Millionwaire Remake Software Copyright (C) Moose O'Malley, October 2015. ------------------- Questions/Answers data (C) BRAINBANK INC., 1982,1983. +===========================================================+ | T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S | +===========================================================+ | * Introduction | * Using this Program | * Data File Format | * The Future | * Special Thanks | * Reviews / Awards / CDs | * Freeware Information | * Warranty | * Amendment History | * Contacting the Program's Author +===========================================================+ Introduction : -------------- Millionwaire Remake is for IBM compatible PCs, desktops, laptops, netbooks, etc running any version of Windows from Windows 95 onwards, which includes Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, etc, 32 and 64 bit. This program is free software. Anyone - any person, any company, or any business - can use this program for free. No fees or payment is required. See "Freeware Information" below. Millionwaire Remake is a simple little quiz program, that produces the same quiz (same questions, same answers, same data file, etc) as the ancient Apple ][ game called "Millionwaire", but in a nice GUI for modern Windows PCs. I don't recall every seeing or playing this ancient Apple ][ game until a few days ago (on 26-Oct-2015), when I downloaded a disk image of the game and played it on the excellent AppleWin emulator. I made it to $1 Million on my first go (it is a very easy quiz game). But, like I sometimes do (if I have time), I started poking around in the disk image and I located the data file, and I slowly worked out the format for the file and then wrote my own program to play the quiz based on this file. So, Millionwaire Remake is a remake of the old Apple ][ game called "Millionwaire". It is only single player (at the moment, would be easy to add support for any number of players). It has few sound effects. It has hardley any graphics. It has no wise crackin' host (like Bob Brainbank in the original Apple ][ game). It is just a very basic Quiz program that produces the same quiz (same questions, same answers, same data file, etc) as the original Apple ][ game. (See "Data File Format" below for my analysis / notes about the original data file format). Millionwaire Remake: - Enables you to select question categories / difficulty levels. - Specify the amounts you want to bet by moving the trackbar slider - the minimum bet is $1,000 and maximum bet is your account balance. - Select your answer to a random Question with the difficulty and from the category selected. (You have 15 seconds to answer each question). - And repeat the above steps over and over again until you either bomb out (bet all your money) or reach $1 Million dollars. Needless to say: all monetary amounts are play money. There's NO REAL MONEY involved in this game and you CANNOT win real money by playing this game. It is all purely for fun. Not sure if I needed to say this - it is so obvious after all, and only a complete scumbag would try and claim they were somehow entitled to real money for playing this game. NO, it is ALL play money. Developed using 32-bit Delphi. Using this Program : -------------------- To use this program, extract the contents of the Millionwaire Remake ZIP file to a directory,such as c:\Millionwaire\ and then run the program by double clicking on the Millionwaire.EXE. Click the button at the bottom to proceed, use the radio buttons to select categories and answers, use the trackbar slider to change your bet amount. Data File Format : ------------------ Millionwaire Remake uses the data file from the original "Millionwaire" game for the Apple ][. This data file is included - exactly as is - from the original Apple ][ game. I have included my notes / discoveries about how the data file works below, just in case it helps someone out or just in case anyone else out there would like to code their own versions of the game. :) **** GAMEMILL.BAS (Apple ][ disk file) Here's the Odds / Difficulty descriptions / multipliers: 93 T$(I) = "3 TO 2":OD(I) = .5 94 IF O$(I) = "B" THEN T$(I) = "2 TO 1":OD(I) = 1 95 IF O$(I) = "C" THEN T$(I) = "3 TO 1":OD(I) = 2 96 IF O$(I) = "D" THEN T$(I) = "4 TO 1":OD(I) = 3 97 IF O$(I) = "E" THEN T$(I) = "5 TO 1":OD(I) = 4 There are 42 Question Categories: 270 DATA "AMERICAN CITIES","ETHNIC FOODS","SPORTS TALK","WORLD CITIES","PRESIDENTS","LANDMARKS","CALENDAR","AUTHORS","SCIENCE TERMS","HUMAN BODY" 271 DATA "ANIMALS","EXPLORERS","INVENTORS","COMPOSERS","CARTOONS","ACTORS","SOLAR SYSTEM","PAINTERS","ACTRESSES" 272 DATA "WARS","NOVEL CHARACTERS","BROADWAY","WOMEN","PLAYWRIGHTS","SHAKESPEARE","RULERS","PHOBIAS","PARTS OF SPEECH","OLD TESTAMENT" 273 DATA "DISEASES","HISTORICAL FACTS","COMPUTERS","MATHEMATICS","MYTHOLOGY","MONEY","HOBBIES","TELEVISION","SPORTS TEAMS","SHOPPING","ROCK AND ROLL","OCCUPATIONS","COLLEGES" These categories have been extracted and placed in the data file: "Millionwaire__Categories_Topics.txt". **** MILLFILE.txt (Apple ][ disk file) Line 1 - 42: (42 lines) Question_Topic_Descriptions Question Categories 1st 42 lines are Question Categories: 1st line is: MATCH THE CITY WITH THE STATE-IN WHICH IT IS LOCATED. Corresponds to the 1st Category above (in the DATA lines): AMERICAN CITIES Line 43 - 3,822 inclusive: (3,780 lines) Question Items 42 x 90 lines (in groups of 90) are various question words. Each item has 3 lines: 30 items x 3 lines = 90 lines TALLAHASSEE A C Line 3823 - 4,242 inclusive: (420 lines) Are the possible answers - 10 possible answers each x 1 line per answer = 10 lines 42 x 10 COLORADO CONNECTICUT FLORIDA INDIANA KANSAS OHIO OREGON PENNSYLVANIA TEXAS WISCONSIN So, each Question Categories has 30 possible Question Items and there are 10 possible answers for each question, but only 4 are displayed for each question. The 2nd line below each Question is the index of the correct answer: TALLAHASSEE A C Tallahassee, Florida Correct answer is C (3rd answer in list) : Florida Ord ('C') - ORD ('A') + 1 PUEBLO C A Pueblo, COLORADO Correct answer is A (1st answer in list) : Colorado Ord ('A') - ORD ('A') + 1 HARRISBURG B H Harrisburg, PENNSYLVANIA Correct answer is H (8ths answer in list) : PENNSYLVANIA Ord ('H') - ORD ('A') + 1 The 1st line below each Question is the index of the Difficulty / Odds multiplier: A for TALLAHASSEE C for PUEBLO B for HARRISBURG Refers to the Difficulty / Odds multiplier: A => "3 TO 2": .5 B => "2 TO 1": 1 C => "3 TO 1": 2 D => "4 TO 1": 3 E => "5 TO 1": 4 Ummm, that's about it. Very simple once you see the pattern. :) The original "MILLFILE.txt" data file is provided exactly as it was on the Apple ][ game disk in the file called: "Millionwaire__MILLFILE.txt". The Future : ------------ In the future, many improvements could be made to this program, such as : - Data file read checking. - Correct errors in the data file, especially where things have changed over time. For example: * Pluto is no longer a planet (it is a Dwarf Planet). * Uranus does NOT have 5 satellites (currently 27 satellites are known @ Oct-2015). * Currencues in European countries * etc. Anyone want to do some fact checking ? - Remove / replace the really silly / super obvious questions. e.g. the fact that the mathematical term dividend relates to division. - More graphics. - More sound effects. - More questions. - Harder questions. - A wise crackin' host (like Bob Brainbank in the original Apple ][ game). - Different Levels of Play, different times to answer questions. e.g. give you 5, 10 or 15 seconds to answer a question. - Extra quiz options. Lots of things that I could do here. :) - Replace the American-centric questions with more international questions. (or create a questions suitable for various countries and allow the user to specify their country). - Replace / expand the Rock 'n Roll questions with more recent artists, and widen the category (or add other categories) to include other genres, such as Hip Hop, Rap, Blues, Grunge, etc. - Multiple Players. - Save player stats to file (wins, losses, longest winning streak, etc). - Anything else ? If you would like any of these improvements, or would like to suggest more, please email me and let me know. How much more work I do on this program depends entirely on what support I get, how many people use the program, etc. Special Thanks : ---------------- (1). Special thanks to the original developers of "Millionwaire" game for the Apple ][. MILLIONWAIRE-APPLE VER3.0 (C) 1982,1983 BRAINBANK INC. PROGRAMMED BY TUNG LEE* My hats off to you for making a great game for a great computer system. Millionwaire Remake uses the data file from this original game. (2). Also, special thanks to Andy McFadden and his terrific CiderPress software (freeware, http://a2ciderpress.com/) which allowed me to extract the Millionwaire data file from the disk image. (3). Jason Scott (http://textfiles.com/) for creating the backup disk image of the "Millionwaire" game for the Apple ][. I had never seen or played this game until a few days aho (26-Oct-2015). So, it is probably very rare, and it might never have been backed up if Jason had not done the backup. (4). The developers of AppleWin (freeware, https://github.com/AppleWin) so I could run / play the game on my PC. (5). Apple Inc. for making the Apple ][. :) Long Live the ][ ! Reviews / Awards / CDs : ------------------------- None so far. Freeware Information : ----------------------- This is free software. Anyone - any person, any company, or any business - can use this program for free. No fees or payment is required. However, if you find the program useful, then please consider making a PayPal donation to support my efforts. (To make a donation, please run the program and select the "About" option under the Help menu, and then click the PayPal link on the "About" screen). Warranty : ---------- This software and the accompanying files are provided "as is" and without warranties as to performance or merchantability or any other warranties whether expressed or implied. The user assumes the entire risk of using this software. If you do find any faults with this program, email me and let me know. Amendment History : -------------------- Vers Date Description 1.0f 30-Oct-2015 First Public Release. (1,031 lines of code / comments / blank lines in primary source file.) (37,305 lines of code / comments / blank lines in all primary, library, and include files.) 1.1f 6-Nov-2015 Add a timer giving you 15 seconds to answer each question. As the timer counts down, your potential Winnings is reduced accordingly. In other words, the faster you correctly answer questions, the more "money" you win. :) Display Win and Loss amounts for each question and update these as you change the bet amount slider (and also adjust these values as the answer timer counts down). Display winning streak details and display these as you play. (You need to get more than 1 question right in a row for them to show up). Keep track of which questions have been asked in each game (so the same question is not asked multiple times in a single game). Also, keep track of the remaining questions in each Category. If all of the questions in a Category have already been asked, then that Category will not be offered again (for the current game). Continue displaying the "seconds count down progress bar" after the question has been answered. Add random encouragement messages: "Good luck ! :)" and similar when you are selecting a Question Category. Change "Better Luck Next time" to "Better luck next time". Change Tick and Cross images from 256 to 2 colour GIF images, to try and get rid of the ugly dark marks around the graphics at some resolutions. (Didn't help much ...) (1,180 lines of code / comments / blank lines in primary source file.) (37,454 lines of code / comments / blank lines in all primary, library, and include files.) If this program was not downloaded from my Home Page, then it is possibly an old version. The latest version of this program is available from my WEB page - see below. Mike "Moose" O'Malley ____________________________________________________ Moose's Software Valley - Established July, 1996. WEB: http://moosevalley.fhost.com.au/ ____________________________________________________