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- HI! Welcome to BALL! I know it's not the most original name, but
- I made it up in a hurry and I never bothered to change it. I spent too
- much time working on the game itself! But now, I'm releasing this into
- the Public Domain! So SPREAD IT ALL AROUND, OK?! Wait! I haven't even
- told you what it is yet! It's a clone of Arkanoid, sort of. BUT, before
- you start groaning and moaning about how many cheap-o clones of Arkanoid
- there are in the PD already, let me tell you that this is NOT a cheap-o
- version. Why? Er... Um... Well, YOU play it, and YOU'LL find out for
- yourself!
-
- >>>> NOT YET!!!! <<<<
-
- Before you play this, you MUST know these keys!:
-
- SHIFT-Q : Eventually, you will have a game that gets off to a bad start
- and you want to abort. So be sure to remember about the
- SHIFT-Q key which aborts your game. In two-player mode, it
- only aborts the current player's game.
-
- DEL : Unfortunately, there will probably come a time when your ball
- gets stuck in a loop that it can't bounce out of. You will
- have to press the DEL key which kills your current life but
- not your remaining ones (like SHIFT-Q).
-
- P or ESC: Pressing either P or the ESC key puts you in PAUSE MODE! This
- is very useful!! Press a mouse button to leave PAUSE MODE.
-
- The CHEAT KEYS: I'm not telling you!!
-
- >> BEFORE THE GAME: <<
-
- At the Main Title Screen, you may press:
- A mouse button to play a ONE-player game
- The number 2 key to play a TWO-player game
- SHIFT-Q to exit the program.
-
- >> HOW TO PLAY THE GAME: <<
-
- OK. You all know how to play an Arkanoid clone, right? I don't have to
- explain that you have a paddle and a ball and you must bounce the ball
- into some blocks to score points, right? And I certainly don't need to
- mention that if you let the ball miss the paddle and drop off the screen
- you will die, right? And I also don't need to explain about how little
- bonuses can drift down from the blocks and if they touch your paddle they
- can do anything from giving you free lives to blowing you up, depending
- on the little pictures on the bonuses as they are drifting down, right?
- Good. I was afraid I'd have to put a lengthy explanation here!
-
- >> MOUSE CONTROLS DURING THE GAME: <<
-
- Let's do this C= style!:
- If you move the mouse left, your paddle moves left!
- If you move the mouse right, your paddle moves right!!
- For pin-out diagrams of the mouse port, check the Technical Reference
- Section!!
- Long live C= Instruction Manuals!!
-
- By the way, sometimes the ball "sticks" to your paddle. A small blue
- force-field appears to hold the ball in place. You can press a mouse
- button to release it. Also, if you get Lasers (one of the bonuses),
- you use the mouse button to fire them. You may have Lasers and Catch
- at the same time, and in this case, the same press of the mouse button
- can both fire the lasers and release the ball. Both the left and right
- mouse buttons have the same effect. - -
- O O
- >> SOUND: << )
- \_/
- Awesome! Crank it up!! :-)
-
- >> GURU ALERT: <<
-
- OH NO!!!!!!!! Every now and then, this program will crash the computer!
- I don't know why! I've been searching high and low for the cause of this
- problem. Right now, I recommend re-booting after playing it.
- IF ANYONE FINDS THE CAUSE OF THIS BUG, PLEASE TELL ME! Also tell me
- if you find other bugs.
-
- Various methods of communicating with me:
- With BITNET/InterNet: ELM4@LEHIGH.BITNET
- By phone: (215) 971-9409 ;Home phone in Wayne
- By US mail: Ed Mackey Ed Mackey
- 440 Louella Ave. <-OR-> Box 123 Lehigh University
- Wayne, PA 19087 Bethlehem, PA 18015
- (Only send mail to the Lehigh address while school is in
- session! I am class of '93)
-
- >> MOST IMPORTANT INSTRUCTION IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD: <<
-
- Have fun!
-
- --Ed.
-