@database Rebound.guide @$VER 1.0 (21-04-97) @node MAIN "Rebound Arena" R E B O U N D A R E N A _________________________ by Aaron McDonald ©1997 Solaris Software Contents: @{" Background / History. " link "1"} @{" Installation " link "2"} @{" Loading. " link "3"} @{" Game Options Screen. " link "4"} @{" Playing the Game. " link "5"} @{" High Score Table / Leaderboard. " link "6"} @{" Technical Info/Requirements. " link "7"} @{" About the Author. " link "8"} @{" Other Solaris Games. " link "9"} @{" Credits. " link "10"} @{" Warranty. " link "11"} @endnode @node 1 "Background / History" Background / History: Rebound Arena is based on a very old Amstrad CPC 464 game of the early 80s - 'Bouncer'. I'm sure many of you have never even heard of this game before, even if you actually owned an Amstrad. I quite enjoyed a quick bash of it when I had an Ammy, even though it was programmed in BASIC. So one day I was tinkering around in AMOS, and decided to make a Bouncer clone, with Rebound Arena being the result. The idea is to control a lone ball that continues to bounce off of the left and right sides of the screen whilst avoiding the grey blocks and collecting the blue gems - as simple as that! This must be done in the quickest possible time to qualify for a place on the High Score (well Low Time) table. A collision with a grey block results in game over. The blocks are layed out randomly (so there is little chance of the same game being played twice) aswell as a random start position of the red ball (however the start direction is NOT random - the ball always starts travelling right). @endnode @node 2 "Installation." Installation (Hard Disk): Installation is very simple. Just double click on the 'Install-to-HD' icon and choose a place to install Rebound Arena on your Hard Disk (or whatever) and run it from there - simple! The whole installation takes up about 950K. Installation (Floppy): If you wish to copy the game to floppy, format two disks, naming them 'RA_Disk1' and 'RA_Disk2'. Below is a list of which files to place on each disk: RA_Disk1: rebound.exe (executable) Install-to-HD Rebound.guide S [drawer] | --> startup-sequence scores.dat (high scores - if this file does not exist, the game will create it for you) RA_Disk2: Pics [drawer] | -->arena.iff title.abk credits.iff credits2.iff Intro.iff Sound [drawer] | -->samples.abk princess.mod title.mod checknonotice.mod Don't forget to include the 's' drawer with startup-sequence (that just contains the line 'rebound.exe'), and then to install the disk, by typing 'Install df0:' from shell or cli. @endnode @node 3 "Loading the game." Loading the game: The game can be run straight from floppies (Disk 1 should autoboot) or by first installing it to hard disk and running it from there by double- clicking on the 'Rebound_Arena' Icon @endnode @node 4 "Game Options Screen." Game Options Screen: -Rebound Arena has several options to enable beginners to practice the game with more than one life and more or less blocks in the arena. You can alter the ammount of Blocks by move the highlighted text (using 'K' and 'M') over the 'Number of Blocks' option and pressing '+' or '-'. -Similarly, the same technique changes the ammount of lives given on the 'Number of Lives' option. -Instructions can be brought up in the game by selecting 'Instructions' from the main menu with the bar. -Music and Sound FX can be toggled from the menu to select the sound during the game. -High Scores can be viewed with the High Score option believe it or not. -Credits and Exit to Workbench/AmigaDOS options are also available aswell as, of course, Start Game. N.B. Games are only timed if 30 Blocks are selected and 1 life is selected. When both these factors are true, timed games are eligable for the High score table. All other combinations of these options are used for practice only. The mode the game is in is shown flashing at the bottom of the screen. The timed mode can be quickly selected by moving over the 'Number of lives' option or the 'Number of Blocks' option and pressing . @endnode @node 5 "Playing the Game. Playing the game: Playing Rebound Arena doesn't really need explaining, all there is to say is that the ball can be moved up and down using 'K' for up and 'M' for down - Avoid the grey blocks - 'bump' into the blue gems - do all this in the quickest humanly possible time. HINTS: ______ - Plan out how you are going to 'attack' the arena before you press to start, by plotting a rough route you are going to take. You can take as long as you like here because the timer only starts when you press . - The ball ALWAYS starts moving right. - Don't just fly around the screen in any