TAUTOLOGY --------- A GAME BY RESERVOIR GODS Tautology is a highly addictive game for the Falcon 030. Well I would say that wouldn't I, but it happens to be true! Up to two (count them) players can compete in this battle of wits. The game itself is based on a coin-op that appeared in the arcades years ago, but in the best Bally/Midway and Williams style, it hasn't lost its charm. The aim of the game is to clear all the tiles from a grid. Tiles can be removed by matching them with a tilt of the same kind or a tile from the same set - but its not quite as simple as that. To make tiles vanish you must be able to draw a line across free space from one tile edge to another tile edge whilst only turning two corners. This line can go in any direction, but can only make two 90 degree turns - for example it could go up, left then down or right, up then left. It doesn't have to turn two corners - it could just go straight, two corners is the maximum. If the squares are adjacent (not diagonally) they can also be made to disappear. If we imagine some tiles were laid out like this: ------------------------- | 6 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 9 | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 9 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 3 | ------------------------- First we can match the 1's as line can be drawn up from the top edge of the first one, right then down onto the top edge of the second 1. Simply click on the first one, then the second. ----------- | | ------------------------- | 6 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 9 | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 9 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 3 | ------------------------- These two tiles will then disappear. ---- ------- ---- | 6 | | 8 | 5 | | 9 | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 9 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 3 | ------------------------- Now another tile has become free, a five which we can match with the five on the top row: -------- | | ---- | ------- ---- | 6 | | | 8 | 5 | | 9 | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 9 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 3 | These will disappear. The 8s can also go as they are adjacent to each other. ------------------------- ---- ---- | 6 | | 9 | |---| -------|---| | 9 | | 1 | 7 | 3 | ------------------------- Now the 9 has become free and we can match it with the nine on the top right. ---- ---- | 6 | |------------| 9 | |---| | -------|---| | 9 |--- | 1 | 7 | 3 | ------------------------- You are now beginning to get the idea. Apart from the normal tiles there are two sets of associated tiles which can be matched with each other stopping the clock for a short time. For example in the Shanghai set we have four different flowers, each of these can be matched with any other flower from the four. The second set is seasons, and you can match any season with any other season. It is a good idea to build up strategies and look ahead a few moves before just matching the first available pair you see! PLAYERS ------- The difference between Tautology and its predecessors is that it has a wealth of options, one of the most striking being the two player mode. Using the Falcon's overscan mode it is possible to fit two tile grids on the screen so two people can try for high scores or even compete against each other. Player one is controlled by joystick one or joypad 1, whilst player 2 is controlled by joystick 0 or joypad 2. If you haven't invested in one of Atari's joypads yet, do so as they're great! (And you can play Llamazap - when it's released!) CONFIGURE: TILES ---------------- The tiles are fully configurable, you can choose how many of each tile you want to appear on the grid. Of course you can't choose where they appear, but you can make the game easier by selecting a lot of sixers. To configure the tiles, select CONFIGURE TILES from the main menu and press fire. Then move the crosshair to the tile whose amount you want to change. By pressing fire you can toggle between having 0,2,4 or 6 of that particular tile on the grid. As the grid is 16 by 6, the total tiles must add up to 96. If you own a power pad, fire button a will add to the tile amount when clicking on it, button b will subtract from it and button c will clear it to zero. Also, whilst on this screen you can try pressing the function keys for preset tile layouts, F1 being the hardest and F10 the easiest. Press space or click on exit to return to the main menu. CONFIGURE: GAME --------------- These options are mainly of use for those of you indulging in two player games. You can have two different types of two player games: SEPARATE - Here you are largely oblivious to what the other player is doing. You are just aiming to complete your grids regardless of how fast your friend is completing his. COMPETITIVE - You are racing against a friend to complete a grid. The first to complete the grid wins the round. Nailbiting stuff. Tile layout can also be configured here. DIFFERENT - Player one and player two have different tile layouts. SAME - The layout of the tiles is exactly the same for player one and player two, no-one has an advantage or can claim "it's not fair, all I could do on my board was get check-mated!". Time can be turned off if you prefer to pit your wits against the tile structure not the clock. It is usually a good idea to do this in two player mode as the clock is largely an irrelevance, it is your opponent who dictates the pace. BEST OF - This defines the number of rounds you play in a two player competitive match. For example, the best of 3 would mean the first to achieve 2 wins. TILE SETS --------- Tautology has two inbuilt tile sets in case you get bored (perish the thought!). The Shanghai Set was painted by Mr. Blonde and is based on the mah-jong set. The two sets in this are flowers and seasons Nice Guy Eddie's set is totally original and very different. The sets in this are fruit and elements. See rules for further details. TILE SETS: LOADING ------------------ Tautology has the feature to load extra tile sets - you can even draw your own sets! It looks for a file on drive A: name 'TFILE.DIR'. This should contain a list of all the file sets on the disk. You can create this file with a text editor, but it must be 100% ASCII. Each filename should be separated by a return, and there can be a maximum of ten on each disk. For example: NICE_SET.TPI ROUNDSET.TPI Tautology will read this file and then ask you which set you want to load. Press the appropriate function key to load it. To create a tile set, draw it using HiSoft's True Paint using a screen size of 320 pixels wide. Each tile is 16*16 with a black line on it top and left borders. The first four tiles should form the first set, the next four the second set. There should be 43 tiles in all. Save it in True Paint's .TPI format. If you do create any tile sets, send them along and I'll send you the latest version of Tautology plus the latest versions of my other Falcon projects. INFO: RULES ----------- Here you get a brief resume of these instructions, it will also display the two sets from the current series of tiles. INFO: HISCORES -------------- The top twenty best scores are saved to disk! Make a name for yourself! If you want to get in touch with the RESERVOIR GODS for any reason, write to: Leon O'Reilly Cwm Cottage Abermule Montgomery Welshpool Powys SY15 6JL or email CMSLOREI@UK.AC.LIVJM.VAX Have fun!