C y b e r B o x .... A puzzle game for MS-DOS systems with VGA display ------------------------------------------------------------------------ by Doug Beeferman. August 1991. See end of file for distribution info. Please ignore the program's end screen contact info! As of 1997, this software is distributed by Palmetto Bay Publishing WWW: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dougb/pb Email: dougb+@cs.cmu.edu O V E R V I E W CyberBox is a game of thinking ahead. Given the simple challenge of getting from one point to another, you will find yourself anticipating the effects of every move you make in between. There are 16 levels ("rooms") for you to solve. The object of the game is to solve each room in the minimum number of moves, so as to attain the highest possible score. S T A R T I N G C Y B E R B O X To run CyberBox from the MS-DOS command line, switch to the directory that contains the file CYBERBOX.EXE and type "CYBERBOX". If your display is monochrome, type "CYBERBOX /m" instead. The "/m" switch forces two-color output and will, of course, work on a color display. Regardless of whether you use the "/m" switch, your machine must have a VGA adaptor capable of 640x480 display in order for CyberBox to run. EGAVGA.BGI must be in the directory from which Cyberbox is executed. P L A Y I N G T H E G A M E CyberBox consists of sixteen (actually I lied; seventeen) unique "rooms." Each room is simply a 15x10 layout of boxes and blank spaces. There are several different kinds of boxes; the title screen which you see when you run the program briefly explains the function of each kind of box. Press any key at the title screen to enter the first room. The robot which you're in control of appears at the bottom center of the screen. Ok, so it looks more like a small circle. It is a small circle. This circle can only make four distinct moves: up, down, left, and right. Make these moves by pressing the arrow keys (or 2,4,6, and 8 on the numeric keypad) in the desired direction. The object of each room is simply to get to the exit. The exit is the passageway located above the very top center tile. Once you reach the exit of a room, you immediately enter the next room. Invariably, you will have to maneuver boxes in such a way that you: 1. avoid trapping yourself, 2. avoid losing access to the exit, and 3. do what is necessary to make the exit accessible. Every room has at least one solution. However, it's easy for the actions of your robot to make winning the room an impossibility. If you trap yourself or lose access to the exit, you have no choice but to hit the "R" key to retry the level from the beginning. The computer will not tell you when you are trapped: this drawback is not only a hard thing to correct in the program, but it adds challenge to the game. When you discover that you cannot possibly get to the exit passageway during a level, hitting "R" will give you another shot. Be careful, though. You only have 5 attempts. The number of remaining attempts is displayed at the top of the screen. Experiment with the sliders and blockers in the first level to get a feel for the game. The boxes are described in detail below: SLIDERS: Sliders appear as boxes with arrowheads pointing in various directions. These boxes can be pushed out of the way by your robot if there's nothing preventing this from happening. There are three kinds of sliders: up/down sliders (yellow), left/right sliders (blue), and up/down/left/right sliders (green). BLOCKERS: Blockers appear as red X'd out boxes. These can not be pushed, and furthermore nothing can be pushed into them. The walls which surround the 15x10 room (except at the exit) act like blockers. PUSHERS: Pushers appear as cyan boxes with inscribed triangles. These boxes make the game more dynamic; they are the only boxes which can move themselves. They exert a constant force in the direction that they point. If it is possible to push the block to which a pusher points, it will do so. Otherwise, it will act like a blocker in that it cannot be moved nor pushed against by other blocks. Sound confusing? Pushers do not appear in the first few rooms. Once you've encountered them you'll understand how they work. ZAPPERS: Zappers appear as purple boxes with inscribed triangles with inscribed circles. These boxes act as blockers, except that when you approach them from behind (the base of the inscribed triangle) and push, you will be transported instantly to the square in front of the zapper IF IT IS EMPTY. These do not appear in the earlier rooms. SELECTORS: These are perhaps the most confusing boxes, but they're not that bad. They appear in the later levels as white frames. Selectors cannot be pushed by your robot, but CAN be pushed by other blocks. In order to move them, then, you will have to use sliders. Normal selectors can be walked through by your robot as if they were blank spaces, but others (X'd out white frames) cannot be walked through and act like blockers in this sense. You can move more than one box at a time only if every box in that series of boxes can be legally moved. Experiment. You'll get the idea. I hope. The following additional rules apply: 1. Boxes cannot be pushed into the exit passage. It's too small, see? 2. Only you (the robot) can be transported via the zappers, not other boxes. Similarly, only tokens can go through normal selector boxes. And remember, the space in front of a zapper must be free in order for you to be able to use it. S C O R I N G The game ends when you 1. finish the sixteenth (actually seventeenth) room, 2. run out of attempts, or 3. hit the ESC key to quit the program. At this time you will be presented with a score report. You earn 200 points for every room completed and 50 points for every attempt you had left when the game ended. For every single move you made during the course of the game, valid or invalid, a point is subtracted. You can therefore maximize your score by finding the absolute shortest path for each room. My highest score is 2492, but I think it's possible to score as high as 2500. S H A R E W A R E N O T I C E January 1, 1997 This game can be distributed freely (with all and only all files included in the .ZIP archive). If you enjoy the game, you are encouraged to register. You can do so by sending a check for $3, $12, or $15, made out to Palmetto Bay Publishing to the following address: 旼컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴커 � Cyberbox Registration � � PALMETTO BAY PUBLISHING � � 40 Club Course Drive � � Hilton Head, SC 29928 � 읕컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴켸 Registration at $12 or $15 entitles you to the following: 1. Two popular Palmetto Bay logic puzzle games, Cyberbox II and Fiddle, a game of visualization. 2. a small puzzle game called Gripple. 3. the source code in C to all of these programs. 4. Support for my software over the Internet and mail. Registration at $3 entitles you only to support for Cyberbox. The price of the package including the additional software is $12 plus $3 materials and handling. If you send only $12, you will be mailed a World Wide Web URL on which you can download the registered version. If you send the full $15, you will be mailed the software on 3.5" diskette. You can find a form for registering all of Palmetto Bay's software on its Web home page at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dougb/pb/ I have changed addresses many times in the last few years. If you have sent me a registration to my pre-Palmetto Bay address and received no response, please let me know! I will gladly have the software sent out to you or refund your donation. Send me email at dougb+@cs.cmu.edu. O T H E R S T U F F Turbo C++ is copyright (C) 1990 by and is a registered trademark of Borland International, Inc. CyberBox is not copyright (C) 1991 by Doug Beeferman and is not a registered trademark of anyone. Steal it freely. It's a stupid name.