TheZone is an inertial space arcade. If you like to drive a ship throughout open space, this one is the game for you. Thrust your ship, destroy asteroids, collect all bonuses, blast out space bases (keep an eye open on the red ones) and bang out enemy vessels. Practically everything bounces around because you are moving in a physical space: all objects are solid, and love to collide with each other. You should read entirely the About section before playing, otherwise it will be hard to reach higher levels and survive. We also recommend when you first run TheZone to play in Beginners Mode. Be aware, though, that the game boots up in Professional Mode. You can choose the game mode via the Preferences section.
• System Requirements
TheZone runs on any Mac equipped with at least a 020 (030/040 recommended) and any PowerMac. It needs at least System 7.0, Sound Manager 3.0, a 13" (640x480) or higher monitor in 256 colors mode, a 2.5Mb RAM partition (3Mb on 16" and higher displays).
• Compatibility
There have been no reports about conflicts with any extension or control panel. However, if you experience unexpected slowdowns on fast machines, you might wish to reboot without RAMDoubler and with Virtual Memory turned off.
Nevertheless, we can not assure this program (as any program) is free of bugs. Shall you discover any problem, please report it to us via our email address (see below for more information). If possible, use MacsBug to report the problem.
• Shareware Issues
This program is Shareware, which means if you use it, you should send us US$10, in order to access all program features. You can pay in cash, checks, VISA, MasterCard, American Express, NetCash or FirstVirtual. Use the Register program (included with the package) to fill out the registration form and send it to the specified address via Email, Snail-mail, or FAX.
Site Licensing:
World-wide license: US$600
Universities or companies site license: US$150
Single-user license: US$10.
When you register, the registration will remain valid for all future versions of TheZone; furthermore, you will obtain a cheat key combo which will allow you to gain full ship power at any time (at the expense of a small percentage of your current score).
You may distribute this program any way you wish, but keep this documentation file with the program. The package must be distributed totally unaltered. If you are going to include this program in a shareware collection, either on CDROM or other media type, you have to obtain our permission first. Feel free to contact us (preferably via email).
We would like to obtain one complimentary copy of any shareware collection containing our product(s), although if you (as a publisher) have been granted permission from us to publish the package, you are not required to send us a complimentary copy. It'd just be nice from you.
• Legal Stuff
Dario Accornero and DAPPSoft hereby disclaim all warranties relating to this software, whether express or implied, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Dario Accornero and DAPPSoft will not be liable for any special, incidental, consequential, indirect or similar damages due to loss of data or any other reason, even if Dario Accornero and DAPPSoft or an agent of their has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event shall Dario Accornero and DAPPSoft be liable for any damages, regardless of the form of the claim. The person using the software bears all risk as to the quality and performance of the software.
• Contact Information
If you wish to send us your comments or problem reports, please use our email address:
dappsoft@kagi.com
If you do not receive a reply from us, probably the mail might have bounced around. Please send us your message again.
Visit our Web page at http://members.aol.com/dappsoft/thezone.html.
Although we always reply to email, we can not afford to reply via snail mail. However, if you have no access to email, this is our street address (please include your FAX number if available):
DAPPSoft c/o Dario Accornero
via Bormida 5
00198 Roma
ITALY
• Version History
1.2, released Jan 20, 1996
* fixed major bugs that prevented the game to run on systems equipped with multiple monitors
* fixed "scrolling stars" bug on some specific video configurations
* improved sound output on stereo equipped Macs
* released an update from version 1.1 to version 1.2
1.1, released Jan 13, 1996
* second public release
* compiled using the wonderful CodeWarrior™ •"Real men do it with CodeWarrior" •
* added a warning in the About section about never touching a mother base, because it might destroy your ship (sorry, folks, we forgot about that!)
* now uses the nice CavemanSoundSystem library by David Hay to produce sounds
* removed the color cursor: it caused some problems on PCI PowerMacs
* on popular demand, changed some of the game sounds with fresh ones :-)
* fixed a small bug: when the game was quitting, it left some garbage in the lower part of the screen
* on popular demand, TheZone now maintains the last high score name entered
* fixed major bug on systems equipped with more than one monitor
* now includes a cheat key (for registered users only) that gives full power to the player ship, at the expense of 50% scoring
1.0.2, released Jan 2, 1996
* fixed some bugs dealing with sound output, plus a likely uncompatibility with big monitors
* released an update from versions 1.x to version 1.0.2
1.0.1, released Dec 31, 1995
* fixed minor bugs within playing cycle
* fixed hard bug within the licensing scheme: the previous version might trash the Preferences folder
* included a FPU version of the program (to be used on 68K Macs only)
1.0, released Dec 30, 1995
* first public release
• Acknowledgements
We wish to thank the following people who made possible developing the game:
Alessandro Calvi, Giuseppe Bianco, Tommaso Tessarolo, Fabio Lombardino, Luca Fiaccavento, Alfonso Sermonti, Marco Greganti, Maurizio Leante, Antoine Rosset, Christian Bauer, IMAGO, Alessandro Levi Montalcini, Marco Piovanelli, Dan Crevier, John C. Daub, Sam Charap, Sam Chang, and all the rest we forgot to mention…
Special thanks to GiMS Pang (you know who you are) for having the patience to develop our base inertial calculations that drive the whole game. Extra special thanks to Sam Charap, for all the Net support he gave us. We'll be forever grateful to ya Sam!
• About the Authors
Dario Accornero <dappsoft@mix.it>
Peppe Sciacchitano <g.sciacchitano@area.it>
Alessio Saitta <a.saitta@area.it>
Piero Zardo <p.zardo@area.it>
Three of us are students at the University and the other author works with computer graphics.
At the time of writing, Dario is (guess what!) writing this document, Peppe is holding his head with his hands, Piero and Alessio are roaming round Rome (for you Italian users: "stanno mettendo a ferro e fuoco questa piccola cittadina").
At least, that was happening when the first version of this document was written. Currently, Dario is still updating this document, but there are no news about the other authors. It is possible, however, they're just doing the same things: one never knows.
Each one's job in the team was: Dario developed the code, Peppe created the sprites (using 3D rendering software running on AmigaOS), Alessio and Piero designed the game.
Currently, the Record Man is Alessio (scoring about 850.000), shortly followed by Piero.
That's all, folks!
• The Past and The Future
TheZone was developed mainly on a Mac LC II (030/16MHz), although two other machines were envolved in the development (a 030/25Mhz and a 040/33MHz). All game graphics were created on an Amiga 4000 (040/25MHz). The program is written mainly in C, except for the animation code which is obviously written in 020 assembler.
We plan to create a native PPC version, using CodeWarrior™ on a 603+/100Mhz machine. Version 1.1 (and future ones) was (and will be) developed on a Performa 5300. We also plan to add some capabilities, like more powerful weapons, the ability to save a game in progress and other odds. This will be possible if enough people will register.
Look out for PacMac Deluxe, our new game, coming soon at an info-mac site near you!
