PLAYINGX.TXT
~~~~~~~~~~~~

  This is a copied version of the game description included in the game
  menu (to be called by pressing the F1 key). Note that the graphics (of
  the weapons and bonuses) cannot be shown in this text in a proper way -
  for lacking of ascii characters looking like Xpyderz bonus sprites...


KEYS HELP

     The keys in the game are:

 ESC  main menu    PAUSE  pause game
                   PRINT  screenshot

  F1  this help       F7  end game
  F2  save game   *   F8  specials  *
  F3  load game   *   F9  quickload *
  F4  options        F10  quit
  F5  multiplayer *  F11  menu help
  F6  quicksave   *  F12  chat      *
   * - function not available yet

     these keys are the only ones
  you cannot use for player control.


HOW TO PLAY


0.) AIM OF THE GAME

    At first, the most important aim is simply to survive! so don't get
    massacred by the evil arachnos and spiders!

    The real aim of the game is to kill all the spiders and arachnos in the
    level.

    Therefor you get a sort of weapons. You can receive them by picking up
    one of the bonuses laying around in the level. Some of them will appear
    later - so keep looking for them.

    In the following text you will receive information about the different
    weapons and their bonuses - as well as "special" bonuses that have
    nothing to do with war playing.


1.) YOUR TANK

    This is your vehicle for the war against the evil spiders. At first
    I wanted to create a little "hero" as player figure - but then I
    realized that a man looked from above looks really crap.

    You may change the colour of your tank and your player number. For
    SINGLE PLAYER GAME that doesn't make any difference.


2.) THE WEAPONS

    The basic weapon you have at the beginning of the game - and everytime
    you die - is the "normal" shoot TYPE 1.

    The bonus [+] switches to the TYPES 2 and 3.
    With this "type 3 bonus" [*] you can receive TYPE 3 directly.

    If you already got weapon type 3 and pick another [+] bonus, you will
    get the special LASER. It only remains for 25 seconds, but is a really
    unbeatable device...

    Many weapons can be deflected by the walls in the game. but at first
    they won't be deflected. You must pick up the "deflection" bonus first.
    [/]

    Every weapon has another number of MAXIMUM deflections. the TYPE 1 and
    the LASER have only three ones, TYPE 2 four and TYPE 3 five. But you
    keep your collected deflections even if you collect new weapons.

    |*> |*> | > | >
    This display for example means you got a weapon with 4 deflections
    maximum and 2 (*) of them are active yet.

    NOTE: Be careful with deflecting weapons! You may get injured by you
          own bullets with this option active!


3.) THE "SPECIAL" WEAPONS

    Special weapons are mostly really strong. that's why they are limited
    available - whether they last for a limited time or you get a limited
    amount of bullets.

    "SUPER BOOMER"
    The first special weapon is a big fat version of weapon TYPE 3. It kicks
    ass very hard and your opponents should better get away from you when
    you got this baby.
    That is the bonus for this cool weapon. [#]
    but - the fun lasts for 30 seconds only, so make the best of it...

    "SPRAYER"
    The second special weapon is the "sprayer".  One single bullet doesn't
    cause much damage - but you don't have to aim that exactly any more, but
    hit everything in the spray triangle. here the bonus: [<]
    And this weapon lasts for 30 seconds, too.

    "HOMING MISSILES"
    The third special weapon ROCKS. Really. here are them. (And I know you
    really waited for them.) HOMING MISSILES. 30 and 25 pieces per charge.
    Try them. You will love them.

    "UNHOLY DEATH"...
    And finally a tribute to the fans of Heavy Metal & co:
    "Unholy Death" - the name, the weapon... - and matching the stylish
    bonuses... (This weapon looks like a cruzifix turned upside down - the
    bonuses look like a pentagram.)

    Tt causes 666 hitpoints - "the number of the beast [tm]"...

    (... and a tank needs just 1000 of them  to get destroyed!)
    If a bullet destroys a target, it crosses it - this way two or more hits
    are possible with just one shot!

