GEMini Atari/GEMini_Atari_CD-ROM_Walnut_Creek_December_1993.iso/files/games/arcade/sbreak/sbreak.doc

Text File | 1993-08-14 | 21KB | 487 lines

06001000305800
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üSuperBreak-Out
Ç
by

MarkOvermars
ü

0.IntroductionÇ

ManydifferenttypeofBreak-OutlikegamesexistfortheAtari
ST,sowhyyetanotherone.Well,thereareanumberofreasons.
Firstofallbecausealltheexistinggamesaremissing
something.Theyallhavesomegreatideasbutarelackingothers.
Secondly,becausemostgamesworkoncolourmonitorsonly.This
onewillworkonamonochromemonitor(only).Thirdlybecauseit
isfuntowritesomethinglikethis.

Butthemainreasonisthatthisoneisspecial.Itcontainsmost
ofthegoodideasoftheexistinggamesandmanynewfeatures.
Justtomentionafewthings:Thereareover40differenttypes
ofstones,allwithspecialfeatures.Therearemanydifferent
typesofbonusses,manytypesofmonsters,5basicallydifferent
typesoflevels,etc.Ofcourse,youwon'tencounterallthese
thingsatthefirstlevels.Onlaterlevelsnewthingsappear
thatyoudidnotseebefore.ToavoidgetingboredSuperBreak-
Outallowsyoutocontinueonthelevelyougotkilled.Soyou
don'thavetostartfromthebeginning.

Someothernicefeaturesincludegoodscorefiles,theprogram
remembersitsplayersandknowswhatyourcurrentstatusis,
levelfilesthatcaneasilybechanged,added,etc.Forthisa
specialleveleditorisprovidedwiththeprogram.Newlevels
filesmightbeprovidedinthefuturefortheadvancedplayers.
ü
1.YourdiskÇ

Thediskshouldcontainthefollowingfiles:

SBREAK.PRG:Theprogram
SBREAK.DOC:Thisdocumentationin1STWordformat
SBREAK.TXT:Thisdocumentationinreadableform
BACKPICT.ART:Thebackgroundpicture
SPRITES.ART:Thebitmapsforthesprites
SBREAK.SND:Thesoundsfile
LEVELS02:Thefirstsetoflevels
LEVELS03:Thesecondsetoflevels
etc.ü

ÇInafolderLEVELEDyoushouldfindthefollowingfiles:

EDITOR.PRG:Theleveleditor
ÇEDIT.RSC:Theresourcefilefortheeditor
SPRITES2.ART:Thespritesfortheeditor

WhenplayingafileSBREAK.SCRforthescoreswillappearand
alsofiles?????.SBRthatcontaininformationaboutplayers.
Don'tkeepyourdiskwrite-protectedwhenplayingotherwiseno
informationcanbestored.Betterfirstmakeaback-upcopyof
thedisk.

ü2.PlayingÇ

SimplyclicktheSBREAK.PRGicononthedesktop.Typeinyour
namewhenasked(SuperBreak-Outwillrememberyou)andyoucan
start.Thegoal,asyouprobablyknow,istohitawayallthe
stoneswiththeball.Duringthegametheleftmousebutton
normallydoesalotofimportantthingslikee.g.releasingthe
ball,shootingbullets,etc.

Sometimeslittlebonussesfalldown.Theytendtohelpyouby
suchthingsasslowingdowntheball,turningyourbatintoa
machinegun,givinganextralife,etc.Whenyoucatchthemwith
thebatthefeaturewillstart.Bonussesareindicatedwitha
letter.Thefollowingtypesofdifferentbonussesexist:

A:GivesyouanëAÇutomaticmovingbat.Presstheleftmousebutton
tocontinuedoingityourself.
B:GivesyoualotofëBÇonuspoints.
D:GivesaëDÇestructiveballthatkillsallstones.
E:GivesyouanëEÇxtralife(bat).
G:YourbatbecomesaëGÇun.Itcanshootbulletswithyourleft
mousebutton.Twodifferenttypesofbulletsexist.
H:YourbatwillnowëHÇoldtheballs.Releasethemwiththeleft
mousebutton.
K:ThisëKÇillsallthemonsters.
L:YourbatwillbecomeëLÇong.
N:YoucanpasstotheëNÇextlevelbyshootingaballintothe
exitstonethatappears.
R:ThisëRÇemovesallstonesofthetypeyouhitnext.
S:ThisëSÇlowsdowntheballs.
T:GivesyouëTÇhreeballsthatreappearwhenlost.
W:BuildaëWÇallofstonestokeeptheballhighup.Shouldbe
greatwhentheballisatthetopofthefieldbutadisaster
whenitisnearthebat.
2:Givesyoutwoextraballs.
5:Givesyoufiveextraballs.
?:Asurprise.Canbeverygoodbutalsobad.Doyoutakethe
risk?

