The Pole Game White Paper
About This Document	2
Document Revisions	2
Project Team	3
Programming Team	3
Art Team	3
Music and Tunes	3
Web Design Team	3
Special Thanks	3
Gameflow	4
Loading Screen	4
Title Screen	4
Decorate Jacket	5
Options Menu	5
Art Specifications	7
Graphics Template	7
Timeline	7
Terms used in Timeline	7
Completed	7
Documented	7
Saved on Leilu	8
Graphic Tree	8
Sound Specifications	9
Sound Template	9
Suggested Effects Needed (Out of Date)	9
Sound Effects Recorded	11
Pole Game Press Release, August 1997	16
Misc. Information about the game	18
What Will the Game Look Like?	18
Projected System Requirements	18
Making the Frosh Artificially “Intelligent”	18
Things to keep in mind	18
(Mis)Behaviour	19
Keeping the Frosh From the Tam	20
Amongst Our Weaponry Are Such Diverse Elements As:	20
The Iron Ring	20
Something Cool To Do	21
Programming and Documentation Conventions	24
Hungarian Notation (condensed)	24

About This Document
The Pole Game White Paper contains all the up-to-date information needed for developing The Pole Game, an arcade rendition of the ultimate Frosh Week event for the Windows95 platform.
It should be accompanied by “Graphics Template.cpt”, a file which contains as a series of layers many of the graphics used in the Pole Game.  As you begin work on part of the game’s art, music or programming, you are welcome to download large colletions of artwork or sound effects associated with the game.  We have over 300 MB of stock graphics, and 450 MB of stock sound effects.
Document Revisions
1.0	–	Friday September 25, 1997	Name of document changed to “Pole Game WhitePaper” from “Pole Game Compendium.”  Pretty much totally revamped.
0.2	– 	Friday September 14, 1996	Sound Effects Recorded included; released at the first Pole Game meeting, Saturday September 14.
0.1	– 	Friday August 2, 1996	First rough copy of the document; released at The Wellington Friday August 9.

Project Team 
Programming Team
Team Leader: 	Robert Burke
DirectX Guru:	Pat Bouffard
Art Team
Artistic Director:	Craig Calvert
Contributors:	Kitty Lee (Sci ’99)
Photography:	Brendan Carroll
Frosh Character Design:
Elizabeth Burke
Music and Tunes
Musical Director: Matt Garrett
Web Design Team
EngSoc Liaison:	Jamie ffolliott
Special Thanks
Mr. Peter Burke, Nikon Canada Inc.
Mr Donald Bloor, Math and Eng ’78

Additional credits can be found on the Web Site.  If you know of someone who deserves mention in these credits but doesn’t appear here yet, please e-mail Robert at 4rb8@qlink.queensu.ca as soon as possible.
Gameflow
There are essentially only five “states” the game can be in: Loading Screen, Title Screen, Decorate Jacket Screen, Options Screen and Pole Game.  Here is how it moves between these stages:

Loading Screen
This “Splash Screen” displays as the game is loading the non-streamed sound files and the menu graphics into memory.  It shouldn’t be too fancy.  A progress meter is not required, as this process takes less than 4 seconds on a Pentium 133 system.  Something like http://engsoc.queensu.ca/sci99/pole/images/The_Legend_of_the_Greasepole_Sized.jpg would be appropriate, but without the text that currently clutters that graphic.
Graphics Required: 
Load\Splashscreen.bmp (640x480)
Sounds Required:
Menu\LoadRepeat.wav  (Tentative: Start of MHTH)
Menu\LoadInit.wav   (“How high’s the pole, Frosh?”)
Title Screen
The “Title Screen” displays the title of the Pole Game.  The working title is “The Legend of the Greasepole,” and we welcome other suggestions at this point.  The only requirement for this screen is that it contains the two choices “Start” and “Options,” which can be selected by a mouse click.  Design of the mouse cursor, title screen, and these two buttons is entirely in the hands of the artist.  Some ideas that have surfaced:
•	Could the “l” in “GreasePole” or “Legend” somehow be the pole in the title graphic?  
•	If you plan on using a bitmap that shows the pole against a backdrop of the sky or the pit on this bitmap, could the Pole be saved in a second graphic and “zoomed in” or something?  In short, could a half-second animation as this screen loads spice it up a little?
Graphics Required: 
Menu\TitleBack.bmp (640x480)
Menu\Title\Start.bmp (The image that will be clicked to start the game)
Menu\Title\Options.bmp (The image that will be clicked to open the Options menu)
Sounds Required: 
Menu\TitleInit.wav (Tentative: Bridge between LoadRepeat and TitleRepeat)
Menu\TitleRepeat.wav (Tentative: Slightly further into MHTH)
\Menu\Select.wav  (Some sort of “Selection” noise for when you choose “Start” or “Options.”)
