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BOMB SQUAD V1.0: Falcon '030 version - 02/10/1996
Designed and coded by ALIAS "X" in 68000 & STOS
Distribution is permitted provided all files are left intact.
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pGAME REQUIREMENTSq
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-Atari Falcon '030 with at least 4Mb of memory.
-RGB/VGA monitor or TV
-Standard joysticks and/or Atari 'Powerpad' controllers.
-Powered speakers/stereo - volume turned up LOUD.
-Some friends to blow up!!!
I provide no guarantee for damage to hardware (including broken
joysticks), loss of data, sleep or sanity caused either directly or
indirectly by this software.
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pSHAREWARE NOTICEq
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After a lot of consideration, I have decided that this game is to be
released as a shareware product. This means that:
-Bomb Squad can be freely distributed through any media (including
CD-ROM compilations), PD libraries, bulletin boards, FTP, etc.
*** AS LONG AS THE PROGRAM & DOCUMENTATION REMAIN UNMODIFIED ***
-If you use this product and enjoy it you should send a fee/donation to
the author. This is called the registration. The amount is nowhere near
the ridiculous $100 retail price of some commercial games. Instead, it
is suggested that you send an amount of US$15 (A$20, œ10, 20 DM, or an
equivalent) as an 'incentive' for the author to provide support for
this product and for encouragement to produce further high-quality
products.
-In return you will be avle to get updates to the game (if you don't have
a copy of the game when you send the registration PLEASE SAY SO, and I
will send off the latest version to you. If you give me your email
address, I'll send it to you at the speed of light!!!
I have decided not to release the game as 'crippleware', where certain
features are disabled until the game is registered. Instead, I have decided
to trust in your honesty. I feel that crippleware stereotypes authors to be
both paranoid and secretive. Crippleware also produces the extra hassle of
'key' systems to 'unlock' the software - which sometimes do not function
properly and are easily defeatable. It also saves people who register
worrying about 'am I going to get my key?' when they send off their
registration and, most importantly, it means that you can enjoy the game
sooner!
Other games in production:
Tank Wars - The good-old 'artillery simulator' is given a new lease of
life with powerups including multiple-warhead mortars and
nuclear weapons!!!
Virus - based on the C64 original
Plus: Conversions from the Atari 8bits (Atari 400 & 800) of "Dog Daze",
"Race in space" & "Nerm". Future titles will include "Gyruss",
"Fort Apocalypse", "Nautilus", "Sea Dragon", and (if I have the time)
"Bruce Lee" + others!
Unlike other authors, I will not make threats that I will leave the
Atari scene if I don't receive registrations for this game. The truth is
that I enjoy creating top quality software (and of course using it!). I
will continue to write software for the Atari range - but whether they are
released is another matter...
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pINTRODUCTIONq
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Bomb Squad is based on the coin-op machine called "Super Dynablasters".
One of the reasons that I started this project was that I was spending too
much money playing this great game! :)
If you have never heard of the games "Dynablaster","Super Dynablasters",
"Bomberman", "Dynabusters" or "Superbomberman", then where have you been???
But seriously, read below in the game description section for a detailed
description of the game itself.
Although there have been several attempts at writing a good Dynablaster
clone for the Atari, they have all failed in some respects. The so-called
"coin-op conversion" by Hudson-soft had a much smaller play area, poor
graphics and lacked the feel of the original. The various PD/Shareware
clones available have left out the co-operative mode altogether!!!
Bomb Squad has kept most of the gameplay from the coin-op original
intact. The graphics, scenarios and the early level layouts have been kept
the same, as have the computer-controlled nasties. Some liberties have been
taken with the later enemies, as the original had the same enemies that
were the same as in earlier levels - just with different graphics!
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pTHE SCENARIOq
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The Bomb Squad's past role was mainly to disarm explosives placed by
terrorists. Although they did a great job, the amount of terrorist activity
meant that the Bomb Squad was both overworked and too expensive to run
indepentantly of the law enforcement department. In addition, the country's
jails were overflowing with relatively minor offenders, and the judicial
system corrupt. In an attempt to rectify these problems, the government has
decided to merge them with the law enforcement division, and so form an
elite law enforcement group - appropriately named the "Bomb Squad". Why the
name, you may ask... Due to a lack of funds, the government can not supply
any weaponry. Instead, the force is to use masses of previously disarmed
and confiscated explosives! Justice will now be dealt swiftly - no arrests,
no trials - just obliteration!
The government's first targets are the major crime organisations, which
are so prolific that many say that they are the ones that run the country.
Aware of this threat, the criminal masterminds have met in order to devise
a plan that will rid them of this threat. A-HA I hear you say - yet another
super-weapon that needs to be overcome. As previously mentioned, these are
no ordinary criminals. Are you aware of how much it would cost to build
such a weapon?! They came up with a much more dastardly plot to ruin the
government's attempts to clean up the country - they corrupted the people
in charge of recruitment. The result; the most inexperienced, disorganised
group of misfits ever - you!
