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UFO(tm), The Card Game (C) 1994 Ed T. Toton III All Rights Reserved. NecroBones Software (tm) Special Thanks to: Jeremy A. Kusnetz NOTE: So what does UFO stand for? Well, it has been suggested that it means "Unending Flood of Obscenity", or even "Unavoidable Fall into Obscurity", but we'd like to think not. Actually, if you come up with a good idea, let me know! CONTENTS: Contents: Right here. Credits: Next thing. Overview: After the credits. Important info: A little further down. Tech notes: Even further. Getting started: Fairly far down. Playing UFO: Pretty far. Customizing UFO: Way down that-a-way. Revision History: Way down yander... Title Screen GFX: Far far away... NecroBones: Wooohie! Tis distant! About the Author: Way way way down near that end... Legal Shtuffs*: Way way down at the end, far far away. * Includes information for registering this game and for shareware/disk vendors. CREDITS: Title Screen: Jeremy A. Kusnetz Conceptual ideas: Ed T. Toton III & Jeremy A. Kusnetz Everything else: Ed T. Toton III Thank you. TRADEMARKS: UNO is a registered trademark of International Games, Inc Turbo Pascal is a registered trademark of Borland International Inc. UFO and NECROBONES are trademarks of Ed T. Toton III. OVERVIEW: UFO (pronounced like UNO, but with an F) is an UNO clone. In this documentation we will assume that you already know how to play UNO, for the sake of simplicity. However, a file called UFO.TXT has been included which very briefly describes the rules. UFO offers you multiple computer (alien) controlled opponents, as well as a wide range of colorful VGA graphics and digital sound, in an easy to use mouse interface. I'm sure you'll agree when I say that UFO is probably one of the best computer UNO games in existence (I currently only know of two others, one of which runs in text mode, the other is much more recent). One thing I have noticed over the years is that many people (myself included) often yell at the computer opponents, screaching things like "Hey! No fair!" and "You cheater!" and "Gotcha!". Well, I decided it was high time the computer players started complaining and taunting back! Hence, UFO. UFO is an UNO-like game in which several alien species and robots and the like compete against you, screaming and kicking all the way. This adds an important flair to the game. As a two player UNO game, UFO works fine without the sound, but when you get into 3 or 4 players, most games lose the sense of personality in the other opponents. One of the things that makes the REAL card game fun, is skipping over players, or making them draw cards, or whatever, and seeing them whine and complain (admit it, you like nailing your friends, siblings, loved ones, and relatives, don't you?). So UFO breaks ground in this department. You will see on the screen a portrait of the character who is currently taking its turn (yes, you get a portrait too). Each character has 7 sound effects stored on the disk (that's what all those NSN files are), which are played at certain times, such as when the character is skipped, forced to draw, forces a draw, wins, etc. Each has it's own distinct personality. However, the character you are playing will not say anything, because we all know you will do enough talking, whining, and taunting yourself, right? In the near future there may be some expansion sets, as UFO is capable of using externally added aliens. Currently it can support up to 32 external aliens, later versions may support more, if enough new aliens are created. The expansion packs will include instructions on how to use them. As of the time of this writing, thirteen such external aliens exist, such as a green snorting fat toad-like creature, and a cussing red alien. The game is not intended to be used solely with the aliens provided. The reason the game only includes those four is so that the minimum requirement is met should you wish not to download everything else. Of the nine existing aliens as of this writing, four of my five favorites are included in the game (the cussing one being the fifth one, which could not be part of the original package for obvious reasons). Unfortunately I feel like I'm running out of variations of my own voice, even with all the different speed changes and distortions I can add, so hopefully I'll be able to recruit some of my friends to aid in the task of creating these aliens. Each alien has its own playing style. These playing styles are configurable from the "characters" menu. Simply select the "Style" button assiciated with the alien you wish to edit, and change what you like. If you would like to have the same settings later click on "Save" (the "Save" button is only functional if you have registered your copy of the game. This "Save" button is the only disabled feature to non-registered users). IMPORTANT INFO: VGA AND 286+ REQUIRED!!! (this game was personally tested on a 286, a 386, and two 486's successfully, all with math-coprocessors) A 286 or better is required, though because of the digital sound, a 386 or better is recommended. A 286 is fine without the digital sound however, and a 286 can be used for the sound, though the game will be sluggish. While the mouse is the recommended input device, the keyboard can also be used to play the game. There