EnigmA Amiga Run 1997 July/EnigmA AMIGA RUN 20 (1997)(G.R. Edizioni)(IT)[!][issue 1997-07 & 08][EAR-CD IV].iso/earcd/game/misc/supertra.lha/SuperTrail/SuperTrailEnglish.doc

Text File | 1997-03-03 | 27KB | 559 lines

Super Trail (© by Helmut Hoffmann 1995)
===========

-> Important note: This program makes intensive use of the copper
   and other gfx hardware features; it seems to be difficult to run this
   on AGA Amigas. If you have difficulties: Try to deselect the AGA
   chipset (in the Boot menu) and make sure, that no screenmode
   promotion utilities are active, e.g. such that will promote
   PAL or NTSC screens to DoublePAL or DoubleNTSC. SuperTrail can
   only be used on standard PAL and NTSC screens!
   If you have an AGA Amiga you should find the option "Mode Promotion"
   in the SYS:Prefs/IControl program. Make sure that this option is NOT
   activated. You should also select a standard Amiga PAL or NTSC
   or PAL/NTSC Interlace mode for your Workbench. You should also
   deactivate any graphic board software in case of difficulties.
   Other utilities to degrade the system might be helpful as well.

Contents: 1...Introduction / Shareware registration information
      2...Starting Super Trail
      3...General using instructions
      4...Game principle and usage (control, task, scoring system, ...)
      5...The level editor
      6...Hints to master the standard levels
      7...Requirements and installation notes
      8...Disclaimer
      9...Copyright

1. Introduction / Shareware registration information
----------------------------------------------------

Welcome to "Super Trail", the professional fast action game of skill
(incl. comfortable level editor and many extra fields).

Principle of this game is to guide a rolling ball as fast as possible
along a long trail, to avoid the holes or jump over them, and to
get as many points as possible in the end (what else?).
Many extra fields with special effects can make this task easier or
much more difficult.

Included are nine levels (trails), starting "very easy" upto
"utterly difficult". All levels can be done in 60 seconds. You can
see this by activating the highscore replay function, which will show
the game which lead to the highscore (not possible for "all" highscore).
Doing this you can see, how the highscores were made... If you can
get a higher score, you are really good, as I needed much time to
get thoose highscores (taker care: danger of addiction...).

With the integrated level editor you can change levels or create your
own levels. This is also possible with the freely distributable version,
but you can't save levels to disk from this version. For proper use,
you should decide to register and pay the shareware fee. With the
registered full version you can design as many sets of each nine levels
as you like and save them to disk. For each level set separate highscores
(incl. highscore game play) are saved.

-> Super Trail is Shareware; if you like this program and want to
   receive the unrestricted version including level loading and
   saving functions and new levels, you should pay 50DM or 35US$
   (other currencies possible).

   See registration form for details. You will then receive the full
   version on disk without any restrictions, so that you can load and
   save levels. The functions of the level editor are also present in
   this demo, so you can try out how it feels to make new levels, but
   loading and saving is disabled.

   In addition you will receive at least one extra set of levels on your
   disk with 9 tricky levels...

   Please use the supplied registration form and sent it together with
   the correct amount of money or a cheque or postal money order to me:

   My address:  Helmut Hoffmann
        Rubensstrasse 4
        41063 Moenchengladbach
        Germany

Please note: Although I programmed the main functions of this game some
time ago, the first public release was V5.0 in May 1995. I thought that it
would be a pity, if this game was lying only on my harddisk, unseen
by the world, so I decided to rework it massively and release it.
This game makes extensive use of the Copper (this is the reason why it
allows extremly fast speed even on quite slow Amigas). This also means
that it is written very close on the hardware level and that any multi-
tasking is disabled. For fast speed, this program is written in pure
Assembler.

Everybody who uses or copies this program automatically accepts the copy-
right and disclaimer conditions stated at the end of this document (please read).


2. Starting Super Trail
-----------------------

The program can be started with the included icons in different variations.
Thoose will call scripts which then start the program "supertrail", which
can be started directly only from CLI. You can also start it manually from
there with several options. Please make sure that the stack is big enough
(at least 50000 Bytes).

Parameter for manual start from CLI:

The parameter "e" selects the english version (default: german).
The parameter "s" selects the soundless version (default: with sound).
The parameter "l" can be used to load another set of levels. Behind the "l"
the name of the level set (without extension) must follow immedietly. This
option is only useful in the unrestricted full version. Default is the standard
level set. You can certainly load another level set from the menu at a later time.

