Life on an 80x25 Grid.02
     Copyright (C) 1991 Wonder Box Software
     Author : Nick Ross
				     Game?
				    Utility?
		    Profound insight into contemporary life?
				  Time waster?


     Life8025 was  one of  those programs  that get written, and used, when
     one ought	to be  doing something that one does not wish to do, and so
     wishes to	find excuses  not to  do it... I didn't have some more free
     time on my hands, but Life8025.02 got written anyway.


     Executing Life8025.02 :

     Life8025.02 is  executed by just entering it's file name, LIFE8025, at
     the command  line. If  you're reading  this documentation	from a hard
     copy, you	may wish  to do	 this, so  that you can see the environment
     controls described later working on-screen.


     The Purpose of Life8025.02 :

     Life8025.02 is designed to simulate the life of a being or beings. The
     being has	specific 'objects  of desire'  which he or she (Life8025.02
     does not  discriminate  between  the  sexes  in  any  way,	 especially
     graphically!) must	 pursue. These objects of desire are defined by the
     being's planetary	heritage.  Life8025.02	initially  features  planet
     Earth, but	 can also  consider Venus and Saturn. The objects of desire
     are as follows : Earth  : Love & Money
		      Venus  : Musical Form and Ultimate Truth
		      Saturn : Artistic and Literary Form

     Life8025.02 only considers desires, as opposed to drives, eg. the need
     to feed,  as they	exist only  to maintain	 and  improve  the  being's
     ability to	 pursue the  objects of	 their desire.	Also missing is the
     everyday irrelevant  chaff that  sadly takes  up most of most people's
     time. This	 is because  it only  exists to	 distract us  from our real
     objects of desire.


     The Life8025.02 Screen :

     The screen	 is initially black, apart from two lines at the top of the
     screen and	 two at	 the bottom.  These  are  collectively	called	the
     control panel.

     The first	line at	 the top is the happiness/despair gauge, it will be
     described in detail later. Underneath this is the program title and an
     author/copyright notice.

     The lines	at the	bottom of  the	screen	represent  the	Life8025.02
     environment controls. They are structured as follows :

       i. The key or keys to press, eg. [p] or [a cursor key], to change an
	  environment variable, in square brackets.

      ii. The title of the environment variable.

     iii. The current value of the environment variable, eg. (on), (off) or
	  (a numeric), in round brackets.

     A notable exception is the malice function (described later). This has
     only the  first part  of the common structure. It initially appears on
     screen as	an [m].	 When it  is activated it becomes an [M]. The other
     exceptions are  the functions  that aren't displayed on screen at all,
     but these	are simple  and are enabled and disabled simply by pressing
     their initial letter. These and all other controls are detailed in the
     next section.


     Controlling the Life8025.02 environment :

     Below is a list of the Life8025.02 environment controls. It is indexed
     in an  order close	 to that in which the control options are displayed
     on the  screen, but  taking into  account the  fact that some controls
     must be understood before others can be explained.

     Some controls  come into  effect as  soon as the relevant key has been
     pressed, eg. once one of the keys to change the range has been pressed
     the range	changes. Other	functions only	come into  effect after the
     current object  of desire	pursuit cycle  has ended,  eg. when the key
     that changes  the state of the malice function is pressed, Life8025.02
     will remember  that the  malice function  needs to	 change it's state,
     and, when the cycle ends, the malice function's state will be changed.

     In the  case of  the latter,  should you  change your  mind about	the
     selection of  the change of state, press the key that will reverse the
     control previously	 selected (frequently  the same	 key  as  initially
     pressed) and the control selected will not come into effect.

     range(0 to 79) : Defines the  number of steps or progressions that the
		      being can	 make towards  the object  of desire  being
		      pursued, before  it is replaced by another. The being
		      can move in any of eight directions.

		      The range	 directly effects  the being's	ability	 to
		      reach the current object of desire. When the range is
		      zero, the	 being will  not move and, as such, will be
		      unable to	 reach any  objects of	desire (0%  success
		      rate). Conversely,  when the  range is  79, the being
		      will be  able to	move from any point in the arena to
		      any other,  and, as  such, can  reach all	 objects of
		      desire (100% success rate).

		      Range 11	will give a 25% success rate, range 21 will
		      give a 50% success rate, and range 36 will give a 75%
		      success  rate   (the  maths  behind  this	 is  rather
		      curious, such is life).

		      The range represents what might be called the will or
		      gumption of  the individual  being  or  civilization.
		      When it  is low,	overall success	 is  low  and  this
		      spirals into  despair in	the individual being or the
		      civilization. When it is high, the converse occurs.

		      As noted	earlier, the  range  control  is  instantly
		      effective.

     [m or M] : Defines the state of the malice function, either on or off.
		The presence  of malice will reset the maximum range of the
		being to  39, it  will then position all subsequent objects
		of desire  just out  of reach  of the  being. Pressing	[m]
		turns the  malice function  on, and  pressing it again will
		turn it off.

