Amiga CD32 Gamer 16/CD32 Gamer - 1995 - Issue 16.iso/pd/tanx/ins.doc

Text File | 1995-09-07 | 17KB | 625 lines

AMIGA TANX
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Produced by Gary Roberts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Version 1.0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Written for Amiga Computing. 1991
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Tanks! a Short Overview.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do  you  remember  that great game called
"TANKS   !"  which  appeared  on  several
machines    many    years    ago.?    You
don't.?,where  have  you  been  all  this
time.?
 Many  an hour was had by kids and adults
alike playing this simple game at college
and at work.  Its one of those games, you
either love it or hate it.

 I am afraid I don't know who created the
original Tanks,so I can not give them any
credit.   (  If somebody knows who it was
then  please  contact me, I can then give
them credit.!  )

 Anyway  Tanks  is a 2 player game only (
Although  I  have  known a few people who
play  in  on their own!  ),each player is
given    a   tank   to   control   on   a
landscape,the idea is to take it in turns
to  shoot  at  your opponent.  ( See.?  I
said  it  was simple ).  You have control
over  the  angle  of the tanks barrel and
the velocity behind the shot.
 The  winner  is  the person who scores a
direct  hit  on  their opponents tank.  (
Cooo, now there is a surprise.)
 Thats the basic idea behind the original
Tanks game, now here is my version.


Amiga Tanx.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Amiga Tanx follows the same lines as the
original   game,but   with   just  a  few
variations.

    a) Randomly generated Landscapes.
    b) Two main types of Landscapes.
    c) Variable gravity.
    d) Variable wind strength and direction.
    e) Targets to hit.
    f) Objects which affect the flight of the tanks shot.
    g) Full Stereo Sound.
    h) 50 frames a second screen update.
    i) Parallax scrolled play area.
    j) Over 100 colours on screen. ( Honest ! )

I could go on ,but I won't.


Starting Tanx
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Pretty straight forward this bit.
 The  Tanx  game  takes up around 400k of
chip  ram,so if you don't have 1 meg chip
ram  or  own an amiga A3000,you will have
to  close  all  windows and make sure you
have at least 400k of chip ram free.

 NOTE:    if   you   only   have  a  512k
amiga,then   tanx   will   not  run  from
Workbench.   You  will  have  to boot the
disk and run Tanx from the CLI

 Tanx  can  only  be run from the CLI,but
due a to a lovely program

called   ICONX,   you  can  run  it  from
Workbench.
 To  run  Amiga  Tanx,open  up  the  Tanx
window and double click on the Tanx Icon.
A  CLI  window  will appear and Tanx will
proceed to run.
 If  any errors occur then a nice message
will appear on screen.

 Tanx can be run from the CLI alone.To do
this  you must make the "Tanx!" directory
the current directory before running.

 Eg.
      CD    df0:Tanx!     -   To   change
directory.

If  Tanx  cannot  find  or load the file
"Tanx-Title.Dat" then it will not run.
It  looks  for  "Tanx-Title.Dat"  in the
current directory.

If you wish to transfer the Tanx Game to
Hard  disk  or  some other media,then you
require  the  following  files  from  the
Tanx!  directory.

Tanx  (  And the associated icon files if
you wish )

Tanx-Title.Dat


"Tanx"    is   the   main   program,while
"Tanx-Title.Dat"  is the title image.  As
long  as  both  files  are  in  the  same
directory,  Tanx  will  run.   So you can
transfer  the  game  to Hard disk or some
other media.


                       Playing The Game
                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When  the  Tanx title appears, press the
left  mouse  button,  after a few seconds
the Main Options Screen will appear.

From this screen you can change many game
parameters.    The   parameters  will  be
explained later on.

To  Play  a  game  simply  move the mouse
pointer   and  click  on  the  PLAY  Icon
situated in the top right of the screen.

After a few seconds you will be shown the
Landscape on which the battle is about to
take  place.   ( The Landscape is about 2
screens wide.  )

A  control panel,then drops down from the
top of the screen.  From here the current
player   can  control  his/her  tank  and
scroll around the landscape.

