ABRAHAM LINCOLN LAND
Version 0.99 Demo Beta 5.6
Copyright (C) 1999-2003 LincolnSoft.
April 9, 2003

<Make sure you view this file in a fixed-width font.>


=================
Table of Contents
=================

  1. Introduction 
  2. System Requirements 
    2.1 Absolute minimum requirements (Don't try this at home) 
    2.2 Might run somewhat OK on this system 
    2.3 Minimum Requirements 
    2.4 Recommended Requirements 
  3. Installation and Running 
    3.1 Installation 
    3.2 Running ALL 
    3.3 Command line switches 
  4. Troubleshooting 
    4.1 Running ALL under various environments 
      4.1.1 ALL and pure DOS 
      4.1.2 ALL and Windows 3.x 
      4.1.3 ALL and Windows 95/98 
      4.1.4 ALL and Windows ME/XP 
      4.1.5 ALL and Windows NT 
    4.2 Video card problems 
    4.3 Sound card problems 
    4.4 Joystick problems 
    4.5 If you have low amounts of RAM (less than 32 MB) 
  5. Beta Release Notes 
    5.1 Known bugs 
    5.2 If you find a bug... 
    5.3 Stuff not implemented yet 
  6. Storyline 
  7. Options and stuff 
    7.1 New game 
    7.2 Load game 
    7.3 Options 
      7.3.1 Control options 
      7.3.2 Graphics options 
      7.3.3 Music and Sound options 
      7.3.4 Sound Setup menu 
  8. How to play the game 
    8.1 In-level controls 
      8.1.1 Jump 
      8.1.2 Run 
      8.1.3 Duck 
      8.1.4 Swim 
      8.1.5 Throw/shoot 
      8.1.6 Tubes and Doors 
      8.1.7 Pause 
    8.2 Map screen controls 
      8.2.1 Enter level 
      8.2.2 Move between levels 
    8.3 Miscellaneous controls 
    8.4 The status display 
    8.5 Basic game structure 
  9. Block types 
    9.1 Item boxes 
    9.2 Bricks 
    9.3 Wooden boxes 
    9.4 Plastic blocks 
    9.5 Cardboard boxes 
    9.6 Circuit boards 
    9.7 Invisible blocks 
  10. Items and Powerups 
    10.1 Abe's Vest 
    10.2 Abe's Suit 
    10.3 Abe's Hat 
    10.4 Gray Hat 
    10.5 Books 
    10.6 Exploding Ball Crate 
    10.7 Floppy disks 
    10.8 Computers 
    10.9 CDs 
    10.10 Bow ties 
    10.11 Letters 
    10.12 1-up 
    10.13 Five bucks 
    10.14 Bonus coin 
  11. Enemies 
    11.1 Short guy 
    11.2 Robots 
      11.2.1 Green robots 
      11.2.2 Red robots 
      11.2.3 Blue robots 
      11.2.4 Gray robots 
    11.3 Flying robots 
    11.4 Robotic mines 
    11.5 Mine layers 
    11.6 Klap Trap 
    11.7 Kannonballs and Kannons 
    11.8 H-bombs and submarine bombs 
    11.9 Orange bombs 
    11.10 Bomb throwers 
    11.11 Robotic mircoplanes 
    11.12 Submarines 
    11.13 Spike balls 
    11.14 Jefferson Davis 
  12. Objects 
    12.1 Springs 
    12.2 Doors 
    12.3 Tubes 
    12.4 Arrow signs 
  13. Bonus game types 
    13.1 Timed maze 
    13.2 Collect everything 
    13.3 Defeat all enemies 
    13.4 Point race 
  14. World Descriptions 
  15. FAQ 
  16. Advanced Gameplay Techniques 
  17. Current progress on the full version of ALL 
  18. Version history 
  19. Comments from the author on how I think this is turning out so far 
  20. Credits 
  21. Contact 
  22. Distribution and Legal Stuff


===============
1. Introduction
===============

Abraham Lincoln Land is a game similar in gameplay style to the Mario games on 
the NES and SNES, but with some new and different things thrown in and a much 
darker and different mood. There are lots of secrets and secret areas in Abraham 
Lincoln Land, lots of action and lots of levels, and lots of things to do and 
lots of ground to cover. A lot of work, testing, and fine-tuning has been put 
into this game to make it the best it can possibly be.

This version of Abraham Lincoln Land is a free demo, with 16 levels (the entire 
first world). It is also a beta version, which means that there are probably 
bugs in the game (but hopefully not too many), and a few things that aren't done 
yet, so that is why this is version 0.99 and not version 1.00.

I'll often refer to Abraham Lincoln Land in this document as just "ALL", so I 
don't have to type out "Abraham Lincoln Land" tons of times.


======================
2. System Requirements
======================

2.1 Absolute minimum requirements (Don't try this at home)

ALL will theoretically run on the following system. Of course, this is 
completely untested, and like I said, don't try this at home. Doing so may tax 
both your computer and your sanity.

- 386 (with FPU) or higher (You need a 32-bit processor with floating point 
  support to run ALL) 
- 8 MB RAM 
- DOS 
- SVGA card with VESA 1.x support and at least 1MB VRAM. For this version it 
  must support 640x480x16-bit mode in DOS. 
- 38 MB free disk space


2.2 Might run somewhat OK on this system

ALL *might* run fast enough to be playable (depending on your definition of 
playable) on the following system. Of course, this is completely untested, and 
is just an educated guess as to what system configuration might run ALL 
"somewhat OK".

- 486/100 or higher 
- 16 MB RAM 
- DOS 
- SVGA card with VESA 1.x support and at least 1MB VRAM. For this version it 
  must support 640x480x16-bit mode in DOS. 
- 38 MB free disk space


2.3 Minimum requirements

Sure, ALL might run somewhat OK (even OK enough to be playable) on some systems 
below this, but these are the official minimum requirements for ALL. This 
configuration has been tested.

- Pentium 133 or higher 
- 32 MB RAM 
- DOS 
- SVGA card with VESA 1.x support and at least 1MB VRAM. For this version it 
  must support 640x480x16-bit mode in DOS. 
- 100% SB compatible sound card 
- 38 MB free disk space


2.4 Recommended requirements

For optimal results I recommend you run ALL on a system with this configuration 
or better.

- Pentium II 233 or higher 
- 32 MB RAM 
- Windows 95 or 98 
- SVGA card with VESA 2.0 support and at least 1MB VRAM. For this version it 
  must support 640x480x16-bit mode in DOS 
- 100% SB compatible 16-bit sound card 
- 38 MB free disk space 
- Gamepad with at least 4 buttons (I recommend a Microsoft Sidewinder gamepad. 
  This is what the game has been tested with.) I recommend a gamepad even more 
  now that I've changed ALL's physics significantly. The general "feel" of ALL 
  is modeled after console games and not PC games, so ALL will feel much better 
  and will be much easier to play with a gamepad than with the keyboard.


===========================
3. Installation and Running
===========================

3.1 Installation


Unzip the file to the directory you desire to install the game in. You've 
probably already done this by now. 


3.2 Running ALL


To run ALL, type alldemo from the DOS prompt, or double-click on alldemo.exe to 
run the game from Windows 95 or 98. If you have problems see the Troubleshooting 
section below. When you first start the game it will go through and tell you the 
storyline before it ends up at the title screen. If you want to skip this press 
<ENTER> to go straight to the title screen. You can always view the storyline 
again later by going to Options -> Story from the main menu. 


3.3 Command line switches


Beginning with beta 5.6, ALL has command line switches. The switches that exist 
now are mainly intended to diagnose and/or fix sound or joystick setup problems, 
but more may be added in the future. All of the switches in ALL can be specified 
in any order on the command line. This is a listing of all of the valid command 
line switches: 

--help, -help, -?              Brings up a brief summary of all of the valid
                               command line switches in ALL, then exits. Does 
                               not run the game.

-nj, -nojoy, -nojoystick       Forces ALL to run with no joystick selected, 
                               overriding the current joystick settings. If 
                               you select the wrong joystick by accident, and
                               your joystick goes crazy and the game goes 
                               haywire and somehow exits and saves your 
                               joystick settings, you can use this switch to
                               restore joystick sanity to ALL and select and
                               configure the correct joystick instead. Of 
                               course, you can also use it if you just want to
                               run ALL with no joystick support.

-ns, -nosound                  Forces ALL to run with no sound, overriding the
                               current sound settings. This switch is very 
                               useful if your computer locks up or crashes 
                               upon starting ALL due to an incorrect sound 
                               autodetection by ALL (which should be very 
                               rare), or if you accidentally save sound 
                               settings that cause your computer to lock up or
                               crash upon starting ALL. By using this switch 
                               you can safely run ALL with no sound and fix
                               the sound setup problem that is causing your
                               computer to lock up or crash upon starting ALL.
                               Of course, you can also use this switch if you 
                               just want to run ALL without any sound.

-as, -autosound                Forces ALL to autodetect the sound card and 
                               sound card settings upon startup, overriding
                               the current sound settings, with the exception
                               of IRQ, DMA and port number (if you've already
                               explicitly specified them in the Sound Setup 
                               menu). This switch is mainly intended for use
                               if you're trying to tweak the sound settings to
                               get better quaility output than the 
                               autodetected settings give you (which sometimes
                               is possible), and you're having problems, and
                               you just want to set the sound settings back to
                               the autodetected settings for the time being.

-sc [card], -soundcard [card]  Forces ALL to run with a specific sound card
                               selected. [card] is a number specifying the
                               card, which must be one of the following:

                               0 - Autodetect (default)
                               1 - No sound
                               2 - Generic SoundBlaster
                               3 - SoundBlaster 1.0
                               4 - SoundBlaster 1.5
                               5 - SoundBlaster 2.0
                               6 - SoundBlaster Pro
                               7 - SoundBlaster 16
                               8 - ESS Audiodrive
                               9 - Ensoniq Soundscape

                               If no number is specified, Autodetect is the
                               default (so simply specifying -sc or
                               -soundcard is equivalent to specifying -as or
                               -autosound). Of course, -sc 0 and -soundcard 0
                               are also equivalent to -as or -autosound, and 
                               -sc 1 and -soundcard 1 are both equivalent to 
                               -ns or -nosound. 


==================
4. Troubleshooting
==================

4.1 Running ALL under various environments


4.1.1 ALL and pure DOS


If you run ALL under pure DOS (i.e., not DOS under some form of Windows) you 
need CWSDPMI.EXE to run the game. This should be included in the zip file. 

Load times can be long under pure DOS. For this reason I recommend to run under 
Windows 95 or 98 if you can, they are MUCH shorter (almost unnoticeable, if you 
have a fast enough computer and enough RAM) under Windows 95 or 98. You can also 
use SMARTDRV under pure DOS to speed up the load times. Even with the default 
settings, SMARTDRV can significantly speed up the load times under pure DOS (to 
the point where the load times are almost as fast as under Windows 95 or 98). 
Try typing smartdrv at the DOS prompt before running ALL. Even better, put the 
SMARTDRV line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT if you frequently run ALL from pure DOS 
(either because you want to or out of necessity). Other than the load time 
issue, ALL should work fine under pure DOS, as ALL is a DOS game. If you run it 
under DOS and find bugs or other problems that only happen under pure DOS, let 
me know. 

Updated September 17, 2001: Because DOS does not support USB, USB joysticks and 
gamepads will probably not work under DOS. However, I was able to get a USB 
Gamepad Pro to work in ALL under Windows (see section 4.4, Joystick Problems). 
Also, "Sound Blaster compatible" sound cards with a Sound Blaster Emulation 
option will probably not work under pure DOS, because these drivers are Windows 
drivers. (See section 4.3, Sound Card Problems) 


4.1.2 ALL and Windows 3.x


I do not know if this game will run correctly from Windows 3.x. If it does feel 
free to tell me, but my guess is it probably won't work correctly, due to the 
graphics mode that ALL uses. If you use Windows 3.x I strongly recommend that 
you exit Windows to pure DOS mode first, and then run it. 


