Contents

for Windows® 95

Introduction

How to Order the Full Version of Crazy Gravity

Controlling the Spaceship

Elements of the Game

Displays

Menu Reference

Game Menu

Options Menu

Help Menu

Dialog Reference

Difficulty Level

Animation Speed

Maximum Landing Speed

Configure Spaceship

Game Elements

Playing Field

Music

Highscores

Level Editor Help


Introduction

for Windows® 95

Crazy Gravity lets you experience the wonderful world of gravity, as breathtaking and realistic as never before. You fly through a system of caverns with your silver spaceship, take freight on board and carry these freight containers to your homebase. Along the way you must get past many obstacles. Fans blow your ship against rocks, magnets attract you, rods move into your way and cannons bombard you with fireballs. Since you must constantly struggle against the force of gravity, your task is even more difficult. You will encounter many other obstacles and barriers, always in new formations, always confronting you with new problems that you have to cope with.

Crazy Gravity offers you a spectacular gaming experience. Fantastic 256 color graphics, fast animations and great parallax scrolling will keep you in front of the screen for many, many hours. With the level editor you can even design your own levels.

Crazy Gravity is a shareware program. The shareware version of Crazy Gravity is fully functional. You are allowed to test it for 30 days in order to determine, whether you like it or not. If you want to continue playing after this test period, you must purchase the full version.

The full version offers you the following advantages:

•	You will not be pestered by shareware messages anymore.

•	You will be able to play all 18 levels, not just the three test levels of the shareware version.

The shareware version of Crazy Gravity contains one easy, one medium and one difficult level. In the full version you will find some additional easy levels and many medium and difficult levels. So there is something for everyone's taste.

•	You will get access to passwords for every level. This will enable you to continue when you fail to complete a very difficult level.

•	You will get access to cheat codes. Entering one of these cheat codes during the game will give you an infinite number of lives, all the keys or an enormous amount of fuel.

•	You will be able to design your own levels with the level editor and test them in the game. You will be able to open all existing levels with the level editor, have a look at them, save them as BMP files and print them out with any graphic file viewer or bitmap editor. This will help you navigate every level.

•	All updates of Crazy Gravity can be used with your personal registration key.


Controlling the Spaceship

You can control the spaceship [image] with the keyboard.

The Up Arrow key (alternatives: key 8 of numeric keypad, key D) turns on the engines of the space shuttle. The engines will deliver thrust as long as the key is pressed.

Left Arrow (alternatives: key 4 or 7 of numeric keypad, key S) rotates the ship counter-clockwise, Right Arrow (alternatives: key 6 or 9 of numeric keypad, key F) rotates the ship clockwise.

The spaceship can be controlled best, if you put the middle finger of your right hand on the Up Arrow key, your forefinger on the Left Arrow key and your ring finger on the Right Arrow key. Lefthanders can use the keys S, D and F instead.

Spacebar turns on the turbo booster, if it is installed. At the beginning of each level your spaceship does not have a turbo booster. It can be found on the blue and white landing platforms in certain levels. As soon as you have picked it up there, the symbol [image] will appear on the right side of the lives display. The turbo booster delivers twice the thrust of the normal engines but consumes five times more fuel.

Pressing Left Arrow or Right Arrow while the Ctrl key is pressed will reduce the rotation speed of the spaceship to 50%. The Shift key reduces the rotation speed to 33%.

You can rotate the spaceship in single steps by pressing Left Arrow or Right Arrow while both the Ctrl and Shift key is pressed.

You can pause and continue the game at any time by pressing the F3 or P key.

Take off, Flight and Landing:

To take off from a landing platform, press the Up Arrow key until you have reached a certain height. Then you can rotate the spaceship slightly with Left Arrow or Right Arrow in the direction you want to fly. You need to be careful when doing this, since gravity will pull your ship back to the ground. The engines of the ship should always point down a bit to keep the ship in the air. This means that you should not rotate the ship more than 45 degrees to the left or the right ( [image]) until you have aquired some flying skills and a good feeling for controlling the ship. Always turn the engines on before losing too much height. To reduce speed, rotate the ship until the engines can give thrust into the opposite direction. If all this sounds too difficult for you, then reduce the force of gravity in the Configure Spaceship dialog, which will make the game much easier.

