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Text File | 1994-08-19 | 21.8 KB | 473 lines

Codex Arcana I, Gate Crystal (C) 1994 Ed T. Toton III All Rights Reserved. NecroBones Software (tm) Special Thanks to: Jeremy A. Kusnetz OVERVIEW: Welcome to Codex Arcana, Episode 1: Gate Crystal! It is the first in a new series of games I hope to make, in which you shall be exploring all sorts of strange and wonderous worlds, in a continuing quest to get home to Earth. In this first episode, you are taken to a plane of reality in which the forces of the four elements collide, and you must work your way through each to reach the focal point, and make your exit. Episode 1 is mostly an action and a maze-pathfinding game, with a slight amount of dialogue and little bit of a "puzzle". In future games, I may shift more towards plot/story/dialogue, but we'll see! My intention is to continue the series by re-using the game engine, each time making it more flexible and more powreful, so that eventually I might have games much larger and more detailed (this one has just barely reached the limit of what can be fit in DOS without the aid of XMS/EMS, protected mode, some sort of swapping system, or any sort of DOS extender. The game could be made longer as it stands, in fact I could make it as long as I want, I just can't add any more images, sound effects, or music until I create some sort of image/sound manager that can do XMS/EMS/disk data swapping). SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: Codex Arcana I requires about 570,000 bytes free in every-day DOS memory. It also requires a minimum of a 386 processor, though a 486/33DX is the recommended minimum, since the graphics and the sound system both hog up CPU time in large quanities. This game also runs in VGA mode 13h, 320x200 w/ 256 colors, so any standard VGA system with a color monitor should work. PLAYING CODEX ARCANA: Playing is quite simple. Before you can run the game however, you must run the C-Config program to select your sound settings. When you run the game you will be presented with the game menu, simply select what you want. During the game there are several keyboard commands you should be aware of: Cursor keys = Move C = Change shirt color ~ = Toggle speed control [,] = Select object Spacebar = Fire weapon ! = Redraw screen G = Get object(s) D = Drop objects L = Look at selected object T = Talk R = System Resources S = Change skill level W = Select Weapon U = Use object P = Pause F1 = Help F2 = Save game F3 = Map screen F4 = Load game Once you have a weapon, to use it you must select it and press "U". This will put it in the area for readied weapons and armor. To select a weapon there, use the "W" key, and Spacebar actually fires the weapon. Pressing "U" for a potion makes you drink it immediately. Make sure you stock up on potions, you will need many. And Save OFTEN! To enter debugging (cheat) mode, press Ctrl-D, and the following will become active: Ctrl-T Add weapons, armor, etc. Ctrl-A Add Ammo You'll also want to note the existence of the "Guild of Mages" while you are cheating, and the Map screen can now be used to teleport of you have a mouse (and to edit the map). TECH NOTES: This is the second game of mine to include my new digital sound daemon ("daemon" is a network buzzword that refers to a background process that basically runs itself. It is simply an alternate spelling for "demon" and is pronounced the same), and the first to use the music feature, though I have made a few graphics/sound demos that used it. My sound daemon is capable of playing the music and sound effects out all of the supported devices simultaneously. It currently supports the Adlib, SoundBlaster, and internal speaker. For some reason, the Adlib seems to be rediculously quiet, so you may need to turn the volume up drastically. Don't expect to be able to understand much of the music if you select Internal Speaker, the speaker sucks rocks. This isn't the fault of the software. No matter how high of a mixing rate you use, a 1-bit DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) can't do much. You have been warned! :-) Technically my sound daemon can playback from 100 hz all the way up to 44,100 hz, however you can only play sound up to 20,000 hz or so when using a soundblaster in direct mode (you have to use DMA to go faster). However, the sound system really eats up CPU time, so slower rates will yield better system performance. You will have to choose a mixing rate appropriate to the speed of your computer. On my 486-33DX I usually run the game at 8,000hz without the game slowing down at all. This game is nearly 4000 lines of code (pascal and some assembly), excluding the units that contain all of the graphic routines, mouse routines, sound routines, file routines, credits scrolling routines, and