Assassins - Ultimate CD Games Collection 4/Assassins 4 (1999)(Weird Science).iso/docs/shoot-ups/revenge_aga.doc

Text File | 1992-09-02 | 21KB | 651 lines

                               REVENGE
                         ( Armchair Assassin 2 )

                     "Mud, Blood and Bones Edition"

                          © 1998 Gadge Software

                       ( Version 1.00 - June '98 )

                        Contacting me via e-mail


          REVENGE is released as "Send me your heads - ware"
        This means that users are requested to design and send
        in some heads (one will do) to be included in the next
        release. Press the Send Me Your Heads button for info.

 The REVENGE distribution also includes a separate program that
 allows you to create and edit your own victims for use in the
 game, this program is Vic-Gen.

 Would you like to run Vic-Gen now?

 It's very easy to use and fairly self explanatory, but here are
 the instructions anyhow.

 The top LOAD button:

 This button brings up a file requester which list all the heads
 available in the "Heads" drawer. Select a head and load it in.

 Take a look at making your own heads

 The bottom LOAD button:

 This button brings up a file requester which list all the samples
 available in the "DeathFX" drawer. You can select one of these
 samples or use the file requester to select other samples from
 anywhere else. The samples should be in standard 8SVX IFF format
 to be usable, this is checked by the program.
 The selected sample is played when the victim is killed.

 The SAVE button:

 This button is used to save your finished victim to the "Victims"
 drawer for use in REVENGE.
 A prefs file is also saved along with the victim.
 Each victim + prefs file takes up 5k of disk space.
 When a victim is saved a check is made to see if it's sample is
 in the "DeathFX" drawer, if it isn't, the program will copy it
 there for you (that's nice of it).

 The SPEECH BUBBLE:

 Click on the speech bubble to hear the sample.

 The SLIDER:

 This slider changes the replay period of the sample. The actual
 pitch depends entirely on the replay period of the sample when
 it was saved. The middle of the slider is the default period of
 the sample. Move the slider up to playback higher and down to
 playback lower.
 The sample period is displayed in a text box.
 (the lower the number, the higher the pitch)

 The 3 ROWS OF COLOURED BOXES:

 Top row:    Selects the shirt colour of the victim.
            (saved as part of victim)

 Bottom row: Selects the pants colour of the victim.
            (saved as part of victim)

 Middle row: See how the victim looks in front of different
            coloured backgrounds.
            (purely cosmetic - not saved).

 The QUIT button:

 hmmmm......

 STUFF TO REMEMBER:

 * Vic-Gen loads HEADS and saves VICTIMS
   To change an existing victim, reload its head, alter the
   settings, and save it again.

 * Samples should be SHORT, SHARP and LOUD! Long samples could
   be used but they are more likely to be chopped off in mid-
   play by other samples in the game. As a rule the samples
   should be around 10k in size or less. Shorter samples also
   use less chip mem.

 Take a look in the "Xtras" drawer, this contains two .IFF pics
 with the default heads and empty boxes plus a few guidelines
 and the palette information for your own use.

    Show me the  default heads

    Show me the   empty boxes

 These pics are stored as 320x256 .IFF's in 16 colours.

 They are named "Heads.iff" and "Empties.iff".

 You can load them into your favourite art package for reference
 when drawing your own heads. The palette in these pictures is
 pre-set and can't be changed.

 You only have to draw a head in four positions - forwards, left,
 backwards and right.

 The heads you design must be cut out (along the dotted lines)
 as standard "brushes" and saved to the "Heads" drawer for use
 by Vic-Gen (each brush should be 62x15 pixels in size).

 All that remains to be done then is start up Vic-Gen, load in
 your new head, choose the body colours and sound effect and
 save it as a new victim for use in REVENGE (and then kill it
 as frequently as you like :-)

 I WANT YOUR HEADS

 I want to get together a huge collection of heads for inclusion
 in the next release of REVENGE.

 Please see  Send Me Your Heads  for info.

 As "payment" for getting this game for free you are requested
 to send in some heads (even one will do) that you design for
 inclusion in the next release of REVENGE.

 The best ones will have their own "author named" drawer within
 the distribution. Hey, you'll be famous!

 FOUR WAYS TO SEND IN YOUR HEADS

 1> Direct to me via e-mail (the fastest way)

   to:    [e-mail]

 2> Direct to me on disk via post (the second fastest way)

   to:    Simon Hitchen
          33 Bodmin Road
          Middleton
          LEEDS
          LS10 4PL
          England

 3> Upload them to Aminet (probably to the Games/Data section)
    (bit of a lag on this method 'cos I don't have direct
     internet access at the moment, but I will get the heads
     eventually)

 4> Send them in to Amiga magazines (CU/AF) as CD contributions
    and I'll get them from there.

