Precision Software Appli…tions Silver Collection 1/Precision Software Applications Silver Collection Volume One (PSM) (1993).iso/games/egavga/barrage.arj/BARRAGE.TXT

Text File | 1991-10-14 | 8KB | 161 lines

                         B  A  R  R  A  G  E
                         -------------------


                  (C)1991  Stephen Everman  &  Paul Pratt
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                               INTRODUCTION

     Barrage is a 200 level arcade style game that starts out with one
falling egg.   The idea is to catch as many eggs as possible, by moving the
boy back and forth with the mouse.  You don't have to catch the eggs in the
boy's hands.  Any part of his body can catch them.  But you must move the
mouse to each egg to catch it.  Waving the mouse back and forth across the
screen like a fan won't work.  Move the mouse smoothly and deliberately.

                                   LIVES

     You begin BARRAGE with four lives, which you will lose as you blunder.
For example, you might drop a hand grenade that explodes when it hits the
ground, or you might catch something you shouldn't.  But either way, you're
out one life and go to the beginning of the current level.  But never fear,
because by catching a golden egg, you can either regain a life or add an
extra 2500 points to your score if you already have the maximum number of
lives.


                                  SCORING

     You receive eleven(11) points for each egg caught, and lose five(5)
points for each egg dropped.  But you will not receive the points until you
have caught a prescribed number of eggs and gone on to the next level.
     There is a possible score of 605 points per level, or 121,000 points
for the whole game.  But it is possible to get a higher score than 121,000,
by catching a golden egg when you already have the maximum number of lives.
But the score is not really the thing.  Making it through all 200 levels is
the real test of skill here.
     Every time you exit the game you will be given the score and the total
number of eggs caught and dropped, along with an overall evaluation of your
skill level.  Skill levels run from sub-wuss to Universal Mega-Champion.
But again, they are only for fun.  Anyone who can make it through all 200
rounds is obviously a Mega Champion by default.



                                   HINTS

We don't want to give too much away, but a few hints can't hurt. So.

1. You might tend to avoid sharp objects.
2. Remember that electricity can only hurt you if you're grounded.
3. A loral wreath can give you powers to break the bounds of earth.
4. Use F1 to save your game at high points.
5. Stay calm when round after round goes bad.  It means you're at a hard
   part and an easy part is just a couple of rounds ahead.
6. Move the mouse slowly and deliberately.
7. Avoid short little Clicks on the left mouse button when you want to
   go up.  Remember smooth and deliberate is the answer.
8. Lean back and play with your feet up so you are as relaxed a possible.
9. And, as with all heavy equipment, operate only when well rested.



     Every effort has been made to slant the game in your direction, (hours
and hours of testing and tweaking and testing and tweaking), so except for
practice and experience, the above hints should be about all the
information you need to make it through all 200 rounds.  And when you do,
you will be given a secret password that will enable you to receive a
handsome certificate proclaiming that you made it through the barrage.

                            SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

     This game requires EGA graphics with standard video RAM, and a
Microsoft Mouse or equivalent.


                               GAME CONTROLS


MOUSE:    Move left and right to position the boy under falling objects.
BUTTON:   The left mouse button makes the boy move up.
ESC       Exit game to final screen.
F1:       Save game.
F2:       Sound ON/OFF. Use at entry screen to turn off before game starts.
F3:       Boss Key.  Blanks screen and prints "C:\>". Any key to return.
          Hit ESC from inside Boss to safely exit without final screen.
F4-F10    Pause.  Use any key to return to game.


                         LOADING AND SAVING GAMES

     You can save a game anytime you want while you are playing, by hitting
F1.  But you can only load an old game from the entry screen.  To load an
old game at the beginning of a game, type "Y" in response to the prompt, or
hit any key to continue without loading an old game.
     When you want to load or save a game, a file select box will appear.
The upper line of the box is the path name and the lower line of the box is
the name of the file.  All saved games have the extension ".BRG" and you
will not be able to edit the extension.  You can move from the path to the
file name with the up and down arrow keys and erase old names with the
backspace key.  For simplicity (Since DOS sees fit not to include a file
select box, and everyone had to write their own) I have not included a
directory to select your file from.  So you must remember the name of the
old game you want to load.  While testing, we found it easiest to just use
the default file name "MYGAME.BRG" or hit the backspace four(4) times and
used the name "MY.BRG".  Of course "CHAMPION.BRG" works well too, and has
an air of confidence about it.

                                 SHAREWARE

     BARRAGE was written by Stephen Everman & Paul Pratt and is distributed
as shareware.  You are encouraged to try out the game and make copies for
all of your friends.  The only restrictions are that all file listed below
must be included as is.  In other words, you must pass on exactly what you
got.
     Then if you continue to play BARRAGE, you must send in the
registration fee of $15.  This will get you on our mailing list and you may
at random times in the future receive new programs before they are out, as
a way of getting them passed around.  You take care of us and we'll take
care of you.
     Software distributors who wish to sell barrage at a small profit of a
few dollars may freely distribute BARRAGE as long as the above provisions
are adhered to and the following files are included unaltered.

BARRAGE.EXE  - - - - - - - - - - The Barrage program file.
BARRAGE.ANM  - - - - - - - - - - The picture file.
BARRAGE.TXT  - - - - - - - - - - This document.


                             PROGRAMERS NOTES

     This is our first project on the IBM, having just switched over from
the wonderful, but much maligned Atari ST.  And although BARRAGE is written
in Turbo 'C', there didn't seem to be enough speed in the slower machines
to move all the data associated with the (640 X 350) resolution.  The
problem was that in the 8MHz machines, there wasn't enough speed to move
the eggs down the screen at a decent rate if we moved them one pixel at a
time.  So we ended up moving the eggs five(5) pixels at a time and then
waiting 1/18 of a second to make sure all machines had enough time to draw
all the eggs before going on. (We didn't want the game to run at different
speeds on different machines.)  This gave us the speed we needed, but
moving the eggs so far in one move caused them to appear to flicker.  The
problem is called  Persistence Of Vision and it is caused by the human eye
not refreshing as quickly as the computer.  As we mentioned before the game
was written in Turbo 'C' and source code listing can be purchased for $90.


Make checks payable to: Stephen Everman
and send to
Stephen Everman
P.O.Box 726
Mt. View CA 94042