Decorate Jacket
After clicking “Start” the player is presented with a jacket arm on the left and all ten discipline bars on the right.  A voice will say, “Select your discipline and click the Pass Crest to start!”  “Select your discipline and click the Pass Crest” will be written on the screen.
The discipline bars can be dragged onto the arm of the jacket.  A LMClick on a bar selects it, which will be accompanied by a sound clip (“Electricaaaaal!”, etc.)  Until the LMB is released the bar will be flagged as “moving” and will follow the mouse.  When the LMB is released, the bar will assess if it is closer to the jacket arm than its original spot.  If so, it will snap into position complete with an appropriate sound.
If the mouse is moved to the lower-right hand corner of the screen, a “Ritual” bar pops up

Graphics Required:
Menu\JacketBack.bmp (640x480, probably taken from stock footage.  Get something that matches our palette nicely and doesn’t stand out too much)
Menu\Jacket\BarApple.bmp … BarRitual.bmp  (Taken from CoolPix shots)
Menu\MenuJacket.bmp  (~400 x 480 shot of a jacket arm with pass crest and no bars)
Menu\MenuPassCrest1.bmp through MenuPassCrest3.bmp  (The crest glows while you wait, 3 is brightest.)
Menu\txtSelect.bmp (“Select your discipline and click the Pass Crest” in an appropriate font)
Sounds Required:
Menu\PlaceBar.wav (A bar being put into place on the jacket arm)
Menu\JacketInit.wav (“Select your discipline and click the Pass Crest to start.”)
Menu\JacketRepeat.wav (Tentative: Further along MHTH?)
Options Menu
This one is largely unplanned as of yet.  There is certainly need for some sort of backdrop and selection devices.  I have looked to the Options screens of “X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter” for inspiration here.  LucasArts employed cool little gadgets for selecting options, and they completely abandon the use of “scrollbars.”  What I’m saying is instead of 10 different levels of Frosh Lameness, all we really need is a “SO lame” setting and a “Keener” setting.  And that’ll give people all the flexibility they need.
The Options Menu Backdrop (Menu\OptionsBack.bmp) does NOT need to be 640x480.  It will always be displayed on top of the Start Menu, so plan the graphics accordingly and work with the person designing the Start Menu.
Options Required:
Number of Colours (256, 65536)
Frosh Lameness (SO Lame, Keeners)
Sound (Off, Loud, Louder)
Intense Crowd (Off, On)
Intense Scenery (Off, On)
Done
Graphics Required:
Menu\OptionsBack.bmp (Not necessarily 640x480… stuff from title screen can bleed through.)
Menu\Options\(Toggles, any additional animation in the toggles, etc.)
Sounds Required:
Menu\Toggle.wav (Toggle noise)
Menu\Select.wav (“Done” button noise (also used for selecting Discipline bar above))
Art Specifications
Graphics Template
Included with this document is the Pole Game Graphics Template.  It is a high-colour 640x800 Corel PhotoPAINT! 7.0 file that contains over a dozen layered graphics that are used in the Pole Game.  There are a couple of Frosh for you to play with, mock-ups of the final background graphics, and so on.  
Keep in mind that due to the parallax scrolling during the game, the background elements will displace in relation to each other.  The display shown in the Template is what the pit looks like “straight on” before the screen pans up.
Note that the majority of the graphics used there are not in their final version.  Immediately you may be able to notice some sections of the graphics that need work.  For example:
•	In the final version, the water will ripple.  We need new, rippling water effects.  You can draw from the vast amount of footage on file of water at the Pit site.  How’s your PhotoPAINT skill?
•	We have pictures of the ambulances, busses, U-Haul’s and so on.  What would the perfect background look like?
•	No lanolin is gooping down the pole.  Anyone willing to give that a shot?
Timeline
The timeline can be found at the Pole Game Web Site, and will soon be dynamically updating.
Terms used in Timeline
Completed
For a graphic to be considered completed, it should:
•	Be saved as an uncompressed Windows Bitmap (.bmp) file in 16-bit colour.
•	Use RGB(200, 200, 255)  (a pale blue shade) as the “see-through” or “alpha” colour.
•	Be trimmed to the smallest possible rectangle.
•	Be touched up to the quality you’d be proud to sign as an artist.
