Amiga Biznes v2.2

SHAREWARE

Main Menu

Information

Requirements

Installation

Operation


To Artists

DEVELOPERS


Credits

Afterword 2025

Information

AmigaBiznes is a game based on the well-known and beloved EuroBusiness. Anyone who has ever played EuroBusiness shouldn't have any trouble operating this game. However, it offers plenty of enhancements and extras. For example, landing on the top-left corner of the board sends us on a snake ride in search of points (if, of course, we have the right card), for which we get... cash.

Each space has energy, which directly affects the income generated. Spaces' energy needs to be regenerated from time to time because if not they will... explode.

The space with a dollar sign is a good money-making machine. You can bet on how many dots will come up on the dice. The interest on the bet can range from 500% to 1500% - so as you can see, it's really worth it!

There are non-standard options for snatching spaces from opponents - though it's quite an expensive approach. And if you run out of money, a loan isn't too costly either.

The game is fully system-friendly, running on its own 640x480 screen or in a window on the workbench screen. As for the game's requirements, they're not excessive - you'll need about 3MB of free memory, including about 1.5MB of chip memory. It works on graphics cards, and allows customization, e.g.:

Requirements

- MULTISCAN mode is recommended

Installation

If you want to install AmigaBiznes, simply transfer the game directory to any location on your hard drive.

Operation

The game allows gameplay for 2 or 3 players, in two available modes - i.e., with random space ownership or without it (classic mode). If you enable the randomize option, each space will have its owner at the start of the game.

Description of available options:

General:

New Game - Start a new game.

Quit - Exit the program.

Load - Load a saved game from disk.

Save - Save the game state to disk.

Highscores - List of top scores.

? Program - Program settings.

? Game - Gameplay settings.

Space Operations:

Buy - Buy a space from another player.

Sell - Sell a space to another player.

Pawn - Pawn a space to get 50% of its value.

Redeem - Redeem a pawned space (60% of its value).

Expand - Upgrade a space with additional units.

Dismantle - Dismantle units from a space.

Buy Out a Space - This option lets you buy out a space from your rival or one owned by the bank.

Sell to The Space - Get rid of a space for 80% of its value.

Other:

Take a Loan - Loan from the bank. Loan repayment is deducted at the start (10%).

Repay the Loan - Repay part (or all) of the loan.

Keyboard:

Space - roll the dice.

Enter - quick dice roll.

F1 - buy a dollar card ($1,000).

F2 - buy a game card ($2,000).

F3 - buy a get-out-of-jail card ($2,000).

To Artists

If you think you're a talented artist (and it's not just you who thinks so), I'd ask you to take a moment and create some cool graphics for this game. All the graphics are located in the DATA/GFX directory in the form of PNG files.

Important!
The transparent color DOES NOT have to be palette color #0. Every pixel of the image with RGB values 0:0:0 (black) is considered the transparent color. Palettes of different images can vary; Each image can be in 24-bit (if your datatypes allow it).

DEVELOPERS

If someone feels like it, they can write their own little program responsible for playing against a computer opponent. In the DEVELOPERS directory, there are the sources of an example player named IDIOT. Communication with the game takes place via a port named "ABiznesPort". If you program in C, you only need to replace the functions in the idiot.c file. You'd probably want your program to be called something slightly different than "IDIOT". In that case, you need to change the argument of the SearchMe() function - "IDIOT" to something else (e.g. "GENIUS"). After compiling the program, it should be placed in the "DATA/CPU/" directory under the same name. You also need to add the new player to the list in ABiznes under the same name and designate it as "Program". The port structure is located in the cpu.h file.

The following rules should be taken into account:

Credits

Amiga Biznes (c) 1998-2000 FARTHING SOFTWARE

About sound effects, for clarity:

The background music (Background.8SVX) is a sampled part of a module named "C&A" (Commodore & Amiga) by contriver / veto. The SNAKE/FARTHING and BackgroundHazard.8SVX samples were made by me (wow!). The rest of the samples come from various sources, and I'm unable to provide their "pedigree."

