.-==================================================-. .-===============-. ( ) ( F E R A L ) ( .-- .--. .--. .--. . . . .--. .--. )====( P R O T O T E K ) ( `-. |--' |--| |--' |/ | |_ |--' )====( & ) ( ) | | | | \ |\ | | | \ )====( O R B I T A L ) ( --' - - - - - - - `--' `--' - - )====( M I N D ) ( ) ( C O N T R O L ) `-==================================================-' `-===============-' ||||| .-=======-. S P A R K L E R V E R S I O N 1 . 0 1 ( ) ( --=====-- ) Thanks for taking the time to download Sparkler. ( ) Please report any problems that occur to the ( --=====-- ) address at the foot of this document. However, ( ) Please check the "Known Issues" section first, as ( --=====-- ) your problem may have already been reported by ( ) someone else. `-=======-' ||||| .-=======-. ( ) Sparkler is a single-player space shoot'em up inspired by a couple ( WHAT IS ) of old 8-bit games: Starship Command on the BBC Micro (yes, we ( SPARKLER? ) really do mean old) by Peter Irvine, and Awesome on the Amiga, by ( ) DMA Design (yes, the Lemmings people). ( ) `-=======-' Why did we write it? Well, several reasons. Firstly, it's for ||||| a university project. We're tired of being given micky-mouse ||||| projects that have no real link with what real people are really doing ||||| at software houses. So we decided to write a real, if simple, game. ||||| Secondly, we just got ourselves 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics cards, and ||||| wanted to figure out how to program them. So this was our learning ||||| piece. It's not perfect -- I have another file here that's the ||||| beginnings of our _next_ project *muhahahahaha* (it already goes at ||||| about twice the frame rate of Sparkler and has better graphics :-} ) ||||| so watch for us in coming months... ||||| .-=======-. Your system MUST be equipped with the following as a minimum: ( ) ( SYSTEM ) * Windows '95 ( REQUIRE- ) * GLIDE 2.43 or later ( MENTS ) * 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics card ( ) * 16 MB of RAM `-=======-' * Intel Pentium 100mhz (or equivilent, or faster) processor. ||||| ||||| The following hardware is optional, but strongly recommended: ||||| * Analogue joystick (digital will work, but *VERY* awkwardly) ||||| * 16-bit sound card with DirectX Drivers ||||| ||||| Sparkler has been tested and found to work fine on: ||||| * Diamond Monster 3D ||||| * Orchid Righteous 3D ||||| * Canopus Pure3D ||||| * Obsidian and Voodoo 2 boards :} ||||| .-=======-. ( ) Use the joystick to navigate your spaceship through the cosmos. ( HOW DO ) Use the trigger to fire photons and the thumb-button to fire auxillary ( I PLAY? ) weapons (ie whichever powerup you have at the time). IF you do not have ( ) a joystick connected, Sparkler will turn on the following keyboard controls: ( ) `-=======-' ||||| ARROW KEYS - Steer the ship ||||| SHIFT - Fire photons ||||| Z - fire auxillary ||||| ||||| The following key controls are always available: ||||| ||||| P - Pause the game ||||| ESC - Quit the game ||||| ||||| If you use or to switch to another Windows ||||| application, Sparkler will switch back to your normal display and pause ||||| itself automatically. On tabbing back to Sparkler, remember to unpause. :) ||||| ||||| ||||| The first thing you will notice is that your ship stays more-or-less ||||| central on-screen as you fly around. This is because the game employs ||||| a "virtual camera" that follows the craft around. The stars, and the ||||| asteroids and enemy spacecraft that you must destroy, move and rotate ||||| around you. ||||| .-=======-. ( ) In the bottom-left is an icon representing your spacecraft. By it is ( SCREEN ) a number that shows how many lives you have remaining. To the right of ( LAYOUT ) this are two bars, only one of which is normally visible. This is your ( ) shields level, a blue bar full of swirling plasma. As your craft's ( ) shields are hit, it will go down; if you are hit when they are empty... `-=======-' boom. ||||| ||||| From time to time, you will receive powerups, in the form of metal ||||| barrels. Some simply charge your shields back up a little, but others ||||| give you extra weapons. If you collect the plasma cannon, a second, ||||| purple bar appears above your shields bar. This shows how far the ||||| plasma cannon is charged up. The longer the thumb-button is held down, ||||| the higher the charge, and the more powerful the ball of plasma that ||||| is fired when you release the thumb-button. ||||| ||||| In the bottom-right is your current score, and superimposed on the ||||| centre of the screen is a green navigational line which will point the ||||| way to the nearest target if none are present onscreen. ||||| .-=======-. First of all, we've received one report that Sparkler does not work with ( ) Voodoo Rush cards :-( We don't know why, or if this applies to all Rush ( KNOWN ) cards, or specific systems, but noone's contacted us with information ( ISSUES ) to help us debug it. We don't have Rush cards ourselves. ( ) ( ) If you have a joystick, but Sparkler doesn't detect it, or if you don't `-=======-' have a joystick, but it won't enable the keys, you can override the detect ||||| routine as follows: ||||| ||||| 1. Create or modify a shortcut to Sparkler. ||||| 2. Right-click the shortcut and select "Properties". ||||| 3. Click on the "Shortcut" tab in Properties dialog. ||||| 4. Change the Target to read: ||||| ||||| "C:\Program Files\sparkler\sparkler.exe" keys ||||| ||||| (to force keyboard controls on) ||||| ||||| OR ||||| ||||| "C:\Program Files\sparkler\sparkler.exe" joys ||||| ||||| (to force joysticks on) ||||| ||||| This assumes you installed Sparkler to the default location. If you ||||| did not, insert the word 'keys' or 'joys' on the end of the Target ||||| line. If there are quotes around the Target line (there will be, ||||| if any of the directory names have a space in them), place the ||||| word OUTSIDE the quotes, as shown above. ||||| ||||| Examples: ||||| ||||| D:\Games\Sparkler\sparkler.exe keys ||||| "E:\Fun Stuff\Sparkler\sparkler.exe" keys ||||| F:\Sparkler\sparkler.exe joys ||||| "G:\New Games\sparkler\Sparkler.exe" joys ||||| ||||| .-=======-. Obvious stuff here: The Sparkler game and all its constituent parts are ( ) the work of Canis Lupus of Feral-Prototek and Guru Zebediah of Orbital ( COPYRIGHT ) Mind Control. They are copyright (C) 1997, all rights reserved. ( ISSUES ) ( ) If you wish to distribute Sparkler noncommercially on a web site, FTP site, ( ) or by giving it to your friends, you may (this also includes commercial web `-=======-' sites providing they do not charge to download Sparkler). If you wish to ||||| distribute Sparkler on a magazine coverdisk, compilation CD-ROM, or other ||||| media where a fee is charged, directly or indirectly, for receiving Sparkler, ||||| or the media on which Sparkler is contained, or any other special promotional ||||| use, then you MUST contact us for permission. ||||| ||||| While we have taken great care to make Sparkler, and believe it to be ||||| functioning correctly, no program can be guaranteed bug-free. All material is ||||| supplied "as is" without warranty of any kind. You use Sparkler entirely at ||||| your own risk. By your use of Sparkler you agree to hold the authors harmless ||||| from all liability for any damage arising out of said use, regardless of the ||||| cause, effects or fault. ||||| ||||| sparklerfeedback@hotmail.com ||||| `---'