Blobs for Windows 1.0 b2 Readme

System Requirements

Blobs requires a Windows 95 or NT 4 system (or higher)
This version of Blobs for Windows uses large graphics, which will quickly
overrun the screen at 640x480.  Running in at least 800x600 is recommended.
Blobs uses very little in the way of system memory and resources.


Installation

Blobs will run from any directory.  However, you may need certain DLLs to
run Blobs.  If you get a message saying a required DLL is missing, check the
Blobs website (http://www.esglabs.com/blobs/) for the DLL pack.  Copy the
DLL you are missing to either the \WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ directory or the directory
with Blobs.  (Once Blobs has a proper installer, this problem will go away.)


Playing Blobs

Blobs is a simple strategy board game.  Up to 4 players compete to take over
the board.  On your turn you may move one blob one or two spaces in any
direction (including diagonally and knight's or L-shaped moves).  If you
move anywhere within the squares directly surrounding your blob, you keep
your original blob.  If you move two spaces, your blob jumps to the new
square.  In either case, you capture any enemy blobs in the ring surrounding
the space to which you move.  Here's a couple sample moves:


  abcde
1 11.22   1 = Player 1's Blobs
2 11.22   2 = Player 2's Blobs
3 ..X..   . = Empty Squares
4 2..11   X = Blocked Square (nobody can move here)
5 22..1

Player 1 moves from b2 to a3:

  abcde
1 11.22   1 = Player 1's Blobs
2 11.22   2 = Player 2's Blobs
3 1.X..   . = Empty Squares
4 1..11   X = Blocked Square (nobody can move here)
5 22..1

Player 2 moves from b5 to b3:

  abcde
1 11.22   1 = Player 1's Blobs
2 22.22   2 = Player 2's Blobs
3 22X..   . = Empty Squares
4 2..11   X = Blocked Square (nobody can move here)
5 .2..1


For more help playing Blobs, choose Move Helper from the Help menu or press
Control-H.  The Move Helper uses the mouse cursor to show you what moves
are currently legal.  When the Move Helper is on and you do not have a
blob selected, the mouse cursor will be an arrow over your blobs and a
"No" symbol over other board squares.  When you select a blob, the cursor
will be an arrow over squares that blob can reach (and the blob you've
selected) and the "No" symbol over other squares.



The New Game dialog lets you select the size of the board (up to 16x16),
the number of players (2-4), and whether each player is Human or one of
4 AI difficulties.

Load and Save Game lets you save your game in progress and pick it up
where you left off.



Gameboards

A Blob Gameboard is a starting point for a game.  The New Game dialog can
only create games with a completely empty board and pieces in the four
corners.  You can create your own gameboards by entering Board Edit
Mode under the Edit menu (or press F11).

While in Board Edit Mode, you can click on a square of the gameboard to
switch to the next piece: Empty, Player 1-Player 4, and Blocked.  You can
also use the context menu (by default, the right mouse button) to select
what the square should be.

When in Board Edit Mode, the Save Game dialog will save the game as a
gameboard, and the Load Game dialog can load a saved game or gameboard
for you to edit.  You can use New Game to start editing a fresh game.

When you switch back from Board Edit mode, the game will resume where it
left off (usually with a Human player's move).



Graphics

The Blobs playfield graphics can be altered, and the next version of Blobs
should support loading Themes from disk.  Examples have been provided so
anyone interested can create new themes and players can get them from the
ESG Labs site.  See the Themes.txt file in the themes directory for more
information.



Apologies

This set of documentation is very rough, and I hope to have a real set of
docs done for the next version of Blobs.



Acknowledgements

I'd like to thank you for trying this game.  I hope you enjoy it.
(I hope you enjoy it even more when it's finished! :)



Contact Info

Please send any comments, questions, bug reports, and other concerns to

techsupp@esglabs.com



Michael Miller
December 3, 2000