|
Page: |
FishBanks, page 2 The following is a description of how to use my software. It is meant for someone who is already familiar with the FishBanks game. Required equipment: PC (Windows) or Macintosh computer, with monitor set to thousands or millions of colors. It will not run on older DOS machines, or black and white monitors. Improved features: The program has a set of slides that can be used to introduce the game to students (if you have a way of projecting the computer screen), graphing of parameters relevant to the game's progress (for wrapup), and an operator's report so fish populations can be monitored privately as the game progresses. It also enters ship sales between teams more efficiently. All of the other functions of the original software are implemented. Here are some of the screens, and comments about how to use them: |
|
Figure 2: This is the first screen you get to after you click the "Start Game" button. This large text box is not showing when the screen appears. Click on the "? Info" button to show it. This screen allows you to load previous games and to set game parameters. The info box tells you a bit about this. First you select the number of companies from the popup menu at the lower left. I don't recommend using 15 companies. It takes so long to enter the data that the game slows appreciable. The "Advice" fields are calculated from the number of companies selected. If you like the advice, click on "Enter" and the advice values are entered into the game. A factor I call the "Crash Multiplier" allows you to easily increase fish population values so that the game lasts longer. Higher numbers will make the game last longer. If you use the Advice values, the game will behave pretty much the same way, no matter how many companies are participating. A value of 1.5 for the crash multiplier guarantees that the game will finish in 10 rounds with only a modest number of new ships being purchased. |
