Cool Stars! V1.0 - Command extension for AMOS PRO ------------------------------------------------- © July '96 Richard Thompson This is the USABLE -*SHAREWARE*- VERSION! - Please support shareware! --------------------------------------------------------- Distribution ------------ This shareware version of Cool Stars! may be distributed worldwide, providing all files are included and remain unmodified. I encourage AMOS clubs to make this extension available to AMOS users through their club. Feel free to bundle this extension in with AMOS compilations or on AMOS disk magazines etc. Magazines are more than welcome to put this version of Cool Stars! on their coverdisks. All good PD libraries should spread this shareware version of Cool Stars!. Spread this version all around!! The above only applies to the shareware version! The registered version is not freely distributable. Bugs ---- This extension has gone through extensive testing sessions by me and other AMOS Pro users. All bugs appear to have been ironed out. If one of these nasty creatures raises it's head, please let me know. It's important that my extensions are bug free. What is Cool Stars!? -------------------- Cool Stars! is an extension which adds 22 more commands to the current AMOS Pro command set. These 22 commands allow you to create, manipulate and display a wide range of different starfield effects. A starfield is a collection of individual points which can be manipulated at lightening fast speeds. Starfields could be produced with the AMOS Pro Plot command but the resulting starfields would be too slow and jerky that it wouldn't be practical in most cases. You'd rather use Cool Stars! which is coded in 100% assembler. Cool Stars! can manipulate starfields at lightening fast speeds. Literally hundreds or even thousands of stars can be manipulated in your -*SILK SMOOTH*- starfields! Even with a MC68000 processor, it's possible to display hundreds of stars per vbl!! Starfields are most commonly seen in games and demos but can be used in any type of AMOS Pro program. Starfields look great on the title screen of your latest game or demo. Stars can fly through logos, fly across your high score table, they can fly just about anywhere! Starfields can even be used in educational software or utility programs. Cool Stars! starfields can radically boost the presentation of your programs, giving your programs that professional touch. Your programs will always get more attention in the eye of a user if it has nice presentation. Using Cool Stars! is a very simple and easy step you can take to achieve this! Features of Cool Stars! ----------------------- If your already thinking this is simply another run of the mill starfield extension, forget it NOW!!!! Cool Stars! has MANY features which other starfield extensions simply don't have... -*MULTICOLOURED STARFIELDS*- This is where Cool Stars! really shines out from the crowd. Most starfield extensions only use the first bitplane of a screen, allowing only single coloured stars to be displayed. Cool Stars! will allow -*EITHER*- single coloured stars or -*MULTICOLOURED*- stars!! Multicoloured stars use the first 2 bitplanes, so each star in a starfield can be one of 4 colours. A good application of this feature is to assign each star a different shade of grey, so each star appears to be of different brightness. Stars which are moving faster can be given a lighter colour, whilst stars moving slower can be given a darker colour. This gives a rather cool parallax effect! -*ORIGINS*- Cool Stars! has unique commands which let you control the origins of individual stars. So it's possible to have your stars flying from the middle towards the edge of the screen. This gives a wonderful impression of the stars "shooting out of the screen" towards you! This gives great opportunity for some excellent program presentation. -*ABILITY TO SAVE BACKGROUNDS*- With most starfield extensions, the bitplane the stars are being drawn onto gets corrupted. This is usually okay if nothing is on the screen but if you intend your stars to fly over a graphic such as a logo or high score table, this is no good at all since the graphic will get corrupted. A way around this is to use more bitplanes than necessary. However, Cool Stars! provides commands which can save the background, rather like AMOS Pro's Bobs. This enables you to pass stars over graphics without corrupting them. -*LIMITING STARS*- Cool Stars! provides a command to confine your stars to just a rectangular area of the screen. This can be very useful. -*SPEED*- The extension is written in 100% assembler for maximum speed. Cool Stars! commands are highly optimised for speed too, particularly the star clearing and drawing routines which use some precalculated data. -*It's a TRUE extension!