4.1.3 ALL and Windows 95 or 98


Should work perfectly fine. Most of this game was developed and tested under 
Win98, and it worked fine for me. I only tested under DOS some to get rid of 
bugs that only happened under DOS mode. If Windows doesn't give you enough 
memory, see below. Load times are much shorter under Windows, so this is why I 
recommend you run it under Windows (as much as I hate the OS). 


4.1.4 ALL and Windows ME or XP


I hope it'll work fine, but I don't know because I haven't tested it. Run it at 
your own risk. If it works feel free to tell me, and if it doesn't, you can tell 
me also, but there's not really much I can do about it until I make a Windows 
version. I don't have any computers running Windows: Malfunctioning Edition or 
Windows eXPloit to test ALL on, and I'm never going to upgrade from my current 
Windows 98, so running ALL under either of these OSes is completely untested. 
(In addition, I also strongly recommend that you avoid purchasing, upgrading to, 
or running either of these OSes in any way, shape, or form, if at all possible.) 



4.1.5 ALL and Windows NT


Windows NT has limited DOS capabilities. Because of this, it may not work under 
NT. Run it at your own risk. Your mileage may vary. If it does work tell me, but 
if it doesn't there isn't much I can do about it. If it doesn't work you're 
going to have to find a Win9x machine to run it on, or wait until I make a 
Windows version. 


4.2 Video card problems


ALL runs in a 640x480x16-bit graphics mode. This may not work under some video 
cards, especially older ones. You should have at least 1 megabyte of video RAM 
in your card to run the game. If you have 1 megabyte of VRAM, and it doesn't 
work, you have a few options: 

1. Get Scitech Display Doctor (www.scitechsoft.com) and install it, and see if 
that fixes it. I used this to get ALL running (although somewhat slowly) on my 
mom's old P133 once. 

2. Wait for a future version of ALL, that supports more video modes (or a 
Windows version). I am likely to implement 8 bit mode in a future version, which 
may not look as good but will be faster than 16 bit and work on more video 
cards. I may also implement hardware acceleration (once I get a video card with 
enough memory to test it on) in a future version that will allow the game to run 
with a much faster framerate in 16-bit mode on a slower processor, given that 
you have enough video RAM. (For hardware acceleration to work well in 16-bit 
mode, you'd probably need a video card with at least 4 MB of VRAM.) 

3. Get a better video card.

Because hardware acceleration support is nonexistant in ALL currently, scrolling 
may be choppy on slower systems (but should still be playable, unless maybe 
you're trying to play it on a 486 or a slower Pentium or something). I only have 
a crappy old 2MB Cirrus Logic card in my computer (that doesn't have hardware 
accelerated drivers), so I couldn't program in hardware acceleration if I wanted 
to. (I got to get a new video card.) 

Also, ALL's framerate will be about twice as slow on cards with only VESA 1.x 
support as it will be on cards with VESA 2.0 support. If it runs too slow on a 
card with only VESA 1.x drivers you can get Scitech Display Doctor and see if it 
has a VESA 2.0 driver for your card. 


4.3 Sound card problems


ALL should try autodetect your sound card when you run the game, but if you have 
an older sound card, or one that is not a Sound Blaster, you might have 
problems, and your mileage may vary. Some "Sound Blaster compatible" sound cards 
are not really 100% SB compatible, so it may not work with these cards, or these 
cards may be incorrectly autodetected. If you're having problems getting the 
sound to work, my guess is that your problem is that ALL has autodetected your 
sound card incorrectly. The first thing I would suggest is to change the 
settings in the Sound Setup menu in ALL to match the settings for your sound 
card. From the main menu go to Options -> Music and Sound -> Sound Setup to 
bring up the Sound Setup menu. Change the settings to match the settings for 
your sound card, and hopefully it should work. (See the Sound Setup menu section 
for information on what each of the options do in this menu, including 
information on how to get the correct IRQ, DMA, and port numbers for your card.) 
If your sound card driver has a "Sound Blaster Emulation" option, turn it on, 
this should help (see below for info on where this option might be located.) 

If you've tried all of the above and the sound still doesn't work, you can try 
to tweak your existing drivers, or try to find some better drivers on the 
manufacturer's web site (and maybe tweak those), or you can get a better sound 
card. I hope it won't ever come to this now, though, now that the Sound Setup 
menu is implemented.

Updated September 17, 2001: My new Dell laptop has one of those infamous 
soundcards that is "Sound Blaster compatible", and I couldn't get the ALL sound 
to work until I turned on the Sound Blaster Emulation option in the Properties 
dialog box for my card in the Control Panel. (To get to it, go to the Control 
Panel, go under System->Sound, Video, and Game Controllers, and the listing for 
your sound card should be in there somewhere. Double click on it or click once 
on it to highlight it and press the Properties button.) Then I had to mess with 
the sound card IRQ settings in ALL to match the IRQ the SB Emulation was on (in 
my case 9). Of course, the "Sound Blaster Emulation" option for my card probably 
only works under Windows... 


4.4 Joystick problems


I've only tested this game with a MS Sidewinder, a Gamepad Pro, and an old 
generic 6-button gamepad, so I don't know if all the joystick options work. 
Hopefully they do, but if they don't, tell me. If your joystick or gamepad isn't 
listed in the "Select Joystick" menu, try selecting one of the generic 2/4/6/8 
button joystick options there. Hopefully it should work. Although ALL supports 2 
button joysticks, you really need at least 4 buttons to play the game properly 
with a joystick or gamepad.

If your joystick goes haywire because of an incorrect joystick selection in the 
"Select Joystick" menu, you can press <CTRL>-<ALT>-<END> to abort the game, and 
then run the game again and select the correct joystick. If the joystick 
craziness manages to exit the game and save the joystick settings, you can use 
the -nj, -nojoy, or -nojoystick switches to ALL (see Command Line Switches) to 
run the game with no joystick selected, and then select the correct joystick.

Updated September 17, 2001: I have now tested ALL with a USB Gamepad Pro on my 
new Dell laptop. Because DOS and Allegro do not support USB, I had to use the 
generic 4-button joystick option to get the Gamepad Pro to work. Setting it to 6 
or 8 buttons works too, but I'm still only able to get the 4 main buttons on the 
Gamepad Pro to work with it set on those settings. Also, this will probably only 
work if you run ALL under a version of Windows with USB support, not under pure 
DOS. Of course, as always, your mileage may vary.

The SNES controller options require you to hook up an SNES controller to the 
printer (parallel) port. If you're good with electronics you can find diagrams 
and documentation on how to build a SNES controller parallel port connector 
here:

http://www.ziplabel.com/dpadpro/index.html

Keep in mind I haven't tried this, so I don't know if it will work.

Added September 17, 2001: The above URL doesn't work anymore, as far as I can 
see, but I'll keep it in here anyway. However, there are other webpages that 
show how to build an SNES controller to parallel port connector, so I'd 
recommend to do a search on Google or whatever your favorite search engine is 
for them. 


4.5 ALL and low amounts of RAM (less than 32 MB)


If you have less than 32 MB of RAM and you're running the game under Windows 95 
or 98 and the game runs out of memory, try this: 

1. Right click on alldemo.exe, choose "Properties"

2. Click the Memory tab

3. In the "MS-DOS protected mode (DPMI) memory" box, type 65535. (The pull down 
menu only goes up to 16384, so you have to type it in). If you leave this 
setting at "Auto", Windows probably won't let ALL have enough memory, and so it 
runs out.

4. Now run it (a PIF file should be generated in the same directory, you can run 
ALL through the PIF file or just run the executable itself, as long as they're 
both in the same directory it should be fine).

Note that if you don't have much RAM, the load times will be longer.


=====================
5. Beta Release Notes
=====================

5.1 Known Bugs


- In vertically scrolling levels or areas, sometimes enemies that are supposed 
  to be below you when the screen scrolls downward won't appear, or (rarer) 
  enemies that are not "supposed" to be there when the screen scrolls downward 
  do appear. Note that this bug is mostly fixed and occurs very rarely. 
- There is a display bug that happens when you die because your time is up in a 
  level. 


5.2 If you find a bug...


Of course, there probably are some other bugs in the game that I just haven't 
noticed or haven't found yet. (Hopefully nothing serious.) If you find a bug, 
describe it and send to me (especially if it causes the game to crash). If it 
crashes send the traceback info as well (that's all those funny numbers and 
stuff that appear), if you can. Hopefully the game won't crash, as from my and 
others' experience, the game seems pretty stable.


5.3 Stuff not implemented yet


The Graphics submenu in Options is not done yet. This is because I don't have 
any other video modes, hardware acceleration, or the like implemented yet.

Some of the animations for enemies and objects not in World 1 are not done yet.

I'll probably end up improving the "Level Complete" screen in a future version.

I'm likely to redo or even rewrite completely some or all of the tracks of music 
in ALL to make it more interesting, and replace some of the tunes that I feel 
aren't that great with better ones. (See what I said about ALL's music in the 
Comments from the Author section.)

Added May 31, 2002: I've redone the Downtown theme for ALL. See below for 
details. I haven't redone or rewritten any of the other tracks in the game yet, 
though.

I plan to add a "map scroll-around" feature that will allow you to look around 
the map screen for the current State you're in. The feature would also label 
major cities, state capitals, the boss level, etc. on the map screen when you 
scroll around (although I also plan to include a feature that would allow you to 
turn the labeling off).

In addition to the labeling feature, I'll likely add a "level info" feature that 
would give information (history, population, etc.) on each level in the game.

I'll probably add a "cursor lock" key and joystick button to the game to allow 
you to lock the aiming cursor in one spot as long as you hold down the button or 
key.

World 2 in this version is nonexistant. If you try to enter it the game will 
exit to DOS with an "Error loading world" error message.

I want to change the storyline that is shown in the game to be consistent with 
the storyline in this README file somehow. Not only that, but I want to add some 
sort of cinematic to the part (or parts) of the game that contain the storyline 
(to make the mood better), but I don't think my graphic arts abilities are 
anywhere near good enough to implement this... I would also have to rewrite the 
title/intro track (or tracks) to be consistent with the timing of each element 
of the story (which I know I CAN do).


============
6. Storyline
============

It is the late 30th century, and the population of the world is now about 80 
billion. Significant advances in technology and urban planning have allowed the 
world population to grow to this size. Time travel has been invented. And two 
great alliances now control the world...

The ADC, Alliance of Democratic Countries, fosters freedom and democracy 
supporting governments, governments which grant equal rights to everyone - to 
ordinary people - to people of all races, religions, beliefs, and walks of 
life... 

The NNA, the Neo-Nazi Alliance, formed from former hate groups such as the KKK 
and Neo-Nazi skinhead groups and countries which operate under a totalitarian, 
elitist, or aristocratic regime, is an alliance which supports the genocide of, 
the enslavement of, the abuse of, and the denial of the rights of people of the 
underclasses and of minority races, religions, and beliefs, for the purposes of 
furthering their own selfish interests of wealth and power... 

Many citizens of ADC countries are outraged at the actions of NNA countries. 
Political activists, politicians, and protesters in ADC countries demand that 
the slavery and genocide in NNA countries stop and that civil liberties be 
granted to everyone, no matter what race, religion, or belief... 

These political activists and politicians, formerly from other political 
parties, form a new leftist-liberal political party, the Neo-Republican Party, 
in the futuristic United States, a prominent ADC country with a population of 
about 3 billion people... 

This new party is dedicated to halting trade with and banning imports from NNA 
countries, hoping to stop the slavery and genocide in these countries, so 
freedom, democracy, and social justice can be granted to everyone. Members of 
this party continually denounce the NNA aristocracies and condemn the moral 
wrongs of slavery and the denial of equal rights of men, feeling that these 
things threaten the very existence of democracy and social justice around the 
world... 

