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Text File | 1994-05-16 | 21.5 KB | 472 lines

XQUEST v 1.00 9/5/94 by Mark (Atomjack) Mackey INTRODUCTION Anyone who's ever mucked around with an Apple MacIntosh (tm etc.) will almost certainly at one time or another have come across the excellent but rather old arcade game CrystalQuest. Generations have bemoaned the fact that this little gem of a game was only available on crummy little monochrome fruity things. Well, bemoan no longer. XQuest is the first groundbreaking port of CrystalQuest to the PC! Crystals, mines, bonuses, lots of things to wantonly blow up: they're all here folks, along with a few minor enhancements (evil snigger). For those few sad individuals who missed the original game, here is... THE STORY The invasion fleet of the hideous Mucoids is hurtling towards the Earth, intent on blasting it into tiny steaming shreds of radioactive grit, and only your ship, armed with the our latest top secret Super Kill-o-Zapper Phaser Photon Laser Cannons can... Hang on, sorry. Wrong game: start again. You're a rather jolly little circular dingus which shoots all around a rather abstract landscape collecting little blue crystally things, while avoiding a few mines scattered around. Hmm. Boring, you say? Well, maybe it still needs a certain something... OK, so we'll keep the Super Kill-o-Zapper, then, and add a couple of things to blow up. Happy? GAME REQUIREMENTS Required Recommended CPU 286-12MHz 386SX-33 Video card VGA VGA Input device Mouse Mouse Sound Card none Sound Blaster Memory 350K free 550K free HOW TO PLAY To play XQuest type 'xquest' at the prompt from the directory that XQuest is installed to. You will be presented with an amazingly self- explanatory menu. In the interests of total software documentation, however, here is an explanation: Menu Option What it Does ----------- ------------ Start Game Starts the game Help Help screen High Scores High scores Options Options menu Demo Demo menu Quit Quits Did that help? Click on an option to select it, right click to back up from one of the submenus. If you wait for a while a wonderfully exciting demo will appear, and you will see how a *true* master plays the game (cough, ahem). (To exit the demo simply click a button or press ESC). Once you are in the game, you can move your ship around by moving the mouse. Fire your Super Kill-o-Zapper by pressing the left mouse button: you fire in the direction that your ship is moving. If things get too hot, then pressing the right mouse button or hitting the space bar activates a SmartBomb which will destroy all enemies on the screen. You only have a limited number of SmartBombs, so use them sparingly. However, you may occasionally see a SmartBomb lying around for you to pick up. Handy, huh? If things get too hot, you can take a break by hitting 'p'. This will pause the game (and more importantly, the timer) until you hit 'p' again. Your object in the game is to collect all of the blue crystals on the screen. When all of the crystals have been collected a gate at the top of the screen will open which leads to the next level. If you complete a level quickly you may earn a time bonus, which will markedly elevate your score and head you towards that most envious of awards: a place on the XQuest Hall of Fame! However, there are hazards that must be overcome. If you hit one of the red mines scattered around your ship will be instantly Smashed into Small Piles of Putrid Debris (tm). There are also various nasties just waiting to remove your ship from contention. The enemies you may encounter are: Grunger Fairly harmless, slow and stupid, these are the hired muscle. Zippo The same as Grungers except for the slow bit. Zinger Fires little teeny bullets everywhere. Miner Lays mines right where you don't want them. Meeby Big, annoying, tough. Need I say more? Retaliator You shoot them, they shoot right back. That's fair, isn't it? Terrier These little terrors seem harmless, until they catch your scent. Doinger The longer they're around, the more danger you're in. Snipe Excellent marksmen, Snipes are just *waiting* for a clear shot... Buckshot Fires LOTS of little teeny bullets everywhere. Terminate with prejudice on sight. Cluster Clusters are slow, harmless, and quite cute really. Until you shoot them. Sticktight Harder to shake off than a SideWinder, and twice as deadly. Don't forget your SmartBombs if you really get in trouble! Occasionally, if you are lucky, a SuperCrystal will decide to