Patriot Command is an implementation of a (once) popular arcade classic. The object of the game is to protect world cities from an onslaught of ICBMs and other ╘nasties╒ that an unnamed whimsical fascist dictator decided to launch against the world. The world╒s only defenses are three Patriot missile silos which you command. Each Patriot missile is capable of creating an explosion large and powerful enough to destroy any enemy objects that are engulfed by it.
System Requirements
Patriot Command requires a Mac II or better (020, 030, or 040 Mac) with a 640x400 or larger 256-color/grayscale monitor and 32-bit Color Quickdraw. It runs on System versions 6.0.7 and later as well as A/UX 3.0. It may be run in either 24-bit or 32-bit memory manager mode. Patriot Command has been tested and verified to work on the IIcx, IIsi, IIci, LCIII, IIfx, Quadra 700, and Quadra 800. Sorry, but at this time, Patriot Command will not run on Macs with the Apple 12╙ color monitor or the Color Classic. If there is enough interest, a version for smaller screen color Macs and Powerbooks with 16 grayscale monitors may be released in the future.
Defense Basics
The detonation location of launched Patriot missiles is controlled by the aim reticle. The aim reticle is controlled by the mouse or trackball (like the arcade version). The cursor automatically changes to the pointer arrow when it is in locations where Patriots may not be fired. Any ╘nasties╒ engulfed by a Patriot explosion will be destroyed and result in an additional explosion which can destroy other objects that come into contact with it. Each silo is stocked at the beginning of every level with 10 Patriot missiles.
You have independent launch control over each silo (left, center, and right). The default keys are ╘z╒, ╘x╒, and ╘c╒ for left, center, and right silo launches, respectively. The controls are user-configurable via the ╥Preferences...╙ edit menu item. Alternatively, you may fire Patriot missiles by pressing the mouse button (missiles will be launched from the closest non-empty silo).
The shield key activates the ground shield only when a shield bonus has been acquired. This bonus item appears at random on levels 10 and beyond. If this item is acquired, it provides a one-time usage of a shield that protects all ground objects. The shield can be activated by pressing the shield key defined in the preferences dialog (╘s╒ by default). Unlike other bonus items, this shield does not have to be used in the level acquired. If not used, the capability will remain in effect in subsequent levels (indicated by the shield bonus icon at the top center of the screen). However, until the shield is utilized any additional shield bonus items acquired will not increase the number of times the shield can be used. In other words, the player only has at most one shield available at any given time. The shield operates as follows:
a. When activated, two arcs will appear: one from the left side, and another from the right side of the game area. The shield becomes operational when both arcs meet at the center of the game area. Once it is operational, all enemy objects within the shield will be destroyed.
b. The shield changes colors from green to yellow to red to indicate shield active time left.
c. Defense missiles can still be launched while the shield is operational (so start shooting when it turns red).
d. If sound is enabled, a shield active sound is played while the shield is active.
The split missile bonus converts the silo with the most missiles left to a ╥split missile╙ silo (indicated by the splitter icon below the silo). All subsequent missiles shot from this silo will split into three just before exploding thus creating three explosions instead of the usual one. This capability remains in effect as long as the silo is not destroyed.
Scores
In addition to individual enemy object scores, at the end of each level remaining cities and missiles are tallied and respective bonus points added to the score. Score multiplier bonuses affect the score of individual enemy objects destroyed in the particular level that the bonus was obtained. A bonus city is earned every 15000, 20000, and 25000 points for easy, average, and difficult games, respectively. An individual high score list is maintained for each difficulty level. These can be viewed by selecting the ╥Display High Scores╙ edit menu item. The high score lists can be cleared by pressing the ╘c╒ key while the high scores are being displayed.
Game Control
To start a new game select ╥New Game╙ (or press Command-N) from the File menu. To pause and resume a game in progress press Command-P and Command-R, respectively (or the ╘esc╒ key). A game in progress can be aborted by selecting ╥Abort Current Game╙ from the File menu (or by pressing Command-A). To skip the ╘Game Over╒ screen simply press the space bar.
You may select any starting level (up to level 20) by selecting the ╥Select Starting Level...╙ edit menu item (or pressing Command-L) before starting a new game. However, doing so will forfeit the ability to record your high score at the end of the game.
The ╥Preferences...╙ edit menu item allows the player to change several game settings (these settings and the high score lists are stored in a Preferences file in the active System Folder). You may assign any alpha-numeric keys for silo launch and shield activation. The sound radio button controls the sound status while the application is launched as well as during the game (notice that any changes to this control also affect the status of the ╥Sound╙ edit menu item). The game difficulty can be changed by selecting the appropriate difficulty radio button. Changes to the difficulty level are not allowed while a game is in progress.
The ╥Sound╙ edit menu item (or Command-S) controls the sound status after the application has been launched. Changes to this item only affect a particular game session (i.e. next time Patriot Command is launched it will revert to the sound setting specified in the Preferences dialog).
Author╒s Comments
(blah, blah, blah)
I hope that you enjoy Patriot Command despite its admittedly rough edges (this is the first game I╒ve written for the Mac). With excellent games such as Maelstrom out there, I even hesitated releasing Patriot Command. My hope is that some of you may have been looking for a color implementation of the arcade classic (I finally got tired of waiting and decided to write one myself ╥8^) ). I tried to capture the overall atmosphere of the original arcade version and add some modern game aspects without destroying the game╒s balance. For those of you that did not play the original (a.k.a. the young), I hope that this will give you the chance to play what I consider to be one of the all-time best arcade games.
If you enjoy Patriot Command, please don╒t forget to send in your registration. It╒s as simple as selecting ╥Print Registration Form...╙ from the Apple menu and sending it in with a check for $15. This will give me an incentive (a stronger one than just a hobby interest ╥8^) ) to continue to write Mac games. Even if you don╒t register your copy I would love to hear any comments (both positive and negative) that you may have concerning Patriot Command. If you register, though, you will have a better chance to see your suggestions make it into a future release of Patriot Command (as well as feeling that you╒ve done the ╥right thing╙ and supported the shareware idea ╥8^) ). Regardless of registration, if you find any bugs please let me know.
Credits
Program: Antonio A. Lagana
Graphics: Hyon T. Han
Sounds: ╥The Cure╙, Maelstrom, Star Trek TNG, AL Software
Beta Testers: Terry Biggs, Bob Garner, Guz Gonzales, Hyon Han,
Steven Jin, Kerry Kanbe, Nick King
I╒d like to thank all the beta testers for their patience, time, and especially their comments and suggestions. Many of the features in this game were recommended by the beta testers. Also, a great thanks to Han for the graphics!
