HOVER BATTLE
created by Wilson Venhola
November 7,1999

Made using the
Allegro library v3.12 by Shawn Hargreaves

1. Introduction
2. Controls
3. Menu
4. Gameplay
5. Misc. Problems

Short notes

-run setup to set sound settings and joystick settings.
 this isn't necessary but it might help

-some preset bat files are in the zip file to change resolutions or
 disable sound

-to set screen mode type the horizontal resolution after hovbattl.exe
 i.e hovbattle.exe 1024 - this sets the 1024x768 resolution 
-to set color depth type the depth after resolution
 i.e hovbattle.exe 1024 16- this sets the 1024x768 resolution with 16 bit color
 (there is not much to gain when changing the color depth to 32 or 24)
-to set general volume, type the value(0-255) after color depth
 i.e hovbattle.exe 1024 16 127- this sets the midi and sound volume to 50%

-Some of the menu names have been changed so now the listing's in this
 file are outdated but the order of the menu items have not changed so
 it shouldn't be a problem.

-pressing "r" toggles frame rate
-pressing "t" toggles max frame rate(disabled/0,23,46)
-pressing "o" brings up scores of all fighters
-pressing "p" creates a targa file screen shot
-pressing "h" turns off/on the HUD or transparency of the HUD
-pressing "u" turns off/on the radar
-pressing "j" toggles detail level
-pressing "k" toggles motion blur

**Video problems?**
-extract and install FreeBE/AF kit included

-if you are still having problems with changing the screen mode,
 try selecting a different video driver. To do this, type in a number
 corresponding to the driver you want after the general volume level
 i.e hovbattl.exe 1024 16 127 1 - this sets it to the VESA 1.x driver

 list of drivers
  -0 autodetect (recommended)
  -1 VESA 1.x driver
  -2 VESA 2.0 banked mode driver
  -3 VESA 2.0 linear framebuffer driver
  -4 VBE/AF accelerator API(not likely to work)  

Introduction

 Hover Battle is a fast paced overhead futuristic combat game.
 The goal of the game is to destroy the other combatants while
 staying alive as long as possible. With 5 different ships,
 7 unique weapons and many devastating power enhancements
 Hover battle is a challenging and fun game for up to four players.
 Hover Battle also offers computer opponents with skills ranging
 from low to high so that games can become an all out war with up
 to eight combatants.

 Hover Battle features:

* resolutions up to 1280x1024
* 16-bit,24-bit or 32-bit color
* Sound FX and 5 midi tracks
* Dual joystick support
* Up to eight players, maximum of four human players
* Easy customizable arena

Controls

Hover Battle supports four human players where each can be assigned either the
* Keypad
* Left Keyboard
* Joystick 1
or
* Joystick 2

Controls for the keypad
Accelerate - up arrow
Decelerate - down arrow
Turn left - left arrow
Turn right - right arrow
Fire primary weapon - Enter
Fire secondary weapon - Delete or Right Control
Afterburner - Insert or Right Shift(may not be necessary)
Cycle primary weapon - Page Up and Page Down
		-or ; and '
Cycle secondary weapon - Home and End
		-or . and /

Controls for the Left Keyboard
Accelerate - F
Decelerate - V
Turn left - C
Turn right - B
Fire primary weapon - Space or Left Shift
Fire secondary weapon - S or Left Control
Afterburner - A (may not be necessary)
Cycle primary weapon - Z and X
Cycle secondary weapon - Q and W

Controls for Joysticks 1 and 2 
Accelerate - up
Afterburner - up (if possible)
Decelerate - down
Turn left - left
Turn right - right
Fire primary weapon - Button 1
Fire secondary weapon - Button 2
Cycle primary weapon - Button 3
Cycle secondary weapon - Button 4
*Cycle primary weapon - Mouse button 1 for player 1 and
                                         Mouse button 2 for player 2
**Cycle secondary weapon - None

*Only two button joysticks are supported for two joystick mode
 so the mouse will replace a button
**If you run out of ammo in a secondary weapon pressing
 secondary fire will change the weapon.

Heads Up Display

The Heads up Display(HUD) has four sections, the radar, the weapons, the 
score and the player stats.

In the upper left is the ammo count and a icon representing the current
primary weapon. The highlighted ammo will indicate which secondary weapon
is selected right now.

In the upper right is the radar, the green dots are powerups or projectiles
and the white dots are enemy ships. The white rectangle is your current
viewing space and the yellow dot is your ship.

At the bottom is a row of bars that indicate(from left to right) Energy,
Shields, Hitpoints and Speed. When your shields are depleted projectiles
do damage to your hitpoints. When your energy is depleted it will turn off
your engines and lower your shields until your energy regenerates. Energy
regenerates quickly and your weapons have a fail safe that prevents them
from drawing to much energy, but watch out for energy absorbers and use your
afterburners sparingly if you have low energy.

Just above that and to the left is the score, there will be kills and deaths.
If the Overview is on it will show everybody's kills and deaths.