go wandering across your screen. This is an opportunity too good to miss! Collecting a SuperCrystal can give you any of several power- ups. SuperCrystals are somewhat unstable, though, so they will only be around for a short while before evaporating. They are also fragile, so avoid shooting them. If through some inexplicable stroke of luck you manage to get a good score you may be offered the ultimate recognition: a place on the XQuest Hall of Fame. Just type your name in (20 characters max) and you will attract admiration, awe, adulation and alliteration from the general public for all time! If the default settings for the game are not to your liking, you can change them in the Options menu. You can set the sound volume, adjust the mouse sensitivity, or define which key you want to activate the smartbomb. ***WARNING***: There is a very wide range on the mouse sensitivity setting, so unless you have amazingly fast reflexes I would not recommend setting this to maximum. A setting of about 1/4 the way along seems to work fine for me. Also, the sound is quite loud on the maximum setting, so unless you can cope with the neighbours inevitably becoming annoyed when you are still playing XQuest at 3am you may want to keep this down a bit. In the Demo menu you can record or play back a game. Did you have a really awesome game yesterday, but your friends scoff in disbelief at your score in the hundred millions and accuse you of hacking the high score file? Well, now you can show them! Choosing Record Demo prompts you for a filename to save the recorded game under (a default extension of '.dmo' will be added) and puts XQuest into recording mode. Every move you make will be recorded in the specified file. If you want you can replace the default 'xquest.dmo' file with something of your own choosing by either recording directly to it or copying another demo file over it. Choosing Play Demo prompts you for a filename. The file '<filename>.dmo' will be loaded and played for your edification and enjoyment. If the specified file does not exist your computer will explode into thousands of small smouldering pieces. You have been warned. COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS -slow This starts XQuest in slow machine mode. Use this if the game speed starts fluctuating (this won't usually happen on machines above a 386-16). Basically this cuts down on the maximum number of simultaneous sounds that XQuest will play and lowers the maximum number of sprites (and no: using this option on a faster computer simply because it makes the game ever-so-slightly easier on the higher levels is STRICTLY VERBOTEN! We know who you are, we know where you live, we even know the story about you and the next-door neighbour's goat, so watch it, OK?) -nosound This tells XQuest to ignore any soundcard that you may have and run the game with no sound. Boring! -portirq <port> <irq> On some (strange) setups the soundcard autodetection routines in XQuest will fail. In this case specify the port number and IRQ for your soundcard with this parameter. The port number is in hexadecimal. The "standard" port number is 220, but check the documentation for your card if you are not sure. NB XQuest has not been tested with IRQ's above 7 and probably won't work properly. Still, you only live once, so go ahead and try... NNB (or should that be NBB???) The autodetection routine is known to cause problems with Gravis UltraSound cards. If you have a GUS, either have SBOS (yecchhh!) loaded, or use the -nosound parameter. The sound works fine on GUS cards as long as SBOS is loaded (although it may sound a little strange: I have no idea why). TROUBLESHOOTING Q. My computer turns green, the monitor glows red-hot, and my mouse melted when I started the game. What gives? A. Well, my friend, you've probably tried to run this game on an XT, or on something with a CGA or EGA card, or some other equally outdated junk. No can do, I'm sorry. What? No, I'm afraid your HP calculator won't cut it either. Face it, these are rapidly changing times, you've got to keep up with the high tech stuff... Q. How come I don't get any sound effects? A. Well, you either haven't got a Sound Blaster or compatible, or it doesn't work. If you have a soundcard and XQuest seems not to be detecting it properly then try the -portirq parameter. If you don't have one then it's not my problem. Try uttering nice monosyllabic 'Ping!' sounds under your breath while playing instead. It'll be almost as good (trust me!), except