Program:	Rows
Author:	Don Howard
Email:	MDHoward99@AOL.com
Port:	?
Version:	1.0.0
System:	TI-82 BASIC
Released:	12-17-98 (decided I was done with it)
Size:	2416 bytes for programs (additional 3122 bytes minimum needed to play)
Files:	ROWS, *RCLEAR, *WINDOW (* means theta) these are the programs needed

Overview:

Rows was originally going to be columns, just horizontal (get it?! HA!) but while making the game I became confused...I accidentally got the rules mixed up with a game called Skittles on my Mac! Imagine my embarassment! But I decided to finish it just the way it was, regardless of the fact that the name no longer applied! Long story short: This is like Kirby's Avalanche (Puyo Puyo in Japan) or Skittles on the Mac or any other game where you drop blocks and try to get 4 to touch!

Objective:

Drop pieces consisting of 3 numbers (1-5). If four touch they disappear, give you points, and drop any pieces on top of them (actually to the left). Your goal is to get as many points as possible. Do this by making chain reactions (clear one group and some numbers fall into another group of 4 and they disappear). The bigger the chain, the more points (It's not as much as it originally was going to be since I decided having points grow exponentially with the number of chains would be too crazy!) . Don't let any pieces go outside the game area or you lose. That's it! It seems  simple, but trying to create the biggest chain you can.

Actual Game Play:

A .bmp image should be included with this file called "RowsMain.bmp"
Well, you have the main play area. This is where the action occurs. Pieces fall and disappear if 4 of a kind touch sides. To the right you have the arrow indicating which row is selected for the piece to drop in. The "CURRENT:" and "000" to the right of that indicate your current piece to be dropped. The "NEXT:" box is obvious. Then you have your "POINTS:"And then the Status box which tells what's going on ("Checking", "Clearing", "Dropping") At the very bottom (the last two rows which are blank) are where your time available and time left bars are. The 2nd row from the bottom indicates how long you have until the piece drops by itself. The line below it is the row "height." if your time left bar drops below this one, this piece drops! Beware: the time left bar goes faster the higher the level! (I decided to use the bar system in order to preserve SOME speed for the game; it would be too slow if I drew the piece falling!)

Controls:

Use the arrows to do everything you would expect (up/down moves arrow up/down). Left and Right will rotate the current piece numbers left and right. 2nd drops the peice. Enter will pause. That's it! I strongly recomend that you DO NOT PRESS THE ON BUTTON TO QUIT! You should never do this with any program! Doing so will leave all lists and matrices filled. Quiting from the pause menu will delete the lists and matrices that were used. It will also reset your graph window settings to their previous state (before the game began).

Thanks to:

Everyone who supported me during development (which is just about nobody!).
The makers of Puyo Puyo, Kirby's Avalanche, and Skittles for your inspiration (if my game is breaking any laws for plajarism or anything Email me!).
The maker of Insane Game (sorry don't remember the name!) because without your game I would never have known how to do that spread/clear thingy I used for the clearing of pieces.
Everyone who worships me as a god (I can't think of any but there must be someone who does!).
And my friends, just for being there: Brandon, Vincent, Russell and all you other guys who support my work!

Programming Junk:

This game was made using the BASIC language built into all TI-82's. It uses almost all reals, Lists 1-5, Matrices A-C, GDB6 and that should be it.  If you want the actual programming code just email me at MDHoward99@AOL.com

If you have any questions, comments, bugs, complaints, suggestions, etc. that somehow pertains to my game please Email me! Once again it's MDHoward99@AOL.com

!!NOTE!!: This address will not work after fall of '99!!! I should change this document then but who knows?!

Thanks for trying Rows and stay tuned for the upcoming release of Puyo!