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MIDIBATL.DOC
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1992-11-07
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7KB
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128 lines
MIDIBATTLE
MidiBattle is shareware, that means that if you play it and enjoy it you
must register it by sending £7 to the Author. If you purchased this game
from a Public Domain Library then you will have paid my shareware fee
already and the Library will have sent me £7 so enjoy the game and thanks
for trying it. I would ask one favour however, if you did buy the game
from a Shareware/Public Domain Library please send me a postcard with
details of where you bought it and when.
This software represents a considerable amount of work and time and your
support will enable me to continue producing quality software that is
easily affordable by anybody. You'll also get a warm fuzzy feeling deep
inside and be able to rest easily knowing you've helped keep food in the
mouth of another starving programmer.
For the correct amount in other currencies just use the exchange rate,
ie: in Australian dollars that would be about $15-16.
The game may be distributed by Public Domain Libraries only if they obtain
written permission from the Author. If the game is distributed by such an
organisation the shareware payment must be included in the original sale
of the game and £7 sent to me directly.(ie. just add £7 to your usual fee
and send it to me direct.)
Distribution through Buletin Boards or other electronic means is only
allowed using the file MIDIBATL.LZH which contains the complete disk as
an MSA (magic shadow archiver) file along with the program NEWMSA to
dearchive it and an additional README.NOW doc explaining the whole
process. You may not simply archive the version of the game that can
be bought from Shareware/PD Libraries.
The software and all documents are copyright Tony Barker of
Moving Pixels 1992.
One other thing, the entire Assembler source code to this game including
all the blitter, interlace Spectrumn 512, scrolling, interrupt, sound and
intelligence routines is available by registering with a fee of £25. I'll
send you the source code and all files necessary to assemble the game.
Send your registration fee to:
Tony Barker
Moving Pixels
2/39 Frazer St
Leichhardt 2040
NSW, AUSTRALIA
Cheques or postal orders should be made out to Tony Barker or Moving Pixels
you choose which you prefer, please enclose your name and address and I'll
send you a note and a receipt for your trouble.
This game works on both the ST and the STE.
The game has several outstanding features being one of the only
games written with the STE in mind. It is MIDI networkable between two
machines so 2 players can compete against eachother, is full 8 way smooth
scolling using the entire screen area and always runs a 50 frames per
second. It also utilises a unique mouse controllable status screen that
slides over the actual playing area ala the Amiga screen management system.
There is also a single player mode against two intelligent computer
controlled enemies.
The game is basically a tank maze game against either a human
opponent or two computer controlled opponents. When the game first boots
you are presented with a 320*400 512 color title screen and full stereo
sampled title music. Hitting any key will continue loading and present you
with the games map screen and some text asking if you would like a midi
game or single player game. Following the prompts to select either will get
you into the game proper. You must make sure another machine is connected
properly (midi in->midi out and midi out->midi in) and the game booted and
displaying the same options screen if you choose the networked option or
the machine will hang waiting for the other to respond.
Once started you control your tank with the joystick making your
way around the maze to find the other opponent or opponents. The fire
button will do as you think and you can have four shots active at a time.
The shots bounce off walls and last for a short time. You also only have so
many shots as shown in the meter at the bottom of the screen. When you run
out of shots a weapons cache will appear somewhere in the maze, finding and
moving over this will refill your weapons. You can also drop mines with the
'M' key. These last for 30 secs or until an enemy runs over it and gets
destroyed, you can deploy 4 mines and the number remaining is also
displayed on the status line, a mine is immediately returned to your
arsenal when it kills an enemy or 30 secs is up. Your tank can also be
switched into 'hover mode' by hitting the space bar. In this mode you move
very quickly and as such is good for quick escapes, but the inertia in your
craft makes it difficult to control. Space again will return the tank to
track mode. Whilst in 'hover mode' you cannot fire due to this mode taking
most of the tanks energy, you can however still drop mines.
Whilst in single player mode the enemies are smart enough to drop
mines and shoot at you. Running over an enemy mine (the red ones) will
destroy you immediately whilst enemy shots degrade your sheild gradually,
as indicated on the status line. You have 3 tanks in the single player game
to destroy as many enemy tanks as possible (the number killed is diplayed
on the map screen top left in digital) and the same number in 2 player, the
victor being the last surviving.
At any time the map screen can be manipulated by the mouse simply
dragging it up or down as required. All enemies are shown in red on the
map/radar display and two diagonal dots indicates a weapons store when
available. In two player mode an enemy weapons store will also be shown in
red.
Finally 'P' is a pause toggle in both single and 2 player modes, in
2 player it will pause both machines.
ST VERSION CHANGES
The ST version of this game differs in a number of ways from the
'E' version. First in the bootup, if booted on a normal ST the 'E version
will not auto boot and the desktop will appear as usual with the ST
versions icon visible, double clicking of this icon will launch the ST
version. The biggest difference between the two is the size of the
scrolling game area, this has been reduced for obvious reasons. The map
display is accessed by hitting <HELP> and the same key will toggle it off.
Sound is also different, and the standard soundchip is used for all
effects, this has advantages and disadvantages, the main disadvantage is
that the sounds are no longer digitised but the advantages are that 3
sounds may play at the same time as opposed to one on the STE and there are
extra sounds as they don't take up disk space.
It should be noted that the two versions are not compatable in the
MIDI mode, this means that while two STE's linked will work and two ST's
will work an STE/STcombination will not. The ST version runs at 50 frames
per sec at all times except for some times during midi games due to the
slow transfer rate of the midi standard.