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FAQ section of Smuggers |
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Q : Is Smuggers a PacMan game ?
A : Nooooo, Smuggers is Smuggers !
- The PacMan ghosts are ghosts, they don't exist, but the Smuggers elephants are real (look at the photos in the art gallery), so take care saying Smuggers is a Pacman... because if you hear a elephant roar, then run, just run as you can, the Smuggers elephants are after you ! Yeah, Smuggers elephants don't like to be called PacMan, they smash who says that ! ;-)
- Smuggers is a arcade game with mazes and there are many differences with respect to PacMan : you can jump, you have to catch the spyder in the end of each maze, the Smuggers elephants are imortal and very smart (they hear your steps, yeah, it is true !), you can exchange jumps with lives, the mazes, sound and graphics are different, etc, so the whole tatics and strategies are different from playing PacMan.
Q : The spider is intelligent or it walks at loose ? It seems that the spyder tries to escape me when the counter is running down and I have to catch it !
A : Trust me, the spyder mouvement is random, without any intelligence. However I have even pondered to insert some guidance to the spyder mouvment, but I verified it wasn't needed : the Murphy's laws acts as always against the player, so the spyder tries to escape ! ;-)
- The PacMan ghosts are ghosts, they don't exist, but the Smuggers elephants are real (look at the photos in the art gallery), so take care saying Smuggers is a Pacman... because if you hear a elephant roar, then run, just run as you can, the Smuggers elephants are after you ! Yeah, Smuggers elephants don't like to be called PacMan, they smash who says that ! ;-)
- Smuggers is a arcade game with mazes and there are many differences with respect to PacMan : you can jump, you have to catch the spyder in the end of each maze, the Smuggers elephants are imortal and very smart (they hear your steps, yeah, it is true !), you can exchange jumps with lives, the mazes, sound and graphics are different, etc, so the whole tatics and strategies are different from playing PacMan.
Q : The spider is intelligent or it walks at loose ? It seems that the spyder tries to escape me when the counter is running down and I have to catch it !
A : Trust me, the spyder mouvement is random, without any intelligence. However I have even pondered to insert some guidance to the spyder mouvment, but I verified it wasn't needed : the Murphy's laws acts as always against the player, so the spyder tries to escape ! ;-)
Q : Why there are 9 sound effects when Smuggers runs on EPOC machines and just 5 sound effects on Nokia Communicators ?
A : The OPL version for Symbian Series 80 has some limitations for playing sounds, so I have no success playing sounds simultaneously with mouvements and 4 sound effects used during the game action cannot be played.
Q : Will Smuggers be compatible with Symbian Series 60 and UIQ smartphones ?
A : It depends on the future of OPL for these smartphones. Currently the version of OPL for Series 60 and UIQ doesn't allow asynchronous events which are required to run Smuggers.
Q : How can I reorder or even create new mazes ?
A : Smuggers v2.00 has 50 mazes, placed in the directory "..\System\Apps\Smuggers\Mazes\", using the MBM (EPOC Picture) format. The format of the filename is "MazeN.mbm" (N=1...9), or "MazeNN.mbm" (N=10...99), or even "MazeNNN.mbm" (N=100...999). Just rename the maze files to change the maze order.
To create a new maze, I suggest editing an existing maze, each one has 37 rows and 21 lines with 4 gray levels.
The EPOC "Sketch" can import these files by using the menu "Files/More/Merge in..." and choosing "EPOC Picture" as file type. The "Sketch" can also export to the MBM format, see the menu "Files/More/Export...".
Other option is to copy the MBM file to Windows, convert it using "BMConv.exe" on a DOS prompt by typing "bmconv /u maze1.mbm maze1.bmp" (for example), edit the new BMP file with graphical editor (Microsoft Paint, etc), use "bmconv maze1.mbm maze1.bmp" (for example) again to convert back to MBM and copy the MBM file back to your EPOC or Symbian machine.
I welcome receiving new mazes which can be added to new Smuggers releases.
Q : I don't have a Psion handheld computer or a Nokia Communicator, so how can I play Smuggers ?
A : What are you waiting for ? Just
buy one, Smuggers is a good reason :-) To begin with, you can play
Smuggers using a EPOC emulator running on a Windows OS, it is not
so simple to install but it is worth playing Smuggers :-). Just follow
the guidelines :
Q : What is planned for future versions of Smuggers ?
A : Smuggers v2.00 was just released in 11/10/2006 for all machines. But there are many possible improvements :
- 9 sound effects on Nokia 9xxx Communicators, now simultaneously with mouvements, maybe it is possible with the current OPL runtime, but I am not sure;
- more mazes, from Smuggers users;
- some optimizations to render the game speed a little bit more constant;
- to show some art gallery pictures before starting a new maze;
- record/replay/open/save game, so you can review your best game playing, send to the Smuggers author to be available on the Smuggers site, etc;
- maze browser and/or manager and/or editor to view, reorder, delete, insert and edit mazes;
- Series 60 and UIQ versions (with the maze being scrolled) if their OPL runtime is improved.
