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^Cby
^CBrian Goble
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
GALACTIC BATTLE is a space shoot-em up arcade game for one player. Its
setting is an interplanetary spaceship which is controlled by its captain --
you! -- against attacks by hordes of evil aliens. Your object in the game is
to defeat as many of the enemy as possible, while enhancing the features of
your ship, and maximizing your score.
The game features an infinite number of levels, each consisting of 11
different waves of aliens. If you survive all 11 waves in one level, you
proceed to the next level of play. Each succeeding level is increasingly
difficult.
You must maneuver your ship around the lower quarter of the game area and
try to shoot the aliens overhead, while dodging multiple alien shots fired at
you as they approach.
Throughout game play, you can earn "medals" which you can use during
designated waves to "purchase" defensive and offensive enhancements for your
ship. This feature, a vital tool especially for the higher levels of play,
requires strategic planning and preparation early in the game.
Before the game begins, the stick on your joystick must be centered. If you
intend to use the joystick during play, you should also select it as your
input device.
THE SHIP
The ship is controlled by either JOYSTICK, MOUSE, or KEYBOARD. It can be
moved anywhere in the bottom quarter of the playing area in all eight compass
directions, or it may remain stationary if you wish. Its main offensive weapon
is its fire power; its primary defense is its energy shield, which protects it
from alien shots.
To control the ship with your JOYSTICK, move the stick in the desired
direction of movement, or leave the stick in the centered position if the ship
is to remain stationary. Fire shots by pressing button 1, and activate the
energy shield by pressing button 2.
MOUSE control is similar to joystick control. Using smooth, slow motions,
just move the mouse in the direction you want the ship to move. Fire shots by
pressing the left button. Activate the energy shield by pressing the right
button.
The number keypad on the KEYBOARD is analogous to joystick movement: the
[8] key is up, [3] is down and right, [5] is no movement, and so on. Press the
[Ins] key, or keypad [0], to operate the energy shield, or the space bar to
fire shots.
When firing shots, it is important to keep in mind that the next shot
cannot be fired unless:
1) the fire button has been released, and/or
2) the maximum number of shots does not currently appear on the screen.
The shield button can be held down continuously. It will work until the
button is released, or until the ship's energy supply is exhausted.
When in combat, the ship utilizes a unit of energy every few seconds. (The
actual rate depends on the ship's current energy reduction capability. See
"Ship Enhancements.") Firing a shot expends one unit of energy. Using the
shield consumes energy until the shield is de-activated.
Be careful! If the ship's energy supply is ever entirely drained, the ship
will explode! However, when the energy reserve is at twenty units, a warning
message will appear, and an alarm will sound.
THE ALIENS
There are 100 different animated aliens you must battle. Like your ship,
the aliens'offensive weapon is their fire power. Their defense lies in the
complex formations of their attack waves, which make them difficult targets to
hit.
The aliens confront the ship in groups of ten. They will continue their
current formation pattern until all aliens in the group are destroyed, or the
player's game has ended.
In the beginning levels, one hit is all that is required to destroy an
alien. Alien destruction in higher levels requires multiple hits and/or
increased shot damage capabilities (see "Ship Enhancements").
THE BONUS WAVE
Every fifth wave of aliens in each level is a "bonus" wave. The aliens go
through a "follow-the-leader" type of formation and fire no shots. However,
they go through this pattern only once! This wave is completed when all the
aliens are destroyed, or they have completed their pattern.
THE MOTHER SHIP
The eleventh wave in every level is a "mother ship" wave. In order to
advance to the next level, you must face and defeat this alien mother ship.
Conquering it requires numerous "successful" hits, the number of which
increases with each higher level of play. A hit is "successful" only if it
hits the pulsating energy blob on the bottom of the mother ship when it is
red. Any other hits to the mother ship cause no damage.
The two thrusters accompanying the alien mother ship do not need to be
destroyed by your ship in order for you to advance to the next level. If the
mother ship explodes, these thrusters will self-destruct. However, you may
wish to destroy the thrusters since their primary purpose is to protect the
mother ship by intercepting shots fired upon it. The thrusters can be
destroyed by multiple "successful" hits from your ship.
SMART SHOTS
On higher levels, the aliens acquire a "smart shot" capability. Smart shots
track your ship,i.e., they follow it as it moves to the left or right. Fortu-
nately, their range is limited, but it increases with each higher level of
play. Smart shots eventually follow a straight-line trajectory.
Aliens do not obtain the smart shot powers until level 3, but the mother
ship and thrusters always have smart shot capability.
