Ultimate Game Collection/XULTI.ISO/442/dgdemo.exe/README.TXT

Text File | 1996-08-27 | 18KB | 447 lines

Thanks for checking out the Deadly Games playable demo!

Inside this demo, you'll get a chance to learn and play around with Deadly
Games' combat system - shooting guns, tossing grenades, and blowing up the
enemies.  You'll also get a chance to try your skills against a human
opponent via direct connect, modem, or network connection.

In the single player scenario, you'll be able to explore and fight your way
through a sample challenging and enemy filled mission.


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Speech
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While we wish you could all be playing the demo with speech, we've made it
possible to play it without to minimize the download time. We have sample
MERC speech available should you wish to download it - it's available as
DGSPEECH.ZIP on our website (approx 7.8 MB)

If you want even more speech, you can download Gus Tarballs' speech as well.
His speech file is GTSPEECH.ZIP (approx. 4.2 MB).



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Starting the Demo
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We recommend that you read this document before playing the demo.  You may
also find it useful to print out this file, for reference during the game.

When Deadly Games begins, you'll see a menu with six choices on it:

  -Single Player-
  -Multiplayer-
  -Scenario Editor-
  -Campaign Editor-
  -Exit to DOS-

The Scenario and Campaign Editors are disabled in this demo.
If you select "Single Player" you can play the demo single player scenario.
Picking "Multiplayer" will let you play a modem, direct connect, or network
game of Deadly Games with the demonstration multiplayer scenario. Although
we're sure you'll never want to do it, you can also quit from this screen.

To start the single player demo scenario, select "Single Player".  After
this you'll choose your team name, team color, and game options before
playing.  Many of the single player options will be unchangeable, such as
choosing a mission or campaign or being able to hire mercs instead of having
them randomly assigned to your team.  You will be able to change these in
the full game!  You can change the quality of equipment your mercs get,
whether bloodstains are left on the ground after people are wounded,
and the amount of action points mercs will have available (We'll get into
the mechanics of action points later).  You can also change the quality of
enemy AI, to make the scenario easier or harder.

Once you click on "Start Solo Game" at the bottom of the screen, the fun
will be about to begin.  You'll have the chance to equip your mercs (which
we'll get into in the next section).  To begin the mission, click on the
"Start" button.

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Playing the Demo
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Once all the getting-ready stuff has been taken care of, you'll be able to
send your mercs into the fray.  The portraits of Mercenaries you see on the
left and right sides of the screen are in your command.

SELECTING MERCS:

To select a mercenary......................................Click on merc, OR
                        Double click on portrait, OR
                                 Press F1-F6

To locate a merc in the field.....................Left click on portrait

To identify merc by name..............Move the cursor over merc in field

To see merc's statistics values.........Click and hold on statistic bars

To see all mercs' statistics at once. .........................Press 'S'

To change merc's personal options................Right click on portrait

MOVING MERCS AROUND:

To move a merc..........................Double click on desired location

To sneak..............................Hold down SHIFT during normal move

To back up..............................Hold down CTRL during normal move

To crouch..............................Hold down ALT and left click with
                            cursor over merc, OR
                     right click then left click on merc

To look in a particular direction..........Hold right button down & left
                                   click

To exchange places with another merc.......Hold cursor over merc to swap
                             with, press 'X'


MERCENARY PANELS:
*   Health (Red):  The member's health.  If hurt, it lowers and leaves
    an "injury tracker" in its place.  Untreated injuries are yellow,
    and may continue to hurt the merc (bleeding) if not treated. A
    bleeding character will leave bloody footprints if bloodstains are on.
    Treated injuries show pink.

*   Breath (Blue):  Breathing rate and energy.  Lowers
    as member exerts energy.  Rises as they rest.

*   Action Points (Orange): This is the number of action points you have
                remaining.

PERSONAL OPTIONS (ON FLIP SIDE OF MERCENARY PANELS):

*   MAX AIM: When on, the merc will always take extra time and action
    points (APs) to target the enemy to the best of his ability.  You
    can still vary the APs spent.

*   RSV PTS: When on, the merc will always stop with enough action
    points remaining to use the item in their Main Hand.  Use this
    to make sure you have enough APs to shoot or throw a grenade after
    moving as far as possible to your destination.

*   MUTE: When on, the merc's speech and sound effects will not be heard.




USING ITEMS:

Items that are in the mercenary's main hand may be used at any time. Some
items, like a medical bag for instance, have specific uses.  To use an item
in the merc's main hand, right click in the main play field, and the cursor
will change to signify his or her intent.  If a medical bag is in that hand,
for instance, you'll get a "healing cross" cursor.  Next, you need to select
the target of the item's use.  Where you left click is that target.  If some
items don't seem to have an apparent use, they may need to be merged with
other items.  In fact, many items in Deadly Games can be merged with others
to create new items.