 Use all four methods if you wish (then I'll definitely receive
 them) but at least use one of them.

 Weapons can be selected at any time during play with the F-keys.

 There are basically two types of weapon: Front firing
                                     and Top firing

 Front firing weapons should be aimed anywhere on (or near) the
 selected victim.

 Top firing weapons should be aimed at (or near to) the feet of
 the selected victim.

 All weapons have "Kill Zones" and "Maim Zones". A good shot will
 kill instantly and a close shot will injure victims, causing them
 to limp and bleed for a while until they recover.

 New "Smart" weapons - the bullets home in on the gun sights.

 Most weapons are fired with the left mouse button but there is
 one exception to this (see F10 - AIR STRIKE for info)

 F1  - SHOTGUN
   > Front firing
   > Instant hit
   > Good blast area

 F2  - ARNIE-GUN
   > Front firing
   > Instant hit
   > Rapid fire rate

 F3  - PHOTON TORPEDO
   > Top firing
   > Smart weapon
   > Boldly kills where no weapon has killed before

 F4  - PULSE LASER
   > Front firing
   > Smart weapon
   > Good fire rate

 F5  - NIGHT SCOPE
   > Front firing
   > Instant hit
   > Hunt victims at night

 F6  - BFB 9000
   > Top firing
   > Smart weapon
   > Large blast area

 F7  - ELECTRIC SHOCK TREATMENT
   > Top firing
   > Smart weapon
   > Frying tonight

 F8  - ALIEN DNA EXPERIMENT
   > Top firing
   > Smart weapon
   > Special weapon - Tell me more about Alien DNA

 F9  - FIREBALL
   > Top firing
   > Smart weapon
   > Special weapon - Tell me more about Fireballs

 F10 - AIR STRIKE
   > Top firing
   > Smart weapon
   > Special weapon - Tell me more about Air Strikes

 The original "Kill Everything As Fast As Possible" game mode
 as used in the first Armchair Assassin game.

 When using this mode your high scores are placed on high score
 tables 1 - 5 (depending on the victim speed setting).

 The new "Kill Everything, But In Strict Sequence" game mode.

 In this mode you can only kill the victim that is indicated
 with a flashing light above its head.

 Any of the others that get in the way of stray bullets can
 be injured as normal but they can't be killed, sure you can
 blast them to pieces just for fun but their heads will soon
 regenerate a new body and off they go again, fighting fit.

 When using this mode your high scores are placed on high score
 tables 6 - 10 (depending on the victim speed setting).

 When all the victims have been killed the timer stops but the
 game doesn't end there and then, instead it goes into the new
 "fun time" mode.

 In this mode you can blast away at the heads for as long as
 you want, perhaps testing weapons or just blasting away at
 the "not-quite-dead-heads" without further time penalties and
 without your shots being counted towards the kill ratio of
 the current game.

 Fun time mode can be ended as normal with the "Q" key.

 In the main game drawer there is a drawer named "Music".

 You can copy your own music modules into this drawer if you
 want to have music on the start screen or high score tables.

 You can include 2 different modules.

 VERY IMPORTANT STUFF ABOUT THE MUSIC

 * Music modules must be in PROTRACKER compatible format
   (sorry no meds yet, maybe in future)

 * They must not be PACKED in any way

 * They must be renamed as  start.mod
                     and/or  high.mod

 * Try to use mods that aren't too massive as they do use up
   valuable chip memory. Mods that are too big to fit in the
   available chip mem will not be loaded (check available
   memory by pressing the space bar on the options screen).

 There is a high.mod included in the distribution, it's just
 a little (only 30k) tune I found on an early magazine
 coverdisk CD.
 The original name of the module was "MOD.swing the pub" but
 I could find no docs for it so I can't credit the author
 in my docs (sigh).

 Use your very own alien invader to perform weird genetic
 experiments on the hapless victims.

 You have at your disposal a state-of-the-art alien medical
 research and humanoid DNA experiment craft. It's just a
 shame that the pilot is only a learner.

 This means that the DNA experiments are not a total success
 and the results are a bit unpredictable.

 What tends to happen is either the DNA wears off after a
 while and the victim recovers his former shape or the DNA
 becomes unstable and the victim dies.

 The best feature of this weapon is that the DNA infection
 can be passed on to other victims by touch and can spread
 itself around like the plague. This can do wonders for the
 kill-ratio as one shot could kill lots of victims.

 One drawback of this weapon is that when the victims are
 infected with alien DNA they become immune to all other
 puny earth weapons until it wears off.

 When a victim is infected a green blob appears on his
 mug shot at the bottom of the screen, you can quickly see
 the extent of the infection in this panel.

 This weapon is a bit like the Alien DNA Experiment in that
 when a victim is hit by a fireball he bursts into flame
 himself and frantically runs around at increased speeds to
 try and put the flames out.