Your mission is to save the world (as usual) from the hordes of killer
robots sent out by Mr. Flibble (the obligatory bad guy). Before you start
the game, you may wish to practice your skills in the Bomb Squad's training
area (select combat mode from the options menu).
You must find your way to the central command centre of Mr. Flibble and
flatten it! Your mission will involve battling your way through the hordes
of robots, finding each local command centre and destroying it. There is
one additional problem though. Not only you have to fight the masses of MF
robot drones, but each command centre is guarded by a mega-tough robot! You
start your adventure by making your way down to the city centre, where it
is rumoured that a factory is being built that will supply Mr. Flibble with
yet more weaponry.
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pRUNNING THE GAMEq
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Run the game in any rez in VGA or RGB from the desktop. The game works
on any Falcon TOS, but may have some problems on accelerated Falcons. Bomb
Squad is hard drive installable. It will create the files "HIGH.DAT" and
"OPTIONS.DAT" in the directory from which it is run. To reset the highscore
table or game options, just delete the appropriate file.
After the game has loaded and unpacked, you will be presented with the
title screen. Press any key or fire button to get to the main menu. To quit
Bomb Squad, press the escape key on the main menu screen.
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pTHE MAIN MENUq
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The main menu is operated by player 1's controller (the default is the
controller connected in the standard joystick port) or the arrow keys + the
the space bar. When using the arrow keys, pressing the up/down keys will
move between menu options, right or space will select the option, and left
will return you to the previous menu (if applicable). The main menu options
are:
-Start game: play the game with the current options
-Game options: goes into the game configuration screens
-H/W Config: Sets up the sound and controls
-Misc options: Miscellaneous options
-Quit: Quits back to the desktop
GAME OPTIONS SUBMENU
The options in this menu alter the way in which the game runs. The
options are saved when you return to the main menu. The options available
in this menu are:
- Game mode: select "normal" for co-operative play or "combat"
to play against the other players. There must be two
or more players to play a combat game.
- # player game: select how many people to play simultaneously.
- Combat config: Changes the allocation of powerups and other
featurs of combat games.
p< Unavailable in V1.0 >q
- Play user levels: Lets you play levels created with the Bomb Squad
level-editor.
p< Unavailable in V1.0 >q
- Previous menu: return to the previous menu (main menu) and save
the current settings.
HARDWARE OPTIONS SUBMENU
The options in this menu alter the hardware settings for sound and game
control. The options are saved when you return to the main menu. The
options available in this menu are:
- Game controls: this brings up a screen for altering the controls
for each player. Use the arrow keys + space while
in this screen to change the player controls.
- Sound mode: this toggles the sound mode for the game. The
options are: * none - no sound
* music - music only
* sfx - sound effects only
* both - both music & sound effects
- Speaker: Toggles the infernal (also called "internal") speaker
Between being on or off.
- Volume: Changes the game volume from 0 (quiet) to 15 (loud).
- Previous menu: return to the previous menu (main menu) and save
the current settings.
MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS SUBMENU
This contains information on the game and other miscellaneous options.
These options do not affect gameplay. The options available in this menu
are:
- Play recording: lets you play back a recording of a game of Bomb
Squad. Perfect for gloating over those Combat-
mode victories :)
- Show Highscores: Displays the top 100 scores.
- Instructions: Shows information about gameplay. (will be improved)
- Credits: Shows who did what in production fo the game.
- Previous menu: return to the previous menu (main menu) and save
the current settings.
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pTHE GAME ITSELFq
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The game is played inside a 19x13 area. Player movement is controlled by
using either a standard joystick or a powerpad (see above). To drop bombs,
press the fire button (button 'A' on the powerpads). The bomb will detonate
after a certain delay or when it is hit by a flame. Remote-control bombs do
not have a fuse, and will detonate if hit by a flame or when detonated by a
player. To detonate a bomb, press button 'C' on the powerpad or any of
F1-F5 if you're using the left joystick or F6-F10 if you're using the right
joystick.
At the start of each level, you appear in the centre of the screen,
surrounded by the killer robots. You have several seconds of shield (you
flash) during which you are invincible. After that contact with either the
robots or an explosion will kill you.
The level must be finished within a time limit (shown at the bottom of
the screen) by destroying all the killer robots. To destroy the robots, you
must blow them up - sounds simple... The only problem is that the bombs are
equally good at frying you as they are at frying robots!
At the bottom of the screen is the scoreboard. It displays player's
scores, type of bombs being used, shield charge and number of lives left.