INVENTORY CONTROLS:

To move any item to another location...............Left click on item to
                 pick it up, left click again to drop it

To swap item from secondary to main hand........Right click on secondary
                        hand position (bottom right)

To put item in main hand into free pocket.......Right click on main hand
                          position (bottom left)

To view merc's complete inventory...........Right click on a vest pocket, OR
                         Click on the INV button, OR
                                   Press 'I'

INSIDE INVENTORY SCREEN:

To move any item to another location...............Left click on item to
                 pick it up, left click again to drop it

To equip items..........................Place guns/grenades in main hand,
             vests in vest position, helmet in helm position,etc.

To trade items between mercs............Left click on item to pick it up,
                    Click on another merc's portrait,
                    Left click on slot to place item

To drop an item......................Move it to slot beneath merc's feet

To drink from a canteen...................Pick up canteen, left click on
                       merc's face in inventory area

To camouflage a merc..................Pick up camouflage kit, left click
                    on merc's body in inventory area

To attempt merging two items...............Place first item in main hand,
       place second item in the attachment position (directly below)

To exit inventory screen.................Left click over merc's portrait
                               in inventory area


INVESTIGATING & CHECKING THINGS OUT:

You check things out in Deadly Games with (surprise) your hands and your eyes.  So, the Hand Cursor is all important.
When your merc sees something, he'll tell you, and a white circle will flash
around the object.  Things that are hidden, though, may require a bit of
searching.

To get hand cursor....................Press CTRL at any time to force it, OR
        Hold cursor still for a couple of seconds over an object, OR
              Left click on an object where the cursor is an "X"

Picking up items.............Get hand cursor (above), left click on item

Opening doors.......................Place cursor over "Door", left click

Magnifying items..................Hold cursor over it, and press 'Z', OR
                         press CTRL plus right click

Looking for land mines............Place mine detector in main hand, then
                left click on a destination.  Merc scans
                   for nearby mines along the route

Blue flags...................When a merc detects a buried object, a blue
               flag will be placed at that spot.  Left click
                  on the flag to disarm or dig up the object



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Combat
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ACTION POINTS:

Everything in a combat situation is governed by action
points.  Action points are a numerical representation of how
many actions a mercenary can perform in a single turn, and
are based upon the experience and overall statistics of the
mercenary, including his or her health.  Mr. "Hyper on Sugar"
can run to every corner of the map several times, host a beachside
infomercial on psychic haircare products and still have time
to raise his gun to shoot someone.  Mr. "Slower than Death",
on the other hand, would have just figured out that something
was going on in that same period of time...

For instance, a mercenary who can run 20 feet in one second
would have 20 action points (he can move quickly).  A
mercenary who can only run only 5 feet in one second would
have 5 action points (and be pretty darn slow).  The more
the mercenary can physically do in a set amount of time, the
more action points he or she has.  So, in combat, where
physical actions cost action points, a faster mercenary can
do more.

Some actions, though, take a set amount of time no matter
how fast the mercenary is.   For instance, if a fast
mercenary and a slow mercenary pull the trigger of identical
guns at the same time, both bullets will fire at the same
time and take the same amount of time to head down the
barrel. So, the faster mercenary would expend more points to
perform the action than the slower mercenary.  Just because
one mercenary is fast doesn't mean he can make a bullet go
down the barrel of a gun faster.

In general, though, action points determine how much your
mercenary can do when it's his or her turn in combat.  Since
their action points are limited, be careful not to run
slower mercenaries all over the place.  An action that takes
10 points might not be much to a guy who has 20, but it's
sure a lot to a merc with 12.  There's only so much he or
she can do in the space of seconds, and it would be a pity
to have a merc bravely run up to an enemy, eagerly draw his
gun but have no time left to shoot.  Leave the marathon
stealth runs to the fast guys.

For whatever you choose to do, though, Deadly Games will
continually alert you to the action point cost.  You'll see
the amount in the center of your cursor.

If you don't use all of your action points in a turn, up to
5 points will roll over to the next turn.  If you have more
than that left over, the extra is lost.


FIRING GUNS/THROWING GRENADES:

To target an opponent...........................Have weapon in main hand,
                   right click in to get crosshairs then
                            left click on target

    . . . then (optionally) . . .

To improve the merc's aim.......Once targeted, right click for desired
          level of extra accuracy; more points = better aiming

    . . . then . . .