If you want to specify several parameters, they must appear in the above order
following directly each other. Example: "supertrail eslspecial" will start the
program in the english, soundless version using the level set "sepcial".

Important notes for graphic board owners:

Super Trail makes extensive use of the Copper in the Amiga and thus is very
close to the hardware level. A promotion of the graphics to a graphic board
should thus be impossible. Please make sure to deactivate any screen promoting
tools or configure them to not promote the Super Trail screen. It can only
be opened as PAL or NTSC HiRes screen. Graphic boards which have a pass
through function for the Amiga signal should not disturb Super Trail.
Evtl. you should switch your Workbench to a standard Amiga Screen mode
before starting super trail, because otherwise problems might occur
(esp. after exiting Super Trail when the Super Trail screen is closed).


3. General using instructions
-----------------------------

After program start the title screen will appear including an animated
title trail and the control menu (see below for details). With the Esc key,
the right mouse button or by selecting "start game" you can switch to the
game menu.

In the game menu the different field types with their special effects
will be explained in the side areas. Please make sure that the
brightness on your monitor is high enough, so that you can distinguish
between the black fields and the dark blue background (and holes).
Monochrome monitors seem to be very unsuitable for this game.

In the game menu you can select one of the nine levels for starting
or "all" to play all nine levels in one go with total scoring.
The level can be selected with a joystick or the corresponding
cursor keys. With the fire button or the space bar you can start
the current selection. For levels for which a highscore exists,
you can press the left mouse button or the enter/return key instead.
This will start the replay mode of the highscore game. The corresponding
level will appear and the game which reached the highscore will be shown.
This should be useful for beginners, who don't see a solution for a
particular level. During replay the name of the high score player will
also be shown.

Running games or replay games can be aborted with the right mouse button
or the Esc key.

If you press the right mouse button (menu key) or Esc key in the game menu,
it will be changed to the control menu. This includes varying menu
entries for selection.

The selection is again done by joystick (up and down) or the cursor keys.
For the menu entrie "Edit level" you can also change the number of the level
to be edited (1 to 9) by pushing left or right or with the left/right cursor
keys. With the fire button (or the space bar or enter/return key) you can
activate the menu entrie. The first menu entrie brings you back to the
game menu.

The second menu entry allows loading of a new level set. After selection
the name will be asked. The name of the currently loaded set will be
shown. The (internal) standard set has the name "trail". If you press
Esc, you can exit this function without loading a new level set.
If you enter the name of a non existing level set, you will be asked
again. The file name must not contain a ".". The extension ".bah" will
automatically be added to your file name. A corresponding high score
file ".sco" will also be loaded, if possible. If none is found, the
highscores will be set to 0 (and no replay will be possible). The
highscore file includes the names of the highscore players as well
as the complete gameplay of the highscore games. If you save a level
set as "trail", it will be loaded on program start automatically (This
function is only available in the registered full version of this program).

The third menu entry starts the level editor for the selected level.
You find a complete description of the editor in another chapter of
the documentation.

The fourth menu entry allows saving of the current level set. The
last used name will be shown and can be edited, to save with a
different name. With Esc you can interrupt this function. If you
enter the name of an already existing level set file, it will be
overwritten without warning. The corresponding highscore file will
also be overwritten (This function is only available in the registered
full version of this program).

The last menu entry can be used to exit the game.


4. Game principle and usage
---------------------------

Principle of this game is to guide a rolling ball as fast as possible
(maximum time 60 seconds!) along a complex and difficult trail from
start to the end. The trail only goes straight forward and is made
of many small square fields. The trail is upto seven fields wide and
can be hundreds of meters long. There are 15 differently colored fields.
Many colors have special meanings and make the game play more difficult
or easy. The trail also can contain holes or even large gaps, which can
be avoided or overjumped. You get nine free jumps at the beginning.
With every fall into a hole, you get one additional jump, but never more
than nine jumps. Falling into a hole does not hurt your ball, but will
cost valuable time. Your ball will also be set back a bit, and sometimes
even a very large bit... (in fact, it will be set back 3 fields in the
middle of the trail. If there are no fields in the middle, this can be
a long way).

