From: ij59@vaxb.acs.unt.edu
Subject: Rules for Flag Capture-TI
Organization: University of North Texas
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 02:15:03 GMT

Heh.  Well, it seems I posted Flag Capture-TI without much in the way of
instructions, so here they are:

*The game is played by 2 human players.

*There are currently 3 player icons programmed.  Feel free to add more or modify
them.  (PrgmQ:DRPL.FLG)  Currently, Player 1 is set as as icon "S" (for Scott,
this is my personal icon).  It is a stick figure.  Icon "K" is a skull (for
my brother, Kenneth, by his request) and icon "J" is a 'J', for my brother
Jeff (also by request).  Feel free to personalize them or add other letters
(check for enough memory though) Icon "K" is set for player 2.  Icon "J" will
not be used unless DRPL.FLG is modified.  (The beginning of the prgm is set
off from the rest for reading ease and modification.)

*There are currently two flags programmed, Japanese and U.S.A.  Since I'm
an anime fan and interested in Japan, the Japanese flag is currently
set to player 1 which is also set to icon "S," since the last game
I played had me as player 1.  Player 2 is set to the U.S. flag. 
See PrgmL:FLAG.FLG if you want to change the settings.

The game is played as follows:

1) 2 human players
2) The object is to find the flag, hidden on the 12x8 grid.
3) The players take turns selecting squares on the screen to move to and
   investigate.  Selection is done via a cross-hair on the game grid.
4) Once the icon has moved to the square, it will be revealed as either
   a number, an arrow, a bomb, or the flag.
5) The numbers represent the distance between the player and the
   flag.   Since a diagonal move is the same as a normal one, this number
   does not represent actual distance, but rather, the number of "moves"
   to the flag; a diagonal move is the same as any other.  This is an
   intentional factor of the game.
6) An "arrow" is actually a direction description (ran out of memory for
   drawing actual arrows).  If the "arrow" is diagonal, the
   flag is not necessarily directly diagonal to the player; it is simply
   not directly north, south, east, or west.
7) A bomb sends the player back to his starting place.  This doesn't really
   penalize the player because of the location change (other than if you
   forget where you were) but it does mean no useful information was 
   found on that turn.
8) When the flag is found, that round is over.  Currently, the game plays
   until one player wins ten times.  (Modify the line "If 10=C[6,P" in
   PrgmP:MAIN.FLG to change the number.  The "10" can be changed to whatever
   you want.)

Notes:
   This game is based on the old Atari VCS (2600) game "Flag Capture."  In
fact, it is because of this that the game plays as it does.  Since, on any one
turn, a player can move anywhere on the screen, the actual position of the
"players" is irrelevant except as a reminder of the last place you checked. 
Furthermore, the "walking" of the players to the selected square is also
irrelevant.  The bombs don't really cause any severe penalty since moving you
back to your home location doesn't hamper your movement.  The reason for all of
this silliness has to do with how the 2600 game plays and how much my brothers
wanted this game to mimic it.  In the 2600 game, there is a real-time version
of the game, in which how fast you can get to a certain location and a bomb
that sends you back to start are _very_ crucial to the game.  (There is also
a take-turns version on the 2600 game.)  Because of repeated requests to
remain as faithful to the orignal as possible, the game acts as it does.
If someone would like to modify/rewrite this is into a simpler, non-animated,
non icon-graphic "pick-a-square-and-it-just-tells-you-what's-there" version,
feel free to post it here for people that would like to be able to fit
more on their TI-81 than just one game.

 ________    _______              _         ________     ____
|______  |  |_____  |            | |       |________|   |____|
      / /         | |  _  _   _  |  \       ________    ______   _______
     /  \         | | |_||_| / / |   \     |________|  |____  | |_______|
    / /\ \   _____| |   ____/ /  | |\ \     ________       / /
   /_/  \_\ |_______|  |_____/   |_| \/    |________|     /_/
 
        |  Nippon no anime wa ichi-ban desu!  Otaku rule!    |
        |      Hey, man, I _like_ Robotech.  So sue me.      |
        | Sukotto Miraa/Scott Miller (ij59@vaxb.acs.unt.edu) |