Ofcoursealsonastythingshappen,likebombsfallingdown.But
don'tworry.Theyonlyappearonhigherlevels.Alsosome
monstersrunaround.Theyarereasonablyharmlessbutchangethe
directionoftheballwhenhit.(Butbewareofthenastiesdeeper
inthegame.)
ü
♪∙ÇHighscoresandspecialLIFEstoneswillgiveextrabats.After
youkilledallyourbatsyouaregiventhechoicetoeither
continueatthelastlevel,startnewatthebeginningorquit.
Whenyouindicatetocontinue,thegamewillstartagainata
leveljustbeforetheoneonwhichyouwhere.Togetanywhere
furtheryouwillhavetogetthroughatleastthreelevelsinone
go.Thehigheryoustart,themorepointsyoucanget.

Thescoreiscomputedasfollows:100foreverynormalstonehit,
2500forcompletingthelevel,400foreachbonuscaughtand
100foreachmonsterdestroyed.Aftercompletingalevelthe
scoreforthatlevelisincreasedbyapercentagedependingon
thelevel.Hence,thehigherthelevel,themorepointyoucan
obtainforeachlevel.

Thefollowingkeysareimportant:

q:Quitthegame.
k:killyourbat(usefulwhenyoulockedyourselfup).
r:restartthelevel(usefulwhenthelevellocksup).
N:Continueonthenextlevel.Thiscostsyou2livesandis
onlyusefulwhenyoudon'tmanagesomeparticularlevelat
all.
p:pausethegame.Anykeycontinues.
b:Changesthespeedofthebat.
s:Togglessoundonoff.
f:Savesthecurrentsituationsuchthatyoucancontinue
playinglater.Thegamewillbesavedunderyourcurrent
name.TocontinuelatersimplystartSBREAKandtypein
yourname.
space:Willgiveyouanemptyscreensuchthatnobodywillsee
whatyouaredoing.Anycharactercontinues.

ü3.TheLevelEditorÇ

WithSuperBreak-OutIhaveprovidedasimpleinteractiveLevel
Editor.YouwillfinditinthefolderLEVELED.OnethingIwill
stateimmediately:ITDOESNOTCHECKFORERRORS.Soifyoufill
inimpossibledata,itjustleavesitin.Beforestartingusing
it,takecarethatyouhaveacopyofthisdocumentation,in
particularthenextchapter,onpaperinfromtofyou.

TostarttheLevelEditorsimplydoubleclickEDITOR.PRG.After
someloadingyouwillseetheso-calledmanager.Inthisyoucan
loadinafileoflevels(usingtheLoadbutton)orsavethe
levelsyoucreatedorchanged.Ontheleftyouseethenamesof
the(atmost)40differentlevelsinthefile.Oneofthemwill
beselected.Abovethebuttonsthereisanotherpossiblelevel,
calledthebuffer.Thebufferisusedforchangingtheorderof
levelsinthefile.Youcancopylevelstoandfromthebuffer
andexchangelevelswiththebuffer.Youcanalsoinsertthe
bufferabovetheselectedlevelordeletealevel.Forexample,
tomovethefirstleveltotheendselectthefirstlevel,press
CopyToBuffer,pressDelete,selectthelastlevelandpress
CopyFromBuffer.Playabitwiththismovingandcopyingstuff
untilyouarefamiliarwithit.

Tochangealevel,firstselectit.(Youcanalsoselectthe
buffertochangeit.Notethatthebufferwon'tbesavedondisk,
soafterchangingityouhavetocopyottosomeplaceinthe
levelfile.)Nowtherearetwothingsyoucanchange:The
settingsandthefield.Thefieldcontainstheinformationabout
thepositionofthestones.Thesettingscontainsuchthingsas
typeofmonsters,speedoftheball,etc.

Tochangethesettingspressthecoorespondingbutton.Hetyou
canfillinthenameofthelevelandthedifferentsettings.
Refertosection4fortheirmeaning.Takecarethattheyarein
thegivenbounds.Thenameshouldcontainsomething.Anempty
nameisconsideredbytheeditorasanon-existinglevelandis
notsavedondisk.PressOKtoactuallychangethesettings.
PressCancelifyoumadeabigmistake.

