PC Spiel 1996 April

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╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ OMICRON FIGHTER by PRO LOGIC SOFTWORKS ║ ║ Copyright 1996 by Eberhard Grummt ║ ║ ║ ╟───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢ ║ ║ ║ Coded and designed by Ixbone ║ ║ ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Contents │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 1 ......................... Opening Words 2 .......... Omicron Fighter installation 3 ....................... The game itself 3.1 ... The keylist and joystick commands 3.2 .................... The story so far 3.3 .................. Some helpful hints 4 ................... Oh, it's shareware! 5 .......................... How to order 6 ......................... Any problems? 7 ......... The making of Omicron Fighter ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 1. Opening Words │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ There it is! After over half a year Omicron Fighter is now released! What? You never heard of it? Well, that's no surprise, because nobody saw it before the Beta version was released. But why did ONE guy do the whole coding,the SFX and these cool graphics? Well, when I first had the idea of creating a shoot-em-up, I didn't expect it to be such a hard task. Another reason for beginning the coding for my own was that there weren't any people who could have really helped me. And this game was planned only to be a small program to test some things, but things have changed a bit... ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 2. Omicron Fighter installation │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ OK, you have downloaded or copied this nice little game, you probaly also want to play it, right? I know I don't have to tell most of you guys, but before that, you'll have to do some setups. You'll just have to run SETUP.EXE and do these setups - And that's all. Now feel free to start the game with OMICRON.EXE and: enjoy... ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 3. The game itself │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This chapter is a little bit longer than the others, and if you haven't played the game at all, you should check the Keylist some lines under this and start straight into space, you know what I mean? OK, when you started Omicron.exe and saw the short intro sequence,you can choose three options: either you can start a career, you can continue a career (if you do that when playing the first time, you will get a strange name and start from the very beginning, too!) or exit to DOS. After you have entered and confirmed your name (or chosen option two),you will get into your personal ready room and prepare yourself for the first mission. Now you can selecet different items by clickin'on them with your mouse. There is a mission computer for information in the wall to the left and a control panel on the right side of the red door. And there you have some possiblities again. You can turn the lights off (very important :-)),switch the music, save or end the game and of course you can use the lift to get to the hangar, where all the action begins! From there on you are on your own. The enemy will be out to kill you, so you will have to kill him first. And remember: you will get no chance to pass your target, when you face a hostage ship it's you or him! ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 3.1 The keylist and joystick commands │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Although a joypad or joystick is HIGHLY recommended, you can use the keyboard as input device, too. During the flying parts, your mouse will not be supported. KEYBOARD COMMANDS ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── <RIGHT SHIFT> ......... Moves ship down <LEFT SHIFT> .......... Moves ship up <SPACE>;<#>............ Fires your unlimited Weapon <S> ................... Fires your torpedo-launcher <M> ................... Launches a missile <B> ................... Drops a bomb (watch 'em blow!) <N> ................... Leaves the area (after ALL enemies are destroyed) and flys to next waypoint <ESC> ................. Leaves the game immediatly and returns to DOS JOYSTICK COMMANDS ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── JOSTICK UP and DOWN ... Moves your ship up and down BUTTON ONE ............ Fires your unlimited weapon BUTTON TWO ............ Fires your torpedo-launcher the other commands are similar to the ones described under KEYBOARD COMMANDS. See 'Useful hints' for some tips how to use your weapons wisely! ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 3.2 The story so far │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The Year is 2839. 354 years after the second atomic war the fight between the Alliance of Earth and the sydicates is still even. But when the Alliance seemed to get a big advantage by developing a new powerful weapon, the Syndicates,which didn't work together in the past, founded a strong confederation. From this point on, the war developed badly for the Alliance. They were forced to make use of the new, untested weapon... You are a young student who has finished his education on the Royal Space Academy some weeks ago. You were one of the best and most aggresive fighter pilots this academy had ever seen. But it was a big surprise, when two older men visited you and asked you to join then High-Level-Earth-Defense (HLED). They said that the war would develope quite badly and the democratic order of the World Government is in real danger. The time was running out,and so the decision was made, that a young fighter pilot will be the first man to fly the untested Omicron Strike Fighter... ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 3.3 Some helpful hints │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ This gonna be quite short, because this game is not some high-level tactical stuff but a true shoot 'em up. But if you know some things, it's more likely that you will enjoy this game. 1. Don't ever stay directly in front of an enemy, because you just cant't react as fast as these guys shoot. So try to hit them while passing past them. 2. If two or more opponents are in one line, it's not a good time to attack them, because their shots will add and it is likely you will be hit. 3. Don't fire torpedos on some weak enemy, that's a pure waste. Torpedos are designed for big an powerful enemies. 4. Your missiles are very powerful, and you should use them for two things: When an enemy is very near and you can't afford to be hit once more, you better fire a missile, because you don't have to get in front of the opponent for doing that. But the missiles are mainly designed to destroy big things like transporters or bases. With your ship's guns you will have a to fire many, many shots to destroy such stuff. However, the missiles are the most powerful weapon you can have in the shareware version of the game. 5. When enemies fire guided missiles on you, you have some more problems. Your only advantage is that these missiles just can't react as fast as you. So keep on moving in such situations! ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 4. Oh, it's Shareware! │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Yeah, that's right. The game you have here is Shareware, which you can freely distribute, upload and copy. You can only see a little bit of the game, I know that 3 Mission are not much. But, however, if you register you will get the whole game with: * New enemies and planets * New weapon systems * Forwardings and new bases to be at * Assaults on hostage bases * 30 Missions with a cool story and all new graphics! I'm a young programmer and although I still go to school, I spent much time on this program. To be more exact I spent over half a year with it, because I had to write all the routines I used. Upcoming products will use these routines, too, and so it won't take as long as this. I think that's clear. So if you register, I see that you like my first try to create a game, and the little money I get from you I will use to get better by buying books, tools etc. But Acknowledgement is the most important thing for us, and a good way to express it are pieces of paper with famous people... ≡8^) ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 5. How to order │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ It's simple. Just send me a letter with your order and the money. Please don't send a foreign check, because processing them will cost up to 10 Dollars! So if you are able to send D-Marks it will be the best to do that. You don't have to send an envelope or any disks, I'll pay all that for you. The low prices are: *** $10 *** or *** 15,-DM *** for the full version of Omicron Fighter! Registering is a good way to support a beginning programmer. Please note and understand that programs made in a "period of learning" can never show the actual abilities of the coder, he would have to modify his program again and again to reach that aim and just couldn't finish. *********************** And here's the address: *********************** Eberhard Grummt Saarbrücker Straße 7 07749 Jena Germany Phone: +49/3641-55607 ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 6. Any problems? │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ The program has been beta-tested very well, but, however, you may find some bugs. Known problems you will probably find in this chapter. Please write me any trouble you have with my software. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 7. The making of OMICRON FIGHTER │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ OMICRON FIGHTER is my first real game, and making it took a very long time. Of course my primary task is to go to school, and so there isn't much time left for creating games. But the best time is weekend night. Unfortunately, it's a strange rhythm when you go to bed at 4 o'clock weekends and have to get up at 5.30 in the week... Besides that, the comsummation of coffein raises dramatically... Just like I wrote, the making of OF took over half a year, with about 20 hours of work per weekend. Of course, some weekends I also sat ALL the hours in my computer cave. In the first months of the project I didn't do so much, but when the game gets better and better, working is pure fun. If you are interested in the programmers logbook, you can read the file 'omicron.log'. It's written in German. And by the way, I began writing the logbook very late as the game engine already was developed, and so I just can't say when I began exactly. Now here's the version history: * 0.91b (Non-public Beta) - 2 missions, running with SB/Joystick * 0.92b (Non-public Beta) - runnig now also without soundcard and joystick, but too fast with Pentium-machines * 0.93b (public Beta) - 3 missions - compatible to all Test-PCs (SB/no SB, Joystick/NoJoy, Speedtest) - advanced graphics, startup screen and cecksum test - shareware-notes at the end with digital music (SB at 220H) - still level-warp with ESC * 0.94b (public Beta) - had problems with some mouse drivers - Some parts still too fast * 0.95b (final Beta) - some constructions have been changed - running correctly with fast systems, other mouse drivers etc. - no more level-warp with ESC, instead an "exit-to-DOS-question" - bugfixes, of course! * 1.00 (first Shareware-release) - running fine so far!