Afterword '2025

Hey, this is AceMan.

It's 2025, and I've decided - with the author's permission - to release my "tester" version, which has been sitting on my Amiga HDD for 25 years.

This version, labeled 2.0, can now be found online. Detailed info and history can be read in the ReadMe included with that version.

Let's focus, however, on this demo of version 2.2

I dug it up from the depths of my disks, hoping to stumble upon a full version, but alas - it's practically the same version that was once released and reviewed on ACS pages. The code sources, unfortunately, are also lost.

The demo is fully functional. No feature is locked. The only limitation is time, or rather - the number of rounds. Or spaces crossed by the pieces. After a set amount is reached, the game ends automatically.

For a while, I tried to bypass this limitation, but my knowledge on the subject is very basic. I can only say with 99% certainty that:

That's where my knowledge and meager skills ran out. So I encourage you to test both this demo version and the earlier mentioned version 2.0 (slightly cut down on features, buggy, but allowing full gameplay). Maybe you'll like it enough to try cracking it ;) I'm counting on that eagerly!

- AceMan

Contact: aceman@modules.pl

New Game...

After selecting this option, a window should appear, offering several essential settings. This window is divided into several sections. On the left, there's a list of regular players, along with two gadgets: Add and Delete, and a bar showing the ratio of games played to games won. The more wins, the bigger the bar.

Pressing the Add gadget allows you to add a new player to the list. After entering a name, you need to choose the Human option or, if you want the computer to control the piece, select CPU. There's also another option called Program - if you're a programmer, read THIS. The purpose of the delete gadget is pretty obvious.

Once added to the list, select the number of players - from 2 to 3 (it's nice to have a big choice!) After navigating the player count selection, you now choose the participants for this game by selecting a player from the list and pressing the arrow gadget next to each player. After a moment, the player's name will appear where it should, and the corresponding piece will be loaded (directory: DATA/GFX/PLAYERS/), or if the player doesn't have a custom piece, a standard one will be loaded. You can also manually select a piece by clicking the left mouse button on the piece space. The player's name can also be entered manually - bypassing the piece-loading process.

All that's left is to decide whether to enable the space randomization option, and then you can boldly hit Start.

Quit...

This unassuming little gadget is, of course, used to leave our sweet haven of carefree business.

Load...

Thanks to this option, we can load a previously saved game, along with all its accompanying settings.

Save...

This option is used to save the current game state, along with its settings.

Program Settings...

After selecting this option, a window will appear before our eyes, containing several useful settings:

  1. Screen:
    Choose a custom screen or play in a window on the workbench desktop.
  2. Private:
    Set the mode and color depth of the custom screen.
  3. Dithering Type:
    Since the game's graphics can come in various palettes and formats (e.g., 24-bit), the option to use dithering (None/FS/Random/Edd) proves useful (especially on AGA screens).
  4. Parking Time:
    Set the parking time for the piece on a space (from 0-1 s).
  5. SoundFXs Playback:
    Enable/Disable sample playback during the game.
  6. Music Playback:
    Enable/Disable music playback during the game.
  7. Channel Swap:
    Enable/Disable channel switching during sample playback.
  8. SoundFXs Volume:
    Adjust the sample volume.
  9. Music Volume:
    Adjust the music volume.

Save - saves the settings as default.
Use - settings apply only until the next restart.
Cancel - cancels the settings.

Game Settings...

After selecting this option, a window will appear, allowing us to make several changes related to gameplay.

