...........................................................................
=======================> Gravity Strike, v0.94 <===========================


1.  Introduction
2.  Features
3.  System Requirements
4.  Command Line, Special keys
5.  Additional Info / Networking mode
6.  Download
7.  Legal stuff
8.  Credits


1. INTRODUCTION

Gravity Strike is a multiplayer version of my game "Gravity Force"
you can download at...

www.gravity-force.de

Gravity Strike contains many cool new features, but no single player mode
up to now.


2. FEATURES

The following things are the main features of Gravity Strike compared
to Gravity Force:

  - better code, which should be running on all supported platforms without
    major problems.

  - Splitscreen and networking support.

  - User creatable ships: You can draw and import your own ship image and
    change over 10 parameters which affect the overall power of your
    personal ship.

    A "ship" is nothing but an ASCII file and an image file. You can just
    copy new ships into the /ships directory to use them in the game.

  - More weapons. Up to now there are: Single Gun, Double Gun,
    Bomb, Bigbomb, Mines, Rockets, Shrinker, Freezer, Probe and Delirium
    Bomb.

  - Component based maps: The maps are now divided in control file 
    (/levels/xxx.lvl), ini file (/levels/xxx.ini), scripting file
    (/levels/xxx.sc) and the map itself (/levels/xxx.mar).

    No special actions inside the levels are hard coded.

  - Scripting support in the language "Lua" (www.lua.org).
    Theoretically you can create cool specials inside your own levels
    without the need of changing the game code.
    Unfortunately, the scripting documentation (script.txt) is only
    available in German yet.


3. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

   Minimum: Pentium 200, 16 MB RAM
   Operating System: clean DOS, Windows 95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP, or Linux.

   This list is sorted by performance. The DOS version is the fastest.

   If performance is a problem: The DOS version should run very good under
   Win95/98/ME and XP.

   Some missions (e.g. "The Tower") with many enemies and scripting stuff
   need much more processing power.
   
   You need a mouse to control all menu options.

   A sound card is recommended.
   
   For networking you need TCP/IP with the Windows version or IPX with
   the DOS version.
   
   The installation is very easy: Just unpack the archive and start 
   "gs.exe". All files required for playing are in this directory. No
   files will be copied to the Windows directory. To uninstall the game
   simply delete the gs folder.


4. COMMAND LINE, SPECIAL KEYS

   You can start GS with any of the following command line parameters:

   /debug           Writes debugging information to "gs.log"

   /window          Tries to start GS inside a window on the desktop
                    (only Windows & Linux versions).
  

   The following keys are available in the game:
 
   F12		    Makes a screenshot (which is copied to the GS 
                    directory as a TGA file)

   PrtScr/PAUSE     Pauses the game. Both keys work in the DOS version,
                    the Windows version only supports PrtScr.

   Scroll Lock	    (ScrLock) Turns the status panel in the game on/off.



   
5. ADDITIONAL INFO / NETWORKING MODE

   You don't need to change anything when using the DOS (IPX) version of
   GS.
   IF you use the Windows version with TCP/IP, you must change the 
   "broadcast_address" setting in the file "dat/gs.cfg". The broadcast
   address is usually the host 255. E.g. if your IP address in your internal
   network ist 192.168.1.1, then your broadcast address is most probably
   192.168.1.255. This setting must be the same on all computers running
   GS in networking mode.
   

6. DOWNLOAD

   You can download all new versions from...

   www.gravity-strike.de

   Under "News" you can also give me your eMail address. You will then
   receive an informational mail when new versions are coming out.


7. LEGAL STUFF

   Gravity Strike is FREEWARE. This means: You can distribute the game
   in any way if you take no charge for it.


8. CREDITS

   The credits for "Gravity Force" are, in most cases, also the credits 
   for Gravity Strike.

   The new code is written almost completely by myself. The same goes to
   most of the new graphics.

   For the scripting of levels and ini files the scripting language 
   "Lua" was used (www.lua.org), also the tool "tolua".
   
   The menu music is taken out of the internet and was composed by Martin
   Wall in October 1989.
  
   A big "Thank you" goes to all who have contributed to GS, either by
   great comments and criticisms or by creating exciting ships and maps.
   A complete list with the levels and ships created up to now is available
   on gravity-strike.de.
      
   Following programming libraries were used:

     -> DJGPP (C++ compiler)
     -> Allegro 4 (game programming lib, www.allegro.cc)
     -> AllegTTF 2 (lib for antialiased fonts)
     -> JGMod (MOD playing library)
     -> RakNet (networking library)
     -> Lua (scripting language)


Have fun!
And don't hesitate writing me if you have some words to say :-)

Jens Hassler

jh@gravity-strike.de
www.gravity-strike.de
