SB2_Shareware_1/94 JX ___________________________________ / \ \ oooo ====-=------ - - / / o::oooOo ====-=------- - - \ \ o:..:oooOO ====-=------- - - / / oo::ooooO8 ====-=------- - - \ \ ooooOOO8 ====-=------- - - / / OO88 ====-=------ - - \ \ / / S I C K B A L L I I \ \___________________________________/ V1.2 (c)1994 Jamux Intro: Basically, Sickball2 is Pong with big balls and a lot of colour. Requirements: For SB2 you will need a joystick and mouse in the usual places and preferably at least 1meg to reach an acceptable speed of play. The game doesn`t really care about anything else connected to the computer. SB2 has been checked successfully on the following: A500, A500p, A600, A1200. I have not tried it on a higher Amiga because I don`t know anyone rich enough to own one. Keep the disk in the internal drive and do not take it out during play. Instructions: Sickball2 can be played in many different ways by altering the setup on the options page (found by pressing fire on the title page). 2 player game: The 2 player game is activated by changing the "Players" option so it has a "2" next to it. The 2 player game can be played in 3 ways - the type of game can be altered by the option "Game style": Style1: Game style1 is specifically for 2 players- The score for each player is kept beneath his or her bat. Player1 controls the bat on the left with the mouse, and player2 controls the bat on the right with the joystick. The aim of this game is to get 9 points- A point is rewarded by hitting one of the septagonal "pins" which appear and disappear regularly on the screen. (The maximum number of pins which can appear at one time are 6 and the minimum is zero). The point is awarded to the last person to rebound the ball. If the ball hits the small ball which moves about in the centre of the screen, the score of the last person to hit it will reset to five- This can be both beneficial or detrimental to the score involved. If the ball goes off the screen, the person whose side the ball goes off will reset to zero (not A Good Thing). As well as controlling the bats, the mouse and joystick can change the speed of the ball (only in "fast" mode), this is done by holding down fire on the joystick to speed it up, and by holding down the left mouse button to slow it down. At the start of the game, the players can either agree to not use the buttons at all (yeh right) or desperately try to put off the other player by speeding up or slowing down the ball at inoportune moments. To exit the game to the title page during play, press the right mouse button. Style2: The ball and bats act in the same way as in style1 but the score is controlled differently. Instead of 2 scores, there is only one positioned at the centre of the bottom of the screen. As before, you get 1 point for hitting a pin (it does not stop after 9 points), but if you hit the small ball, the score is resetted to the last 10, ie. if you had 23 points and then hit the small ball, your score would then be 20 points etc. You can stop the ball from hitting the small ball by speeding up or slowing down the ball when it moves close to it by using the fire button and left mouse button to accelerate and decelerate. It takes a lot of practise to get this right (and by the way, if that last piece of information did not make the slightest bit of sense, then don`t worry, it will all become clear when you are playing it!). As before, if the ball goes off the screen, the score is resetted to zero. To exit from this game, again, press the right mouse button. Style3: Ball and bat control as before, but this time no scoring system at all (The game is a lot faster without having to keep score). 1Player: The three styles above can all be played with one player controlling both bats with the mouse. (the joystick fire button still speeds up the ball and the left mouse button slows it down). To exit again press the right mouse button. Other options: "Speed"- This, strangely enough, alters the speed of the ball. Choose between "Fast" and "Slow". NB. You can only change the speed of the ball during play with the mouse and joystick if the speed mode is set to "fast". "Screen scroll"- To feel seasick, simply turn this option on, the back- ground moves left and right in a soothing, dizzying and sickening manner. NB. The foreground sprites do not move with the background. This option can slow down the update of the screen and can sometimes be a bit jerky. "Background"- There are 5 exciting(!) backdrops to play on- some of them alter the colour of the sprites, but that doesn`t really matter, my favourite are the third and fifth screens- try them all out. Some look better when the "Screen scroll" is turned on. Extra stuff: * To start the ball rolling at the beginning of a game and after it has gone off the screen, press the fire button or the left mouse button. When the ball has started to move, it shouldn`t set off any pins until it has rebounded off one of the bats (although it occasionally does- I don`t know why) * To exit the game completely and go back to workbench, press "ctrlC" * During play, when the small ball has been hit, it will explode- this explosion can set off the pins and give extra points to the last person to hit the ball. The ball also speeds up for a short time when the small ball is blowing up- so beware! * The pins that appear and disappear on the screen are in set positions and do not move, if all 6 are shown at one time you can see where these are- remember that the ball bounces off the pins and can go directly back to the bat it came off. * To pause the game during play, move joystick left, to resume, move it right. Insanity: If you are feeling particulally sadistic (or drugged), you might want to try this setup whilst holding down the fire button during play: `Players` - 1 `Speed` - Fast `Screen scroll` - No `Game Style` - 3 `Backdrop` - I defy you to keep the ball on the screen for longer than 15 seconds without it flying off- my record is around 25 seconds The End: Thats it really, I hope you have fun playing it Shareware notice: Sickball II is SHAREWARE, this means that if you have enjoyed it and intend use it in the future then please send the shareware fee of 5 pounds and an SAE to the address below. In return, I will send you the following: * The uncompiled AMOS code to SB2 * An additional backdrop * Additional music * The original Sickball * All the samples used for this and the original Sickball SB2 was written entirely by Me in AMOS, graphics in Deluxe Paint III and sound FX in Stereo Master and Octamed Pro. /------------------\ | James Hall | | 1 Chequers Close | | Buntingford | | Herts | | SG9 9TB | \------------------/ PS. If I get enough response from SB2 then I intend to carry on the series of Pong style games with the excitingly titled `Sickball III`, hopefully it shall contain the following: --> Better + more varied sprites --> Even more options --> Prettier Backdrops --> Power ups/downs --> Music + better SoundFX --> Multiball?.....perhaps (wow)