If you want to land on a landing platform you should slow the ship down as much as you can directly above the platform at a safe height. Then, rotate the ship until its tip points directly upwards (you can use the Ctrl or Shift key to reduce the rotation speed, which will make this task much easier). Now the ship will sink to the ground. Use the engines to keep the vertical speed below the maximum allowed landing speed. Have a look at the speed display, where the red needles must be between the yellow markings.

You can start a demonstration mode with the 'Start Demo' commands from the Game menu. The demonstration mode is extremely useful for learning how the spaceship must be controlled and how the various game elements work. You can also learn how to complete the first three levels. 'End Demo' from the Game menu will end this demonstration mode and you will return to the title screen.


Elements of the Game

Landing platforms:

This yellow and pink landing platform is your homebase. At the beginning of each level, your spaceship is standing on this platform. In order to complete a level, you must deliver all freight containers here. Freight containers can be found on the red and white landing platforms. Simply land on a platform to take freight containers on board or unload them.

By landing on these landing platforms, you can get keys in four different colors. These keys will open the red and white gates as soon as you get close to one of them. The keys that you already possess are always shown in the key display. You will not lose these keys when your ship is destroyed in a collision.

On the green and white landing platforms you can get new fuel for your space shuttle. The fuel display always keeps you informed about the amount of fuel you have on board. You refuel your ship simply by landing on one of these platforms. After a short moment one of the barrels will disappear inside your ship. To take more than one barrel of fuel on board you must take off from the platform again for a very short time after the first barrel has disappeared and land again.

On the red and white platforms you can get the freight containers that you must transport to your homebase in order to complete the level. The freight display at the bottom of the window keeps you informed about how many containers still have to be picked up, how many are currently on board and how many have already been delivered to your homebase. If you lose your ship in a collision, all freight containers that you had on board at that time will have to be picked up at the red and white landing platforms again. To take one of the containers on board, you must land on a platform and wait for a short moment until it disappears inside your ship. Normally your cargo hold only has the capacity to accomodate a single container.

On the blue and white landing platforms you can get extra lives, i. e. additional spaceships [image]. If your ship ever collides and explodes you will lose a life. The number of lives remaining is displayed in the lives display. As long as you have lives remaining, you will get a new ship and can keep playing. If you run out of lives, the game is over. You can also find additional cargo holds [image] at these landing platforms, which will increase the cargo capacity of your spaceship, or a turbo booster [image], that can be used to double the power of your engines (and quintuple the fuel consumption). Pressing the Spacebar will turn on this turbo booster. You will not lose additional cargo holds and the turbo booster when you destroy your ship as long as you have lives remaining. Of course you will have to get these extra features again in the next level.

Obstacles:

These fans have the power to blow your space shuttle against a wall. Fans with gratings in front of them are low-powered and therefore less dangerous.

Magnets attract your spaceship. You should not come too close to them, if you want to avoid a collision.

These devices generate air currents that rotate your ship clockwise (the green ones) or counter-clockwise (the pink ones). They are very dangerous and sometimes hard to get by.

Cannons bombard your spaceship with fireballs. Some cannons fire a lot of these balls at very high speeds, others are less dangerous. A collision with a fireball is fatal.

These pairs of moving rods are constantly in motion. There are various types of these rods. The gap between the two rods may remain constant or may steadily expand and reduce in size. You will often have to wait until the gap gets big enough to fly through safely. But be careful! Some rods can change their speed and direction at any time and can easily deliver the deathblow to your spaceship.

Gates:

Gates will come across your way quite often. The blue and white gates can only be passed in one direction. They will open automatically, when you come near them on the side with the blue arrow. As soon as you have flown through a one-way gate, it will close.

These locked gates will only open if you possess the appropriate keys. Keys can be found at the black-red, black-green, black-blue and black-yellow landing platforms. When you come near one of these gates, one or more colored lightbulbs will light up. The colors of these lightbulbs indicate which keys are needed to open the gate. Flashing bulbs indicate that you do not own the key yet. You will have to find this key first, before you can unlock the gate and fly through. The key display shows the keys that you already possess. The gate will open automatically, when you own the appropriate keys and come close enough to the gate.


Displays

In the left area of the window you will find several displays that inform you about the amount of fuel you have on board, about your speed and much more.

