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                           Phraze Maze version 1.10

                     a Word Game for Synchronet (tm) BBS's

                         by the Poughkeepsie Strangler

                                (David Weiblen)

                         for StranglerWare Enterprises

                                   Nov, 1994

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                  This file contains information for Sysops.

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                             **** NOTE WELL ****

   This version (1.10) of Phraze Maze is NOT a Beta release, and will not be
fully functional AT ALL until registered.  Those of you with Beta release
versions (prior to 1.00) may want to keep running the older copies of software
until registering, or December 1st of 1994, whichever comes first.  Please
reread this document in its entirety to remind yourselves of the unregistered
software limitations, and the registration information.

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Files in the ZIP file:

   PMAZE   .EXE       - The executable.
   PMAZE   .HLP       - The online help file.
   PMAZE   .CFG       - A sample configuration file.
   PMSOURCE.TXT       - A sample raw phrase file.
   PMSYSOP .TXT       - This file.
   PMWELCOM.SCR       - The welcome screen.

Files created by PMAZE.EXE:

   PMINDEX .GAM       - The index file into PMSOURCE.TXT
   PMUSERS .GAM       - Data about the players.
   PMPHRASE.GAM       - Data about the available phrases.
   PM_THIS .SCR       - A DOS text file with this month's scores to date.
   PM_LAST .SCR       - A DOS text file with last month's scores.

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Installing P H R _ Z E  M _ Z E:

   Phraze Maze is simple to install.  First, create a game directory and
extract the contents of the Phraze Maze distribution archive into it.

Then, go to the Synchronet (tm) Configuration Editor ("C"onfigure from
the call waiting screen), select "E"xtrnal Programs and create an entry
for Phraze Maze.  Crystal Aerie's configuration file looks like this:

    Name:                       P H R _ Z E  M _ Z E !

    Internal Code:              PHRAZE

    Start-up Directory:         C:\SBBS\XTRN\PM

    Command Line:               PMAZE.EXE N:C:\SBBS\NODE%#\

    Clean-up Command Line:

    Cost in Credits:            0

    Access Requirements:        LEVEL 10

    Execution Requirements:

    Multiple Concurrent Users:  Yes

    Interceipt I/O Interupts:   Yes

    Swap BBS Out of Memeory:    No

    Modify User Data:           No

    Execute on Event:           No

    BBS Drop File Type:         Synchronet   XTRN.DAT

    Place Drop File In:         Node Directory


   You may leave the leave the directory specification off the command line if
the path is available as an environment variable, SBBSNODE.  For the command
line version, prefixing the entire path specification with N: is required by
PMAZE.EXE for proper execution.

   All the files that came in the .ZIP file, with the exception of this file,
must be in the same directory as PMAZE.EXE.  All files created by PMAZE will be
placed in this same directory.

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Sysop Configurable Items:

    These items may be changed by changing the PMAZE.CFG file, which is a DOS
text file.  Comments within the file begin with a semicolon.  Here is a sample
configuration file:

   ;Phraze Maze 1.10 Configuration File.

   Q-12345678-90ABCDEF-A                      ;Your registration key goes here.

   John Doe                                   ;Name of person who 'adopted'
                                              ;the door.

   20                                         ;Maximum phrases in game.

   3                                          ;Plays given per day.

   15                                         ;Maximum plays per day.

   5                                          ;Points per letter.

   50                                         ;Solve bonus.

   250                                        ;Complete phrase bonus.

   5                                          ;Min letters for extra play.

   5                                          ;Seconds per guess.

Item 1: Registration Key.

   This item applies only to people who have just received their registration
   key from the author.  You need to enter it into the PMAZE.CFG file exactly.
   Public copies of this file should have the words "NOT REGISTERED" in the
   .CFG file.  Until the software is registered, the game will not process
   more than 50 phrases from the raw phrase file, nor allow more than 40 phrases
   maximum, and it will display "Phraze Maze is not registered!" just before
   the main menu is displayed.  Also, an Adopt-a-Door screen will be displayed
   at the start of the game.

Item 2: Name of person who 'adopted' the door.

   If one of your users sent money for registering the door, you may put his
   or her name on this line.  Just before the registered game begins, the
   message:

      Thanks to John Doe, who registered this door.

   will be displayed.  The text you enter for configuration file item 2 (up
   to the carriage return/line feed or comment (beginning with a semicolon),
   will be displayed where "John Doe" appears in the above example.

Item 3: Maximum phrase in the game.

   This item specifies how many phrases may be listed when a player selects
   the (L)ist Phrases command.  20 is a good number, since it's typically
   less than a screen full of data.  Too many screen pauses, and the players
   get annoyed.  This number also affects how long solved phrases will stick
   around for players to see where they were confused, which is nice to be
   able to do when someone else solves a phrase, and you had problems with it.

Item 4: Plays given per day.

   This is how many plays are granted to players each day, even if they don't
   play.

Item 5: Maximum plays per day.

   This item controls how long a good player may play, and also, how many
   make-up days a player can play.  If a player is really good, without this
   item he could play all day, every day.  If a player has missed days, this
   allows him to make them up.  Typically, set this value to 4 or 5 times the
   number of plays given per day, allowing a player to play the present day,
   and make up either 3 or 4 days, respectively.

Item 6: Points per Letter.

   This is how many points will be awarded for each occurrence of a correctly
   guessed letter.  Remember, a player gets this for each letter in the
   phrase, not once per guess.  If a phrase has 4 E's, the player will get 4
   times the score per letter for guessing E.

Item 7: Solve Bonus.

