1. TODAY IS THE DAY - OIDZONE FINAL BETA
Today is the day, at long last, the final (I hope) beta. I need EVERYONE
to help me out and play this, especially people on dx2-66's and below. I
made some major speed improvments in this version, and it plays great on
my dx2-66, but I need some feedback from you people.
Download the beta from my Euphoria site
http://exo.com/~lgp/euphoria
Thanx.
Michael
Lord Generic Productions
Project: OidZone
Subject: Beta .77 WHATSUP.DOC 2/10/97
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First off, thanks for helping us playtest this thing. It's getting way
cool. This document will tell you what you need to know to run it, and
the current buglist.
This zip is the complete data set for OidZone Beta .77.
This should be the FINAL BETA
I've changed ALL the data files, and renamed the wav files,
so delete any old versions before unzipping this file!
NEW FEATURES IN THIS VERSION
Everything is new. I added a new data file for the backgrounds and stuff,
hardcoded the About OidZone stuff, fiddled with the AI, and
changed the "You Suck..." to "Game Over." The last one I did VERY
reluctantly, but somebody complained(albeit 2 months ago =)
Speed improvements big time: I was able to achieve an almost 80% play speed
improvement in this version. It's playable again on dx2's. YAY. On slow
machines I make everything move farther per frame, and I actually made it
work almost 50% faster internally.
Recommended to run this version of OidZone:
* A 486DX2-66 or better. A p166 plays VERY nice.
* A SoundBlaster or compatible sound card.
* Your Blaster environment variable set, Jacques' sound drivers don't
autodetect the sound card (yet)
Play tester instructions:
Basically, play the game until you are sick of it, then play it another
thousand times. Your primary goal as a playtester is to break the program.
Document anything that seems weird or not right. Document ANYTHING you
think I should know. If it ain't in the big list below, I may not know
about it. I'll be compiling a list of bugs submitted by the testers and
mailing it around so you know where we are at. If you can make the program
do something weird or crash repeatedly by doing the same steps, I REALLY
WANT TO KNOW THAT!
I also want your comments\reactions to the game. If you think it's too
easy\hard let me know.
This is the LAST BETA. I NEED YOUR FEEDBACK BEFORE I OFFICIALLY RELEASE
THIS!
Controls:
ESC - About Box. This will bring up information and credits for the game.
press any key to step through it.
B - Boom. You blow up when you hit the B key.
Q - Quit. Anytime your ship isn't exploding, you can quit the game by
hitting the Q key.
Left ALT - Fire. You can shoot up to 6 shots. As each shot disappears,
you can shoot again.
Left CTRL - Thrust. Thust is additive - each time you hit the thrust key,
you accellerate in the direction you're facing. To slow down
you need to turn around and thrust in the opposite direction.
Right ALT,CRTL - Turn. ALT turns left, Ctrl turns right. You can fly in
any of 12 directions.
REVERSE ROTATION KEYS - F will flip the right alt\ctrl keys for you weirdos
who bought the wrong keyboard. =)
<SPACE> - Hyperspace. You can warp to another location when it starts to
get crowded where you are. You can warp right into an asteroid
too.
S - Turn off sound blaster SFX go to pcspeaker mode
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How to play OidZone:
====================
OidZone is pretty easy to play. You drive your ship around and blow up
all the asteroids. When you blow up all the asteroids on the screen, you
get another screen full. Every once in awhile a mine will appear on the
screen and hunt you down. If you shoot it, it breaks into 2 smaller mines
that also hunt you down. Each one of them will also break into 2 tiny mines
that ALSO hunt you down. As you move, they will swarm toward you. If you
take too long shooting them, more mines will appear.
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How to start the program:
=========================
If you HAVE a SoundBlaster type card, be sure your BLASTER environment
variable is set Type ozbeta77 at the DOS prompt.
Bug List 2/10/97
-----------------
!@#%CRASH BUGS%$#@!
I don't know of any Crash Bugs in this version.
If you find one, send me the err.ex file asap!
Game Bugs
I think I've stomped all known bugs at this point. Send me ANYTHING YOU
FIND.
The sound drivers STILL hang the game for a couple seconds sometimes. I
hope Jacques can fix that soon.
Graphics Bugs
I think I've stomped all of these as well,
Michael Packard
Lord Generic Productions
lgp at exo.com http://exo.com/~lgp/euphoria
