DP Tool Club 14/CD_ASCQ_14_0694.iso/news/4553/pongkomb.txt

Text File | 1994-04-22 | 16KB | 386 lines

                              It's Pong!

                         It's Mortal Kombat!

                                 IT'S...

                         P O N G   K O M B A T !
                         (C) 1994 Gagne Software

                 A VERY Silly Combat Paddle Game Parody.

                  Dedicated to Kurt Cobain (1967-1994)
                     I think he would have approved


Version 1.5 (Temporary BugFix... look for 2.0 coming Real Soon Now.
             See TECHIE MAYHEM section for important new info!!)

UP FRONT REQUIREMENTS :  386/16 with VGA and 1 meg EMS if you
                         want to use SoundBlaster(tm) speech.
                         (We mean it this time about EMS...)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction...................................................1
Story..........................................................2
Instructions...................................................2
Secrets........................................................3
Techie Mayhem..................................................4
Registration...................................................5
Credits........................................................5
Bibliography...................................................6



INTRODUCTION---------------------------------------------------

     Two games you'd never think would go together... the hottest
new game at the arcades and a black-and-white game from ancient
times, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

     It evolved out of a quick joke someone told during 7th
period computer class... I have no idea who told it originally.
Then we kicked around silly ideas for a mix of Pong and MK.  I
figured I'd try it, since my then-current project (a multimedia
comic book) was down in the dumps.

     The pong-physics took a weekend to do inbetween PEZ breaks.
Then followed three weeks of intense coding, drawing, and
rendering, the hardest, longest period of programming I had
undergone since Inertia 3 four years ago.

     End result : Pong Kombat.  Pong with a zesty dash of gore.

     After 400 mails and various other net.mayhems, I figured
an upgrade was in order.  Version 1.5 patches up the major
bugs that can be patched.

     Before you get down to business, please realize this is a
PARODY.  I haven't plagarized any work... Mortal Kombat is
copyrighted by Midway and Pong by Atari Corp (I think).  It's
meant for fun, and I'm not making any money off of this.  I just
want people to play it, laugh, go find the neato secrets and pass
it along to friends and family.  Anyway, on with the show.


STORY----------------------------------------------------------

     Way way back in time, PONG was invented.  And it was
Good(tm).  The only real player in the game, white paddle,
enjoyed playing it, and played it well.

     Then, with the advent of color gaming systems, other paddles
emerged.  White, being the pompous holier-than-thou jerk he is,
got all uptight about this and left.

     He joined the Pong Lao cult, a group of paddle warriors
which held bi-annual tournaments and swap meets.  He eventually
toppled the Pong Lao leader, taking his throne (a mighty chair of
porcelan).  With the aid of his new friend, buddy, and bodyguard
Monolith, he rules over this years' tournament with an iron...
umm... well, paddles lack appendages, so just an iron.

     However, with new rainbow-colored paddles from all walks of
life and a few old rivals seeking some revenge entering the
tournament, he may have his hands full.  Hopefully he can turn a
few tricks and save his hide.  Odds are certainly in his favor,
but the forces of Good(tm) have you now.

     So don't screw up.

INSTRUCTIONS---------------------------------------------------

     The game has two modes - game and attract.  If you type
PONGKOMB and let it sit there, it is in attract mode... a series
of images and animations which tell the story of Pong Kombat and
draw hordes of screaming arcade fanboys to the keyboard to test
their wits.

     Now, this may be pretty to look at, but gets boring real
fast, so most people choose to progress on to : game mode.

     Hit SPACEBAR at almost any time during attract mode to play.
You will be presented with two paddles.  The top one represents
ordinary Tournament play.  Tournament play is for one player, who
will use the player two controls.  The bottom paddle represents
Paddle-to-Paddle combat, which is great for two players.  P2P
mode only plays one match, then goes back to attract mode.
Tournament continues until you win or get bored.

     A word about controls.  Each player has specific controls.
Player one, on the left uses these keys.  (They won't work in
tournament mode, where player one is always the computer.)

                       +---+
         FIRE          | W |   UP
    +------------+     +---+
    | Left Shift |     +---+
    +------------+     | X |   DOWN
                       +---+

     Now, fire alone does diddley.  However, fire in combination
with up and down can shoot projectiles, do fatalities, and other
fun things which are more or less secret.

     Player two, on the right, uses these keys.

                      +---------+
         FIRE         | UPARROW |    UP
    +------------+    +---------+
    | RightShift |    +-----------+    DOWN
    +------------+    | DOWNARROW |
                      +-----------+

     ALSO, now you can use JOYSTICKS!  Well, one anyway.  Simply edit
your PONGKOMB.INI and make one of those two be 'yes' instead of 'no'.
Only one, please; two may make your computer implode!  Well, not really.
Use up and down on your stick for up and down, and button 1 for fire.
Gamepad type controllers work best.  (The game was coded specifically
to use one, since it's the only controller I have...)