    If such a bullet hits a wall, it gets split into up to 4 missiles.


4.) THE BOMBS

    there are two types of bombs in this game - but only one bonus type for
    both of them. by the BOMB-key alone (normally SPACE) you release a
    "small" bomb that explodes after 1 second - so you better get away after
    releasing one...

    the BOMB and STRAFE-key (standard is ALT) together cause release of a
    "big" bomb, needing TWO bomb counts and exploding after 5 seconds
    instead.
    but you also may SHOOT bombs, to get the things go faster...


5.) THE BOMB BONUSES

    the small bonus gives ONE bomb, the medium sized FIVE and the big one
    even TEN of them! you may carry 99 bombs at the same time.

    the BIG bombs have a far bigger destruction power than the SMALL ones
    - but they decrease the bomb counter by 2!

    and like in real life the effect of a bomb on you increases by decreased
    distance to the explosion core...


6.) THE OTHER BONUSES

    First I should mention the EXTRA ENERGY items here. you will really
    excessively need them! In fact, the whole game you will be on the hunt
    for them! (This bonuses looke like blue stars with an "E".)

    The small bonus gives 20%, the big one even 50% percent of a full energy
    bar back.

    Then there are two SHIELD BONUSES. the small for 20 the big one for 40
    seconds. (This bonuses look like a blue circle with an "S".)

    PLEASE NOTICE - THE SHIELD DOESN'T PROTECT AGAINST ARACHNOS!

    Then there is RADAR TIME bonus.
    There's a BIG radar bonus for A WHOLE MINUTE of radar time. This bonus
    only appears ONCY at the start of the level. Later you will only find
    the "small" version with 15 seconds each.

    New collected radar time will get added to your already collected time.

    The radar time only decreases if the radar is ACTIVATED. - You can
    activate / deactivate it by the "RADAR" key (normally TAB).


7.) CONTROLLING THE PLAYER

    You can get a list of the keys used in the game in the GAME KEY SETUP
    menu:
                > NEW GAME
                  > PLAYER SETUP
                    > SETUP KEYSET

    Here you can also change (ENTER) or modify (DEL) the keys.

    There are two control modes - ARCADE and CRUISE. Just try to find out
    which of them better matches your uses. For it is sometimes better to
    have both modes available you may alternate them by the ~-key in the
    game.


    Here are the "standard" game keys:

    CURSOR UP             - drive up/forwards
    CURSOR DOWN           - drive down/backwards
    CURSOR LEFT           - drive/turn to the left
    CURSOR RIGHT          - drive/turn to the right
    LEFT SHIFT            - drive fast
    CAPS LOCK             - always drive fast
    LEFT ALT              - lock shooting direction/strafe (sidestep)
    LEFT CTRL             - shooting
    SPACE                 - set a "small" bomb
    LEFT ALT+SPACE        - set a "big" bomb
    ~ (TILDE)             - swap the control mode ("arcade"/"cruise")

    There are also two STRAFE modes. You can select the "normal" mode (OFF)
    or the "switch" mode (ON). (In the SETUP KEYSET menu.)

    In the NORMAL mode you must hold pressed the STRAFE key (normally ALT)
    to strafe (and to use the BIG bombs).

    In the SWITCH mode you can switch the STRAFE mode by pressing the STRAFE
    key ON or OFF. So you won't have to press down the ALT key the whole
    time.

    STRAFE means here (depending on your respective control mode
    ARCADE/CRUISE) keeping your firing direction despite of changing the
    driving direction.


8.) THE LEVEL ELEMENTS

    The level itself includes many elements, too - with some of them with
    special functionality.

    EXITS are the level exits to get reached by you. - This is only
    important, if it is part of your game mission.

    "SHOOTERS" are local installed turnable cannon towers. Sometimes their
    shoots can be prepared for being "homing".

    ICE AREAS make controlling the tank to a real experience everyone should
    have tried for himself.