*- Unlike some so call 'extensions', Cool Stars! isn't just a list of procedures, it's a true extension! Commands are used just like any other AMOS Pro commands. The extension is fully compatible with the AMOS Pro compiler! -*Double Buffering*- The starfield commands will work fine on double buffered screens when Autoback 0 is used. -*Only £5 to register!!*- Yes, it's absolutely true. It's only £5 to get yourself a registered version - undoubtably the bargain of the century!! Plus loads more!! Installation ------------ Okay, you know what the extension is about, you know how deprived you'll be if you don't use it, so now is the time to install it. INSTALL THE EXTENSION -*NOW*- AND START USING IT TODAY!!! If you are using AMOS Pro V1.0, you may have problems using Cool Stars!. This is because early versions of AMOS Pro had many bugs. If you are still using AMOS Pro V1.0, you're strongly advised to upgrade to V1.1 at least (updater disks are available from all good PD libraries) before installing Cool Stars!. The extension is very easy to install. Simply follow these instructions -*EXACTLY*- and you'll have the extension installed within a few minutes. May I remind you -*NOT*- to use your original AMOS Pro system disk, if you do something wrong, AMOS Pro may refuse to boot - always use a copy! 1) Copy the 'AMOSPro_Cool_Stars!.Lib' file included with this distribution into your APSystem folder on your AMOSPro System disk. 2) Boot AMOS Pro as normal. When it's loaded choose 'Set Interpreter' from the 'Config' menu. 3) Click on 'Load Default Configuration' followed by 'Set Loaded Extensions'. 4) Click on extension number 17 and type -*EXACTLY*- 'AMOSPro_Cool_Stars!.Lib'. Now click on 'Okay'. 5) Now click on 'Exit' followed by 'Save Configuration'. 6) You'll now have to reboot AMOS Pro. The extension has now been installed and you can now get down to using the Cool Stars! commands! Examples -------- I've bundled in a few small starfield examples with this distribution. Take a look at them and don't be afraid to experiment. You can learn a lot by experimenting. When you've finished, take a look at the 'Commands.Doc' file which contains documentation on every command in the Cool Stars! command set. Limitations of the shareware version ------------------------------------ You now have the shareware version of Cool Stars!. Note that I haven't crippled the extension in any way which renders the extension as useless. This is because crippling programs totally often inhibits users from trying out software. Instead, I've gone for the method which a lot of shareware programmers use, the pop up requester! You'll notice a small(?) requester which pops up on the screen every so often, encouraging you to register. :-) Also, in the shareware version, the option to create multicoloured starfields has been disabled. Users who don't register will therefore be stuck with single coloured stars as well as the annoying pop up requester! Registering Cool Stars! ----------------------- To register your copy of Cool Stars!, simply send a cheque, postal order or £5 bank note to the address below. Please don't send any foreign money. Feel free to write to me before registering if you have any further questions you'd like answering. I am pretty fast writing back. I try to dispatch orders same day if possible, if not it shouldn't be any longer than a week (nothing worse than waiting is there?). Registering will get you: * A copy of the latest registered version. You'll now be able to use those nice multicoloured stars and there will be no pop up requester encouraging you to register. * The right to distribute your programs which use the Cool Stars! extension as freeware, PD, shareware, licenseware, commercialware or whatever for no extra cost. * Help, if you need it. * Updates at a reduced fee (or free for minor updates such as bug fixes, just send a blank disk and SAE). Here is my address: Richard Thompson 50 Chesterfield Road Shirland Alfreton Derbyshire DE55 6BN England Thank you for supporting shareware. Let's keep the Amiga alive with new shareware products! The future? ----------- Cool Stars! is my first extension I've ever written. The extension is pretty good as it is, even though this is the first version! If you have any further ideas for Cool Stars!, drop me a line at the above address. 3D stars may be a possible idea for the future, I'll have to think about it. I may also be converting the Cool Stars! extension over to Blitz BASIC 2. I already have a few ideas for another AMOS Pro extension (can't say what yet, it's all top secret! :-) ). Remember that I'll only continue to write extensions if enough interest is shown by users registering my extensions. Many hours go into the creation of an extension and I need your support! Okay, that's the end of the doc file. Enjoy Cool Stars! :-)