Ants! v1.4 Documentation
By Jeremy Vight
http://phr00t.urgo.org/

Everybody can read a .TXT file! :-)

[ System Specs ]
Not sure, but here it goes:
*300mhz.
*32mb RAM
*320x240x16 full-screen support.
*16-bit Sound Card
*VGA Monitor
*Mouse
*Keyboard
*Brain (Good one)

[ Main Menu ]
*The up and down keys will select which level you would like to load. The right and left keys will select the level's directory number.
*Level 0 will generate a random level for fun and practice.
*The names will be loaded from the .ini file in the "levels#/" directory. If no such file exists, "-------" will be shown and you will not be able to play that level number.
*Hitting [ENTER] will being, while hitting [ESC] will quit.

[ In Game ]
*The whole purpose of this game is to get the ants to safety in each level by assigning them skills and abilities at the right time.
*You can select skills with the mouse or keyboard from the toolbox below to give to specific ants. You only can use each skill a certain amount of times.
*Some levels use 'coins' that you may see blinking somewhere in the level. These coins are color coded, and will credit one point to their color specific skill. A colored box will be placed on the respective skill in the toolbox.
*You can use the number keys 1-0 to select the skills below quickly.
*You can hold the left or right arrow keys while assigning skills to select ants only going in that respective direction.
*You can assign almost any skill to a blocker to stop him from blocking.
*Pressing [ESC] will initiate nukage, while pressing [ESC] again will quit the level.
*Your status is printed in the lower right hand corner. The "saved ants" number will be red if you haven't saved enough ants, and will become green when you have.

[ The Skills ]
*Walker - This is the default skill every ant begins doing. You can assign an ant to be a walker to stop him from blocking, building etc.
*Raid - This isn't much of a skill, just instant death to any selected ant.
*Digger - Makes an ant dig straight down until it is assigned to do something else, hits steel, or has nothing left to dig.
*Builder - Makes an ant build steps up at a 45 degree angle. A staircase is built 12 pixels high, and 12 pixels far. The ant will stop building if it runs into anything above its head.
*Tunneler - This ant will dig a straight tunnel in the direction the ant is facing. The ant will tunnel until it hits steel, walks off a cliff, or has nothing left to tunnel.
*Blocker - This ant will stand still and not let any ant pass its position. Any ants that hit a blocker will turn around.
*Turner - This skill simply turns an ant around. You can make ants turn around while they are doing something else.
*Climber - This ability will stay with an ant. Any time this ant hits a flat wall, he will attempt to climb it. An ant will climb until it hits a cieling and falls, or reached the top of the wall where it will continue walking on top.
*Swimmer - This ability will stay with an ant. Any time this ant falls into some water, it will swim through it to the other side. It will swim until it has no more water to swim on.
*Umbrella - This ability will stay with an ant. Any time an ant falls off a cliff, it will whip out an umbrella to slow its decent. An ant with this skill can fall any height safely.
*Platformer - This ant will build a flat bridge in the direction the ant is facing. The bridge will be 17 pixels in length.
*Bomber - This ant safely explodes immediately when assinged this skill. The explosion will remove any land that is not steel, danger zones, water, or safety zones within a 10 pixel radius.
*Miner - This ant will dig downwards in a 45 degree angle. The ant will mine until it hits steel, falls off a cliff, or has nothing left to mine.
*Mine_High - This skill is much like the miner, but it mines upwards in a 45 degree angle instead.
*Bubbler - This skill places an ant in a floating bubble. The ant and bubble will float in a 45 degree angle upwards in the direction the ant is facing. The ant will float until hits anything but air, including the edges of the screen.
*Runner - This skill stays with the ant. Runners will simply walk faster.
*Exploder - This ability can be assigned to any ant at any state. An exploder will quickly count down from 5 to zero in which it will explode and die. The explosion will remove any land that is not steel, danger zones, water, or safety zones within a 10 pixel radius.
*Stacker - This ant will build a straight tower 9 pixels high from where it is standing. The ant will climb with the tower, and stop early if it hits anything above its head.
*Radio - Short for radio controlled, this skill will trap an ant in a red box that can be controlled with the arrow keys. The ant will stay in this red box until it hits anything, including the edges of the screen.
*Sloth - This skill will make an ant jump into the air about 11 pixels high and attempt to grab onto any flat cieling. If it catches the cieling, the ant will then crawl along the cieling until it hits something, or until the cieling curves upwards or stops.

[ Creating Levels With the Level Editor ]
*The level editor works much like any drawing tool. You click and hold the left mouse button to fill in an area the size of the brush, and click and hold the right mouse button to erase away an area the size of the brush.
*You can change what type of landscape or item you are drawing buy pressing a key labeled below within the editor.
*When placing specific items like the "begin" location and coin locations, place them pixel by pixel. You can have up to 4 "begin" locations.
*Your current landscape or item you are drawing with will be displayed by its specific color in the lower left hand corner of the main screen.
*You can use the wheel on your mouse, or the up and down keys to resize your brush.
*Hitting 'E' will bring you into the settings screen. Here, you can set all the level properties. Hit 'E' again to return to the main screen.
*Hitting 'R', 'G', or 'B' on a specific skill in the settings screen will assign that coin color to that skill. Hitting 'C' will remove the current coin settings.
*You can save and load any level safely created with the level editor. Hitting the up and down keys will cycle through all the available level numbers to save in. The right and left arrow keys will select the level's directory number to save in.
*The loading screen works the same way the saving screen works, but instead of saving a level, you load a level.
*Practice caution when saving levels so you don't save over a level you don't want to lose.
*Hitting [ESC] will immediately quit the level editor without saving your level when on the drawing screen.
*This level editor is not compatible with levels bigger than 320x205, and only uses a single color scheme for simplicity. You can use another image tool to make your pretty level look better after creating it with the level editor.

[ Creating Levels Without the Level Editor ]
*Start a level by creating a bitmap at least 320x205 pixels big.
*Each level needs two bitmaps: an information bitmap and a pretty bitmap. The information bitmap contains color specific drawings used to determine where land, steel, danger zones, safety zones, and water is. The pretty bitmap is the image that overlays the information bitmap and is what the player sees in the game. The information bitmap is named "levelX.pcx", while the pretty bitmap is named "prettyX.pcx"; X is the level number.
*Every level also needs an initiation file. This file will store the name and parameters of the level. This file is named "levelX.ini"; X is the level number. The first line of this file is the level name. Take a look at some of the pre-made INI files to learn the format of these files. You can use the skill names above in the INI file.
*Until you are sure the level is perfect, use the information bitmap as the pretty bitmap.
*RGB(255,255,255) (aka White) color represents land.
*RGB(0,255,255) (aka Cyan) color represents steel.
*RGB(255,0,0) (aka Red) color represents a danger zone.
*RGB(0,255,0) (aka Green) color represents a safety zone.
*RGB(0,0,255) (aka Blue) color represents water. Water should be flat and contained by steel.
*RGB(255,255,0) (aka Yellow) color represents a starting location. You can have four starting locations.
*RGB(128,0,0) (aka Dark Red) color represents a red coin.
*RGB(0,128,0) (aka Dark Green) color represents a green coin.
*RGB(0,0,128) (aka Dark Blue) color represents a blue coin.
*Adding any other colors to the information bitmap will cause strange problems.
*Appending "_red_coin", "_blue_coin", or "_green_coin" to the amount of points to a skill in the INI file will tell the game which colored coins represent which skills.

[ Other Stuff ]
*Please contact me from my webpage at http://phr00t.urgo.org/ if you have any suggestions, comments, levels, or questions.