As the Neo-Republican movement in the United States gains power, 
Neo-Republican-like parties sprout in other ADC countries, though their rise in 
power is slower than that of the Neo-Republican Party in the United States... 

The NNA countries dislike the Neo-Republican movement in the United States and 
other ADC countries and feel it threatens their increasing thirst for wealth and 
power. Many threats of violence and terrorism against ADC countries ensue. Some 
of the more extreme aristocrats residing in NNA countries commit terrorist acts 
against ADC countries and Neo-Republican strongholds within the United States... 

An air of increasing hostility between the two alliances ensues. The rulers of 
NNA countries, through their increasing lust for wealth and power, begin to 
secretly stockpile nuclear weapons for the sole purpose of making war against 
ADC countries. The NNA countries begin to threaten war and invasion if the 
rising Neo-Republican movement does not stop... 

In the ADC countries, many people believe that mutually assured destruction will 
keep NNA countries from making war on the ADC. They believe that the mass 
destruction caused by a full-fledged post-modern nuclear war will keep the NNA 
countries from firing the first shot. Meanwhile, the Neo-Republican party has 
been steadily gaining power in the United States, but the party is still new and 
has not yet had anyone elected to office. As the Neo-Republican party rises in 
power and gains a greater percentage of the electoral vote, the tensions between 
the ADC and the NNA increase, and war and invasion threats against the United 
States increase... 

Six years after the founding of the Neo-Republican Party, the citizens of the 
United States, many of whom are outraged at the NNA and its actions, elect a 
Neo-Republican President, Chris Hanks. Chris Hanks is a distant relative of and 
a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln, whom many consider to be the greatest 
President of the United States - the exceptionally kind, noble, moral, honest, 
hardworking, tenacious President - the Great Emancipator who over one thousand 
years ago preserved democracy and the Federal Union and freed all of the slaves 
in the then aristocratic, slaveholding Southern States, and later called for 
voting rights and citizenship for former slaves... 

The NNA countries reject the election of Chris Hanks, and aristocrats in these 
countries feel the threat to their wealth and power is greater than ever before. 
In an attempt to preserve their wealth and power and the supremacy of the elite 
class, the NNA countries bring back from time the slaveholding Southern States' 
leader, Jefferson Davis, who more than one thousand years ago had tried to 
preserve slavery and the Southern aristocracy, and fought Lincoln's attempts to 
preserve democracy and the Union and grant freedom to four million slaves... 

Immediately Davis, realizing he now had a chance to revive what he had lost, 
recruited a vast army from the aristocrats of the NNA countries, and proceeded 
to invade the unprepared United States. In a surprise attack, Davis' army 
captured, invaded, and held hostage Washington, D.C., and demanded that the 
President step down from office and give Davis control of the country... 

But the President refuses. He cannot turn the United States from a democracy 
where the people rule to an aristocracy where an elite class rules. He cannot 
give his power to Davis and let his citizens become slaves to an elitist 
Neo-Nazi regime. He cannot give power to someone who was not chosen by the 
people. He cannot let thousands of cities be turned to rubble and let billions 
of people die in a full-fledged nuclear war started by the NNA. He cannot let 
government of the people, by the people, for the people, perish from the earth, 
forever... 

But Jefferson Davis doesn't care what the President thinks or what the people of 
the United States want. He only cares about his own selfish interests, and he 
and his NNA army, in an effort to preserve the NNA aristocracy and destroy the 
democracy, freedom, and social justice the NNA sees as the greatest threat to 
their way of life, proceeds to capture, take over, and occupy all of the major 
cities and many of the rural regions in each of the 50 states, trapping billions 
of innocent citizens in their homes and completely shutting down business in the 
cities. Nonwhite citizens, considered to be the underclass by Jefferson Davis, 
are captured and enslaved and forced to toil endlessly for the NNA. And although 
the NNA has not yet fired a shot, the NNA countries are now clamoring for a 
full-fledged war against the ADC... 

The world has never in its history been closer to the threat of post-modern 
nuclear war. The Doomsday Clock has been set to one second to midnight. The 
hands of doom for humanity are closer than they have ever been... 

But all is not yet lost. There is still a final, last hope. The almost powerless 
President, unable to do anything else, brings back his hero, Abraham Lincoln 
from time, in a last, best, final hope that he - Abraham Lincoln, through his 
great moral courage, integrity and bravery, and his endless perseverence, 
patience and tenacity, will be able to save and preserve democracy, freedom, and 
social justice, and free the enslaved citizens of the United States once again, 
just as he did over fifty score years ago... 

The fate of freedom, democracy and the world now rests in Abraham Lincoln's 
hands once again. You, as Abraham Lincoln, face the difficult task of going 
through each of the captured cities and occupied regions in each of the 50 
states and freeing the people which have been taken hostage and enslaved there. 
You must free the billions of people trapped in the cities by Jefferson Davis' 
troops. You must defeat Jefferson Davis and the Neo-Nazi Alliance and restore 
world peace, and preserve democracy, freedom, and social justice for all future 
generations. You must save freedom from the clutches of those who desire to take 
it away from everyone. You must not let government of the people, by the people, 
for the people, perish from the earth. As Abraham Lincoln, you are the world's 
last, best and only hope for freedom and democracy, social justice and world 
peace. All will be lost if you fail; the world will be forever grateful if you 
succeed. Only you, as Abraham Lincoln, can save these great and noble principles 
for generations to come... 

We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last, best hope of Earth... 


====================
7. Options and stuff
====================

7.1 New game


Start a new game. You can select between the built-in game levels or external 
levels. The external level support is unavailable in this version, but the level 
editor isn't done yet so it shouldn't matter anyway. 


7.2 Load game


Loads a previously saved game. You can save up to 10 different games at once. 
The save files for built-in levels are saved as INTERNAL.SA?, where ? is a 
number between 0 and 9 that designates the number of the save file. In the 
version with external level support, you will be able to have 10 different save 
files per external level file, and the save files will be named FILENAME.SA?, 
where FILENAME is the name of the external level file, and ? is the number of 
the save file. 

You can save your game at any time, including midlevel, but it will only save 
the highest level you've gotten to, your high scores and records and other data 
for each level, your score, your lives, and a few other things. It doesn't save 
your exact position in the level or anything, so when you go to load the game it 
will put you on the map screen at the highest level you have gotten to so far. 
If you have some of the special items or a high level score or something in a 
level and you save it, and you haven't beaten the level yet, that data will not 
be saved. You have to beat the level for the data to be saved.

For the time, the game only counts the amount of time you're actually in a 
level. It doesn't count the amount of time you have the game paused, or the 
amount of time you are on the map screen.

The amount of game overs you have and the amount of times you've saved your game 
don't matter in this version, but they will in the full version, so beware.


7.3 Options


7.3.1 Controls


Define Keys: This option brings up the "Define Keys" menu, which lets you select 
which keys you want to use for which actions. Use the up and down arrow keys to 
highlight the key you want to change, press <Enter>, and then press the key you 
want to use for that action. Within the same class of controls, you cannot have 
the same key. For instance, you can't set both Shoot and Jump to the same key, 
because they are both in-level controls, but you can set Enter Level and Jump to 
the same key, because one is part of the in-level controls and one is part of 
the map screen controls. The "Pause" key setting is global. If you screw up the 
controls, or you just want to set it back to normal, select "Set to Default."

Select Joystick: By default no joystick is selected, so you can only play with 
the keyboard. If you have a joystick or gamepad, and you want to use it, use 
this option to bring up the "Select Joystick" menu. Once in this menu, find your 
joystick and press <Enter> to select it. If your joystick is not listed, just 
use one of the generic 2/4/6/8 button joystick selections. For some joysticks it 
may ask you to calibrate it. In case you select the wrong joystick/gamepad, and 
it screws up, you can press <CTRL>-<ALT>-<END> to abort the game. (For instance, 
selecting one of the generic joysticks while using a MS Sidewinder causes the 
game to go haywire.) You can also delete the all.ini file to set all the options 
back to default. (It will be recreated again the next time you run the game). If 
you're having problems with your joystick, see the Joystick Problems section. 

Config Joystick: This brings up the "Config Joystick" menu, which lets you 
select which joystick buttons you want to use for which actions. This menu works 
similar to the Define Keys menu, except that you press Enter and then press the 
joystick/gamepad button you want. 

There are some controls that are hardcoded into the game. See the Miscellaneous 
controls and Move between levels sections in the How to play the game section 
below for information on these. 

Cursor Speed: This option controls the speed of the aiming cursor (see 
Throw/Shoot) in the game. Highlight this option and press left or right to 
change the speed. Cursor speeds range from 1 (extremely slow, but precise) to 8 
(insanely fast and difficult to aim). Default is 5. In addition to being able to 
change this option on the title screen, you can also change this setting at any 
time during the middle of a game through the pause options menu. See the 
Advanced Gameplay Techniques section for some tips on how to use this option to 
your advantage.

Map Arrows: This option is a "legacy" option for those of you who like to 
navigate the map screen using the number pad. In Beta 5.6, I changed the map 
screen UI so that instead of highlighting an arrow corresponding to the path you 
want to go down on the map screen, you highlight the path itself. (See Move 
Between Levels.) However, since the paths on the map screen aren't always 
exactly NW, N, NE, W, E, SW, S, or SE, and the number pad navigation controls 
are based on those exact directions, having the map arrows off (default) may 
make it difficult to use the number pad to navigate the map screen. Here you can 
turn the map arrows back on just for reference, so you can see which paths 
correspond to which directions. Note that only arrows for valid directions are 
shown on the map now (no more blue arrows, only white ones). In addition, only 
valid directions are selectable now. To change this setting, highlight it and 
press left or right to toggle. The Map Arrows option can also be turned on and 
off at any time during the middle of a game through the pause menu. 


7.3.2 Graphics options


Section not written yet.


7.3.3 Music and Sound options


Music volume: Highlight this option and press left or right to change the music 
volume. By default this is 200, and the highest is 255.

Sound fx volume: Same as Music volume, except changes the sound fx volume. 
Default is 255. If the sound fx are too quiet for you, turn the music down a 
little bit.

Music test: I always liked it when a game had this option, so I put it in here. 
You can listen to all the music in the game whenever you want to, without having 
to get to the level with that music in it first. Just go to the "Builtin Music" 
menu and press <Enter> on the track you want to play. If you have other MOD 
music files on your computer, you can play them through the game by using the 
"External Music" option (which brings up a file selector box where you can 
select the music file to play). The music files must be in XM, S3M, MOD, or JGM 
format. ALL does not support IT format yet.

Sound Setup: Brings up the Sound Setup menu. This menu allows you to change 
and/or tweak the settings for your sound card. By using this menu, you can get 
the sound to work in ALL if the game autodetects your sound card incorrectly. 
You can also tweak settings that might allow you to get better quality sound 
output, even if the sound does work. See the Sound Setup menu section below for 
information on what each option does in this menu. Note that (as the warning 
message says) setting your sound card settings incorrectly may lock up or crash 
your computer, so make sure to read the Sound Setup menu section carefully 
before screwing around in this menu if you don't know what these options do. If 
you do get a lockup or crash (and you've accidentally saved the settings that 
cause the lockup or crash), you can use the command line switches to run ALL 
with sound settings that don't cause crashes or lockups, and fix the problem. 
The lockups and crashes that can happen with incorrect sound settings are not 
due to a bug in ALL, they're due to the way PC hardware under DOS works. If you 
were to specify the same incorrect settings under some other DOS program, you'd 
likely get the same results.


7.3.4 Sound Setup menu


Select Sound Card: Brings up the "Select Sound Card" menu. Find your sound card 
(or a sound card that is compatible with your sound card) in the menu and press 
<ENTER> to select it. The "Autodetect" option autodetects your sound card and 
your sound card settings. If your sound card has a "Sound Blaster Emulation" 
option, and you've turned it on to help get the sound working (see the note 
under Sound Card Problems), your sound card should be one of the SoundBlaster 
selections, hopefully SoundBlaster 16. (Unfortunately, the emulation on my 
laptop only supports up to SoundBlaster Pro. Damn crappy SoundBlaster 
emulation).