The current Players name is displayed and
their  tank  is  brought  into view.  The
following  Icons  are  displayed  in  the
panel.

Velocity  -  Represented  by  bar  bells.
(What else?  )

Clicking  on  the  arrows underneath will
alter  the  velocity of the players shot.
If  you  hold  the left mouse button down
then  the  velocity will rise slowly,hold
down  both  left  and right mouse buttons
and   the   velocity  will  rise  quickly
Velocity can be in the range of 0 to 199.

Angle - Represented by a 90 degree angle.

Clicking  on  the  arrows underneath will
alter  the angle of the tanks gun barrel.
Click  with the left button alone and the
value  will  change slowly.Hold down both
mouse buttons and things will wizz along.
The  angles  are  in degrees.  Values are
between  -90 and 150 Negative angles will
fire the bullets downwards.  + 90 degrees
will fire the bullets straight up.

Fire-  Represented  by  a rocket on a red
button.

If  you are happy with the angle,velocity
and  tanks position,then click on this to
fire your bullet!

Quit-Represented by a white flag.

Clicking on this during any point in play
will  quit the current game and return to
the options screen.

Scroll   Land-  Represented  by  a  small
landscape and tank.

Click  on  the  arrows  will  scroll  the
Landscape  Left  and  right,  and  up and
down.   this  will enable you to pick out
your target ( The other players tank ).

Pressing   the  left  mouse  button  will
scroll  slowly.   Hold  down both buttons
and it will wizz along.

Move   Tank-  Represented  by  a  Tank  (
Suprising huh.?  )

Clicking  on  the  arrows  below the icon
will move your tank.

Tanks  can only move on their flat plain.
They  can not go up or down hills or ride
over craters.

When  you fire the bullets, they will fly
given   your  angle  and  velocity.   The
bullets are accurately calculated using a
projectile forumla,so they will act as if
in real life.

Each  player  takes  it in turn to fire a
shot.   the  first  player  to  hit their
opponents tank wins.!

After  a  game  has  been  won.  A status
screen  is  displayed.   A  tally  of the
games won by each player is displayed.

From  the  Status  screen  you can play
another  game with the current parameters
or  you  may  exit  to  the  Main Options
screen  to  alter  the parameters.  - See
Next section.

The  current  tally  of  the games won by
each  player  is  only  cleared  when you
change  the  players  name  from the main
options screen.  - See next section.


Game Parameters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As  you  may  have  seen  from  the  Main
Options   screen   there   are   lots  of
parameters that you can change.

A) Wind Strength.
B) Wind Direction.
C) Gravity Strength.
D) Landscape generation.
E) Objects.
F) Sound.

Also  on the Main options screen you will
find the following Icons.

ABOUT  -  The current version of the game
and who wrote it!

QUIT - Quit the game.

PLAYER1 -

PLAYER2 - The two player icons at the top
left  of  the  main options screen enable
you  to  alter  the  players names.Simply
click on the icon under the players name.
You  may  type  in  3  letters  from  the
keyboard  or  move  your mouse left/right
and click to leave a character.

PLAY  -  Play  a  game  with the selected
parameters.

I will run through each of the parameters
and explain what they all do!  To operate
any  of the options,simply move the mouse
pointer  over the switches ( little boxes
with  black  or  red lights in them ) and
press the left mouse button.


A) Wind Strength.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pretty   obvious   this   one.   You  can
introduce  wind  affect  into  the  game.
Wind  affects  the  flight of the bullets
and  makes  the  game  a little harder to
play.  The wind strength and direction is
displayed  during the game, at the bottom
of  the  screen.   The  flag  denotes the
direction,whilst  the  meter and number (
from 0-9 ) denotes the strength.

The  options  under  Wind Strength are as
follows.

1)  None  - No wind affect at all.  The
default option.

2)  Light  -  Light wind.A small breeze
blows  and  has  a  small  affect  on the
bullets flight.

3) Medium - A brisk wind blows across the
landscape.   This wind noticeably affects
the bullets flight.

