Diamonds 1.2

by Jonah Cohen
E-mail: <ComAsYuAre@aol.com>
Webpage: http://members.xoom.com/ComAsYuAre/
ICQ UIN: 34197076
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  Diamonds is a breakout-like game with a twist: you are the ball.  Instead
of moving the paddle, you move the ball left and right to get certain
diamonds.  The object of the game is to get all the diamonds as fast as
possible.  There is a timed bonus, so the sooner you finish, the more points
you get.
  The blocks with crosses kill you.  The blocks with sorta random dots are
just obstacles (you can't break them).  The blocks that are half black
change the block mode to that type.  However, you start out being able to
break the thin-bordered blocks, and once you switch modes, you can't switch
back without dying.  You get the blocks with the thick border last.  The
double-arrow block reverses left and right.  Also, there is a lock and key;
you can't get through any locks until you get a key (one key opens all locks
on that level).  You get an extra life every 400 points.
  All levels to Diamonds are external.  An on-calc level editor (dle) has been
included with this zip file, and the documentation for how to use it is in
dle.txt.  The standard level set (dlevels) has also been included in the zip.
Note the levels from version 1.0 are incompatible with the new version of
Diamonds.


Controls at title screen:
F1 - start playing
up/down - switch starting level #
F2 - switch speed
F3 - switch level set
exit - quit

Controls in game:
right/left - steer ball
2nd - shutdown
more - pause.  +/- to adjust contrast while paused.
clear - lose life
exit - back to title screen

New in version 1.2:
- Increased delays because I felt they really weren't doing their job before
- Added that snazzy new split-screen effect.  The idea is credited with David
  Phillips (david@acz.org)
- Implemented double-buffering so that hopefully the ball won't be so
  invisible.  I know it's still quite faint, but you can always crank up the
  contrast.
- Various internal modifications which I can't think of at the moment...

New in version 1.1:
- Added shutdown and clear keys
- Added a delay at the start of each level so you don't plow straight into a
  cross repeatedly
- Fixed a loading bug which messed up some levels
- High score and initials are now stored in each level (old levels are
  incompatible)
- Added new block: reverses controls!
- There is also an easter egg in this version!  A hint: what do I (Jonah C.)
  and Joe W. (author of many other versions of diamonds) share in common?


  Thanks to my beta testers: Ahmed El-helw (ahmed@ticalc.org), Danny from ZAPO
(idanny99@aol.com), and Patrick Heringer (patrickjh6@aol.com), for their
debugging, suggestions, and overall motivation :-)  It would've been hard to
do it without them.
  Thanks to Tim Redmond (Quija13@aol.com) for good advice on new features.  He
is also accredited with the idea for the easter egg (well, him and Joe
Wingbermuehle).
  Also thanks to David Phillips (david@acz.org) and Matt Johnson (matt@acz.org)
for their wonderful tutorials on 86 central, as well as the several routines
posted there which I totally ripped :P
  And, of course, thanks to Joe Wingbermuehle (joewing@calc.org) for his TI-89
version which this is based on.

  E-mail me with any comments, questions, bug reports, suggestions, etc. which
you may have.

-Jonah Cohen