JScott -- Scott Adams Adventure Driver in Java
                              Version 1.00
                   Copyright (C) 1998 Vasyl Tsvirkunov

1. What is it?

JScott is an interpreter for classic Scott Adams classic text adventures
written in Java (compliant with 1.02). It accepts input files in the same
format as Alan Cox's ScottFree (TRS-80 datafile format). It is not a port
of ScottFree, but another independent interpreter. However, ScottFree was
used as most valuable source of information.
Interpreter is structured in that way that in can be plugged into any
environment by adding relatively small frontend. Console line-mode and
applet frontends are provided.
I did not have a goal to make the best SACA interpreter, I was just studying
Java programming. Actually, I was not going to release this at first. Then,
after the interpreter was finished, I changed my mind. So, I wrote this
README file, added some comments to the code and wrapped it up.

2. What do you need to use it?

First, you need some SACA datafiles. I am not including any of this, but
they are publicly available at ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/scott-adams/.
JScott works with both Scott Adams and Mysterious adventures. Sorry, no
SACA+ support yet (anybody knows the exact format of these?)
For line-mode (or if you want to develop your own frontends) you will need
Sun or Microsoft Java SDK. Both are free. I recommend Microsoft's one
because it is faster and somewhat more robust. You can also use any other
Java development environment.
For applet mode you can use any Java-enabled browser. IE4 seems to be the
fastest and the most accurate. Netscape has a few strange deviations from
the standard even in the latest versions of the browser. This version should
work with Communicator 4.x, but no guarantee, it is not tested.

3. Installation and use

Just unzip it. There are two folders: Source and Compiled. Source contains
all Java sources in three files:
JScott.java - interpreter itself;
JScottTest.java - line-mode frontend;
JScottApplet.java - applet frontend.
Class files and other stuff are in Compiled folder.
There are 15 .class files there - 13 of the interpreter and two frontends.
sa.html is an example of use of interpreter in browser. This example cannot
be used as is, you need game datafile (in this particular case it is
Mysterious Adventure #11, but any will do). The last file in the Compiled
folder is you-i.dat. It is language translation file. When interpreter tries
to produce any text it checks the file (if provided) for translation. The
file consists of string pairs "original" "translation". Instead of printing
"original", the "translation" string will be printed. If file you-i.dat is
provided to the interpreter all output will be in form "I am..." instead of
default "You are..." The entire interpreter can be localized for different
language using this approach. Check source code for more information.

4. Release status

This is the first public release. I decided not to put "beta" in version
number but this doesn't mean that the program is bug-free. It just means
that I am not going to work on this one anymore. However if you encounter
bug, send a message to vtsvirku@maxis.com. I may decide to update JScott
later.

5. Freeware notice

This program is freeware. You may use or copy it freely and give away copies
as long as you are not charging money for them. Source code is also free.
User is permitted to use this code in whole or as parts for other non-profit
projects. In such a case documentation for derived project should clearly
state that JScott code was used and refer to the original copyright notice.
User is not permitted to use this code as part of commercial product. Any
damage caused either directly or indirectly by use, inability of use, misuse
or abuse of this program are sole responsibility of user. In no case author
is liable for such a damage.