     The game works like this.  You've got two paddles, one left
(player one) and one right (player two) and a ball.  You need to
score 10 points first to win the match and get a chance to dish
out some SERIOUS punishment to your opponent.  You can score a
point two ways.

     1.   Get the ball by the other paddle.  (A new one will pop
          up.)
     2.   Smack one of your missile weapons into the other
          paddle.  (Launch sequences are kinda secret, but easy
          to figure out.)

     If you win, it goes FINISH HIM! (how familiar) and if you do
the right sequence, your opponent dies in a horribly gory and
very silly way.  Then, in tourney mode, you fight the next
paddle.  In P2P mode, you go back to attract mode.

     That's all.  Silly, no?  There is no score mode... I
personally recommend betting large sums of money and/or donor
organs on matches instead.  It's not wise, but certainly
entertaining.  I am not held responsible for lost of cash or
lungs.

SECRETS!-------------------------------------------------------

     Each paddle has a missile weapon and a patented fatality.
However, the moves for these are hush-hush secrets.  You can
figure them out easily enough... here are some tips.

     1.   All sequences are FOUR keystrokes long.  IE, UP-UP-UP-
          FIRE, or UP-DOWN-FIRE-FIRE.
     2.   Fatalities must be executed AFTER your soundblaster
          says 'Finish Him!'.  Program limitation.  Go fig.
     3.   If you know the sequence is right, try holding down
          each key a little longer, and making sure you pause
          between keys.
     4.   Try to match your favorite MK moves or variants of
          them.  Some paddles corrospond neatly to their ripof--
          err--parodied characters.
     5.   Fatalties sometimes are variants on the missile weapon,
          and vice versa.

     Also, there are secret characters.  The most obvious one is
Monolith... the others aren't as obvious, but there are clues in
there.  Tips.

     1.   Listen to Monolith's taunts.  They have clues.
     2.   Check for visual clues, and match them to moves you
          already know.

     Lastly (or is it?  Never can tell with these types of games.
:), there is the stage fatalities.  Some stages have special
finishing moves that use the scenery to destroy your victim.
They simply require a different finish combo instead of your
normal fatality.

     Here, we'll start you out with one paddle : Red Paddle.  Red
Paddle's missile weapon is a nifty shadow paddle which zips
(slowly) across the screen.  To execute, while playing, use the
combo of DOWN-UP-FIRE-FIRE.  This should help you get the timing
down, if you can get that move out.

     There are other secrets, but they are, as the word implies,
secret.  You CAN hack the game files to bits and rip the secrets
out that way, but it's no fun.  Not like I can stop you, of
course.

     At last check, there were twenty secret functions in the game.
Ten if you don't count the five weapons / fatalities.  These range
from characters to play modes to other silliness.

TECHIE MAYHEM--------------------------------------------------

     If you don't want to add 'nospeech' or whatever parameter
line toggles every time you play, there is hope!  PONGKOMB.INI
is now available.  Edit it with any text editor and changes
no's to yes's and stuff like that.

     *YOU NEED TO SPECIFY YOUR IRQ, DMA, AND PORT VALUES FOR SPEECH.*
Simply change these values from the default of zero in the .INI
file.

     Also you can enable a joystick.  I recommend a Gravis Gamepad
type controller, the one I designed it for.

     As for bugs... it's not the best-coded game on earth, frankly.
However, here are some tips to get it running smoothly.

     IS IT TOO SLOW?!  Try this.  Start Pong Kombat with
'pongkomb speed 0'.  The default speed, nice on my 386/33, is
speed 3.  The lower the speed, the faster it gets.

     IS IT TOO FAST?!  Try this.  Start Pong Kombat with
'pongkomb speed 15'.  The higher, the slower.  Values such as
20,584,966,246 could do not-nice things (say, one frame starts.
Once your kid is out of college, it moves to the next frame...)

     IS IT CRASHING WHEN IT TRIES TO PLAY A SOUND?!  Could be
that your computer is a bit too slow... either that or you don't
have enough EMS free to play sounds.  If nothing helps, disable
sounds by using 'pongkomb nospeech'.  You can stack this with the
speed parameter, no worry.

     IS IT CRASHING AFTER YOU WIN THE GAME?!  If it crashes after
the strobe light effect, use the 'nospew' on the parameter line.
If it crashes after the credits roll... umm... I haven't found why
it's doing that yet.  If it turns out to be fixable, look for
that to be gone in version 2.0.

     IS IT CRASHING ANYWHERE ELSE?!  Try this.  Free memory.
Lots of memory.  Ditch your mouse driver.  No CD-ROM.  And
doublespace has GOT to go (good advice no matter what you're
running).  If it still crashes... welll... sorry.  Not much I can
do about it.  PK's graphics routines weren't coded by myself.

