ShiTao v2.1
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ShiTao v2.1 by Thomas Mon
               tm31@andrew.cmu.edu [NeXTmail welcome]

This is the distribution for ShiTao v2.1.

What is ShiTao?

	ShiTao is an implementation of the popular tile-based game Ishido.  The original version of Ishido is available from Accolade for various other platforms such as: Macintosh, IBM/Compatible and Amiga.  The NeXT version here is an upgrade from the previous version, NX_Ishido.  Due to popular demand I reworked the entire program and have come up with a totally new version of the game, and along with it a new name.

Development History for ShiTao

Release Beta Version 2.1	24 May 1994

     I was a little late in this release, I was very busy with other things.. I didn't get around to three major things: Show Move, Show Pouch and the Preferences.
     I am still looking for someone who knows the answer to the compositing question.. I will be making the show moves and show pouch even if I don't figure it out.. it won't look as nice, but it'll be there for people to use.
     The preferences for multiple tile sets and color has to wait also, I have someone who is colorizing the tiles for me:
	 (Don Yacktman - PillBottle/Pacman/Columns)
      I promised specs for the tile format, they are in ShiTao.Tile.Format.rtfd
Have fun... please use the registration panel... click the "Request Registration Key" button and you will be sent a Key...  you only have to type the key in once..

Release Beta Version 2.0	15 April 1994

     It's finally here, the new version of NX_Ishido.   The information for this release is shoddy, but deal with it, I'll clean it up for the next release.  There are differences that I have added over NX_Ishido:

	Standard Help files
	Highscores are kept internally, no more annoying .NXIshido file.
	Gallery tiffs!  MUCH FASTER.
	Other stuff that I can't think of right now.

     There are alot of things that are not included in this version and will be added for the future versions:

	Game over panel.
	Show Pouch
	Show Moves
	Suggest Move
	Undo
	Fix clipping region for tiles so they look better - I welcome anyone
		that thinks they can help me to send mail and I can tell you
		exactly what my problem is.
	Highscore Panel Help information
	Bug/Suggestion Option
	Registration Form
	More Tile Sets (Switching in the middle of the game)
	Set font for Scoring / Larger Roman Fonts

     I know this is alot, but hey, I started over from scratch and this is what I could pump out in two weeks.

Development History for NX_Ishido

Release Beta Version 0.1	8 July 1992

     This was the bare bones game that I was fiddling around with.  The idea came to port the Ishido game from the IBM/Macintosh/ Amiga platforms to the NeXT platform came to me when I was playing around with Jayson Adams' What ADrag program.  It seemed like a good building block to start making a game of this nature.  The main capabilities of this version were the dragging of the tiles onto the board where they stayed, and a partial algorithm for the tile placing.  Like I said, this was bare bones.

Release Beta Version 0.2	13 July 1992

     Problems that were encountered/reported to me:

     Problem 1.) The tiles did not clear correctly. when your selected a new game or when you won the game and it started over.  Usually what happened was that when you drag a new tile froma new game onto the board, the old tiles from the previous game appear and you can not place new tiles on top.  This has been corrected, now when you select new game, the tiles are correctly reset and when you win a game, the board is cleared correctly also.
     Problem 2.) Sometimes when you placed a tile on the board you got a major problem with the touchstone.  Usually it could be corrected by clicking anywhere on the board, but sometimes it was ternimal.  This, as far as my experience has been cured and now it doesn't mess up the touchstone anymore.
     Problem 3.) The scoring was incorrect for the first release, I just wanted a point system to go with it, I didn't have the offical point values because when I got rid of my IBM, my sister took the game with her and I couldn't get to the manual until now.  The revised scoring is now in the main info panel under Scoring.
    Problem 4.) Before, you could place tiles where you normally couldn't(i.e. with two tiles, you could always place a tile next to both of them as long as one tile was the same as the one you were placing.  You can not do this anymore.
     Problem 5.) My sister brought up the fact that when the game starts there should be one of each symbol and one of each color on the board.  This was how the actually game worked and so, it is now so.

     Feature Added 1.) You now have a highscore panel that appears that keeps track of your top ten scores:(total points and number of 4-Ways).  The total number of points is the governing attribute when ordering scores.
     Feature Added 2.) You now are told when you have no more possible moves.  This will save you time when you are searching desparately for a place to put your last tile and there really is no good place to put it.
 