To help you in your mission, there are powerups scattered throughout the
level (they are under certain barrels). To collect a powerup, just run over
it. The powerups are as follows:
* flame - increases the power of your bombs by one
* triple flame - increases the power of your bombs by three
* bomb - increases the number of bombs you can drop at a time by one
* triple bomb - gives you three extra bombs
* curved flame - gives you 10 curve bombs (very nasty in confined areas!)
* remote - gives you ten remote controlled bombs
* speed - increases your speed
* speed with flashing figure - increases your speed even more
* clock - freezes all the robots for a while
* medal - recharges your shield
* BONUS letters - each letter gives you time on the bonus level
* other bonuses give you points/extra lives (in the bonus levels)
* warp gate (unavailable in V1.0): the player that picks it
up has to complete a *special* challenge screen, where they can
earn several extra lives!
* skull (curse): causes unpredictable effects (eg. stun)
While playing the game, the following keys may be used to alter the game
options:
+/- on keypad: alter the volume
* on keypad: toggle the internal speaker on/off
'Enter' on keypad: toggle the sound mode (fx/music)
If any of these keys are pressed, a status bar will pop-up on the right
hand side of the screen, showing the current settings. It will disappear
again after a few seconds.
The game can be paused by pressing 'P' on the keyboard, or 'pause' on
any of the powerpads in use. Once paused, you can exit to the main menu
by pressing the escape key, or return to the game by pressing any other key
or the fire button.
You can grab a screenshot in .PCX format (PC paintbrush) by pressing the
"S" key. Screenshots will be saved with consecutive filenames starting from
"sgrab_1.pcx" to "sgrab_9.pcx".
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pCOMBAT MODEq
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Instead of playing co-operatively with other players, you may choose to
play against them. The combat games are played in the Bomb Squad's training
facility, inside their secret hideout. This mode differs from the normal
one, as the game is played until one player reaches a score of 500,000
points or more. The game is played in a series of rounds, with the winner
of each round (the last surviving player) receiving 100,000 points for
their victory. Points are also awarded for collecting powerups, as in a
normal game. At the end of each round, the scores are checked to see if any
player has collected 500,000 points. If not, a new round is started. In the
event of more than one player having over 500,000 points at the end of
a round, the player with the highest score wins. Each round has random
powerups hidden under the destructible walls.
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pTHE PASSWORD SYSTEMq
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Once you become an experienced player, you will not want to start at the
beginning of the game each time you play. To save you having to start at
level 1-1 each time, a password will be given to you each time you defeat
an end-of-level guardian and destroy the local command centre. The password
will allow you to access the next set of levels. To enter the password,
just type it in on the main menu screen. However, to prevent abuse of the
password system (gaining of lives), the password will store the number of
lives left for each player. Players scores will, however, be reset. This
provides an initiative to complete the levels with the maximum number of
lives.
NOTE: On entering a valid password, the game will start immediately and
all game options will be overridden.
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pGAME INFORMATIONq
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Changes since the last version:
Thanks go to all the people who have responded to the initial demo, most
bugs reported have been fixed and other suggestions have been added in.
- Heaps of graphics have been added or improved.
- More music added, along with lots of extra sound effects.
- Chickens now fly off the screen when fried, like the arcade
origianl! :)
- End-of-level-guardians added in
- Problem with ACIA/joystick lockups *finally* solved! You can
now play properly with 4 players.
- Password system added in - now you don't have to start on
level 1-1 all the time. :)
- You can grab screenshots in .PCX format (PC paintbrush).
- You can now record & play back games! Perfect for recording
those combat victories! :)
- Scoring bug fixed in combat mode.
- Bugs fixed for bonus,combat & warp levels for 3 and 4 player
modes.
- Tree stump sprites that appeared under rock-robots on level3
have *finally* been fixed!
Known problems:
- DSP->DMA has to be shut off for playing sfx, hopefully
will be fixed.
- other minor problems
If you find any additional bugs, please report them and the conditions that
make them occur so they can hopefully be fixed.
Changes to be made in future versions:
- Enabling of the warp gate.
- Addition of extra powerups!
- Combat mode configuration options
- The release of the level editor used to create the levels
so you can create your own missions. The level editor is
useable, but is still a bit buggy and has no error-checking.
- A better sound routine (that mixes the sfx with the music).
If anyone would like to send me one - I'll be happy to put
it in :)
- I will (hopefully) also release an STe version. It currently
only runs on a 2Mb STe with a 1.44Mb drive and needs a bit
of speeding up.
NOTE: These additions will only be made if there is a good response to V1.0
In the meantime, happy blasting!!!
___________________________________________________________________________
Send all registrations/comments/bug reports/info to:
Yiannis Paschalidis (ALIAS "X")
Email: u943409@student.canberra.edu.au
tp943409@ise.canberra.edu.au
WWW: http://student.canberra.edu.au/~u943409/
Snailmail: 8 Bingara Place, Fisher, A.C.T. 2611, Australia
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