There are two playing variants:

a) single level playing

After start of a single level the selected trail will appear. Start and
end of each level are made of white ice segments, where no steering is
possible. The clock will not start running, until you accelerate first.

If you reach a "highscore", you can enter your name. The complete
course of your game will be saved and can be presented in replay mode at
a later time, showing your name on the top.

b) "all levels"

If you start the "all levels" mode, the first level will appear.
After acceleration, the clock will start. You have exactly 60
seconds on each level and get 9 jumps at each level. At the end
of each level the total score which has been reached so far will
flash some seconds. After the flashing score disappears, the clock
runs for the next level! No time for pause between the levels.
Only after the last level the total score will be displayed and
remain until you press fire (or the space bar) (Have fun playing
all the nine internal levels...). You can't enter your name
for highscore, as there is no replay function for the all level
mode.

With the right mouse button (or Esc key) you can quit any single
game or the all level game.

Control functions in the game:

With the joystick (or cursor keys) you can steer the ball
(shifting it to the left or the right, as long as you are not
on ice) or change the speed (pushing up: accelerate; pushing down:
slow down). Once started, there is a minimum speed on normal
fields on the trail, so you usually can't stop (exception: sandy
trail). There is also a maximum speed, but this is very high.
So: just accelerate with care, the next hole comes soon...

A look on the highscore games shows, how fast the speed can be...

For steering please note that the ball can also fall off the
sides of the trail or sidely into a hole. Very tricky are
the pink fields, where the side steering is reversed... Even
more tricky are pink fields lying on the side of other fields.
If you want to get past such a border, you have to reverse
the steering at exactly the right position.

To jump over holes or gaps, you can use the fire button (or
space bar). Due to physical reasons, you can not steer the
ball or change it's speed during it's flying phase. Jumps are
much wider, if you jump at a high speed. To jump over giant
gaps you should first accelerate to the maximum speed...
Even higher (and wider) jumps are possible with the "high
jump fields".

The number of possible jumps is set to nine at the beginning.
After falling into a hole or gap you get one jump back (but never
more than nine jumps). An unmoving ball can't jump.

If the ball falls into a hole or gap, some time will elaps and the
ball will be placed back. Your time will certainly continue to run.
After setting back, the ball will usually have no speed, so you
must accelerate next.

The colored fields of the trail have several effects which have
influence on the ball and can make controlling very complicate,
but on the other hand are sometimes the only way to make jumping
over large gaps possible (high jump fields). The following field
types do exist:

- dark blue: background, holes and gaps (no real field)

- cyan, green, magenta, dark grey: normal trail without effect

- dark red: Jump Bonus! Get a total of 9 free jumps; point bonus
        fields can be reactivated as well (if sound: humming noise)
- flashing green: Point Bonus! 100 Extra points... (if sound: sirene noise)
        After usage, all Point bonus fields become inactive, but with the Jump
        Bonus field they can be reactivated (upto 1000 bonus points).

- light yellow: gluey/sticky field; no jumps possible!
- red     : hot field; if you have a certain minimum speed, an automatic
        free jump will be performed
- orange  : very hot field; if you have a certain minimum speed, an automatic
        free super high (and wide) jump will be performed

- blue    : water (makes a splashing sound, if sound is turned on);
        the ball will float at slow speeds forwards. It can neither
        be accelerated nor slowed down.
- yellow   : sand (makes a dump sound, if sound turned on);
        ball will be slowed down very hard, evtl. upto a full stop.
        With permanent acceleration you can slowly roll your ball forward.
- grey    : hard concrete surface; the ball will accelerate automatically, but
        not upto the highest speed; you might have to accelerate manually
        more to get this.
- black   : asphalt racing track; the ball rolls immedietly at a very high
        speed (but not at maximum speed; evtl. you have to leave such a
        track to make further acceleration possible!)

- white   : ice on track; no steering possible (e.g. at beginning of each level)
- pink    : irritation; steering (left<->right) is reversed. It is very
        difficult to change to such a field or from such a field on
        the side. This needs very short steering impulses.

The fields are also explained in the title trail on the menu screen.

At the end of each level (ice fields as at the beginning) the score
will be displayed, which is calculated as sum of the remaining
seconds (multiplied by 10), the distance you mastered (1 point per
meter), the remaining jumps (1 point for each jump) and a special
bonus of 100 points if you reached the finish and certainly the
reached bonus points as well.

