A PowerPC running System 7.5 or higher.(It may work on versions earlier than 7.5, but this has not been tested.)
About 1 Megabyte of free disk space.
About 2 Megabytes of free RAM.
General Info
HoverDuel requires two players who control hovercrafts in the attempt to destroy one another with a variety of weapons. (What did you expect?) Players try to dodge one another's projectiles by means of their hovercraft's Limited-Duration-High-Powered-Air-Expulsion-Module, or in layman's terms, jumping ability.
Settings
In the Edit menu:
You can disable background processing. This will make the game run much smoother. The only downside to this is that you will not be able to access the Finder while a game is running unless you first pause.
You can toggle sound on and off.
You can activate the computer opponent, who will play as player two. (Keep in mind that the computer likes to choose its own color...)
You can activate window shaking, a fun (but otherwise useless) little feature that gives a bit more power to the nuke bomb. (Speedy computer reccomended.)
You can activate random pod positioning, which will allow the pod to drop anywhere in the screen as opposed to just the middle.
From the Preferences menu:
･ You may choose your hovercraft color (both players may have the same color).
･ Set the score to play to (from 1 to 99) and select the scoring mode.(With "aggressive scoring" checked, whenever one player gets a point, the other player will lose a point.)
･ Configure the controls.
･ Select the background of your choice, or tell the program to randomize it.
Default Controls
Player 1 (left):
forward D
reverse A
stop S
jump W
cancel jump X
fire [space]
fire special C
next life Q
Player 2 (right):
forward 4
reverse 6
stop 5
jump 8
cancel jump 2
fire 0
fire special 1
next life 7
Misc.
You get one point for destroying your opponent's hovercraft.
The hovercrafts can not turn around, so getting behind the opponent will render his bullets useless, not to mention yours...
You may only have one bullet/special on the screen at one time, so use them wisely.
Specials
Each hovercraft has an unlimited supply of N.B.B.*s with which you may try to decimate, destroy, and make the opponent's hovercraft generally dead. The real fun begins, however, when you grab a pod (That weird round silvery sphere thingy which falls out of the sky from time to time.)
*Normal Boring Bullets
There are seven different specials that you can get from a pod. A representation of the special you have will be displayed below your score.
Speed Boost - Speaks for itself. (Hit "use special" to cancel.)
Jump Boost - Ditto. (Hit "use special" to cancel.)
Shield - This protects you from one hit by an N.B.B. and totally repels freeze bullets.
Missile - These are faster than N.B.B.s, and laugh at shields.
Pulse - A dual-purpose hovercraft-displacement and bullet-disrupter blast. (You'll find out.)
Bomb - A semi-smart bomb, in that it will calculate where it should drop from based on the enemy's
present position and velocity so as to incur a hit if the aforementioned enemy continues in it's
aforementioned path.
Freeze - This little purple wonder will stick to an enemy hovercraft and render it (and interestingly
enough, its projectiles) immobile for a while. Note that while it is doing its job, it is still on the
screen, and therefore you are
not able to fire any more bullets at the unlucky machine.
Nuke - This is the most dangerous weapon in the game, so be careful. The engineers spent
most of their time refining its ability of mass destruction, and so its guidance systems are not
very accurate...
Version History
2.6 - Added multiple backgrounds, window shaking, random pod placement, visible shields, and bullet
explosions.
2.5 - Added user-configurable keys and squashed some more bugs.
2.4 - Added a computer opponent, the ability to turn off background processing,
killed the end-of-game delay (when the game ends, you may now do whatever you want
immediately), and squashed some bugs.
2.3 - Added preference saving, nukes, and the ability to toggle sound.
2.2 - Added an on-line key reference under the Apple menu.
2.1 - Initial release.
Distribution
HoverDuel is freeware, so you may freely distribute it to anyone you want. You may not, however, modify the program in any way or charge for it, and it must be accompanied by its original documentaion, namely this readme.
Although you are not obligated to send me anything, I would appreciate an email telling me what you think of it.
