Assassins - Ultimate CD Games Collection 2

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Assassins - Ultimate CD Games Collection 2 / Assassins 2 - Ultimate Games No. 2 (1995)(Weird Science)[!][Amiga-CD32-CDTV].iso / misc / slamball_manager / slamball.doc < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 2000-10-30 | 33KB | 760 lines

############################################################################ * * * SSSSSSSSSS LL BBBBBBBBB LL LL * * SS LL BB BB LL LL * * SS LL BB BB LL LL * * SS LL BB BB LL LL * * SSSSSSSSSS LL AAAAAAA MMMMMMM BBBBBBBB AAAAAAA LL LL * * SS LL A A M M M BB BB A A LL LL * * SS LL AAAAAAA M M M BB BB AAAAAAA LL LL * * SS LL A A M M BB BB A A LL LL * * SSSSSSSSSS LL A A M M BBBBBBBBB A A LL LL * * * ############################################################################ aaaaa sssss h h aaaaa rrrrr eeeee w w aaaaa rrrrr eeeee a a s h h a a r r e w w a a r r e aaaaa sssss hhhhh aaaaa rrrr eeee w w w aaaaa rrrr eeee a a s h h a a r r e w w w a a r r e a a sssss h h a a r r eeeee wwwww a a r r eeeee ggggg aaaaa mmmmm eeeee g a a m m m e g ggg aaaaa m m m eeee g g a a m m e ggggg a a m m eeeee b y y b y y bbbbb y b b y bbbbb y MMMMMMM M M M M M M ii ccccc h aaaaa eeeee ll M M M c h a a e e ll M M ii c hhhhh a a eeee ll M M ii c h h a a e ll M M ii ccccc h h aaaaaa eeeee ll K K K K K K eeeee ii t h KKKK e e t h K K eeee ii ttt hhhhh K K e ii t h h K K eeeee ii ttttt h h L L L y y sssss ooooo n sssss L y y s o o nnnnn s L y sssss o o n n sssss L y s o o n n s LLLLLLL y sssss ooooo n n sssss SlamBall Instructions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contents ~~~~~~~~ 1 Introduction -------------- 2 Getting Started ----------------- 2.1 Start New Game 2.2 Start Game 2.3 Credits 2.4 Quit 3 Main Game Menu ---------------- 3.1 Division 1 & Division 2 3.2 The Cup 3.3 Results 3.4 The Match 3.4.1 Team selection 3.4.2 Tactics 3.4.3 Math day! 3.5 Fixtures 3.5.1 Current weeks fixtures 3.5.2 Any weeks fixtures 3.6 Players 3.6.1 Transfers 3.6.2 Contracts 3.7 Transfer list 3.8 Coaching 3.9 Manager 3.A Save Game 3.B Load Game 3.C Resign 4 Credits --------- 5 Interesting Bugs(NOT!) ------------------------ 5.1 The disappearing substitute 5.2 The 'picky' player 5.3 Which division are you in? 1 Introduction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to SlamBall! Version 1.0 Released: 24th April 1993 SlamBall was originally started in September 1992. It has been in development for over 6 months. SlamBall was written using AMOS and then RAMOS was used to make the game auto booting. I was unable to get the game to compile using the AMOS Compiler. If anybody who plays this game can get it to compile then please contact me at the address below. This game was developed on a 1Meg Amiga A500. It has also run on a 1Meg Amiga A1500 Plus. I have been unable to test it on any other Amigas. The latest version of AMOS available to me was used, Version 1.34, so the game should work, in theory, on all Amigas with 1 Meg of RAM. If anybody finds that the game does not work on their machine I would appreciate it if you would write to me at the address below to let me know. This game is shareware and I hold the copyright to it. Therefore, you may pass copies onto friends e.t.c. if you wish and I would encourage you to do so. If you do pass on this game to anybody you MUST ENSURE all the files are present, e.g. this file e.t.c. SlamBall uses a couple of files that must be present on the disk or else it will simply not work! One of the people who helped test the game noticed what a serious ommission those files are when he tested a version of SlamBall! Therefore, DO NOT just copy the file SlamBall onto a disk for them. Also, you MUST NOT alter the source code for the game. Oh no, time for the hard sell! £££££££££££££££££ 555555555555555555 ££ ££££ 55 ££ ££££ 55 ££ ££££ 55 ££ ££££ 55 ££ £££ 55 ££ 5555555555555 ££ 555 ££££££££££££££ 555 ££ 555 ££ 55 ££ 55 ££ 55 ££ 55 ££ 55 ££ 555 555 ££ ££££ 555 555 ££ ££££ 555 555 ££££££££££££££££££ 5555555 +------------------------+---------------------+-------------------------+ | | Shareware Message | | | +---------------------+ | | | | If you play this game a lot and you like it then please send £5 to | | me at the following address. Cheques/Postal orders made payable to | | Michael Keith Lysons. | | | | M K Lysons | | 9 Glencourse Road | | Widnes | | Cheshire | | WA8 9JE | | England | | | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you have any comments about this game or you find any bugs then please contact me at the above address. I have tested and tested this game and I hope that any bugs you may find will not detract too much from the gameplay. If you do send me details of a bug, please tell me what happened and what you did before the bug appeared(not 'I had a cup of coffee and two cream cakes', but more along the lines of 'I clicked on Coaching and my team contracted Rabies and died....'). This will help me track down the bug and iron it out. Also, if you find any strange spellings or phrases in this manual or the handbook then write and let me know. I'm sure there are many for you to find! 2 Getting Started ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Just place your SlamBall game disk in your internal drive, sit back and wait for it to load. When the game has finished loading you will be presented with the main menu screen. There are four options selectable from here, namely; Start New Game, Start Game, Credits and Quit. To select an option simply click on the red part of its box. 2.1 Start New Game ------------------ This option lets you enter the name for your manager, your teamname and the name of your home stadium in that order. A screen