PLAYymate for OS/2/Playmate for OS2.iso/p4os2044/roids.hlp

OS/2 Help File | 1993-12-23 | 11KB | 222 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. Overview ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

You control the small blue spaceship in the center of the screen. Your mission
is to destroy all the asteroids in each sector by blasting them to pieces with
your cannon.  There's a twist, however: asteroids don't simply disappear, they
crumble.  When an asteroid is destroyed, it breaks into two smaller asteroids
(unless it's too small, in which case it's completely destroyed) which must
also be destroyed, and so on.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Playing the game ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Use the rotation and thrust Keys to fly your ship around the sector. When you
come across an asteroid, blast it with your cannon!  You must destroy every
asteroid in each sector, so be thorough.  Avoid colliding with the asteroids,
because they'll destroy your ship, unless you use your shield to protect
yourself.

Your ship remains in the center of the window at all times.  The green lines
indicate your velocity, and give a rough idea of where you are in the sector.
Space is curved, so when you fly in one direction long enough you end up where
you started.  It is impossible to fly out of the current sector, so every
asteroid you see must be DESTROYED in a hail of devastating cannon fire like
the worthless slag it is!

The bright green box at the top of the window is your radar.  It displays the
position of each asteroid in the sector as a green blip, the brightness of
which indicates the asteroid's size.  The dark green box in the center of the
radar shows which asteroids are currently visible: if it's in this box, you can
see it. The light blue blip at the center of the radar is your ship.

Your score is displayed in the upper-left corner of the window.  The number of
lives you have left is displayed in the upper-right corner.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. Hints and tips ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Don't shoot all the big asteroids first.  Choose one and completely destroy it.
Then choose another, and so on.  This way you don't have to contend with a
billion tiny asteroids later on.

Your cannon shells impart momentum to whatever they strike.  Shooting an
asteroid repeatedly from the same side will send the fragments zooming off at
high speed, destined to wrap around the playfield and hit you from behind.
You'll have deserved it.

Likewise, your spaceship imparts momentum to whatever it strikes.  Running into
a small asteroid at high speed will not only send you careening out of control
(or you'll die, depending on whether your shield is up), but it will send two
tiny Death Angel asteroids flying about the sector at very high speed, and
they'll almost certainly hit you when you least expect it.

Keep in mind that you're in space and there's nothing to slow you down (except
asteroids, and that tends to be a bit terminal, see above), so you'll end up
drifting.

Your radar and shield are your most powerful weapons.  learn how to use them
well.

Don't go too fast.  You'll run into something.

Be sure to look both ways before crossing the street.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Scoring ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The scoring system goes something like this:

 25 points for each Large asteroid destroyed.
 50 points for each Medium asteroid destroyed.
100 points for each Small asteroid destroyed.
200 points for each Tiny asteroid destroyed.
 0 points for any asteroid destroyed in a collision.

5000 points for getting killed (sort of a consolation prize)

You get an additional ship every 25000 points.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. Default Keys ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

These are only the default keys. See the Options dialog help for details.

NOTE: all navigational keys are on the numeric keypad.

Key       Purpose
'4':      Rotate counterclockwise.
'6':      Rotate clockwise.
'5':      Thrust.
'2':      Decelerate.
'/':      Fire cannon.
'.':      Activate Shield.

'F1':     Help.
'F2':     Start a new game.
'F3':     Pause the current game.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. Options dialog ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This is where you customize Roids.  There are a number of options:

Detail
   These controls set the detail level of Roids.  You can set individual
   effects, such as whether or not the asteroids rotate, or use the Maximum
   Detail and Minimum Detail buttons to activate/deactivate all the effects.
   If you have a slow computer and want to speed up game play, try turning off
   some of the effects, starting with Impact Particles.

Speed
   This slider controls the speed of the game.  Use it to speed the game up or
   slow it down, according to your skill.  It's pretty simple.

Skill
   These controls let you specify which sector you start at.  The higher the
   skill level, the higher (and more difficult) the sector.  Useful if you're
   getting bored (or creamed) by the early sectors.

Keys
   This button brings up a window which allows you to change the keys you use
   to control your ship.  Press the key you want to use for each action,
   following the prompts in the window.  If you make a mistake, simply change
   the keys again.  If you try to use a key twice, the second keypress will be
   ignored.  Use another key.  Also, be careful about which keys you use: OS/2
   reserves some keys (such as Alt), and using these keys as controls will lead
   to unpredictable results (I.E. Really Weird Stuff That The Programmer
   Doesn't Want To Deal With).

Register
   Use the Register dialog to register Roids.

Defaults
   This button recalls the default window position, detail, speed, skill, and
   keys, and resets the high scores list.  Use this button with caution,
   because it automatically saves these changes to disk, and there's no way to
   undo them.  You'll lose your incredible new high score, and nobody will
   believe you.

Save
   This button saves the current detail, speed, skill, and keys settings to
   disk. They will be loaded automatically next time you play Roids.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. Register dialog ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

NOTE: To use this dialog, you need to have registered Roids and received your
User ID. (See How to Register).

Enter your name and your User ID, exactly as they appear on your Registration
Confirmation Letter.  Then click OK.  You should see a "Thank you for
registering Roids!" dialog.  If you don't, be sure your name and User ID are
entered correctly, and try again.  If you still have trouble, keep trying for a
couple of hours, then contact me.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8. History of the game ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Roids started out in late 1991 as a way for me to show my AP Computer Science
classmates that although they may get 1560s on the SAT, they couldn't program
their way out of a paper bag.  It was written on an XT using Turbo Pascal 4.0,
and was never distributed.

In early October I bought Borland C++ for OS/2 and thought that porting Roids
to OS/2 would be a good exercise.  I was right.

Please excuse any rough edges: this is my first OS/2 programming effort.  Roids
was written in a 1024x768 environment, and was designed for that resolution.
It may look a little strange or messy in other resolutions.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9. About Hungry Man Productions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Hungry Man Productions is a (very) small San Diego - based organization of
artists, musicians, and computer programmers dedicated to producing quality
OS/2 games and clean aquariums.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10. Bug Reports / Contacting the author ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

I'd appreciate any feedback you might have regarding Hungry Man Productions or
Roids, and I'm especially interested in any bugs you might encounter.  Contact
me via:

CompuServe e-mail: 73544,1154.

Internet e-mail: 73544,[e-mail].

Snail-mail:

Leonard Guy
3415 Bangor Pl.
San Diego, CA
92106


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11. How to register Roids ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Send a your name and address along with a check for $6 (U.S.) made out to
Leonard Guy to:

Leonard Guy
3415 Bangor Pl.
San Diego, CA
92106

In return you'll receive:

o A User ID number, with which you can personalize Roids and disable the
  opening dialog box.
o Notification of new Hungry Man releases.
o A thank you note.
o A clear conscience.
o Assurance that Hungry Man Productions will be able to continue writing games.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12. Disclaimer ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Leonard Guy assumes no responsibility for the correctness or applicability of
this software.  Under no circumstances will Leonard Guy or Hungry Man
Productions be held responsible for damage caused by use of this software.
This includes broken keyboards.