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******************************** * * * T O T A L E X C E S S * * * ******************************** ( written with AMOS© ) (C) 1 9 9 5 by NICK THE GREEK ® & © (Nick the Greek ® is registered trademark of N I C O L A S E L E F T H E R I A N O S) [ the author ] -------------------------------------------- A M O S is ® & © by FRANCOIS LIONET -------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER:THIS PROGRAM IS PROVIDED "AS IS".IN NO EVENT WILL THE AUTHOR NICOLAS ELEFTHERIANOS BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DIRECT,INDIRECT,INCIDENTAL ,CONCEQUENTIAL OR GENERALLY ACCIDENTAL DAMAGES MADE TO YOUR SYSTEM AND RESULTING FROM INCORRECT USE OF THIS PROGRAM OR/AND ITS ACCOMPANYING FILES. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I. GENERAL INFORMATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ T O T A L E X C E S S is my third game programmed with AMOS Basic and my first shootemup game for the AMIGA( I hope not the last ).It took me almost a year to complete because 99.99% of the programming was done by me , with the outstanding help of myself (!!!!!); in other words ,I was working alone in this project. The music and the samples were taken from CDPD 1 disk,made by FRED FISH,while ( most ) of the graphics were made by an AMIGA FREAK who doesn't like publicity! I can't say this game is something special in order to face those «beasts» - made in assembly - some great programmers release,( like R-TYPE,PROJECT-X ,APIDYA,D-HERO etc ) but it stands by its own and-after all-its pure fun ! It also shows what a **BASIC** programmer can do with the help of a simple language like AMOS ( well,almost simple! ) and a small knowledge about his fabulous computer,like the AMIGA ! II.REASONS FOR WRITING THIS GAME ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There were three main reasons for doing so: 1) I always liked the computers and all the things someone could do with them (graphics etc.) , so as soon as I bought my AMIGA I could not think of an easier way of combining all the 'tricky' effects I could think than creating a demo.But since I did not have any other knowledges apart from Basic I gave up.That's when AMOS came into the scene as «a games' creator» 2) I just looooove shoot-em-ups,downs,lefts,easts, wests etc. etc. etc. so I thought: Hey!!!why not make one by myself since I have AMOS? 3) Among the huge family of PC-USERS there were a few guys (idiots!) who told me once that «only their FLEXIBLE ( aaaaaarrrrghhh!!!!! ) SYSTEMS are capable of producing software able to stand by itself.» -in other words : « HEY ! I've got a C-Compiler version 9.569200132 +++++++ for my PC but although I don't know how to use it I'm sure it's capable of creating some nice programs !!!» { Well guys, this game is made with BASIC and it is dedicated (partly) to you } ( Please DO NOT misunderstand me ! I am not an enemy of these excellent languages. But I DO NOT LIKE those people who KNOW NOTHING about their computers and keep saying that they own a true ( ha! ha! ha! ) multitasking computer with the latest version of DOORS XP and WINDOWS MC.) III. DONATIONS ( or: NO PAY'N' NO GAIN ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This demo-version of T O T A L E X C E S S ® is a SHAREWARE / FREEWARE program(see `FREELY DISTRIBUTABLE'),which simply means: 1. Play it (you'll like it!!!) 2. Play it again!!! 3. Re-Play it!!!(sounds boring!) 4. Think : "Do I like it?" (I hope yes!) 5. If you do like it then... ...I would appreciate it if you send me some money for it (in fact I would appreciate anything:money,money,money,money or even money!!!). Cars,boats, planes,computers would be appreciated too,but.....please don't send me any PCs because I'm gonna turn them into pieces ! Also note that when you send me some money you will become a REGISTERED USER ( see `REGISTRATION' ) and you'll have the source code ABSOLUTELY FREE . ( a real must for -ALL- AMOS coders ) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - F R E E L Y D I S T R I B U T A B L E - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (You shouldn't pay more than a nominal copying fee in order to get this prg, in other words if you paid more than 2.5 times of the price of an empty disk for this program , then go find the man who sold it to you and tell him some "nice" words.Also INFORM ALL PEOPLE of that ugly...eeeerr...person) The fact that this demo is shareware/freeware means that you may give this demo to your friends,your enemies,your mates,your parents,to Public Domain Houses,to BBSes etc. BUT......you are allowed to USE IT FOR A LIMITED PERIOD of time ( about 20 days ) . After that period of time YOU * MUST * BECOME A REGISTERED USER (just see below).YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO INCLUDE THIS DEMO IN COMMERCIAL PACKAGES, OR OTHER PROGRAM COMPILATIONS WITH TOTAL COST > 35 US $ WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE PROGRAMMER (That's me!). You are however strongly encouraged to include this Demo in PD-compilation disks or CDs ( such as FRED-FISH,AMINET etc. ). My address is: NICOLAS ELEFTHERIANOS 56 MILTIADOU STREET PALAION FALIRON 17563 ATHENS GREECE (Sorry!No E-Mail or access to InterNet yet!) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - P A Y M E N T M E T H O D S & R E G I S T R A T I O N - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Postal money orders and Eurochecks are the advised methods of payment. -> DO NOT SEND MONEY BY MAIL ! <- ********************************************************************** * I will only accept U.S Dollars ($) , British pounds (£) , German * * marks (DM) or Greek Drachmas (drs).Anyway I won't hang you if you * * can't afford it with these currencies,but please try ! At least * * make sure it is European currency . * ********************************************************************** In order to Register and take the Full Version and the source codes you must send me [8000 drs] or [55 US$] or [35 £] or [85 DM]. If you wish to have the game only then you must send me [4000 drs] or [21 US$] or [14 £] or [32 DM]. ..if you are a politician or a priest then you MUST pay 10000 times more the previous values ( oh,goodie! ) ..if you are a magazine or an organisation or a software group then you could give me a copy of the magazine or a post card or suggestions. After receiving the money I'll send you the FULL game and the code.If you become a registered user you will have a 20% price cut-off for ALL my future releses and you will get their source code for FREE ! IV. SOME WORDS ABOUT THE FULL GAME ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TOTAL EXCESS ® is a horizontal right-to-left shoot-em-up. It was entirely made with AMOS and special programing technics have been used to make this game really stand out of the crowd . Speed and colours are some of its own characteristics as well as special effects only seen in programs made with assembly ( till now ! ) . This demo - and the full game of course - uses a large mixture of AMOS and AMAL instructions.You can admire the results ! This demo is a single-stage demo of the original game with most of its features disabled . The full game has five stages , selection for in-game music or sound effects , hi-score table with 50 ( yes,fifty ! ) names and ability of saving these scores when quiting game , as well as a very fast bonus section similar to that found in ProjectX . Not to mention that the full game is Hard-Disk installable too ! [ Coders will realise that this game is an excellent example of structured programming! Over 100 ( that's right , one hundred! ) procedures are awaiting you ! ] HOW TO PLAY THIS GAME *********************** It's very simple.Just shoot everything that moves using your fire-button and avoid any "unnecessary meetings" by moving your ship around with your joystick. If you hold down the fire-button,your ship will store energy and when you release it ( the button,not the ship !) an ultramegasuperblasting ( etc,etc,etc ) beam will be released , causing the destruction of most of your enemies which will meet,or apparently causing them a great damage.You will understand if one of the enemy spacecraft has received a great damage by its flash when it encounters your firings.WARNING!WARNING! Some of your enemies are tough guys and will require too many shots to be destoyed.Some others need to be shot ONLY with the super beam in order to be destroyed. If you are shot by an enemy ship or collide with it then you will loose a life,( a maximum of five lives are given in this demo ) and after that you will be invurnerable to the enemies for a limited period of time. The full version gives you the ability to use a limited number of shields, but this option has been disabled from the demo . Your hiscore update on the screen has been disabled too , as well as some other features which you will find when you register and get the full game. During the game you may quit by just pressing the ESCAPE button. V. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS & GENERAL INSTALL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ T O T A L E X C E S S ® will run on all Amigas fitted with at least 1Mb of memory. If you own such a system and find out that the game doesn't load then you must switch off the AMIGA and disable ALL EXTERNAL DEVICES as the game requires 500-650 KBytes free memory.The game has been tested and works fine on the following machines: A500 (0.5 MB CHIP + 0.5 MB FAST) A500+ (2 MB CHIP) CDTV (1 MB CHIP) A1200 (2 MB CHIP) A1200 (2 MB CHIP + 4 MB FAST) A2000 (1 MB CHIP) A4000/30 (2 MB CHIP + 2 MB FAST) A4000/40 (2 MB CHIP + 4 MB FAST) INSTALLATION ^^^^^^^^^^^^ In order to make a bootable floppy disk with this demo you should follow these steps : a) Format a blank disk as "TE:"( or any other name that doesn't start with "DF" as this may confuse the program ) b) Create two directories: one named "LIBS" and one named "S" c) Copy diskfont.library,icon.library and mathtrans.library in the "LIBS" directory. d) Create a script file named "Startup-Sequence" and save it in the "S" directory.This file should have as contents the name of the game eg.: T_E e) use the INSTALL command of your Workbench Disk in order to make your new disk bootable If you are the happy owner of an AMIGA with HARD-DISK then you can run the game from the Hard-Disk too. Just copy ALL the files contained in the disk, in the drawer you like. I don't know if the program may be installed on the Hard-Disk of a system equipped with 0.5 MB FAST & 0.5 MB CHIP memory only.The Hard-Disk consumes around 200K of memory from the AMIGA,so if that memory is CHIP memory then the game won't be able to allocate the memory it needs.