will be displayed containing a series of small boxes. The empty box near the top of the screen is where the name you are entering will be displayed. To enter a name simply click on the appropriate letter box using the mouse. The Left Mouse Button causes lower case letters to be used, while the Right Mouse Button causes upper case letters to be used. The empty box inserts a space into the current name. The delete box deletes a character from the current name. When you are happy with a name simply click on the box at the bottom of the screen. You will then be able to enter the next name until all names have been entered. Note that you cannot use an empty name and that the names are limited in terms of number of characters as follows; Teamname - 14 characters Manager Name - 18 characters Stadium Name - 18 characters When you have entered the stadium name and clicked on the box at the bottom of the screen the game will initialise itself ready for your first season. This takes a few seconds. After this the main game menu screen will be displayed. Start Game ---------- This option simply starts the game with all the default names. You will have to wait a few seconds while the game initialises itself. You will then be presented with the main game menu screen. The default names are as follows; Teamname - Raw Rockers Manager Name - Rock Janson Stadium Name - The Rockerdrome Credits ------- A screen with credits and a shareware message will be displayed. Simply click a mouse button to return to the main menu screen. Quit ---- Quits the game. 3 Main Game Menu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This screen displays all the options available throughout the game. A small box at the top of the screen displays the current week of the season and is also used to display short messages as and when needed. The options available on the main game menu screen are as follows; Division 1, The Cup, Division 2, Results, The Match, Fixtures, Players, Transfer List, Coaching, Manager, Save Game, Load Game, Resign. To select an option just click on the beige part of its box. 3.1 Division 1 & Division 2 --------------------------- This option displays the current league table for whichever division you clicked on. Simply click a mouse button to return back to the main game menu screen. 3.2 The Cup ----------- This option displays a second screen with four main boxes to be clicked on, namely; Round 1, Quarter Final, Semi Final and The Final. Clicking on one of the boxes result in the draw for that round being displayed. These options only work however if the draw for that round has already taken place, i.e. you can't see the draw for the Quarter Final when you have only played one leg of Round 1. There is a special method of display for the cup screens. The teams displayed in black have either; a) Lost that leg b) Lost the whole tie overall This enables you to locate which teams have won through to the next round quickly. The results are for each match, i.e. they are not combined to give the second leg result; so a result of 1 - 0 for a first leg and 3 - 0 for a second leg means the team won 4 - 0 overall. To get back to the main cup menu simply click a mouse button. The exception is for Round 1, where clicking a mouse button shows the second leg screen. Click a mouse button here to return to the main cup menu. When you have finished looking at the cup draws simply click on the main menu box on the main cup menu to return to the main game menu. 3.3 Results ----------- This option displays the league results for both divisions for the last week. Click a mouse button to return to the main game menu. Note that this option is disabled in week 1 simply because there have been no matches and therefore results. 3.4 The Match ------------- This option takes you to match day! A fixture screen detailing which teams are playing and at which ground is displayed. The question whether to watch the commentary is also posed here. Clicking the left mouse button means the commentary is watched. Clicking the right mouse button means that the commentary is not displayed. When you have decided on the commentary a screen is displayed showing the team names and goals scored along with the attendance. The match is then played and when it is finished, 'Full Time' is displayed on the screen. This process repeats for all the fixtures. When it is your teams turn to play the team selection screen is displayed. This consists of a box containing your current squad, six 'player boxes', a current shirt box and six boxes for tactics. 3.4.1 Team selection ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Clicking on any player will result in that player being given the shirt as specified in the current shirt box. The formation of a team is generally as follows; Shirt 1 - Attacking Shirt's 2 & 3 - Attacking/Defending Shirt's 4 & 5 - Defending/Attacking Shirt 6 - Substitute This should help you to decide which players play where. To select a shirt just click on one of the six 'player boxes' that hold the name of the current player occupying that shirt. The boxes are numbered from top to bottom, left to right. Substitutes are only brought in when a player is injured and the team cannot be reshuffled, they just slot into the shirt the injured player held. 3.4.2 Tactics ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ There are six boxes, four are labelled with the tactics; running, passing, tackling and stealing. They contain a numerical value representing how much a certain tactic will be employed. The other two boxes are used to alter the tactics. To alter a tactic simply click on the 'Change' box. Using the left button increases the left most tactic while decreasing the right most and vice versa with the right button. The maximum is 80 in one tactic and therefore 20 in the other. The tactics have an effect on the overall match. If, for example, you select 80 for tackling and your side is very good at tackling then you will benefit. Similarly for the attacking tactics, benefits from good tactical selection are available. Your team is preserved between matches, unless of course a player is sold or injured. Similarly, the tactics are preserved between matches. This saves a lot of time if you have a settled team. When you have finished picking your team and tactics just click on the box below the squad box and the match will be played. 