@database MiniArcanoid
@author Piotr "PP/UNION" Pawlow
@WORDWRAP
@index Index

@node Main "Mini Arcanoid 2.9a"

                          @{b}@{u}Mini Arcanoid v2.9a@{uu}@{ub}

	The author's native language is polish, so please forgive bad
spelling, grammar mistakes etc.

                              @{" Copyright notice " link Copyright}

                              @{"   Introduction   " link Introduction}
                              @{"   Requirements   " link Requirements}
                              @{"   Installation   " link Installation}

                              @{"      Rules       " link Rules}
                              @{"   Game control   " link control}
                              @{"   Cool features  " link features}

                              @{"    Main menu     " link menu}
                              @{"     Options      " link Options}

                              @{" Acknowledgements " link acknowledgements}
                              @{"       Bugs       " link bugs}
                              @{"     History      " link history}
                              @{"      Future      " link future}
                              @{"      Author      " link Contact}

@endnode

@node Copyright "MA Copyright"
@prev Copyright

 @{b}@{u}Copyright@{uu}@{ub}

	This program is freeware.  It is provided "AS IS" without
warranty of any kind, and the author is not responsible for any damage
this software may or may not do.  So, use it at your own risk!

@endnode

@node Introduction "Introduction to MA"

 @{b}@{u}Introduction@{uu}@{ub}

	As you've probably noticed - it's a game.  And you probably
played in similar games before.
	This Arkanoid clone is very system friendly - it works in
window and multitasks happily.  However it's very simple, because the
system can't handle too many moving objects in one frame.

@endnode

@node Requirements "Requirements"

 @{b}@{u}Requirements@{uu}@{ub}

	MiniArcanoid requires Kickstart 2.0 (V37) or higher.
Theoretically it could work with 1.3, but it's not tested.

@endnode

@node Installation "Installation of MA"

 @{b}@{u}Installation@{uu}@{ub}

	Use installer script supplied with this game.  If you want to
install it manually - just copy MA drawer wherever you want.

@endnode

@node Rules "Rules"

 @{b}@{u}Rules@{uu}@{ub}

	It's simple - destroy all bricks with your ball.  Sometimes,
when you destroy the brick, a letter starts falling.  When you catch
the letter, it will give you:

E - one life more
B - bonus - 50 points
N - instantly jumps to next level
S - slow down ball
G - glue (try it!)
H - hardball - bricks destroyer !

	Points:

grey bricks from dark to light: 1-4 pts.
blue bricks from dark to light: 5-8 pts.
every letter: 10 pts.

	You will get extra life every 2000 pts.  The game has 25
levels and 3 stages.

@endnode

@node menu "Main menu"

 @{b}@{u}Menu@{uu}@{ub}

There's four gadgets:

START
@{"OPTIONS" link options}
@{"JUMP TO" link jump}
ABOUT

@endnode

@node options "Options"

 @{b}@{u}Options@{uu}@{ub}

	Here's all game options:

@font "topaz.font" 8
@{"Priority" link priority}:         +10
@{"Centre window" link centrewindow}:    X AXIS  Y AXIS
@{"Screen position" link screenposition}:  88 0
@{"Screen size" link screensize}:      464 212
@{"Screen type" link screentype}:      WORKBENCH       TEST
@{"At error" link error}:         FLASH SCREEN
@{"Sound" link sound}:            STEREO
@{"Sound volume" link volume}:     64
@{"Channel mixing" link mixing}:   5%
While playing
       the @{"close gadget" link close} is  DISACTIVATED
  and the @{"mouse pointer" link pointer} is  ON
@{"Screen rendering" link rendering}:           SYSTEM
@{"Joystick sensitivity" link joystick}:       10

@{"Highscores" link scores}:   CLEAR JOIN SHOW LOAD SAVE
      @{"save" link save}:   IN GAME DON'T ASK

USE - use this options           SAVE - save options to disk

@endnode

@node Priority "Priority"

	You can control priority of  the  game  by  entering
a number in the priority field.  You can set negative priority by
pressing @{"+" link nothing} gadget.
	For A500 the good priority is +20.  For faster computer any
number greater than 0.  You can set 0 or less, but then the game may
not get needed amount of CPU time (and it will be not so smooth).
	Even if you set high priority, this game will use as much CPU
power as it needs, no more.  It's almost 90% on A500 with system
@{"rendering" link rendering}, but on A1200 with Fast RAM and direct @{"rendering" link rendering} it will
take less than 10% of CPU time (4-8%).

@endnode

@node centrewindow "Centre window"

	With these gadgets you can centre game's window horizontally
(X AXIS) or vertically (Y AXIS).

@endnode

@node screenposition "Screen position"

	These two gadgets controls x and y coordinates of the screen.
It works only with @{"CUSTOM" link screentype} screen.

@endnode 

@node screensize "Screen size"

	Here you can enter x and y size of game's screen.  Apply only
to @{"CUSTOM" link screentype} screen.

@endnode

@node screentype "Screen type"

	By pressing this gadget you can select type of game's screen.
If WORKBENCH is selected, the game opens window on Workbench screen,
else it creates own screen.  You can control @{"position" link screenposition} and @{"size" link screensize} of
CUSTOM screen, but screen mode is always PAL, high res; use screen
promotion utility to change it.

@endnode

@node error "Errors happens"

	With this gadget you can select what to do when error occurs
(to blink, or not to blink ?).

