Cybersphere Playable Demo ------------------------- (C)1994 PSYCON SOFTWARE Demo Release Date: July 21, 1994 This demo may be freely distributed as long as the archive remains intact and all the files within it remain unmodified. Absolutely no profit may be made as a result of the distribution of this demo. Files in this archive: - CybersphereDemo 314304 bytes - CybersphereDemo.doc 10847 bytes - AGARun 5264 bytes - AGARun.doc 3493 bytes - Readme.txt 636 bytes Ordering Information: --------------------- ************************************************* ** The full game requires 1 megabyte of RAM. ** ************************************************* To order the game, write to the address below. Be sure to include the following: * Your name * Your home address * Name of the package you are ordering (Cybersphere) * Your Amiga model (Amiga 500, etc.) * Payment of $16.99 in Canadian funds, $12.49 in American funds, or the equivalent Payment can be made via cheque or money order payable to Clay Hellman. This includes shipping and handling. NOTE: It is not a good idea to send cash in the mail. Send to: Psycon Software C/O Clay Hellman Box #73067 206 - 2525 Woodview Dr. S.W. Calgary, AB T2W 6E4 Canada Starting the Demo: ------------------ For non-AGA systems, simply execute the file 'CybersphereDemo'. To do this, open a CLI or Shell window and enter the above filename. AGA systems will require the small AGARun utility that is supplied in the archive. This utility was included with written permission from the author, Christopher Bailey. To run the demo on an AGA system, enter: AGARun -np CybersphereDemo (to run in NTSC mode) AGARun -pp CybersphereDemo (to run in PAL mode) NOTE: The game was developed for NTSC systems, however it runs equally well in PAL mode at a slightly slower pace. (5/6 of NTSC speed). Requirements: ------------- Demo Requirements: * An Amiga system with 512k of RAM * One mouse * (Optional) A joystick or additional mouse for dual player games (additional mouse strongly recommended) The following does not apply to the demo, but to the full game only. Game Requirements: * An Amiga system with 1 meg of RAM * Either a joystick or a mouse (mouse strongly recommended) * (Optional) A joystick or additional mouse for dual player games (additional mouse strongly recommended) Features of the full game: -------------------------- * Over 40 single player levels! * Over 40 dual player levels! * Ten (Yes, 10) exciting single player bonus stages! * Separate single and dual player top 15 score lists! * Win/loss records for dual player games! * Different graphics for each of five sectors in the game! * Separate 212-color palette for each individual board! * Mega option screen featuring control options, sound test, difficulty level and more! * More exciting tunes! * Hard Drive Installable! The Basic Idea -------------- The object of the game is to bounce a ball against bricks, destroying them and accumulating points. The ball must not make its way past your paddle, which you control using a mouse or joystick/control pad. Whenever the ball hits your paddle, it bounces back up at an angle relative to the position that the ball hits the paddle at. Knowing this, the ball can be aimed at targets, and with a little practice this becomes easy. Each board consists of an arena with walls and bricks. In single player games, the paddle is at the bottom of the arena which is open. In dual player games, player 1's paddle is at the bottom and player 2's paddle is at the top. The Details: ------------ - There are five sectors in the full game, with each sector containing various numbers of levels. However, the demo contains only a single sector containing three levels. In this demo, sector selection is done prior to gameplay, and there is only one sector to choose. - You will only lose a life if you let the last ball on the screen past you. When you let the second last ball past, you will see a 'fatal ball' warning message. When a player dies in the dual player mode, the other player is awarded 2000 points. NOTE: You cannot lose a life in a bonus stage! - Many of the bricks will let out gems and items when destroyed. The gems are worth 50 bonus points each, but these points are only tallied at the end of a level, or upon entrance/exit of a bonus stage. You lose all your gems when you lose a life. The various items will be discussed later in this document. - Bonus stages are encountered when a bonus item is collected. (SINGLE PLAYER GAMES ONLY)... There are two bonus stages in this demo, and one will be randomly chosen when this item is collected. Upon entrance, all bonuses will be tallied. When the bonus stage is exited, bonuses will once again be tallied, and you will return to where you left off on your level. - In dual player mode, each ball can be either blue (player 1's color) or green (player 2's color). Each ball turns to your color whenever it bounces off your paddle. Whenever the ball is your color, you get all the points for whatever it destroys, and all items and gems resulting from the explosion