot killed during the wait. But if the robots get to you first:
nothing. Most commands warn you with a beep if you will be killed
doing it. Only teleport and wait carry a risk. 

You may also keep performing an action until it is impossible to do so
safely by holding down shift whilst pressing the key. This makes ">"
(shift and ".") a safe equivalent of wait, but does not give those
valuable bonus points. 

The game starts with a dialog box of options. The advanced option
lets you choose between starting on level 5 or level 1. The other two
options let you choose the level of graphic display given. The lower
the level, the faster the game. If you are playing the game on a PC
emulating a Psion there is no reason not to have these both set On. 

See also the UNIX man page for robots.

Example situations

  +
   @     Move left: "l" -->    *@
  +

  +                                    +
    +      * @    Safe to wait       +    * @     Not safe to wait
       +                                  +

  +@ +       Must teleport


Copyright, distribution, etc.
-----------------------------

This program may be freely distributed provided that it is accompanied
by this text file. The program and accompanying files are copyright
1995 Andrew R MacCormack. If you wish to support the author, receive a
copy of the next upgrade to this program and register your high scores
(which will be put on the WWW/Internet) then send a cheque or postal
order for 5 Pounds Sterling to:

	Andrew MacCormack 
	2 South Road 
	Redland 
	Bristol 
	BS6 6QP 

Please enclose a return address: postal and email (if applicable). If
you wish to register high scores then send me a floppy disk (PC
format) with the \OPD\ROBOTS.SCR file on it or email me with a
UUEncoded version.

I will email or send a floppy of the next version of robots when
released. Future releases will be at cost: disk, postage, etc. So if
you have an email address you will continue to get new releases (if
you wish). 

To do list
----------

 Preceding commands with a count
 Auto teleport
 User-defined keys
 Game options saved in a file
 3D version! (I doubt it)
 Any suggestions I receive...


Game and text file Copyright (c) Andrew MacCormack, 22 January 1996
