Welcome to BLAT! for the Atari STE.
BLAT! will run on a 512K STE, although some of the samples will be
missing. To get the best out of the game, run it on a 1 meg machine (with a
hard drive or you'll be waiting all day for it to load).
I started writing BLAT! after seeing a similar game on a magazine cover
disk. Although it was fun(ish) to play, it was not well written (being a STOS
game), and did not hold the interest for very long. "I could do better than
this", thought I, and here is the result.
BLAT! is based around the old three-in-a-row falling blocks idea, but
with a few new ideas added. These include dynamite, lightning, acid bottles,
smart bombs, indestructible blocks, randomizers, annihilators, etc, etc. In
true Jeff Minter fashion there is a positive plethora of samples. In fact this
is the only reason the game is STE only - you couldn't do samples like this in
GFA Basic on the old ST!
If you have a hard drive, you can add your own level samples to the game.
For each level, include the sample in the BLAT directory with a name
corresponding to the level. For example, the level one sample should be
called "LEVEL1.SAM", level two should be "LEVEL2.SAM", and so on. The samples
should be in the standard STE format (as used by Mastersound). If the samples
are on the disk and there is enough memory, the game will load each one from
disk as the relevant level is reached. There are fifteen levels.
A few hints on strategy. The more blocks you get in a row, the more
points you get. It is possible to get seven blocks in a row, but I'll leave you
to work out how. Diagonal rows give more points than horizontal or vertical
ones.
On the early levels, get as many smart bombs as you can (by getting five
blocks in a row). If you are doing well, you should have five smart bombs by
the end of the first level. These bombs are invaluable on the later levels.
On the later levels (level five onwards) you should concentrate on
getting three clocks in a row. Two clocks will slow the game down a little bit,
but three clocks will slow it right down to the starting speed. This is the
only way to complete the later levels.
Press F1 during the game to toggle stereo mode.
Press F2 to switch between 50hz and 60hz.
If it all seems a bit complicated at first, just keep playing. You'll
soon get the hang of it! Probably.
BLAT! is entirely public domain, not shareware. The only payment I ask is
that you have fun playing it. If you have any comments or bug reports, write to
the following address and I'll see what I can do -
Chris Vance,
1 Rainham Close,
Ingleby Barwick,
Stockton-On-Tees,
Cleveland,
TS17 0XR,
ENGLAND.