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- SWARM (TM)
- Developed and Published by: Reflexive Entertainment, Inc. - http://www.reflexive.net/ -
- Copyright ⌐ 1998-2002, all rights reserved.
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-
- The Game
-
- How to Play:
-
- You can learn how to play by clicking on the 'Help' button. There are lots of pretty
- pictures and description of the game in there.
-
- You can find out what keys and buttons do what by clicking on the 'Configure
- Controls' button.
-
- You can also watch the demos to learn new strategies.
-
- Controls:
-
- Mouse Steer ship, Aim primary weapon
- Space Bar Trust toward mouse cursor
- Left mouse button Fire primary weapons
- Right mouse button Launch mine
- Esc Bring Up Menu Screens
- Pause Pause the game
-
- Configuring the controls:
-
- Click on the 'Configure Controls' button.
- Click on the action you want to configure.
- Press the key or button that you want to assign to the action.
-
- Configuring the video:
-
- Click on the 'Configure Video'
- Adjust the Gamma to whatever you want.
- If the displayed colors appear incorrect, try pressing the 'Fix Colors' button on the
- 'Info' tab.
-
- Main Menu:
-
- The main menu is your friend. You can find everything you need there!
-
- Buy it Now - If you haven't yet upgraded Swarm Special Edition, this is the way to
- do it. Through this button, you can access Quick Pay û the fastest way to upgrade,
- Pay by Phone, and Other Registration options such as Pay Online or Pay By Mail. If
- you have Problems with any of these features, please see Problems section below.
-
- Play Game - Start a new game of Swarm, or resume a game in progress. Swarm
- will ask you to choose a player, or set up a new player so that statistics can be
- tracked.
-
- Statistics - Here you can access a wide variety of statistics. Overall high scores as
- well as information about each player that has been set up can be accessed through
- this button.
-
- Tell a friend - Through this button, you can use our email server to tell your friends
- about Swarm. Please do it! They'll thank you for it, and so will we!
-
- Options - Through this button you can configure sound, configure video, check for
- updates to Swarm, and view the credits of the game.
-
- Powerups
-
- Free Ship - When you run out of ships, the game is over, so the benefits of a free
- ship are obvious. The more of these you can collect, the longer your game will last,
- and the higher your score can be. You also get an extra ship each time you bring 50
- EZT crystals home.
-
- Shield - This powerup recharges your shield generator. If your shield generator
- runs out of juice, even the lowliest Clagnor seed pellet can breach your hull. Each of
- these purple beauties will give your shield generator a 15% recharge.
-
- Red Laser - This little number gives your little peashooter gun a little more bite.
- This isn't the strongest weapon in your arsenal, but it helps vaporize any Clagnor
- that get out of line.
-
- Spread Gun - This gun is useful when a bunch of Clagnor start ganging up on you.
- The individual energy charges aren't that powerful, but this weapon is indispensable
- when clearing a minefield of those little buggers.
-
- Quad Laser - This is your most powerful energy weapon. It shoots straight as an
- arrow, and makes Clagnor dust out of anything that gets in its way.
-
- Blue Missile - This missile has one purpose: To seek out and destroy Clagnor
- scum. Just shoot it, and it will find its target.
-
- Red Missile - Like the Blue Missile this is also an auto-aiming weapon, but it's
- faster and deadlier than its blue cousin.
-
- Swarmer Missiles - This is the hottest little gun in your arsenal. Each missile
- contains 5 individual self-guided care-packages to our Clagnor friends.
-
- Mine - This little beauty delivers a shock wave to all Clagnor caught in its wake.
-
- Electro Mine - Like the conventional mine, but this will sizzle any Clagnor that gets
- near it for a whole 3 seconds.
-
- Companion Drone - These little guys will give you a little cover-fire while you're
- engaging the enemy.
-
- Star Clubber - This little inertial beauty lets you annihilate Clagnor and asteroids
- alike. Just flick your tail at them, and they're history.