This display informs you about the amount of fuel you still have on board. If there are only red marks visible it is high time to find a green and white landing platform and land there to refuel your ship. Running out of fuel will result in a crash and the loss of a life.

This display always shows your speed. The red needles indicate the horizontal and vertical speed of your spaceship. For a successful landing these red needles must be between the yellow markings as these markings indicate the maximum allowed landing speed. Otherwise, the ship will be smashed to pieces on the landing platform. You may set the maximum landing speed in the Maximum Landing Speed dialog. Selecting a difficulty level in the Difficulty Level dialog will also change these values. The speed display is especially useful during the landing procedure. At higher speeds the red needles will soon reach the border of the display.

The blue light in the lower right corner of the display informs you about the speed of your computer. It will light up for a short time whenever a frame of the graphics cannot be displayed. When sound effects are switched on this might often be the case.

If you want to find out which keys you already possess, this display can be helpful. Keys are needed to open the red and white gates. These gates will open automatically when you come near enough and if you possess the appropriate keys.

On the left side of this display you can see the time in minutes and seconds that you have already used in this level. The right side shows the fastest time in which this level has ever been completed. If you use less time to complete this level, you will get the number one position in the highscores.

This display shows how many lives you have left in this level. At the beginning of each level you always have five additional spaceships. If your ship ever collides and explodes you will lose a life. As long as you have lives remaining, you will get a new ship and can keep playing. If you run out of lives, the game is over. Extra lives [image] can sometimes be found on the blue and white landing platforms. You can also find a turbo booster on some of these platforms. The turbo booster will double the power of your engines. If it is installed in your ship, the symbol [image] is displayed at the right side of this display.

At the bottom of the window is the freight display.

In the left area you can see the freight containers that are still standing on the red and white landing platforms. You will have to pick them up and transport them to your homebase. The area in the middle shows the freight containers that you have on board your spaceship. They must be delivered to your homebase. Normally your ship only has the capacity to carry a single container. You will not be able to take freight containers on board when the cargo hold of your ship is full. You can increase the cargo capacity of your space shuttle with additional cargo holds [image], which can be found on some blue and white landing platforms. The width of the black area in the middle of the freight display indicates the size of the cargo hold. In the right area you can see the containers that you have already delivered at your homebase. You have completed the level when all containers are displayed in the right area.


Game Menu

•	New: This command starts a new game, beginning with the first level. After selecting this command from the Game menu a dialog will be displayed, in which you can select the difficulty level for the game.

•	Open Level ...: After completing a level you will receive a password for the next level. You should write down this password and the corresponding filename. If you do not want to start with the first level everytime you begin playing, you can use this menu command to start with any level you like. You only have to know the appropriate password. After you have selected this command, an Open File dialog will appear, from which you can select the filename of the level you would like to start with. A Password dialog will then prompt you to enter the correct password.

•	Highscores ...: Opens the Highscores dialog, in which the three fastest times are displayed for every level.

•	Start Demo > Level01.cgl / Level02.cgl / Level03.cgl: With these commands you can start the demonstration mode. The demonstration mode is extremely useful for learning how the spaceship must be controlled and how the various game elements work. You can also learn how to complete the first three levels. End Demo from the Game menu will end this demonstration mode and you will return to the title screen.

•	Exit: Quit playing Crazy Gravity.


Options Menu

•	Difficulty Level ...: Opens the Difficulty Level dialog. Selecting a difficulty level in this dialog will affect the settings in the Animation Speed, Maximum Landing Speed, Configure Spaceship and Game Elements dialogs.

•	Animation Speed ...: Opens the Animation Speed dialog.

•	Maximum Landing Speed ...: Opens the Maximum Landing Speed dialog.

•	Configure Spaceship ...: Opens the Configure Spaceship dialog.

•	Game Elements ...: Opens the Game Elements dialog.

•	Playing Field ...: This command will display the Playing Field dialog, in which you can set the maximum size of the playing field and some other settings that influence the display of the graphics.

•	Sound Effects: Toggles the sound effects on or off.  When this option is checked, sound effects will play throughout the game in response to certain events. A sound card and the proper sound driver must be installed in order to hear sound effects.

•	Music ...: Displays the Music dialog. You will then be able to select a MIDI file or tracks from an Audio-CD as background music or turn off the background music.

•	Center Window: This command centers the program window on the screen.


