Requires ST BASIC
Runs in low resolution only
This is a version of the popular board game
Othello. You play against the computer using the mouse to select
your moves. The player always plays with white counters and the
computer with black and each take alternate turns in placing one of
their counters on the board. A counter must be placed so that it and
another of the player's counters trap an unbroken line of the
opposing counters either up, down, left, right or diagonally. Any
runs which are trapped are then flipped over to the opposite colour.
Once the board is completely filled the game ends and the winner is
whoever has the most counters on the board. If at any time a counter
cannot be placed on the board, then the game is aborted.
THE PROGRAM
The program is written in ST BASIC. On running the
program you will be presented with a title screen on which there are
two choices 'Player Starts' and 'Computer Starts'. You can begin the
game by clicking on either of these with the mouse. When the game
begins the board will be drawn together with a message window and an
abort option. The message window displays whose turn it is and also
displays the scores at the end of the game. Clicking the abort
option will enable the player to abort the game on his turn, useful
if you can't make a move or you are getting thrashed!
On the player's turn, clicking a square on the
board will cause an attempt to place a player's piece in that
square. A counter may only be placed if the square is empty and
causes a run of the opposing counters to be flipped. If, on the
computer's turn, no move is possible, then a message is displayed
and the game aborted.
PROGRAMMER'S NOTES
One interesting point which arose during the
writing of the program was that, if the desktop accessories were
booted up with BASIC, then these actually alter some of the colour
registers. In order to overcome this problem the colour registers
should be set from within the program. This is done by the following
code:
poke contrl,14: poke contrl +
2,0: poke contrl + 6,4
poke intin,cr
poke intin + 2,143*r: poke intin + 4,143*g:poke intin + 6,143*b
vdisys(1)
where cr is the colour register (0 to 15) and r,
g, b are the intensities of red, green and blue respectively in the
range 0 to 7. Refer to the code starting at line 1410 for an
example.
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