-
- Enemies
-
- Harvester - Its mission is the same as yours, get the EZT. Harvesters aren't very
- smart and they don't care about you unless you get in their way.
-
- Seed Layer - Seed layers enjoy the warm radiance of EZT and get angry when
- anyone tries to take it away from them. They are non-mobile but will spit young
- seeds at unwary ships.
-
- Clag Scout - Designed to mop up any random resistance, Clag Scouts put up a bit
- of a fight, but nothing a few well placed plasma bursts can't silence.
-
- EZT Guard - A harvester's best friend. EZT guards don't like anyone getting too
- close to their EZT and more importantly, they don't like to get too far away from it.
- When confronting an EZT Guard, it's best to put him down as fast as you can.
-
- Clag Bot - Suicidal and very dangerous. Clag bots don't have much of a mind but
- they do hate you. Running seems like a really good idea when confronting them.
-
- Defense Drone - The Clagnor's first real killing machine. Defense Drones hunt
- unsuspecting players and when they find them, they kill them.
-
- Electro Drone - When the harvesters didn't seem to be bringing home the EZT, the
- Clagnor realized they needed something more substantial. Electro Drones were the
- answer and getting too close to one can result in a lot of hair loss.
-
- Death Worm - The most vicious and effective weapon the Clagnor have ever made.
- Intelligent, fast and deadly, very few have survived to describe the beast.
-
- Why should you upgrade Swarm Special Edition?
-
- For only $16.99 you and your entire family will enjoy:
- * Countless hours of exhilarating, easy to learn game play
- * Simple controls that make sure the entire family can participate.
- * Extraordinarily addictive game play with something new to see on each one
- of the 101 levels.
- * Rich 3D rendered artwork with over 65 thousand colors
- * A total of 101 rounds/levels (yes that's right 101) with 4 difficulty settings it's
- the equivalent of 404 levels!
- * Awesome power-ups including red laser, swarmer missiles, companion
- drone, electro mine, and everyone's favorite - the star clubber
- * Your personal High Scores (and other player statistics such as games
- played, total time played, and highest level achieved are tracked. Very soon,
- you will be able to optionally post them to Internet. The SPA will soon
- establish a website where the weekly, monthly, and all time high score will be
- posted.
- * A suspend game mode which allows competitors to walk away from a game
- in progress and pick it up at a later time with all EZT, ships, and score still in
- tow.
- * Purchasing the full version has never been easier. Using the Quick Pay
- feature, your free demo version can be instantly upgraded with a credit card.
- This will immediately open the full version and does not require an
- additional download!
-
- Your Challenge
-
- Can you be the Swarm Champion of your house? Your neighborhood? The entire
- world? Upgrade Swarm: Special Edition and find out!
-
- Only $16.99!!
-
- System Requirements
-
- IBM Compatible System
- Pentium II 266 Mhz Processor
- 32 MB of Ram
- Keyboard and Mouse
- Microsoft DirectX 2.0 or greater. As of the ship date in May 2002, DirectX 8.1 is
- currently the latest version of Microsoft's DirectX. You can download Direct X from
- www.Microsoft.com/directx/
- Internet Connection - if you want to participate in online score posting (coming
- soon!), Quick Pay, or the tell a friend program.
-
- FAQ About Quick Pay
-
- What is Quick Pay?
-
- Quick Pay is a safe and remarkably fast way to pay for select games from Reflexive
- Entertainment. Using a secure system (industry standard SSL), your credit card
- information is transferred, verified, and processed - all without leaving the game.
- Once your card has been approved, your copy of Swarm is instantly upgraded!
-
- Is it safe?
-
- In a word, Yes. Quick Pay is just as safe as buying anything else on the Internet.
- We use an encrypted and secure connection to protect your information. Your
- information is not shared with anyone at any time under any circumstance according
- to our privacy policy. Reflexive places the utmost importance on our customers'
- privacy. We do everything within our ability to protect ensure the confidentiality of
- your personal information.
-
- Is it fast?
