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Tautology by Reservoir Gods [web]

                              TAUTOLOGY
                              ---------

                       A GAME BY RESERVOIR GODS

Tautology is a highly  addictive  game  for   the   Falcon 030. Well I
would say that wouldn't I, but it  happens  to  be  true!  Up  to  two
(count them) players can compete in  this  battle of  wits.  The  game
itself  is  based on  a  coin-op  that  appeared  in the arcades years
ago,  but  in  the  best  Bally/Midway  and  Williams style, it hasn't
lost its charm.

The aim of the game is to clear  all  the tiles from a grid. Tiles can
be removed by matching them with a  tilt  of  the same kind  or a tile
from the same set - but its not quite as simple as that. To make tiles
vanish you must be able to  draw  a  line  across free space from  one
tile  edge  to  another  tile edge whilst only turning two corners.

This line can go in any  direction,  but   can only make two 90 degree
turns - for example it could go up, left then down  or  right, up then
left. It doesn't have to turn two corners - it could just go straight,
two  corners  is  the  maximum.  If  the  squares  are  adjacent  (not
diagonally) they can also be made to disappear.

If we imagine some tiles were laid out like this:

-------------------------
| 6 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 3 |
-------------------------


First we can match the 1's as   line  can   be  drawn  up from the top
edge of the first one, right   then  down  onto  the top  edge  of the
second 1. Simply click on the first one, then the second.

       -----------
      |           |
-------------------------
| 6 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 3 |
-------------------------

These two tiles will then disappear.

----     -------     ----
| 6 |   | 8 | 5 |   | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 3 |
-------------------------

Now another tile has become free, a  five  which we can match with the
five on the top row:

      --------
      |       |
----  |  -------     ----
| 6 | | | 8 | 5 |   | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 3 |


These will disappear.

The 8s can also go as they are adjacent to each other.

-------------------------

----                 ----
| 6 |               | 9 |
|---|        -------|---|
| 9 |       | 1 | 7 | 3 |
-------------------------


Now the 9 has become free and we can match it with the nine on the top
right.

----                 ----
| 6 |  |------------| 9 |
|---|  |     -------|---|
| 9 |---    | 1 | 7 | 3 |
-------------------------

You are now beginning to get the idea.

Apart from the normal tiles  there  are  two  sets of associated tiles
which can be matched with each  other  stopping  the clock for a short
time.

For example in the  Shanghai  set   we   have  four different flowers,
each of these can be matched with any other flower from the four.
The second set is seasons, and you can match any season with any other
season.

It is a good idea to build  up  strategies  and look ahead a few moves
before just matching the first available pair you see!

PLAYERS
-------

The difference between Tautology and its predecessors is that it has a
wealth of options, one  of  the  most  striking  being  the two player
mode. Using the Falcon's overscan mode it is possible to fit two  tile
grids on the screen so  two  people  can  try  for high scores or even
compete against each other.
Player one is controlled   by  joystick   one   or  joypad  1,  whilst
player 2 is controlled by  joystick  0  or  joypad  2. If  you haven't
invested in one of Atari's joypads yet, do so as they're  great!  (And
you  can  play Llamazap - when it's released!)

CONFIGURE: TILES
----------------

The tiles are fully configurable,  you  can  choose   how many of each
tile you want to appear on the  grid. Of course you can't choose where
they appear, but you can make  the  game  easier by  selecting  a  lot
of  sixers.  To configure the tiles, select CONFIGURE TILES  from  the
main  menu  and  press  fire.   Then   move  the crosshair to the tile
whose amount you want   to  change.  By  pressing  fire you can toggle
between having 0,2,4 or 6  of  that   particular  tile on the grid. As
the grid is 16 by 6, the total tiles must add up to 96.
If you own a power pad,  fire  button  a   will add to the tile amount
when clicking on it, button b will  subtract from it and button c will
clear it to zero. Also, whilst on  this screen you  can  try  pressing
the function keys for preset  tile  layouts,  F1 being the hardest and
F10 the easiest. Press space or  click  on  exit to return to the main
menu.


CONFIGURE: GAME
---------------

These options are mainly of  use  for  those  of  you indulging in two
player games.

You can have two different types of two player games:

SEPARATE - Here you are largely oblivious  to what the other player is
doing. You are just  aiming  to  complete  your  grids  regardless  of
how fast your friend is completing his.

COMPETITIVE - You are racing  against  a   friend  to complete a grid.
The first to
complete the grid wins the round. Nailbiting stuff.

Tile layout can also be configured here.

DIFFERENT - Player one and player two have different tile layouts.

SAME - The layout of the tiles   is  exactly  the  same for player one
and player two, no-one has an advantage or can claim  "it's  not fair,
all I could do on my board was get check-mated!".

Time can be turned off if you prefer to pit your wits against the tile
structure not the clock. It is  usually  a  good  idea  to  do this in
two player mode as the  clock  is  largely  an irrelevance, it is your
opponent who dictates the pace.

BEST OF - This defines the number  of  rounds you play in a two player
competitive match. For example, the best of  3 would mean the first to
achieve 2 wins.

TILE SETS
---------

Tautology has two inbuilt tile sets in  case you get bored (perish the
thought!). The Shanghai Set was painted by  Mr. Blonde and is based on
the mah-jong set. The two sets in this are flowers and seasons
Nice Guy Eddie's set is  totally   original   and  very different. The
sets in this are fruit and elements. See rules for further details.

TILE SETS: LOADING
------------------

Tautology has the feature to  load  extra  tile   sets  - you can even
draw your  own  sets!  It  looks  for  a  file  on   drive   A:   name
'TFILE.DIR'. This should contain a list  of  all the file sets on  the
disk.  You  can  create this file with  a text editor, but it must  be
100%  ASCII.  Each  filename  should   be  separated  by a return, and
there can be a maximum of ten on each disk. For example:

NICE_SET.TPI
ROUNDSET.TPI

Tautology will read this file and then  ask  you which set you want to
load. Press the appropriate function key to load it.

To create a tile set,  draw  it  using   HiSoft's   True Paint using a
screen size of 320 pixels wide.  Each  tile  is  16*16  with  a  black
line  on  it top and left borders.  The first four tiles  should  form
the  first  set,  the next four  the  second  set. There should be  43
tiles  in  all.  Save  it  in True Paint's .TPI format.

If you do create any tile sets,   send   them along  and I'll send you

the latest version of Tautology plus  the  latest versions of my other
Falcon projects.

INFO: RULES
-----------

Here you get a  brief  resume  of  these   instructions,  it will also
display the two sets from the current series of tiles.

INFO: HISCORES
--------------

The top twenty  best  scores  are  saved  to  disk!  Make  a  name for
yourself!



If you want to get in  touch  with  the RESERVOIR GODS for any reason,
write to:

Leon O'Reilly
Cwm Cottage
Abermule
Montgomery
Welshpool
Powys
SY15 6JL

or email CMSLOREI@UK.AC.LIVJM.VAX

Have fun!