that it may cause your friends to look at you strangely and call those nice men in the white coats who are always so sympathetic... "I talk to the treeeeees, That's why they put me awaaaayy..." - Eccles Q. I went out and bought a sound card especially for this game. How come the sound effects I get are so tacky? A. Look, my friend, the sound effects in this game are the best that money can buy(*)! I spent hours and hours (well, one hour) ripping the best beeps and twangs from hundreds of different sources (ie other games, mostly). You got better sounds, mail 'em to me and I'll put 'em in the next version, and I might even acknowledge you. Wouldn't that be nice? (*) A very small amount of money, that is. Q. XQuest never runs: it just tells me that I haven't got a mouse. A. You haven't got a mouse. Well, seriously now, you either don't possess a rodent, you haven't plugged it into the computer, you haven't plugged it into the computer at the right place, you haven't loaded an appropriate mouse driver, or your mouse driver is either (a) really old or (b) not Microsoft (TM, (C), and lots of other necessary legal BS) compatible. Fix any and/or all of these that are relevant. Note: for those not-so-quick on the update, by 'mouse' above I meant the little plastic thingys with a ball on the bottom, and not an actual live squeaky-type mouse. Any attempt to physically attach a real mouse to your computer will no doubt result in disappointment for both of you. Q. My computer locks up when I run XQuest. Why? A. This could be one of two things. The sound autodetection code in XQuest conflicts with the Gravis UltraSound card. If you have a GUS, make sure you have SBOS loaded, or use the -nosound parameter. SBOS version 3.8b is known to work with XQuest: earlier versions may have strange effects. Alternatively, some TSRs are known to conflict with XQuest. In particular, XQuest will not run properly with sound if you are running SpeedCache: damned if I know why. Other caching proggies seem to be OK, though. Q. Can I run XQuest under Windows ((c), (tm), (legal bs))? A. Yes, XQuest will run perfectly under Windows. I must confess that this scared the bejeezus out of me when I first tried it, given all the horrible hardware-level tweaking in the code for this gem. However, be warned that XQuest will almost certainly conflict with any other program trying to use the SoundBlaster. You might be safest running it with the -nosound parameter, or alternatively disabling sound autodetection with the -portirq parameter. I also wouldn't try running it in the background, 'cause you won't be able to see where you are going. XQuest Gods are free to try this, though, for that extra challenge. Q. I keep getting an 'Out of Memory' error. What gives? A. Gadzooks, man! You've run out of memory! How did you manage that? This little beasty don't require more than 550K or so free. Just what TSRs do you have loaded, anyway? Q. But surely you can't expect me to function without my pop-up rubber ducky program, my resident Z80 emulator, and my online Encyclopaedia Brittanica? A. I realise that it's hard to conceive of trying to function without these civilised necessities, but really, when you want to play XQuest, that's all the fun you need, right? Delete all the other guff and put 30 copies of XQuest on your hard disk. OK? Feeling better? Now breathe in deeply and repeat after me: "I don't need any TSRs. I don't need any TSRs...." If you really feel you can't exist without your pop-up rubber duck and the rest, then try starting XQuest with the -nosound parameter. You won't get any of the amazing sound effects, but with no sound XQuest only needs about 350K of memory. If you can't get 350K free then all I can say is: Get a life! Q. OK, so we've all heard about how XQuest works and so on. How much does it cost? A. Absolutely nothing, mate! That's the best bit about the whole game! XQuest is released freeware, and no registration fees, tariffs, taxes, VAT, duty, customs, contracts, licenses, reimbursement, cheques, cash, or other forms of monetary payment (with the possible exception of a few bars of gold if you're feeling generous) are required. However, I put a lot of time and effort into writing this. If you enjoyed XQuest then a donation of UKP10 (or US$15) would be much appreciated, and will encourage me to keep upgrading XQuest. If you send me a floppy disc and SAE with your donation I'll mail the next version of XQuest direct to you, when available. Alternatively, just