are a few things that can only be done with the keyboard (i.e. the function keys to toggle sound and call up the game options menu, and the ESC key for quick exit to DOS). If you are playing the game using the sound through the internal speaker, you should probably try using 4 channel mixing. It's slightly clearer on the internal speaker. Also note that if you are playing the game on a 286 or some other slow system, and you have a soundblaster, setting the game to run in "Adlib" mode may give you a little extra speed. The SoundBlaster (in digital mode, not FM) is the slowest device to respond of the three that are supported. This game may require as much as 600,000 bytes free (in dos) to load all of the digital samples for a 4-player game with all computer players (depending one which aliens are loaded). On the 'starting line-up' screen, it should show how many samples have been loaded. If the number is between 24 and 28 when you do a 4-player all-computer game, you're ok (the last 4 are used fairly infrequently). If the number is less, you simply won't hear those sounds that weren't loaded. If you play a game with less aliens loaded, less sounds will be loaded. For instance, if only two computer players are playing, there will be no more than 14 samples loaded, and if there were 4 players, but all set to the same character, then only 7 will be loaded. As implied above, UFO only loads the samples for the aliens that are playing and being controlled by the computer. So what if you change which players are human and which ones are 'alien' during the game? You will see a brief delay as the samples are removed or added as appropriate. In the lower right window on the screen, next to the word "Computer" you will see in very dark grey a number showing how many samples are currently loaded. If you don't have a soundcard, and have decided never to use the internal speaker for digital sound, you can save disk space by deleting SAM*.NSN (the sounds for the first 4 aliens). TECH NOTES: When you first run the game, it will create a new 64000 byte file. This wasn't included in the zip archive simply because it's disgustingly simple to calculate and therefore would have been a waste of space. This is the first game of mine to include my new digital sound daemon ("daemon" is a network buzzword that refers to a background process that basically runs itself. It is simply an alternate spelling for "demon" and is pronounced the same). Of course, this game doesn't take full advantage of it, as there is no music. I have however created a demo called "Fire and Earth" which does use the music capability, while showing off over 8 minutes of graphic effects. The demo is available for download on my BBS, listed at the end of this document. My sound daemon is capable of playing the music and sound effects out all of the supported devices simultaneously. It currently supports the Adlib, SoundBlaster, and internal speaker. For some reason, the Adlib seems to be rediculously quiet, so you may need to turn the volume up drastically. Originally, the internal speaker was disallowed in this game simply because it sucks rocks, and it would conflict with the beeps the game makes. However, I have since rethought this decision, and the internal speaker can now be used. But don't expect to be able to understand much of what the characters say if you use it. This isn't the fault of the software. No matter how high of a mixing rate you use, a 1-bit DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) can't do much. You have been warned! :-) Technically my sound daemon can playback from 100 hz all the way up to 44,000 hz, however you can only play sound up to 20,000 hz or so when using a soundblaster in direct mode (you have to use DMA to go faster). However, the sound system really eats up CPU time, so slower rates will yield better system performance. You will have to choose a mixing rate appropriate to the speed of your computer. On my 486-33DX I can run it at 16khz with 4-channel mixing without too much of a problem (though the game does slow down). I have made the image system rather effecient in that the image space the game uses is about 17k for all of the cards, the UFO logo, the UFO deck on the playing screen, and the portraits for the first four aliens. Don't believe me? Take a look at UFO.IMG. UFO uses over 300,000 bytes before loading the alien sounds or portraits. This isn't surprising when you consider that the program is over 100,000 in size, allocates an 8k stack, 17k for images, 64k to store the desktop, 64k for the video buffer, plus it loads the "shuffle" and "click" sound effects, and that doesn't include the game data (the title screen, necrobones logo, and wind sound effect are all unloaded after use). UFO represents about 25 hours of work (not including, of course, the code made previously for other games, or the time I've spent playing it since its completion, or the time spent making revisions for versions after 1.00), and was written in Turbo Pascal 6.0, with truckloads of inline assembly for the graphics and sound units. The project was spread over a few weeks. Actually, the game was working quite well early on, but as usual I kept thinking of things to change/add/fix. Mostly the last week was been playtesting and making aliens. GETTING STARTED: When you