Komputer for Alle 1999 #3

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Text File | 1998-03-09 | 15.4 KB | 389 lines

MEGABREAK V 1.1 COPYRIGHT (C) 1998 Knut Andreas Ruud VERSION 1.1 ----------- Improvements in version 1.1 of MegaBreak: - Over 100K smaller than the previous version, due to some optimised code, and slightly altered compiler-options. - Improved memory management. - 10 new quality levels; just type 'extras' to install, and then type '10levels' to play. - I've included my own nifty little textreader which displays the manual (the file you are reading right now). - A cheat-mode has been added, which enables you to skip levels. I'm not going to tell you what it is, though. OK, I'm going to tell you a little.. Here are some hints: * You have to type the word into the hi-score table, and when you have typed the correct word, you can skip levels by pressing [Space]. * It's a norwegian word. * It's one of norway's major export products. FREEWARE -------- This game is released as freeware. This means that you can, and should pass this game on to your friends. You are also encouraged to upload this software to BBS's and FTP-sites. However, you are not allowed to distribute this game in a modified form, or charge money for it. HEALTH WARNING -------------- A very small percentage of individuals may experience epileptic seizures when exposed to certain patterns or flashing lights. Exposure to certain light patterns or backgrounds on a television screen or while playing video games may induce an epileptic seizure in these individuals. Certain conditions may induce epileptic symptoms even in persons who have no prior history of seizures or epilepsy. If you, or anyone in your family, has an epileptic condition, consult your physician prior to playing. If you experience any of the following symptoms while playing a video game: dizziness, altered vision, eye or muscle twitches, loss of awareness, disorientation, any involuntary movement, or convulsions, IMMEDIATELY discontinue use and consult your physician before resuming play. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ------------------- These are the minimum system requirements you need to run MegaBreak: 486 or better processor, VGA or 100% compatible graphics adapter, mouse or similar input-device. CONTENTS -------- PLAYING INSTRUCTIONS......................................... 1.0 CONTROLS................................................. 1.1 POWER-UPS AND BONUSES.................................... 1.2 THE 'HIDDEN' POWER-UPS................................... 1.3 THE POWER-UP ICONS....................................... 1.4 THE BONUS PANEL & THE BONUS LETTERS...................... 1.5 THE BRICKS................................................... 2.0 THE MENU SYSTEM.............................................. 3.0 THE LEVEL EDITOR............................................. 4.0 MAKING YOUR OWN LEVELS................................... 4.1 USING YOUR LEVELS WITH MEGABREAK......................... 4.2 TROUBLE-SHOOTING............................................. 5.0 SOME NOTES................................................... 6.0 DISCLAIMER................................................... 7.0 1.0 - PLAYING INSTRUCTIONS -------------------------- Playing MegaBreak should be very straightforward. However, there are some fine points you will need to master to get the most out of this game. This guide will explain how to play the game; from the most basic aspects, to how to use the bonus and power-up systems, and how they work. 1.1 - CONTROLS -------------- To play MegaBreak you will need a mouse. When you start the game, a pad will appear at the bottom of the screen. Moving your mouse from left to right will make the pad move from left to right. To get the ball moving, press either of the mouse buttons, depending on which direction you want it to go in. Pressing the left mouse button will make the ball go to the left, and the right mouse button will make the ball go to the right. Hitting the ball with the left side of the pad will make it bounce off in that direction. Hitting the ball with the outer left side of the pad (the red area of the pad), will make the ball bounce off in an sharper angle to the left. The same rules apply for the opposite side of the pad. 1.2 - POWER-UPS AND BONUSES --------------------------- In MegaBreak you will encounter 8 different power-ups. These are divided into two groups. The first group of power-ups is represented as 4 icons on the MegaBreak panel (see THE POWER-UP ICONS section for more info). The other group of 4 power-ups is not represented on the screen. They will therefore be reffered to as 'hidden' power-ups. See the section below for an explanation of these. 