Program Name:  CROAK!
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Author:        Selwyn Stevens
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Type:          Simulation (Amphibian Migration)
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Requirements:  Amiga with at least 512K RAM
~~~~~~~~~~~~   Joystick (two joysticks required for two-player game)


Background:
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This program attempts to simulate, as accurately as possible, one of the
most facinating stages in the life-cycle of the Australian Cane Toad.
As everyone knows, the eggs of the Cane Toad are laid within the carcasses
of dead sheep.  In this nutrient-rich environment the tadpoles quickly
mature, and soon there are a multitude of young toads ready to begin their
famous migration to the nearest creek or river bed.  This journey
frequently takes them across busy roads, and rivers whose erratic currents
defy the bulky toad's best attempts at swimming.

Okay, I give up.  It's Frogger, basically.  I like to think it's a fairly
decent version, but it's still Frogger, nonetheless.


Basic Gameplay:
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Press fire on a joystick in gameport two for a one-player game, or fire on
a stick in gameport one (the mouse port) for a two-player game.

The aim is to get seven frogs across the road and river to the homes at the
top of the screen, avoiding traffic and using logs and turtles to cross the
water.  When the homes are filled, the difficulty is increased and you have
to do it again (and again, and again).

The game ends after five mortalities.  The number of remaining frogs, not
counting the one in play, is shown at the bottom of the screen.

Each frog has a time limit to get to the other side.  This is a two-digit
number shown at the top of the screen.


Features:
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*  Simultaneous two-player action!  Transforms the game into a vicious
   contest for homes and bonuses.  It isn't over once you're dead - if
   your opponent completes the level, you get a new life for the next
   stage.

*  A demented killer chicken (Q: Why did the chicken cross the road?
   A: To give the frog a really hard time.)

*  An impatient crow who hates slow players.

*  Flies that can be eaten for bonus points, and spiders that give severe
   indigestion.

*  Ten different blood-smear designs that you can actually slip on!

*  Genuine sampled imitation animal noises.

*  Pause game (Hit "P", then hit fire or move the joystick to restart.)

*  Abort game (Hit "ESC" during play.)

*  Exit game (Hit "F10" on the title screen.)

*  Saving of high scores to disk (see below.)

*  Hard disk installable, reasonably stable, and multitasking (kind of).


Scoring:
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The score is a six digit number shown at the top of the screen.

When a frog reaches home, the remaining time is multiplied by ten and added
to the score.  Jumping on a fly scores an additional 200 points.  On the
completion of a level, an extra fifty points is scored per frog home.

An extra frog is awarded every 10000 points.


Entering Scores:
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Move the joystick left or right to change letters, and fire to enter each
letter.  Use the left arrow to make corrections, and the bent arrow to
finish.

Pressing the "F10" key will exit the program, saving the score tables.  If
the disk is write-protected, this will result in a requester.  At this
point, the write-protect can be disabled and the scores saved, or CANCEL
can be selected.

A file named "croak.scores" is maintained in the current directory to
retain the scores.  To reset the score tables, delete this file.


Technical Info:
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This game was written in C on a 2Mb Amiga 1000 with a Phoenix Motherboard
and hard disk.  It uses a sixteen colour screen, with a copper list to
increase the number of apparent colours.  The cars, logs and turtles use
only three bitplanes (for speed) and the blood and ripples are drawn into
the fourth.  There is a slight flicker because the display is not double-
buffered (double-buffering would slow the game down drastically, since the
road and river strips are not necessarily updated every frame.)