first start the game, you will see the NecroBones logo, and then you will be taken to the main game menu. It is here that you select the parameters for the game. You can alter a few of the standard rules for the game, such as target score, and wild-card restrictions. It's fairly self-explanitory. Game strategies are very different between 2-player and 3 or more player games. The concept of the talking characters is based more on the 2-player mode, where you'll only hear the one guy speaking. With more players, you may find it a little confusing as to who says what sometimes. Unfortunately I had to sacrifice some sound quality to be able load all the samples into memory. I'm working on making more easily understood aliens. One thing you'll notice is that several of the characters say "UFO" when down to one card. This is an attempt to get some of the 'feel' back that was lost in converting UNO into a computer game. Most of the changes that you make in the menus will be saved when you exit the game, so that you may use the same preferences later. PLAYING UFO: During the game, there are a few keyboard commands you will want to know: F1 = Game Options F2 = Toggle beeper sounds on/off F3 = Toggle digital sounds on/off F4 = "Hide" key, to hide the game from your boss. +/- = Increase or decrease computer player delay. ESC = Exit to DOS (from the game options menu you can quit back to the menu, save the game, and change the player settings) Note- "OK" buttons can also be pressed by hitting the [ENTER] key. During the game, at the bottom of the screen is a display that shows a bundle of useful info. On the left is a list showing how many cards each player has. The one in white is the player who's taking his/her turn. The others are light grey, and the players who aren't playing are dark grey. Also in this window is an arrow indicating the direction of the turn sequence, which is drawn in the current color of the discard pile. Next to that window is the discard pile, and the deck. The size of the deck will decrease as the cards are drawn, and when it runs out of cards a new deck will be inserted and shuffled. You can click here to draw a card. To the right of that are several buttons and another window. The Draw button can be used to draw a card, and it will turn into "Done" once a card is drawn. If you can not play anything, you will have to hit "Done" to end your turn. The "Score" button allows you to view the current scores. The other two buttons are for the autosort. Autosort will automatically sort your cards every turn (however it defaults to OFF). If Sort-by-Color is turned on, they will be sorted by color, and sorted by number within each color, otherwise the cards will be sorted only by number. If you wish to sort only once, turn the sort on and then off again. Above the sort settings display is the portrait for the current player. Since you will probably take longer to play your turn than the computer players, your portrait will be displayed more than the others. The rest of the screen is devoted to the cards. To play a card, simply click on it. If you are using the keyboard, then to play a card you must select it by moving the yellow rectangle to the card you wish to play. If a mouse is detected, the cursor will start "off screen", and you will have to move it one space to make it visible. You can use the number or cursor keys to move the cursor. All buttons can be pressed by hitting the key corresponding to the highlighted letter on the button. "OK" buttons can be pressed by hitting ENTER or SPACEBAR. In the Character Selection menu, you will see four character portraits on the screen with a few buttons next to each. Two of the buttons are for scrolling through the list of available aliens. The third one allows you to listen to the selected aliens set of digital samples. The game defaults to a random selection of aliens for each game. To use the set you have selected you must change the selection button to read "Current settings" instead of "Random". COMMAND-LINE PARAMETERS: By use of a few simple command-line parameters you can create a batch file to automatically use whatever sound settings you would like. They are as follows: /D# or -D# where '#' is the number of the device. ex- /D1 would set it to soundblaster. /M# or -M# where '#' is the number of the mixing rate ex- /M4 would set it to 11000hz. /C# or -C# where '#' is the number of the channels ex- /C1 would set it to 2 channels. The numbers used in the parameters correspond to the menu selections at game start-up. You will still see the sound-options menus on the screen, but the settings you entered on the command line will be entered as though you had typed them. You can use some or all of the paramters simultaneously. Examples: UFO /D2 /M5 This sets UFO to Adlib and 12khz, but will still ask for channels. UFO /C2 This will cause UFO to use 4 channels (setting #2), and ask for everything else. If you wish, you can create a batch file to use the settings you want. Two examples follow below, and in both they each assume you are creating a batch file called U.BAT, so that all you have to do to run UFO with the desired settings is type U at the dos prompt. For each example, type in the following at the DOS prompt: (^Z = Ctrl-Z or F6 key, <ENTER> = Enter key) COPY CON U.BAT<ENTER> UFO /D1 /M4 /C1<ENTER> ^Z<ENTER> This first example uses SoundBlaster, 11khz, and 2 channels. COPY CON U.BAT<ENTER> UFO /D0<ENTER> ^Z<ENTER> This last example runs UFO with no digital sound. CUSTOMIZING UFO: There are two main ways you can customize UFO, by adding aliens, and by replacing the table-top used in the game: ADDING PRE-CREATED ALIENS: Simply put them in the game directory, they'll be loaded automatically. CREATING ALIENS: For those of you with programming experience, who would like to create your own aliens, here's how they work... Each external alien has a POR (portrait) file. This is simply a file stored in the following format: Item: Size: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ len integer (2 bytes) data 'len' bytes The data is the bitmap, as stored by the normal BGI graphics commands [i.e., 2 words of the x and y dimensions (minus one), then the actual image itself of size (x+1)*(y+1)]. i.e.: data = record x,y:word; {4 bytes} dat:array[0..y+1,0..x+1] of byte; end; len:=(x+1)*(y+1)+4; Specifically, the bitmap is 30x45, so x=29 and y=44, and the the DAT array is therefore 1350 bytes. Any and all POR files (up to 32 of them anyway) found in the game directory will be loaded for use as aliens automatically. I have written an editor for editing and creating these portrait files, however you can only use it if you register the game. It's simple, and down and dirty, but it works. If you want to make one, and even distribute it as shareware, be my guest (that's why I explained all the file formats). Oh yeh, the filename is PEDIT.EXE, and it comes in the "UFO Utils" package. If you wish for the alien to have a voice, then you will need to make sound files for it. This is optional of course. If any of the sound files don't exist, they won't be loaded. So you do not have to make sound files at all, nor do you have to make all of them should you decide to make only a few. The original four aliens have the filename of SAMx-y.NSN where x is the non-zero-padded decimal number of the alien, and y is a number from 1 to 7 defining which sound it is. In the case of external aliens, the filename is the same as that of the POR file, but with a digit of 1 through 7 attached to the end (examples: BRUNO.POR has BRUNO1.NSN, BRUNO2.NSN, etc.. And CHESHIRE.POR has CHESHIR1.NSN etc..) Num: Sound: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1 Lost with one card left 2 Has only one card left 3 Played a DRAW-2 or a Wild-DRAW-4 4 Drew a card 5 Skipped by a SKIP or a REVERSE 6 Got hit with a DRAW-2 or a Wild-DRAW-4 7 Won the hand. The following is the data type used for the sound file: sample_type=record transpose:real; {6 bytes} len,rep:word; {4 bytes} name:string[8]; {9 bytes} ID:string[3]; {4 bytes} dummy:array[0..21] of byte; {junk space, 22 bytes} dat:array[0..len-1] of byte; end; LEN is the length, in bytes, of the data. REP indicates how many bytes of the sample to loop back upon reaching the end (a '0' means don't repeat anything). NAME is simply a string holding the filename of the sample. ID is a string set to "NSN". DUMMY is blank space, and DAT is the actual sound data in standard PCM (pulse code modulated) format (just like a WAV file). TRANSPOSE is a real (floating point) number that tells what speed to play it back at: 1.0 means 11025 hertz, 2.0 = 22050hz, etc... I realize that the TRANSPOSE variable is troublesome for you C programmers, but all I can say is SORRY! I didn't have portability in mind when I created my music and sound daemon. The strings are easy to overcome though. For instance, instead of loading a string[8], it would be an unsigned char for the string length, and then an array of char of size 8 following it. After reading it in, you would store it in an array of char of size 9, and put the 0 terminator at the offset in the array indicated by the first unsigned char you read in. Quite simple. Of course this discussion is probably moot, since anyone hoping to decode my mess and do their own sound and bitmap work for this game probably already have the experience necessary to figure out what I just explained with their eyes closed... Time to stop rambling... There is another file which can be added to your alien. It will have the same base-name as the aliens portrait file, but with the "STL" extension. This is the aliens playing style. The easiest way to make this file is to simply run the game, go to the "characters" menu, select your alien, click on the "Style" button, change what you like, and hit "Save". Please note that the 'save' button only works in registered copies of the game. STL format: (the file is but a copy of one of the following records) style_rec = record numcards,wordcards,wildcards,colorchange:byte; reserved:array[0..11] of byte; {16 bytes total} end; numcards: 0 = Doesn't care 1 = Plays low values first 2 = Plays high values first wordcards: 0 = Doesn't care 1 = Plays Reverse cards first 2 = Plays Skip cards first 3 = Plays Draw-2 cards first wildcards: 0 = Doesn't care 1 = Plays WILD cards first 2 = Plays DRAW-4 cards first colorchange: 0 = Doesn't care 1 = Prefers not to change color 2 = Prefers to change color 3 = Changes color when advantageous (when it involves a higher value card) All these numbers define is which cards the alien will play when given a choice. With 'wordcards=2' the alien will