1.3 - THE 'HIDDEN' POWER-UPS ---------------------------- The 'hidden' power-ups in MegaBreak do not appear often (except for the BONUS LETTER, which will appear quite frequently), so don't excpect to see them as soon as you start playing. Anyway, here is an explanation of what they do: * MEGABOMB: When you get this, all the bricks on the screen will vanish in a big explosion, thus leading you too the next level. * EXTRA LIFE: Hmm, I dunno what this does. Actually, it gives you an extra life. * BONUS LETTER: This will light one of the Bonus Letters visible at the near-bottom of the screen. These letters are closely connected to The Bonus Panel visible right above the letters (See THE BONUS PANEL section for an explanation of what this means). * ENHANCER: This power-up is quite strange in that it does not do anything of its own. The Enhancer power-up has to be used in conjunction with another power-up to work. Power-ups that are compatible with the Enhancer power-up are the Shooting Bat and the Laser Rescue. When you recieve the Enhancer power-up, the red areas on your bat will start to flash, indicating that the Enhancer is active. The enhancer will be kept active until the level is finished. In this time you can activate any Enhancer compatible power-ups you might have available. See the section below for details on how each power-up will be modified by the Enhancer. 1.4 - THE POWER-UP ICONS ------------------------ What's unique about The Power-up Icons, is that you can save them for later use. Instead, it's respective icon will be lit. Now, when you want to use the power-up, you simply press the number assigned to it. This is a much more flexible approach to power-ups than the one found in most games of this type, because you can choose to use the power-up whenever you feel you need it the most. Here is an explanation of The Power-up Icons (from left to right): * STRONG BALL: This power-up makes your ball stronger, so that you can destroy 3-hit and 2-hit bricks in one smash. For every normal brick you hit with the Strong Ball, the score will be doubled. Using this power-up in conjunction with a bonus-multiplier can seriously increase your points (see the next section). * SHOOTING BAT: This power-up will equip your bat with a gun capable of shooting bricks, meaning that you will be able to finish the level faster. This power-up has a small side-effect: If you apply this power-up while the magnet bat power-up is active (see below), the magnet will dissappear. When used together with the Enhancer power-up, your pad will be equipped with a rapid autofire facility. * MAGNET BAT: This will activate the electro-magnet on your pad. This means that every time the ball hits the pad, the ball will get stuck on the pad, until released by either of the mouse-buttons. * LASER RESCUE: This power-up is the least common of the power-ups listed here. It will activate a laser right below your ship, meaning that - if you missed the ball, the laser will rescue it. However, this laser will be destroyed after one rescue. When used with the Enhancer power-up, the Rescue Laser will withstand two rescues instead of one. 1.5 - THE BONUS PANEL & THE BONUS LETTERS ----------------------------------------- The Bonus Panel is located somewhere around the middle of the MegaBreak sidebar. It contains 4 slots which when lit/activated will give you a bonus. In ascending order these bonuses are: * X2: This will give you a bonus in the form of a bonus-multiplier, which means that everytime you receive a score (when hitting a brick for example) it will be doubled. * X3: This is a triple bonus-multiplier. * X4: Strangely enough, this is a quadruple bonus-multiplier. You can gain some serious points with the aid of this little thingy activated. * JACKPOT: This is the real biggy! When activated you will receive a very large bonus. The size of this bonus depends on your current score. After this bonus has been used the Bonus Panel will be reset, and you will receive the same bonuses again. So, how do you light these Bonus Panels? Well, this is where the Bonus Letters come in. Every time you get a Bonus Letter "power-up", a Bonus Letter on the MegaBreak sidebar will light up. When all these letters are lit, you will receive the next item on the Bonus Panel. The Bonus Letters will then be reset back to their normal state again. 