Space War Text File: Version 4.1 This game is designed for 2 ( TWO, no more, no less) players. It is best for you to find your favourite friend and learn to play together. After you get good enough, no one else will play with you. Basically, the ships behave a lot like the ships in Asteroids: 2 keys to rotate left/right, a key to shoot, a key to thrust and a key for shields. The objective is to blast the other ship out of the 'water'. The help button on the opening menu will tell you how to control the two ships. Another useful key is 'shft-Q' to abort a game. Pause is done with the 'p' key. With version 4.1, the game finally plays almost identically on colour or mono screens. Other features have also been added. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A brief description of the program. I feel that most features are self evident... However: Ships: Strong thrust Normal thrust Weak thrust Torpedoes: I have limited the number of torpedoes on screen to 5 per ship. This makes people a lot more cautious about wasting shots. Once the torpedoes hit something, and finish exploding, then you get to fire them again. The torpedoes are slow. Basically, your ships velocity, and then some. More fun than fast ones. Torpedo-Contact: Torpedoes actually have to hit in order to explode. It is very tough to shoot a contact torpedo out of the 'air'. Torpedo-Proximity: Torpedoes only have to get close. This mode is more fun, because you have a good chance of shooting torps out of the air, instead of wasting your shields ( assuming you have them) Torp-Speed: Slow... make sure you don't hit it yourself... Normal: what you'd expect. Fast: makes the game more action oriented. Torpedo Display: A little picture shows the number of torpedoes available for firing. A quick peek at your enemies supply is also handy info. Score: Score is based on how many times you kill your enemy. However, if you are stupid enough to get killed in the process, then nobody gets any points. You have to stay alive until your opponents explosion is finished. An added feature is that if anyone dies by flying into the sun, not only does their opponent get a point, they also lose a point for being so stupid. It turns out that this is a great equalizer for when all seems lost. Score is also decremented if you fly into the edge of a deadly universe. Explosions: Each torpedo can only hit 1 object. This means that to shoot two torpedos out of the sky you need to shoot two torpedos, or the same one twice (if you have time... it takes time to load those torpedo tubes!!) This also means that you can fly thru explosions with complete immunity (fun). Closed Universe: You bounce at screen edges. Open Universe: You wrap around the screen edges. Note that objects wrap when they touch the edge, therefor, bullets wrap at a different time than ships, usually killing anyone foolish enough to shoot as they wrap around the universe. Deadly Universe: You die if you touch the edge. (also lose pts) Invulnerable things like asteroids bounce when they hit this. Drag/No Drag: With drag, orbits decay. If there is no gravity, then things slowly drift to a halt. Sun Kills: Contact with the sun kills ships and torpedoes. Sun Does not kill: The sun is there but you can sail right thru it. Torpedoes also fly thru it. Black hole: The sun is there, you just can't see it. Shields On: Hitting the key will turn your shields on. Shields Off: Hitting it again will turn them off. It is an interesting exercise in coordination teaching some fingers to quickly repeat, and others to just tap it once. Flicking your shields on and off may stop a bullet, may not. While your shields are on, the ship is out of control. You cannot turn, thrust of fire a torpedo. This is extra incentive not to use shields. It is a lot of fun to send a few torpedoes towards your opponent, forcing him to use his shields, right when he needs to thrust to avoid the sun. Shields last a cetain amount of time. The number of torpedoes striking them does not affect their performance. I considered adding a display showing just how much shields you have remaining. I think the game is better without. You have to watch your opponent closely, and compare how long his shields have been on compared to yours. No gravity: As the name implies. The ships fly just like Asteroids. Null-G makes it easy to pound a few shots into your opponent, forcing him into his shields, and then hang around, continually bombarding him with shots. As long as you don't miss, you have an infinite supply of torpedoes. Weak gravity: Orbits are possible, but are slow. It is easy to power away from the sun, even from very close. Normal gravity: What can I say??? Strong gravity: A lot of your time will be spent maintaining a stable orbit. Is very difficult with a closed universe, cuz as soon as you hit the edge, you start bouncing out of control. Reverse gravity: Gravity now pushes away from the sun. Orbits are a thing of the past... Game length: You have a choice of: -15 Short -40 Medium -100 Long If the score is tied after the last round, then the last two levels are repeated, until someone wins. Inertial Rotation: If you are good, and have totally mastered the standard techniques of controlling your ship, then you may be ready to try using the keys just above your standard rotation keys. These keys enable rotation that keeps you spinning. The standard keys will instantly stop any rotation (sort of cheating I guess), or you can 'thrust' in the opposite direction with the other inertial key. At present, this feature is enabled, but doesn't have to be used. Asteroids: Your choice of 0, 1 or 2 asteroids. If there is gravity, these will be in stable orbits, if not, then they will travel in straight lines. Asteroids have too mush mass to be affected drag, so their orbits do not decay. Shields will not protect you from an asteroid... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOME GOOD SCENARIOS: -open universe, slow torps, no shields, high thrust, no gravity, drag -deadly universe, strong thrust, fast torps, shields, weak grav, 2 asteroids, sun kills -open universe, weak gravity, strong thrust, shields, fast torps, 2 asteroids, black hole, sun no-kill. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- POSSIBLE EXTENSIONS/FEATURES: -extended universe -invisble ship, same limitations as shields -hyperspace -debris continues to orbit -multiple suns (tricky...) -moving sun (maybe multiple, in orbit about each other) -asteroids affected by collisions -shields bounce off each other. Votes or comments are welcome. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had a lot of fun writing this. (lot of time too!) Please tell me what you think about it, along with any bugs you find. I am also interested in any suggestions or extra features. Warren Long phone: (306)-955-1237 78 Carleton Dr. Saskatoon Saskatchewan S7H 3N6 CANADA ---------------------------------------------------------------------------