Contents

(Final Release) Version 2.21 copyright Dylan du Toit

Click on the blue topics to view them.

About Alienz

•	What exactly is Alienz?

•	Version history:

•	What's the difference between the final release and beta version?

•	Why is version 2.2 called the Final Release?

•	About the Author

•	Legal stuff.

•	How do I uninstall Alienz?

•	Credits:

•	F.A.Q.

General info:

•	Feeding and taking care of your pet.

•	Sleeping and studying.

•	What are the cheat codes and how do I activate them?

•	The colours look wrong, what do I do?

•	How your pet ages.

•	Talking.

Appearance and preferences: (Registered version only!)

•	How to set up wallpaper.

•	Alert method.

•	Changing the speed.

•	Toggling noisy buttons.

Games:

•	When can my pet play which games?

•	Rock, Scissors, Paper

•	Baseball

•	MasterMind

•	Memory Planets

•	Shoot the Saucers!

Registration:

•	How to register and why you should.


What exactly is Alienz?

Virtual Alienz is a cyber pet like a tamagotchi. You have to feed it, play with it and care for it like you would care for a real pet. It was programmed in Delphi 3.


Version history:

Beta Version 2.0

•	LOTS of bugs fixed, thanks to everyone who reported them!

•	The general look of the program has been changed a lot.

•	New functions like study and clean have been added.

•	3 New games have been added and old ones updated.

•	More customizable, ie you can set up wallpaper.

•	More sounds and animation.

•	Cool cheat codes have been added!

Final Release (Version 2.2)

•	Bugs fixed in help file. Thanks to Ruan Geldenhuys for reporting!

•	Truckloads of other bugs fixed. Big thanks to Johan Meiring and Ruan Geldenhuys, and all the beta testers!

•	New topics added to help file.

•	Alien now ages differently.

•	Preferences will now be saved in a file. Thanks to RealmKeeper for convincing me to do this!

•	The game Memory Planets does no longer have a required age.

•	New sample backgrounds have been made. Thanks again to Ruan Geldenhuys!

Final Release (Version 2.21)

•	A couple of minor but annoying bugs fixed.

•	Nag screens have been reduced.

•	You can no longer run more than one copy of the program at a time.


About the Author.

My name is Dylan du Toit, I'm a 14 year old South African living in Pretoria. I started programming with QBasic and then moved on to Turbo Pascal 7. Then a little more than a year ago I started with Delphi and I love it!

After lots of fooling around and experimenting I came up with Virtual Alienz 1.0 and due to popular demand I started work on Alienz 2.0 but intense school work, exams and sheer laziness slowed it down and often halted it for weeks on end!

So far, it is the best program I ever actually finished!

There is more info about me at my homepage so go check it out!

Website: http://members.xoom.com/The_Revenant

Or: http://surf.to/dylans-page

E-mail: ddt@intekom.co.za

ICQ number: 17763547


Credits:

Special thanks to:

•	Dad whose constant moaning and complaining really kept me motivated :o)

•	Realmkeeper, Agelos Orfanakos, Ruan Geldenhuys (aka Klaasvaakie) and Johan Meiring (aka Seeker) for their ideas, bug reports and motivation.

•	All the Alienz 2 beta testers.

•	B. Walker for creating the TIceLock component.

•	Marco Cantu, for writing a great book 'Mastering Delphi 3' which helped me a LOT!

•	The Borland Delphi product team for Delphi 3.


Legal stuff:

The Final Release of Alienz 2.21 is shareware. This means that as long as all files remained unmodified and intact, and the program has NOT been registered, you may copy it to your friends.

This program may not be sold, rented out, put on a CD or uploaded to a website without my permission! You may not sell or give out your registration code to others. In short, ask me before you try and make money off my program!!!


What's the difference between the final release and beta version?

The beta version was not completely touched up and finished and had a few bugs in it. I released it so that people could tell me what they thought of it, what they would like to see in the final release (or what they wouldn't like to see), and to report bugs!

In the beta version, your pet was fully grown after 19 days and would fly away, while in the final release you can keep him for much longer. (39 days)

Please, report all bugs ASAP! Thanks in advance!

E-mail: ddt@intekom.co.za


How do I uninstall Alienz?

Well, if you really want to remove my program click on the windows start button, go to settings, control panel. Double click on add/remove programs. Scroll down in the list until you find Virtual Alienz 2. Click on remove and wait. There, you've removed a program that took me ages to write. I hope you're bloody happy! :-)


Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I have the source code for Alienz?

A: No.

Q: Is there going to be a new version after Alienz 2 Final Release?

A: I doubt it. It depends on how many people (if any) register. If I get about $10 - $20 I'll probably be motivated enough to work on a newer version.

Q: I cannot afford $1.. How do I register?

A: If you cannot afford $1, e-mail me, tell me your situation, and tell me what you can give me in exchange, and I will consider giving you a code.

If you live in a country other than America, just send me the equivalent of a dollar in your currency.