Documented
For a graphic to be considered documented, it should satisfy the following:
•	Accompanied by a file with the same name and extension .txt which contains information formatted as follows:
•	// filename: Description (m/n)
•	\directory\filename.bmp
•	hotspotx
•	hotspoty

The HotSpot coordinate indicates the displacement of a special point on the graphic from the rectangle’s upper-left corner.  For people in the background of the game, the hotspot is in the middle of their feet.  For the Frosh, it is the point where their shirt touches the water.  Please ask Craig or Rob if you are unsure where the hotspot sits.  In most cases, you can invent a location for the hotspot yourself.  Be sure to document what the hotspot represents in the accompanying text file.
An example would be:
•	// bmpSPLASHSCREEN: The Pole Game "Loading..." Splashscreen (1/1)
•	load\splashscreen.bmp
•	0
•	0
Saved on Leilu
Leilu is the hard drive on Craig Calvert’s computer.  It is shared over the Queen’s at Home service and is thus available to Robert Burke’s computer as well.  To gain access to this hard drive, send files to either Craig or Rob.  We are both reachable by e-mail, or via the impressive ICQ service.  Visit http://www.mirabilis.com to obtain a copy of ICQ.  It is an “Internet Pager” that lets you know if your friends are online.  You can send them messages, files, and engage in “conference call” IRC-style chats.
Graphic Tree
If you are working on a set of graphics for a sprite that can go through a series of “motions” or behaviours, you will need to design a Graphic Tree.  This is simply a diagram that depicts under which circumstances a sprite can change from one image to another, along with any additional information required to animate the sprite.  
The following is an example of a very simple Graphic Tree.  Note that the frame rate of the game is 25 fps, and all delays should be expressed in terms of frames.

Sound Specifications
Sound Template
All sound effects should be saved at 22050Hz, in 16-bit Stereo.  To a great extent, the sound effects will make or break the game, and it is exciting to see several Sci ‘99s taking an interest in improving the aural aspects of the game.
Suggested Effects Needed (Out of Date)
The following list was compiled towards the start of the project, and suggests the sound effects that will be needed for the game.  These have changed to some extent over the past year.
Sound Effect	Produced by	Recorded	.WAV	
Assorted splashes	Toogood Pond and Lake Ontario (and some bricks)		SPLASH	
Riff of year song	Recording (do we use White Zombie?)		MHTH	
Assorted clang!’s	Poles in basement		DUMPSTER
WOODSLAM
SWING1	
Popcorn popping (for Chem)	Orville Redenbacher		POPCORN	
16 Ton Weight	My collection of over 15 hours of Monty Python			
Start of Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathrustra	My CD collection		ALSO	
ArtSci and Commie Screams:
“Run away!”
“Aggh!”
“Whoaaah!” (like Barney)	Frosh Week mayhem		ARTCHR2/3/4(ESPECIALLY)/5
COMMNUTS	
Cheering and drunken encouragement of 4th Year	Frosh Week mayhem		PUSH1 / PUSH2 / PITCHR1/ PITCHR2	
Group “Huh?” (for Math)	Frosh Week mayhem			
Jacket Slam	Frosh Week mayhem		GRANT2 GONUTS3	
Organized Jacket Slamming	Frosh Week mayhem		GONUTS3	
Several Frec-taunting-Frosh noises	Frosh Week mayhem		GRANT5	
Assorted smack!’s and whap!’s	Car hood slamming, towel flick, etc.		DUMPSTER SOODSLAM SWING1	
“Rubber” stretch (“Bill Nye” type)			RRIP1	
Alligator snap				
Assorted whap!’s of apples hitting targets and punches connecting			DUMPSTER WOODSLAM SWING1	
Assorted whooshes and Doppler-effect-added wind effects			WIND1	
Baloon deflating (for Materials)				
Banana-peel slip				
Bowling pins crashing (for Civil)				
Bubbling (for Chem)				
Chugging noise				
Echoing belch				
Electrocution bzzzz! (for Electrical)				
Explosion (for Mining)				
Frec Screams:
“114, Frosh!”
“Phys 114!”
“Pizza’s here!”
“Here’s some ‘Za!”
“Go nuts! Go nuts!”
“How lame was that?  Soooo lame!”
“Lame frosh!”			114HARD GONUTS3 WHOTHEFKRU UFKEDUP UFKEDUP2 FROSHPIT JSUSMRPY HOW-SO HOWLAME	
Froshie screams:
“We Are, We Are…”
“What would you do with a drunken sailor…”
“Make it stop!”
“It’s not worth it!”
“Yippie!”
“Mmmmm… beer…”
“Get the ArtSci!”
“An ArtSci!”
“Laaame ArtSci!”
“Get ‘im!”
“McDonnnnnnalds!”
