INHERITANCE
by Mike Angstadt <mike.angstadt@gmail.com>
http://www.mangst.com

Last update: 25 Nov 2006

Based off a project a friend and I wrote together for a college class, Inheritance is a simple,
top-down, single-player space shooter.  More than anything, this was an experiment to see what it
would be like to design a game from scratch using OOP practices.  I hadn't spent much time thinking
about the gameplay (only two levels), graphics, or sound (there is no sound, so don't wonder why you
don't hear anything).

STORY==================
I haven't really fleshed out a story, but here's my reason for my choosing "Inheritance" as the
title.  A relative of the character you play as has just died.  You being his only living relative,
this person left all his belongings to you.  That's great, right?  Well, not really because all your
relative really owned was debt.  So now that you own his negative bank balance, all kinds of people
are after you who want their money back.  But have nothing to give them, so all you can do is run.

You'd be caught by now if it wasn't for your companion.  Your companion is a budgie named Peter, who
can predict the future with marvelous accuracy.  Relative to the game itself, he gives you warnings
as to what kind of ships are about to attack you and such.

HOW TO PLAY=============
The goal of the game is to blow up as much as you can without getting blown up yourself (but really,
it's just to survive, since points mean squat).  In addition to being able to fire bullets, you also
have three different "modes" at your disposal.

WEAPON mode		Gives you additional firepower.  But don't fire for too long, or your guns
				will overhead and your ship will take damage.
BOOSTER mode	Makes your craft faster and more agile.
SHIELD mode		Surrounds your ship with a regenerating energy field that protects your hull
				from damage.

CONTROLS=================
W/A/S/D		movement
H			fire weapon
G			switch mode
=			ends the current level (for debugging/cheating)
ESC			quits/pauses

MAKE YOUR OWN LEVELS=====
I developed a primitive script-like language which allows you to design new levels without having to
edit the game's code.  The "level_list.txt" file contains the list of levels that will be loaded by
the game, with the first level being the first one played.  Each item in this list is the name of a
file which contains the corresponding level's script code.

I only have two half-assed levels made at the moment.  Apologies.

TECHNICAL INFO===========
Inheritance is written in C++ and uses the Allegro game programming library (http://www.allegro.cc).
It was developed using jEdit and gcc.