Select Sound Card Port: Brings up the "Select Sound Card Port" menu. Usually the 
port number is 220, but some other common sound card ports are listed here for 
you to select if it isn't. Find the sound card port number that your sound card 
is on in the list, and then press <ENTER> to select it. To find out what your 
sound card port number is, under Windows 95 or 98, open the Control Panel, then 
double-click on System. Click the "Device Manager" tab, scroll down to "Sound, 
Video, and Game Controllers", click on the little "+" to open it up, and then 
find the listing for your sound card (or in the case of emulation, the listing 
for the Sound Blaster emulation), and double-click on it (or click on it once 
and click the Properties button). Click the "Resources" tab, and look in the 
little box under "Resource Type" for "Input/Output Range". The port number 
should be one of the numbers (the first number in the range under "Setting") to the 
right of one of the instances of "Input/Output Range". For instance, if what's in 
the box looks like this: 

Resource Type         Setting
-------------------------------
Input/Output Range    0220-022F
Input/Output Range    0388-038B
Input/Output Range    0300-0301
Interrupt Request     09
Direct Memory Access  01

then your sound card port number is either 220, 388, or 300. If your sound card 
port number is not listed in the "Select Sound Card Port" menu, highlight 
"Other", press <ENTER>, and type in the three-digit sound card port number that 
your sound card uses. If multiple instances of "Input/Output Range" are listed 
(as above), I recommend to choose 220 as your sound card port number if it's 
listed, and if it's not, then try one of the other common port number settings 
listed in the "Select Sound Card Port" menu that matches one of the 
"Input/Output Range" numbers listed in the box under the "Resources" tab before 
resorting to using the "Other" port number setting in the "Select Sound Card 
Port" menu. 

Sound Card IRQ: Highlight this option and press left or right to change the 
sound card IRQ. If you don't know what your sound card IRQ is, follow the 
procedure described in Select Sound Card Port (above), except this time look for 
"Interrupt Request" under "Resource Type". The IRQ your sound card uses is to 
the right of "Interrupt Request", under "Setting". In the above example, your 
sound card IRQ would be 9. In the case of multiple instances of "Interrupt 
Request" (rare), your sound card IRQ could be any one of the numbers listed 
(under "Setting") to the right of each instance of "Interrupt Request" in the 
box under the "Resources" tab.

Sound Card DMA: Highlight this option and press left or right to change the 
sound card DMA. If you don't know what your sound card DMA is, follow the 
procedure described in Select Sound Card Port (above), except this time look for 
"Direct Memory Access" under "Resource Type". The DMA your sound card uses is to 
the right of "Direct Memory Access", under "Setting". In the above example, your 
sound card DMA would be 1. In the case of multiple instances of "Direct Memory 
Access", your sound card DMA could be any one of the numbers listed (under 
"Setting") to the right of each instance of "Direct Memory Access" in the box 
under the "Resources" tab.

Sound Card Frequency: This option controls the frequency at which your sound 
card outputs the sound. Higher frequencies mean better quality sound, but for 
some sound cards some frequency settings are unavailable. Highlight this option 
and press left or right to change the sound card frequency.

Sound Quality: This option controls the quality of the sound output (e.g., 
8-bit, 16-bit, etc.) Three options are available for sound quality: 8-bit, true 
16-bit, and interpolated 16-bit. 8-bit, of course, is the worst, but if you 
don't have a 16-bit sound card (or 16-bit sound card emulation), then 8-bit will 
be the only option available. If you have a 16-bit card try messing with either 
of the 16-bit options and see which one sounds the best to you. (ALL's music 
uses 16-bit digital sound at 44.1 Khz, so you won't be able to hear it at the 
highest quality unless you have this option set to one of the 16-bit settings 
and the frequency option set to a frequency over 44100.) To change this option, 
highlight it and press left or right.

Reverse Stereo: Controls whether the stereo channels (left/right) are reversed. 
On some cards or with some sound card setups you may have to change this to 
"Yes" to get the correct panning. Highlight this option and press left or right 
to toggle it.

Reinit Sound Card: Reinitializes the sound with the settings you've made with 
the above six options. If you hear the game music after you select this option 
(and you don't have the in-game music volume set to 0, or your speakers turned 
off or all the way down), you've set up your sound card correctly. This is also 
the place where, if you've set up your sound card incorrectly, your computer may 
lock up or crash, so make sure you have everything right before you choose this 
option. If you've set up everything right, you've tried everything, and you 
don't hear anything, see the Sound Card Problems section. Make sure you also try 
the "Sound Blaster Emulation" option, if it's available. Note that if your sound 
card can't handle the frequency or the sound quaility that you've selected, 
selecting this option will set the frequency and quality to the highest setting 
that actually works. You can safely mess with the sound card frequency, sound 
quality, and reverse stereo options without fear of causing crashes or lockups.

Save Sound Settings: This saves all of the sound settings that are currently set 
in the "Sound Setup" menu (including those in the "Select Sound Card" and 
"Select Sound Card Port" submenus) to all.ini, regardless of whether you've 
selected "Reinit Sound Card" or not. After going through all of the headache of 
setting up your sound card correctly, you probably don't want to lose the 
correct settings, so once the sound is working, make sure you select this option 
to save the sound settings. Unlike all of the other settings in ALL, the sound 
settings are only saved when you select this option. They are not saved 
automatically upon exit in case you still have incorrect sound settings that may 
cause your computer to lock up or crash the next time you run ALL. Of course, 
for this very reason, also make sure you avoid mistakenly selecting this option 
before the sound is actually working, or else you might have crash or lockup 
problems the next time you run ALL. (If you do, use the command line switches to 
help fix the problem.)


=======================
8. How to play the game
=======================

8.1 In-Level Controls


8.1.1 Jump


Press the jump button or key to jump. By default the jump key is the space bar. 
The longer you hold down the jump button, the higher you jump.


8.1.2 Run


Press the run button or key to run. You move almost twice as fast when you run 
as when you just walk. If you run and jump at the same time, you can jump higher 
and farther than you can with just a normal jump.


8.1.3 Duck


Press the down button to duck. You can duck while either small or big. You can 
also duck and jump at the same time. If you duck while moving, you can slide 
underneath objects (like blocks) and bonk them.


8.1.4 Swim


To swim in water, repeatedly press the jump button while underwater. To jump out 
of water, just swim upward to the top until you jump out. Anywhere you find 
water you can swim.


8.1.5 Throw/Shoot


If you have the Suit on, and you have some exploding balls, you can throw them 
by pressing the Shoot button. Press the Shoot button once to bring up the aiming 
cursor. When the cursor is in the direction you want to throw the exploding 
ball, press it again to throw it. If you want to cancel the aiming cursor 
without throwing an exploding ball, press Down. Note that you cannot shoot while 
ducking. You can change the speed of the aiming cursor at any time by pausing 
the game and using the Cursor Speed option in the pause options menu.


8.1.6 Tubes, Doors and Computers


To go down a tube, press down while on top of it. To go up one, jump and press 
up at the same time. To go into a tube towards the left or right, just walk 
right into it and you'll enter it.

You cannot enter all tubes, only some of them. It's up to you to find out which 
ones you can, and which ones you can't...

If you find a door or computer, press Up while in front of it to enter. You can 
only use a computer if you already have a floppy disk (see the Items and 
Powerups section below.)


8.1.7 Pause


Press the Pause key or button to pause the game. Press the pause button again 
(or select "Continue Game" from the pause menu) to return to the game. When you 
pause the game in a level you can see whether you have the bonus coin, your 
level score (how many points you've gotten in that level so far), your special 
score (see Items and Powerups below), how many bonus games you've completed, and 
how many Floppy Disks you have. A menu will come up where you can save your 
game; change the music and sound FX volume, the cursor speed, and whether the 
map arrows are on or off (through "Options"); or exit to the title screen. If 
you've already beaten the level you're in, an "Exit Level" option will also be 
available, where you can exit the level back to the map screen. If you haven't 
beaten the level yet this option will not be available from the pause menu.

If you're on the map screen, the pause screen will instead show you the records 
(most bonus games completed, your highest special score and your highest level 
score) for the level you're currently on. The same menu options (except for 
"Exit Level", of course) will also be available. For more info on what the 
special score, level score, bonus games, and bonus coins mean to your progress 
in the game, see the Basic Game Structure section below.


8.2 Map screen controls


8.2.1 Enter level


Press the Enter level button or key to enter the level on the map screen you're 
currently on. You can go to a level as many times as you want, even if you have 
already completed it.


8.2.2 Move between levels


To move between levels on the map screen, press the Move Between Levels button. 
Abe will move down the currently selected path to the level at the other end of 
the currently selected path. While you are on a level on the map screen, the 
currently selected path will be flashing, and all of the other paths will be 
white. To change the currently selected path, use the left and right buttons or 
keys to rotate through all of the possible paths.

You can also move between levels by using the number pad. 7 (on the number pad) 
is northwest, 8 is north, 9 is northeast, 4 is west, etc. 5 is enter level. 
These keys are hardcoded into the game.

Because the paths in the game aren't always exactly NW, N, NE, W, E, SW, S, or 
SE, a Map Arrows option is provided to help you move between levels using the 
number pad (if that is your preferred method of moving between levels). When 
turned on, white arrows corresponding to all of the possible paths you can go 
down will be around Abe, and the currently selected path will have a yellow 
arrow. This will help you determine which paths correspond to which directions.


8.3 Miscellaneous controls


If you want to take a screenshot of the game, press F12. The screen shot will be 
saved as ALL?????.PCX, where ????? is the number of the screen shot.

On the menu screens, <ESC> always goes back to the previous menu, the arrow keys 
always move, and the enter key always selects. If you have the joystick set up 
you can use it to navigate the menus as well: the Enter Level button always 
selects, and (with the exception of the "Config Joytsick" menu) the Move Between 
Levels button always goes back to the previous menu.


8.4 The status display


                                          Time left to complete level
World and Level you're on          Lives                        |
            | # of Books you have   |  # of Exploding Balls     |
------------|-------------|---------|-------|-------------------|---|
|      _____v______      _v_      __v      _v_        __________v__ |
|World |           |  [] |  |  [] |  |  () |  |  Time |            ||
|      -------------     ----     ----     ----       --------------|
|      _____________________     ___      ___     _________________ |
|Score |                    |  ==|  |  () |  |    |                ||
|      ------^---------------    -^--     -^--    --------^---------|
-------------|--------------------|--------|--------------|---------|
           Score          # of Bow ties   # of CDs  Letters you've got 


8.5 Basic game structure


Each of the 50 States is one World. In each State there are 16 levels. You are 
required to complete the first 12 levels in the State, and the last 4 are 
optional secret levels. These final 4 secret levels are typically harder than 
the rest of the levels in the State, and are intended for more experienced 
players. These levels are only accessible if you meet certain requirements in 
each of the first 12 levels of a State.

