ASCII Invaders readme files
README.TXT
********************************************************
* *
* ASCII INVADERS VERSION 1.6 *
* *
********************************************************
Platform : MS-DOS
Last Update : 01/17/2002
Author : Corey Mercer (corwashere@yahoo.com)
Website : http://coreyandcarrie1.home.attbi.com
What is it ?
------------
Basically it's Space Invaders in ASCII format but with a few added features. If
you like it send me $1,000,000 or an e-mail telling me that you like it. If you
don't like it, tough! What did you expect for a video game made entirely of
ASCII characters and written in PASCAL?!?! Seriously, if there are any features
you would like to see added, please let me know. Feel free to make millions of
copies of this and pass it on to your friends and grandparents. Just don't
charge anyone for it! You're getting it free from me!
The concept for ASCII Invaders came to me mostly as a dare. I was toying around
with a lot of ASCII Art and wrote a quick %26 dirty Image-To-ASCII application in
VB called 'ASCII Artist'. I finally got bored with that and started writing
some of my own games. I decided to start with something easy like space
invaders. A friend at work noticed me writing it and dared me to write it in
PASCAL. About 5 minutes later when we were done laughing, he double dared me to
write an ASCII version. The laughing still hasn't stopped...
How do I use it ?
--------------
Syntax :
ASCINV.EXE [options]
Options :
/sp=[number from 1 to 4]: Set Speed to 1-4. 1 is fastest, 4 is slowest.
typically on slower computers, 1 is fine. On faster computers (600 Mhz+)
I recommend using 3.
/soundon: Starts game with sound on.
/soundoff: Starts game with sound off.
/?: displays help
Controls
--------
[<-] %26 [->] or mouse: moves the tank.
[SPACE BAR] or mouse button: fires regular missles.
[M]: Fires "Super" Missles -- a missle will fire through an entire column
of aliens and even hit the spaceship without stopping
[B]: Fires "Super" Bombs -- destroys all aliens on the bottom
[N]: Fires "Nuclear" Bombs -- You can probably guess, but I'll leave it up
to you to find out.
[S]: Toggles sound on/off
[UP] %26 [DOWN]: Increase or decrease speed of game
[ESC]: exits game
Extra Lives, Super Missles, and Super Bombs are given every 5,000 points.
Nuclear Missles are given every 10,000 points
Current Issues or Wishes
------------------------
I may end up trying to detect processor speed so that I can dynamically set the
speed. It's still nice to be able to control the speed for cheating reasons
though.
Someday, I plan on writing this in a real language like 'C' so that it can run
on Linux or Palm.
What's new ?
------------
1.6 - sorry cheaters :( I finally fixed that (%26^% bug that's been causing my
hairloss. Fixed the problem with the infinite special weapons after 30000+
points. It must be some kind of PASCAL thing. Looks like if you perform
a calculation in code it automatically converts it to an Integer if there
are nothing but whole numbers in the calculation. As a lot of people know,
Integers have a limit of about 32000.
1.5 - added the ability to increase and decrease game speed on the basis that
it ran too fast on faster computers. Can't figure out why, I'm using a
timer that uses milliseconds... A millisecond on a 286 should be a
millisecond on a 50,000,000 Ghz machine. Must be Einstein's theory of
relativity or the fact that this thing is written in PASCAL.
1.4 - added mouse capabilities.
1.3 - added Super Missles, Bombs, and nuclear bombs.
1.2 - added level 10+ difficulties. Alien lasers Zig-Zag.
1.1 - added sound %26 colors.
1.0 - Got it running!
Who I would like to acknowledge ?
---------------------------------
- My wife Carrie for putting up with my obsession with computers and video games
- Broderick Hall for daring me to come up with this. Without him this game
would never have been created. (At least not by me)
- Jeff Kelly for volunteering his precious time to test this game.
- Anyone else who I might have forgotten...
* *
* ASCII INVADERS VERSION 1.6 *
* *
********************************************************
Platform : MS-DOS
Last Update : 01/17/2002
Author : Corey Mercer (corwashere@yahoo.com)
Website : http://coreyandcarrie1.home.attbi.com
What is it ?
------------
Basically it's Space Invaders in ASCII format but with a few added features. If
you like it send me $1,000,000 or an e-mail telling me that you like it. If you
don't like it, tough! What did you expect for a video game made entirely of
ASCII characters and written in PASCAL?!?! Seriously, if there are any features
you would like to see added, please let me know. Feel free to make millions of
copies of this and pass it on to your friends and grandparents. Just don't
charge anyone for it! You're getting it free from me!
The concept for ASCII Invaders came to me mostly as a dare. I was toying around
with a lot of ASCII Art and wrote a quick %26 dirty Image-To-ASCII application in
VB called 'ASCII Artist'. I finally got bored with that and started writing
some of my own games. I decided to start with something easy like space
invaders. A friend at work noticed me writing it and dared me to write it in
PASCAL. About 5 minutes later when we were done laughing, he double dared me to
write an ASCII version. The laughing still hasn't stopped...
How do I use it ?
--------------
Syntax :
ASCINV.EXE [options]
Options :
/sp=[number from 1 to 4]: Set Speed to 1-4. 1 is fastest, 4 is slowest.
typically on slower computers, 1 is fine. On faster computers (600 Mhz+)
I recommend using 3.
/soundon: Starts game with sound on.
/soundoff: Starts game with sound off.
/?: displays help
Controls
--------
[<-] %26 [->] or mouse: moves the tank.
[SPACE BAR] or mouse button: fires regular missles.
[M]: Fires "Super" Missles -- a missle will fire through an entire column
of aliens and even hit the spaceship without stopping
[B]: Fires "Super" Bombs -- destroys all aliens on the bottom
[N]: Fires "Nuclear" Bombs -- You can probably guess, but I'll leave it up
to you to find out.
[S]: Toggles sound on/off
[UP] %26 [DOWN]: Increase or decrease speed of game
[ESC]: exits game
Extra Lives, Super Missles, and Super Bombs are given every 5,000 points.
Nuclear Missles are given every 10,000 points
Current Issues or Wishes
------------------------
I may end up trying to detect processor speed so that I can dynamically set the
speed. It's still nice to be able to control the speed for cheating reasons
though.
Someday, I plan on writing this in a real language like 'C' so that it can run
on Linux or Palm.
What's new ?
------------
1.6 - sorry cheaters :( I finally fixed that (%26^% bug that's been causing my
hairloss. Fixed the problem with the infinite special weapons after 30000+
points. It must be some kind of PASCAL thing. Looks like if you perform
a calculation in code it automatically converts it to an Integer if there
are nothing but whole numbers in the calculation. As a lot of people know,
Integers have a limit of about 32000.
1.5 - added the ability to increase and decrease game speed on the basis that
it ran too fast on faster computers. Can't figure out why, I'm using a
timer that uses milliseconds... A millisecond on a 286 should be a
millisecond on a 50,000,000 Ghz machine. Must be Einstein's theory of
relativity or the fact that this thing is written in PASCAL.
1.4 - added mouse capabilities.
1.3 - added Super Missles, Bombs, and nuclear bombs.
1.2 - added level 10+ difficulties. Alien lasers Zig-Zag.
1.1 - added sound %26 colors.
1.0 - Got it running!
Who I would like to acknowledge ?
---------------------------------
- My wife Carrie for putting up with my obsession with computers and video games
- Broderick Hall for daring me to come up with this. Without him this game
would never have been created. (At least not by me)
- Jeff Kelly for volunteering his precious time to test this game.
- Anyone else who I might have forgotten...