OS/2 Professional/OS2PRO194.ISO/os2/wps/games/roids/roids.hlp

OS/2 Help File | 1994-01-13 | 15KB | 281 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. Overview ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

You control the small blue spaceship in the center of the screen. Your mission
is to destroy all the asteroids in each sector by blasting them to pieces with
your cannon.  There's a twist, however: asteroids don't simply disappear, they
crumble.  When an asteroid is destroyed, it breaks into two smaller asteroids
(unless it's too small, in which case it's completely destroyed) which must
also be destroyed, and so on.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Playing the game ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Use the rotation and thrust Keys to fly your ship around the sector. When you
come across an asteroid, blast it with your cannon!  You must destroy every
asteroid in each sector, so be thorough.  Avoid colliding with the asteroids,
because they'll destroy your ship, unless you use your shield to protect
yourself.

In the Enhanced game, you'll be confronted with a host of Bad Guys who will do
their best to thwart your valiant attempt to save the universe.  Destroy them,
and make the universe safe for bipeds once more!

Your ship remains in the center of the window at all times.  The green lines
indicate your velocity, and give a rough idea of where you are in the sector.
Space is curved, so when you fly in one direction long enough you end up where
you started.  It is impossible to fly out of the current sector, so every
asteroid you see must be DESTROYED in a hail of devastating cannon fire like
the worthless slag it is!

The bright green box at the top of the window is your radar.  It displays the
position of each object in the sector as a colored blip.  The dark green box in
the center of the radar shows which objects are currently visible: if it's in
this box, you can see it.  The light blue blip at the center of the radar is
your ship.

Your score is displayed in the upper-left corner of the window.  The number of
lives you have left is displayed in the upper-right corner.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. Hints and tips ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Don't shoot all the big asteroids first.  Choose one and completely destroy it.
Then choose another, and so on.  This way you don't have to contend with a
billion tiny asteroids later on.

Your cannon shells impart momentum to whatever they strike.  (To all you
physicists: your ship is equipped with a system that automatically compensates
for your cannons' recoil, preventing it from changing your ship's velocity.)
Shooting an asteroid repeatedly from the same side will send the fragments
zooming off at high speed, destined to wrap around the playfield and hit you
from behind.  You'll have deserved it.

Likewise, your spaceship imparts momentum to whatever it strikes.  Running into
a small asteroid at high speed will not only send you careening out of control
(or you'll die, depending on whether your shield is up), but it will send two
tiny Death Angel asteroids flying about the sector at very high speed, and
they'll almost certainly hit you when you least expect it.

Keep in mind that you're in space and there's no drag to slow you down (except
asteroids and Bad Guys, and that tends to be a bit terminal, see above), so
you'll end up drifting.

Your radar and shield are your most powerful weapons.  Learn how to use them
well.  Shields are especially useful for bashing Bad Guys.

The best way to deal with Tetras is to exterminate them at the beginning of
each sector.  If you don't they'll breed and quickly fill the sector with their
offspring, probably slowing your computer to a crawl in the process.

The fastest way to kill a Bulb is to catch it in your shield and zap it.

Don't go too fast.  You'll run into something.

Be sure to look both ways before crossing the street.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Scoring ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The scoring system goes something like this:

 25 points for each Large asteroid.
 50 points for each Medium asteroid.
100 points for each Small asteroid.
200 points for each Tiny asteroid.
150 points for each Tetra.
250 points for each Bulb.
300 points for each Snipe.

5000 points for getting killed (sort of a consolation prize)

You get an additional ship every 25000 points.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. Default Keys ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

These are only the default keys. See the Options dialog help for details.

NOTE: all navigational keys are on the numeric keypad.

Key       Purpose
'4':      Rotate counterclockwise.
'6':      Rotate clockwise.
'5':      Thrust.
'2':      Decelerate.
'/':      Fire cannon.
'.':      Activate Shield.

'F1':     Help.
'F2':     Start a new game.
'F3':     Pause the current game.
'F4':     Toggle between Full Screen and Windowed views.
'F5':     Bring up the Options Menu.
'F10':    Quit.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. Options dialog ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This is where you customize Roids.  There are a number of options:

Detail
   These controls set the detail level of Roids.  You can set individual
   effects, such as whether or not your ship leaves a thrust trail, or use the
   Maximum Detail and Minimum Detail buttons to activate/deactivate all the
   effects.  If you have a slow computer and want to speed up game play, try
   turning off some of the effects, starting with Impact Particles.

Speed
   This slider controls the speed of the game.  Use it to speed the game up or
   slow it down, according to your skill.  It's pretty simple.

Skill
   These controls let you specify which sector you start at.  The higher the
   skill level, the higher (and more difficult) the sector.  Useful if you're
   getting bored (or creamed) by the early sectors.