TochangethefieldpressthebuttonEditField.Youwillseea
screenconsistingoftwoparts.Ontheleftthereisthecurrent
fielddescriptionofthelevel.Ontherightareallthe
differentstonesinthreeverticalrows.(Refertosection4for
themeaningofthestones.)Somestoneswilllookslightly
differentasinthegametomakeitpossibletodistinguishthem
(inparticulartheinvisiblestonesaremadevisible).Onthe
leftbottomofthefieldthecurrentstoneisindicated.Thisis
thestonetypeyoucanplaceonthefield.Tochangeit,simply
pointyourmousetothestoneyouwant(attheright)andpressa
mousebutton.Toplaceastoneinthefieldpointyourmouseto
Çthepositionandpresstheleftmousebutton.Toeraseastoneon
thefield,pointandpresstherightmousebutton.Thatisall
thereistoknow.Well,onemorething.Howtoreturntothe
manager.Thisisdoneinaveryuser-unfriendlyway.Simplymove
yourmousetothefarleftofthescreenandpressabuttonwill
dothetrick.

Finallythereareafewmorebuttons.Clearclearstheselected
level,ClearAlldoes...(guesswhat).Helpgivesyousomebasic
information.Quitfinallystopstheprogram.Makesurethatyou
savedyourfilebeforepressingQuit.Noescapesareprovided.

Thebestwaytocreateandtestyourownlevelsistoputthemin
afileLEVEL01.(Notethatsuchafiledoesnotexist.Thefiles
ondiskstartwithLEVELS01.)NowwhenyoustartSBREAKitwill
firstgiveyouyourownnewlycreatedlevels.Ifyoureallywant
tododifficultthings,e.g.,gettinglevelsfromonefileand
puttingthemintheother,youcanalsouseasimpleeditor.See
section4onwhatalevelfilelooklike.

Pleasecreateafewlevelsyourselfandsendthemtome.Iwill
collectalllevelsdesignandprovidethemlateronaleveldisk.
ü
ü4.InternalsÇ

Thissectionisgoingtodescribeanumberofinternalaspectsof
SuperBreak-Out.Thisinformationisneccessaryforthosewho
wanttodesigntheirownlevelsbutshouldpreferablynotberead
bypeoplethatwanttohavemostfuninthegame.Surpriseis
alwaysnicer.

ü4.1.BitmapsandBackgroundÇ

Boththebackgroundandthebitmapsofallthespritesaresimple
drawings,createdwiththegreatPublicDomainprogramArtist.
Youcaneasilyeditthem.Realisethattheprogram"knows"the
sizesofthedifferentobjects.Henceyoushouldtakecarethat
sizesremainthesame.Forexample,ifyoumakethebatabit
larger,theballwillsimplypassthroughtheextrapart.Also
takecarethattheorderofthebitmapsremainsthesame.Always
firstmakeacopyoftheoldfiles.

ü4.2.SoundsÇ

Thesoundsthatyouhearwhene.g.theballhitsastoneare
describedinthefileSBREAK.SNDandcanbealtered.Thereare12
differenttypesofsound.Eachsoundisdescribedononeline.It
consistsofaseriesofnumbers.Thisrowofnumbersispassedto
thesoundsdemonwhenthesoundisrequiredusingtheXBIOS
commandDoSound.NumberaregiveninHexadecimalandshouldend
withtheletterH.EachrowshouldendwiththenumberFF00H.The
following12soundsareinthefile:

1:Ballhitswall
2:Ballhitsbat
3:Ballorbathitsamonster
4:Anormalstoneishitbytheballorabullet
5:Anundestructablestoneishit
6:Asuperstoneishit(stonetypeYorZ)
7:Ateleporterstoneishit(typeaorp)
8:Anexplodingstoneishit(typeU)
9:Thebatgetsdestroyed
10:Startinganewlevel
11:Anextralifeisobtained
12:Abombhitsthebat

ü4.3.StonesÇ

SuperBreak-Outknowsalargenumberofdifferentstones.Most
stoneshavetheirownspecialfeatures.Stonetypesareindicated
byletters.Belowfollowsadescriptionofallstonetypes.
Stonesindicatedwithastar(*)mustbedestroyedtofinishthe
level.Theothersnot.