4)  Strong  -  Definitely  gale force
conditions  now.  The wind is very strong
and the bullets are very much affected by
the wind.

5)  Random  -  The  wind  strength is
randomly  chosen  during  the  game.After
each  players  shot  the  wind can change
strength with this option.


NOTE:   With  options  2-4  the  wind
strength  is chosen at the beginning of a
game  and  does NOT change throughout the
game.

With  option  5.   The  wind  strength is
randomly chosen, and DOES change during a
game.So   watch  the  wind  meter  before
taking a shot.!!!


B) Wind Direction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This  option  rightly alters how the wind
direction is generated.

1) Same.  - The default option.  The wind
direction is chosen randomly at the start
of  each  game and does not change during
that game.

2)  Random  -  The  wind  direction is
chosen  randomly  at  the  start  of each
game,but  it can change randomly during a
game so watch out!!!



C) Gravity Strength
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No  prizes  for  guessing what this does.
Different   gravity   strengths   require
different tactics.

All  gravity  is  chosen  at the start of
each  game,and does NOT change during the
game.

1)  Light  -  Light Gravity,makes the
bullets feel very light.  When fired they
will tend to float along.


2)  Medium  -  This  is the default
option  and  is  equivalent to the earths
gravity.

3)  Strong  -  The  bullets  feel very
heavy  and  drop like an elephant wearing
several lead anvils as ear rings.

4)  Random  -  The  Gravity  is  randomly
chosen from the above.


D) Landscape Generation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There   are   two  types  of  landscapes.
Mountains  and  Foothills.  For each type
the landscape is randomly generated,so no
two landscapes will be the same.

During  landscape  and  object creation,a
small message appears on screen informing
you.  - See the Known Bugs Section.!!!

1)  Mountains- Steep mountains with large
valleys.   This makes hitting tanks quite
tricky.  Lots of cover.

2) Foot Hills- Shallow valleys with small
hills.   Tanks are easily spotted and not
to difficult to get at.

3)    Random   A   Totally   random
landscape   is  generated.   Watch  out!!
some bizarre shapes can be generated with
this option.



E) Objects.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These  are not for the faint hearted.!  4
types  of  objects  can  be placed on the
landscape.

All  the  objects  are placed randomly on
the landscape.

NOTE:  See the Known Bugs section !!!

1)   Targets.   -  These  can  be
destroyed,if  you  hit  a target you will
get a free shot the next round.

2)  Fans  - These can not
be  destroyed.  These blow ( What else do
fans  do.?   ) very hard in the direction
they face.  If the bullets fly into range
of  one of these expect strange results.!
A  fans wind strength is usually stronger
than  a  strong wind.  A fans strength is
randomly chosen.

3)  Pushers  - These strange objects look
like  pulsating  red pyramids.  ( With an
arrow  going  up  and  down)  When ever a
bullet  flies over them it will be pushed
upwards very hard.

4)  Pullers  -  These  look like a
pair  of jaws opening and closing.  These
have  the opposite affect of the Pushers.
When ever bullets fly over them they will
be pulled down very sharply.


