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ThunderDawn.DOC
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1996-03-08
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237 lines
THUNDERDAWN - a 5th Dimension Licenceware release
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
© 1996 by Andrew Campbell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To scroll this text simply move the mouse into the top/bottom areas of
the screen. Or, you can use the up/down arrow keys. The right mouse
button (or Return or Escape on the keyboard) will take you back to
the ThunderDawn main menu.
Please read these instructions carefully.
Introduction
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I really hate it when games like this are compared to texture mapped
creations on the market. So please, don't do it, alright? And don't
compare it to Dungeon Master II, either (which I never ever laid eyes
on). I'm just a back bedroom coder with a lot of enthusiasm for RPGs
and big monsters with big teeth. OK?!
ThunderDawn takes the usual elements from RPG games and piles on the
dark fantasy atmospherics. The result is a rather tasty full-screen
experience. I really hope you enjoy it, it's taken quite some months
to make.
The background story? Yeah right. You're some kind of brave hero-
archer type bloke who's been imprisoned in a sort of monster-infested
maze by a rather unpleasant force of somekind. Ahem. Yeah, and your
task is to escape by collecting a suffient amount of Blood Crystals
from the nests of a whole array of bone-rattling creatures - hydras,
phantoms, zombies, genies - you name it, ThunderDawn's got it.
How's that?
A Note About ThunderDawn's AMOS Origins
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Right. I'm aware of AMOS's limitations, especially in terms of speed,
but I can't deny the fact that I really like the language and believe
many people seriously underestimate its capabilities. I'm not a very
clever programmer, nor do I intend to move onto Blitz b*st*rding Basic
to "improve my career prospects" - I'm in this low-cost, little profit
-making, tiny-speckles-of-fame business for the raw creativeness of
it. So no pointless slagging sessions. OK?
ThunderDawn is a messy, 130k AMOS listing. Don't knock it. :)
How To Play ThunderDawn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(1) turn off the lights.
(2) kick everybody out of the house.
(3) read this:
You can move around the world of ThunderDawn by using either the
mouse, the keyboard or a combination of both (actually, you'll need to
press the function keys from time to time so have that keyboard handy,
alright?). Gone are the standard `RPG arrows' - nah, mate, non of that
around here - just move your mouse pointer around the edges of the
screen and watch it change. See? Right, now click the LEFT button -
you can turn 90° or move forwards, backwards, step left or step right.
Maybe it's called freedom of movement, I dunno.
You'll notice - upon bootup - that there's this guy with a hood on
lingering about in front of the screen. That's your character. Your
hero. Mr Big Man. Arnie. Old Iron Balls. Put the mouse in the middle
of the screen somewhere and press the LEFT button to see him strut his
stuff. Yep, that's how you attack your foes. Shoot em with arrows.
So, You Can Move About And Shoot Arrows. What Else Can You Do?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pick things up for a start. You'll find all sorts of bits n bats
lingering around the game - arrows, energy boosts, magic arrows (which
do such things as explode, freeze monsters, banish monsters, etc) and
of course keys and much-needed blood crystals. All these items are
stored in your "backpack" which is capable of holding nine objects at
any one time. These objects will appear superimposed down the right
hand side of the screen - and will disappear once used.
You can open doors, press on things and generally be all interactive
by clicking on the middle of the screen whilst exactly opposite the
thing you wish to interact with. Eg. stand right upto a door and click
on it - if you have the required key (or it's unlocked) it'll open
right in front of your eyes. Clever huh?
So What Do I Do First Then?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When ThunderDawn first boots up, get rid of the main menu by hitting
F1 or ESCape. Right. Now walk forward until you pick up the object
that's floating around near some kind of skully-crossy-type thing. OK.
You've got a portal key - this'll give you access to any of the black
doorways in the walls that're hiding behind strange green barriers -
what do you mean "where"? Have a wander round! See for yourself!
What you're looking at are the doorways to "challenges" - portals
that'll skip you off to various different dimensions, all of which,
sadly, are very, very hostile indeed. :)
Every "level" as it were contains a blood crystal and another portal
key. You'll need both - one to gain access to another level, one to
get rid of those crossy-skully-type things I mentioned earlier -
there's loads of em. Once they've all been destroyed, you're on to the
final confrontation. And boy are you gonna have a fit when/if you get
to this stage (still, if you do crack it - you're in for a really nice
musical/animated outro sequence :).
There's not much else to say, really. Play play play, you'll get the
hang of it eventually. :)
The On-Screen Stats
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the RIGHT corner we have, weighing in at 100%, your current energy
level, and right below that, your stock of `normal' arrows. And in the
LEFT corner - boasting a wonderful 0/9 - we have your inventory stats.
The more objects you pick up, the more pockets you fill.