+ countless additional jabs at Commerce students			HAPPY DIRTY WHOTHFKRU HARDCORE ENGHYMN1 BIGPUR
NIPONE MCDON CHEATWIN MAYHEM ARTSCI1
SHOUT1 SHOUT2 UFKEDUP2 (BOSSES SUCK FOR MONEY)	
Gooping lanolin				
Grunt, groan				
Homer-esque eating noise				
Lightning (for Electrical)				
Nailgun				
Phaser (for Phys)				
Ping!’s and bong!’s of nails ejecting from Tam			DUMPSTER RAILING RRIP2	
Plane engine			PROPANE	
Really cool sucking-into-vortex “Iron-ring-on-way-up” sound			RRIP2	
Robotic noises (for Mech)			WHIRR RRIP1 PROPANE	
Rumble (for Geo)				
Sloshy wade-through-pit noise				
Sound of Tam breaking off 			RRIP2	
Watergun hosing				
Vheering			YEAA1 GOTTAM CHEER2 CHEER	
Disgust Reaction			UHHH1 UHHHH2 BOO1 BOO2	
Intro			RE-POLE1 RE-POLE2 POLE102	
Unused: Psycho, Pole10, Marika1, LuvChFrc, HardCore, GotChFrc, ArtChr1, EngHymn2/3, ConRad, Grant1-8, 8KixAss
Sound Effects Recorded
These sound effects were all recorded using a TASCAM digital audio recorder, and are stored at 22050Hz, 16-bit Stereo.  In a nutshell, they kick ass.  The “Description” column shown here is by no means complete, and “hidden gems” can be found in most of these files.  Let’s see what we can find!
File Name	Description	
114Hard	How hard’s 114?	
8KixAss	8 Kicks Ass!	
ArtChr1	Conversation w. Artscis
Get out there!
An Engineer!
Make some noise!
Wooooo!	
ArtChr2	Dead Frecs…
Woo!  Woo!
They are, they are…
Wooooo!	
ArtChr3	If I had the wings…
Arts ‘n’ Science!!
Dead Frecs	
ArtChr4	Whining
Go Gaels Go!	
ArtChr5	Let me see you copulate
rub your balls
screw your frosh
masturbate
stroke your pussy  (aren’t the Artscis gross?)	
ArtSci1	Artscis, Frosh!
McDonalds, etc.
Shit on Commies
Commies by nuts
How Lame are commies?
How lame are artscis?
How lame are all other faculties?
How cool are eng’s?	
Bigpur	We’re big purple geeks	
Boo1	Booo! Boooooooo!	
Boo2	Boooooo… sit down! Shut up!	
Cheatwin	Cheat to Win	
cheer	Woohoooo! -- Soooo cool!	
Cheer2	Yeaaaaa! [applause]	
CommNuts	Got commies by the nuts	
Conrad	Message for the Frosh after they got the Tam	
Dirty	We’re dirty dirty frosh! (see happy.wav)	
Dumpster	Wham!
Wham!	
EngHymn1	You shouuld know by now
We are, we are…	
EngHymn2	We are…
Free bear
Cheap Beer
Centre of Universe
How hard is 114?
Hardcore!	
EngHymn3	You should know…
We are…
+ “Let’s go, Frosh!”
Sci ’99 Verse	
EngHymn4	We are…
Sit down, shut up!  (v.high Q.)	
Froshpit	Ooh ahh!  Frosh in greasepit! Ooh Aah!	
Letemin	Pole in 10! And Let them in! And good quality Frosh in the Greasepit ooh ahh!	
FroshPt2	Frosh in the Grasepit, ooh ahh!  Plus over 2 minutes of general pit cheering	
GoNuts1	If you’re gonna jump, you have to jump right!
GoFKNuts! X40 or so
Frosh in the greasepit, ooh ahh!
Sci ’99!
Sci 2000!
Arts ’01!
You’re not a year yet!… Hardcore!	
GoNuts2	Gofknuts!
Crescendos	
GoNuts3	Gofknuts!  KICK ASS QUALITY!
VERY loud.
Slamming crescendo in unison!
Sci ’99!	
GotChFrc	Capture
How cool are groups, actions, George?	
GotTam	Whaddyathink?!
Followed by Sci ’00! Sci ’00!	
Grant1	We are… (frosh)
Frecs enter
Jacket slamming
Frosh in Greasepit (ooh ahh)	
Grant2	Slamming	
Grant3	We are… (frecs)
Sci ’99 Year Verse
Great slamming with echo	
Grant4	How high’s the pole?
How cold’s the water?
Sci ’99!	
Grant5	Sci ’99
GPA, Frosh!
