BattleMail Kung-Fu

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1. About BattleMail KungFu

BattleMail KungFu is the first release from the BattleMail range of free multiplayer email games. BattleMail KungFu has been designed to be small enough to send as an email attachment so that friends all over the world can become part of the craze by simply emailing the program to each other. The game is also available as a free download from http://www.battlemail.com.

2. Registration

BattleMail multiplayer email games are free to users because they are funded by advertisers. This does not mean that the games are based around a particular product but rather that advertisersÆ messages appear at the bottom of the game screens.

In order to target advertising messages that are more relevant and therefore less intrusive to players BattleMail creates a simple profile of its users. This profile contains only non-unique data and is made up from the information entered in the registration screen. For more information please read the BattleMail Privacy Policy. Information is entered in the registration screen the first time a player runs a BattleMail game and does not have to be entered again unless the software is reinstalled.

To enter data in this section simply select the Country, Age Band and Gender that is relevant to you from the drop down menus.

If you do not wish to receive any future BattleMail games or information from BattleMail select ôNoö from the drop down menu.

Once you have entered your registration details press the

button to play BattleMail KungFu.

3. Entering E-mail Addresses

In this section players enter their own email address and that of their opposition.

The BattleMail software is designed to identify the default email address on playersÆ machines so you may find that your email address has been completed for you. If the address entered by the BattleMail software for you is incorrect or this box is blank simply type in your email address.

Please Note: Once you have entered your email address this will become your default BattleMail address and canÆt be changed unless the software is reinstalled.

In this box players enter the email address of the person they want to play a BattleMail game against. Your opponentÆs email address can either be typed directly into this box or you can utilise the BattleMail address book which should contain the same email addresses as contained in your default Windows address book. The BattleMail software will also remember the addresses of recent opposition and will display these in the drop down menu section of the OpponentÆs Email Address box.

Please Note: In BattleMail KungFu only one email address can be entered into the OpponentÆs Email Address box.

Once you are happy with the email address you entered for your opponent press the

button to move to the Character Select Screen.

4. Selecting a Character

In this section players select the character they want to use as their KungFu fighter.

To select a character simply click on the picture of the character or click the button above them. Once selected a graphic displaying either

will appear above the character. If you are responding to a challenge from another player the character selected by them will have a

graphic above it and you will be unable to select this character yourself.

Please Note: In BattleMail KungFu your score is independent of your character. This means that your score and Experience Star distribution will apply to any character you select in any fight.

Once you are happy with the character you have selected press the

button to progress to the Attack Move Select Screen.

5. Selecting Attack Moves

BattleMail KungFu works by asking each player to enter an Attack and Defensive strategy which consists of 6 attack moves and 6 defensive moves. Once both players have entered their strategies and sent them to each other the BattleMail KungFu software then plays an animation of the outcome of these strategies. In every instance the player that issues the challenge goes first so that their first attack move is used against the recipient of the challengeÆs first defensive move. Therefore in simple terms any particular BattleMail KungFu fight follows this pathà

1. P1 Attack move 1 û Vs - P2 Defensive move 1
2. P2 Attack move 1 û Vs - P1 Defensive move 1
3. P1 Attack move 2 û Vs - P2 Defensive move 2
4. P2 Attack move 2 û Vs - P1 Defensive move 2
5. P1 Attack move 3 û Vs - P2 Defensive move 3

To select your attack moves simply click on either one of the

(High Attack),

(Mid Attack),

(Low Attack) buttons on the Attack Move Select screen. Your selected character will demonstrate the move as you select it and the move will be entered in one of your six Attack Move Slots. If you wish to change any of your attack moves simply click the

button which will delete the last move entered.

When you are happy with your six attack moves press the

button which will take you to the Defence Move Select screen.

6. Selecting Defend Moves

To select your Defence moves simply click on either one of the

(High Defence),

(Mid Defence),

(Low Defence) buttons on the Defence Move Select screen. Your selected character will demonstrate the move as you select it and the move will be entered in one of your six Defence Move Slots. If you wish to change any of your Defence moves simply click the

button which will delete the last move entered.

When you are happy with your six Defence moves press the

button which will take you to the Victory Cry screen.

7. Entering a "Victory Cry"

If you beat your opponent in a BattleMail KungFu bout your character will automatically do a celebration dance û just to rub salt into the wounds! You have the option to combine this celebration with a Victory Cry. The text you enter in the Victory Cry box will be displayed in a speech bubble from your chosen character at the end of the bout. You have the opportunity to enter 120 characters of text here so get creative with your insults and make your friend seethe!

8. Scoring and Using Experience Stars

The aim for players of BattleMail KungFu is to become a Master Black Belt KungFu fighter and top the global league tables as displayed at http://www.battlemail.com. To do this players must increase their score by winning BattleMail fights and progressing through the BattleMail KungFu belts.

The result of a BattleMail KungFu fight is decided by the health levels of the players at the end of a fight. Fights can be won in one of two ways, either the winner knocks the opposition out by removing all of their health or if both players are still standing at the end of a fight the winner is the player with the most health left.

Each player starts with 20 Health Units which are displayed in the health bars shown above the players in the Arena. Every time a successful hit is landed 4 Health units are removed. This means that 5 successful hits will result in a Knock Out i.e. all health is removed. Health can be increased with Experience Stars as described below.

For each undefended hit a player will be awarded 250 points
For each successful block a player will be awarded 100 points
For winning a fight a player will be awarded a bonus of 1000 points + (50 x winners Health Units remaining) + (200 x Belt Difference)*
For a æPerfectÆ** a player will be awarded a bonus of 1000 points

* The Belt Difference is difference between the belts of the winner and their opposition. E.g. If a Yellow Belt player beats a Brown Belt player the Belt Difference would be 3 and the extra bonus would be (200 x 3) = 600. Note: The Belt Difference is only used if the winner is of a lower belt than their opposition.

** A æPerfectÆ is achieved when a winner player knocks out their opposition whilst successfully blocking every hit thrown at them.

As BattleMail KungFu players advance through the KungFu belts they are awarded Experience Stars which allow them to improve their characterÆs moves and health. Each time a player progresses to a new belt they are awarded three Experience Stars which they can then allocate to improve their High Attack, Mid Attack, Low Attack or Health. For each Experience Star allocated to an attack move the power of that attack move is increased so that it removes an additional unit of energy if it is landed successfully. As each attack move has slots for five Experience Stars, an attack move can be increased with Experience Stars to remove a maximum of 9 Health Units. If a player chooses to allocate an Experience Star to one of the Health slots their health will be increased by two units. As there are five slots for Experience Stars in the Health section, Health can be increased with Experience Stars until it reaches a maximum of 30 units.

9. Your Statistics

By selecting the ôView Your Statisticsö section on the Menu bar of most of the main screens BattleMail KungFu players can view information on their BattleMail KungFu profile in two formats - Summary and Player-to-Player.

The Summary section of the View Your Statistics option details current player statistics which include total score, number of fights, the number of points required to move up to the next belt etc. Importantly it also shows how Experience Stars are currently distributed.

The Player-to-Player section of the View Your Statistics option allows players to view their past performance against other players. By selecting the player name from the list shown on the left of the screen players can view the number of wins, losses and draws against that particular player.

10. League Tables

The BattleMail KungFu League Tables can be seen at http://www.battlemail.com/asp/bmkftables.asp. The league tables are split into the belts of the fighters shown so that if a player is a yellow belt they will appear in the Yellow Belt League. Whilst the League Tables display all of the information shown in the Summary screen described above they also show the total points scored and it is on this basis that the league positions are decided.

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