always choose to play a 'Skip' whenever it has to decide between a 'Skip' and one of the other word-cards. In the future some more options may be added, and that's why the "reserved" space is allocated and set to 0s. This is important. When new options are added, it will be assumed that '0' is the standard default, and you therefore should put 0's in the 'reserved' space in your aliens. NOTE- Included in the "UFO Utils" is a copy of WAV2NSN which is a program to convert WAV files to NSN files. Also included is a copy of the source code (all of the procedures and functions are part of the various libraries I have created for use in my games, but here just the specific ones used were inserted directly into the program). This is probably the easiest method of creating sounds for your aliens, since most digital sound editors and recorders either save the sounds as WAV files, or as a format that can be converted to WAV files. USING PRE-CREATED TABLE-TOPS: As of this writing, no such table-tops exist yet. However, in the event that I create some, it will be as simple as copying them over the UFO.DAT file. If you tire of the new table-top, you can always go back to the normal green one by deleting UFO.DAT (or renaming it, or whatever). If no UFO.DAT is found, a new one is created when you run the game. I have, however, created a program called SPHERES, which will randomly generate a table-top that consists of various colored dithered shaded spheres. This program can be found in the "UFO Utils" package. [- Update: Some desktops can be downloaded from BBS's as UFODESK?.ZIP -] CREATING TABLE-TOPS: Using alternate table-tops is quite easy. The table-top is stored as a file called UFO.DAT, and it is simply a copy of how the screen appears in video RAM. Below are examples of loops that could be used to put it on screen, or take a screen shot and save it to the file: (in 320x200x256, using direct access of the video RAM, as opposed to the putpixel and getpixel commands): Procedure Load_Table_Top; var f:file of byte; b:byte; x,y:integer; begin assign(f,'UFO.DAT'); reset(f); for y:=0 to 199 do for x:=0 to 319 do begin read(f,b); mem[$A000:x+y*320]:=b; end; close(f); end; Procedure Save_Table_Top; var f:file of byte; x,y:integer; begin assign(f,'UFO.DAT'); rewrite(f); for y:=0 to 199 do for x:=0 to 319 do write(f,mem[$A000:x+y*320]); close(f); end; Note- These two procedures do the file accessing byte by byte, which is extremely slow. There are better ways of doing it, but I can't explain EVERYthing here, now can I? The palette used by the game is UFO.PAL. It is stored as an ASCII file where each line represents a single color, starting with color 0, ending with color 255. Each line has 3 numbers, seperated by spaces. The first is the red component, the second is green, and the third is blue. The following is a procedure to load the palette: procedure load_palette(fn:string); var i,r,g,b:integer; f:text; begin assign(f,fn); reset(f); for i:=0 to 255 do begin read(f,r); read(f,g); readln(f,b); setrgbpalette(i,r,g,b); end; close(f); end; The default palette is set up such that the first 16 colors are roughly the same as the normal 16 colors of any other mode. Starting with color 32, there are 7 sets of 32 colors. Each set is a scale that fades from black, up through a specific color, then up to white. These seven colors are the same as colors 1 through 7: 1 - Blue 32 to 63 2 - Green 64 to 95 3 - Cyan 96 to 127 4 - Red 128 to 159 5 - Magenta 160 to 191 6 - Yellow 192 to 223 7 - Grey 224 to 255 You shouldn't alter the palette, since that will throw off the colors of the buttons, the logos, and the cards, as well as the portraits. Rather, you should use this palette when creating any new table-tops. As stated above, you can always go back to the old green table-top by removing whichever one you are using. There is a program called PicLab that can be of immense use when converting pictures. You will have to be able to get your picture into GIF or TGA format to load it into PicLab, but once there you can convert it to a new palette, resize it, etc. If you can load the resulting image onto the screen in one of your own programs, then you can use the methods described above to save it in the format the game uses. At some point in the future I may make a program to convert PCX images, but in the meantime you'll have to use my suggestions instead. PicLab method: The following is an example of a set of commands that can be used to process an image in PicLab to convert it for use in UFO: ('UFO.MAP' is the same palette as UFO.PAL but in FractInt's MAP format) gl sample.gif unmap rescale 320 200 pl ufo.map map gs sample2.gif (at this point SAMPLE2.GIF will need to be converted as described above. To use the sample source code you will need to be able to show GIF files to the screen in your own program, or PCX or whatever you can convert the GIF to). REVISION HISTORY: 1.01 - Chances of sound #6 (hit w/ draw) for the aliens has been slightly increased. - Text in the menus has been given more of a border to make it more easily understood with the various desktops. - The Math-Coprocessor is no longer directly accessed, since it is possible this was causing a conflict on some systems. (I have a feeling the coprocessor stack is smaller on some computers than mine is) - The "Making-Tabletop" window now displays a bar-graph of its progress. 