And that's about it. The rest is just the game window. :)
Those Controls In Full
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please note many of the keyboard commands here are not essential when
playing the game:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mouse | Reaction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Left Button | (around edges of screen) move around the gameworld
Left Button | (middle of screen) fire an arrow at current pointer pos
Right Button | fire a magic arrow (if you have one in your possession)
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keyboard | Reaction
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ESCape | toggle menu on/off
F1-F10 | (when in menu ONLY) select options/toggle prefs
Arrow Keys | move forward/backward & turn left/right
Return | shoot an arrow (pointer must be in middle of screen)
? or / | shoot a magic arrow (if you have one)
Z and X | alter screen scan line update
C | compass: tells you which direction you're facing
V | detail level: if you've a slow processor, try this
B | free memory: how much memory is left in your machine
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Main Menu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ESCape will toggle the menu on/off. When the menu is on, the game
freezes: you're safe from attack. From this menu you can do all kinds
of sexy stuff - here's what's on offer:
* RESUME GAMEPLAY = no explanation needed. Same as pressing the
ESCape key.
* PREFERENCES = loads of options in here, two pages of them
to be honest. See below for more details.
* SAVE PREFERENCES = quite obvious. Configured every time you boot
the game up. So make sure they're comfortable.
Also, you can change the system font to one
of your own choice by (1) making a FONTS dir
on the disk, (2) editing the prefs.asc file in
the PREFS dir from (3) "no font" to something
like "garnet.font" or whatever.
* ALTER SCREEN MODE = you can play ThunderDawn in 4 different modes:
lowres (big screen), hires (thin screen)
lowres laced (widescreen) or hires laced)
(Black Dawn sized window - lovely detail :)
* LOAD/SAVE GAME = you can save your game ANYTIME, ANYWHERE and
whatsmore it saves onto the gamedisk. No
disk swapping required. Just make a backup of
your original disk, OK?
* QUIT TO WORKBENCH = or to a black screen if you're playing from
floppy disk. NEVER use this option. :)
Those Preferences In Full
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Page #1
~~~~~~~
Show Player Sprite = pretty obvious. Increases speed a little.
Show Inventory = and again. Tiny speed increase, but not much.
Text Font Size = see * SAVE PREFERENCES (above). Default is N/A.
Sound Effects = ditto. NO speed increase.
Page #2
~~~~~~~
Show Animated Sky = turns the scrolling clouds on/off
Show Weather FX = toggles special effects like rain, snow, etc.
Show All Stats = toggles the on-screen stats - energy, etc.
Scroll Messages = toggles whether messages appear or scroll
Notes About Frame Rate/Speed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you experience a slow screen update whilst playing ThunderDawn
because, for example, you're still back in the days of steam and are
toying around with an A500 with expanded memory :) you might want to
try cutting down the on-screen details and special effects.
For instance, setting the player sprite preference to NO will give
you more speed, because the computer doesn't have to constantly redraw
our hooded hero several times a second. Similarly, knocking out the
rain, or the clouds, or even the roof/floor (press V to do this) may
have some good results.
Experiment. Relax. Enjoy yourself. You're on holiday. :)
Hard Disk Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To run ThunderDawn from your hard disk, simply copy everything on
this floppy across to any chosen directory - then make sure you put
the CrM.library in your hard disk's LIBS directory, and the rtdd
command in your C directory.
Before running ThunderDawn from hard disk, open a CLI screen from
workbench and type C:rtdd <--- this will launch the game's runtime
decruncher - the amazing CrunchMania - and you can run the program
as normal. Please note you'll have to turn off rtdd by issuing the
same CLI command again if you wish to do other things after playing
ThunderDawn.
Credits
~~~~~~~
Code, Design, Graphics and Sound FX.....................Andy Campbell
Wonderful In-game Main Menu Music Mod...................Andy Cashmore
Game Complete End Sequence Music........................Mike Richmond
Game Complete End Sequence Background GFX............Tristan Campbell
Playtested By...............................................Jen Allen
Neale Grant Shaun Watters Phil Wilkinson Richard Martin Paul Gumsley
Andy Smith & apologies to anybody I forgot.
FAQs About ThunderDawn
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Is there any way I can get hold of the AMOS source code?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A very large bribe may get you somewhere. Otherwise, no. :)
What else has the bloke who made this created?
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Alsorts: Black Dawn, Black Dawn II, Legions of Dawn, The Funhouse
series of PD disks, Artistix - major Shareware success, Illusions,
Magnetic Fiction, Dark Fiction, EdgeWorld, Paradox - cool puzzler and
much more besides, a lot of which I have had little credit for. Black
Dawn II and Paradox are available from the same place you got this
game from - ask Phil, he'll fill you in on the details. If you want a
full list of my stuff, write to this address:
4 Alloe Field Place, Illingworth, Halifax, HX2 9ES, ENGLAND (or you
can email me at ajc@ajco.demon.co.uk if you want).
Ah but in Legions of Dawn, Andy Campbell said it was his LAST game
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Yeah well, he lied, alright? :)