XENOMORPHS 2 AND OTHER DEVELOPMENTS 10/6/95 I am currently working on Xenomorphs 2. This is the second edition of Xenomorphs which was released about a year ago. The original version was reviewed in Amiga User International. It was let down by its poor scrolling and animation, which I am currently fixing. This disk contains a slide show which is executable from either the '?' icon in TankAttack, or from the icon in Workbench. It shows some of the graphics used in the game and should give an idea of the flavour of it. I hope to complete it by the end of the Summer. It will be shareware, on 2 disks, available for #À5 from the address at the bottom of this document. I will also be releasing as free public domain a version titled "Xenomorph Initiation". This will be a 4 to 5 mission series which will act as the practice levels for Xenomorphs 2. XENOMORPHS 2 - THE GAME The full price game is a strategic shoot-em-up, based on the film "Aliens". You control a squad of 10 marines who must accomplish a variety of missions. It has a simultaneous 2-player option. System requirements: Probably A1200 - or equivalent speed and memory (ie not AGA), see if the practice levels run sufficiently quickly on your machine. I may do a cut down A500 version. Joystick - (2 if you want to play 2 player) An extra disk drive or hard drive, prevents disk swapping between levels. Mouse/joystick switch a help if you are playing 2 player as the selection screen is easier with a mouse. SQUAD SELECTION Before playing the mission, you select your 10 marines from a platoon of 45. As you use personnel, they will gain experience, increasing their attributes. You then equip them with armour, weapons and other miscellaneous equipment, including mines, teleporters, medi-kits etc. You are then briefed on your mission, there are a wide variety including: - Reaching objectives. - Defending computers, lifts etc. - Destroying alien nests. - Clearing sectors of aliens. - Sealing sectors by closing blast doors. Each level contains large quantities of furniture/ computers/ stores etc. which can be destroyed. The aliens move extremely fast, so you will need to use some troops to give covering fire as you secure rooms etc. Troops fire automatically at aliens when you are not controlling them. Features include: - 10 weapons & 18 items of equipment. - 4 armour types. - Sentry guns. - Civilians. - Approx. 20 missions + more on a mission disk to be released later. I hope to finish the game in the next couple of months. Watch for the practice levels, which will be available as PD as soon as they are finished. OTHER GAMES Another major project which I am currently planning and drawing the graphics for is an upgraded version of Tank Attack. You will control a squad of 4 tanks and fight a variety of enemy vehicles over a large scrolling map. Imagine a cross between "Team Yankee" and "Cannon Fodder". It will be shareware and I will release a demo version as with Xenomorphs. Once this is finished I will add expansions allowing control of several squads/ artillery support/ different vehicles/ selection of weapons and vehicles/ development of weapons/ building bases/ serial link for 2 player games.etc. This will not be for some time. I am also adapting Tank Attack into a biplane type game. It will be very similar but with biplanes. This will be PD. All games will be released under the label "Culture". DOES ANYONE KNOW... I would be very pleased to hear from anyone who knows anything about these topics - - Accessing a parallel port joystick adaptor from BlitzBasic2 or AMOS. - Using 2 mice in BlitzBasic2 or AMOS. - Why if you hold down too many keys, the BlitzBasic2 RawStatus command can't detect them properly. I'd like to use the above control methods, but I'm not sure how. Maybe it can be done by peeking hardware registers? If you can help, please contact me. WOULD ANYONE LIKE TO HELP? At the moment I write games pretty much single handedly. As I am half way through a degree course, which takes a lot of my time, progress is rather slower than I would like. I would be keen to find other people to co-design a game with - I have a lot of game ideas that I simply don't have time to develop. I would prefer it if anyone I was working with had access to e-mail, so we could exchange files quickly and easily. I am particularly looking for someone who could program the code for a game. I could design it and draw the graphics if someone else could get the program done. Interested anyone? I am also looking for someone who could write music for a game, preferably as a OctaMed or Soundtracker module. Possibly level design, although you would have to do several before it became worth me sorting out the software and explaining how to use it. If someone contributes to a game, they would of course be entitled to a proportion of any money I make on it (which will probably be a pittance, so don't get your hopes up), depending on how much they did of it. YOUR OPINION If you contact me, please send me the following information- -Details of your setup including no. of joysticks/ mice etc. -Your 5 favourite commercial releases to give me an idea of the sort of stuff you like to play. -What you think are the bad and good points of stuff I have already done. -Whether you regularly play 2+ player games and whether you can easily serial link 2 Amigas. -What you thought of the difficulty level in any of my games. Too easy at first/ too steep a difficulty curve? etc. If you develop a game, you play it so much that what you thought was a simple level can be unbelievably difficult for a beginner. HOW TO GET IN TOUCH My address is Aidan Boustred Brook House, Small's Hill Road Leigh Reigate Surrey RH2 8PF ENGLAND Phone: 01306 611 388 (Not in term time - I probably won't be there) E-mail: a.m.boustred@sheffield.ac.uk (Only in term time) If you are making an enquiry please include a stamp, or you won't get an answer. I will post finished games and demos on the Aminet and also send them to leading PD companies etc.