   This is the number of points awarded to a player who correctly guesses the
   last unguessed letter in a phrase.

Item 8: Complete Phrase Bonus.

   This is the number of points awarded to a player who solves a phrase, when
   he began with no guessed letters, and makes no mistakes.

Item 9: Minimum Letters for Extra Play.

   This is the number of letters a player must guess, without making a mistake
   and *solving* the phrase, to get an extra play.  If this value is 0 or 1,
   then every player who solves a phrase will get an extra play.  But note
   that if a phrase has fewer than this minimum number of letters, no extra
   play will be granted at all for that phrase.  For example, if this value
   is 5, then any phrase with 4 or fewer different letters will never give a
   player an extra play, since players *can't* guess 5 letters for that
   phrase.

Item 10: Seconds per Guess.

   This item controls how long a player has when making a guess.  The maximum
   this value can be is 99 seconds, although I think that is an insane value.
   Five seconds should probably be the functional minimum.  Lower than that,
   and players will simply stab at the keys without getting a chance to make
   an educated guess.

Changes to the configuration file will take effect as soon as another player
gets into the game.

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The Raw Sentence File:

   This file, PMSOURCE.TXT, has all the possible phrases in it.  It *MUST*
have more phrases in it than is set for the maximum phrases in the game list
(see above).  Changes to the length of this file trigger a re-creation of the
index file, PMINDEX.GAM, when the next player starts the game.  Be careful of
when you make changes to the file, since people playing the game while changes
are being made can be dangerous for the players.  Their phrases may get a bit
mixed up.

   PMSOURCE.TXT is a straight ASCII text file.  Coming up with phrases is
easy at first but can get tedious.  The game seems to play better if there
is a mix of short and long phrases.  If you generate additional raw sentence
files, please upload them to << Crystal Aerie >> and we'll make them avail-
able for others.

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Problems:

   If the game seems to be experiencing difficulties, like locking up, the
first thing to try is to delete PMINDEX.GAM.  It will be re-created when the
executable runs again, but there are flags in it that, due to the game
encountering a serious error, may not be reset.  If that doesn't work, try
deleting PMPHRAZE.GAM.  This will reset the game in terms of the phrases
available for play.  The next step is to completely reset the game by deleting
PMUSERS.GAM.  This will wipe out the user scores to date, and also automati-
cally reset PMINDEX.GAM and PMPHRAZE.GAM.

   Please note that this door is desgined to run only under Synchronet 2.0,
and has not been tested under any other BBS software, or under any other
version of Synchronet.

   For other problems, I can be reached on Crystal Aerie, (703) 415-0134, or
as David Weiblen on the RIME or Metrolink BBS Doors conference.  I can also
be reached as David Weiblen or Poughkeepsie Strangler @1:109/1111 via FIDO.

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Notes about the Beta releases (versions before 1.00):

   In order for me to improve this game, and to create others, I desperately
need feedback.  Please encourage users to leave mail about what they like
and don't like about Phraze Maze, and try to get those responses back to me.
So that you and your users can better judge the game, the crippling effects
of not having a registration key will *not* go into effect until December of
1994.

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Registering Phraze Maze:

   $10.00 (U.S.) is the registration fee for Phraze Maze (Sorry, Virginia
residents, but you'll have to pay $10.45 due to sales tax).  I would very
much prefer payment with a money order or cashier's check.  If you send your
registration fee as one of either, I will give you a call shortly after
opening the envelope and give you your registration key over the phone!
Sorry, but my operation isn't big enough yet to take any credit cards.  If
you'd like to wait awhile, you can send me a personal check.  It'll be two
weeks before I know if your check has cleared, and I'll send your registration
key to you by mail.  If your check bounces, the registration fee goes up to
$15 (VA residents, $15.68), and I will require payment in the form of a money
order or cashier's check.  Sorry to be so brutal.

Anyway, you should make checks payable to David Weiblen, and send them to:

                       David Weiblen
                       2319 Freetown Court, Apt 12C
                       Reston, VA, 22091

Along with your payment, I will need the following information:

      Your full legal name
      Your full address
      Your telephone number (you may omit this, but I'll have to mail your
            registration key)

      The name of the product you want to register (Phraze Maze)

      Your sysop name from XTRN.DAT
      Your BBS name from XTRN.DAT

   These last two, the sysop name and BBS name, must be absolutely correct in
terms of uppercase/lowercase, numbers of spaces, and ASCII codes of weird
characters, if any.  If anything about these two items is ambiguous, I'll use
my best guess, and that may generate an incorrect registration key.  For
example, if your BBS name is "The  BBS", with two spaces, but you don't tell
me that, then your registration key will not work.

Benefits:

   For registering, not only will you get the full functionality of Phraze
Maze, but also notices of upcoming StranglerWare Enterprises releases, such
as Vigilante (it's a hard life when you've decided to rid the streets of
filth), and you'll also receive a 10% discount on your next StranglerWare
registration fee!

 Help support StranglerWare Enterprises, and mail your registration fee now!

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Bug Fixes:

   I'm not perfect, and may have missed something here or there.  Please try
to report possible bugs to me in a clear and concise manner.  I will look
into these problems as much as is humanly possible, but I cannot promise a
direct response.  I will do my best to get new versions of code to everyone.

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   Small Print (disclaimer):

   I, David Weiblen, will not be held responsible for any loss of property,
data, time, productivity, or anything else bad due to use of this software
product.  Use at your own risk.  StranglerWare Enterprises is a small
operation, and does not have the resources to test this product under many
operating systems or environments.

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