Anyway, I am interested in some other OPL and C++ projets for EPOC and Symbian, look at My Epoc & Symbian projects page and my OPL Wiki page, so I will dedicate only a fraction of my OPL development time to Smuggers.
Q : I would like to register Smuggers to reward the author for his work, is it possible ?
A : Smuggers is freeware from version 2.0, so it is not possible anymore to register it. But if you want to help me maintain my web site and domain, my current Psion and Nokia devices (they were expensive !) and buy new ones (still more expensive...), you can make a PayPal donation in My Epoc & Symbian projects page.
Q : The OPL source-code of Smuggers will be released as open source ?
A : Smuggers is written in OPL+ which runs on EPOC, so I use OPL+ (from Neuon, available at the Pscience 5 site) running on my Psion Revo+ or on the EPOC Wins emulator. To test on Symbian Series 80, I copy the OPL file and translates it on my Nokia 9500 to test. I explain this procedure because many current OPL developers don't use EPOC, just the new Nokia 9xxx Communicators, so the Smuggers OPL+ source-code (with 8,755 lines) would not be so useful.
But if I receive some contact showing interest about Smuggers OPL+ source-code, I will maybe release it as open-source.
Anyway, I plan to release a simple game as freeware and open source, using many parts of the Smuggers OPL+ source-code.
Come back to the Smuggers web page
Last updates (dd/mm/yy) : 14/10, 16/10/2006.
- download the Symbian OS V5 OPL SDK (26 MB) from Psion Teklogix, it requires to be logged but registration is free;
- install by running the "Setup.exe", there is no need to install Perl, then a "EPOC Software" folder will be available and run "EPOC OPL SDK - EPOC Emulator VGA";
- download Smuggers for Psion Series 7 and the "SysRam1W.SIS", then copy it and the "SmuggersS7.SIS" (included in the ZIP file) to "\Epoc32\Wins\C" directory;
- open "EPOC Software/EPOC OPL SDK - EPOC Emulator VGA", use the mouse to click the top left folder to go to the root directory;
- click the "SmuggersS7.SIS" file to run it, confirm "Ok" every time. Do the same for "SysRam1W.SIS";
- click on the "Extras" icon (bottom right) and then click on the Smuggers icon. The menu key is mapped as the "F1" key on the EPOC emulator for Windows, the Smuggers menu has many items and options so use it;
- the EPOC emulator sometimes hangs on Windows if sound is turned on, that is not Smuggers fault and depends on the Windows version, configuration, etc;
- enjoy playing Smuggers on Windows !
Q : What is planned for future versions of Smuggers ?
A : Smuggers v2.00 was just released in 11/10/2006 for all machines. But there are many possible improvements :
- 9 sound effects on Nokia 9xxx Communicators, now simultaneously with mouvements, maybe it is possible with the current OPL runtime, but I am not sure;
- more mazes, from Smuggers users;
- some optimizations to render the game speed a little bit more constant;
- to show some art gallery pictures before starting a new maze;
- record/replay/open/save game, so you can review your best game playing, send to the Smuggers author to be available on the Smuggers site, etc;
- maze browser and/or manager and/or editor to view, reorder, delete, insert and edit mazes;
- Series 60 and UIQ versions (with the maze being scrolled) if their OPL runtime is improved.
Anyway, I am interested in some other OPL and C++ projets for EPOC and Symbian, look at My Epoc & Symbian projects page and my OPL Wiki page, so I will dedicate only a fraction of my OPL development time to Smuggers.
Q : I would like to register Smuggers to reward the author for his work, is it possible ?
A : Smuggers is freeware from version 2.0, so it is not possible anymore to register it. But if you want to help me maintain my web site and domain, my current Psion and Nokia devices (they were expensive !) and buy new ones (still more expensive...), you can make a PayPal donation in My Epoc & Symbian projects page.
Q : The OPL source-code of Smuggers will be released as open source ?
A : Smuggers is written in OPL+ which runs on EPOC, so I use OPL+ (from Neuon, available at the Pscience 5 site) running on my Psion Revo+ or on the EPOC Wins emulator. To test on Symbian Series 80, I copy the OPL file and translates it on my Nokia 9500 to test. I explain this procedure because many current OPL developers don't use EPOC, just the new Nokia 9xxx Communicators, so the Smuggers OPL+ source-code (with 8,755 lines) would not be so useful.
But if I receive some contact showing interest about Smuggers OPL+ source-code, I will maybe release it as open-source.
Anyway, I plan to release a simple game as freeware and open source, using many parts of the Smuggers OPL+ source-code.
Come back to the Smuggers web page
Last updates (dd/mm/yy) : 14/10, 16/10/2006.