Q: I still can't afford to register. Can I send you some MP3's or programs?

A: If you really can't send me $1, or anything worth $1, or a postcard, then just continue using the program with the nag screens.

Q: Can you teach me how to program like this?

A: No, in order to program like this you would have to know a great deal of a programming language like Borland Delphi, Visual Basic, or C++. It is not something I can teach you via e-mail. Buy the required program, a good book, and just play around at first. That's more or less how I started :-)


Why is version 2.2 called the Final Release?

This is going to be the last major change that I'm going to make with Alienz 2.  I will no longer add major improvements / new functions / etc.  I will of course, still be fixing bugs as they are reported.  If required due to bug fixes the next version of the Final Release will be 2.2.1, and after that it will be 2.2.2 etc.

If I receive enough registrations, I will be started on Version 3 of Alienz.

In short, I have grown tired of working on the same project for so long, and will only work on it to fix bugs. I plan to start writing different types of games.


Feeding and taking care of your pet
Feeding and taking care of your pet.

When your pet needs something, he will alert you by either playing a sound over your multimedia system, or by maximizing your program, depending on what you selected in Alert Method.

A picture of a knife and fork will show when your pet becomes hungry.

A drippy faucet when he's thirsty...

A thermometer when he's ill...

And a picture of an alienz with a filthy face when he needs to be cleaned..

To feed your pet click on the food button which will either be a bowl of cereal or a hamburger depending on his age.    If your pet is still hungry after you've fed him, just feed him again, maybe he's very hungry. If your pet isn't fed enough he will not grow up! If you leave your pet hungry too long he will become weak and start losing weight, if he suffers from malnutrition too long he will die.

When your pet is thirsty, click the drink button. It will either be a glass of milk or a cola, also depending on his age.    If your pet goes thirsty for too long he will die!

To cure your pet of illness, give him an injection.  Note, this can and usually will make your pet sad, especially if he is very young! If your pet is left ill for too long he will die! (surprise surprise!)

When your pet is filthy, you will either have to change his diaper [image] when he is a baby, or give him a shower [image] when he's older. Your pet can die from contamination if left uncleaned for too long!

You can also give your pet a treat to make him happier, this will be an ice-cream cone or an ice-cream lolly.    Note, too much of a good thing can be bad, if you feed him too much he will get sick and become very unhappy, and

CAN DIE IF YOU KEEP ON FEEDING HIM TREATS.


Sleeping and studying.

To keep his grade up, you need to educate your pet by clicking the study button.  Too much studying will make your pet unhappy so make sure he plays a game or two during studies. If your pet's grade is too low he will not grow up. If your pet is unhappy, he will not study until you've played with him for a while.

When it gets late your pet will fall asleep, young alienz fall asleep earlier, while the older ones stay up late. When your pet is sound asleep you cannot wake him up.

A baby alienz sleeps from 7pm until 8am.

A kid sleeps from 9pm until 7am.

A teenager sleeps from 11pm until 6am.

Occasionally your pet may doze off and take a nap for a couple of minutes. It is possible to wake him up by clicking on him a couple of times, but expect him to be rather upset if you do.


What are the cheat codes and how do I activate them?

Register and I'll tell you.


The colours look wrong, what do I do?

Alienz was designed to run with colour settings higher than 256. If your colours look wrong then your colours are set to 256 or lower, they have to be set to 16 bit (High colour) or 32 bit (True colour) To change this right click on your desktop and select properties. Then go to settings and change the colour palette to 16 bit or 32 bit. If you are unable to do so it is because your display card either does not support it or it is not properly installed/configured.

If the problem really affects your enjoyment of the game let me know! I have not encountered something like this in previous programs and I am not yet fully sure how to deal with it, but if you are really concerned I will try my best to bring back the colours!


How your pet ages.

Your pet ages in units of 6 months: One day for you is 6 months for your pet, instead of a year, like in the beta version. If you've had your pet for 3 days, and played with it a bit each day, then he should be 18 months old (1 year and 6 months)

•	From the age of 0 to 4 years your pet will be a baby.

•	If your pet is 4 and a half - 12 years old, weighs more than 7.5 kilograms, and scores higher than 50% on his tests, he will be a kid.

•	If your pet is 12 and a half - 19 and a half years old, weighs more than 15 kilograms, and scores higher than 75% on his tests, he will be a teenager.

•	If your pet is older than 19 and a half, weighs more than 30 kilograms, and scores higher than 85% on his tests, he will be fully grown.


Talking.

If your pet is happy enough, he will randomly say something. The baby will make mumbling sounds while the kid and the teenager will actually say words that have meaning.

You can also make your pet talk by double clicking on him, but if he is unhappy he will stay quiet and won't say anything..


How to set up wallpaper.

If you are a registered user, the preferences will be enabled. Click on change wallpaper and select your favourite bitmap or jpeg. It will be stretched/squashed to fit in the playpen, but most pictures should still look good. There are a few backgrounds made for Alienz, they should be located in a wallpaper directory in your Alienz directory.