♪פÇ.Emptyposition.
A*Normalstone.
B-J*Normalstoneswithdifferentgreyscales.Canbeusedfor
makingnicelookingpictures.
K*LookslikePbutmustbedestroyed.
L*Invisiblebutmustbehit.
M*Needstwohits.
N*Needsthreehits.
O*Needsfourhits.
PUndestructable.
Q*Canbehitonlyfromabove,otherwisejustbounces.
R*Canbehitonlyfrombelow.
SLetsballspassfromtoptobottomonly.
TLetsballspassfrombottomtotoponly.
U*Explodesanddestroysallstonesaroundit.
VUndestructablebutmovesupwhenhitfrombelow.
WUndestructablebutmovesdownwhenhitfromabove.
XUndestructablebutmoveswhenhit.
YRemovesallstonesoftypeA.
ZRemovesallstonesoftypeP.
aTeleportstheballtoanotherteleportingstone.
b*LikeAbutmoveshorizontally.
cLikePbutmoveshorizontally.
dLikeabutmoveshorizontally.
eCanbedestroyedbutthisisnotneccessary.
fLetsballspasssometimesandsometimesnot.
gNeedsthreehits.Reappearsaftersometime.
hNeedstwohitsandreappearsaftersometime.
iCreatesstonesoftypeetotheleftandtotheright.
jCreatesstonesoftypeAonbothsides.
kCreatesstonesoftypePonbothsides.
l*Createsabombwhendestroyed.
m*LikeAbutmovesvertically.
nLikePbutmovesvertically.
o*Createsanastybombthatgoestowardsthebat.
p*Movestheballtosomearbitraryposition(anddisappears).
qKillstheball.Shouldnotbehit.
rGivesanextralife.
sExittonextlevel.
tInvisibleandundestructable.
u Undestructable,createsabombwhenhit.
v*Requiresarandomnumberofhits(averageis5).
w*Transformsintoanarbitraryotherstonewhenhit.
xUndestructable,movestosomewhereelsewhenhit
y*Jumpsaroundrandomly
zUndestructable,jumpsaroundrandomly

♪∙ÇWhendesigninglevelspleasefollowthefollowingrules.Don't
usetoomanydifferenttypesofstones.Don'tusemorethan20
movingstones.Takecarethatthelevelcannotlockitself.
Althoughthismightbea'feature'oflaterlevels.Notethatthe
userisalwaysgiventhepossibilitytokillhimself(whenhe
getslockedup)orredothelevel(whenthelevelgetslocked
up).

ü4.4.BatsÇ

SuperBreak-Outknowsfivedifferenttypesofgames,dependingon
thetypeofbatschoosen:

♪⑤1Normalgamewithonefixedbatatthebottom.
2Onebatbutitcanbemovedalsointhey-direction.
3Twobats,oneatthetopandoneatthebottom.
4Onebatthatgraduallymovesup,makingthingsharder.
5Twobatsthatbothgraduallymovetothecenter.

ü4.5.ÇüMonstersÇ

Monstersaredescribedbytwonumbersinthelevelfiles:the
typeandtheirnumber.Thefollowingtypesexist:

♪:Nomonsters
1:Simplemovingthing.Canpassthroughstones.Changes
directionoftheballabitwhenhit.
2:Samebutcannotpassthroughstones.
3:Spaceshipthatkillsthebatwhenithitsit.Cannotbe
destroyed.
4:Spaceshipthatfliesaroundandchangesthedirectionofthe
ball.Itcannotbedestroyed.
5:Ajumpingballthatcannotbedestroyedbutdisappearsatthe
bottom.
6:Like1butdoesnotinfluenceballs(onlyusefulfor
throwingbombs).
7:Like2butdoesnotinfluenceballs.

Thenumberofmonstersmustliebetween0and6.
ü
4.6.BombsÇ

Bombsarethrowndownbymonstersandbysomestones.Thereare
twotypesofbombs,bombsthatsimplyfalldownandbombsthat
movetowardsthebat.Bombcanalsobedistinguishedbytheir
effectwhentheyhitthebat.Thefollowingeffectsexist:

♪∙Ç0:Killsthebat(i.e.itcostsyoualife)
1:Makethebatinvisibleforsometime
2:Freezesthebatforsometime
3:Removesallspecialfeatures
4:Reducesthescoreby1000points
5:makestheballsinvisibleforsometime
6:increasestheballspeed