Fire the bullet / Throw the grenade.....................Left click again


ENDING TURN:

WHEN YOU'VE USED UP ALL YOUR ACTION POINTS OR DON'T HAVE ENOUGH LEFT
TO DO ANYTHING, CLICK DONE (OR PRESS 'D') TO PASS THE TURN OVER TO THE
ENEMY FORCES.

Sometimes, however, you may prefer to end your turn earlier, keeping
some extra action points available to be able to react as the enemies
come to you...


TREATING WOUNDED:

Get a medical or first aid kit in a medically-trained merc's main hand,
use it (right click), and select the wounded merc as the target.  (Note
that mercs are also able to treat themselves this way).  This serves to
clean and bandage the wounds sustained, and prevent additional bleeding.

A merc whose health drops below 15 falls down, and will die unless he or
she receives prompt treatment (which will restore health back to 15).
A merc whose health drops to 0 or below is DEAD!

The actual healing of wounds (regaining of health) takes more time
and is beyond the scope of this demo.



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Miscellaneous
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TOP-OF-THE-SCREEN BUTTONS:

    DONE........................End your turn, let opponents have theirs
    INV.........................Display selected mercs' inventory screen
    OPT......................Enable/disable sound, music & other options
    MAP............................Lets you see the overhead mission map
    CHAT...............Send a message to an opponent in multiplayer mode
    TAUNT...............Annoy and insult an opponent in multiplayer mode

SCREEN VIEWS:

Display overhead sector map..............................Press 'Ins', OR
                   Hold down right mouse button and drag
                  mouse downward until "MAP" appears, OR
                      Click on MAP at top of screen

Show "automap" (which areas mercs have seen).................Press 'Tab'
                    (ONLY while in overhead mission map)

Cycle through other main view field sizes...........Press 'PgUp', 'PgDn'


GENERAL CONTROLS, KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS:

    Select merc (1-8)...........................................F1-F8
    Select merc (1-8) without relocating view...................ALT + F1-F8
    Select next merc............................................Spacebar

    Show only enemies seen by selected merc.....................F9
    Relocate view to next enemy.................................Enter

    Done (in combat)............................................D
    Inventory of selected merc..................................I
    Options menu................................................O
    Restart Mission.............................................R

    Show all mercs' stats.......................................S
    Magnify items (cursor over item)............................Z
    Repeat last message.........................................L

    Pause.......................................................P
    Cancel action in progress...................................ESC
    Show Options Menu...........................................F10

    Increase Music Volume.......................................+
    Decrease Music Volume.......................................-
    Increase Sound FX Volume....................................Comma
    Increase Sound FX Volume....................................Period

    Allies (Multiplayer Only)...................................A
    Chat (Multiplayer Only).....................................C
    Taunt.......................................................T

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Deadly Games: Multiplayer
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If you're looking for intense fun, this part of Deadly Games is what you'll
want to see.  This demo supports two player play; the full game supports up
to four players on a Network.  Click on "Multiplayer", and you'll have a
choice of Modem, Direct Connect, or Network.  Both players will need a copy
of the demo.

Modem Connection:
You'll need to know the port of your modem and the baud rate you'll want
to connect at.  You can change advanced options, too, if your modem is not
working with the default options.  After that,all you'll have to do is
enter your opponent's number and click on CALL.  Your opponent should
configure his modem and click on ANSWER.

Direct Connection:
This is easy. Connect two computers via a null modem cable (not just a serial
cable).  You'll have to know which port the cable is attached to, and then
one player will be 'host' and the other one 'guest'.

Network Play:
One player will be the "Leader" and will pick that option when connecting
by network.  When the other player joins him, he will be able
to start the mission.


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System Requirements
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Required: 486DX-33
      Double Speed CD-ROM Drive
      8MB RAM
      PC/MS-DOS 5.0, 6.0+, Win '95
      Mouse
      256-color VGA graphics

Sound Support: Sound Blaster/Pro/16/AWE32 and 100% compatible
           Pro Audio Spectrum (PAS)
           Gravis Ultrasound (GUS)
           MPU401-interface General MIDI


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Trouble Shooting
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If you've played the two player scenario over an IPX network and want to
play it again immediately, you may find that the second player cannot
JOIN the leader's game.  Have both players exit the demo and restart
it, and that should clear up the problem.

Pro Audio Spectrum 16: If the sound configuration does not correctly
detect your PAS 16 for music, select PAS 16 for digital sound and
Sound Blaster for music instead.

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How to get in touch with us...
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Sir-tech Software Inc.
Ogdensburg Business Center, P.O. Box 245
Ogdensburg, NY 13669
[phone]

Compuserve: 76711,33

Internet: [e-mail]

On the World Wide Web: http://www.sir-tech.com