3.4.3 Match day! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The match result is worked out by comparing different players attributes in different situations. Successful runs or passes result in the team being more likely to score. This can be seen if the commentary is being displayed as play is built up over 3 or 4 moves by a team. Note that the commentary is meant to illustrate highlights not a totally continuous flow of play. If you have picked your team wisely and selected the tactics well then you should see this paying dividends. Of course, if your team is weak and the other team has chosen well you can expect to lose! ASIDE: I have tested the match system very thoroughly and as a result it has been re-written twice so now it should be O.K.! You will be able to see which teams are strong defensively/offensively as some teams rarely concede goals and others leak them like anything! Also, some teams are very strong in one area, but not the other and so win by lots or lose by lots week by week. Originally the match system was very weak as when testing the game I could win the Championship and often the Cup after only 2 seasons! I thought that this represented little challenge and so the system was changed. Also, many other teams would sell their best players and not offer them new contracts, so their was little continuity. This was corrected and the teams are generally of a much higher quality. If however, the game does become too easy(like winning the double in Player Manager every year for about 15 seasons) then write and let me know so that I can alter it. Note that league and cup matches are played in the same week. Also, if a second leg cup match is drawn then extra time is played until there is a winner. Under the new match system this has been known to take 2 or 3 periods of extra time, whereas using the old system you very rarely encountered matches needing extra time. When the extra time message is displayed simply click a mouse button to start the match off again. 3.5 Fixtures ------------ This option displays a second screen from where you may choose which fixtures you wish to see, namely; the current weeks fixtures or any weeks fixtures you choose. 3.5.1 Current weeks fixtures ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Clicking on the box representing the current weeks fixtures will cause a screen to be displayed showing the fixtures for both divisions. Just click a mouse button to return to the main fixtures menu screen. 3.5.2 Any weeks fixtures ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Clicking on either the 'Up' or 'Down' boxes will cause the weeks fixtures you wish to see to increase or decrease. The week number wraps around so going up from week 28 gives week 1 and going down from week 1 gives week 28. When you have selected the week you are happy with then click on the box directly below and the correct fixtures will be displayed. Just click a mouse button to return from here to the main fixtures screen. When you have finished looking at fixtures simply click on the box that takes you back to the main game menu. 3.6 Players ----------- This option displays your squad of players. The following information is displayed; Name, Age, Position, Length of injury, Transfer listed or not. Clicking on any player results in another screen being displayed that shows all their attributes. The full list of attributes shown is as follows; Top box; Name, Age, Contract, Experience, Wage, Position, Injury length, Seasons with club, Career Games, Career Goals Small box; Injuries this season, Games played & Goals scored this season Transfer/ Contract box; Players price, Players contract, Wage offered to the player 1st Attribute box; Strength, Speed, Dexterity, Instinct, Toughness, Stamina 2nd Attribute box; Shooting, Passing, Tackling, Stealing, Artistry 3.6.1 Transfers ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ To do this simply click on the transfer box. A message will be shown telling you how much the player is on the list for. If the player is already on the list this option is disabled. To take a player off the list simply click on the cancel box. This option is disabled if the player is not on the list. To choose your asking price for the player, simply use the two arrow boxes to the left of the transfer/cancel boxes. Using the left mouse button the price changes by 1000 with each click. Hold down the right mouse button and the price increases constantly by 1000 until you release the right mouse button. Note that you can alter the price whether a player is on the list or not. 3.6.2 Contracts ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ To offer a player a new contract you must select the length of the contract and the amount you are willing to pay them each week. If a player accepts a contract they can not be offered a new one until week 30. This enables you to offer players 1 year contracts early in the season and then offer them a new one before the season ends, i.e. players with a contract of 0 years