To get level 13 in the State, you have to find all of the bonus coins in the 
first 12 levels in the State. (See Items and Powerups below.) To get level 14 in 
the State, you must get a Level Score equal to or higher than the target score 
in each of the first 12 levels in the State. To get level 15 in the State, you 
must get a perfect special score of 100 in each of the first 12 levels in the 
State. (To get a perfect Special Score in a level you must find 16 bow ties, 10 
cds, and all the letters in "ALINCOLN" in the level. See Items and Powerups.) To 
get level 16 in the State, you must complete all of the bonus games in each of 
the first 12 levels of the State. If you want to know whether you've completed 
these objectives in a level, look in the top left corner of the map screen 
(underneath the status display that tells you the name of the level): If you've 
gotten the bonus coin in a level, there will be a little bonus coin icon there, 
if you've beaten the target score in a level there will be a small white "S", if 
you've gotten a perfect special score there will be a small bow tie icon, and if 
you've finished all the bonus games there will be a small computer icon there. 
If you've gotten everything in the level (all the bonus games, a perfect special 
score, beaten the target score, and collected the bonus coin), then the dot for 
the level on the map screen will be green instead of red, and you will get a 
"Completely Emancipated!" message upon beating the level. If you've just beaten 
the level (but haven't gotten everything) then the dot on the map screen will be 
yellow instead of red, and you will just get a regular "Emancipated!" message 
upon beating the level. Note that each of these four "extra" goals in each level 
(collecting the bonus coin, getting a perfect special score, beating the target 
score, and completing all of the bonus games) can be completed independent of 
each other; for instance, you could take four separate trips through a level, on 
each one completing a different "extra" goal, and still completely emancipate 
the level, just as you would if you completed all of the "extra" goals on a 
single trip through the level. 

If you complete these objectives (find the bonus coin, beat the target score, 
get a perfect special score, and/or complete all of the bonus games) in one of 
the 4 secret levels in each State, you get percentage points towards the 
completion of the game. (You get these with the first 12 levels as well.) To 
complete the game 100%, you must completely emancipate all 16 levels (including 
the "final four" levels) in each of the 50 states. 


==============
9. Block types
==============

There are many different types of blocks in ALL. This section is a listing of 
block types and how you can bonk or break them.


9.1 Item boxes


These are metal boxes with a "!" on them. They always contain an item. Usually 
this will just be a single book, but many times they contain more powerful 
items. (Some of these blocks are also multi-book item boxes. These item boxes 
are timed, and the first time you hit one of these item boxes you will get 1 
book. After this, you can keep on hitting the multi-book item box for a few 
seconds until it "runs out". Each time you hit the multi-book item box before it 
"runs out", you will get another book. Once you hit a multi-book item box after 
the box has "run out", you will get one more book and the item box will turn 
into an indestructible metal box, and after that you won't be able to get any 
more books out of it.) Item boxes are indestructible - once you bonk one (either 
from underneath, or using an exploding ball), it just turns into an 
indestructible metal box. (Unless, of course, it's a multi-book item box, then 
it won't turn into a metal box until the item box "runs out".)


9.2 Bricks


You can only break them if you are big, or if you have the suit on. Some bricks 
have items inside them, but most don't. There are also multi-book bricks, just 
as there are multi-book item boxes. Some bricks take multiple hits to break:

Blue: 1 hit, 10 pts.
Green: 2 hits, 20 pts.
Yellow: 3 hits, 40 pts.
Red: 4 hits, 80 pts.

All other colors (light blue, dark green, orange, white, pink) are 
indestructible. If you are small you can't break any bricks, but if a brick is 
blue and you bonk it and it has an item, you can get the item inside it. If you 
have exploding balls you can also break bricks by hitting them with the balls. 


9.3 Wooden Boxes (30 pts.)


Like bricks, you can only break them if you're big. Some wooden boxes have items 
inside, but you have to break the wooden block first to get it. If you are small 
you can't break any wooden blocks, even ones with items. You can also break 
these with exploding balls.


9.4 Plastic blocks


These blocks are made of hard plastic and you can only break them by hitting 
them with exploding balls. Some plastic blocks take multiple hits:

Blue: 1 hit, 20 pts.
Green: 2 hits, 40 pts.
Red: 3 hits, 80 pts.

Some plastic blocks also have items inside, but you can only get the items 
inside them if you hit them with exploding balls first.


9.5 Cardboard boxes (30 pts.)


These boxes are weak and will crumble and fall when you stand on top of them, so 
watch out! They are also easily broken from underneath, even when you are small. 
Sometimes they have items inside. You only get points if you bonk it, not if you 
stand on top and make it fall.


9.6 Circuit boards


They are indestructible, but some of them have items in them. Some of these are 
also multi-book circuit boards. Some circuit boards take multiple hits to 
"break", but once it only has one hit left it is indestructible. If a circuit 
board has an item in it, it will just turn into a metal box and you can get the 
item (unless, of course, it's a multi-book circuit board, then it won't turn 
into a metal box until the circuit board "runs out"). However, if a circuit 
board doesn't contain an item, it will act just like an indestructible block, 
but with one major exception - you can still defeat enemies on top of circuit 
boards by bonking the circuit board underneath the enemy, despite the fact that 
circuit boards are indestructible. Circuit boards don't give you any points.

Green: Indestructible
Blue: 2 hits
Black: 3 hits



9.7 Invisible blocks


You can't see them at all initially, but they're there. They usually contain a 
useful item. They are found in top secret locations, and it's up to you to find 
out where they are. Sometimes there are little clues as to where they might be.


======================
10. Items and Powerups
======================

10.1 Abe's Vest (100 pts.)


Makes you big. When you are big, you can bonk most blocks and take one extra hit 
from enemies.


10.2 Abe's Suit (200 pts.)


You can take two extra hits from enemies, and now you also have the ability to 
throw exploding balls, assuming you have some.


10.3 Abe's Hat (100 pts.)


Abe's trademark black stovepipe hat. Collect it and you will be invincible for a 
short period of time. Collecting another powerup item ("powerup" meaning Abe's 
Suit, Abe's Vest, Abe's Hat, or Gray Hat) will cancel the invinciblity. While 
invincible you can not be hurt by enemies, and if you run into an enemy, the 
enemy will be defeated (unless it's an indestructible enemy).


10.4 Gray Hat (100 pts.)


This hat is gray instead of black. It makes you invisible for a short period of 
time. Collecting another powerup item will cancel the invisibility. While 
invisible you can not be hurt by enemies, but to defeat enemies you still have 
to stomp on them or shoot them like normal.


10.5 Books (1 pt.)


The NNA is trying to destroy aspects of democracy, such as freedom of speech and 
the press. So they're trying to take all the books that say things they don't 
like, and burn them and censor them. Collect books so after you defeat the NNA, 
you can return them back to the people. Collect 100 to get an extra life.


10.6 Exploding Ball Crate (50 pts.)


These are little wooden crates with a blue ball on the side. They give you 10 
Exploding Balls. If you have the Suit on you can throw these. They explode on 
contact with an enemy or block. By using exploding balls you can defeat more 
enemies and bonk blocks and collect items that would otherwise be out of reach. 
You can carry up to 99 exploding balls at once.


10.7 Floppy disks


Collect this to gain access to a computer. You can only access the computers if 
you have a floppy disk. Once you use it you can't use it again. You can see how 
many you have by pausing the game. You don't get any points for these.


10.8 Computers


To use one, go in front of it and press Up. You have to have a floppy disk first 
before you use a computer, if you don't, you won't be able to use it. When you 
use a computer you can play a bonus game on it. This should be one of the 4 
bonus game types listed in the Bonus Game Types section. If you complete all of 
the bonus games in each of the first 12 levels of a State, you gain access to 
level 16 in that State.


10.9 CDs (2 special pts.)


The NNA is trying to censor and take away software and music too. CDs give you 2 
special points towards a perfect special score of 100. There are 10 CDs in every 
level, for a total of 20 special points. 


10.10 Bow ties (4 special pts.)


They give you 4 special points towards a perfect special score of 100. There are 
16 bow ties in every level, for a total of 64 special points.


10.11 Letters (2 special pts.)


Each of the letters in "ALINCOLN" is worth 2 special points. Spelling "ALINCOLN" 
in a level gets you 16 special points. If you get 100 special points in each of 
the first 12 levels of a State, you get access to level 15 in that State. (See 
Basic Game Structure for more information on this.)


10.12 1-up


Collect an icon with a picture of Abe Lincoln on, and you'll get an extra life. 
These items are rare, and typically hard to find and/or get. You don't get any 
points for collecting them.


10.13 Five bucks (25 pts.)


Gives you 25 points. Nothing else.


10.14 Bonus Coin (200 pts.)


This coin looks like a big penny. There is only one of these in every level. 
It's worth 200 points. If you collect all of them in the first 12 levels of a 
State you get access to level 13 in that State. (See Basic Game Structure.)


===========
11. Enemies
===========

11.1 Short Guy (10 pts.)


A member of the NNA that patrols the cities and areas trying to keep Abe from 
freeing the slaves. They are weak, however, and can be defeated by just one 
stomp or exploding ball. Not much of a threat alone, but can sometimes cause 
trouble in groups.


11.2 Robots


Helper robots for the NNA. They are armored and you can't defeat them simply by 
stomping them. If you stomp one it is stunned for a short while, and while it is 
stunned you can kick the robot and have it mow down other enemies in its path. 
Watch out though, if it hits something it will bounce back and go the other way, 
and may mow you down instead!


11.2.1 Green robots (20 pts.)


These robots are sort of dumb, and will walk off of platforms and things. Watch 
out if there's one above you, it might fall on top of you if you're not careful.


11.2.2 Red robots (20 pts.)


These robots are smarter than green ones, and they will turn around and go back 
the other way when they get to the edge of a platform.


11.2.3 Blue Robots (40 pts.)


These robots are like the red robots, but they move faster and give you more 
points for defeating them.


11.2.4 Gray robots (70 pts.)


These robots are much more heavily armored than normal. They are heavily 
resistant to exploding balls, so you can't defeat them by throwing exploding 
balls at them.


11.3 Flying robots


These robots have rocket boosters and can fly up and down or left and right. 
They come in the same colors as regular robots. When you stomp one it will lose 
its rocket boosters, and turn into a regular robot of that color. The gray 
flying robots are heavily armored and are impervious to exploding balls, and the 
blue flying robots fly around faster than the green, red, or gray ones.

Green, Red: 50 pts.
Blue, Gray: 100 pts.



11.4 Robotic Mines (100 pts.)


Small red mines sent out by Jefferson Davis and the NNA to attempt to destroy 
anything and anyone in their way. This includes Abe. They roll around on small 
wheels and they have spikes on top, and will blow up on contact, so don't try to 
stomp them! Blow them up before they blow you up with exploding balls.


11.5 Minelayers (200 pts.)


A real menace. They manufacture robotic mines, and fly around in the sky and 
attempt to drop them on Abe. They have an unlimited supply. Be very careful of 
these. You can defeat minelayers by stomping them or by hitting them with 
exploding balls, but they will come back after awhile, so beware.


11.6 Klap Traps (150 pts.)


Small, green robots with teeth and a "mouth". They often hide underground, so 
watch out for them. You can only defeat them with exploding balls.


11.7 Kannonballs and Kannons (10 pts.)


Kannonballs are shot off by the NNA to impede Abe from moving through the areas 
and freeing the slaves, and to keep citizens of the cities from going outside of 
their homes and conducting normal business. Sometimes Kannons are placed inside 
cities or areas, where they will shoot Kannonballs at you, but sometimes 
Kannonballs are shot off from outside a city or area. Jump on top of a 
Kannonball to bump it off course. You can't destroy Kannonballs with exploding 
balls. Also, you can't disarm a Kannon.


11.8 H-bombs and submarine bombs (25 pts.)


H-bombs are little bubbles filled with explosive hydrogen that float around a 
level and try to seek you out. They explode on contact. Blow them up from a safe 
distance with exploding balls, or try to get away from them as fast as you can! 
Submarine bombs are similar, except they are underwater.


11.9 Orange bombs


Sometimes found in Jefferson Davis' dangerous strongholds, they hide behind 
things and jump out every now and then. You can't defeat them. They will blow up 
if you touch them, and they'll just come back after that anyway.


11.10 Bomb throwers (100 pts.)


Henchmen for the NNA that constantly throw bombs at Abe. They try to block him 
from getting through an area. They also have the ability to jump, so beware. You 
can defeat them by stomping on them or with exploding balls, but if you try to 
stomp one watch out for the bombs first!


11.11 Robotic microplanes (50 pts.)


Small, computer-controlled NNA microplanes that fly around a level. Often found 
in swarms. They are very quick and can be difficult to avoid.


