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. if reading the following {parental discretion is advised....} _____ Further Notes on the Phenomenon We Ephemistically Refer to as -=-=-=-=-/=-=-=-=- S T A R F A L L -=-=-=-=-/=-=-=-=- Part I ------ (Words from a formerly innocent bystander, who has chosen to remain nameless to protect himself, those he loves, and his dreams... Oh, screw it... My name is Harold Raymond Boyer ]I[, OK?!? Now that the cat's out of the bag, let me tell you a few things about how this "GAME" has affected my life... Here are a few of the topics we will be touching on in this discussion: (A) How STARFALL affected my attitude (B) How STARFALL increased my ability to get laid (C) Who I was before STARFALL, and the KNIGHTMARE I have become * Let me try and make you understand... ...there I was, doing lame things such as mudding on Kobra, not that you've ever heard of it, or anything, or another "game" called MechWarrior... ...I was mellow, and my defenses were down, because nothing I had ever experienced with computers had ever made me shake... make me quake... make me shudder with RECURSIVE pleasure/pain... Nothing ever touched me in that way... ...Until STARFALL. - What remains of Harold Raymond Boyer ]I[ October ?, 1994 -=-=- REPORT: November 12, 1994 -=-=- Filed from Washtenaw Community Regional Correctional Facility Washtenaw County, MI Here, I sit in this blank room. They've locked me up here, do to my excessive desires, and my inability to control them. I just can't keep my mind off Starfall, and when I'm not near a computer, I can't stop making love to women--lot's of them. It's the only thing that distracts me long enough to provide even a moment's respite from my Starfall addiction. They've locked me up out of jealousy. It's not just that I hit on all the female inmates; they're used to that from all us guys. It's that I succeed. Many a corner of this dreadful place his been blessed with my seed, and that of my fair feminine freaks. For, you see... I've come to realize(very abruptly, in fact) that STARFALL IS NOT JUST A GAME. IT IS REALITY. It is the one and only TRUE REALITY. It is the reality that humans are now being allowed to discern glimpses of, by the Elder Gods and the Xists. As the Bible was written by Enlightened Men of Jehovah to steer us into a transistory phase of "human" evolution; so the Sacred Codez of Starfall are being received and decoded by the Descendants of the Enlighted Men of Jehovah. We're not screwing around, here. This is SERIOUS STUFF. So serious, in fact, that as one progresses in the game, one begins to experience precognitions, kinetic mental ability, telepathy, and most important of all: THE ABILITY TO GET LAID. They can't keep the women off me. At the same time I sit in this room, pining away for my 486 with the Sacred Codez of Starfall on the hard drive. Periodically, one of my girl desciples will bust down my locked door with a two-by-four, gain entrance, and help me to keep going a little longer. Oh no! They're coming! END OF REPORT