 If he bumps into another victim he may also set that victim
 on fire and so the flames can spread.

 The result of being set on fire can have two outcomes, if
 the victim runs fast enough he may be able to put out the
 flames and make a full recovery, or, he may die.

 Like the DNA, when a victim is on fire he can't be killed
 by any other weapon (that would be far too cruel).

 When a victim is on fire an orange blob appears on his
 mug shot at the bottom of the screen, you can quickly see
 how far the fire has spread in this panel.

 Probably the biggest air strike in the world.

 How to use this meaty weapon....

 a) Select it with F10 (of course)

 b) Place the first "laser guide pad" with the LEFT MOUSE button

 c) Place the second "laser guide pad" with the RIGHT MOUSE button

 d) Sit back and wait for the BOMBS THE SIZE OF HOUSES and the
    EXPLOSIONS THE SIZE OF SMALL TOWNS to arrive.

 e) Go back to "step b" and repeat as required

 An AGA Amiga

 Fast mem preferred but not essential

 Accelerator preferred but not essential

 A volume control (turned up)

 No installation required.

 Just copy the entire game drawer anywhere you like.

 REVENGE doesn't require any assigns to be made and it
 doesn't spread files all over your system.

 On the start screen press any key or the left mouse button
 to continue.

 On the options screen, use the four "ARROW KEYS" and the
 "RETURN" key to select and change the game options, these
 are as follows:

 VICTIM SPEED
   > How fast the little devils leg it.
   > Ranges from 1 (slowest) to 5 (fastest).
   > Change with left/right arrow keys.

 GAME MODE
   > The type of game you want to play.
   > Can be either Maximum Mayhem or Sequential Slaughter.
   > Change with left/right arrow keys.

 CHAT TIME
   > How long the victims stop for a natter with each other
     to decide their next move. If they like each other they
     may go for a walk together or if they hate each other
     they may leave in opposite directions.
   > This can range from 1 (shortest chat) to 8 (longest).
     The length of time spent chatting will be beneficial
     for some weapons but detrimental for others depending
     on the setting (but you can only find this out by
     playing the game - so it's up to you).
   > Change with left/right arrow keys.

 GROUND TYPE
   > Which background is used in the game.
   > 8 backgrounds available or it can also be set to
     pick a background at random for each game.
   > Change with left/right arrow keys.

 EDIT VICTIMS
   > Choose which victims (and how many) you want to wipe
     from the face of the earth.
   > Press return to select.
   > Tell me more about editing victims.

 SAVE OPTIONS
   > Saves all the game options and your chosen victim prefs
     as default options. These are read in and used each time
     the game is run.
   > Allows you to have your preferred options already
     set up and raring to go at start-up.
   > Press return to save options.

 START
   > Press return to start the game (the best bit).
   > On the game screen press LEFT MOUSE to continue.
   > The timer starts when the victims have fled.
   > Weapons can now be selected with F1-F10.
   > Victims can now be obliterated (yes)!
   > During play you can abort the game by pressing "Q"
   > When all victims are dead and the game is in
     "Fun Time" mode, press "Q" to exit to the high score
     tables.
   > On the high score tables press any key or left mouse
     to get back to the start screen.

 QUIT TO DOS
   > "Does exactly what it says on the tin".
     (but it does ask you to confirm it first).
   > Press return to quit.

 MUSIC VOLUME
   > This option only appears if you have a start.mod
     loaded.
   > Press F1 to F8 to change the music volume.

 A USEFUL FEATURE

 On the options screen you can press the space bar to
 toggle information about how much memory is available
 on your machine at present. This can be very useful in
 deciding the size of music mods or sound FX that could
 be used (these require chip mem).

 IMPORTANT - FILES WHICH MUST EXIST

 The following files in this distribution MUST NOT be
 deleted because they are used as default files by the
 game if other files can't be found.

 Victims/Bill-Grates.vic      (default victim)
 Victims/Bill-Grates.prefs    (his prefs)
 DeathFX/Death1 (2..3..to..8) (default sound FX)
 Heads/Bill-Grates            (default head)

 Select which victim slot you want to edit with the up/down
 arrow keys.

 Change the amount of your selected victim with the
 left/right arrow keys (min 0 - max 60 depending on how
 many other victims are also selected).

 Press return to replace the selected victim with another
 from the list of available victims.
   > Use the arrow keys to choose a new victim
   > Press return to use this new victim in the game

 Select "DONE" to return to the options screen.

 MORE STUFF ABOUT VICTIMS

 The total number of victims selected affects how fast
 the timer runs in the game (time IS relative). This makes
 games fair when comparing scores between games with
 different numbers of victims.

 How fast your machine is makes a difference to how many
 victims you can select and still keep everything running
 at full speed.

 The scrolling will ALWAYS be at the correct speed and so
 will the timer (these are run on interrupts).

