*Starfall Information File* Brendan Casey 1121 Bydding Rd. Ann Arbor MI 48103 734-223-8747 bcasey@.umich.edu www access: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bcasey/starfall.html Disclaimer: 1.) This program, though a version 1.0 stage release is not perfect. there are some bugs still lingering. There are bug reporting routines built in, Please if making use of them try and be as specific as possible about the bug in question. 2.) Do not run this under windows 3.1. run it from the Dos prompt if your machine is windows 3.1 The program runs well in a dos box set for full screen under windows95. I've recently tested the program on a windows NT4.0 OS and was pleased to see it run seamlessly well except for I don't think my primitive sound routines made it through the operating system... I remember having serious trouble with window NT before, but I think that was version 3.5. Read.me hello this file is going to be short, if you have questions call or write to the above address. the archive contains these files 1. help files read*.txt 2. Program files Starfall.exe (Game program) Starfall.ovr, (overlay file) Starint.exe (Color pallette and Communication port selecting program) its a good idea to run this first to configure the program for your computer but i don't recommend changing the color settings... 3. initializing files nessesary *.chr and *.bgi files starink.dat (output of Starint.exe) ie. default color pallette. Starink.bak, which is a color pallette backup. if you happen to change your pallette and find it doesn't work well, the starink.bak file contains the default info. to restore default pallete, type copy starink.bak starink.dat starint.dat (output of starint.exe) ie. modem and printer data. it's best not to mess with the pallette sine 15 of the 16 available colors are used. And the likelihood of color washout is high. it is best to stick with the default colors but if you feel comfortable with restoring the backup file if you have to, then theres nothing wrong with experimentation. 4. Sample games, to get you started quick! *.def Game definition files *.shi Game Ship info files *.sys Game System (Planet info) files *.lin Game starfall files *.hst Game History files *.log Text representation of history info. *.ink player color files *.brp text bug report files *.fil Game news filter pref.'s *.mes Game mail messages note sometimes a new game may not have any starfalls in which case the link file is nonexistant until there are.. The game This is a game of exploration, combat and development in space. The object is to explore, develop, and defend an empire in space. Limited by time and distance in normal space. one would not expect much at all. However this game has a twist: Starfalls, black holes in spacetime. Traversing a Starfall warps space-time about the fleet, allowing instantanious leaps to far reaches of the known universe. Surfing the event horizon requires special ships that cost valuable resourses and take time to build. By exploring for planets you can increase your resource base. By exploring for starfalls you can link your resources and empire across far flung quadrants. This dynamic arrangement allows for infinate scenarios and strategic challenges of previously unheard of proportions. There are several ways to use your resourses: Building ships, System Defense, and Tech Advancement. By weighing the immediate, and long term needs, one strives gain an edge against his opponents, in a battle for the outer limits. The program Starfall.exe To run the program, type "starfall" from the directory you unpacked the program into. Below are some general pointers on how to manuver in the Starfall environment. General Pointers (y/n?), 0 : some promptings can be answeredd using mouse clicks, a left button click means yes, a right button click means no, also in many querys a right mouse click will be accepted as a numerical Zero. "q" : Auto play halt, return program from Auto- exit View quadrants Play to manual mode, exits View Quadrants rightmouse button : Cancel,return to ie. exiting View Quadrants parent menu or aborting action. left mouse button : selection designater ie. picking fleet or fleet or location selection. menu selections : up/down arrow keys or left mouse button. new game generation : starting games involve a few plug in parameters the program prompts for input below is a list of the available options. Game name : up to eight charactar string. comp opp. : would you like an Artificial Opponent to play against (y/n) No players: number of sentient players. names : seven charactar string size : 4x4 5x5 or 6x6 quadrants with >two players larger sizes help. Gen intens: (0..9) relative automatic home quadrant system generation probability. (same for all players) once parameters are entered, the program will generate sample starting homequadrants, accept with 'y' if acceptable. general point home quadrants do better if seperated by more than one quadrant. * this program is based on the game Starfall by Steven Peaks. Copyright 2001 Brendan Casey, Paul Martz. Thanks to Wayne D. Hoxsie for an excellent asynchronous communication unit. Thanks to Harold R. Boyer for much time invested in Beta Testing and playing the game in general. Thanks to Bryan J. Ghettel for some good Object Oriented popup box routines. they may be modified beyond recognition, but some of the rudimentary structures live on in this Version 1.0c This program is considered shareware meaning if you like it use it. If you like it a lot and would like to contribute to past or future efforts send $ 20.00 or what you can afford, and I will make an effort to keep you posted on new developments and what not. Decompiling of this program for whatever reason is not acceptable.