GP Sweeper (v1.0)
=================
by WhiteFalcon
schimi@post.cz

Basics
------
Probably every user of any Microsoft Windows system knows this game. Even office
workers with no gaming experience sometimes play this logical piece of software.
I waited for some time since it looked like someone was working on a version
of this game for GP32, but as nothing was showing up in the field of mine
sweeping,  I finished my game and prepared it to be released.
The objective is simple. You have an array of fields with particular number
of mines located at random (the number of mines depends on the chosen difficulty
level) and you have to find them all and disarm them. Starting with the whole
array unexplored you progress by uncovering the fields one by one, using
the appearing numbers as a clue. The numbers tell the exact amount of mines
on the adjacent fields (see the scheme below for illustration). When the only
fields uncovered are the fields with mines, the game ends. Uncovering a field 
with a mine means loss. During the game time is being counted and if the victory
conditions are met, it is used to decide whether your score will be placed among
the high scores. Each of the three difficulty levels has its own high score table
with eight entries.
Warning: Do not power your GP32 off after you have input your name since at this
time the information is being saved to the SMC.

+---+---+---+
| 1 |  | 2 |
+---+---+---+
| 2 | 3 |  |
+---+---+---+
|  | 2 | 1 |
+---+---+---+


Installation
------------
Place the GPSWEEP.FXE file in the GPMM directory on your SMC. When the game is
executed for the first time, it creates a GPSWEEP.DAT file containing the high
score tables. Should you need to reset all the high score tables, just delete
this file.


Controls
--------
While in all the menus the START button is the one used to make a choice, 
during the game the A button uncovers a field (causing any mine in that field
to detonate) and the B button serves for placing one of the two helpful marks.
The first one is a flag, which indicates a field you suspect of hiding a mine,
and it protects the field from unwilling revelation. The second one is
a question mark, which suggests your ambiguous feelings about the field and
protects the field too. To achieve victory, you have to uncover all the fields
except those hiding mines. Note that marking fields with the flag icon is not
mandatory.

In the main menu there are three choices:
START GAME - Leads to the difficulty level selection after which a new game
	     begins
HIGH SCORES - Shows the best times attained in each array size separately
	      (choose between them by pressing the joystick LEFT or RIGHT)
EXIT - Reboots the GP32

The difficulty level selection offers those array sizes:
BEGINNER - 10 x 10 array with 10 mines
ADVANCED - 16 x 16 array with 40 mines
PRO 	 - 32 x 16 array with 99 mines

The status bar on the bottom of the screen shows the actual time and the number
of mines left BASED ON YOUR PLACING OF THE FLAGS, it does not mean you have
placed the flag marks correctly. On the other hand, if the flags are on the right
fields, this number can help you in your consideration.


A bit of prattling
------------------
This is my second official (read as "finished" ;)) game for the GP32 and I get it
to playable state thanks to some interest I encountered on the discussion board
of the GP32 Xtreme site. Should you have anything to tell me about the game,
use either the mentioned board or send me a mail to schimi@post.cz.
(CZ = Czech Republic and no, it is not in the heart of Africa :)
By the way, it looks as if I am the only owner of the GP32 in this country,
if I am wrong and there IS another happy czech owner reading that, let me know
about you please!


Tools used 
----------
When creating this game, I used this things:
Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 - just as a good text processor with syntax checking
Development Kit Advance (devkitadv) compiled by Rico
b2fxec by Mr.Spiv
GeePee32 by Firefly
My newer computer (ahem..)
My older computer (ahem, ahem...)
Roland MT-32 - a great music module, together with Roland SCC-1 forms the best
	       equipment for old games
PCX2H by me - a simple tool for converting PCX images to header files
RAW2H by me - a simple tool for converting RAW sounds to header files
...and of course the handheld itself :)


Acknowledgements
----------------
I would like to express my gratitude to the following people:
Mr.Spiv - for the nice b2fxec tool
Firefly - for GeePee32 without which testing would be quite annoying
Skeezix - for the cool Atari ST emulator that enables me to play games starring
	  Dizzy, yippee! :)
Rlyeh - for the best GB and SMS emulators for the GP32

Greetings go to all owners of this little devil from Hong Kong :)
Long live the GamePark32!


=================================================================================
WhiteFalcon, 25th April 2004