    BEAMERS
    There are 4 different types of Beamers. One beamer always uses other
    same-coloured beamers as target. But it is also possible, that one
    colour is chosen to beam the player to random positions. To use a beamer
    you have to drive over it and stop for a short time. That means, it is
    possible, to cross beamers without using them, too!

    WARNING! If setup this way - and this is it by standard - spiders can
    make use of these beamers, too!

    ELECTRO FENCES
    These fences can be under high voltage - what means, it is very bad for
    your energy bar, if you drive against those fences or grind along them
    with your tank. - Only if this feature is activated, of course.

    KEY BLOCKS
    These blocks are basically "normal blocking", just like walls, fences or
    hedges. But with help of the corresponding key you can unlock them.
    Unlocked blocks can then get driven over like normal floors.

    SHIFTING BLOCKS
    This is not a special block to be mentioned - in fact every level block
    element can be shiftable (except for "floor" elements, of course).
    Shift blocks can simply get shifted by the tank to every 90 direction
    in the level. And, YES! You may crush spiders and other players by these
    shift-blocks, too.

    SECRET WAYS
    Really all walls may be "secret ways". These secret ways look like
    normal walls - but you can drive over them. - And they are displayed as
    free ways on your radar.


9.) THE "CRAZY GAME MODE"

    This is a small gimmick I just built in for entertainment purposes. -
    But if you like it brutal, you are free to try out this mode.

    Here you can select that spiders "split" after a certain amount of time
    (that is 1 gets 2) or they "grow", that is, getting arachnos. For every
    spider colour this selection is seperate.

    All further trying and combinating with this mode I leave to the
    experienced hands of the interested gamer...


10.) THE LEVELS

    In the full version there will be three level types:

    MISSIONS:
    These are the episode/mission levels included in the game.

    EDITOR LEVELS:
    With the level editor available in the full version you can create your
    own levels.

    RANDOM LEVELS:
    The implemented level generator creates random levels. In this
    pre-pre-version only these random levels are available.


11.) THE TANK BOOSTER

    Normally most XPYDERZ players play in "speed mode", that is, they
    activate CAPS LOCK once at the begin of the game and then play
    highspeed the whole time.

    To make a bigger challenge of it you may activate the "booster" option:
    You will then get a second energy bar displayed, decreasing everytime
    you're driving fast and recovering while driving slow or standing. When
    using the "extended" mode your normal energy bar will get decreased if
    trying to drive fast with an empty booster bar!

    But this is only for that kind of players for whom the normal game
    still isn't hard enough...


12.) GAME HINTS

  * ARACHNOS you kill best by using BIG BOMBS! Shooting is lengthy, toilsome
    and dangerous. And if it has to be shooting, then overstress the
    "DEFLECTION BONUS" totally - that's what it is for!

  * ATTENTION if using DEFLECTIONS and BOMBS together at the same time! The
    amount of users got eliminated by their own bombs is uncounted...

  * RADAR time is short! So practise flipping the radar on-/off and
    recognizing everything anyway!

  * For SPIDERS the "SPRAYER" or the NORMAL WEAPONS are the best choice.

  * SHOOTERS I like to destroy by MISSILES or SMALL BOMBS.


THE FUTURE

    XPYDERZ [tm] is by far not ready yet!
    In the release version some of the menus will got revised - because some
    of them really need this at present.

    And then there will be a MULTIPLAYER mode in the game, making the game
    playable on several computers via serial line, modem or several other
    ports - including (ether-) network and internet. this feature is
    deactivated in this version, because is is still work in progress.

    Stay tuned for the release version!


ABOUT THIS GAME

    This game is pretty simple and not really the "true science". - What it
    never was meant to be! I just coded it for myself as a small side
    project beside many other things. I won't discuss the sense or nonsense
    of that game - it's just a humble stupid arcade shooter that's real fun
    factor will - if anyway - be revealed in the multiplayer mode (included
    in the release version).

    I know some people surely will stress my nerves - how stupid this game
    is - and therefor me, too... - mainly people who didn't even code
    anything at all in their whole lives...

____________________________________________________________________________
   (C) Imperial Games 2008