  1. Cash
    Set the initial cash amount ($5,000 - $20,000).
  2. Cash (Randomize)
    Set the initial cash amount when the space-drawing option is active ($2,500 - $10,000).
  3. START space $
    Set the bonus amount for passing Start ($500 - $5,000).
  4. Extension Costs
    Set the upgrade cost relative to the space's value.
  5. Rent Value
    Set the cost of staying on a space relative to its value.
  6. Maximum Loan Value
    Set the loan amount relative to our wealth.
  7. Loan Interest
    Set the loan interest rate.
  8. Buyout Space from Bank
    Set the cost of buying out a space owned by the bank.
  9. Buyout Space from Player
    Set the cost of buying out a space owned by a player.
  10. Buyout a Pawned Space
    Set the cost of buying out a pawned space.
  11. Destruction Cost
    Set the destruction cost relative to the upgrade cost.

Save - saves the settings as default.
Save As... - saves the settings to any file.
Load... - loads previously saved settings.
Use - settings apply only until the next restart.
Cancel - cancels the settings.

HighScores...

This option shouldn't be taken too seriously, as the results are heavily influenced by the settings of a specific game.

Buy...

This option lets us legally buy a space from another player. After activating it, we select the space we want to buy and then enter the proposed price. The next question will be directed to the space's owner.

You can't buy a space from a set if something is built on it.

Sell...

This option lets us sell our space to another player. After activating it, we select the space we want to sell. If playing with three players, we'll also need to choose who to sell it to. Then we enter the requested amount and wait for the buyer's decision.

You can't sell a space from a set if something is built on it.

Pawn...

After selecting this option, we can pawn our space in exchange for 50% of its value. A pawned space remains in our possession but generates no income.

You can't pawn a space from a set if something is built on it.

Redeem...

After selecting this option, we can redeem a previously pawned space for 60% of its value.

Expand...

After selecting this option, we can modify a space to generate more income. The upgrade option is handled a bit differently than in the original EuroBusiness - it happens gradually through successive units, starting from a mouse up to a monitor, totaling 15 different gadgets. Each space in a set can be upgraded independently of the others.

The other spaces in the set must, of course, belong to us and cannot be pawned.

Dismantle

After selecting this option, we can remove one unit from a space. The removed unit will be replaced by one with a lower income level, or nothing if it was a mouse being dismantled. This operation nets us 80% of the upgrade cost.

Buy Out a Space...

This option lets us become the owner of a space belonging to another player or one owned by the bank. Depending on the settings, this pleasure costs between 200% and 900% of the space's price.

You can't buy out a space from a set if something is built on it.

Sell to The Bank...

This option lets us get rid of a space in exchange for 80% of its value. You can resell a pawned space.

You can't resell a space from a set if something is built on it.

Take a Loan...

Thanks to this extremely useful option, we can patch up our budget. Depending on the settings, we can borrow between 20% and 80% of our wealth.

Repay the Loan...

This option allows us to repay part or all of the loan. Despite appearances, it's quite a useful feature.

triton.library

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Triton

An object oriented GUI creation system.

Release 2.0

(c) 1993-1997 Stefan Zeiger

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This is a minimum distribution version of Triton, the object oriented graphical user interface creation system for AmigaOS. Not included in this minimum distribution are:

If you want a full distribution, you can download Triton from AmiNet (directory dev/gui).

See the Triton Home Page for more information:
http://home.pages.de/~szeiger/triton.html

Contacting the author:

EMail: triton-support@laren.rhein-main.de

Mail: Stefan Zeiger
Seligenstädter Weg 24
D-63796 Kahl
Germany

Voice: +49-6188-900712

Fax: +49-6188-900713

WWW: http://home.pages.de/~szeiger/

guigfx.library

author

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bifat / TEK neoscientists

email: timm.mueller@darmstadt.netsurf.de

snailmail: Timm S. Müller
Bartningstraße 15
64289 Darmstadt

support site: http://come.to/neoscientists

submissions

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do not hesitate to submit bug reports and suggestions. donations are also welcome. send me gold, gems, or cash. if you use guigfx.library in a shareware product, you are appealed to grant me a free copy or registration for this software.

reqtools.library

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reqtools.library

The requester toolkit.

Release 2.1d

(c) 1991-1993 Nico François

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