my font routines. This totals to about 9770 lines, in my usual messy uncommented, and occasionally multi-command per line style. WHERE'D THAT NEAT-O TITLE SCREEN COME FROM? -By Jeremy A. Kusnetz- Did you like the title screen? Do you wish you could incorporate some scenes like that in some of your work, games, utilities, presentations, or WHATEVER? Now you CAN! Just read on... You can have still frames, in any format, any resolution. Animations in 320x200 or 640x480, in the .FLI format. Working together, we can make anything you want, if you can think it up, it probably can be done.. Of course, it all has a price.. As of this writing, April 1994, the prices for stills range from $20 - $200 per picture, depending on it's complexity, and technical difficulty.. Animations run $30 - $300 per second of animation, again depending on difficulty.. This might sound high, but when you consider the going commercial rate for 3D animation is $5000 per second, this really is a good deal. If this sounds interesting to you, you can contact me, Jeremy Kusnetz, at (301) 317-4969, or you can write me at: Jeremy Kusnetz 9520 Sweet Grass Ridge Columbia MD, 21046 You can also E-Mail me Via Prodigy by mailing FVPW01E, AOL by mailing JeremyAK, and through a private BBS, the Sorcerer's Quarters (410) 290-3752 by mailing EX... WHAT THE HELL IS NECROBONES ANYWAY?: Well, here's an interesting story. Here it is in a nutshell... One thing I have noticed is that people tend to download games that simply bear a name that they are familiar with from other games that they felt were enjoyable. I wanted to have a logo that would be instantly recognizable, something different and unique. Finally, in the fall of 1993 I decided that my games had reached a certain level of quality that the time had come for a name. In the BBS world, and in role playing games, I had often gone by the alias of Necromancer. In games and the like, I had always heavily used undead stuff (for about as long as I've been playing games, the undead were always my favorite nasty evil things). About eight years ago I created a small comic series (for fun) called Bones Comics (which I had continued to work on for about four years or so), and decided to merge that name with "Necromancer", resulting in "NecroBones". I wasn't sure (I'm STILL not sure) how well that name goes over with most people, but I DO know that it will stand out. So, what it all comes down to is this: NecroBones is me. Period. It's a name that I put on my games (and related things) that I feel are up to a certain level of quality. If I make something that doesn't meet those standards, I won't put the name on it. I'm not going to try to use the name to sell a smaller inferior product. The whole purpose of it is for you to be able to recognize the work of mine that meets certain standards I have set for myself. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Well, It's not often that I talk about myself in my documentation, but I'm sure some of you are curious (I know I'm always curious about the authors of programs I download). As of this writing, I'm a college student at UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County), majoring in Computer Science (big surprise eh?). I've been programming as a hobby for about 6 years straight. I started out in GWbasic, and finding it too slow and restrictive I quickly moved on to QuickBasic, which I continued to program in until almost exactly 3 years ago. I again switched at that time due to speed and size limitations in the language, and have since been programming primarily in Turbo Pascal 6.0, though occasionally in C as well. Why haven't I switched to C altogether? Well, it's this deal with what I'm most familiar with, and the fact that I have built up a huge collection of routines for every possible situation that could take forever to convert over to C, including my digital sound system, custom file accessing routines, and my graphics library. Also, I tend to get extremely impatient, and I'm quite happy with the fact that games such as this take no more than 3 or 4 seconds or so to compile on my computer in TP6. I've found pascal to be quite sufficient for writing shareware... well, at least with a little inline assembly language anyway (my graphics system, file system, and sound system are all written in assembly). While programming, and other general computer topics (such as anti-virus tactics, artificial life, digital music composing, etc) constitute my primary hobby, I do have others. A number of years ago I used to perform magic at childrens birthday parties, for instance (I'd still be doing it if I had the time to devote to it). I've been an avid Role Playing and Strategic War-Gaming fanatic as well. More recently I have gotten into some sculpting, and computer art. Meanwhile, my