When the 'wallpaper visible' option is checked, the wallpaper will be displayed, and when it is not checked, the wallpaper will become invisible.


Alert method.

If you are a registered user, you can specify the alert method in the preferences setting. This can either be set to 'play Alert.wav' or 'Maximize program'

If you do not have a multimedia system it might be a good idea to set the method to maximize program!


Changing the speed.

Registered users can change the speed under the preferences setting.

This can bet set to slow, normal and fast.

Note, this doesn not change the speed of your pet, but only speeds up events. When you want him to do things and become hungry etc you would set speed to fast, if you want to work in the background or do not want to be disturbed much, you would set speed to slow.


Toggling noisy buttons.

Registered users can toggle noisy buttons in the preferences setting. This doesn't really do much, when checked a click sound will be played everytime you click on a button, when it isn't checked it won't.


Rock, Scissors, Paper.

An old favourite, also known as "Ro, Sham, Bo" or "Ching, Chong, Chai."

Click the button with the hand on it to start playing:

The goal of the game is to see if you can beat your pet alienz by selecting either rock, scissor or paper..

Rock beats scissor.

Scissor beats paper.

Paper beats rock.


Baseball.

Baseball is a very simple and easy game. Just click the baseball button [image] to start playing. The idea is to hit the ball with the bat. (Hmm, sounds complicated doesn't it?)

It works best when you hit the ball with the top end of the bat.


MasterMind.

Mastermind is a fun little game that really makes you think.. The object of the game is quite simple however.. You have to guess the correct sequence of colors. To play click the MasterMind button:

Your alienz will think of a sequence of four colours. Let's pretend it thinks of Red, Green, Green, Blue (In that specific order)

Now you have to guess, let's say you guess Red, Green, Blue, Yellow (in that order)

You will now be told that you have guessed 3 colours (Red, Blue, Green) right and that 2 positions are right. (Red, Green)

You decide to replace the yellow with blue. (To replace a colour, click on the one you want to replace, and then click on the colour you want it to become) Your sequence is now:

Red, Green, Blue, Blue

You will now be told that you have guessed 3 colours right, and that 3 are in the right position (Red, green, and the last blue)

You think you've figured it out so now you replace the fist blue (the one after the green) with green..

Your sequence is now: Red, Green, Green, Blue

Your pet's sequence is: Red, Green, Green, Blue

You win!

Easy hey? Or is it? Go ahead and try it. You have 10 guesses. Hopefully that will be enough..


Memory Planets.

Test your concentration and memory with this simple game. Press the Memory Planets button to start:

Click the start button when you are ready to begin.. The game is very simple, your pet will think of a sequence of colours and then make the planets blink. You have to follow the sequence correctly as it gets longer and longer. NOTE This game is not be confused with MasterMind!

After the planets have finished blinking, click on each one in the same order as they blinked. If you are successful one more colour will be added to that same sequence and it will be played from the start. Go ahead and try it, it's fun! See how far you can go with 3 guesses...


Shoot the saucers!

To shoot down some nasty evil aliens (note: aliens not alienz) click the Shoot Saucers button:

The game is quite simple, click on New Game, choose a difficulty and then start shooting down the saucers!

Position the crosshair (your cursor) over a saucer and click to shoot it down. Be carefull not to hit the red or green planets!

After a while a purple bonus saucer will apear on the screen. Shooting them down gives you lots of points and more time..

You can always launch a homing missile to shoot the saucer. If one is available there will be a picture of the missile in the bottom left corner:

To shoot a missile click the right mouse button..

As your score gets more you will go up levels. (registered version only)

When you reach a new level a missile will become available, but only if you do not have one at the moment.. You cannot stockpile missiles, you can only have one per level!

Good luck and happy shooting!


When can my pet play which games?

When your pet is a baby he will be able to play Rock, Scissors, Paper and Memory Planets.

When he is a kid he will be able to play all the games the baby can play, including baseball and Master Mind.

When he is a teenager, he can play all the games.


How to register and why you should.

First of all, because the program is cheap! A fee of $1 (USA) is asked, but if you feel it's worth more I won't complain! :o)

Just send me what you feel it's worth.. (Unless you feel it's worth less than $1, in which case you can just continue enjoying the nag screens)

If you cannot afford $1, e-mail me, tell me your situation, and tell me what you can give me in exchange, and I will consider giving you a code.

Secondly, when you register you'll be free of those annoying nag screens, and you'll unlock lots of features.

Lastly, I spent a lot of time working on this program and I really think it's worth registration!

Just post your $1 (or an equivalent amount in your country's currency) along with your name and email address (which will be used for the registration code) to:

PO Box 914-408

Wingate Park

0153

South Africa

PLEASE: Don't send coins, paper money only. Place them in between a folded piece of paper so that it won't be obvious that the envelope contains money.

When I receive the money I will send you your registration code via e-mail. Note: your Beta version registration code will work on the final release as well!

Thank you for reading this bit. I look forward to receiving your money! :o)