11.12 Submarines (50 pts.)


Found in underwater areas. They move very slowly, but still can cause trouble 
because they are usually found in groups. Either avoid them, or blow them up 
with exploding balls.


11.13 Spiked balls


These balls are indestuctible, so avoid them as much as you can. Some of them 
just stand still, but some of them also move.


11.14 Jefferson Davis (500 pts.)


The head honcho of the NNA. He resides somewhere in a deep, dark, and dangerous 
hi-tech stronghold in the 12th level of each State. You must defeat him to move 
on to the next State. Not much is known about Jefferson Davis or these 
strongholds, so no further information is avaiable at this time.


===========
12. Objects
===========

12.1 Springs


Springs enable you to jump higher than you normally can. Red ones only make you 
jump a little bit higher than normal, blue ones a lot higher than normal, and 
green ones make you fly for a limited period of time.


12.2 Doors


Stand in front of one, and press Up to go in.


12.3 Tubes


Press Down to go in a tube, Up and Jump to go in an overhead tube, or just walk 
into a tube to enter one on the left or right. Not all tubes are enterable.


12.4 Arrow signs


In a normal level these don't do anything, but they serve as checkpoints in the 
Point Race bonus games. When you walk past one, if you have the required target 
score for that chekpoint, you will complete that checkpoint and get a new 
required score and more time to beat the bonus game. You must complete all of 
the checkpoints in a Point Race bonus game to complete it.


====================
13. Bonus Game Types
====================

In all bonus games, if you get hit by an enemy or fall down a hole or something, 
you automatically lose. You can't die in a bonus game, though.


13.1 Timed maze


The simplest bonus game type. It's not always a maze, but a lot of times it is. 
You must get to the exit before time runs out to complete it.


13.2 Collect everything


You have to collect all of the items in the bonus game and get to the exit 
within the allotted time. The number of items you have left to collect is 
displayed in the top left corner of the screen.


13.3 Defeat all enemies


You must defeat all of the enemies in the bonus game and get to the exit within 
the allotted time. The number of enemies you have left to defeat is displayed in 
the top left corner of the screen.


13.4 Point race


You have to get the required number of points (displayed in the top left corner 
of the screen), and then get to the next checkpoint or the exit within the 
allotted amount of time. If you pass a checkpoint (marked by an arrow sign) and 
you have the required number of points, you complete the checkpoint and get 
extra time to finish the bonus game, and a new point requirement. You must 
complete all of the checkpoints and get to the exit before time runs out to beat 
a point race bonus game.


======================
14. World Descriptions
======================

This section is not written yet. When the game is finished, I'll put short 
descriptions of the varied geography and topography of each State here.


=======
15. FAQ
=======

Are there (or will there be) versions of ALL for other OSes besides DOS?

Currently, only a DOS version of ALL is available. However, after I'm completely 
finished with the DOS version, I plan to port ALL to Windows as well as to 
Linux. I'd like to port it to MacOS as well, but I don't have any Macs to test 
ALL on and I don't know that much about Macs in the first place, so I don't know 
if a Mac port will actually happen or not.


When will the next version of ALL come out?

When I feel I'm finished with enough changes and improvements to the game to 
merit a new release. The time between releases can vary significantly. This is 
because there are different amounts of each type of work that is left to be done 
on the full version of the game, and also because at different times I feel like 
working on different parts of the game. In addition, some parts of the game make 
more logical sense to finish first than others - for instance, the graphics were 
finished first, and then I programmed the basic game engine before I even made 
any levels (this was in ALL's alpha stages, before beta 1 was even released). I 
generally put programming improvements (bugfixes, game engine and UI 
improvements, etc.) at a higher priority level than level testing or creation, 
so I try to perfect the game engine (according to suggestions for improvement, 
bugs that have been reported, etc.) before I go and test or create levels. This 
makes it so that (now that the graphics are mostly done) programming gets first 
priority. The more the programming gets perfected, the less frequent beta 
releases will be until the final version and the release of the full version of 
ALL (eventually, it'll be perfected so much that I'll only have music and levels 
to work on - and I believe I'm getting pretty close to that point now). If you 
want to get an idea of where I am on each type of work on the game, see the 
Current progress on the full version of ALL section, as well as the Development 
Timeline and Level Completion Timeline sections of the ALL section of the 
Lincolnsoft website, www.lincolnsoft.com.


When will the full version of ALL be done?

I plan to have it done by the spring or summer of 2005, because I will be moving 
to Illinois, likely Chicago or Springfield (from my current hometown of Madison, 
Wisconsin) sometime during that year, and I want to have the full game finished 
before I move. Of course, it's still quite possible that it could be finished 
before then.


Will the full version of ALL be freeware or shareware?

Probably shareware, considering the amount of work I've put into it. However, I 
probably won't price it all that high (I'm thinking somewhere in the 
neighborhood of $10-$15 USD at this point). Included in the price of the full 
version will be all of the 50 states, all of the game's features, and the full, 
entire game (of course); ALLEdit, ALL's advanced level editor; and likely some 
other things as well. The shareware demo version will only contain the first 
world (Alabama) and will lack external level support.


Will the full version of ALL be open-source?

I'll likely "open-source" in some way all of the documentation, the story and 
other written information in ALL, and all of the graphics used in ALL, but the 
levels and music will definitely remain "closed-source". As to open-sourcing the 
actual game code, or the level editor code, or any portion of either thereof, 
I'm not sure yet. As to what type of open-source license for each type of work 
used in ALL, I'm not sure yet (but the graphics will likely be licensed under an 
Allegro-style "giftware" license).


Are there any command line switches to ALL?

Yes. See the Command Line Switches section for information on all of the valid 
command line switches and what they do. The command line switches in this 
version are mainly intended to diagnose and/or fix sound or joystick setup 
problems. More command line switches may be added in the future, especially if 
they are demanded. Type alldemo -? at the command line for a brief summary of 
all of the valid command line switches.


I get an error setting graphics mode!

ALL uses a 640x480x16-bit video mode, so it will only work on video cards that 
support this mode under DOS. Your video card needs to have at least 1 MB of VRAM 
for this mode to work. If you have a video card with at least 1 MB of VRAM and 
you get this error message, see the Video Card Problems section. I might make a 
version of ALL in the future that supports more video modes (or a Windows 
version), but until then, you'll have to have a card that supports this mode 
under DOS to play ALL.


I have a slow computer with an old video card. How do I get ALL's framerate to 
go faster?

Try getting Scitech Display Doctor and see if it has better drivers for your 
video card than the ones you have. ALL will run about twice as fast under VESA 
2.0 as it will under VESA 1.x. See the Video Card Problems section for more 
information. I might implement hardware acceleration in a future version of ALL 
that will allow ALL's framerate to go much faster on slow computers (at the 
expense of video memory).

Also, try running ALL under a different environment (if possible). If it's 
running slow under Windows, try running it under pure DOS (or vice versa). Doing 
this can improve the framerate as well.


The sound doesn't work!
I get an error initializing sound upon starting ALL!

From the main menu, go to Options -> Music and Sound -> Sound Setup and set the 
sound settings in ALL to match the settings for your sound card. If you don't 
know what these settings do, or you need help determining the correct settings 
for your sound card, see the Sound Card Problems and Sound Setup menu sections.


I get a lockup/crash when reinitializing the sound in the Sound Setup menu!
ALL locks up or crashes my computer when I start it!

Setting the sound card settings in ALL incorrectly may lock up or crash your 
computer. For information on how to get the correct sound card settings, see the 
Sound Card Problems and Sound Setup menu sections. If you get a lockup or crash 
upon starting ALL (which should be very rare unless you've saved incorrect sound 
settings in the Sound Setup menu in ALL), use the command line switches to 
diagnose and fix the problem. These lockups and crashes are not due to a bug in 
ALL, they're due to the way PC hardware under DOS works. If you were to specify 
the same incorrect settings under some other DOS program, you'd likely get the 
same results. 


What is the DELETE.ME file? Can I safely delete it?

The DELETE.ME file is a small temporary file used by the "Reinit Sound Card" 
option in the Sound Setup menu. It should be deleted automatically by the game, 
unless the game locks up or crashes during sound card reinitialization due to 
incorrect sound settings in the Sound Setup menu. As the name of the file 
suggests, yes, you can safely delete this file without doing any harm to the 
game or anything else whatsoever. Of course, hopefully you don't have a file 
named DELETE.ME in the directory that you install ALL in, or else the game will 
delete it when you select "Reinit Sound Card"...


Are there any cheat codes for ALL?
Are there any warps in ALL?

Sorry, nope. Cheaters will never win at ALL. You're going to have to emancipate 
all of the states if you want to free the slaves and save democracy. And if you 
want 100%, you're going to have to completely emancipate every city and every 
area (all 16 of them) in every state (all 50 of them). No one ever said that 
Abraham Lincoln's job, or that his goals, were easy. Have some perseverence and 
you'll make it. Every objective in the game is possible.


How do I beat Jefferson Davis at the end of Florence, Alabama (level 1-12)?
How do I reach the target score in [some level]?
Where is/How do I get [some item] in [some level]?
How do I beat [some bonus game] in [some level]?

You're just going to have to find out for yourself. The Advanced Gameplay 
Techniques section is about all the advice I'll give you.


I beat Jefferson Davis in Florence, Alabama (level 1-12) and I see red dots for 
other levels on the map screen that are not emancipated, but I can't access 
these levels because no paths go to them!

There are 16 levels in each State, but you are only required to emancipate the 
first 12. To access the last 4 levels in any given State (which are optional, 
special, secret, extra-difficult levels designed for more advanced players), you 
must meet some conditions in the first 12 levels of the State first. To gain 
access to level 13 in a State, you must find the Bonus Coin in each of the first 
12 levels of the State. To gain access to level 14 in a State, you must meet or 
exceed the target score in each of the first 12 levels of the State. To gain 
access to level 15 in a State, you must get a perfect special score of 100 in 
each of the first 12 levels of the State. To gain access to level 16 in a State, 
you must complete all of the bonus games in each of the first 12 levels of the 
State. After you meet one of these conditions, the path to the corresponding 
level will appear on the map screen for the State, and you will be able to enter 
it. Note that these four objectives also exist in each of these "final four" 
levels in each State, and if you want 100%, you're going to have to meet all of 
these objectives in each of the "final four" levels of each State as well. See 
the Basic Game Structure section for more information on this.


I emancipated Florence, Alabama (level 1-12) and I tried to go to the next 
world. But when I tried to enter the next world, the game aborted with an "Error 
loading world!" error message!

World 2 (and all subsequent worlds) are nonexistant in this demo beta version. 
So if you try to access it, you'll get an error message simply because it's just 
not there. When the final demo version of ALL is done, this is one place where 
the shareware "nag" screen will go, but it's not implemented yet. If you do 
manage to emancipate Florence, I recommend that you save your game afterwards in 
case you do accidentally try and enter the nonexistant world 2.


I found a bug in ALL!
I have a suggestion for improvement to ALL!

If you've found a bug, first make sure that it's not listed in the Known Bugs 
section of this README (and that, of course, you are using the latest version of 
ALL). The bugs listed in this section are ones that I already know about and 
that I plan on fixing in the future. If the bug is not listed, contact me and 
report the bug. If you have a suggestion for improvement, first take a look at 
the Stuff not implemented yet section and make sure that you're using the latest 
version of ALL. The suggestions and improvements listed in this section are 
improvements that I am considering (or in many cases, likely) to implement in 
future versions of ALL. If your suggestion for improvement is not listed, 
contact me and describe your suggestion for improvement, and if it goes along 
with my design and my vision of what ALL should be OK, and if your suggestion is 
reasonable, I will consider it for implementation in a future version of ALL. I 
will not promise to add every suggestion for improvement to ALL that is sent to 
me, however. It's impossible to make everyone happy, and I don't have an 
infinite amount of resources or time. However, I will try as much (and as hard) 
as I can to make ALL the best game it possibly can be (according to my design 
and my vision of what ALL should be, of course).