So Lame, Frosh!
These are the lamest frosh Ever!
Cocky frosh!
Soooo Lame x3 etc etc
Arts ’01!
Lame Frosh	
Grant6	Lame Frosh!  How lame are these Frosh?
Slamming	
Grant7	How lame are these frosh?
How cool are your frecs?	
Grant8	Jenzy on the Frosh Lameness	
Happy	We’re happy happy frosh! (see dirty.wav)	
HardCor2	How hard are we?
How core are we?	
HardCore	Hardcore fucks up we are…
We love Chief Frec	
Howlame	Are you?	
How-So	Cool, Frecs
Lame, you
High, pole
Cold, water	
JsusMrpy	“Loud” Gill	
LuvchFrc	We love Chief Frec!	
Marika1	Ooh WOW!  Hahaha…	
Mayhem	Shit on commies below
Louder!
Fly over dunning…
shit on…
Squeeze and twist!
C’mon Frosh!	
McDon	McDonalds! -- w. Nip One Pearl 2	
MHTH	The song, complete with:
•	screams
•	Go fknuts!
•	Slamming
•	Sci ’99!
•	Frosh in greasepit ooh aah
•	Synchronized slamming
•	Sci ’99
•	Frosh in Greasepit ooh aah	
Nipone	pearl two, Artscis fuck you	
Pitchr1	General pit cheering
Frosh in greasepit ooh ahh	
Pitchr2	Lots of “C’mon Frosh!”
Don’t just stand there!
General hollaring and cheering	
Pole102	Pole in 10!
Let them in!@	
PopCorn	Microwaved Orville	
Propane	Propane burner – great engine sound	
Psycho	We’re Psycho and we know it…	
Push1	C’mon frosh!  Get in there and push! push! push! Push!	
Push2	More push encouragement	
Railing	Clang!
Clang!
Clang!	
Re-Pole1	I need to talk about Pole
Pre-pit
Talking about coming
looking for an excuse to cancel the pole
safety is #1 thing
Don’t want next yerars’ pole cancelled
Think about what’s gonna happen
Gonna make it as fun as we can – that’s gonna be a lot of fuckin’ fun.	
Re-pole2	TriPub Ban
Upper Years jumping in pit
Inflatable toys	
Shout1	We got Spirit, guts, commies by nuts
Woohoo!
We got spirit!
Who the fuck are you?
Louder!
We are the! Who? Smoke, Drink…. (Good Q.)	
Shout2	Spirit, guts, nuts (good q.)
Over Dunning	
StandRnd	Just stand around! Just stand around!	
Swing1	Wham!	
Ufkedup	As name suggests
Lame frosh	
ufkedup2	As name suggests  great quality
“How lame are the commies?”
Bosses suck!
Bosses suck for money!	
Uhhh1	Reaction to Tamsen et. Al. and their eggs
How cool are Scicons?
Yummy@!
Uhh…
Uhhh…. Wooooo!	
Uhhh2	Uhh…hahaha
Wooooo!!  Oh yeah! Oh Yeah!	
USoDumb	You’re so dumb! You’re so dumb!@	
Whirr	Robotech-esque Whirring sound	
Whothefkru	We are!  Great Quality!
Slamming
Cheering	
Wind	Wind Noise	
Woodslam	Wood crash
I don’t think it has nails in it
More crashing	
Yeaa1	YeaaaaAAA~!	
Rrip1	Tape ripping	
AppleM	Apple Math! (OK)	
Chem	Chemical! (not so great)	
Civil	Civil! (Pretty good)	
Elec	Elec! (Not bad)	
EngChem	Eng Chem! (not so great)	
EngPhys	Eng Phys! (Zuber only)	
Geo	Geooo! (Matti only)	
Mech	Mechanical! (pretty damn good)	
Mining	Mining! (Ty and Tara…!)	
98Song	A silly song	
Rasputin	Ra, ra, rasputine (avec clapping)	
WolfWhi	Wolf whistle	
JustSit	Just sit around!	
One-Two	Onnnnnne… two.	

Pole Game Press Release, August 1997
The Greasepole is still the most significant event in the bonding of an Engineering year at Queen’s.  For the uninitiated, it was conceived in the fall of 1956 by Chief FREC Ron ‘Porky’ Eade of Science ’59.  In memory of the “invincible” U of T goal posts borrowed by Queen’s Engineers in the mid-fifties, Frosh climbed a Greased Pole in lieu of wearing their Tams until November.  Sci ’60’s time of eight minutes, ten seconds didn’t quite cut it – nor would modern times of over an hour and a half.  Knee-deep in muddy water, the Frosh have a hard enough time climbing a lanolin-covered pole, so spectators at today’s Grasepoles don’t bother trying to slow them down … but what if they did?