F) Sound
~~~~~~~~~~
If you wish you may switch off all sounds
during  the  game.   All  the  sounds are
digitised  and  played  in full stereo,so
why  should  you want to switch the sound
off.?


Some other things I should mention,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No  two  games  of Tanx will be the same.
Most  of the parameters I use to generate
landscapes   and   object  positions  are
randomized  as  much as possible.  ( This
was right pain debugging the code!  )

The  tanks are randomly positioned on the
landscape,  players are randomly assigned
tanks  to  use.The player that goes first
is   also   randomly  chosen.   So  don't
complain if your mate always goes first!!

Tanks  are  limited  to  moving  on their
"flat  plain"  only,they  can  not  go up
mountains  or  over craters.  But you are
able  to  "Tunnel" your way into a nearby
mountain.    Simple  position  your  tank
about  a tanks width from the mountain or
hill,set  your  angle  to  -4  or  -5 and
velocity  to  over 100.  The explosion of
the  bullets hitting the land,will remove
a  hefty  chunk of land.repeat this a few
times   and   you  will  have  created  a
tunnel.Drive  your  tank  in  for cover!!
But your tank must be able to fire out of
it!

Try     setting    the    landscape    to
Foothills,wind   to   strong,gravity   to
light.  Fun ain't it.?  Be careful not to
shoot yourself.!!

It  is  best to start of with the default
options,  no  wind,medium  gravity and no
objects.   As  soon  as  you find this to
easy,introduce wind and different gravity
strengths.

Finally  try  switching  on the following
and playing for the hardest level.

1) All objects on
2) Random Wind strength
3) Random Wind Direction
4) Random Gravity
5) Random Landscape.


Have fun!!!


Technical Information.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Due  to  the nature of the system and how
the  game  operates,this  game  does  not
multitask.  Sorry!!!.

When you exit the game it will return the
system   exactly  as  it  found  it.   To
achieve the 50 frames a second,The system
must be taken over.  Sorry!

The  actual  game runs in low res 320*256
and  in full PAL overscan.  Screen update
is at arcade speed (50 frames a second) 6
bitplanes   are   used  to  produce  dual
playfields.   using  the  copper over 100
colours are displayed on screen.

The  options  screen and status screens
are all in 32 colours.

Full stereo sound is used.  Turn up the
volume and increase the bass to annoy the
peeps next door!!  Over 100 k is used for
digitised sound,280 k of graphic data and
20k of code.

The  game  was  written  using  an  Amiga
A500,with A590 Hard drive,3 meg, 2 drives
and  monitor.It  was written in Assembler
using  the  brilliant  Hisoft Devpac 2.14
and  took about 1 month to write.  Dpaint
III  was used for graphics.  Audio Master
II  was  used  to  digitise  the  sounds.
Pixmate  was  also used for conversion of
IFF images to RAW bitplane files.

The  game  will  run on all Amigas,that
includes  A3000's and accelerated Amigas.
If   the   game  does  not  run  on  your
setup,please contact me and I will try to
fix  the problem.  If you come across any
bugs  or have some new ideas for the next
release again, please contact me.

My Address.
Gary Roberts
17 Tudor Close,
Birchwood Drive
Alderholt
Near Fordingbridge
HANTS
SP6 3LY
ENGLAND.

or phone me on UK [phone].


This is Version 1.0 of TANX.
Thank you for playing it.!
Gary Roberts 1991.



Known Bugs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The  only  bug that could occur is during
the generation of Object Positions on the
landscape.

i.e.   You  have  1 or more of the object
options switched on.

I have tried to keep the games parameters
and  randomized  as  possible.This way no
two games will be the same.

The   landscape  is  generated  randomly.
Several  points  are  generated and these
joined  together  to form the land.  When
it   comes   to   generating  the  object
positions,the program sits in a loop.  It
generates   random   positions   for  the
objects.It  then  checks  to  see  if the
newly   generated  object  positions  are
actually   on  land.   (  We  don't  want
targets  floating  in the sky now do we.?
)  If  they  are  not  on  land  then  it
generates  some  more random points, this
loop continues until all object positions
are on the land.

Now  in  theory,the computer could sit in
this   loop  for  ever,generating  random
points  which  do not lie on the land.  (
This  has  never  happened  during  the 2
weeks of play testing ).

Because of this I have provided an "exit"
function.   Whilst  the  object positions
are  being generated,a message appears on
screen  telling you so.  You can exit out
of  this  by  holding down the left mouse
button,this  will  bring  you to the Main
Options   screen.    (  Don't  worry  the
players scores will not be cleared )

During  the  2  weeks of play testing the
longest   it  has  taken  to  generate  a
landscape with all objects switched on is
11  secs.  If it takes longer that say 30
secs to do so,then I suggest you exit and
try again.

I  do  appologise  about this,but I think
the  importance of randomizing parameters
as   much   as   possible   outways   the
importance of this bug.

I hope this bug does not annoy you.

Thank you.