What programming language/compiler did you use to make ALL? 

ALL is coded in C (without the ++) using the DJGPP compiler.


I'm trying to program my own sidescroller and I'm having trouble with some 
aspect of it (such as collision detection). Can you help me with this (or give 
me some tips/advice on this)?
I'm trying to make my own sidescroller and I've noticed that ALL uses 
pixel-based collision detection for tiles in all directions. How do I implement 
this in my game?

The answers to these questions deal with game programming and not with ALL 
specifically, and are also potentially long, lengthy, and complicated, and 
depend on the specific situation or issue, how flexible you want your game to be 
with collision detection, and possibly many other factors. Because of this, the 
answers to these questions are beyond the scope of this FAQ and this 
already-lengthy README. Maybe I'll write some tutorials on these types of things 
and put them up on the Lincolnsoft website sometime. These questions are often 
asked of me (especially the latter one about pixel-based collision detection), 
and there seems to be a lack of information on this kind of thing. However, I 
won't go into the way that ALL actually does it here, because that is beyond the 
scope of this README.


================================
16. Advanced Gameplay Techniques
================================

Some expert techniques that will help you get better at the game: 

- Get used to holding the run button down a lot of the time. Although you have 
  less precision when running and jumping, remember that you can jump higher as 
  well as farther. You may also find it easier to stomp or avoid enemies. Learn 
  when you need the precision that just walking instead of running provides, and 
  in those cases let go of the run button. 
- You can get more points per enemy if you stomp them repeatedly without 
  touching the ground. 
- You can also get more points per enemy by kicking the stunned robots at them 
  instead of stomping them or shooting them. 
- If you run, you can cross holes that are one block wide without jumping. 
- Learn to control the height of your jump, and how to make a low altitude jump. 
  It can help in areas with low ceilings. 
- Learn how to duck while moving and how to make a ducking jump and a ducking 
  running jump. This can help you bonk low blocks, avoid enemies better, fit 
  into small spaces while jumping, and give you more flexibility while jumping. 
- If you shoot blocks, you can bonk them from any direction, not just 
  underneath. 
- You can collect items and powerups that are out of reach by shooting them. 
- One way of reaching high or far away platforms is to do a "multiple running 
  jump" by getting a running start somewhere, jumping on a another platform or 
  block without stopping, and then jumping again. This move is difficult to 
  master, especially on smaller platforms, but in areas with many small 
  platforms or blocks sometimes it's the only way to reach a platform, block, or 
  item. 
- If you hold down the jump button while stomping on an enemy, you can get a 
  jumping boost. 
- Use the Cursor Speed option to your advantage! Slower speeds are good for 
  precision aiming at fixed targets, such as faraway blocks or items that can 
  only be bonked or collected by throwing an exploding ball at the block or 
  item. However, faster speeds are better for moving targets, such as enemies. 
  In areas with lots of enemies, a fast cursor speed can help in clearing the 
  area of enemies quickly. 
- Some bonus games can only be completed by doing things in a certain way, or by 
  doing things in a certain order. 
- Remember that each of the four "extra" goals (see Basic Game Structure) in 
  each level can be completed independently of each other. In many cases it is 
  easier to complete these goals independently of each other to completely 
  emancipate a level rather than to complete them in a single trip through a 
  level to completely emancipate a level. 


===============================================
17. Current progress on the full version of ALL
===============================================

All percentages are estimated. As I have experienced many times during 
developing ALL, some things can take longer than I expect (especially 
programming). This is as of April 9, 2003.


Programming: 98.8%

The main game engine is pretty much finished now, so I've upped the percentage 
from 98% to 98.5%. The game physics have been extensively modified to be better 
and more Mario-like, and I don't expect to have to modify them any more, since 
they seem sufficiently Mario-like to me as of this beta version (beta 5.1). Of 
course, if anyone suggests some more improvements to the controls that'll make 
them feel even more Mario-like (or just "better"), I'll probably implement them, 
but I don't expect that to happen at this point. As far as I can see, the only 
things left to code into the game are miscellaneous things like extra features I 
want to add, like support for other video modes, and adding "finishing touches" 
like better animation (if I can figure out how to draw the animations in the 
first place, anyways), storyline interludes between each State, and other small, 
superficial things that I feel will give ALL a better mood. Of course, I'll also 
fix any bugs, and add things to (or change) the game to implement any reasonable 
suggestions for improvement. (See Stuff Not Implemented Yet to get an idea of 
some things I might add). 


Graphics: 99%

Just about everything is done except for some of the animations. Some (OK, maybe 
all) of the existing animations could be improved somewhat. I think the 
background graphics are fine but the enemy and item graphics could use some 
work, but unfortunately I suck at graphics so I might not be able to do much 
better than I already have done, without getting a graphic artist.


Music: 30%

I plan to have at least 36 tracks of music in the game, but I might have as much 
as 40 or more. Right now 13 tracks are done, so it's around 30%. Also, I plan to 
rewrite or just completely redo some of the existing tracks in ALL, so this 
percentage may be too high. (See my comments on this below.)


Levels: 53.5%

I'm up to level 27-12 (in Nebraska), 428 out of 800 levels complete. Map screens 
up to world 26 (Montana) are complete. Due to personal problems this year I have 
not been able to get as many levels done as I wanted to...


Level Testing: 2%

Every time I change the game physics significantly I retest the levels over 
again just to make sure everything in every level works the way I originally 
intended. Because of this, the percentage of levels that I've tested has gone 
down from over 8% (level 5-3, in California) to 2% (all of world 1, Alabama) 
again, because I have to retest all of the levels that had been previously 
tested again, and fix things that don't work the way I intended anymore with the 
new physics that used to work with the old physics. Of course, I still have to 
test all of the levels that have never been tested at all, as well...


===================
18. Version History
===================

Changes in v0.99 Demo Beta 5.6:

- Added the Sound Setup menu, so those of you with odd sound cards or sound card 
  setups can get the sound to work in ALL. 
- Added command line switches to ALL for the first time. The switches in this 
  version are mainly intended to diagnose and/or fix sound or joystick setup 
  problems. More command line switches may be added in the future, especially if 
  they are demanded. Type alldemo -? at the command line for a brief summary of 
  all of the valid command line switches. 
- Cursor Speed option added. This option allows you to control the speed of the 
  aiming cursor. 
- Made the interface for moving between levels on the map screen better. Instead 
  of selecting from one of eight arrows for the eight theoretically possible 
  directions (each arrow corresponding to an existant or non-existant path), you 
  now just simply highlight the path you want to go down (using the left and 
  right keys to rotate through all of the possible paths) and press the Move 
  Between Levels button. Only valid paths are selectable. To make the alternate 
  number pad map navigation scheme easier with this interface, a Map Arrows 
  option was added to turn the map arrows on and off, so you can determine which 
  directions correspond to which paths. Only white and yellow arrows (for valid 
  directions and the currently selected path, respectively) will be on the map 
  screen with this option turned on now, though. No more blue arrows. 
- Made the minimum music volume and sound FX volume 0 instead of 32. However, 
  unless you want the music completely off I don't recommend turning the music 
  volume down below 32, because at music volumes below 32 significant sound 
  quality degradation occurs. 
- <ESC> is now the default pause key. Of course, you can still set it to <P> or 
  anything else, though. 
- Improved collision detection between Abe and enemies. 
- Made the horizontal tubes as tall as Abe is, so it doesn't look weird when he 
  enters them anymore. Changed all of the levels in Alabama to use these new, 
  taller horizontal tubes. 
- All of the bonus game exit tiles now say "Exit" instead of just being totally 
  black. 
- Changed the graphic for the platform wire termination box to make it look more 
  like a gear-box-thingamajiggy and less like you could jump on it (hopefully). 
  I also changed all of the levels in Alabama to use this new graphic. 
- Fixed the bug where a "wired" platform would sometimes (but rarely) fall off 
  of the end of a wire which had a platform wire termination box at the end of 
  it. 
- Fixed a level design bug in level 1-9 (Gadsden-Attalla, Alabama) in the first 
  bonus game, which allowed you (or enemies) to go off of the right side of the 
  screen. 
- Fixed the jerky vertical scrolling bug. 
- Fixed (mostly) the bug with enemies not appearing when the screen scrolls 
  downward. It still occurs, but much rarer than it used to. 


Changes in v0.99 Demo Beta 5.1:

- Fine-tuned the ALL physics some more to make the jumping feel a little better. 
  In particular, I fixed an un-Mario-like "feature" where if you let go of the 
  jump button before you reached the maximum height of your jump, you 
  immediately fell back down. Now, there should be a short, Mario-esque delay 
  before you start falling back down again, as gravity takes over after you 
  release the jump button before you reach the maximum height of your jump. 
- Fixed some weird underwater physics problems related to the significant 
  changes in the game physics in this beta version and in beta version 4.5. 
- Added the standard Mario move where you can defeat enemies on top of bricks 
  (or other bonkable block types) above you by bonking the brick or block 
  directly below the enemy. 
- All of the 10-book blocks (and bricks, etc.) are multi-book blocks now. You 
  can get a minimum of 2 books from a multi-book block, an average of about 10, 
  and a maximum of maybe somewhere between 16 and 18, or maybe even 19 or 20 
  (depending on how fast you can hit the block and how high up it is). If you 
  didn't notice that some blocks contained 10 books instead of just 1 before, 
  now you'll notice (there's tons of multi-book blocks in ALL.) 
- Removed the multi-book blocks from one of the Collect Everything bonus games 
  in Birmingham 1, Alabama (level 1-7) and redesigned the bonus game. This is so 
  you can't collect more items than the amount of items you're required to 
  collect to complete this particular bonus game. 
- Fixed the bug where a blue or red robot would get stuck in the air if you 
  bonked a block out from underneath one. 
- Fixed stupid ducking collision detection bug where if you ducked to avoid an 
  enemy, you'd still get hit by the enemy anyways, even if you obviously avoided 
  it. 
- Fixed some problems in the collision detection code between Abe and Jefferson 
  Davis. 
- Changed the "Level Complete" screen to say "Emancipated!" instead of just 
  "Complete!" to better reflect the storyline of the game. And if you manage to 
  complete all of the objectives in a level, then the "Level Complete" screen 
  will say "Completely Emancipated!" (See the Basic Game Structure section if 
  you want to know what these objectives are.) 
- Redid the Downtown theme in Abraham Lincoln Land to make it sound closer to 
  what I had originally intended, as well as to make it sound less repetitive 
  and more realistic and to make it have more variety. (See my comments on this 
  below.) 
- Made the storyline intro transition to the title screen better. 
- Hopefully, fixed the storyline intro music timing to be consistent on all 
  computers. However, I haven't changed the basic storyline in the game's intro 
  to the updated storyline yet, and I haven't rewritten the Title/Intro track 
  yet, either. I might do this sometime in the future, but then the game would 
  take an estimated 11 to 12 minutes to go through the entire storyline in the 
  game's intro instead of the approximately 2 and a half minutes right now. I'm 
  just wondering if that would be a bit too long (or, for that matter, a bit too 
  much to digest at once) for a game intro. Then again, maybe not. (Are there 
  any games in existence with intros that are 11-12 minutes long and that also 
  have the complexity level of ALL's updated storyline?) I like the updated 
  storyline a heck of a lot better than the old one, so I'd like to implement it 
  somehow. I'm considering other options for implementing the updated storyline, 
  too, like breaking up the storyline and putting the extra details and stuff 
  which are in the updated storyline into storyline interludes between each 
  State, so you learn more as the game progresses. Another option I've thought 
  of (perhaps in addition to the storyline-interlude-between-each-State option) 
  is to add a new "Level Info" option to the pause menu for each level on the 
  map screen that would bring up a box that would give you a few statistics 
  (like population, population density, elevation, etc.) on the level and and a 
  short history and/or description of the city or area that the level takes 
  place in. (Along with this "Level Info" box would be a corresponding "State 
  Info" box for each world, that would also be accessible through the pause menu 
  on the map screen.) I'd like to hear some opinions on this storyline 
  implementation issue, so that I can implement ALL's storyline in the best way 
  possible and get ALL's point across to the most people possible. I'm just 
  wondering how many people could actually handle an 11-12 minute storyline at 
  the beginning of the game... 