If the time expires before the finish, you get just points for the
mastered distance, the remaining jumps and the reached bonus points.

With the fire button (or space bar) you can get back to the game menu.

If your score is better than the hishcore of the corresponding level,
you can enter your name. The highscore will then be saved to disk
together with your game play, which can be replayed from the game
menue with the left mouse button (or enter/return key).
Please note that the highscores will only be saved to disk, if the
levels are not changed by the level editor. First save edited levels
to disk, then highscores will also be saved automatically again.

For the "all levels" game no name can be entered for the high score.


5. The level editor
-------------------

Some people might find the 9 internal levels a bit too difficult
(or even to easy???). Others may simply like change. No problem
with "Super Trail", because it has an integrated level editor.
If you want to save edited levels to disk, you first have to register
to get the inrestricted full version, but you can try out the level
editing even in the demo.

The level editor is started as described above from the control menu
(can be reached with the right mouse button or Esc key from the game menu)
by pressing the fire button (or enter/return key or space bar) if the
entry "edit level #" is highlighted. The level number must be choosen
first.

The level will appear in the usual (3D) look. The ball can now be po-
sitioned step by step with the joystick or cursor keys in all directions
(or continually by holding the keys/joystick longer). With the right
mouse button (or Esc) you can leave the editor. To edit a level the
following functions are available:

Ctrl Esc             : Delete whole level (after confirmation)
Esc, right mouse button         : leave level editor

Cursor keys, joystick        : select field
Space bar, 0, F10        : clear field (make hole)
1                    : set field to cyan
2                    : set field to green
3                    : set field to magenta
4                               : set field to dark grey
5                               : set jump bonus field (dark red)
6                               : set point bonus field (dark/flashing green)
F1                              : set glue/sticky field (light yellow)
F2                              : set hot/jump field (red)
F3                              : set super hot/high jump field (orange)
F4                              : set water field (blue)
F5                              : set sand field (yellow)
F6                              : set concrete field (light grey)
F7                              : set asphalt racing field (black)
F8                              : set ice field (white)
F9                              : set irritation field (pink)
Fire button                  : set field of last set field type
Backspace                : delete/remove previous line of fields
Delete                    : delete/remove line under the ball
Help                    : insert new (empty) line under the ball
c, C, k, K                : duplicate the line under the ball
z, Z                    : duplicate the last two lines
ALT cursor up                : Move ball to end of level
ALT cursor down                : Move ball to start of level
ALT cursor left                : Move ball to left side of trail
ALT cursor right            : Move ball to right of trail
Shift cursor left            : standard edit mode
Shift cursor right            : line edit mode
Shift cursor up                 : forward edit mode
Shift cursor down             : reverse/backward edit mode

In standard mode the ball remains on a field, if you set/alter it.
In line edit mode the ball advances to the field on the right after
each alteration. If the ball is already at the right border, it will
be placed to the left in a newly inserted empty line.
In forward mode the ball will be advanced to the next field forwards
after each alteration.
In reverse mode the ball will be advanced to the previous field
(backwards) after each alteration.

On start the editor will be in standard mode.

With theese functions you can edit the existing levels very comfortably
or even (after deletion) create totally new levels.

If you change a level, the highscore will be deleted internally
(together with the corresponding highscore game play), because the
highscore game would not match the level anymore. The total high
score is also deleted. On disk the old highscores will remain until
you change the edited levels to disk. Upto then no new highscores
will be saved automatically. Trail sets automatically get the .bah
extension on disk. Score/Highscore game plays get the extension .sco.

Hints for creation of levels:

- the ice areas at the beginning and end of each level can not be edited.
  Please note that thoose areas are only 5 fields white, but in the inner
  level area you can have upto 7 fields side by side.
- a level should not be much longer than about 1000m, because it would
  otherwise be impossible to reach the finish in 60 seconds (maximum speed
  it about 20m/s). The total capacity of a set of 9 levels is about 15000m
  which should be enough for all purposes.
  Complex levels with tricky traps and such must be much shorter (max.
  about 200m) to be solvable with a realistic slow speed.
- after a fall into a hole/gap the ball will be placed back to a position
  in the middle, 3 existing fields before the fall position. If you want
  to let the ball be reset very large distances, just leave out the middle
  lane for long periods...
- very tricky are combinations of irritation fields (wrong stearing) with
  normal fields on the side, if a change is necessary.
- long free gaps can only be jumped over, if a high jump field (very hot)
  is before it and there is enough room to accelerate to maximum speed
  (see the higher standard levels).
- several point bonus fields (upto 10) can be used, if jump bonus fields
  are between them


6. Hints to master the standard levels "Trail"
--------------------------------------

The supplied internal levels vary very much in skill. The first two
are very easy, the last are utterly difficult.