@endnode

@node sound "Sound"

	Here you can select sound mode:  MONO, STEREO, or turn sound
OFF.  Make sure, that your speakers are connected properly - left to
left audio output and right to right!

@endnode

@node volume "Volume"

	Volume of sound - from 0 (silent) to 64 (loud).

@endnode

@node mixing "Mixing"

	This number tells you, how much one channel is mixed with
another.  Good for headphones.

@endnode

@node close "Close gadget"

	Using this option you can disable window's close gadget when
you're playing - so you can't accidentally press it.

@endnode

@node pointer "Mouse pointer"

	If this option is set to ON, the mouse pointer will disappear
while playing.

@endnode

@node rendering "Rendering"

	The game can render all objects using the system or by direct
operations on screen bitmap using the processor.  Processor rendering
is much faster than system (about 3x on A1200), but it will work only
when game's window is frontmost and it isn't GFX-card compatible.

@endnode

@node joystick "Joystick control"

	When you're playing on a joystick, this value sets speed of
the bat.

@endnode

@node scores "Hiscores control"

CLEAR - clears hiscore table
JOIN - joins hiscores with your friend's scores. This
function needs reqtools.library for file requester.
SHOW - shows scores
LOAD - loads scores from disk
SAVE - saves scores to disk

@endnode

@node save "Hiscores saving"

	Here you can select hiscores saving method:
IN GAME - save hiscores every time you set a record
ON EXIT - save scores when you quit this game.
MANUAL - don't save scores, unless you select @{"SAVE" link scores} gadget

ASK - the game will ask you before saving hiscores
DON'T ASK - it will save without asking

@endnode

@node jump "Jumping to other screens"

 @{b}@{u}Jumping to other screens@{uu}@{ub}

	When you press JUMP gadget, list of opened screens will
appear.  You can select from this list, to which screen jump, or
cancel operation by pressing "GO BACK".  You can jump to ALL screens -
not only public, but some programs may not work with this game on
their screen.

@endnode

@node control "Game control"

 @{b}@{u}Game control@{uu}@{ub}

ESC   - quit playing
P     - pause; any other key to continue
SPACE - push the table (not too much !)
RMB   - iconify

Use mouse or joystick to move the bat, LMB or fire to release the
ball.

@endnode

@node features "Cool features"

 @{b}@{u}Cool features@{uu}@{ub}

While sleeping you can drag game's window to any other screen !  How
to do it:  first, make the screen you want to move the window to
frontmost, then drag it down to see game's window, catch the window,
move down to your destination screen and release the button.

Auto pause feature:  the game will be automatically paused if any
other program changes the active window.

Secret password:  type it on the main screen to enter cheat-mode.

@endnode

@node acknowledgements "Acknowledgements"

 @{b}@{u}Acknowledgements@{uu}@{ub}

Thanks for lovely postcards to Jen Allen and Freddy Vestergård.
Thanks to people from Amiga User International for sending me free
issue of AUI.
Thanks to Andreas Frank and Andeol Thierry for testing MiniArcanoid
with CyberGFX.
Thanks to Simon Sattes for auto-pause feature idea.

Greetings to all my friends and all who reported bugs.

@endnode

@node bugs "Bugs"

 @{b}@{u}Bugs@{uu}@{ub}

Known bugs and disadvantages:

- Sound is done by direct hardware banging, without channel
allocation.  It's too much work to add audio.device routines.  Anyway,
it works, and if you want to play and listen modules - turn off the
sound!
- It can't load too long samples.
- It uses only Topaz 8
- Looks bad in interlace
- Bad collision detection - this is for speed.  More precise version
  is 2x slower!

@endnode

@node future "Future"

 @{b}@{u}Future@{uu}@{ub}

No new features planned. I'm tired of making this game. If anyone want
to continue this project the source is available in dev/src directory
on Aminet. But beware, it's a BIG mess!

@endnode

@node history "Ancient times"

 @{b}@{u}History@{uu}@{ub}

1.0-1.9 - Not released versions.
2.0  - Added 5 levels
       Added stages
       Powerpacker support added
       More options
2.1  - One sample added
       Some bugs fixed
       Jump gadget added
       More options
2.2  - Some GFX changes
       Some options renamed
       Mouse bug fixed
       Documentation written
       Added installer script
       First Aminet release
2.3  - Removed 3 stupid bugs
       Auto-capitalization removed
       Cheat mode added
2.4  - Removed bugs in memory allocation
2.5  - All bitmaps now longword aligned
2.6  - XOR emulation for CyberGFX TrueColor modes added
2.7  - Bugs in CLI detaching fixed
       No more graphical bugs on CGFX
       System requesters used on Kickstart V36+
       Uses timer.device for timing instead of VBL
2.8  - Some cosmetic corrections
       Changing ball speed and direction by pressing space added
2.9  - Auto pause added
       No more lame RMB testing (now uses intuition instead of BTST #10,$DFF016)
       Tilt improved
       2 more samples
2.9a - GFX bug in intro fixed
       Auto pause now optional

@endnode

@node contact "My address..."

 @{b}@{u}The Author@{uu}@{ub}

You can contact me at this address:

                        Piotr Pawlow
                 ul. Lewartowskiego 12 m 46
                      00-185 Warszawa
                           POLAND

EMail: pp@union.org.pl
You can also visit my homepage: http://www.union.org.pl/pp/

@endnode

Hidden message: To enter cheat mode type: "I'm your Master."