                                 Bacteria War
                              by Brian W. Brown


Welcome to Bacteria War!  Bacteria War is a game of microscopic warfare
between two competing strains of bacteria.  The game board is a grid of
cells in healthy tissue, and the bacteria work to capture as much of the
healthy tissue as possible.  The strain that captures the most territory
wins.


                            ** About the Game **

My OS/2 version of Bacteria War is based on similar games that have
appeared in various places, such as the arcade game ATAXX and as the
"Microscope Puzzle" in the DOS CD-ROM game The 7th Guest.  I made it
simple and fast, in the hopes that people would treat it like Minesweeper --
that is, nothing big, bulky and fancy, but a game you can bring up and
play a quick round or two to take a break from working on your paper or
coding that annoying subroutine.

It is a full 32-bit, multithreaded PM application, and it is "well-behaved."
That means I wrote it so it would not take over the system while you are
playing.  Too many programs are sloppily written, probably due to the
influence of Microsoft Windows, where the hour-glass pointer is all too
common.  Not so here.  Even while the computer is thinking, you can do
other things, including changing the options for the current game!


                         ** Rules and How to Play **

The board is made up of a grid of cells, each of which may be empty (healthy),
or contain a bacteria of either strain, red or green.  You play red, the
computer plays green.  A move consists of a single bacteria of your color
performing an action, which can be either a divide or a jump.  When a bacteria
divides, it splits to create a "child" bacteria in a (previously empty)
adjacent cell.  This is how new bacteria are created.  The other type of
move that a bacteria can make is a jumping move.  It leaves the cell it was
previously occupying, and jumps to an empty cell exactly two cells away in
any direction (including diagonals).  A new bacteria is not created when
a jump is made.

When a bacteria moves into an empty cell, either by dividing or jumping,
that is next to one or more enemy bacteria, it "captures" those cells as
well, taking them over from the enemy.  The game is sort of like Reversi
in this sense, and is where the real challenge and strategy comes into
play.  If you did not understand my description of the rules, just go play
the game a few times.  You will figure it out quickly.

To move a bacteria, simply click on it with the mouse (left button), and
drag it to where you want it moved.  Before you pick up a piece, the mouse
pointer will tell you if you can pick up the bacteria in the cell.  If you
cannot, the pointer will be an "X".  If you can, it will be a hand.  When
you pick it up, the pointer will show you where you can move that piece.
It will be an "X" if it cannot be moved there, it will be a double-circle
if moving there would be a dividing move, and it will be a single-circle
if moving there would be a jumping move.  While the computer is thinking
about its move, the pointer will be a light bulb.

The game is over when one player cannot move.  If there are any empty cells
on the board at this time, they will be automatically filled by the player
that has those cells surrounded.  After the board is completely full, the
number of bacteria belonging to each player is totaled, and the player with
the most bacteria on the board wins.


                                ** Options **

The options window allows you to customize your game play.  You can select
how difficult the game should be, the size of the board, and the type of
board.  If you chose a board type other than the standard board, there will
be a pattern of barriers on the board.  No bacteria can move into these
barriers; they will remain empty the entire game.  However, they can be
jumped over.

Click on the OK button to accept the settings.  Clicking on the CANCEL
button will leave the settings as they were before.


                             ** Whateverware **

This program is Whateverware.  You don't have to pay me any money to register
it like shareware, but I would like to hear from you.  Send me a quick
e-mail.  Tell me what you like, what you don't like, or just say "I am
using your program."

I am also going to try an experiment.  While I require no registration or
payment for use of the program, I am offering a registration option.  The
cost of registration is one dollar ($1.00).  I will obviously not make any
money off of this, I just want to see how many people will actually register.
Registered users will be notified of any upgrades and new products.

So, here are the rules for registering:

- Send me a buck via snail-mail.
- Include your e-mail address.

The cost of registering without an e-mail address is $100.00.  In other words,
don't do it.  I will stay in contact with all registered users through
e-mail only.

How to reach me:

Brian W. Brown
303 S.W. Arbor St.
Pullman, WA  99163

e-mail:  bbrown@eecs.wsu.edu

Both of these will be valid through December 1995.  After that, I can't
guarantee anything.


                             ** Legal Garbage **

This program is Copyright 1995 by Brian W. Brown.  All rights reserved.

The program may be freely distributed, provided that  1) All files remain
unaltered (with the exception of compression and bundling for distribution)
and are packaged together, and  2) The program is not sold for profit
without the express written consent of the author.  A minimal distribution
fee may be charged to cover the cost of media and shipping.  This should
conform to current Shareware guidelines for distribution fees.

The author has made every effort to ensure that the program is safe and
will not cause problems on any system that it is run on.  However, no
warranty is implied.  Use this program at your own risk; the author is
not responsible for and damage caused, directly or indirectly, by its use.

Registration of the program does not change any of the above statements,
including, but not limited to, implied warranties.  The author is furthermore
not responsible for lost or missing registration fees, or any money sent
as payment for registration.  This applies particularly to attempts at
registration that do not follow the guidelines specified in this document.

The intent of these legal specifications is to absolve the author of any
responsibility associated with the use of this product.  Any use or situation
not specifically addressed shall still be applied in the same manner, that
is, in absolving the author of all responsibility.
