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Cybersphere Playable Demo
-------------------------
(C)1994 PSYCON SOFTWARE
Demo Release Date: July 21, 1994
This demo may be freely distributed as long as the archive remains intact
and all the files within it remain unmodified. Absolutely no profit may
be made as a result of the distribution of this demo.
Files in this archive: - CybersphereDemo 314304 bytes
- CybersphereDemo.doc 10847 bytes
- AGARun 5264 bytes
- AGARun.doc 3493 bytes
- Readme.txt 636 bytes
Ordering Information:
---------------------
*************************************************
** The full game requires 1 megabyte of RAM. **
*************************************************
To order the game, write to the address below. Be sure to include
the following:
* Your name
* Your home address
* Name of the package you are ordering (Cybersphere)
* Your Amiga model (Amiga 500, etc.)
* Payment of $16.99 in Canadian funds, $12.49 in American funds,
or the equivalent
Payment can be made via cheque or money order payable to Clay Hellman.
This includes shipping and handling. NOTE: It is not a good idea to
send cash in the mail.
Send to: Psycon Software
C/O Clay Hellman
Box #73067
206 - 2525 Woodview Dr. S.W.
Calgary, AB T2W 6E4
Canada
Starting the Demo:
------------------
For non-AGA systems, simply execute the file 'CybersphereDemo'. To do
this, open a CLI or Shell window and enter the above filename.
AGA systems will require the small AGARun utility that is supplied in
the archive. This utility was included with written permission from the
author, Christopher Bailey.
To run the demo on an AGA system, enter:
AGARun -np CybersphereDemo (to run in NTSC mode)
AGARun -pp CybersphereDemo (to run in PAL mode)
NOTE: The game was developed for NTSC systems, however it runs equally
well in PAL mode at a slightly slower pace. (5/6 of NTSC speed).
Requirements:
-------------
Demo Requirements: * An Amiga system with 512k of RAM
* One mouse
* (Optional) A joystick or additional mouse for dual
player games (additional mouse strongly recommended)
The following does not apply to the demo, but to the full game only.
Game Requirements: * An Amiga system with 1 meg of RAM
* Either a joystick or a mouse (mouse strongly
recommended)
* (Optional) A joystick or additional mouse for dual
player games (additional mouse strongly recommended)
Features of the full game:
--------------------------
* Over 40 single player levels!
* Over 40 dual player levels!
* Ten (Yes, 10) exciting single player bonus stages!
* Separate single and dual player top 15 score lists!
* Win/loss records for dual player games!
* Different graphics for each of five sectors in the game!
* Separate 212-color palette for each individual board!
* Mega option screen featuring control options, sound test,
difficulty level and more!
* More exciting tunes!
* Hard Drive Installable!
The Basic Idea
--------------
The object of the game is to bounce a ball against bricks, destroying them
and accumulating points. The ball must not make its way past your paddle,
which you control using a mouse or joystick/control pad. Whenever the
ball hits your paddle, it bounces back up at an angle relative to the
position that the ball hits the paddle at. Knowing this, the ball can
be aimed at targets, and with a little practice this becomes easy.
Each board consists of an arena with walls and bricks. In single player
games, the paddle is at the bottom of the arena which is open. In dual
player games, player 1's paddle is at the bottom and player 2's paddle
is at the top.
The Details:
------------
- There are five sectors in the full game, with each sector containing
various numbers of levels. However, the demo contains only a single
sector containing three levels. In this demo, sector selection is
done prior to gameplay, and there is only one sector to choose.
- You will only lose a life if you let the last ball on the screen
past you. When you let the second last ball past, you will see
a 'fatal ball' warning message. When a player dies in the dual
player mode, the other player is awarded 2000 points.
NOTE: You cannot lose a life in a bonus stage!
- Many of the bricks will let out gems and items when destroyed. The
gems are worth 50 bonus points each, but these points are only
tallied at the end of a level, or upon entrance/exit of a bonus
stage. You lose all your gems when you lose a life. The various
items will be discussed later in this document.
- Bonus stages are encountered when a bonus item is collected.
(SINGLE PLAYER GAMES ONLY)... There are two bonus stages in this
demo, and one will be randomly chosen when this item is collected.
Upon entrance, all bonuses will be tallied. When the bonus stage
is exited, bonuses will once again be tallied, and you will return
to where you left off on your level.
- In dual player mode, each ball can be either blue (player 1's color)
or green (player 2's color). Each ball turns to your color whenever
it bounces off your paddle. Whenever the ball is your color, you
get all the points for whatever it destroys, and all items and gems
resulting from the explosion will fall toward your paddle.
- The keyboard functions are as follows:
- ESC -- Resets the game at all times.