Game Type
   This is where you select which game you want to play.  Select Classic game
   if you want to play with just asteroids, or Enhanced Game if you want to
   play with cool Bad Guys who will try to kill you.  Hey, it's a tough
   universe out there.

Change Keys
   This button brings up a window which allows you to change the keys you use
   to control your ship.  Press the key you want to use for each action,
   following the prompts in the window.  If you make a mistake, simply change
   the keys again.  If you try to use a key twice, the second keypress will be
   ignored.  Use another key.  Also, be careful about which keys you use: OS/2
   reserves some keys (such as Alt), and using these keys as controls will lead
   to unpredictable results (I.E. Really Weird Stuff That The Programmer
   Doesn't Want To Deal With).

Register
   Use the Register dialog to register Roids.

Defaults
   This button recalls the default window position, detail, speed, skill, and
   keys, and resets the high scores list.  Use this button with caution,
   because it automatically saves these changes to disk, and there's no way to
   undo them.  You'll lose your incredible new high score, and nobody will
   believe you.

Save
   This button saves the current detail, speed, skill, and keys settings to
   disk. They will be loaded automatically next time you play Roids.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. Register dialog ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

NOTE: To use this dialog, you need to have registered Roids and received your
User ID. (See How to Register).

Enter your name and your User ID, exactly as they appear on your Registration
Confirmation Letter.  Then click OK.  You should see a "Thank you for
registering Roids!" dialog.  If you don't, be sure your name and User ID are
entered correctly, and try again.  If you still have trouble, contact me.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8. History of the game ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Roids started out in late 1991 as a way for me to show my AP Computer Science
classmates that although they may get 1560s on the SAT, they couldn't program
their way out of a paper bag.  It was written on an XT using Turbo Pascal 4.0,
and was never distributed.

In early October 1993 I bought Borland C++ for OS/2 and thought that porting
Roids to OS/2 would be a good exercise.  I was right.

Roids 1.0 was released in December 1993.

Roids 2.0 was released in January 1994.  Changes include a resizable playfield,
full-screen mode, and the addition of numerous Bad Guys.

Please excuse any rough edges: this is my first OS/2 programming effort.  Roids
was written in a 1024x768 environment, and was designed for that resolution.
It may look a little strange or messy in other resolutions.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9. About Hungry Man Productions ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Hungry Man Productions is a (very) small San Diego - based organization of
artists, musicians, and computer programmers dedicated to producing quality
OS/2 games and clean aquariums.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10. Bug Reports / Contacting the author ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

I'd appreciate any feedback you might have regarding Hungry Man Productions or
Roids, and I'm especially interested in any bugs you might encounter.  Contact
me via:

CompuServe E-mail: 73544,1154

Internet E-mail: [e-mail]

Snail-mail:

Leonard Guy
3415 Bangor Pl.
San Diego, CA
92106
USA


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 11. How to register Roids ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Send your name and street address (for faster response, also send your complete
E-mail address) along with a check for $6 (U.S.) made out to Leonard Guy to:

Leonard Guy
3415 Bangor Pl.
San Diego, CA
92106
USA

In return you'll receive:

o A User ID number, with which you can personalize Roids and disable the
  opening dialog box. This ID will also work on all future versions of Roids,
  so all upgrades are "free".
o Notification of new Hungry Man releases.
o A thank you note.
o A clear conscience.
o Assurance that Hungry Man Productions will be able to continue writing games.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 12. Disclaimer ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Leonard Guy assumes no responsibility for the correctness or applicability of
this software.  Under no circumstances will Leonard Guy or Hungry Man
Productions be held responsible for damage caused by use of this software.
This includes broken keyboards.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 13. Bad Guys ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The dastardly villains:

Tetra
   These yellow triangles fly through space, breeding like flies.  They slowly
   grow larger until they divide into four baby Tetras, which grow and breed
   just like their parents.  A very good example of exponential growth, an
   unchecked Tetra population will slow your screaming Pentium system down to a
   crawl.  So do what any good power user would:  Optimize!

Bulb
   These extremely tenacious and tough blue octagons/circles scour space
   looking for energy.  They'll sense your ship, chase you down, and envelop
   you.  They do no physical damage, but your ship's motor and shield are
   rendered inoperable while you're enveloped. The only ways to dislodge a Bulb
   is by A) dying or B) blasting your way out with your cannon.  I recommend
   the latter.

Snipe
   A Snipe is a nasty little bugger.  These unpredictable red squares flit
   through space firing pot shots at passerbys for no apparent reason. When
   alarmed (or shot) they'll fire a barrage from their cannons, intended to
   destroy their assailant.  It usually works.  Snipes are extremely
   trigger-happy and have been known to shoot at each other, setting up a
   crossfire of epic proportions.