138 lines
6.0 KiB
Plaintext
138 lines
6.0 KiB
Plaintext
GShisen ***
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Freeware by Kelvin Sherlock
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requires System 6.0.1 running on 1.25MB or larger Apple IIgs
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an accelerator board is recommended
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Like the West's playing cards, the beautiful tiles of China's Mahjongg
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just naturally inspire many uses. Thanks to Activision, one such
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application, Shanghai, has entertained us for countless hours since its
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release back in 1986. Battling the game's Dragon formations is a fine
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challenge; but, many dedicated players have, long ago, put away their
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cyber tiles. It is time for a new kind of formation and a new twist for
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the old challenge. So ... how about a nice game of Shisen?!
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Shisen, or, more correctly, "Shisen-Sho", uses all or most of the
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144-piece tile set. This can be the traditional Mahjongg design or, in
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GShisen, something new. As in Shanghai, you begin with a randomly
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generated arrangement and your goal is to clear the board of all tiles
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by matching and removing pairs. In Shisen, though, the tiles are formed
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into a single large rectangle.
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Sherlock's application includes the "Standard" set shown above and an
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"Alphabet" set. So far there is at least one new user-created design,
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"Nuggets" which appears below in the move examples pics. The player can
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switch tile sets at any time during a game.
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Dimensions of the game rectangle vary from implementation to
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implementation. The Shisen done for the K Desktop Environment presents
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a 14 x 10 pattern. As shown above, GShisen places all 144 tiles-- four
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each of 36 figures-- in an 18 x 8 rectangle. Along the bottom of the
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screen you have elapsed playing time, Game Number, games won/games
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attempted, and number of tiles left on the board. When the first tile
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of a pair is selected its place darkens and a copy appears on the
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bottom of the screen to remind you which tile needs to be matched.
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Most likely, you've already guessed that Shisen's rules for matching
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and removing tiles are different from Shanghai's. In Shisen, creating
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matches depends upon making connections.
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You can remove any two identical tiles which can be connected by an
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imaginary line which does not pass through any other tile. The catch is
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that the line must have no more than three horizontal or vertical
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segments. So, any two identical tiles on a side-- like the
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Six-Blue-Spot tiles in the full screen pic-- are an 'obvious' match. As
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shown in the Game C pic, distance does not matter.
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Since all of this is happening on your GS, you just need to click
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tiles. The computer checks to see that a connection is possible. If it
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is, your GS draws the line, there's a THOOP sound, and the tiles
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disappear.
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Of course, you can connect tiles using fewer than three segments. The
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side by side Five-Brown-Spot tiles in Game A could be clicked and
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removed. In Game C, a two-segment connect would get rid of the Knight
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tiles once that pesky Apple tile is gone; but, alas, the Apple tiles
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can not yet be connected. Happily, you discover that once the
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Two-Diamond tiles are gone, the Beetle tiles will go, and, then, a
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three-segment connect will take care of the Knights!
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Such are your concerns when taking on Shisen. As in Shanghai, Operation
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Lambda, Soko Ban, and other addictive logic games, the 'hook' is
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getting to stretch your mind in mastering a new skill. Exactly what the
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skill might be is unclear, though, evidently, it involves enhancing
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certain visualization and planning capabilities. Beyond this, about all
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one can say is that becoming expert feels good. Cracking a Shisen
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pattern, clearing the board, and winning is, definitely, fun!
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As might be expected in a program offering 34,463 randomly generated
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patterns, not every game is winnable. (In some 60-70 games, I've found
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three-- 4096, 4162, 3458-- which seem to be for-sure no-win patterns.)
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At first, my reaction was something like "No fair!" On the other hand,
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not being sure of winnability adds a touch of suspense; and, each claim
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of a no-win is sure to attract players looking for a way to crack the
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uncrackable pattern.
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GShisen starts with a 'randomly' selected game; but, you are free to
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end play and load any game you like by just entering its number. For
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tough, yet still winnable, challenges try 1973, 2432, 4095, or 25064.
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Your official reward for victory is getting a shot at having your Name
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and Time saved in the top ten Hall of Fame roster. Though having such a
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roster is a plus, limiting it to just the ten best times does not make
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sense. Since some patterns are considerably easier than others, the
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best times are going to be for the weakest challenges. The victories of
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which you are most proud may never be listed. A much better scheme
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would be to record best Time and Name for each pattern.
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GShisen comes with a docs file which explains game play and describes
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System requirements. An accelerator board is recommended mainly because
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it enables access to an automatic check for valid plays after each
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match. If the this feature is not active, you must click Check Moves,
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Suggest Move, or Show Matches in order to have the computer check that
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a valid play is available. When playing a difficult pattern, having the
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Auto Check is very nice indeed! Otherwise, GShisen executes fine on an
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unaccelerated IIgs.
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Rendered in colorful 640 mode super-res, Kelvin Sherlock's GShisen is
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as attractive and smooth-running as it is addictive. If your fingers
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have been itching for the touch of cyber tiles, this is your game. Just
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be sure to carve out a few hours before starting. To paraphrase the old
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potato chip commercial: "No one can play just one!"
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Rubywand, 1998
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*** is a rating of "Very Good"
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You can download GShisen from the A2-Delphi archive; for more info,
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check ...
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http://www.delphi.com/apple2/
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You can download the new GShisen "Nuggets" tile set from the Asimov-GS
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archive at ...
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ftp://apple.cabi.net/pub/applegs/Games/GShisen.stuff/Tiles/ .
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You can download a 'game fix' patch for the GShisen Hall of Fame prompts
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from the Asimov-GS archive at ...
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ftp://apple.cabi.net/pub/applegs/Games/GShisen.stuff/
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