♪⑧ThetypeofeffectisindicatedintheLEVELSfilesandcanbe
differentforeachlevel.Whethermonstersthrowbombsandhow
oftenisalsoindicatedintheLEVELSfilesbygivingabomb
chance.Whenthisis0therearenobombs.Whenitisbetween1
and5thebombsfallstraightdown.Theirnumberincreases.When
thechanceisbetween6and9thebombsmovetowardsthebat.
Notethatthenumberofbombsalsodependsonthenumberof
monsters.
ü
♪$Ç4ü.7.TheLEVELSfilesÇ

SuperBreak-OutreadsthelevelsfromfilescalledLEVELSxx,
wherexxissometwodigitnumber,thatshouldbeinthesame
directoryastheprogram.Thesefilescanbechangedusingthe
providedLevelEditor.But,astheyaresimpleASCIIfilesthey
canalsobechangedwithanyeditor.Hence,itiseasytoadd
levels,removelevelsorchangelevels,mergefiles,etc.Each
filecancontainupto100levelsbut,astheLevelEditorcan
onlyhandleatmost40levels,itisbettertolimitthenumber
oflevelsperfileto40.Notallfilesneedtobepresent.The
programsimplystartswiththelowestnumberedfileandwhenall
levelsinthatfilehavebeensolveditgoestothenextfileit
canfindetc.

Eachlevelstartswitha*onthefirstpositionofaninputline
(butdon'tusethesignforanythingelse).Everythingbeforethe
first*isskipped.Therestofthelinewiththe*isalso
skippedand,hence,cancontaininfoaboutthelevel.Thenext
lineshouldcontainthenameofthelevel(maximal16
characters).Thenextlinecontainsanumberofdigitsthat
indicatethetypeofplay.Thefollowingdigitsshouldbethere:

♪≤Ç-Thetypeofbats(1-5)
-Thetypeofmonsters(0-9)
-Thenumberofmonsters(0-6)
-Thebonuschance(thehigherthemorebonusses)(0-9)
-Thestartspeed(0-9)
-Themaximumspeed(0-9)
-Thespeedincrease(thehigherthelongerittakes)(0-9)
-Thetypeofbombs(0-6)
-Thebombchance(0=never,9=veryoften)(0-9)
-If1thelevelrestoresitselfwhenyougetkilled.2means
theendofthelastlevelfile(0-2)
-Reservedforlateruse(0)

Thebasic(easy)settingshouldbesomethinglike10041640000.
Afterthelastlevelinthelastfileputalevelwithsetting
10000000020.

Onthenextlinethedescriptionofthestonesinthelevel
starts.Notethatthereareatmost20lineseachofatmost11
stones.Stonesareindicatedbyletters,emptyplacesbyadot.
Eachlineofstonesmustbeonaseparatelineoftext.Ifthe
restofalineisemptyitcanbeommitted.Ifthenextlinesare
emptytheycanbeommittedaswell.

♪④Finally,afteralllevels,thenextlineshouldstartwitha#
indicatingthatthisistheendofthefile.Anytextafterthat
isskipped.Thefollowingisanexampleofalevelfilewithtwo
levels:

♪Thisisalevelfile.
*Thefirsteasylevel
EasyStarter
10070460000
..
..
NNNNNNNNNNN
AAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAA

♪∈Ç*Thesecond,difficultlevel
TwoBatTerror
30062840000
..
..
..
..
..
..
.PPPPPPPPP.
.AAAAAAAAA.
.AAAAAAAAA.
...........
.AAAAAAAAA.
.AAAAAAAAA.
.PPPPPPPPP.

#THEEND

Somehintsondesigninglevelsareuseful.Don'tusetoomany
differenttypesofstonesononelevel.Whenthebatcanmove
freely(type=2)onlyusethetop14rows.Whentherearetwobats
(type=3)don'tusethetop5rows.

Whendesigninglevels,theeasiestthingtodoistocreateanew
filenamedLEVELS01withyourownlevels.(Notethatsuchnofile
withthatnameispresent.)

♪ü4.8.SuggestionsÇ

Ifyouhaveanysuggestionsforimprovement(e.g.newstone
types)orifyoudiddesignanicersetofbitmaps,abetter
background,newsoundsoranewsetoflevels,pleasesendthem
tomeandtheywillbeincludedwiththenextupdate.Ialsoplan
tomakelibrariesoflevels.Ofcoursecreditswillbegiven.
Sendthingsto:

MarkOvermars
Magnuslaan6
3571ETUTRECHT
theNetherlands