Mon Jun 16 10:21:23 EDT 1980

	GAMES EXPORT                (c) psl N.Y.C. 1979

Directories expected are:
.       Contains miscellaneous games
./EMP   Contains Empire
./FF    Contains Fast Food
./ST    Contains Star_Drek
./WAND  Contains Wander

Many of these games use the standard I/O package, (D. M. Ritchie, "A New
Input-Output Package"), residing in /lib/libS.a for portability.  If you
don't have it -- get it.


The miscellaneous games have had relatively little effort put into their
portability but are simple, single-module programs that should be easy to
implement on any system.  Many subroutines are called from our /lib/libP.a,
(-lP in the compile instructions, `P' for `Peter'), which is included.

gomoku      Supposedly oriental game that falls somewhere between "go" and
	    "tic-tac-toe" in complexity, [what game doesn't?], and form of
	    play.  "gom_txt" contains user documentation which the program
	    will spit out as instructions.
oracle      Have you ever given a snazzy demo only to have your victim say,
	    "Let's ask the computer what the meaning of life is!" or some
	    such?  Well, now you have a way out of that one; ask the oracle!
oxo         This is the game of Reversi, aka Othello.  A prior version of
	    this program took the booby prize in the First International
	    Unix Reversi/Othello competition in Toronto, Canada, (wait 'til
	    next year).  This version is smarter and has many options,
	    check the "oxo.nr" file for details.
	    Oxo uses the fact that our terminals can open and close lines
	    on the screen, causing the bottom part of the screen to scroll
	    down or up.  You'll have to tinker a little if yours doesn't
	    or else exercise the "T" option.
	    NOTE: the definition of "timestr" should be examined.
mastermind  I'm told that the Israeli postman who "invented" this game is
	    now a millionaire.  The computer plays both sides of the game
	    and smirks whenever it can.
bog         Parker Bros. call it "boggle" and I'm sure make millions on it.
	    They've recently come out with "super-boggle", (5x5 instead
	    of 4x4), this version gives you everything from "micro-bog),
	    (2x2), to "extra-super-industrial-size-bog", (8x8).
beasts      Another rewrite of an old, tired game, ("animals"), that I
	    just couldn't resist.
grams       An infuriating game based on anagrams and competitiveness.
	    Like "bog", this is the result of finding a nice word list
	    on the computer.  I'm working on a version that uses a really
	    BIG word list but it's still cooking...

The other four games, Empire, Fast Food, Star_Drek and Wander, have had much
more effort spent on portability, (believe it or not), because they are much
more easily embroiled in system dependencies.  Several system-dependent
decisions have to be made to implement the export versions, including
whether or not the destination system has the empty() system call, (which
returns 1 when a read on a given file handle would hang waiting for input),
and whether or not the system has the tell() system call, (which returns
the current byte offset in a given file).  For this reason Star_Drek is
provided with both "empty" and "no empty" versions, (see ./st/READ_ME for
details), and Wander is provided with both "ftell" and "no ftell" versions,
(described in ./wand/READ_ME).

Empire is a global economic/political/military simulation game wherein
	players, representing national governments, make "real-time"
	decisions concerning resource allocation, national goals, inter-
	national diplomatic efforts, etc.

Fast Food is a Stock Market game that is loosely modeled after the commercial
	game "Acquire".  It is the newest addition to the games distribution.

Star_Drek is unrelated to the numerous "star-trek" games that abound except
	in inspiration.  It is a three-dimensional space game played in the
	volume of a four space toroid, [strictly speaking it is a three-space
	toroid in the same sense that a doughnut is a two-space toroid, but
	this sounds better].

Wander is a tool for writing non-deterministic stories.  An alternative
	statement is that it is a table driven equivalent of Adventure.
	The program strives to make as few assumptions as possible about
	the source material of the story and simply provides an interface
	to the description of settings, actions and consequences that make
	up a particular "world".  The input syntax that the "reader" or
	"player" uses is rather limited in that it can only handle a simple
	form of directive, (e.g. "read sign"), containing either a verb or
	verb-object pair.  However, the popularity of Adventure attests to
	the possibilities of this simple syntax.  Wander is constantly
	being broadened and improved, based largely on comments from
	both "authors" and "readers".

Each of these has a READ_ME file to fill in any details that I may have
glossed over in these short descriptions.

  HAVE FUN!

						Peter Langston
						New Permanent Wrinkle Bldg.
						127 W. 26th St.  11th Fl.
						New York, NY  10001