-
- If your computer is connected to the Internet, it usually takes only about 30-45
- seconds to process your card and unlock the game. It is tremendously faster than
- old systems requiring a second download of a full version.
-
- What if I don't have a credit card?
-
- You can use the pay by mail feature to upgrade Swarm using a check or money
- order. From the main menu select 'Buy it now' then click 'Other Registration
- Options' and select 'Pay By Mail'. This will option the order form in Notepad. From
- here you can fill out the form and print it out. Follow the instructions on the form to
- mail in your payment. Once your payment is received, your registration code will be
- sent to you via e-mail or post according to your preference.
-
- Why do you need to have Internet Explorer 4 (IE4) or greater to use Quick Pay?
-
- IE4 has certain encryption abilities that we use to protect your information. We
- don't feel comfortable transferring your information without this security in place.
-
- I don't use Internet Explorer - I don't have it installed. Can I still use Quick Pay?
-
- No, you'll need to install IE4 to use Quick Pay. If you don't want to install IE4, please
- use one of our other fast purchase options such as Pay Online or Pay by phone.
-
-
- PROBLEMS?
-
- Purchasing Problems
-
- Quick Pay - If you are having a problem using the Quick Pay feature to upgrade
- Swarm, please be sure that your computer is connected to the Internet. Quick Pay
- requires that your computer be connected to the Internet. Usually, the following
- procedure will solve the problem: 1) Minimize Swarm, 2) Start your internet
- connection as you normally would 3) Return to Swarm 4) Click on the Quick Pay
- button 5) Click "I'm already connected"
-
- If you have started your Internet connection and followed the above steps and Quick
- Pay still does not work, click the Pay Online button found under the Other
- Registration Options button. (Be sure your computer is still connected to the
- internet) and follow the onscreen instructions.
-
- If that doesn't work, go to the following website:
-
- http://www.reflexive.net/buyswarm/
-
- If that does not work, please use the Pay by Phone feature. Our sales
- representative will help you upgrade.
-
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-
- Problem with Colors?
-
- If you have a problem with the colors being all messed up: 1) Click Options 2) Click
- Configure Video 3) Click the Info Tab 4) Click Fix Colors
-
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-
- Improving Performance on slower machines
-
- If you are experiencing choppy or slow game play, each of the tips below will speed
- up the game. We recommended that you try them in order and only do as many as
- are required to make the game perform at an acceptable level.
-
- 1. From the 'Options' - 'Configure Sound' dialog, turn 'Stereo' to 'Mono'.
- 2. From the 'Options' - 'Configure Sound' dialog, turn 'Mixing' to 'Faster'.
- 3. From the 'Options' - 'Configure Sound' dialog, mute the music. This will stop the
- music from streaming.
- 4. From the 'Options' - 'Configure Sound' dialog, mute the Master sound volume.
- This will avoid the overhead of mixing and playing all sounds.
-
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-
- Soundcard Problems
-
- Many older soundcards aren't fully compatible with Microsoft DirectX. Usually,
- simply updating your soundcard drivers will fix any strange sound problems you may
- encounter. Check with your manufacturer (or your soundcard manufacturer's web
- site) for the latest drivers.
-
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-
- Configuration Problems
-
- If you need to reset the original Swarm configuration, you can delete the Swarm.cfg
- file. This will reset video mode, sound levels, and controls.
-
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-
- The screen is too dark
-
- You can adjust the brightness levels from the 'Configure Video' menu.
-
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-
- Lockup or crashing problems
-
- If you experience any lockups or crashes, make sure that you have the latest DirectX
- drivers for your video and audio hardware. Most problems can be fixed by installing
- DirectX 8 but some manufactures have newer drivers than those included with
- DirectX 8. Be sure to contact the specific manufacture for your hardware for the
- latest drivers. Also be sure to reboot your computer before playing after a crash.
- Often times, without a reboot, the problem may lie in memory and will occur again.
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-
-
- Need more help?
-
- If you have other problems, please feel free to contact Reflexive Technical Support
- at: support@reflexive.net. Also, see the Swarm site at www.reflexive.net
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