game programming is finally getting afloat. I'm starting to see some moderate success with my more recent games. I hope to continue the trend, and release more and more exciting and detailed games as time pushes forth... OTHER NECROBONES PRODUCTS: The following is a list of some NecroBones programs as of 3/24/94: Dragon's Domain - While not specifically a NecroBones product, this package or four games, Dragon's Domains 1 through 4, has been received well in certain circles. All four games are roughly based on the old Atari game ADVENTURE, but with slightly better graphics. Each game has graphics improvements over its predecessor. DragDom1 is better in graphics over Adventure only in the monsters and objects, while DragDom4 has completely bitmapped walls and such. The basic concept of each of these is to find your way through mazes, some lit, some not, and find certain objects. Along the way you will be presented with having to find the keys to the various castles, which can be a puzzle in itself. (sorry, no scrollie graphics, it's all static backgrounds). The 1-year anniversery package contains the entire tetralogy, plus a small "dragon card game" called Drahkarin. Skull Quest - Skull Quest I, The Cyan Sarcophagus, and Skull Quest II, The Vortex, are two fairly recent games of mine. They are side-view action/adventure games with smooth scrolling parallax backgrounds, and adlib music and sound effects. Can you save the crypt (and the rest of the world)? Only time will tell. Stellar Conquest II - This isn't so much a sequel as it is a revision of SC1. It is a stretegy space wargame for 0 to 4 human players (2-4 human/computer). It features full color VGA, taking advantage of both the hi-res and 256-color modes (256 color for menus, ship construction, etc, and hi-res for maps and the like). Players have to mine star systems with which to get resources to spend on more cargo ships, and weapon ships to fight the other players. There are many configurable options, and players get to design their own ships during gameplay. Stellar Conquest III- Like SC2, SC3 is more of a revision than a sequel. It is the same concept as SC2, same equations and numbers, etc. The interface has been greatly revised, and many new options are now available for the players. Ships can now have Jump pods, torpedo launchers, minelayers, and a new type of cloaking device. Since SC3 is basically the same game as SC2 but with so many more options and a much better interface, I rarely even advertise SC2 anymore. UFO, The Card Game - UFO is an UNO clone, but with a new twist. It talks! Making use of beautiful full-color VGA graphics, and soundblaster digital sound (will also play on adlib and internal speaker, with less sound quality), this game becomes quite addicting in a short time. In UFO (pronounced like UNO but with an "F"), you can play against up to 3 opponents, human or 'alien'. Alien opponents will talk! That's right, they taunt, whine, complain, and laugh their way through the game, each playing in their own unique playing style! This is a must for anyone who likes computer card games! Asteroid Mayhem - Remember the old arcade game "Asteroids"? And the old MacIntosh game called "Crystal Quest"? Well, elements of both have been combined to make Asteroid Mayhem! Targets abound, and there's plenty to wantonly destroy! Shoot up the asteroids, and collect the gems that were inside for points! With each passing level more asteroids appear, and bigger nastier aliens come into the fray. How high of a score can you get? Only time will tell. Asteroid Mayhem has a full suite of silly digital sound effects, and has fast-paced scrolling animation! All of these games can be downloaded from my BBS. In fact, you can download some of my older and more embarassing games as well! That's right, you can even download some of the ones I wrote in QuickBasic several years ago, such as Stellar Conquest #1! REVISION HISTORY: 1.01 - Documentation revisions LEGAL SHTUFFS: This game is being distributed as "shareware", which basically means "try before you buy". You are entitled to try out this program to evaluate its use to you. If you continue to use it you are expected to pay for it, as outlined in the REGISTRATION section below. You are also encouraged to give copies of the unregistered version to your friends, and upload it to bulletin boards. The copies you distribute MUST be unmodified, and must be the unregistered version of the program. If you are a shareware disk vendor, please see the section labelled "VENDORS" below. REGISTRATION: This program is being distributed on the "shareware" concept. Unlike many of my other programs and games, I have not built into this game a registration incentive. So this is actually more like "beggerware"... Here's the basic idea: Pleeeeeeeeease!! Pleeeeease