From: jdavis@husc13.harvard.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games,comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Announcing the second 'bot tournament
Date: 21 Jul 92 18:38:06 GMT
Article-I.D.: husc13.1992Jul21.143807.14023
Organization: Harvard University Science Center

Announcing the second 'bot tournament!

(For those of you who don't know what 'bot is, I'll include a brief
description and information on how to get it at the bottom of this message.)

This will be a free tournament open to anyone at all.  If you're not a
registered user, we will assume that you're using your 30-day trial period;
however, future tournaments might not be open to unregistered users.  The
only prize for this tournament is the thrill of victory and the admiration
of your peers.  The results of the tournament will be mailed to all entrants
(and I'll post them to comp.sys.mac.games too), and all entered bots will
be made available to whoever wants them (see below).

The tournament will have three separate entry levels:

1)  1000-point bots, in 2-bots-at-a-time combat.

2)  1000-point bots, in 5-bots-at-a-time combat.

3)  1250-point bots, in 5-bots-at-a-time combat.

The point values above are maximums.  The tournament will be run with
'bot 1.5.  Bots should be created under version 1.5, but bots from version
1.0.2 are acceptable and should run without any real problems.  However,
if you're using 1.0.2, I urge you to grab 1.5 as it's far faster than 1.0.2
was (which was faster than its competitor programs to start with ;-)

I will enter my best 1000-point bot in tournament #2, and I'll release the
.bot file at the tournament's end.

To submit a bot (or bots) for the tournament, mail your *source code file*
(the one that doesn't end with ".bot") to me at jdavis@husc3.harvard.edu.
Please binhex the file first (binhex is available by ftp from
sumex-aim.stanford.edu).  There should be a comment at the top of the program
with your name, email address, and which tournament you want the bot to be
in.  You may enter the same bot in more than one tournament if you wish.

By default, after the tournament I will release the ".bot" file of your
entry, and *not* the code file.  If you want the code released to the world,
or if you *don't* want the ".bot" file released, please say so in the header
comment of your program.

Deadline for entries is Tuesday, July 28 at 11:59 PM.

One last thing:  There is a limit of one entry per person per tournament
(for a total of three per person).  However, registered users will be
allowed to submit two entries per tournament if they wish.

Have fun, and remember: Anyone can enter without obligation.

Jason Davis and David Chait
Future Generation Software
jdavis@husc3.harvard.edu

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'bot is a game wherein you design and program robots to battle each
other in an arena.  The user has complete control over the architecture
of the robot, ranging from armament to durability to repair.  You can
program in either of two languages: 'bot Basic, which is an amalgam of
HyperTalk, Basic, and Pascal; or 'bot Assembly, for more experienced
programmers.

This new version of 'bot offers significantly faster combats (2 to 4
times faster), an improved text editor, and a full run-time debugging
environment, among other enhancements.

'bot requires System 6.0 on any machine from a Plus on up (version 1.0
required System 6.0.7 on MacII-series computers).  It is fully compatible
with MultiFinder and System 7.0, which allow battles and tournaments to
be run in the background.  Even under MultiFinder, it can run on a Mac
with only 1MB of memory.

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The current version of 'bot is 1.5.  It is available by anonymous ftp
from husc12.harvard.edu and finer ftp sites everywhere (including
sumex-aim.stanford.edu).

If you don't have ftp access, you can have a copy of the game mailed to
you by sending email to jdavis@husc8.harvard.edu with a *subject* line of
SEND BOT
This file is a 475K Binhexed archive, and it includes the documentation
and tutorial in MacWrite format.  The archive is self-extracting, so you
only need the BinHex program to get the game.  Note that the address above
is *not* my normal mail address (jdavis@husc3.harvard.edu).

Thanks for the bandwidth,

Future Generation Software