Thank you for trying Centaurian! Information about how to fly your ship and about the enemies you face is included in the documentation inside the program (see Mission Briefing and Ship Controls from the main menu). The Release Notes section below gives you some inside information. The Registration Information tells you what you get by registering and how to register. You should also read through the License Agreement at the end of this document.
• Controls There are two types of controls for your ship. Rotational controls use only two keys for steering, left and right, similar to many other arcade/computer games of this ilk. This works fine, although your ship has a fairly large turning radius, so be careful. I personally prefer the Absolute controls, in which you use eight keys for the eight directions your ship can move. Note that in Absolute control mode you can also use key combinations (e.g., Up and Left pressed together give you diagonal up/left movement). You can select either control mode on the fly by hitting F1 and F2.
• Zorg's Challenges There are nine different Zorg's Challenges. They are randomly selected (uh, I mean, they are carefully chosen by Admiral Zorg), but you won't get the same one more than once in a game. Some are harder than others; all give you a shot at free power-ups. You can't lose anything or get hurt by playing them, but for most of them, one hit knocks you out of the running.
• Bored If you wait too long between destroying bases, you'll hear a message ("Captain, we're bored!"). After you hear this, there will be no more spy ships or formation attacks until you destroy another base. This was designed to prevent unscrupulous players from just flying around for long periods trying to collect power-ups and bonus cash, and to help new players by not continuously plaguing them with formation attacks (also known as "Posses"). You can still hang out for as long as you want collecting points, but 1) that gets really boring, 2) it's weasely, and 3) you actually get many more points for completing a level (especially if you do it without taking damage) than you do for shooting ships.
• Out of Memory and Screen Size If you run Centaurian in Thousands or Millions of colors, you will probably get an "Out of Memory" error message. You can either increase the memory settings (using "Get Info" from the File menu) or, usint the Monitors Control Panel or its equivalent, decrease your monitor screen depth to 256 colors. I'd also suggest switching your monitor size to 640x480 pixels. Centaurian can run with bigger screen areas, but it will just play the game in a 640x480 box in the center of your screen.
• Performance On older 68K Macs, Centaurian will run, but it may slow down noticeably when you get a lot of things on the screen or when you get close to the enemy bases. I have tried to optimize the code for speed, but I can't get Centaurian any faster without removing features. One thing you can do for more speed is to go to your Monitors conrol panel (or its equivalent) and set your screen to 16 color mode while you play. This should give you a big speed boost at the cost of having the graphics look a little weird.
• You can get farther than Zone 7 The unregistered game limits you to playing eight zones per game. Note, however, that these do not have to be Zones 00-07. You can get farther along and see more of the game by picking higher zones at the end of each level.
• Joysticks and various keyboards I only had access to Apple Extended keyboards when testing this out. If you are using some other keyboard (Dvorak, non-US character set, etc.), you should still be able to set the keys you want to use and fly with them OK, but they may not match the characters displayed on the Ship Controls screen. Also, the reserved command keys (e.g. F1, F2, Command-S for sound) may not work right. I haven't played the game with a joystick, but I hear it works pretty well if you use the absolute (8-direction) controls.
• Requirements This version (1.2) requires System 7.0 or higher. It is a FAT binary file, meaning that it runs on both PowerPC and 68K Macs. It has been tested on a 5200, a 7500, a 7200, a 6100, a Quadra 660 AV, and a Performa 630. It will run on something like a Mac II ci, but I wouldn't recommend playing it on that level of machine.
• Feedback Please send me any comments, questions, bug reports, strategy tips, etc. I'd love to hear from you.
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
When you send in the registration fee, I will send you a code which lets you:
• Play all 60 zones, including the Fortress and the final battle against Mozer
• Load and save games
• Start your game from any zone
• Enter special cheating key codes to give you a boost
• Give you access to the level editor, so you can design your own sets of zones
You will also be supporting the shareware concept and encouraging me to write more games.
There are three ways to register Centaurian:
(1) Send me $18 U.S. (check or money order preferred, but cash is OK). My address is listed at the beginning of this file. Include your name, address, and e-mail address if you have one. I'll send you your code and other information immediately.
(2) Use the accompanying Register (Kagi) program. This program produces either e-mail-ready text or printed order forms which you send to the Kagi shareware registration service. Kagi lets you pay by check, cash, credit card or in foreign currency (but not with checks made out in non-U.S. currency). When Kagi receives your payment, they notify me, and I will send you your registration information.
See the accompanying Register (Kagi) Read Me file for more information.
(3) Use the World Wide Web. To do this, you'll need a credit card (American Express, MasterCard, or Visa). Go to:
http://kagi.direct.net/cgi-bin/register1.cgi?UD
and fill out the screen there.
I will also sell you a copy of the C source code for Centaurian (minus the registration code routines) for $50.00. The code depends heavily on Ingemar Ragnemalm's excellent Sprite Animation Toolkit (and uses it in many different ways). Note that the code is sometimes ugly and not well-commented other than for my own purposes. I haven't taken any computer coursework since Mr. Stromen's Computers in 8th grade (1983), so don't expect to learn proper formatting or etiquette. If you still want it, let me know.
CENTAURIAN LICENSE AGREEMENT
This is a legal agreement covering your use of Centaurian. Be sure to read the following agreement before using the software. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT USE THE SOFTWARE AND DESTROY ALL COPIES OF IT.
This software is copyright 1996 by David M. Dobson, all rights reserved. It is distributed as shareware. You may examine this software without any charge and may distribute it freely to others, provided it is unmodified and this READ ME file is included. If you wish to use the shareware for more than thirty days, you must register the software. The software is owned by David Dobson and is protected by United States copyright laws and international treaty provisions.
Commercial distribution of the software is restricted without permission of David Dobson. If you wish to include this program in a collection or distribution such as a floppy disk, CD-ROM, or electronic archive for which a distribution or usage fee is charged, you must obtain permission from me. Redistribution involving no such fees, such as FTP sites or WWW archives, is not restricted as long as this READ ME file is included and the software is not modified in any way.
You may not rent or lease the software, nor may you modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the software, except for your own personal use. This exception does not extend to attempts to disable or bypass the registration code mechanism. Registration codes are non-transferable, and redistribution, copying, and resale of these codes are expressly prohibited. If you violate any part of this agreement, your right to use this software terminates automatically, and you must then destroy all copies of this software in your possession.
The software and related documentation are provided “AS IS” and without warranty of any kind. David Dobson expressly disclaims all other warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Under no circumstances shall David Dobson or distributors be liable for any incidental, special or consequential damages that result from the use or inability to use the software or related documentation, even if David Dobson has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision of this Agreement, or portion thereof, to be unenforceable, that provision of the Agreement shall be enforced to the maximum extent permissible so as to effect the intent of the parties, and the remainder of this Agreement shall continue in full force and effect.
All trademarks are held by their respective owners.
