In the year 2149, giant asteroid fields are revealed in the far reaches of space. But these are no ordinary fields, they are highly concentrated with crystals of incredible rarity and value. Suddenly, untold wealth is up for grabs - that is, for those who dare venture to it. Thousands of the bravest pilots, most remorseless pirates, and most powerful corporations blast off to vie for it.
The most ambitious individuals call themselves Argonauts, those on a quest for their own "golden fleece" of sorts. Their ship of choice is the ZX-24, a single thruster fighter capable of housing laser blasters as well as vast arrays of missiles, bombs, and other exotic technology to fend off pirates and other agressors. The ship's favor among Argonauts has deemed it the "Argo".
The Argo is their only friend in the lawlessness of the mines. Argonauts constantly battle with pirates and scathing scavengers just to stay alive. Nevertheless, with visions of vast wealth, you decide to enter the fray. The smiling salesman hands you the keys to your new ZX-24, and you head off into deep space. But can you hold your ground against the chaos of the crystal mines?
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How To Play
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The main goal of each level is to rid it of all the asteroids, and to collect the crystals you've released. At the end of each level, usually after you've destroyed all the asteroids, a space station will appear. The crystals can be exchanged in a store on this station for weapons and power-ups to aide in your quest for more fortune.
More than often, you will run into enemies including harmless scavengers, who merely wish to steal away the crystals you've released, and less forgiving pirates, who wish to blow your ship apart and steal your "booty". You may also run into large corporate ships which, like some commandeering companies we're aware of, don't appreciate your competition. In these situations, you can either fight back, or outmaneuver them in the fields until they meet there rocky doom.
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Save Games
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Between levels, at the weapon store, you can save you Argonaut game. The save game files are saved into "~Library/Application Support/Argonaut". You can access your save files from this folder to delete them, send them to friends, ect. When Argonaut has too many save games (10 of them) it deletes the save game that has not been played for the most amount of time. This is to keep things tidy for you. If you'd like to edit your save game (for cheating, or whatever floats your boat), you can use any XML editor, or even TextEdit if you know what you're doing.
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Controls
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Up Arrow - Accelerate
Down Arrow - Auto-break
Left Arrow - Turn Left
Right Arrow - Turn Right
Spacebar - Fire
z - Use / Toggle Secondary
[ or x - Select Previous Secondary
] or c - Select Next Secondary
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uDevGames
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Argonaut - 2149 is an official uDevGame 2003 entry. Starting on Novermber 5th 2003, you can vote for this game and many wonderful others at http://idevgames.com/. But hurry, voting ends December 5th!
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Source Code
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In accordance with uDevGame rules, Argonaut - 2149 is under the uDevGame License, meaning the source code is available. Visit http://idevgames.com/ for a link to the source code. You'll need Apple's XCode to open the source files.
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Version History
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v1.0 - First release
v1.0.1 - Several Bugfixes
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Fixed several text related bugs
Now hides mouse during play in full-screen mode
Now compressed in .dmg format to work around permissions bug in Stuffit Expander 8.0.
v1.0.2 - More Bugfixes
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Fixed typo
fixed a bug in which game would not end properly
v1.1 - Major Update
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Added save game
Now creates randomized levels after scripted levels are completed
Added better about screen
Added several menu effects
Fixed bug in which text fields would accept invalid input
Fixed texture glitch
Addressed small font problems
Camera movement is now smoother
Added secrets (if you can find them)
Made various game-play, AI, and UI adjustments
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Credits
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Programming - Holmes Futrell
Music - Miyaka Cochrane
Artwork - Daniel Labriet
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Bugs
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The game doesn't seem to like iMacs. We're looking into this. If you encounter any other bugs, please contact us.
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Contact
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If you have any questions, praise, or bug reports you can email me directly. If you are reporting a crash, please email me the crash report (from the console app) as well.