Menu

The Menu has several sections. To navigate through the menu press Enter to enter a section and press Escape to leave. Enter will also change a value automatically increasing it to the maximum and if it goes over it will go back to the minimum. The Left and Right cursor keys will also change values, Left will decrease the value and Right will increase it.

The main sections are:

	1.Start
	2.Options
	3.World
	4.Players
	5.Exit

Start - This will start the game with the current specifications.


Options - This section controls the general specifications of the game	
	Time Limit - If enabled this will end the game at the specified time
Kill Limit -   If enabled this will end the game at when a player reaches the                             specified kill number. It is only enabled if game type is regeneration
Sound Vol. - The volume of the sound 100% being the max
Music Vol. - The volume of the music 100% being the max
Window Pos. - Whether the windows will be orientated horizontally, vertically or so that the sides are equal
Game Type - Whether game is regeneration or Knockout. Regeneration being where players can come back into the game after dying and Knockout being a game where players compete to be the last one left.
Afterburner - Sets whether pressing accelerate activates the afterburner if there is enough energy or whether you have to press a separate key.

World - This section deals with aspects of the combat arena
 	Landscape - The type of terrain. Space, Grass, Wasteland or Tundra 
	Width - the width of the map
	Height - the height of the map
	Powerups - the amount of power enhancements on the map
	Debris - the number of background objects on the ground (stars for space)
	Clouds  - the number of clouds on the map (N/A in space)

Players - This section contains all the specifications for the 8  players
	Each player has 4 different attributes
	Type - Human, Computer or Disabled
	Skill - low to high, only for computer
	Control - Keypad, Left Keyboard, Joystick 1, Joystick 2
	Ship - Glider, Slider, Hammer or Beamer

Exit - Exits the program	

Gameplay

	The goal of the game is to destroy the opponents by whatever means possible. 
There are seven weapons you can use to accomplish this. The first four weapons are the primary weapons and don't require ammo while the last three do require ammo.

Primary Weapons:
	
Energy Absorber
Damage: 6
Rate of Fire: Fast
Range: Very long
Energy Required: Low
Description: This weapon shoots out red pulses in rapid succession. When these pulses hit a fighter they do moderate damage and drain their victim's energy. Half this energy is added to your total.

Tractor Beam
Damage: 2+?
Rate of Fire: Constant
Range: Short
Energy Required: Fairly Low
Description: This weapon shoots out a green laser. This green laser deals little damage normally but does more damage the faster the opponent is travelling. It also causes the opponent to decrease in speed or it prevents them from accelerating.

Tri-Laser
Damage: 12 each, 24 for the middle pulse
Rate of Fire: Slow
Range: Medium
Energy Required: High
Description: The Tri-Laser fires Three Yellow laser pulses that deal an extensive amount of damage. This is the most effective weapon in the game for destroying fighters but it is slow to fire and uses a huge amount of energy. 

Spread Laser
Damage: 7 each
Rate of Fire: Fast
Range: Medium
Energy Required: Medium
Description: The Spread Laser fires Four Blue laser pulses that deal a respectable amount of damage. This is a weapon that makes hitting your target easy but it takes up a fair amount of energy and is hard to sustain the firepower needed to destroy an opponent.

Secondary Weapons:

Missile
Damage:  25+25 radius damage 
Rate of Fire: Fairly Fast
Range: Long
Radius: Medium
Energy Required: Low
Description: The destructive power of this missile combined with its speed, range, radius and low energy requirements make it the most deadly weapon in the game. The difficulty with this weapon is that it is difficult to hit targets and ammo is limited. An added advantage to this weapon is that when it hit's a target it will reduce the time left in that targets power enhancement.

Mine
Damage:  40+40 radius damage 
Rate of Fire: Slow
Range: N/A
Radius: Large
Energy Required: Low
Description: The mine is an extremely powerful weapon that when used properly will make any aggressive player wary. When dropped it will explode on contact with any ship dealing a great amount of damage to all in the radius. After a short time it will explode automatically if it hasn't been detonated.

Seeker
Damage:  20+20 radius damage 
Rate of Fire: Fairly Slow
Range: Short
Radius: Medium
Energy Required: High
Description: The Seeker is a homing missile that homes in on the closest ship in front of it. It deals a little less damage than the Missile but is considerably easier too hit targets with.

Each of the Secondary weapons requires ammo and ammo can be picked up as orbs that appear on the map.

Other orbs will give you power enhancements.
The power enhancements, in order of increasing length, are:
	Invincibility - renders your ship impervious to attacks
	Triple Damage - each projectile you fire does three times as much damage
	Energy - Energy consumption of your ship is cut down to one fourth as much
	Speed - Makes your maximum speed much higher
	Health  - Gives you full health

All of the power ups last a certain amount of time except Health, which is instantaneous.

Miscellaneous Problems

If you have problems with the game feel free to contact me at:
wvenhola@hotmail.com








