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BattleShip v1.3 for PalmPilot
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(c) 1997-1998 by H.R.Graf


Play BattleShip against your Pilot!

The well-known game of seeking and destroying ships in a battlefield now
available on Pilot. Provides an easy and fast user interface, flexible board
size, free number and length of ships, improved computer opponent, optional
acoustic feedback, game statistics, free and full functional program!


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Introduction
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Welcome to the third release of BattleShip! This is the adaptation of a well-
known 2 player game, usually played on paper. Now you may play it against your
Pilot.


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General Game Description
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After both players have placed a certain number of ships on their battlefields
(actually a grid), they try to find and destroy the opponent's ships. To do
so, they alternate by shooting to fields. As long as one hits a target, he is
allowed to continue. The one, who first destroys all of the other's ships,
wins.

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BattleShip Setup
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First, the player is asked to set up the game options:

The "board size" defines the width and height of the battlefield.

The "game level" option allows you to specify, how strong Pilot is playing.
Select "medium" for standard play (pretty clever now!), while "easy" is for
beginners only. If you still need a harder challenge, select "hard", which
enables the very special artificial intelligence algorithm for Pilot...
(i.e. this enables a small probability of cheating - are you still able to
beat the computer?!)

With "display switching", you set the behavior of display alerts and the
automatic battlefield switching. Start with "slow" and change it eventually
in your next game. (In "fast" mode, everything goes faster and editor
warnings are not shown anymore. Select "manual", if you do not like
automatic display switching at all.)

The "sound" option enables additional, simple acoustic feedback.

Press "done" to continue with the battlefield editor.


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BattleShip Field Editor
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Now it is time to initialize your battlefield. You may place as many ships in
the grid as you like. Anyway, do not put too many ships, since the game play
gets boring. Afterwards, Pilot will place the same number and length of ships
as you define now.

A ship is either a horizontal or vertical line, respective a single dot. You
place it by tapping to the start position in the battlefield, and drag (while
still holding the pen down) to the end position, where you release the pen. If
the orientation and position is okay, the ship is then drawn. Otherwise, an
appropriate warning alert is shown (if not in "fast" mode).

There are some restrictions to place a ship: Ships may not be placed side by
side. There has to remain at least one single, empty field between two ship's
edges. But it is okay, if two ships touch each other just over corners. Think
of it as if you always should be able to distinguish two ships from each other
clearly, not forming a bigger ship nor a indictable conglomerate.

Anyway, Pilot only allows you to place ships according to these rules and
shows a warning otherwise. Since placing ships works that easily and fast,
there is no way to undo or remove a single ship. If you have really messed up
your strategic ship placement, you may select the "reset" button to remove all
the ships from the battlefield and restart again.

Alternatively, you may select the "random" button, to generate a battlefield
even more easily. Repeat pressing this button until you are happy with the
computer generated configuration.

Tap on "done" if you feel content with the actual battlefield design. Pilot
then creates its own battlefield, according to your configuration, and
switches to the main game view, where it is always your turn to start.


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BattleShip (Game View)
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During the game, there is always one battlefield shown. You may switch between
your own battlefield ("player") or Pilot's battlefield ("pilot") by tapping on
the appropriate selector button at the bottom. Logically, you will shoot into
Pilot's battlefield, which is initially drawn empty, since you do not know,
where it placed the ships. To find out, how many and how long ships you have
to find, switch to your battlefield definition, since Pilot used the same
configuration.

As you shoot by tapping on the desired position in the battlefield, a display
pops up and informs you about the success. If you just hit water, Pilot will
shoot next. Otherwise it is still your turn and you are allowed to continue to
shoot. A not yet completely destroyed ship is drawn gray, where as a destroyed
ship is marked black. Missed shots are displayed with a small point in that
field to avoid shooting to the same field twice.


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Menu
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To start a new game, access the menu and select "new game" (or write "n").
This command is available even during a running game and enables you to abort
it. (In case you cannot stand loosing against Pilot!)
Change the game options with command "options" (or write "o"), without
aborting the currently active game.

Additional, you may view the copyright disclaimer by choosing the "about"
command from the menu (or write "a") or the auto-recorded game statistics
("statistics" or write "s").


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Game Options
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Allows you to change the game setup options even during a game, i.e. computer
opponent skill, display switching or optional sound. But it is not possible to
change the board size anymore - this requires a new game.


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Game Statistics
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Keeps track how you play! There are 3 sections, providing information about
winning games, shoot statistics and the time spent playing BattleShip so far!
You may even reset the first two sections by selecting "reset" instead of
"done".


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Copyright Disclaimer (Postcard-Ware)
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I call this program "Postcard-Ware" which means:

You may copy this program free of any charge together with this
documentation. Since I do program the Pilot as a hobby, I do not need to
get money for it. But it is not released into public domain, i.e. I still
own the copyright for it.

However, if you like this program, please contribute by sending a postcard to:

Hans-Rudolf Graf
Kosakenweg 8
8052 Zurich
Switzerland

See, I like to get old-fashioned mail! Don't you think this program is great
and is worth this little favor? Furthermore, a good feedback motivates me to
improve this program or to create additional programs for the Pilot.

I built this program with gcc for Pilot. I like the idea, that Pilot users
help each other in making Pilot an even better system, by providing free
software for everyone. Even I spent some time in creating this program, it was
fun and I do not ask for money. If everybody does the same, we will enjoy
Pilot even more. I do not like shareware so much, for which you should pay for
even little use or get serious limitations in functionality. Postcard-Ware
also means: There are no disturbing copyright messages, nor annoying delays,
and no limitations in functionality neither.

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Standard Legal Disclaimer
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BattleShip is provided as-is with no warranties expressed or implied. You use
this software at your own risk.

This release of BattleShip has been tested, and is stable and functional, on a
PalmPilot Professional running PalmOS 2.0.4 Pro.


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History
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v1.3: third public release, 1/26/1998
* random battlefield generator for lazy players

v1.2: skipped version, due to name conflicts with another battleship app.

v1.1: second public release, 1/19/1998
* improved computer opponent
* user interface enhancements
* game statistics
* optional sound

v1.0: first public release, 12/18/1997
* computer opponent (3 levels)
* easy graphical user interface
* configurable boardsize, number and length of ships


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Future Enhancements
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I am pretty happy with the current version, but think of the following
improvements:
- better graphics display of the battlefields
- even better computer player who "learns" opponents strategy of placing
ships (by recording hit statistics to generate a probability map of the
battlefield)

What is your opinion? Feel free to contact me for any suggestions or any error
reports. Also, tell me your strategy to win agains the Pilot, if you are able
to do so!


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Enjoy!

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