old order collecting gems, if three are in a row, try to attack the middle one first, then bounce out for the other two. - Don't look directly at the moving ball - look at where the ball is actually going to move to. - Be Quick! @endnode @node 6 "High Score Table / Leaderboard" High Score Table; You will qualify for this if you time is fast enough (ie better than position 20 to appear on the Leaderboard). Every time the Table changes it is updated on the disk, so it is essential that disk 1 is write- enabled for it to save the scores. If you do happen to get a fast time, you will be prompted to enter your name, and you and your time will then be highlighted on the Leaderboard. The scores will then be saved. If you wish to clear the high score table just delete 'scores.dat' in the 's' drawer on Disk 1, and a new table will be created next time you play the game with times of 99.99 to beat in all 20 positons. I have included my high score table just as a matter of interest to other players (called scores.dat-mine). They were done on a 50Mhz 030 machine, so might not be possible on a stock 500 for example! Just rename the file to scores.dat, and place in the 's' drawer on disk 1 (or in your Hard Disk's 's' drawer) to see if you can beat any of the times to get to position 1 - email me if you do do this - I'll be interested to see if anyone can possibly beat my number 1 time ( I dont think so! ;] ) NOTE: (If you play the game from CD, the scores are still saved, because they are saved to 's:scores.dat', ie your SYStem or boot disk). @endnode @node 7 "Techical Info / Requirements." Technical Info / Requirements: This game was created on an Amiga 1200 with 6 megs of Ram, Blizzard 1230 IV with 420 Meg Hard Disk, ATAPI Quad-Speed CD-ROM, 2xFloppy drives and an Amstrad Colour Monitor. I have tested the game on a standard 1200 (68020 - 2 Meg RAM) and it worked fine (with not much of a speed difference) - I think it should work on a machine with less than 2 Megs, but dont quote me on that. It does not make use of the AGA chipset, so will work on a A500/A600 etc. One floppy drive is needed only, but a hard drive speeds things up quite alot as you would expect. @endnode @node 8 "About the Author" About the Author: Name : Aaron McDonald DOB : 28 - 04 -77 Well I'm 19 currently studying Computer Science at Sussex University (it doesn't show in this game does it?). This is the first real game I have actually finshed, becuase of coursework/exams etc, with 90% of the work being done by me alone. The in-game graphics were drawn by my brother (including the rendered title screen), the rest of the artwork and sound done by me. My interests? Well as you may have seen I like programming, including 'C' and Modula-2. I like most things to do with Science fiction (Star Wars especially) as well as going to the Cinema, Sunbeam Rapiers (SUNBEAM RAPIERS ?!!??! - what are they?). Go and visit my web site to learn more : http://www.tripod.com/~Sunbeam_Rapier/ You can also E-Mail me with any comments / bug reports or anything you like: aaronmc@cogs.susx.ac.uk Enjoy this little effort..... @endnode @node 9 "Other Solaris Games." Other Solaris Games: Well since this is the first Solaris release, no other games are available at the time of writing, but a few are in the pipeline: - 'Picaxe Pete' A nice platform game - collect the keys to advance through the doors - destroy the boulders before your pickaxe crumbles away, and more... (nearly finished) - 'Boolz' Pang - Type game set over various locations - destroy the bubbles! (50% complete) Also I have written a handy '16 Greyscale ILBM' to 'ASCII' coverter to convert pics to a nice looking ASCII text picture - handy for sprucing up those E-mails quickly and effectively. @endnode @node 10 "Credits." Credits: CODE: Aaron McDonald GFX: A. & Eiden McDonald Sound: A. McDonald (Again?) Music: Various anon authors - mods found on various CD's, I thank them all for their mods - email me to include your names in the credits in furure updates of Rebound. Tesing: What you have to TEST a game? (Joke) @endnode @node 11 "Warranty." Amiga Format Warranty. --------------------- In respect of all material which forms my reader contribution to Future Publishing's Amiga Format I hereby warrant that:- (1) the material is original and does not infringe any other material or rights; (2) the material does not contain any material which is defamatory, obscene or indecent and is exempt from classification under the Video Recordings Act 1984; (3) that there are no legal claims against the material provided; (4) that I have full power and authority to provide this material to Future Publishing. @endnode