On Canada Day, 1996, a group of Queen’s students sat on Parliament Hill and brainstormed the idea of a computer game based on the Greasepole. Since then, Robert Burke (Math and Eng. ’99) has written a lot of Artificial Intelligence code, and is leading a team of nearly 20 programmers, artists and musicians who are working to bring the game to life.
At last year’s Greasepole, Rob recorded over 650 megabytes of digital audio using a TASCAM recorder, the same instrument Dan Gibson uses to sample nature sounds for his ambient music CD’s.  Using the new DirectX extensions to Microsoft Windows, Pat Bouffard (Math and Eng. ’99) is developing “wrappers” that give the programmers the ability to tap into an individual computer’s graphics and sound acceleration hardware.  On Pentium systems displaying a pit chock full of 75 Frosh, we have achieved frame rates over 20 frames per second while mixing stereo sound effects at near-CD quality.
The graphics in the game are being developed from a hybrid of photographs taken at the Pole and sketched artwork.  The current Pole graphic is actually the real greased-up Sci ’00 pole.  Craig Calvert (Mechanical ’99) designed the opening logo and has been actively involved in graphics design. Elizabeth Burke, a first-year Sheridan College fine arts student, developed the Frosh character.  The sprite images were scanned in, meticulously touched up and coloured by Kitty Lee (Math and Eng ’99).
In the game, you take the role of an upper-year student standing on the bank of the pit.  Artificially “intelligent” Frosh [sic] struggle to climb the pole, and your mission is to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. Most of the weaponry – Apples, Clark Hall Pub mugs full of beer, and even AriScis – is tossed into the pit using the same sort of first-person perspective seen in a game like “Doom” or “Quake.”  The ultimate weapon is the Engineer’s Iron Ring.  Its power is a function of your Engineering Discipline – and we’re open to suggestions if you have better ideas than these:
The Ring is held aloft on the little finger of a radiant arm.  The wearer hollers out their discipline, “Apple Maaaaath!” Then:
Chem	-	A flask or two is tossed into the pit.  A chemical reaction takes place to great bubbling and the Frosh pop like popcorn around the screen and into the drink.
Civil	-	A wrecking ball swings in from the sky, and, to bowling-pin-scattering sound effects, the pyramid falls.
Elec	-	A bolt of lightning hits the pole, electrocuting all the Frosh in contact with the Pole.  The human pyramid collapses.
Geo	-	An earthquake rocks the screen and the Frosh tumble.
Materials	-	The pole deflates / decomposes and the Frosh fall.  It returns to normal… after they’re all in the pit.  (Alternative: The 16-Ton weight drops on the Frosh.  (We need some Monty Python content.))
Math	-	The Pole morphs into an integral shape, and the Frosh slide down it into the pit.
Mech	-	A “Robotech” or “MechWarrior”-like machine walks in, swipes down the Frosh, and saunters off, leaving the pyramid collapsed.
Mining	-	An explosion at the base of the Pole sends all the Frosh flying.
Phys	-	An alien ship hovers above the Frosh, and, using an anti-gravity unit, makes them hover in the sky.  Without warning, it drops them into the drink.
When completed, the game will be published on CD, complete with audio tracks of Sci ’99 Year Bands playing a variety of musical genres.  Jason Silzer (Math and Eng. ’99) is writing a history of the Greasepole to include on the CD along with information about other Engineering traditions at Queen’s.
Interested?  The Legend of the Greasepole (referred to by its developers as “Project Omega Supreme”) will be published in the summer of 1998, just before Sci ’02’s climb.  Omega Supreme is a non-profit endeavor, and will be available for a nominal charge (less than $15) to cover development costs.  If you’d like to reserve a copy, would like more information, or could contribute to the project, I’d love to hear from you!
Misc. Information about the game
What Will the Game Look Like?
Picture yourself a Frec standing on the bank overlooking the pit.  Most of the weaponry – such as apples or even AriScis – is tossed into the pit using the same sort of first-person perspective as seem in a game like “Doom” or “Quake.”
Various components of the background will consist of animated sprites:
•	The Frec / Upper-year crowd in the background
•	A group of individual Frecs at the front of the background crowd (for jacket-slamming, hollering, etc.)
•	Ripples and water effects
•	Several dozen standing-around-wading Frosh
•	Assorted goofy “special effects” objects (planes, birds, big ‘Hawked heads walking by the camera)
And, of course:
•	Approximately 75 frosh, maybe up to 150!  (This is up from initial estimates of 20!)