 Only the victims and your weapons will slow down if too
 many victims are selected (which is a disadvantage 'cos
 the timer wont slow down)

 So....how many victims can I run at full speed?

  Comparisons on different machine setups:

  A1200 14mhz 020 - Chip mem only - 26 victims  :-(

  A1200 14mhz 020 - Fast+Chip     - 48 victims  :-)

  A1200 50mhz 030 - Fast+Chip     - 60 victims  :-))

  A1200 25mhz 040 - Fast+chip     - 60 victims  :-))

 Conclusion.....At least get some fast mem!

 HOW TO FIND OUT if it's all running at full speed.

  > Start a game
  > Select weapon F2 (Arnie Gun)
  > Fire continually at bare ground
  > If the sound stops and starts you are running too
    many victims (the sample is timed to loop and play
    as a continuous sound if the game loop is running
    at full speed). You should try again with a few
    less victims.
  > If the sound loops smoothly you can try again with
    a few more victims (up to the maximum of 60)

 I would like to hear about how many victims can be run
 on different machine/processor/memory set-ups at full
 speed as possible so the info can be included in future
 releases of REVENGE.

        Contacting me via e-mail

 A FURTHER NOTE

 You can of course run the game with too many victims if
 you want and if you're prepared to put up with:
 > Some sound samples being slightly mis-timed...
 > Victims which speed up after some are killed...
 > Ditto for weapons...

 As mentioned earlier, the screen scrolling will always
 run at full speed and this makes the game look OK even
 if too many victims are used.

 None known at the time of this release (V1.00  June 98).

 NOT BUGS - (Just things that could look like bugs).

 1) The music mods I put in will not play! Why?

 Check these:
   > Are they renamed correctly?
   > Are they in the right (protracker) format?
   > Are they too big to load?
   > Are they packed?
   > Are they mods at all?
   > Are they in the Music drawer?

 2) Why doesn't REVENGE run on my Amiga?

   > Is your Amiga AGA?
   > Do you have enough memory available? REVENGE requires

    On a Chip only Amiga:   1,260,000 bytes (1,230k) chip

    On a Fast + Chip Amiga:   890,000 bytes (870k)   chip
                           +  670,000 bytes (655k)   fast
                           =1,560,000 bytes (1,525k) total

    available at run time.

 3) If the Victim Generator is run from the Ram Disk (just after
     unpacking the archive maybe?) you will be unable to save data
     as the program checks the disk it is run from to see if it has
     enough free space available for the data (the Ram Disk reports
     100% full).
    Of course, this shouldn't be a problem seeing as you are all
    going to have this cool game permanently installed! :-)))

    (reported by Gerard Sweeney)

 If you do have a genuine bug to report then please e-mail
 the details to:

        [e-mail]

 Please try to include as much info as possible
 including: Amiga model, memory available, Workbench used
           extra hardware inc ram/accelerator boards etc.

   Copyright and Distribution

 REVENGE AGA is freely distributable but the copyright remains with
 the author.
 No charge can be made for REVENGE AGA above the normal distribution
 and copying fees of P.D. software houses for P.D. software.
 CD manufacturers are also granted the right to include REVENGE AGA
 on CD collections as long as they are for the public domain.
 REVENGE AGA can be distributed for free via web site as long as I
 am informed first.
 REVENGE AGA can be distributed on BBS's for free.

 All files in the archive must be included and intact but the entire
 archive may be packed for distribution.

            Contacting me via e-mail

  Disclaimer

 The author is in no way liable for any changes made to any part of
 the program or consequences thereof and he is in no way liable for
 damages or loss of data (or sleep) directly or indirectly caused
 by this software.

 No victims were harmed in the making of this software.

 V1.00  - First public release of REVENGE AGA

         Based on T.V.Chubbies(tm) Armchair Assassin AGA
         (also by me)

         Total rewrite with loads of new features added,
         most of which were suggested or requested by users
         via e-mail (it really does pay to encourage software
         authors after all! - cheers peeps)

         Contacting me via e-mail

 Gather together loads of new heads (hopefully from users) for
 the next release of REVENGE.
 (Go on! Get yer paint programs out!)

 Maybe make a new "enhanced" victim generator with a choice of
 new bodies and legs instead of the standard one.

 Include some more music mods with the distribution (maybe
 someone would like to send me some of their own work to be
 included and credited in the distribution?). In protracker
 format if possible, but I may add code to play meds as well.

 Probably put it more backgrounds.

 Ditto with more DeathFX samples.

 Please send any comments, thoughts, bug reports (heads) etc.

via e-mail to:

      [e-mail]

 You could also include info on your Amiga setup so I can get
 an idea about which hardware configurations REVENGE works on
 (or not).

 Also I would like to know where you obtained this copy of
 REVENGE so I can find out the best distribution method for
 future releases.