UNI'S WORLD - HELP
7/11/2001
YOU MUST HAVE NETSCAPE v4.X for this page to work properly
Internet Explorer WILL NOT WORK! Any CD-ROM ordered
of the site will have the necessary Netscape install program for either Windows95
or Mac.
OBJECTIVE:
- To spawn in the presence of other urchins so as to insure that your eggs
are fertilized and your genes are passed on to the next generation.
PITFALLS:
- To move takes energy [see "meter" on side of tidepool]. Run out of energy
and you die.
- You "eat" by being over the correct species seaweeds and pressing
the "EAT" button. This gains you energy [watch meter rise].
- Attempt to leave the tidepool screen and you desiccate and die.
- Attract the attention of the starfish and if you are eaten you die.
[move carefully and you can out run the starfish]
- Eat up all the food before returning to "home" and you could run out of
energy to spawn. You will eventually die and leave no offspring.
- You must be in the "green" region of the energy meter to be able to spawn
[SPAWN button]. There is only enough food in the tide pool for you to spawn
once. Make it a good one.
- Sea urchins are NOT fast movers. Be Patient! It takes time for "Uni"
to get around.
- WAVES will occasionally pass over. Just wait them out and continue,
LOW SCORE:
- The lowest number of moves to win the game is the "grand winner". So far
that is 215 moves. Good luck!
SOURCE CODE:
- From the Netscape menu, choose VIEW | PAGE SOURCE or Control U. You will
see the complete source code for "Uni's World". Feel free to offer suggestions
for improvement. Uses Dynamic HTML and JavaScript. [ I did not use JAVA so
that everyone could easily see the code and modify it]
- Typing in http://www.stanford.edu/group/Urchin/uni/ will show you the directory
of files used in Uni's World. From this you can copy individual files to your
computer to be able to run Uni's World offline.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS:
- Interaction with the starfish will be improved. The starfish will have to
flip Uni over before eating and "grabbing on" can prevent this from happening.
- Wave action can sometimes be fierce! If you are not grabbed on when a big
one comes you could be flipped over [subject to seagull attack] of worse,
flipped over onto the rocks where you cannot right yourself [thus desiccating
and dying].
- AND OF COURSE, versions that will work with more browsers.
[this may require JAVA though]
GOOD LUCK!