leave the game. To offer a contract use the arrow boxes either side of the small box containing the value of the players current contract length. The minimum contract is 1 year and the maximum is 5 years. The arrows use a wrap around system so decreasing from 1 gives week e.t.c. Next a wage has to be offered. This is done using the boxes below. The mouse buttons work as for the transfer price except that the wage uses increments of 10. A player will only accept a contract if the pay is what they require, if the length suits them and if they are happy at the club. When you have set the wage and contract length, click on the offer box and the player will consider the offer. When you have finished looking at a player click on the box at the bottom of the screen to return to the squad screen. From here click on the box at the bottom of the screen to return to the main game menu. 3.7 Transfer list ----------------- This option displays all the players currently up for sale. To choose a player to look at simply click on their name. The screen for displaying players is then shown. However, the players skills and weekly wage are not displayed. This information is kept secret by clubs and the manager will have to judge their worth by the physical attributes alone. Note that when other teams bid for the player the last wage offer is stored so that you can get an idea of how much to offer. To bid for a player use the arrow boxes as detailed above. When you are happy click on the transfer/offer box and your offer is considered. If you are successful the player will now be yours! Note that the maximum number of players in a squad is 10, so if you have 10 players you can look at the transfer listed players, but NOT bid for them. When you have finished looking at a player click on the box at the bottom of the screen to return to the squad screen. From here click on the box at the bottom of the screen to return to the main game menu. At the end of each week, teams will scour the transfer list looking for players to add to their team. If a team tries to buy one of your players a message will be displayed detailing the offer. If you accept the cash offer the player may still refuse the contract terms. To accept a cash offer for one of your players simply click the left mouse button, to reject the offer just click the right mouse button. Note that the transfer list is finished at the end of each season, i.e. any players that are on the list are removed. A new list is then generated for each season. If any of your players are on the list then they to are taken off at the end of the year. Also, teams do not wish to part with their best players so do not expect to see many brilliant players on the list! However, teams continue to train players even if they are on the list. Therefore, if you until near the end of the season you may find some players have improved a lot, but their price stays the same. Of course, if you don't snap them up there and then the price will increase if they are put on the list next season! 3.8 Coaching ------------ This option displays a screen showing six boxes representing the players physical attributes; Strength, Speed, Dexterity, Instinct, Toughness and Stamina. By clicking on the 'More' or 'Less' boxes you can set the amount of money you wish to spend on training. The mouse buttons work as in setting the price of players. When you have set the amount to spend just click on the attribute you are interested in. A screen showing players reactions to training is displayed. Note that players skills are derived from their physical attributes and the skill attributes are updated with each coaching session. Also, each player has a maximum value they can attain in any physical attribute and hence in any skill. You will just have to work out which attributes for which player! Now just click a mouse button to return to the main game menu. You can only coach once a week. After that the option is disabled. When you have finished coaching just click on the box at the bottom of the screen to return to the main game menu. 3.9 Manager ----------- This option displays the manager screen which shows the following information; Top box; Teamname, Managers name, Managers age Middle box; Cash carried forward, Gate receipts, Sponsorship, Prize money, Players sold, Total in, Wage bill, Players bought, Training cost, Total Cash Bottom box; Career sold, Career bought, Difference, Manager rating The information in the middle box is the managers financial information. The bottom box holds three financial figures. The manager rating is how well the team owners rate the manager. If this falls below a certain value you will be sacked. This limit is increased with good seasons, e.g. promotion and decreased with bad seasons. The manager rating improves with victories and other good results, e.g. promotion. It decreases with the opposite! 