		The malice  function allows  you as an outward influence to
		effect the success of the individual being or civilization.

		As noted  earlier, the	malice function	 is  not  instantly
		effective.

     continuum(0 to 250) : This defines the amount of time that will elapse
			   between each	 'step' toward the object of desire
			   that the  being takes. This is actually measured
			   in milliseconds.  It can  be considered  as	the
			   ability to  speed up or slow down time itself in
			   the arena.  It allows  you to see the effects of
			   your	 changes   to	the   environment   control
			   variables in the long term, quickly.

			   The continuum control is instantly effective.

     control panel(on or off) : Enables you  to choose	whether or  not the
				control panel is displayed.

				The  control  panel  can  be  seen  as	the
				being's belief	in either  a faith  of some
				form, or  fate. Whether	 or not	 the belief
				exists, it's  effects (ie.  the effects	 of
				you  changing  the  values  of	environment
				variables) are still felt by the being.

				The control  panel  function  is  instantly
				effective.

     object of desire(on or off) : Enables you to choose whether or not the
				   object of desire is displayed.

				   The object of desire's visibility can be
				   seen as the belief that the being has in
				   the objects	of desire  that his  or her
				   planetary  heritage	has  laid  down	 as
				   fundamental to his or her existence.

				   The	object	 of  desire   function	 is
				   instantly effective.

     [d] : Enables you	to restore the Life8025.02 environment variables to
	   their original,  or default,	 settings. This does not effect the
	   current planet, happiness/despair gauge position, or position of
	   the being in the arena.

	   The default function is not instantly effective.

     [c] : Allows you  to enter civilization mode. In this mode, the screen
	   shows  the  despair/happiness  gauge	 of  a	number	of  beings,
	   randomly sampled  from the civilization that the being initially
	   considered belongs to.

	   Witness the starting points of the different beings, and see how
	   beings with	similar positions  at the start of your view change
	   with regard	to one another. Also consider why no being can ever
	   sink fully into despair or arrive fully at bliss.

	   Note : The gauge  at the  top is  that of  the being featured in
		  individual mode.  The range  environment control (for the
		  individual being)  determines the  success rate of all of
		  the beings  considered in this mode, test the percentages
		  listed in  the description  of the range (above). This is
		  also true  of the  status of	the malice function and the
		  setting of the continuum environment control.

	   The civilization function is not instantly effective.

	   individual : Returns you to 'individual being' mode.

     planet(earth or venus or saturn) : This allows you to select the birth
					planet	and   subsequent   cultural
					heritage of  the being	considered.
					The birth  planet of the being also
					defines the colour of the being.

					The   planet	function   is	not
					instantly effective.

     this is getting silly : When  you	finally	 realise  that	Life8025.02
			     started out sensible but has now become silly,
			     you press [t] to quit.

			     The 'this  is getting  silly' function  is not
			     instantly effective (or is it?). "Albatros?"

     There are	also two  hidden functions  that also effect the arena, the
     sound function and the range view function.

     The sound function default is sound off, but pressing [s] will turn on
     the sound	effect. When  a success	 is recorded,  up to the point just
     before bliss  is achieved,	 a high beep will sound, and when a failure
     is recorded,  up to the just before complete despair is reached, a low
     beep will sound.

     The range	view function  default is  also off,  but pressing [r] will
     activate it. It allows you to, at the slower continuum speeds, see the
     being's steps  towards the	 object of  desire being  logged up  as the
     distance between them diminishes.

     Both are  cancelled by  pressing their  respective activating  keys  a
     second time.


     Uses of Life8025.02 : (just in case you were wondering)

     Life8025.02 has  two principal  functions, or 'time wasting qualities'
     as they might otherwise be called, these are :

      i. Firstly,  Life8025.02	 provides  an  interesting  dynamic  screen
	 display that is rather pleasing to watch as a distraction. This is
	 supported be  the ability  to change environmental settings to see
	 how  the  individual  being  or  civilization's  happiness/despair
	 status is effected.

     ii. Secondly, what is seen in the Life8025.02 arena can be interpreted
	 in terms of 'real' life. Important questions can be asked, some of
	 which have  been alluded  to in  the initial  descriptions of	the
	 environment control  variables (try  range(5),	 continuum(5)  with
	 control panel and object of desire(off), for contemporary life).

     That's about it, as far as documentation goes, apart from to say ...

	   i. ... that I'd  like to  see any suggestions that you have with
	      regard to future Life8025.02 developments and any interesting
	      Life8025.02 interpretations,  with either general or specific
	      environment control variable settings. I should think that if
	      you write to PC Plus they should be able to deal with them.

	  ii. ... that Life8025.02 has very little to do with the wealth of
	      programs designed to simulate the growth of a colony of cells
	      on a  grid over  time. This  is the  bigger picture  and, for
	      extra value for money, the next one up from that too.

     and iii. ... thanks for  giving me	 the opportunity  to waste  some of
	      your valuable time, enjoy.