send me money if you like it! <grin> Seriously, if you liked the game, please send me $5 or $10, or whatever you feel is appropriate. If you hate the program or found too many bugs, write me and tell me, and include a graphic explanation (but don't be too harsh!! Heheheh). In any event, write to: Ed T. Toton III 7101 Talisman Lane Columbia Md 21045 (USA) We accept cash, checks (ones that are paper, not rubber, if you catch my meaning), or money orders. Please make sure all checks and money orders are from US banks/postal-services, and all cash must be US legal tender. We regret to inform you that we no longer accept the following forms of payment: briefcases full of drugs, top secret documents, women, firstborn children, slaves, work animals, crates of firearms, and thumbtacks. :-) Please make sure you clearly spell out your name the way you would like it to appear in the program. If you would like copies of some of my other software, please send me a blank disk to send them to you on. And WHY should you register it? 1. To support my continuing efforts to bring you some level of functional programs. If I get no cash, you get no improvements in these programs, and I won't be encouraged to make new and better software! 2. To get that warm glow for knowing that you supported the author of at least one of the many shareware programs you probably use. 3. To find out if there is a newer version. All you need to do is ask! But letters with money take priority! 4. You could be sick and demented and thus register everything you get your hands on. 5. It's the right thing to do. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- VENDORS: Recently I have altered my policies concerning shareware vendors. Now you must first obtain written permission from the author before you can distribute this program. One reason for this is so that I may try to avoid certain "unpleasant" situations, but the main reason is merely so that I may keep track of what is being distributed where, and by whom. To obtain permission to distribute this program, simply write to me (same address as listed above for registration), and include the following information: 1. Your name (or company name) and address. 2. Your policies for encouraging your customers to register the shareware they obtain from you. 3. The cost the customers will pay for the program. 4. The means of distribution (i.e. mail order, disks in computers stores, disks at computer shows, etc). If you do not include this information, your request will be denied. If you do include the information, your request will most likely be granted. I simply need to know where my programs are going, and I need to make sure that I regulate the pricing. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This Program, Manual, and Data Files, are all protected by U.S. Copyright Law (title 17 United States Code). Unauthorized reproduction, distribution and/or sales may result in imprisonment of up to one year and fine up to $10,000 (17 USC 506). Copyright infringers may also be subject to civil liability. If you mess with us, we'll delete you! The author of this program makes no warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, as to the fitness, functionality, effectiveness, or safety of this software and accompanying documentation. Under no circumstances shall the author and developer be liable for any damages incurred during or as a result of the use of, or misuse of, or inability to use, this software and documentation. All risk is assumed by the user, and we hereby disclaim any implied warranties of fitness or performance of this software. Use at your own risk. The developer and author reserves the right to make revisions and changes to the software and documentation without warning at any time. Any and all changes and revisions will be made without obligation to inform any person or persons of said changes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- COMMENT FROM THE AUTHOR: To hell with professional documentation!!! To hell I say!! Bah ha ha ha!!! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Before installing, backup your hard-drive (what!?). The program is harmless, but if by some chance it blows up in your face, burns down your house, or attacks your cat with a fake pickled trout, or incurs any other damage (to data or otherwise), I am not responsible. If you can not accept these terms, delete this package now and don't use it. Welp, that's all! Have fun!!! BTW- as usual, this and many other creations of mine are available for download on my BBS, the Sorcerer's Quarters, (410-290-3752), 24 hrs/day, 300 to 14400 baud. I currently can also be contacted at the following net-mail addresses: 1@4079 WWIVnet etoton1@gl.umbc.edu Internet NecroBones America On-Line -Ed T. Toton III "Necromancer" NecroBones Software.