Changes in v0.99 Demo Beta 4.5:

- Completely redid the ALL physics to feel much closer to Mario's. For example: 
  instead of stopping right away when you let go of left or right, you slide 
  around, you can't turn around immediately in the air, and your jump height is 
  more dependent on your speed (if you want to reach a high block, you're gonna 
  have to get a running start now.) The ALL physics should feel more natural and 
  much less mechanical now. 
- Added a ducking move, similar to Mario where you can duck and jump at the same 
  time, slide underneath blocks and bonk them, etc. Now you don't have to be 
  small or have the suit on to get that low block in Dothan. :) 
- Changed the vertical scrolling a little bit to let you see farther down. 
- Changed the storyline and added more detail, although I haven't yet changed 
  the ALL intro to reflect this (this is why this is beta 4.5 and not beta 5) 
- Hill gravity and collision detection with blocks and other stationary objects 
  is much more accurate. Fixed a bug where the game would let Abe jump into 
  ceiling tiles a pixel farther than you should be able to, causing you to get 
  "stuck" for a split second before you fell back down. 
- Some of the enemies now move at different speeds than before. Moving platforms 
  move faster. Blue robots move faster than red ones now (giving a purpose to 
  them giving you more points for stomping them.) 
- Bouncers make you jump slightly higher. 
- Redid Jefferson Davis's movement function. His movements should be less 
  "random" now (I hope), so that it's easier to formulate a strategy to beat 
  him. 
- Made it so red and blue robots can now go up and down hills instead of just 
  turning around at the crest of a hill (but of course, they'll still turn 
  around at the edges of cliffs, platforms, etc.) This situation never occured 
  anywhere in World 1 but I fixed it anyway. 
- Fixed a bug (hopefully) where red and blue robots could get stuck in one spot 
  at the edges of platforms sometimes, instead of turning around. 
- Changed the maximum FPS rate (and the game logic rate) of ALL from 45 FPS to 
  60 FPS. 
- Fixed a bug in the file selector box for the External Music option, where it 
  would start in the directory above the current directory, instead of the 
  current directory. 
- Fixed a collision detection bug in which Abe could not bonk (or break) blocks 
  above him while within the collision bounds of an uncollectible item (such as 
  a computer.) 
- Fixed a bug in which cracked platforms would sometimes not fall if Abe only 
  stepped on them for a split second. 
- Made changes to levels to accomodate the new ALL physics and make everything 
  that was possible before I changed the ALL physics possible with the new 
  physics, and maybe make some of the levels a bit more interesting. The changes 
  are too numerous to list here, so you're going to have to play through the 
  levels and find out what I changed. :) 
- Added a readme.htm to the ALL Demo distribution, to make it easier to go to 
  the topics you want to read in the readme. Of course, a regular readme.txt 
  file will still be provided as well.


Changes in v0.99 Demo Beta 3:

- Fixed bugs relating to the aiming cursor. Now if you get hit or go down a tube 
  or something, it will automatically cancel the cursor. 
- On the map screen, if you've finished a level, the dot will be yellow instead 
  of red. If you've gotten everything in the level too (all the bonus levels, 
  the bonus coin, a 100 special score, and you've beat the target score) then 
  the dot for the level will be green instead of red. (See Basic Game 
  Structure.) 
- Fixed the hard panning in the music (hopefully it should sound a bit better 
  now.)


Changes in v0.99 Demo Beta 2:

- Fixed crash bug when loading levels under Windows and your computer has 32 MB 
  of RAM or less (if you get an "out of memory" error message now, go into the 
  DOS box property sheets for alldemo.exe and set the MS-DOS Protected mode 
  (DPMI) memory to 65535, see section 4.5 for details.) 
- Fixed crash bug under DOS when returning to map screen after finishing a level 
- Fixed crash bug under DOS when stomping on bots (hopefully) 
- You don't have to wait for the "Level Complete" screen to count up your score 
  anymore: press the <ENTER> key once to see what your final scores are for the 
  level without waiting for it to count up, then press it again to return to the 
  map screen. 
- ALL should work on more video cards. Previously ALL would only work on cards 
  supporting VESA 2.0. Now it should also work on cards with VESA 1.x support, 
  although on these cards ALL's framerate will be about twice as slow as with 
  VESA 2.0. (See Video Card Problems.)


======================================================================
19. Comments from the author on how I think this is turning out so far
======================================================================

Gameplay: Although I think ALL is fun to play (and the few other people who have 
played it have said it was fun as well), it's probably too much like Mario. In 
my opinion, this is the game's main fault. However, it's that way mostly because 
I designed it to be simpler to program on purpose, so I would have something I 
would be able to do for my first game. Most of my other game designs are more 
original but are also much more complex.

About everything in ALL was designed on paper over 4 years ago. I tried to stay 
as close to the design as I could, but I ended up changing some things that 
didn't work or that I didn't like anymore.


Graphics: I did better than I thought I could. I believe the backgrounds and 
some of the stationary objects and things turned out fine, but some of the items 
and a lot of the enemy graphics could use improvement. Unfortunately, I suck at 
graphics, have always sucked at graphics, and always will suck at them, so about 
the only decent way for me to get them to look better would be to get a real 
graphic artist. Besides, I don't care much about graphics anyway. I think most 
of today's games focus *way* too much on them. I'd rather focus on other things. 
I might try to change a few of the graphics to fit the storyline better, though.


Animation: Hopefully it doesn't suck too bad. I suck at animation even worse 
than I do at still graphics. I just don't know how to make it look good. I might 
try to improve on this some, but unfortunately I don't know if I can without 
getting a graphic artist...


Music: I've always been talented at writing music. I like to write music. I 
think most of the music in ALL turned out pretty good. The one thing it could 
use is more variety, and I also might rewrite some of the tracks I don't think 
are that good. I haven't even been tracking MODs for a year yet, so I guess it's 
pretty good for someone who hasn't been tracking much. Music is by far the most 
important "superficial" thing to me in a game ("superficial" meaning things that 
aren't related to gameplay, such as graphics, sound FX, and music. 
"Non-superficial" would be things like gameplay, level design, replayability, 
controls, and challenge, and they are more important to me in a game than 
"superficial" things.) I believe that good music can add a lot to a game.

Added September 17, 2001: When I first wrote the music for ALL, I thought it was 
pretty good. I had been tracking MODs for less than a year at that point. Now 
feel I have written much better music (not for ALL though), and I believe I can 
improve upon or possibly even completely rewrite, some of the tunes in Abraham 
Lincoln Land, possibly for a future beta or the final version.

Added May 31, 2002: I've redone the Downtown theme for Abraham Lincoln Land to 
sound closer to what I had originally had in mind, and to make it sound a bit 
more realistic and a lot more interesting. I've added new underlying chord 
progressions and different instruments to it to give it more variety, and to 
make it sound less repetitive. In addition, I plan to make improvements like 
this on the other ALL tracks that I think already have good underlying themes, 
and I plan to completely rewrite the tracks that I don't think have good 
underlying themes.


Levels: I've tested (and retested, with the new contols) all 16 of the levels in 
World 1. All of the levels are possible to complete, and it's possible to 
complete all of the objectives in each of the levels as well. As a result of the 
significant controls and physics modifications in this version, all of the 
levels in World 1 have been modified to some extent (some more than others), 
while still keeping the original "spirit" of the levels in place. Hopefully the 
game's levels will be more interesting to play now.

My best time (according to the Save/Load Game menu) for getting everything in 
the first world is about 1 hour 30 minutes, but that was with the old-style ALL 
physics and controls. It will probably take you longer, since I know where 
everything is and I'm also very good at my own game (I've been playing it and 
testing it extensively for the past year or so now.) 


===========
20. Credits
===========

ABRAHAM LINCOLN LAND
Demo Beta 5.6 - Copyright (C) 1999-2003 Lincolnsoft.


PROGRAMMING
Chris Umhoefer (a.k.a. "Abe")
Copyright 1999-2003 Lincolnsoft.


MUSIC
Copyright (C) 2000-2002
Chris Umhoefer/FREEDOM/EMANCIPATION Music.


WORLD/LEVEL DESIGN
Copyright 1999-2003 Chris Umhoefer (a.k.a. "Abe")


GRAPHICS
Chris Umhoefer (a.k.a. "Abe")
U.S. National Archives
National Atlas of the United States (tm)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):
Mr. Willard S. Wood
Rear Admiral Harley D. Nygren


ORIGINAL STORYLINE/CONCEPT
1995, 2001 Chris Umhoefer/Lincolnsoft


SPECIAL THANKS TO
Shawn Hargreaves for ALLEGRO
Guan Foo Wah for JGMOD
DJ Delorie for DJGPP
Anybody who has played and tested this game and given me suggestions for 
improvement.
Abraham Lincoln Land has become a much better game as a result of these 
suggestions and subsequent improvements.


AND FINALLY...
To my personal hero and idol, the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln.
I probably would have given up on this a long time ago if it weren't for him.
This game is also a tribute to him, even though at this point, in my opinion, 
it's not enough of a tribute, nor will it ever be...


===========
21. Contact
===========

Chris Umhoefer (a.k.a. "Abe")
Lincolnsoft

Web site: http://www.lincolnsoft.com/

For Abraham Lincoln Land specifically:
http://www.lincolnsoft.com/games/all/

E-mail: abe@lincolnsoft.com


Send bug reports, comments, and suggestions for improvement to my email address. 
Abraham Lincoln Land is not finished, this is only a demo/beta vesrion, and so I 
may improve on parts of the game for the final release. I will not promise to 
add any suggestions (it's impossible to make everyone happy, you know), but if 
they are reasonable (and go along with my original design OK) I will consider 
them.

Statement on September 11th, 2001: My heart goes out to the people of New York, 
Washington and the USA and the 3,000+ people killed, and their relatives in the 
attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. This 
past week I have been very depressed because of this terrible tragedy, and I 
have been contemplating the whole meaning of this and thinking about what a 
terrible world it is we live in right now. I've also been thinking a lot about 
what Mr. Lincoln would do when faced with this terrible situation. This tragedy 
saddens me a lot and I hope and pray for the victims and their relatives, and 
for this nation and this country, and this world, as a whole.


================================
22. Distribution and Legal Stuff
================================

OK, I'll just be as clear and straight to the point here as I can.  I hate 
legalese just as much as other people (if not more), but unfortunately, in 
our society, legal statements are necessary.

For the purposes of this legal statement, "CWSDPMI" refers solely to the 
CWSDPMI.EXE file in the archive, which is included for your convenience; and
"Abraham Lincoln Land", "the game", and "this game" all refer to the rest of 
the files in the archive, whether they are in archival form or not - these 
files constitute the game Abraham Lincoln Land.

Abraham Lincoln Land Copyright (C) 1999-2003 LincolnSoft. This demo version of
Abraham Lincoln Land is free.  You are encouraged to distribute it and upload 
it to different websites and BBS's, provided nothing in the game is modified, 
that you distribute the game in its archival form, that all of the files that 
constitute the game in the archive remain intact, and that you do not charge 
money for it.  This game, however, may not be included in a compilation or 
other commercial product, in any way, shape, or form, without permission from
the author.

Also because this game is free, I am not responsible for any effects, adverse
or otherwise, that this game may have on your computer or anything else.  Play
it at your own risk.  As far as I know there are no severe problems with this 
game.

You have the right to receive the source code to CWSDPMI and the latest version 
of CWSDPMI.  The source code to CWSDPMI and the latest version of CWSDPMI are 
both available at ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2misc/.

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