Release Beta Version 0.3			17 July 1992

	Problem 1.) The game still crashes sometimes when you are dragging the pieces off of the touchstone. (Not fully fixed yet.)
	Problem 2.) The icon was said to me to contain a nazi symbol, this has been taken care of.  I would like to say that I had no intention of having such a symbol in the original icon.
	Problem 3.) The highscore panel sometimes gets hidden behind the main window and you have to click the Highscore menu selection to see the highscore you just got.  I don't know if I fixed this yet.

	Feature Added 1.) A new cheeze-e graphical pouch is now in working order, you now can see how many tiles you have left.  This is a feature of the original game and I thought it added alot to the feel of the game.
	Feature Added 2.) The number of tiles you have left are now saved in the highscore list.
	Feature Added 3.) There are two new panels, one for the number of each kind of match you have made and another for the points awarded for the next kind of match you make as well as the current pouch bonus.  They fit to the right of the main window, so you can have them both open at the same time.
 
Release Beta Version 0.4			24 July 1992

	Problem 1.) There was a little part of the graphical pouch that was not right(the upper right hand corner), so guess what, it's ok now.
	Problem 2.) When selected a new game, the game did not check to see if you got a high score(This is useful when you are sharing a computer and someone wants to play also,  or something like that).  Now it checks to see if you got a highscore and then starts the new game.
	Problem 3.) The game crashes sometimes still when you drag a tile from the touchstone.. it's amazing it's incredible.. it's solved!
	Problem 4.) The highscore panel doesn't disappear anymore.

	Feature Added 1.) Undo, what a breakthrough in technology... this will, of course cancel your highscore also, because, after all, this is cheating also...(looking ahead in the pouch is possible with this).
	Feature Added 2.) A new tile set has been implemented, it is very similar to the origrinal tile set on the IBM and Macintosh, I find it easier to play now.
	Feature Added 3.) Show Moves has been added so that people with problems finding the possible places to put a tile can now, with the click of a button become a master at placing tiles down.  This feature will invalidate your highscore.
	Feature Added 4.) Show pouch has been added so that people who are strictly into making 4-ways can plan ahead.  This also invalidates your highscore because of obvious reasons.  Also it gives you a visual example of how the computer is not cheating and saving all of the tiles you need for later.
	Feature Added 5.) The Info panel has taken on a new look, I think it's better than the last... it just needed more zest.
	Feature Added 6.) There is not a special window with buttons that do all of your favorite things so you don't have to memorize tedious command keys to get what you want.
	Feature Added 7.) You no longer have to drag the stone off of the touchstone, you can just click the square you want to put it on now... This does not mean that you have to do this, you can still drag along if you like.
	Feature Added 8.) Because this version is so much better than the other versions, it can not be used normally(tolerably) without a password).

Release Beta Version 0.5			15 October 1992

	Problem 1.) When you undo an four-way, the bouns level does no decrement and if you keep placing the tile on the same four-way, you get LOTS of points... this is bad.
	Problem 2.) The password for the previous version was not to keen, so not it's new and improved.
	Problem 3.) When you are using show moves, and you use undo, the old highlighted squares stay it and you can't move in them, this doesn't happen anymore.

Release Version 1.0			11 January 1992
(second actual release to ftp sites)

	Problem 1.) If you edited your score and kept on playing, you could get GOD-like scores that were totally bogus.. although by looking at the highscore panel, you can easily tell which ones are bloated scores, now you can't do that anymore.
	Problem 2.) If you moved the Options menu, or it is hidden behind another window, you have no way of finding it, so I added a menu item to bring up the Options menu window again, it places it next to the upper right of the main window.
	Problem 3.) Someone pointed out that the pouch bonus was tempermental, that problem has been fixed now.
 	Problem 4.) The pouch seems to be causing a little confusion.  If you add the number of tiles in the pouch and the tile on the touchstone, you get the total number of tiles left.

	Feature Added 1.) You can now select the addresses in the information panel, that seemed to be a request/suggestion from most people so far.
	Feature Added 2.) The tiles have been re-vampped.  Instead of being two dimensional, they are now in 3-D!! Yippie!  They are much better than before and I hope that you all enjoy them more.

This was the last version of NX Ishido that was released.

Last Comments

	I promise that I will come up with a better tile set, if someone wants the tile specifications, send me mail and I will give them to you.  If someone can make a tile set for me that is kind of like the last version of NX_Ishido (with a better way of discerning colors), I'd be happy to add it in an give credit where it is due. [Plug for artists to donate tile sets].
	Hope you enjoy playing the game, please send me your suggestions and comments... I love mail.

Please send email to: tm31@andrew.cmu.edu