will fall toward your paddle. - The keyboard functions are as follows: - ESC -- Resets the game at all times. - P -- Pauses game and shows score during gameplay - Space -- Pauses game and shows score during gameplay -- Chooses menu options - Enter -- Chooses menu options - Up & Down Arrows -- Moves pointers up and down in menus - The functions of the fire button(s) are as follows: -- Chooses menu options -- Launches balls that are being held by the paddle -- Fires shots when paddle has firing capability -- Prevents grabbing of ball when paddle has hold capability (button must be held down during a bounce to avoid grabbing it) NOTE: A fire button counts as either the joystick button or the left mouse button. The Bonus System: ----------------- Bonuses are tallied in three places: (1) Upon completion of a level, (2) Upon entrance of a bonus stage, and (3) Upon exit of a bonus stage. NOTE: Bonus stages only appear in single player games. Four Basic Bonuses: (1) Gem Bonus - 50 points awarded for every gem (2) Wide Bonus - 1000 points if your paddle was wide (3) Hold/Fire Bonus - 1000 points if you had Hold or Fire (4) Multiball Bonus - 1000 points if you had two balls going, and 2000 points if you had three balls Special Bonus Stage Bonus: (1) Survival Bonus - Appears only upon exit of a bonus stage - 5000 points awarded if bonus stage has been successfully completed - 2500 points awarded if bonus stage was exited early with another Bonus Item - No survival bonus awarded if ball(s) were all lost in bonus stage NOTE: Lives are never lost in bonus stages. Items: ------ Each item appears as a rotating circular object with a letter or symbol inside. 100 points are awarded for collecting one, regardless of what it does. (This includes the blank one!) W - Wide (Increases paddle size) F - Fire (Gives firing capability) H - Hold (Gives hold capability) NOTE: The above three items act as toggles. (Ex. Getting a W when your paddle is already wide results in it shrinking back to normal). Also, you can never have Fire and Hold at the same time. Fire removes Hold and vice versa. S - Slow (Slows down all balls that are your color) (blank) - Does absolutely nothing - 10 Gems ! - Gem Loss (Halves gem count) B - Ball (Adds ball - maximum 3 in single mode, 2 in dual) G - Guard (Places temporary guard below your paddle) L - Extra life (Possibility of one per sector only) ? - Random item + - Bonus item (4 Cases) (1) - In single player mode - enters random bonus stage (2) - If already in bonus stage - exits with half of the full survival bonus (3) - In dual player mode - gives 2000 points (4) - In single player mode - gives 2000 points if level has already been cleared or bonus item has already been collected for bonus stage entrance Scoring Summary: ---------------- Blocks only score points when they disappear completely. - Small Blocks - 50 pts - Large Blocks - 80 pts - Powerup Collection - 100 pts - Bonus Item collected in dual player mode - 2000 pts - Bonus Item collected after level complete or after bonus stage entrance determined - 2000 pts - Opponent dies in dual player mode - 2000 pts The following bonuses are tallied upon completion of levels and upon entrance/exit of bonus stages. - Gem Bonus - 50 pts (per gem) - Wide Bonus - 1000 pts - Hold/Fire Bonus - 1000 pts - Multiball Bonus with 2 balls - 1000 pts - Multiball Bonus with 3 balls - 2000 pts The following bonus is tallied only upon exiting a bonus stage. - Survival Bonus (Clearing Bonus Stage) - 5000 pts - Survival Bonus (Early exit with Bonus Item) - 2500 pts Technical Stuff: ---------------- Cybersphere was coded entirely in MC68000 Assembly language for optimum speed and efficiency. A custom screen-handling routine was developed to allow the speed of the frame updating to fluctuate without having the actual pace of the game slowing down. When there are extreme amounts of moving or animated objects on the screen, the frame rate will decrease without the game itself slowing down. This is achieved by having the actual game routines get executed within a frame interrupt, and having an outside routine do the frame updating as fast as it can. Because of this, Cybersphere will in fact take advantage of the speed of faster Amigas or Amigas with real 'Fast RAM'. It runs perfectly fine on an unacellerated Amiga though. Faster Amigas only result in the capability to display more objects without the frame rate decreasing. The game was developed on an NTSC system, however it runs equally well in PAL mode at a slightly slower pace. (5/6 of NTSC speed). **** Enjoy the demo!! **** ************************************************************* ** REMEMBER -- The full game requires 1 megabyte of RAM. ** ************************************************************* Credits: -------- Game design and Coding - Clay Hellman Graphics - Clay Hellman Music and Sound - Clay Hellman Playtesting and Ideas - Christopher Bailey - Shane Bro - Brent Moore Additional Playtesting - Chris Hellman - Kevin Orde AGARun Utility (included) - Christopher Bailey (C)1994 PSYCON SOFTWARE