( around 300 K CHIP memory ) It is very easy to run the demo:Just double-click its icon from the WB,or type "TOTAL_EXCESS" from the CLI, AFTER HAVING CDed IN THE DIRECTORY WHERE THE GAME AND ITS FILES LIE. VI. SOME APOLOGIES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I would like to clear out some things about this game: When I first sat down to make this game,I had in mind a simple game that would run even on 512K Amigas.However as long as the development was advancing , I kept adding more features to the game - a fact that had as result the need for more memory . The game in it's final form requires 1MB of memory to run. However the adding of more features resulted in the loss of speed and the decrease in the numbers of frames/sec ingame. Yes , I know this isn't a big problem - you can still play the game on a simple Amiga A500 with around 20 frames/sec . In order to make happy the AGA users , I have added more levels of scrolling inside the game - however the speed has been slown down because when I tried to play the game on an A1200 , it was more difficult because it was running at 30-50 frames/sec! You might be wondering : "- Why not faster?".The answer is that the game is being slown down by some HEAVY bitmap operations - even on AGA machines.That proves that the AGA chipset isn't very fast compared to the OCS chipset . TIME FOR THE AAA ADD-ON FOR THE A1200 MAYBE??? Also-as it was very soon revealed to me after many tests-the use of math functions ( eg MATHTRANS.library ) by AMOS programs slows down a program , especially when too many conditions and checks are met. I have optimised the code and thus eliminated this problem and as a result my future games will be FASTER by a factor of about 20%.( Sorry but I just didn't have enough much time to modify this game ) By the time I was finishing these lines (around February of 1995) I had also completed the development of some new routines that give : - 30 frames/sec on an A500! - new improved copper routines - 4 colour background with independent movement from the foreground screen and all that in -guess- an A500!!! So expect from now the sequel to TOTAL EXCESS . I am waiting for the official release of an AGA extension for AMOS and then..... .....but in the meantime don't forget to register for this game. I really did spend a HUGE AMOUNT OF EFFORTS AND TIME in making the game and my decision to continue the support of the Amiga and the Amos language with new programs/games will depend entirely on your support and appreciation of my efforts. VII. WORDS OF « WISDOM » ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If we wish ourselves to face the facts then we MUST have in mind these: ( 1 ) Good games and/or programs DO NOT MAGICALLY APPEAR ! ( 2 ) Paying for a shareware means appreciation for the efforts of the creator and creation of a strong backbone for the support of the good Amiga software. ( 3 ) I understand that most of you have spent a HUGE AMOUNT of money for original software and now regret it , but the difference with freeware/shareware is that you get back -in various ways- what you give.In simple words by becoming a *registered* user you get the source code , a significant cut-off in ALL FUTURE RELEASES,updated future versions for free and all that by paying less money than you would do for buying this game original. Not to mention the chance you have to be programmers by yourselves ! ( 4 ) The AMIGA PD/SHAREWARE/FREEWARE area is an area of programming wealth ! You may find EVERYTHING and at the RIGHT cost . YOU JUST HAVE TO REGISTER ! Many programs are great even compared to the commercial ones ! ( 5 ) If you think that this program is very big then you are wrong ! It could be bigger !!! Much bigger !!!!!! Unfortunately there were some reasons for not making it bigger : ¹) The fact that I was working alone in the programming area. ²) The absence of memory ! Isn't it silly ? We are in the mid-90s and only 2MB are considered to be base-memory in AGA mchs not to mention the OCS ones ! Well I've got only 1MB ! (while some other systems require some 8 MBs of memory and 100s of free hard-disk space in order to run an application via their archaic DOS!) ³) I am keeping some nice ideas for my next release ( AGA & full 4 MB support ? Well who knows ?!? ) ( 6 ) Long live the AMIGA ( hurays,screams etc. ) ! ( 7 ) A Nice Message ( you know for whom ): You came in PeaCe... ...but you'll leave in PIECES. ( 8 ) " Of course you realise this means war ! " [ Bugs Bunny ] " Hasta la Vista...Baby ! " [ Arnold Swarzenegger in T2 ] ( 9 ) Congratulations to all the people behind the demo and hacking scene . Well,without them our beloved computer would not have the abilities and the glory it has now ! Congratulations to FRANCOIS LIONET for making this amazing type of language . My game is partly dedicated to him . Also congratulations to all independent programmers who release their programs in the PD scene ! What a pitty I can't even see most of these progs since I own WB 1.3 ! Thank you for the time you spent reading this doc...And remember : _____________________________________________________________________ There is only one computer better than an AMIGA... ...and that is another AMIGA. _____________________________________________________________________ NICK the GREEK ® ( Nicolas Eleftherianos )