3.A Save game ------------- This option displays a file requester. You can either enter the filename directly or choose one by clicking on its name. Only those files with a '.slamball' suffix will be displayed by the requester. If you change your mind then just click on quit to return to the main game menu. When you have selected the filename the program will save your position. The box on the main game menu changes to show '.Save.' to reflect this. It reverts back to displaying the current week when the save is finished. This aspect of the game takes a long time, nearly one minute. I realise this is a long time, but there is a lot of information to store. I have tried to speed up the process, but only a minor increase was gained. I hope that you do not find it too much of a chore. NOTE: If you select this option with a write protected disk then write enable your disk. NEVER select the Cancel option from the requester as this causes the game to end. This problem never occurs if you always keep your disk write enabled. When selecting either save or load game the program looks on the game disk first. If you wish to save your games onto another disk you can. Just click the right mouse button when the requester appears and a list of drives will appear that you can save to. Simply choose one. However, when you next choose to save/load the game will look for your game disk. You can select Cancel from the requester if your game disk is not in a drive and just save to another disk if you wish. On the disk is a little program named SGK, Saved Game Killer. This program is used to delete a saved game from your disk. It is run from the Shell or CLI simply by typing SGK. Alternatively, you can click on its icon from the WOrkbench. The program displays a requester so you can choose the saved game to delete. It then deletes the saved game and exits. To delete more games you just have to re-run SGK and repeat the process. There is not much space left on the disk so you will probably only be able to fit one game onto the disk before running out of space! Of course if you follow the above procedure you can save onto any disk you like. 3.B Load game ------------- This option enables you to load in a previously saved game. It works as for saving the game, i.e. a file requester is used. It takes even longer than the save game option unfortunately, over 1 minute. However, as you are only likely to load in once per session this should not be too much of a problem. I hope however, that it is not too much off a nuisance. Read the NOTE above! 3.C Resign ---------- This option lets you resign. A message is displayed and clicking a mouse button returns you to the main menu of the game. 4 Credits ~~~~~~~~~ This game was written by me and all the in game graphic screens e.t.c. were designed by me!! I would like to thank the following people and organisations for their help during the development of SlamBall; My parents for buying me the Amiga in the first place; my two sisters for being totally cool; Francois Lionet and all the people at Europress for AMOS and the Compiler(?); Sony for having the best, most reliable disks, they never let me down!; Richard Mawer for initial play testing and for providing some good ideas; Philip Lines for some good advice and ideas; Dave Jones for play testing, ideas and having a helluva imagination! (Good Luck); Crazy Joe's for sending me the AMOS Update disks so quickly; Bon Jovi, Guns 'n Roses, Skid Row, Hardline, Manic Street Preachers and The Cult for giving me some inspiration when it was needed; Amiga Shopper for being the best(yet to decide what at!); you for playing the game and especially those who supported me with shareware contributions; Darren Walsh for nothing in particular, but I'm sure you'd appreciate a mention!; Vicky B; and to anybody that I have forgotten, THANK YOU!! 5 Interesting Bugs(NOT!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Note that these are all bugs that cropped up during development and were well and truly squashed there and then(sort of!) I have never had them appear again, but I thought they were quite humorous at the time. Actually, I though they were right little <beep> at the time, but I saw the funny side after beating them senseless with a soggy turnip. 5.1 The disappearing substitute ------------------------------- When you had a player injured they always made a miraculous recovery because they carried on playing. But, what is this, the other team gained a new player. That's right, your substitute did a runner and went to play for the other team if you ever had a player injured! Of course if you injured a member of the opposition you got their substitute to play for you! This little bug was only spotted after extensive testing and having to watch the match commentaries for loads of games. Its amazing how nobody EVER gets injured when you want them to! I managed to remove it and as yet it has not reared its ugly head again! 5.2 The 'picky' player ---------------------- After testing the game through a few seasons it became apparent that clicking on the box for shirt 1 had a very drastic effect. That a certain player was picked to wear the shirt that was last clicked, i.e. if I chose shirt 3 and then clicked on shirt 1, this player was placed in shirt 3. If I then clicked on shirt 1 again, he was replaced in shirt 1 and shirt 3 would become a reserve player! Eventually I realised that the last player on the transfer list was the player appearing in shirt 1. So, if there was a really good player on the bottom of the transfer list I could have them playing for without even having to buy them! This bug was also removed after nearly a whole day searching for it. It has also never been seen again, but you never know, it may be lurking just waiting to strike! 5.3 Which division are you in? ------------------------------ I had the league table and promotion and relegation all sorted out. Then I changed the way the fixture list/results worked. Now when a team was relegated/promoted all was not right! The promoted team would play fixtures in the second division still, with their score being used to sort their position in division 1. The same happened with the relegated team only the other way around. They had fixtures with division 1 teams, but their league position was sorted for division 2. So, I had teams playing in one division and being displayed in the other league table. This was a pretty major bug, but it is now well and truly dead and will not be making a comeback! That's All Folks!