IMPORTANT NOTICES - System Requirements, Bug reports etc. --------------------------------------------------------- This is an updated demo release for the previous one, which goes by the same version. This one has 2 different crafts and 4 different arenas. It also has a lot of the crashing points smoothed out, but still crashes in the game. Some of the below is now out of date. Please take time to read this document carefully, as it contains very important information which is required to use this demo. I apoligise for the extremely unfinished state of this demo. A lot of the problems are due to memory fragmentation or system clashes. There are a lot of things missing from this demo which should have been included, but I didn't get rounf to them as there was always some bug that needed ironing out. It is released in an extremely unstable condition! This demo is merely to show potential buyers/publishers what the game is about. The game has no release date and has at least 3 months more work ahead of it. * YOU MUST CD INTO THE SKIMMERS DIRECTORY IF YOU ARE RUNNING FROM CLI!!! * This demo will probably NOT work from workbench. To obtain maximum performance, reboot with no startup-sequence, Run Setpatch, CD into the Skimmers directory, and run Skimmers. * Note that due to the very early release date, this version will crash A LOT. Be prepared to play only 1 race per loading. Make sure you save your game if you wish to continue. * Things may change up to the last minute. Hello to all my beta testers. Before playing BE SURE to read the Amiga Guide document. Send me decent and full reports for a mention in the game. PLEASE NOTE THAT FOR TECHNICAL REASONS, THE GAME MAY BE JERKY AT TIMES. I GUARANTEE THAT THIS JERKYNESS WILL NOT BE PRESENT IN THE FULL GAME. Thank You for obtaining a copy of Skimmers 0.8. Please distribute this version at your own will. Please remember that this is only a demo version, and thus still contains bugs. I am still not sure of the system requirements but I have a Blizzard 1230IV with 8 megs of fast RAM. To play the game, I normally reboot with no startup-sequence, as this seems to work better. Make sure you have Setpatch running as well, as this also helps. I THINK the game needs 1 meg of FAST ram to load some stuff in, but don't take my word for it! You may find that the game runs perfectly on an unexpanded Amiga 1200. NB: Without an accelerator, loading times are LOOOOOONG. I need reports from you on bugs and systems. If you find that you can play for a long time without a crash, or if the game fails to work at all, send me some info. I need to know: Your EXACT system setup (Hardware/Software) Where you RAN the game from (Worbench/CLI/No-Startup) Where the game CRASHED (if it did - what screen it crashed on etc.) The contents of ALL the directories inside Skimmers. Any other USEFUL comments/suggestions will be thankfully received. I plan to spend a LOT more time on this, and thus haven't set a release date YET. I am also in DESPERATE need of any Blitz routines that can: Unpack/Pack IFF files. (ie make file sizes smaller) Unpack/Pack MODs. (ie make file sizes smaller) Load MODs into FAST ram and use them. Load bitmaps completely into FAST ram and use them with ease. Load IFF/8SVX sounds into FAST ram and use them. If you think you can help with any of the above with relevant BlitzII code, please send me the code. You will be mentioned in the credits if I use it. The code must be easy to use, as I'm no good with memory addresses or assembler coding. HELP ME PLEASE!!! Also, if there's someone out there reading this who has a lot of experience with Blitz, perhaps they could tell me why the heck the game is so jerky with 4 skimmers... I can tell you that the game uses double buffering with BBlits and has two 600*600 7-bitplane bitmaps. I think it is due to the large size of the skimmers coupled with the depth which is being blitted (128 colours). I do not copy the bitmap over the old one for DB'ing, but simply have the front bitmap with the bblits on, and the back map for the changes, which are then swapped over. If you can help, perhaps you're one of the original Blitz creators/coders or if you've been proggin in Blitz for a long time, send me some kind of remedy for the jerkyness. I can give you more info if you reply... Forthcoming additions: Improved gameplay, bug fixes in collision. Improved Artificial intelligence. Full shop implementation: Guided missles, shield, boosters and loads more. Loads more GFX. More Skimmer animation including death and being hit. 4 full gangs, each with their own Skimmer and logo. Different Skimmers have different Statistics: Cornering, speed, braking, acceleration etc. 5 HAM8 animations in the intro. Game over and completion anims. 21 raytraced arenas. Updated status bar with gang logos, rocket status etc. Updated inyerface - Nicer map mode and menus. 6 wicked music modules, and a cool sound effects mode. Thank you for taking time to read this jumbled hunk of crap... Gareth Williams (The programmer) 41 Weeks Road, Oi carnt reed and oi carnt rite Ryde, Coz oi cum from the pile of shoite Isle of Wight, (overwize nown as da Iwol 'o woit) England, Butt oi kan swertinly droive a PO33 2TL. TRACCER!!! Send bug reports straight to me. Send suggestions to Alvaro's address in the amigaguide document. Alternatively, send reports AND suggestions to: alvaro@enterprise.net via e-mail. CHECK OUT OUR COOL WEBSITE FOR A DOWNLOAD OF THE LATEST VERSION: http://homepages.enterpise.net/alvaro/tm/ (site may be down due to construction, but it will look bloddy excellent...)