Projected System Requirements
•	Pentium processor
•	GPA
•	Windows 95 with DirectX 3.0 extensions
•	16MB of RAM (possibly 32; let’s keep it down if we can.)
•	Gentian Violet
•	Sound Card and monstrous speakers for full effect
•	Alcohol for fuller effect
Making the Frosh Artificially “Intelligent”
Things to keep in mind
Perhaps the most critical element of the game will be the code which gives the Frosh “life.”  The trick to developing this code will be to maximize the intelligence of the Frosh while minimizing the processing time required to maintain this level of intelligence.  (Yikes, I’ve used the words “Frosh” and “intelligence” in the same sentence!)  Keep these two things in mind:
•	Every conditional statement that has to be evaluated (i.e., an “if… then” clause) costs processor time.
Where this becomes important: It’s easy to translate a statement like “wade to the left a notch.”  However, how do you tell a Frosh to “Find an spot at the base of the pole where none of your buddies are standing, and walk towards it.”  You have to find an available spot, make sure nobody’s about to take it, determine which direction the Frosh has to move in, and then finally move him.
•	You don’t want to keep track of too many extraneous pieces of information.
Where this becomes important: Every Frosh has “properties” associated with him – strength and intelligence; Cartesian (x, y) co-ordinates onscreen; how much he’d like to devour a ‘Za, chug a Clark Mug full o’ Beer, how badly he wants to maul the Commie across the screen, and so on.  There are also several “global properties” – the morale of the Frosh, the strength of the various levels of the pyramid, the number of nails still in the Tam, and so on.  Having too many global properties is confusing and detracts from the programmer’s ability to integrate the elements of the game.
(Mis)Behaviour
A behaviour describes a particular way a Frosh interacts with his environment, as well as the set of conditions under which the Frosh can change its behaviour to another pattern.  Factors affecting behaviour change (and performance within a behaviour) include:
•	intelligence	(range: 5 to 20), lower is better
•	strength	(range: 5 to 20), higher is better
•	morale	(range: -3 to 3), higher is better
A behaviour consists of two component “activities” or functions:
Act	-	Do whatever it is you’re doing – move into position, splash water, plummet towards the earth, climb onto someone’s shoulders, etc.  At some point in the process of “Acting,” the Frosh’s new co-ordinates and display graphic must be determined.  The process of “Acting” may also involve a change in behavior.  For example, a wading Frosh (4) may realize they have reached their position at the base of the Pole and change its behavior to Link Arms at Bottom of Pyramid (7).
Init	-	Initialize a new behavior.

Keeping the Frosh From the Tam
The object of the game is to keep the Frosh from getting the Tam for as long as possible.  It’s how you go about prolonging the inevitable that makes the game interesting…
Amongst Our Weaponry Are Such Diverse Elements As:
Weapon	Quick Description	
Apple	Tossed at Frosh from foreground (à la Doom).  A beamed Frosh may be knocked into the air as a function of their strength.	
Scream / Taunt	Frecs in background in unison holler a random taunt (as, “How lame are you, Frosh?  So lame!”	
‘Za	Attracts hungry, nearby Frosh (certainly not from above pit level).	
Clark Mug (avec Beer)	Atteacts nearby Frosh, lowering the drinker’s intelligence and resulting in some drunken singing.	
ArtSci	Heaved into pit, attracts nearby Frosh who splash the ArtSci with muddy water and chase their McDonalds-working ass offscreen.	
114 Exam	Thrown towards Frosh and the Frosh run like nothing else. 	
Firehose	Sounds of a fire truck driving up, and you’re offered a fire hose by another Frec.  The frosh get hosed.  More fun than a semi-automatic.	
Commie	As per ArtSci, but the Frosh maul him.  Their strength, intelligence and morale end up raised afterwards, but even 2nd-level Frosh will come after the Commie.	
Drunken 4th-Year (Al)	Dives into pit and goes nuts splashing and dispersing Frosh.  After a time (about 15 seconds) he starts teaching the Frosh what to do, takes up position at the base of the pole and acts as a sort of permanent fixture on the first level of the human pyramid.  	
Iron Ring	See below.	
The Iron Ring
The Ring is held aloft on the little finger of a radiant arm.  The wearer hollers out their discipline, “Mechanicaaaaal!” (or occasionally some random cool thing like, “Trust me – I’m an Engineer!”)  Then… (see Pole Game Press Release, August 1997, page 8).