     IS IT BORING?!  Speed it up.  If it's still boring, hock
your copy to a friend and play DOOM. :)

     IS IT FUN?!  If so, why are you complaining?

REGISTRATION---------------------------------------------------

     No!  Calm down.  Put down the chair.  I don't want your
money... the game wasn't really made for profit, just for fun.
However, if you're having no luck with the nifty Secret Stuff,
there is help.

     I'll give you, free of charge, a copy of one of the
following documents :

     1.   All the paddle weapons and fatalities, plus stage
          fatalities and other stuff too secret to mention!

     2.   All about the Secret Developer's Mode, which can make
          Pong Kombat do some nifty things, such as extended
          credits (yay!) and no blood (boo!).

     3.   All about how to get to the secret characters, and some
          tips on making them eat ball.

     Why only one?  Because if I gave you all three, the game
would get dull fast!  Generally, having one of these guides will
probably help you figure out the other two.

     Registration is easy.  PREFERABLY!!!! E-Mail me.  I'm on the
Internet as [e-mail], or [e-mail] (same thing,
I think).  Anybody can Internet-mail nowadays... CompuServ,
Delphi, American Online, even most WWIVnet and FidoNet BBSi.
Just mention that you want the Pong Kombat guide for either
FATALITIES, DEVELOPER'S MODE, or the SECRET CHARACTERS.  I'll
mail it off.  No funny mailing for all three with separate mail,
I keep track.  Gather two friends with access if you want them
that badly.

     Now, those of you without Internet mail are gonna have a
problem.  I *can* do US Postal Service type registration, but it
will take a bit longer, since I have to print out the guide and
package everything up for mailing.  Don't expect lightning
service, IE, especially if your local postman shows up to work
with, say, an uzi.  That could cause delays.

     La maile du snaile adresse du Stefan Gagne est :

     Stefan Gagne
     912 Pointer Ridge Drive
     Gaithersburg, MD  20878
     ATTN : Pong Kombat

     And once again, I'd prefer e-mail, if you can.  E-mail, again,
is [e-mail] or [e-mail].

     WARNING.  THESE FILES ONLY CONTAIN MOVES AND SECRETS IN VERSION
1.0.  If there is any new stuff in version 1.5 or 2.0, you'll have
to find it out yourself.  I suggest alt.games.mk (or alt.games.pk, if
it actually ends up created) or the FAQ, which is posted occasionally.
Failing that, ask your friends.

CREDITS--------------------------------------------------------

STEFAN GAGNE
     Main Coder, Artist, Sound Guy, and 3-D Renderer.  Also bakes
cookies for the rest of the crew and debugs the wild frontier.

NICK STEELE
     Main beta testing and minor acts of larceny without a
permit.  Also making a guest appearance in the coveted
'WHOOPSIE!' role.  (Yeah, I know 'TOASTY!' is the real line, but
that makes no sense in PK.)

JULIO DELEON
     Beta testing and encouragement.  Plus he'll beat up anybody
that says the game sucks.  (Well, probably not, but I can hope.)

DAVID "Dave" HUNT
     Beta testing and advice on how to get these various third-
party graphics packages to work and play well with others.
     Dave is also responsible for the temporary audio code in 1.5.
1.5 was coded in a frantic afternoon running on nothing but
McDonald's fries, coke, and adrenaline.  With use of the Holy
Assembler Bible, we pulled through and fixed all obvious bugs.

JOSH SAXON
     Cheerfully handed over two hours of his time to record the
soundtrack for the game.

GEORGE SOPKO
     Some beta testing, and cool enough to warrant a slot in the
credits.

Mr. MCCAIN
     My computer teacher, who will hopefully give me an 'A' for
this.  If not, well, I'm accepted at Maryland anyway. :)

BIBLIOGRAPHY---------------------------------------------------

1.   "An in depth study into the Pong Lao cultist rituals," by
     Effram Zimbalist Jr., in MODERN PADDLE MONTHLY.

2.   "Stacker Co. vs. MicroSoft Case Notes," by Some Court
     Stenographer.

3.   "Ed Boon vs. MechaGodzilla," a short subject film by Ridley
     Scott.

4.   alt.games.mk, a Usenet group dedicated to flaming and the
     occasional solid fact (just kidding guys!  Where's my
     asbestos...)

5.   "Spam and its importance in fighting games," by Hormel, Inc.

6.   "2001," a feature film by STANLEY KUBRICK (can't believe
      I missed that!)

7.   "Seeking the Kano Transformation," an epic journey into
     human behaivors by Doctor Ruth.

8.   NO POOFTAHS!

9.   "MORTAL KOMBAT II FAQ - Complete Guide - Thirteenth
     Revision, January 26th, 1994" by ineluki@
     stein.u.washington.edu

10.  That's not mayonnaise!

THE AGONY BOOTH IN SUMMER OF '94!