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======  P I Q U I N:  A  T H I N K Y  K I N D  O F  P A C-M A N  G A M E  ======

BY  ANCIL  ANTHROPY  OF  FULL  BELLY  GAMES  www.ticklingthemarrow.com/fullbelly


CONGRATULATIONS!  you  are  the proud  new owner  of your  very own  PIQUIN-TYPE
SPHEROID LIFE-CREATURE.  the piquin is  a round,  yellow-hued life-form with two
wide-set miniscule  hemispherical black eyes  and one large mouth that stretches
for fully half  the circumference of  the creature's globe-like body.  it has no
limbs or implements of any kind.

caring for your piquin is simple,  providing you have access to  many vast stores
of food. as the  piquin has  no limbs,  joints, or digits of  any kind, the  only
thing a piquin can do with a marginal range of success is eat.  detailed analysis
of the  piquin anatomy  indicates  that  it possesses  only a  very few  internal
organs: a brain, a tongue, and a stomach,  the latter of which comprises over 85%
of the creature's body. thus it is recommended that you feed  your piquin no less
than  sixty-six-thousand  times its  body mass  every day.  if  a piquin  is  not
properly fed  it is liable to  seek food  itself, and  as a piquin is  capable of
consuming  all known  elements and  alloys, this  could  present  a  considerable
inconvenience to the owner, as well as to the owner's neighborhood, city, nation,
and/or  planet.  feed your piquin  properly, however, and  you should  experience
no problems.  we have the  utmost confidence  in your  ability to  feed and  care
for your piquin. good luck!


================================================================================


contents:

      bubble.png         graphics file
      cant_move.wav      sound file
      dot_gobble.wav     sound file
      fruit_gobble.wav   sound file
      game_over.wav      sound file
      ghost_gobble.wav   sound file
      instructions.png   graphics file
      map_dotless.png    graphics file
      map_dots.png       graphics file
      pill_gobble.wav    sound file
      piquin.exe         program executable
      press_again.png    graphics file
      press_next.png     graphics file
      sprites.png        graphics file
      title_screen.png   graphics file
      turns_left_o.png   graphics file

      be sure the graphics files are in a sub-folder called "gfx" and the sound
      files in a sub-folder called "aud." if your zip software can recreate
      sub-folders, this shouldn't be a problem.

      if any of these files are absent, you can download a full archive of the
      game files at ticklingthemarrow.com/fullbelly

      double-clicking piquin.exe will run the game.


system requirements:

      to run piquin you will need a computer running windows 9x or me. piquin
      should run under nt, 2000 or xp but they have not yet been tested.

      additionally, you will need support for direct x, as direct x is used to
      draw the graphics for the game.

      your desktop should be big enough to fit a 500 by 650 window, because that
      is the size of window piquin runs in.

      you also may want the font "press start," which is used to print the score.
      it can be found at www.zone38.net/font without it, a generic windows font
      will be used.


piquin is...

      ...a round, yellow creature.

      ...a windows game.

      ...a bit like pac-man. in fact...

      ...more like ms.pac-man. it involves a round, yellow, very hungry creature
      being pursued through a series of dot-filled mazes by ghosts. gobbling
      all the dots advances the player to the next maze. gobbling a powerpill
      allows the yellow creature to eat the ghosts. they play very differently,
      however, because piquin is...

      ...turn-based rather than reflex-based. you can plan out your moves - and
      you had better, in fact, because the ghosts move just as quickly as you
      do, and there's four of them.

      ...more for the player who plays ms.pac-man to clear the maze and move to
      the next one than the one who plays to get the highest score.

      ...fairly challenging. be absolutely assured, though, that every level can
      be finished, and the ghosts do not move randomly.

      ...freeware. that means you don't have to pay to play it. though a donation
      would be appreciated.

      ...open source. feel free to modify and distribute the source code to this
      game, but don't charge any money for it.


how to play:

      piquin wants to gobble everything on the map. the map is made of two kinds
      of locations: places and corridors.

         places are rounded orange squares that piquin can stand on. the ghosts
         can stand on them too. piquin can only move to and from places.

         corridors connect two places and contain dots and powerpills. to travel
         through them piquin must move from a place at one end of the corridor to
         a place at the other. piquin will gobble anything it crosses.

      moving piquin is done with the arrow keys (or the numberpad). piquin can
      move left, up, right, or down. friendly yellow arrows show what places you
      can move to. pressing the direction of an arrow will move piquin to that
      space.

      piquin cannot move to a place occupied by a ghost. if piquin is trapped
      by ghosts in such a way that it cannot move, the game is over. if a ghost
      moves onto the place where piquin is, too, the game is over.

      piquin is a turn-based game. piquin will move first, then the ghosts, in
      this order:

         red

         green

         blue

         pink

      a ghost will try to move in the direction its eye is facing. if something
      is in its way, it will turn in a different direction and try again next
      turn.

      if piquin gobbles a powerpill, it will become energized, allowing it to
      gobble ghosts! the score meter will display how many turns are left during
      which ghosts can be eaten. the ghosts will not move until there are no
      turns left.

      gobbling a powerpill gives piquin two turns of energization, and each ghost
      eaten provides two additional turns. the first ghost gobbled is worth 40
      points, the second 80 points, the third 120 and the last 160.

      every 200 points a bonus fruit will appear in the maze. gobbling it will
      give piquin bonus points. the more fruits you gobble, the more points they
      will be worth.

      here's a chart of how the game is scored:

         dots             1 point

         powerpill       10 points

         ghost (first)   40 points

         ghost (second)  80 points

         ghost (third)  120 points

         ghost (fourth) 160 points

         fruit (first)  100 points

         fruit (second) 200 points

         fruit (third)  300 points

         fruit (fourth) 400 points

         fruit (fifth)  500 points

         fruit (sixth)  600 points

      once you've gobbled the sixth fruit, the next that will appear will be the
      first one again, and it will be worth 100 points.

      for illustrated instructions, see the in-game instructions by pressing "i"
      at the title screen.


some tips:

      save the powerpills for when you need them, and try to line up all four
      ghosts so you can gobble them all.

      pay attention to where the ghosts are facing. you can usually outmaneuver
      them if you know where they're going.

      watch out for ghosts sneaking around to get you. especially when traveling
      near a warp.

      try to keep yourself at least two moves away from any ghost. avoid moves
      that will bring you close to a ghost. this will usually keep you alive for
      longer.

      the ghosts do not move randomly. they move in very particular ways. keep
      in mind that the ghosts do not move simultaneously - some are faster than
      others.

      and remember that each of the four levels can be completed. if you're
      still having trouble, you can skip directly to a level by typing its
      number on the title screen.


BUGS...

      should be reported to ancil@ticklingthemarrow.com as soon as possible.


about the author:

      fully belly games currently consists of one friendly transgendered
      communist. you can visit the the full belly website at
      ticklingthemarrow.com/fullbelly

      piquin was programmed in blitzbasic 1.54, and the graphics were designed in
      paint shop pro 7.02.

      email the author if you enjoy the game, if you've developed your own
      version (or your own levels - see website), or if you've beaten hir
      high score. ancil's high score is eleven-thousand four-hundred-sixty-six
      (11466). good luck!


================================================================================

piquin
copyright (c) 2003 ancil anthropy

this program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under 
the terms of the gnu general public license (version 2) as published by the free 
software foundation.

this program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY 
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A 
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. see the gnu general public license for more details. 
(http://users.olis.net.au/zel/licence.txt)

you should have received a copy of the gnu general public license along with this
program; if not, write to the free software foundation, inc., 59 temple place, 
suite 330, boston, ma  02111-1307  usa