1.02 - Selectable mouse cursors. - FILE_ID.DIZ included. - "About the Author" added to this documentation. - The lower left window during the game now shows the names of the players instead of just "Player#1" and so forth.... 1.03 - Documentation revisions - Revised "score-board" at end of each hand. - UFO can now deal with you removing aliens from the directory that were selected in the character selection menu. - Play-direction arrow now points in both directions for 2-player games. - New, more efficient, font system. - Sound configuration is now done from a config program instead of being asked every time you play. - UFO now saves which players are human/alien, and whether beeps are ON or OFF, in addition to the other configuration options. - A new level of talk-rate, "Nearly Always". - "Hide" key added (F4) - Sound Daemon upgraded to allow one clear channel. 1.04 - A bug in the text system (that put things off-center under certain circumstances from combinations of aliens) has been corrected. - More minor documentation updates. 1.05 - FILE_ID.DIZ updated this time <grin>... - All of the players portraits are shown during the game at all times now. - Errors with the alien-randomizer-chooser have been corrected, including the bug in the lock-out feature. - Now, from the alien STYLE menu you can actually select whether or not aliens will be locked out of the above mentioned randomizer. WHERE'D THAT NEAT-O TITLE SCREEN COME FROM? -By Jeremy A. Kusnetz- Did you like the title screen? Do you wish you could incorporate some scenes like that in some of your work, games, utilities, presentations, or WHATEVER? Now you CAN! Just read on... You can have still frames, in any format, any resolution. Animations in 320x200 or 640x480, in the .FLI format. Working together, we can make anything you want, if you can think it up, it can probably be done.. Of course, it all has a price.. As of this writing, April 1994, the prices for stills range from $20 - $200 per picture, depending on it's complexity, and technical difficulty.. Animations run $30 - $300 per second of animation, again depending on difficulty.. This might sound high, but when you consider the going commercial rate for 3D animation is $5000 per second, this really is a good deal. If this sounds interesting to you, you can contact me, Jeremy Kusnetz, at (301) 317-4969, or you can write me at: Jeremy Kusnetz 9520 Sweet Grass Ridge Columbia MD, 21046 You can also E-Mail me Via Prodigy by mailing FVPW01E, AOL by mailing JeremyAK, and through a private BBS, the Sorcerer's Quarters (410) 290-3752 by mailing EX... [- Update: Sorcerer's Quarters is down -] WHAT THE HELL IS NECROBONES ANYWAY?: Well, here's an interesting story. Here it is in a nutshell... One thing I have noticed is that people tend to download games that simply bear a name that they are familiar with from other games that they felt were enjoyable. I wanted to have a logo that would be instantly recognizable, something different and unique. Finally, in the fall of 1993 I decided that my games had reached a certain level of quality that the time had come for a name. In the BBS world, and in role playing games, I had often gone by the alias of Necromancer. In games and the like, I had always heavily used undead stuff (for about as long as I've been playing games, the undead were always my favorite nasty evil things). About eight years ago I created a small comic series (for fun) called Bones Comics (which I had continued to work on for about four years or so), and decided to merge that name with "Necromancer", resulting in "NecroBones". I wasn't sure (I'm STILL not sure) how well that name goes over with most people, but I DO know that it will stand out. So, what it all comes down to is this: NecroBones is me. Period. It's a name that I put on my games (and related things) that I feel are up to a certain level of quality. If I make something that doesn't meet those standards, I won't put the name on it. I'm not going to try to use the name to sell a smaller inferior product. The whole purpose of it is for you to be able to recognize the work of mine that meets certain standards I have set for myself. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Well, It's not often that I talk about myself in my documentation, but I'm sure some of you are curious (I know I'm always curious about the authors of programs I download). As of this writing, I'm a college student at UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County), majoring in Computer Science (big surprise eh?). I've been programming as a hobby for about 6 years straight. I started out in GWbasic, and finding it too slow and restrictive I quickly moved on to QuickBasic, which I continued to program in until almost exactly 3 years ago. I again switched at that time due to speed and size limitations in the language, and have since been programming primarily in Turbo Pascal 6.0, though occasionally in C as well. Why haven't I switched to C altogether? Well, it's this deal with what I'm most familiar with, and the fact that I have built up a huge collection of routines for every possible situation that could take forever to convert over to C, including my digital sound system, custom file accessing routines, and my graphics library. Also, I tend to get extremely impatient, and I'm quite happy with the fact that games such as this take no more than 3 or 4 seconds or so to compile on my computer in TP6. I've found pascal to be quite sufficient for writing shareware... well, at least with a little inline assembly language anyway (my graphics system, file system, and sound system are all written in assembly). While programming, and other general computer topics (such as anti-virus tactics, artificial life, digital music composing, etc) constitute my primary hobby, I do have others. A number of years ago I used to perform magic at childrens birthday parties, for instance. I used to be an avid Role Playing and Strategic War-Gaming fanatic as well. More recently I have gotten into some sculpting, thinking <gasp!