Help Menu

•	Contents: Use this command to display the contents of the Crazy Gravity help file, where you can find lots of useful information about game controls, the various game elements and much more.

•	Using Help: Displays information on how to use the Windows help system.

•	Quick Help ...: This command will display a short introduction to Crazy Gravity with the most important game controls.

•	Passwords and Cheat Codes ...: Opens a dialog in which you can find passwords for every level and some cheat codes that can be very helpful in difficult levels.

•	Order Form ...: Displays an order form for the full version of Crazy Gravity. You will also find lots of useful information about where and how you can order the full version in this order form.

•	Enter Registration Key ...: After selecting this command you will be able to enter your name and your personal registration key. This will turn the shareware version into the full version. The registration key will only be accepted if you also enter your name exactly as stated in your order. You are not allowed to give your key to anybody else.

•	About Crazy Gravity ...: Gives you some information about the author of Crazy Gravity and the program version.


Difficulty Level

The Difficulty Level dialog can be displayed with the 'Difficulty Level ...' command from the Options menu. It will automatically be displayed after you have selected 'New' from the Game menu, to start a new game.

On the left side of this dialog you can choose the difficulty level you like. This selection affects the settings in the Animation Speed, Maximum Landing Speed, Configure Spaceship and Game Elements dialogs. If you already have made changes in one or more of these dialogs, 'individual' is selected in the Difficulty Level dialog.

On the right side of the dialog window you can see how the selection of a difficulty level influences the different parameters.

•	Animation Speed: This number shows how many frames are displayed every second. The higher this value, the faster the game. A higher value will lead to more impressive graphics, but will consume more processor time of your computer. On slower machines, possibly not all frames can be displayed. When this happens, the blue light in the lower right corner of the speed display will light up. Normally Crazy Gravity executes a performance test which will inform you with a message, when less than 95% of the frames can be displayed over a longer period of time. This message will give you some advice what you have to do to guarantee flickerfree display of the graphics.

•	Max. Horz./Vert. Landing Speed: The maximum allowed speeds for a successful landing. Exceeding one of these speed limits at touch down will cause the spaceship to crash on the landing platform. Maximum landing speeds are also shown by the yellow markings in the speed display.

•	Gravity: The strength of the force of gravity that pulls your ship down.

•	Engine Power: The power of the engines on your spaceship.

•	Air Resistance: The air resistance of your spaceship. A higher air resistance will decrease the top speed of your ship and will slow it down in less time when engines are off.

•	Fuel Consumption: The fuel consumption of the ship's engines.

•	Power of Fans: The power of the fans that can blow your ship away.

•	Power of Magnets: The power of the magnets that attract your ship.


Animation Speed

The Animation Speed dialog can be displayed with the 'Animation Speed ...' command from the Options menu. In this dialog you can individually adjust parameters that influence the difficulty level of the game. Normally it is enough to select a difficulty level from the Difficulty Level dialog, but it might be necessary to decrease the animation speed, if the blue light in the lower right corner of the speed display lights up permanently or very often, and if you notice a jerky movement of the spaceship.

You can adjust the animation speed with the slider. This determines how many frames will be displayed each second. The higher this value, the faster the game. A higher value will also lead to more impressive graphics but will consume more processor time of your computer. On slower machines possibly not all frames can be displayed. Whenever this happens the blue light in the lower right corner of the speed display will light up. Normally Crazy Gravity executes a performance test which will inform you with a message, when only less than 95% of the frames can be displayed over a longer period of time. This message will give you some advice what to do to achieve a flickerfree display of the graphics. If you do not want Crazy Gravity to execute this test, simply deactivate Execute Performance Test.

Any changes to the settings in this dialog will also affect the settings in the Difficulty Level dialog, where 'individual' will be selected as difficulty level.


Performance Test

If the option 'Execute Performance Test' is activated in the Animation Speed dialog, Crazy Gravity will inform you with this dialog when less than 95% of the frames can be displayed over a longer period of time. When this happens, you might have noticed a flickering of the graphics or a jerky movement of the spaceship.

When this dialog appears, your computer is not fast enough to display every frame of the graphics. For a flickerfree display you should run Crazy Gravity in 256 color mode. If this does not help, reduce the size of the program window or decrease the animation speed in the Animation Speed dialog. Cancel all print jobs and close other programs. Turning off music and sound effects might further enhance the performance.