To all levels my own highscores (including highscore game play) are
supplied. This makes it possible, to watch each level in playback mode,
if you think one would be impossible to solve. If you want to make
your own highscores, you could delete the "trail.sco" file, but the
highscore game plays will then be lost. It would be better to make
a copy of the levels (save with another name) first. True gamblers
will certainly try to beat my highscores.

The first three level are made only of standard fields, without any
special effect, with the exception of one point bonus field in each
level. Here you can lern how the ball can be controlled
and how it reacts to acceleration and such. To get high scores you
have to master thoose with the highest possible speed, only few
jumps and avoiding all holes; the point bonus field has certainly
also to be used...

Level 4 is a bit more difficult. Here automatic jump fields appear
in the first part at positions where you won't like them. You can
pass them without jumping at very slow speeds. Advanced players
will just go past them in such a high speed, that even large
gaps are mastered. The second part introduces some irritation fields
which can be really confusing. The time might run out here...

Level 5 offers high speed and acceleration fields. The latter can be
bypassed by permanent slow down action. Very problematic are such
fields if you are set back to them after falling into a hole. No
time for thinking...

Level 6 begins with a sticky phase, where extensive stearing is
necessary. The very tricky combination of irritation fields and
normal fields does also appear here. Thoose require very careful
steering. A chaotic area waits at the end; professional players
just "fly" over it.

Level 7 and 8 offer some huge gaps in the beginning phase. With the
high speed on asphalt racing fields (black) you can NOT jump over them.
You have to leave them and roll on other fields and manually accelerate
even higher (maximum speed) to be than able to jump over the gaps with
a very high jump field (very hot). In the second part the jumping-fans
can show how good they jump. You have to jump over some very isolated
parts. Some Jump Bonus fields allow to get more free jumps, if needed.

Level 9 offers the worst and most difficult part direct at the beginning.
Horrible combinations of irritating and normal fields, gaps, accelerating
and slowing down fields make even the start in this level very difficult.
The second part is then easier (if you have enough time left), but sticky
fields will often prevent you from just jumping over the holes.

Have fun...

If you master all 9 levels in one go, you are very good.


7. Requirements and installation notes
--------------------------------------

As I started the development of this program a long time ago, it does not
depend on much:

Kickstart/Workbench 1.2 will be sufficient (but it is certainly compatible
even with OS3.1). Below OS2.04 you must make sure, that a font: assign
exists to the font which is part of this game. The scripts make this
automatically.

1MByte of RAM will be sufficient (it might even run with less, but I
couldn't try) but more won't hurt.

Although older versions of this game could run in full speed even on a
standard 68000, due to some extensions it might now run a bit slow on
such. A 68020 should be sufficient for full real time speed. Maybe a
68000 with true FastRam will also be sufficient. Higher
processors should not change speed as timing is based on vertical
blank interrupts; on NTSC screens it will usually run faster than on
PAL screens. You can use programs as "AmigaToPAL" or "AmigaToNTSC" to
control this. The timing was originally designed for PAL modes.

Even caches and such things should not disturb SuperTrail in any way.
Only the Vector Base Register must be set to 0 for proper operation.
Special notes for graphic board users can be found in chapter 2.


8. Disclaimer
-------------

This software (program and documentation) is provided "as is" and
comes with no warranty, either expressed or implied.
The author is in no way responsible for any damage or loss that may
occur due to direct or indirect usage of this software. You use
this software entirely at your own risk.


9. Copyright
------------

This program (incl. documentation) is (c) by Helmut Hoffmann 1990-1997.
It may be freely distributed (max. allowed duplication charge: 8US$ for
disks, 60US$ for CD-ROMs, both incl. postage&packing), but only in
unmodified form, complete with this documentation file. The registered
full version generally must not be distributed in any way.

My address:        Helmut Hoffmann
            Rubensstrasse 4
            D-41063 Moenchengladbach

            Germany