>, and computer art. Meanwhile, my game programming is finally getting afloat. I'm starting to see some moderate success with my more recent games, including this one (meaning they're pulling in more than two registration checks each). I hope to continue the trend, and release more and more exciting and detailed games as time pushes forth... ** Job offers welcome ** Addendum- I'm now majoring in Physical Geography, and will probably put my computer talents towards Earth-related simulations and graphics. OTHER NECROBONES PRODUCTS: The following is a list of some NecroBones programs as of 8/19/94: Dragon's Domain - While not specifically a NecroBones product, this package or four games, Dragon's Domains 1 through 4, has been received well in certain circles. All four games are roughly based on the old Atari game ADVENTURE, but with slightly better graphics. Each game has graphics improvements over its predecessor. DragDom1 is better in graphics over Adventure only in the monsters and objects, while DragDom4 has completely bitmapped walls and such. The basic concept of each of these is to find your way through mazes, some lit, some not, and find certain objects. Along the way you will be presented with having to find the keys to the various castles, which can be a puzzle in itself. (sorry, no scrollie graphics, it's all static backgrounds). The 1-year anniversery package contains the entire tetralogy, plus a small "dragon card game" called Drahkarin. Skull Quest - Skull Quest I, The Cyan Sarcophagus, and Skull Quest II, The Vortex, are two fairly recent games of mine. They are side-view action/adventure games with smooth scrolling parallax backgrounds, and adlib music and sound effects. Can you save the crypt (and the rest of the world)? Only time will tell. Stellar Conquest II - This isn't so much a sequel as it is a revision of SC1. It is a stretegy space wargame for 0 to 4 human players (2-4 human/computer). It features full color VGA, taking advantage of both the hi-res and 256-color modes (256 color for menus, ship construction, etc, and hi-res for maps and the like). Players have to mine star systems with which to get resources to spend on more cargo ships, and weapon ships to fight the other players. There are many configurable options, and players get to design their own ships during gameplay. (I am no longer actively distributing this one, since SC3 is really the next reincarnation...) Stellar Conquest III- Like SC2, SC3 is more of a revision than a sequel. It is the same concept as SC2, same equations and numbers, etc. The interface has been greatly revised, and many new options are now available for the players. Ships can now have Jump pods, torpedo launchers, minelayers, and a new type of cloaking device. Since SC3 is basically the same game as SC2 but with so many more options and a much better interface, I rarely even advertise SC2 anymore. Codex Arcana - The first chapter, "Gate Crystal", has been completed. In this VGA/Soundblaster adventure, you find yourself lost in a strange land ruled by the elements. Can you find your way through the mazes, avoiding and destroying elementals, while surviving intense heat and cold, to reach the center of the map and find a way out? Only time will tell. As usual, digital sound, hand-drawn graphics, etc. Asteroid Mayhem - Remember the old arcade game "Asteroids"? And the old MacIntosh game called "Crystal Quest"? Well, elements of both have been combined to make Asteroid Mayhem! Targets abound, and there's plenty to wantonly destroy! Shoot up the asteroids, and collect the gems that were inside for points! With each passing level more asteroids appear, and bigger nastier aliens come into the fray. How high of a score can you get? Only time will tell. Asteroid Mayhem has a full suite of silly digital sound effects, and has fast-paced scrolling animation! All of these games can be downloaded from my BBS. In fact, you can download some of my older and more embarassing games as well! That's right, you can even download some of the ones I wrote in QuickBasic several years ago, such as Stellar Conquest #1! LEGAL SHTUFFS: This game is being distributed as "shareware", which basically means "try before you buy". You are entitled to try out this program to evaluate its use to you. If you continue to use it you are expected to pay for it, as outlined in the REGISTRATION section below. You are also encouraged to give copies of the unregistered version to your friends, and upload it to bulletin boards. The copies you distribute