2.0 - THE BRICKS ---------------- There are a total of 13 bricks in MegaBreak. These are divided into 3 groups: plain bricks, rough bricks, and multiple-hit bricks. Here's an explanation of them: * PLAIN BRICKS: These are the most basic of all bricks you will encounter in MegaBreak. You will recognize them as the first bricks you encounter, and they all have a clean look to them. They come in 5 colours: blue, red, yellow, gray and white. Smashing one of these will give you 50 points. * ROUGH BRICKS: After playing through the 5 first levels, you will start encountering these bricks. They have a dithered or rough look (as the name suggests). They come in the same colours as the plain bricks, but smashing one of these will give you 100 points. * MULTIPLE-HIT BRICKS: These come in two flavours: double-hit and triple hit. As the name implies, the double-hit bricks need to be hit two times and the triple-hit bricks must be hit three times in order to be destroyed. The number of times you must hit a brick for it to disappear is represented by the number of nails bolted on each brick. When you hit the brick, the number of nails will decrease. 3.0 - THE MENU-SYSTEM --------------------- The menu-system can be brought up at any time during play by pressing [ESC]. It is incredibly easy to use. Move the selector using the arrow-keys, and hit enter to select an option. 4.0 - THE LEVEL EDITOR ---------------------- As you might have noticed there is a level editor included with MegaBreak. Although it should be very easy to use, there are some things you need to know before you can start using it. 4.1 - MAKING YOUR OWN LEVELS ---------------------------- To start making a new level, start up the level editor in the following way: levledit <mylevel.map> where mylevel is the name of your level. For example, if I want to make a level called knut, I'd write: levledit knut.map When this is done, the level-editor is brought up. On the right hand-side of the screen, there's a bunch of bricks, and two buttons. Click on any brick to 'draw' with that brick, and click with the left mouse button in the grid to place bricks. Use the right mouse button to erase bricks. To save your level, click on the Save button or press the [s] key. To quit click the Quit button or press the [q] key. 4.2 - USING YOUR LEVELS WITH MEGABREAK -------------------------------------- When you have created one or more levels, you can use them in the game by starting MegaBreak with the -mylevels switch. E.g. : megbreak -mylevels MegaBreak will now use all the map-files it finds in the MegaBreak directory instead of the normal levels. You will not be able to use the bonus-level facility, though. Tip: The levels you make are sorted by date, which means that the levels will appear in the order you made them. Keep this in mind if you want to have your levels in a specific order. Note: All levels must be in the same directory as MegaBreak itself, and all files must have a .map file-extension. 5.0 - TROUBLE SHOOTING ---------------------- Here are some common problems you might encounter when running MegaBreak: Problem: On startup MegaBreak reports that I don't have a mouse-driver installed, and the game refuses to run. Solution: If you have a mouse connected to your PC, you need drivers for it to function in DOS. This usually involves loading a small program called mouse.com when you start up your machine. Usually this file is located under a directory called MOUSE, however, this might be different on some systems. Supposing mouse.com is present in the MOUSE directory, add the following line in your autoexec.bat file: c:\mouse\mouse Save and then reboot. MegaBreak should now function perfectly. Problem: I have played MegaBreak many times, and suddenly it locks up just before the title-screen appears. Solution: I haven't experienced problems like this before, but if you do, the most likely cause is a corrupt gfx.dat file. Try installing MegaBreak again, or replace gfx.dat. Problem: When I get to the later levels, the graphics are "damaged" and I can't destroy any bricks. Solution: I encountered this problem once, but I found that the solution is to reinstall the game or just replace the gfx.dat file. Unfortunately, this will also reset the high-score table. 6.0 - SOME NOTES ---------------- This game is not entirely finished. My original idea was to include sampled sound-effects. I tried to implement this with the help of a library called MikMod. However, compatibility problems arose with my gfx-lib, and I couldn't do it. If someone could help me with the sound-problem or if I find a way to do it myself, I will release another version of MegaBreak with sound included. 7.0 - DISCLAIMER ---------------- I (KNUT A. RUUD) DO NOT ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILTIY FOR ANY DAMAGE OR INJURY CAUSED BY THE USE OR MISUSE OF THIS SOFTWARE. NEITHER WILL I BE ABLE TO OFFER USER-SUPPORT IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE RUNNING THIS SOFTWARE.