include your email address and I'll email the next version to you, which would be easier on both of us. If you can't afford a tenner, then just send me a postcard. Any and all feedback is welcome! The next version should have any and/or all of: better graphics, more enemies, music, pretty background scenes, GUS support, and real-time SVGA 24-bit raytracing with surround sound, tactile feedback, and cybersex! Watch this space... Q. Is the source available? A. Well, now that you mention it, if anyone out there really wants to look at the source I suppose I might be persuaded into it. Contact me (snail mail and email addresses below) if you have the burning desire to wade through several thousand lines of under- commented Pascal and assembly... ABOUT XQUEST XQuest was written in Pascal and assembly language using Turbo Pascal v6.0. The program has been through several incarnations. The original EGA version was written about 5 years ago using BGI graphics and AdLib sound (blecch!) but was never released. The current version was written in 12 months or so during odd free moments, and has survived 4 major rewrites. The graphics were developed on my own sprite editor (because I can't afford Deluxe Paint II at the moment) except for the title screens, for which you can blame Persistence of Vision, the excellent freeware ray-tracer. ABOUT ME If you want to contact me and talk about any aspect of game coding or design for the PC then feel free to do so. My addresses are: Internet: mdm1004@cus.cam.ac.uk (preferred address) mmackey@aqueous.ml.csiro.au (only checked every month or so) Snail Mail: Mark Mackey c/o Trinity Hall, Cambridge CB2 1TJ UK. If sending money from the US or other for'n parts, you can either send a money order or just send cash (in between two bits of card so it's not obvious). I know you're not supposed to send cash through the post, but let's face it: shelling out 10 bucks for a $15 money order is slightly ridiculous. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks are due to Themie Gouthas for his excellent PD graphics library, Xlib, on which the engine used in this game was based, and to Tristan Tarrant for originally porting Xlib to Turbo Pascal. Thanks also to Carlos Hasan for his 'Tinyplay' mod player which I used as an example for the sound code in XQuest and to my supervisor for overlooking the fact that while finishing this I got precious little work done on my PhD project. Major acknowledgement is due to Patrick Buckland for writing the original CrystalQuest, on which this game is based (to a small extent only: I didn't copy it, honest, no, no, please don't sue, aaaarrgghh!). Anybody who's read the PC NetHack docs will realise that I owe a great debt to Stephen P. Spackman and Kevin D. Smolkowski for this documentation. Warped minds think alike! Lastly, thanks to all of the numerous beta testers for their help and insightful comments. Quite a few of the niftier features in this game are due to their suggestions, and quite a few of the niftier bugs were removed due to their complaints. Thanks muchly, people! WHERE TO GET STUFF To save myself some of the inevitable 50,000 queries, the following information is provided as a public service: Persistence of Vision can be obtained by anonymous ftp from ftp.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de as /pub/pov-ray/POV-RAY2.2/*.zip XLib is floating around on wasp.eng.ufl.edu as /pub/msdos/demos/programming/libs/xlib06.lzh (C version) /pub/msdos/demos/programming/source/xlibpas.lzh (TP version) TinyPlay is also on wasp.eng.ufl.edu as /pub/msdos/demos/programming/source/tinyplay.zip NetHack can be obtained from linc.cis.upenn.edu as /pub/NH3.1/* LEGAL BUMFF XQuest is (C) 1994 Mark Mackey. All rights reserved. This documentation is (C) 1994 Mark Mackey, all rights reserved. Mark Mackey's rather pathetic sense of humour is (C) 1994 Mark Mackey, all rights reserved, but anyone can borrow it if they want. Mark Mackey is (C) 1994 Mark Mackey, all reservations probably correct, and is used under exclusive license. Microsoft, Turbo Pascal, AdLib, Sound Blaster, Gravis UltraSound and most of the other words in this document are trademarks of whoever trademarked 'em, and their use in this document is not to be taken as a challenge to such a trademark, even though the chances of a major company noticing the use of their privately owned words in this document and suing the bejeezus out of me are pretty miniscule. Still, you never know what Micro$oft will do next.