Simply activate 'Turn off this performance test' if you do not notice a flickering or a jerky movement of the ship.


Maximum Landing Speed

The Maximum Landing Speed dialog can be displayed with the 'Maximum Landing Speed ...' command from the Options menu. In this dialog you can adjust particular parameters that influence the difficulty level of the game. Normally it is enough to select a difficulty level from the Difficulty Level dialog.

With the sliders you can adjust the maximum allowed horizontal and vertical landing speeds. Exceeding one of these speed limits at touchdown will cause the spaceship to crash on the landing platform. Maximum landing speeds are also shown by the yellow markings in the speed display.

Any changes to the settings in this dialog will also affect the settings in the Difficulty Level dialog, where 'individual' will be selected as difficulty level.


Configure Spaceship

The Configure Spaceship dialog can be displayed with the 'Configure Spaceship ...' command from the Options menu. In this dialog you can individually adjust parameters that influence the difficulty level of the game. Normally it is enough to select a difficulty level from the Difficulty Level dialog.

The settings in this dialog have an influence on the control of the spaceship. With the sliders you can adjust gravity, engine power, air resistance and fuel consumption:

•	Gravity: With this slider, you can adjust the strength of the force of gravity that pulls your ship down. Higher gravity will make it more difficult to keep the spaceship in the air. You can turn off gravity by dragging the slider completely to the left, but this will make landings very difficult as the ship will not drop to the ground. Warning: The ship will not take off when its engines don't have enough power to overcome gravity.

•	Engine Power: With this slider you can set the engine power of the spaceship. A higher engine power will increase acceleration and top speed. Warning: The ship will not take off when its engines don't have enough power to overcome gravity.

•	Air Resistance: Air resistance will slow the ship down, especially when engines are off. A higher air resistance will make flight and landings easier, but it will also reduce acceleration and top speed of the spaceship. You can turn off air resistance by dragging the slider completely to the left.

•	Fuel Consumption: With this slider, you can adjust the fuel consumption of the ship. A higher fuel consumption will force you to refuel the ship more often on the green and white landing platforms.

Any changes to the settings in this dialog will also affect the settings in the Difficulty Level dialog, where 'individual' will be selected as difficulty level.


Game Elements

The Game Elements dialog can be displayed with the 'Game Elements ...' command from the Options menu. In this dialog you can individually adjust parameters that influence the difficulty level of the game. Normally it is enough to select a difficulty level from the Difficulty Level dialog.

With the sliders you can adjust the power of the fans, that push your ship away, and of the magnets, that attract your ship.

Any changes to the settings in this dialog will also affect the settings in the Difficulty Level dialog, where 'individual' will be selected as difficulty level.


Playing Field

The Playing Field dialog can be displayed with the 'Playing Field ...' command from the Options menu.

•	Maximum Size of the Playing Field: When you resize the program window, the size of the playing field also changes within certain limits. These limits can be changed with the sliders. On very fast computers it might be useful to allow a bigger size for the playing field.

•	'Crazy Gravity' Lettering on Background: This option toggles the 'Crazy Gravity' logo that appears on the background of the playing field.

•	Parallax Scrolling: This option toggles parallax scrolling on and off. If this option is checked, the background will scroll slower than the graphics in the foreground, which will give an impression of depth. With the slider you can adjust the scrolling speed of the background.


Music

The Music dialog can be displayed with the 'Music ...' command from the Options menu.

In this dialog you can select a MIDI file as background music. You can also choose some tracks from a regular audio CD if you like.

•	None: Turns off music.

•	MIDI-File: The MIDI file specified in the 'Name' field will be played throughout the game. After clicking on 'Search ...' you can select a new MIDI file. A sound card and the proper MIDI driver must be installed in order to hear MIDI music.

•	Audio-CD: The tracks specified by 'Start Track' and 'End Track' will be played from a regular audio CD in your CD-ROM drive. After completing a level, the next track will be played. You will need a sound card that is connected to your CD-ROM drive in order to play an audio CD.


Highscores

The Highscores dialog can be displayed with the 'Highscores ...' command from the Game menu.

Select a level and you can see the three fastest times in which this level has ever been completed. A click on 'Erase' will delete the entries for the selected level.