- P -- Pauses game and shows score during gameplay
- Space -- Pauses game and shows score during gameplay
-- Chooses menu options
- Enter -- Chooses menu options
- Up & Down Arrows -- Moves pointers up and down in menus
- The functions of the fire button(s) are as follows:
-- Chooses menu options
-- Launches balls that are being held by the paddle
-- Fires shots when paddle has firing capability
-- Prevents grabbing of ball when paddle has hold capability (button
must be held down during a bounce to avoid grabbing it)
NOTE: A fire button counts as either the joystick button or
the left mouse button.
The Bonus System:
-----------------
Bonuses are tallied in three places: (1) Upon completion of a level,
(2) Upon entrance of a bonus stage, and (3) Upon exit of a bonus
stage. NOTE: Bonus stages only appear in single player games.
Four Basic Bonuses:
(1) Gem Bonus - 50 points awarded for every gem
(2) Wide Bonus - 1000 points if your paddle was wide
(3) Hold/Fire Bonus - 1000 points if you had Hold or Fire
(4) Multiball Bonus - 1000 points if you had two balls going,
and 2000 points if you had three balls
Special Bonus Stage Bonus:
(1) Survival Bonus - Appears only upon exit of a bonus stage
- 5000 points awarded if bonus stage has
been successfully completed
- 2500 points awarded if bonus stage was
exited early with another Bonus Item
- No survival bonus awarded if ball(s)
were all lost in bonus stage
NOTE: Lives are never lost in bonus
stages.
Items:
------
Each item appears as a rotating circular object with a letter or symbol
inside. 100 points are awarded for collecting one, regardless of what
it does. (This includes the blank one!)
W - Wide (Increases paddle size)
F - Fire (Gives firing capability)
H - Hold (Gives hold capability)
NOTE: The above three items act as toggles. (Ex. Getting a W when your
paddle is already wide results in it shrinking back to normal).
Also, you can never have Fire and Hold at the same time. Fire
removes Hold and vice versa.
S - Slow (Slows down all balls that are your color)
(blank) - Does absolutely nothing
<GEM SHAPE> - 10 Gems
! - Gem Loss (Halves gem count)
B - Ball (Adds ball - maximum 3 in single mode, 2 in dual)
G - Guard (Places temporary guard below your paddle)
L - Extra life (Possibility of one per sector only)
? - Random item
+ - Bonus item (4 Cases)
(1) - In single player mode - enters random bonus stage
(2) - If already in bonus stage - exits with half
of the full survival bonus
(3) - In dual player mode - gives 2000 points
(4) - In single player mode - gives 2000 points if
level has already been cleared or bonus item has
already been collected for bonus stage entrance
Scoring Summary:
----------------
Blocks only score points when they disappear completely.
- Small Blocks - 50 pts
- Large Blocks - 80 pts
- Powerup Collection - 100 pts
- Bonus Item collected in dual player mode - 2000 pts
- Bonus Item collected after level complete
or after bonus stage entrance determined - 2000 pts
- Opponent dies in dual player mode - 2000 pts
The following bonuses are tallied upon completion of levels and upon
entrance/exit of bonus stages.
- Gem Bonus - 50 pts (per gem)
- Wide Bonus - 1000 pts
- Hold/Fire Bonus - 1000 pts
- Multiball Bonus with 2 balls - 1000 pts
- Multiball Bonus with 3 balls - 2000 pts
The following bonus is tallied only upon exiting a bonus stage.
- Survival Bonus (Clearing Bonus Stage) - 5000 pts
- Survival Bonus (Early exit with Bonus Item) - 2500 pts
Technical Stuff:
----------------
Cybersphere was coded entirely in MC68000 Assembly language for optimum
speed and efficiency. A custom screen-handling routine was developed to
allow the speed of the frame updating to fluctuate without having the
actual pace of the game slowing down. When there are extreme amounts of
moving or animated objects on the screen, the frame rate will decrease
without the game itself slowing down. This is achieved by having the
actual game routines get executed within a frame interrupt, and having
an outside routine do the frame updating as fast as it can. Because of
this, Cybersphere will in fact take advantage of the speed of faster
Amigas or Amigas with real 'Fast RAM'. It runs perfectly fine on an
unacellerated Amiga though. Faster Amigas only result in the capability
to display more objects without the frame rate decreasing. The game was
developed on an NTSC system, however it runs equally well in PAL mode at
a slightly slower pace. (5/6 of NTSC speed).
**** Enjoy the demo!! ****
*************************************************************
** REMEMBER -- The full game requires 1 megabyte of RAM. **
*************************************************************
Credits:
--------
Game design and Coding - Clay Hellman
Graphics - Clay Hellman
Music and Sound - Clay Hellman
Playtesting and Ideas - Christopher Bailey
- Shane Bro
- Brent Moore
Additional Playtesting - Chris Hellman
- Kevin Orde
AGARun Utility (included) - Christopher Bailey
(C)1994 PSYCON SOFTWARE