Description
Abalone is a very nice stratetic board game for two
or more players.
If you don't know the rules, you can read about them
in the About box.
This program is a Macintosh implementation of the game
Abalone.
Each of the two or three Abalone players can be humans
(local or remote on the network) or Macs, so you can
use the program
- in 'demo mode' (all Mac players),
- to play against the Mac (one Mac player and one human
player [you]),
- to play against others, either using one Mac or using
two or three networked Macs.
Currently, four different but similar strategies can
be chosen for a Mac player, and each strategy can be
played at several different levels.
More strategies may be implemented in the future; good
ideas for this are welcome. If your idea sounds promising
and is easy to implement, I may do so some day.
Distribution
Abalone for the Macintosh is freeware, but it is copyrighted
by the author.
As of version 1.5.3, Abalone may be distributed freely,
also on CD-ROMs.
Source code
The sources for Abalone are also made available (conditionally).
They are distributed separately, as most users will
not have much use for them.
You can find them starting from http://people.a2000.nl/kjanssen/
Requirements
THIS PROGRAM REQUIRES SYSTEM 7.
It definately won't run under earlier system software
versions.
The minimum size in the Finders Get Info box is enough
to fully use the program, except for the 3D Graphics
option, which makes the graphics a lot nicer.
To use this option, the preferred size should be available
to the program,
and you also need to have QuickTime installed (to decompress
the JPEG-ed PICTs).
(De)Installation
No special installation is needed; "just copy that
floppy".
When you quit this game, your settings are automatically
saved in a Preferences file (in the Preferences Folder
inside the System Folder, where these files belong).
If you decide to trash Abalone, remember to remove the
Abalone Preferences file.
If you don't like the background pictures provided,
you can replace them with your own: create PICT resources,
preferrably JPEG-medium compressed and with dimensions
494 * 430, and use them to replace the ones in Abalone
with an ID in te range of 200...205. Please distribute
Abalone with the original pictures. If you have some
really cool picture, you can send it to me and when
I also like it, I'll add it to the next version. Again,
don't modify the About stuff.
Compatibility
Abalone is System 7-dependant, 32-bit compatible and
Apple-Event aware.
As of version 1.3, Abalone runs in native mode on a
Power Macintosh.
Abalone does not feature balloon help.
This program should be fully useable on all System-7
capable Macintosh models,
with the following limitations:
Compact Mac users will find no use for the bigger of
the two possible board sizes.
(If the board is too large: clicking in the zoom box
toggles between the two sizes).
The 3D colorizing option is always enabled, but looks
lousy using less than 4 bits/pixel.
I don't have a large machine park for compatibility
testing.
Testing is done on the Mac(s) I happen to have at the
moment of release.
Earlier versions have been tested on various types of
Macintosh (my first Mac was a Plus...).
Please let me know if you think the current version
of Abalone is incompatible with your Macintosh.
I hope you'll enjoy playing this game,
Peter Tax
________________________________________________
Version History:
1.5.3
Added the option of starting with a proposed alternative
opening, see:
http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/Proprietary/abalonerules.html
Updated personal data (again...).
1.5.2
Moved the window a bit right and down, as MacOS 8.x
has wider window frames.
Recompiled using latest CodeWarrior.
Updated personal data.
1.5.1
I guess I was a bit too eager to release 1.5.0. There
was a huge new bug in the saving of files, effectively
making them unreadable in many cases. This is fixed
now.
1.5.0
The code starts fixing itself! With some help of Dave
Dyer, that is. He fixed a bug in the handling of AppleEvents,
affecting both the launching of Abalone by opening
a file and the network play option on Power Macs. He
also added some code to show the mouse position.
He also left some work for me to do: the saved file
format now includes all relevant settings and a few
levels of undo. There are also new background pictures
and color icons.
1.4.2
Implemented a new strategy, removed the least succesfull
old one.
Fixed a memory allocation bug, reducing memory footprint
somewhat.
Snail mail and E-mail address change.
1.4.1
Fixed a bug making the About box buttons unreachable
on compact Macs.
(See? sending a bug report sometimes really helps! Thanks
again, Michael.)
Fixed crashing at startup with minimum memory partition
on Power Macs by
increasing the minimum size to 350K. (Less may still
work on 68K Macs).
Made explanation of the rules comprehensible on black&white
monitors.
(white balls are now white instead of black; this really
clears things up.)
Sharpened two background images somewhat.
1.4
New About pictures, including a E-mail address update.
Graphcis: board picture background added, ball lighting
changed.
Minor bug fixes.
1.3
Added Power PC native code.
1.2 ß 2
Added 'greedy' board evaluation function, used in a
new strategy.
Added 'status icons' in Settings menu.
1.2 ß 1
Implemented network play.
Recoded Terminator III strategy in assembly.
Rewrote the About stuff, adding explanation of the rules.
Colorized board lines.
Fixed a memory leak causing a loss of approx. 1k of
memory each time a color was changed.
Fixed a bug in reading game files sometimes making it
impossible to read an (otherwise valid) game file.
1.1
Implemented the 3D colorizing option.
Improved the board appearance, also making the board
slightly larger on both sizes.
Enabled the other accidentaly disabled menu items in
the 1.1 ß1 version (oops).
Fixed a bug causing wrong colors in window updates after
the color settings had been changed.
1.1 ß1
Replaced the old strategies by better ones.
Added alfa-beta pruning.
Added University of Waterloo contest notation.
Added University of Waterloo contest KO rule (replaces
the randomness in 1.0 final)
Some performance optimization.
Undo is now multi-level.
1.0 final
General code cleanup and performance optimization, making
it about twice as fast (performance at the higher level
is now acceptable on a Mac Plus).
Added sound play option.
Added some randomness in selection of move for computer
players (making them a little bit less predictable,
and preventing endless repetitions in demo games).
Added UserItems counting and showing the balls already
pushed off the board.
Improved screen updating.
1.0 ß3
Fixed a bug that made the computer make another move
after you had won.
Some minor performance improvements in the computer
players.
Added 'How to play' and 'Strategies' help windows and
mail address to About.
Added a third strategy.
Added Jack Repenning's Finder color icons (thanks!),
and modified the black&white icon to match these.
1.0 ß2
Fixed a bug that crashed the program on machines without
Color Quickdraw.
1.0 ß1
First attempt at public release.
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