Something Cool To Do
•	Load Word For Windows 95
•	Type “Frecs”
•	Click it with the Right Mouse Button
#	Behaviour	Comment	Poses	Sound Effects	
1	Falling	4 or 5 different shots of frosh under the 9.8 m/s2 effects of gravity	•	4 or 5 “flailing about” shots (some particularly silly)	•	whoosh with doppler effect	
2A	Leap into pit	Frosh begin their lives by either leaping or diving into the pit	•	1 - jumping eagerly into the pit	•	“Yippee!”	
2B	Dive into pit		•	1 - diving into pit (20 degree angle to horizontal)	•		
3	Underwater	A bobbing tam remains about the water	•	2 - tam on water	•	splash!	
4	Wade through pit	Note the water is waist-deep	•	2 or 3 - wading through pit
•	2 - hyper wading (as if towards an ArtSci or beer)	•	“slosh”-y wading through slime	
5	“Fun stuff”				
5A	Eating Pizza	Picks up and muches the ‘Za	•	1 - picking up the ‘Za hungrily
•	1 or 2 - eating the ‘Za	•	Some froshie comments
•	eating noise
•	belching noise	
5B	Drinking Beer	Picks up and chugs Clark Mug full of beer	•	1 - pickup up the mug reverently
•	1 - tilting it back
•	1 - holding aloft empty mug	•	“Mmm… beer”
•	echoing belch
•	chugging	
5C	Splash ArtSci	Splashes water in face of retreating ArtSci	•	2 - shots of fervent splashing (one arms up, one down)	•	Froshie comments
•	splashing	
5D	Maul Commie	Pummeling a Commerce student	•	1 - Shot of fist back
•	1 - Shot of fist forward (vicious look on face)	•	Froshie jabs at Commies
•	Punch connecting	
6	“Confusion”				
6A	Drunken Singing	After drinking beer (see 5B)	•	1 or 2 - shots of Frosh serenading Camera	•	“We are, we are…”
•	“What would you do…”	
6B	Mosh		•	2 or 3 - shots of moshing	•		
6C	Swim Thru Pit		•	1 or 2 - shots of front crawl in pit water	•		
6D	Scratch head		•	1 or 2 - shots of scratching head	•		
6E	Splashing Water		•	Use art from 5C	•		
7	“Pyramid Level One”			
7A	Linking Arms	Frosh turn towards camera and link arms (note: would be great to have the “bookend” Frosh at different angles	•	1 - shot turning toward camera
•	1 - shot preparing to link arms
•	1 - arms linked, forming pyramid	•		
7B	Bucking under pressure	Beginning to feel weight on shoulders and about to fall	•	1 - stressed, pressed-down Frosh	•	Grunt
•	Groan	
8	Locking hands as a step up	Frosh bends down with hands clasped	•	1 - bending down with hands clasped above the water level as if offering to help a frosh up	•		
9	“Up to 2nd Level”		•		
9A	Climb over shoulders	Frosh climbs up a Frosh in behaviour 7	•	2 or 3 - climbing up over frosh onto his shoulders	•		
9B	Hoisted up	Forsh helped by an 8 onto 7’s shoulders	•	2 or 3 - climbing with help onto shoulders of frosh	•		
10	Stumble Over Heads	Walking over heads à la Crocodile Dundee	•	2 or 3 - tiptoeing precariously towards pole	•		
11	Arms up	Arms up to support 3rd or higher level	•	1 - arms up to support higher levels	•		
12	Climb to 3rd level	Over an 11 to 3rd or higher level	•	2 or 3 - over an 11 onto his shoulders	•		
13	Stumble over heads	Moving towards pole	•	Use art from 10	•		
14	Cling to Pole	Cling desperately to pole	•	1 or 2 - Clinging desperately to pole with arms and legs	•		
15	Climb over Clinger	Climbs over a 14	•	Use art from 9A	•		
16A	Reach and Yank on Tam	One of the “Clinging” 14’s takes a swipe at the Tam above	•	1 or 2 - tugging at Tam	•	“rubber” stretch
•	pings and boings of nails being removed	
16B	Hanging off Tam	A 16A finds himself with nothing to support his weight but the nails in the Tam	•	1 - Hanging off Tam (high-quality… for a close-up)	•	uproarious cheering	

Programming and Documentation Conventions
Hungarian Notation (condensed)
Prefix	Type	Description	Example	
B	byte	unsigned byte	bSmallNumber	
C	char	byte character	cEndFile	
N	int	integer	nRowCount	
F	float	float	fRerollSize	
D	double	double float	dGauge	
P	*	pointer	pDocument	
H	*FILE	file handle	hLabelFile	
S	char *	character string	sFilename	
St	struct	strcture	stCaseHistory	
Cl	class	C++ object class	clStatusWindow