June 25, 1986


This is a much modified version of Phantasia.  It is intended to fix
all reported bug fixes, enhance the game, and speed up the game.

I have to thank Chris Robertson for many ideas which have made the game
faster, and more user-friendly.  Most of her changes/additions are
incorporated in this latest versions, although perhaps not in the exact
manner of her design.  I left out a few items which were not in keeping
with the spirit of the game.  (For example, I didn't like the extra lives
and the pausing of the game.  I think it's too easy even WITHOUT that stuff.)

CHANGES:

    - Wormholes have been deleted (I never liked them anyway).
    - The source code has been greatly enhanced for speed, size, readability,
      and maintainability.
      fight.c should no longer cause optimizers to run out of space.
    - A few loopholes have been tightened to make the game more enjoyable.
      (Except for those who are in the habit of exercising those loopholes.)
    - Chris' map is enclosed.
    - The "charac" file is not compatible with older versions of Phantasia
      (3.3.1 and 3.3.1+).  A 'convert' program is provided to convert your
      old file to the new format.  See Makefile for details.
    - Movements can be made with HJKL for WSNE, respectively.
    - Players may examine others while playing ('x') option.
    - Monsters are now stored in a binary data base, to speed calling
      monsters, and to ease formatting of monster listings.
    - Taxes are collected on all gold and gems.
    - Dead players can be resurrected by the 'wizard'.
    - 'setup' is smarter, although not as smart as it should be.
    - Players can change their names and passwords

PORTABILTY:

    I have tried to make this as non-machine/system specific as possible.

    All identifiers are unique to 7 characters or less, dual case.

    The code WILL NOT fit on a 16-bit machine without separate I/D.

    Stdio MUST support fopen() with mode "r+".  I think this is true
    for all Version 7 and later.

    'curses' library functions are required.

    All problems/solutions with portability should be reported to me,
    and fixes will be included in subsequent versions of this software.


Please send me any bugs, (of which I am sure there are many), you may find,
but PLEASE be specific.  I cannot correct a bug which is described as:

    "When I choose a character type, it blows up."

    (What blows up?  What exactly was printed at the terminal?
    Which character type was chosen?  Etc. . . ?)

Also, please tell me which version of UN*X you are running, and upon
which type of hardware.

I will also do my best to help anyone with problems just trying to
get the game running.  Again, I need to know which version of UN*X
and what type of CPU.  Also, a copy of the output from 'make'
would be extremely useful.

Any and all ideas/suggestions/additions are more than welcome.  If
you feel strongly enough about it, write the change and send it to me,
and I will do my best to incorporate it in the next version of Phantasia.
Otherwise, I will give serious thought to adding it myself.

Follow the directions in the Makefile CAREFULLY to set up the game.
Read the comments at the beginning of 'main.c', if you haven't already.

Enjoy.

Ted Estes
AT&T Information Systems
Skokie, IL  60077

...!ihnp4!ttrdc!ttrda!estes
