RayTron

$\/$ RayTron

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RayTron
(this game was developped in a co-production with Florian Kirstein)

Download RayTron 12.0 - multi line version for OS/2

(ZIP archive, about 300 kBytes)

Download RayTron 12.0 - "small" single line version for DOS

(Sorry, not available yet)

Why another Tron-Game?

To be precisely: no idea. Primarily, because we wanted to learn the different possibilities of interprocess communication with OS/2. And all of these are can be found in this game: Semaphores, Pipes, Queues and Shared Memory! Of course, we wanted to program a Multi-User-Action-Online-Game, too :-). Don't laugh - have you seen anything like that before?

What do you need for installing RayTron in your BBS?

OS/2 2.0 or later (for OS/2 version)
DOS 5.0 or later, 386 processor or better, 4 MB RAM or more (for DOS version)
Maximus BBS (recommended, but all others are possible, too, such as Lora)
ten minutes

What is it all about?

You have to steer a snake/worm or anything like that. Let's choose a real cool word for this: it's a cyber-worm :-). OK, the other important thing you've got to do is to eat tiny little yellow points (these are good for your score). If you run into a wall or into yourself or anyone else, you'll lose a life.

A small remark: in the original Tron (from the WD-movie with the same name), there are no worms, but you leave infinite lines behind you. With a resolution of 80x44 pixels, this would lead to a quick game over. This is why, the widely spread worm-variation was chosen. In the bonus levels, however, there really are infinite lines.

If this is too theoretical for you, then just download RayTron now and try it for yourself! You'll shurely have a lot of fun!

Release notes:

Version 12.0

better, nicer, cooler, different and a lot more. Very different. :-)

Now with SETUP program. To update your old version of RayTron, please run this program, too. If RayTron doesn't work, you have to completely reinstall RayTron. (The changes from Version 10.x/11.x to 12.0 are so complex that SETUP might have difficulties).

Integrated the display highscore list capability in RayTron itself.

Each user can configure language and colors on his own.

Many new configuration variables and possibilites; i.e. new color options (for example, the background color can now be configured).

New Extra: atom bomb

Lots of bugs fixed and certainly added many new ones :)

Added a pause feature. You can now pause while the other players can continue playing raytron.

Fixed Teleporter bug.

Changing a player's direction while countdown is now displayed.

Now, you can use external programs, too, for sysop yelling. For more details, please have a look at the new "yellingsound" variable in your Setup program

Improved non-IBM-character support

When playing without colors, there are different characters for Bonus/Extra/Teleporter instead of different colors

Enhanced "Full colormode" with 25 lines.

RayTron-Chat is now telnet backspace capable.

Bugfix in german settings. swapped "turn left" and "turn right". For more details, please look at the german version of the history.

Enhanced Configuration program.

DOS and OS/2 single line version of RayTron released (STRON110.ZIP, req. magic: STRON in the RayBBS). If you'd like to know, where you can get this file, please have a look at the "Updates" chapter of this document.

OS/2 version of RayChat released (RCHAT110.ZIP, request magic: RCHAT in the RayBBS). If you'd like to know, where you can get this file, please have a look at the "Updates" chapter of this document.

There was a problem with the german language configuration file for the user configuration program (udconfig.exe). If you used the english language file: don't worry, it's all fine. If you used the german language file: please have a look at the german raytron.doc in the "deutsch" subdirectory.

New levels (it would be really great to get a new level from you, too!)

Yelling now sounds a bit more eccentric (so you can recognize that RayTron is yelling). You can change the yelling sound by setting the "yellingsound" variable in your "raytron.cfg". Additionally, you'll see who's yelling: a message appears on the RayTron screen (like "Mr. Spock is yelling for you!")

Disabled player reset in a bonus stage (would be against our idea of a bonus stage in which each player only can play once).

Really solved "Reset lives and score"-bug. (Some pixels were not deleted). At least I hope so!

Version 10.6 said "Version 10.5" but was version 10.6. Removed this "not quite a bug"

New level (only one level :-)

Solved Chat bug: "killing" a client (Ctrl-C) during chat caused problems

Released the RayTron chat as a stand allone program (RayChat)

New LDL-level features: "gd i" (game delay) and teleporter direction changing (see LDL.DOC)

Bonus score is calculated in a more fair way (higher scores if less players are playing)

New LDL-level feature: "px c,x,y" (see LDL.DOC)

Official release

Added non-IBM-Character support; changed the udconfig.cfg. (Additional Information for Updating: this makes it necessary to copy the new udconfig.cfg situated in the "english" subdirectory to the tron directory (and overwrite the old one)! )

Adjustable highscore entries, see "highlstentries" variable in your new "raytron.cfg".

"Reset lives and score"-bug solved. (Some pixels were not deleted)

unlimited numbers of teleporters available.

included DCD detection (Data Carrier Detection). This checks the CDC bit on your COM port. To activate, use the new setting in raytron.cfg: checkdcd="1". If set to "0", RayTron will behave like Version 10.0 and wait for "NO CARRIER" from the modem to stop the game.

first official release, many bugfixes and new features

last update: June 8, 1997
© Copyright by Johannes Schmid, Florian Kirstein