MUST be unmodified, and must be the unregistered version of the program. If you are a shareware disk vendor, please see the section labelled "VENDORS" below. REGISTRATION: This program is being distributed on the "shareware" concept. It is by no means completely free. If you think the program is of use to you, or you use it for any reasonable amount of time, please send a registration fee of $15 (US). If you think that is rediculous, then send less (or more for that matter). If you hate the program or found too many bugs, write me and tell me, and include a graphic explanation (but don't be too harsh!! Heheheh). In any event, write to: Ed T. Toton III 7101 Talisman Lane Columbia Md 21045 (USA) We accept cash, checks (ones that are paper, not rubber, if you catch my meaning), or money orders. Please make sure all checks and money orders are from US banks/postal-services, and all cash must be US legal tender. We regret to inform you that we no longer accept the following forms of payment: briefcases full of drugs, top secret documents, women, firstborn children, slaves, work animals, crates of firearms, and thumbtacks. :-) Please make sure you clearly spell out your name the way you would like it to appear in the program. If you would like copies of some of my other software, please send me a blank disk to send them to you on. Inclusion of a self-addressed stamped envelope will greatly speed up the process of my returning a response. Please be patient. And WHY should you register it? 1. To support my continuing efforts to bring you some level of functional programs. If I get no cash, you get no improvements in these programs, and I won't be encouraged to make new and better software! 2. To get that warm glow for knowing that you supported the author of at least one of the many shareware programs you probably use. 3. To find out if there is a newer version. All you need to do is ask! But letters with money take priority! 4. You could be sick and demented and thus register everything you get your hands on. 5. It's the right thing to do. 6. To get your very own registration number that will make that "please register" screen at the end of the game go away. It will also allow you to use the Portrait editor/creator, thus allowing you to make your own aliens without writing your own program to do so. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This Program, Manual, and Data Files, are all protected by U.S. Copyright Law (title 17 United States Code). Unauthorized reproduction, distribution and/or sales may result in imprisonment of up to one year and fine up to $10,000 (17 USC 506). Copyright infringers may also be subject to civil liability. If you mess with us, we'll delete you! The author of this program makes no warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, as to the fitness, functionality, effectiveness, or safety of this software and accompanying documentation. Under no circumstances shall the author and developer be liable for any damages incurred during or as a result of the use of, or misuse of, or inability to use, this software and documentation. All risk is assumed by the user, and we hereby disclaim any implied warranties of fitness or performance of this software. Use at your own risk. The developer and author reserves the right to make revisions and changes to the software and documentation without warning at any time. Any and all changes and revisions will be made without obligation to inform any person or persons of said changes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- VENDORS: Recently I have altered my policies concerning shareware vendors. Now you must first obtain written permission from the author before you can distribute this program. One reason for this is so that I may try to avoid certain "unpleasant" situations, but the main reason is merely so that I may keep track of what is being distributed where, and by whom. To obtain permission to distribute this program, simply write to me (same address as listed above for registration), and include the following information: (If you are distributing a previous version of this program and did not receive permission because it was not required, I will consider you *NOT* having permission to distribute) 1. Your name (or company name) and address. 2. Your policies for encouraging your customers to register the shareware they obtain from you. 3. The cost the customers will pay for the program. 4. The means of distribution (i.e. mail order, disks in computers stores, disks at computer shows, etc). If you do not include this information, your request will be denied. If you do include the information, your request will most likely be granted. I simply need to know where my programs are going, and I need to make sure that I regulate the pricing. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Before installing, backup your hard-drive (what!?). The program is harmless, but if by some chance it blows up in your face, burns down your house, or attacks your cat with a fake pickled trout, or incurs any other damage (to data or otherwise), I am not responsible. If you can not accept these terms, delete this package now and don't use it. Welp, that's all! Have fun!!! For CONTACT INFORMATION see: NBONES.DOC -Ed T. Toton III "Necromancer" NecroBones Software.