THE STARBASE
The starbase aids the ship by appearing after each wave is completed and
allowing you to dock with it to re-energize your ship if you want to. To dock,
move your ship horizontally across the starbase and allow it to be caught in
the starbase's tractor beam. If you do not want to dock, you can move the ship
along the bottom of the screen and keep it out of the tractor beam's reach. By
choosing not to dock with the starbase, you can earn an "efficiency bonus."
To avoid docking, you may choose to do one of the folowing: (1) Wait for
the starbase to leave on its own, or (2) Press the fire button to inform the
starbase that you do not wish to dock. If you do not dock and re-energize, you
will have to complete the next wave with whatever ship's energy remains.
After completing the bonus wave or the mother ship wave, a special starbase
appears to allow the re-energizing and customizing of your ship (see "Ship
Enhancements"). The efficiency bonus can also be earned if you choose not to
dock with this starship.
SHIP ENHANCEMENTS
The opportunity to customize the ship by buying enhancements is allowed
after the completion of either the bonus wave or the mother ship wave. Your
ship must first dock with the starbase; then, after re-energization, the
"enhancement menu" is presented.
Three ship enhancements are available: reduced energy use, increased fire
power, and increased shot damage. Each enhancement can be purchased and added
to your ship a maximum of three times.
The "Reduced energy use" enhancement does just what you might assume: it
reduces the rate at which your ship consumes the energy necessary to power
itself. Using your shield also consumes less energy.
The "Increased fire power" enhancement allows you to fire multiple shots
simultaneously, e.g., purchasing increased fire power the first time allows
double fire power, or two shots on the screen at once.
The "Increased shot damage" enhancement causes the shots to inflict more
damage to an alien when hit. Because the aliens have greater strength,this
enhancement is extremely valuable when you are battling the mother ship,
especially on higher levels.
The enhancement menu also allows you to skip from one to three levels, if
you are willing to pay the price. Although game play will become more
difficult, higher scores are attainable.
Enhancements are also purchased through the enhancement menu. Moving the
selection arrow to the desired enhancement will show its current status: (1)
its price in medals (see "Earning Medals"), (2) whether it is currently on the
ship (denoted by a check mark) and (3) its current availability for purchasing
(indicated by a green arrow). A red arrow means an enhancement is not
currently available. If a selected enhancement is available, it may be
purchased by pressing the fire button.
After an enhancement is purchased, it cannot be purchased again until the
next presentation of the enhancement menu, e.g., if you buy the increased fire
power enhancement, you cannot purchase it again until you see the next
enhancement menu.
To exit the enhancement menu, move the selection arrows to "resume game
play," and press the fire button.
EARNING MEDALS
Medals are awarded for 1) hitting seven consecutive aliens in the same wave
without missing, 2) destroying a mother ship thruster, or 3) defeating the
mother ship. A maximum of nine medals can be possessed at any one time.
When game play begins, you receive the number of medals equal to the level
on which you began play, e.g., if you begin on level 3, you are awarded three
medals.
The number of medals you currently possess is always displayed at the
bottom of the screen next to the medal icon.
GAME MESSAGES
During game play, various text messages informing you of upcoming
situations are displayed at the top of the screen.
SCORING
Alien - 100 * Multiplier (See below.)
Thruster - 100 * Level
Mother Ship - 1000 * Level
Efficiency Bonus - 2500
Extra ships are awarded for perfect shooting, i.e. hitting all ten aliens
in a wave without missing.
The multiplier is increased every time an alien is destroyed. The
multiplier is reset to 1 if:
(1) A shot misses completely and doesn't hit anything,
(2) Your ship is destroyed, or
(3) The wave is completed.
THE GAME KEYS
<1>-<5> - Start game play at level 1-5
Spacebar/Button 1 - Fire a shot
Ins/Button 2 - Activate energy shield
<J> - Play using joystick
<K> - Play using keyboard
<M> - Play using mouse
<P> - Pause/Unpause game
<S> - Toggle sound on/off
<F1> - Help
<F8> - Game speed menu
<F9> - Increase game speed (See below.)
<F10> - Decrease game speed (See below.)
<Ctrl><R> - Restart game
<ESC> - Quit to DOS
"Game speed" refers to the playing speed of the computer. Medium speed is
the default speed, or the speed at which a game will automatically begin. A
slower speed may be selected by pressing <F10>. A faster speed may be selected
by pressing <F9>.
If the game moves too slow in EGA mode on a 4.77 Mhz machine, you can use
the CGA mode for the game by typing "GB C" to run the game.
THE HIGH SCORE LIST
GALACTIC BATTLE keeps a list of the top ten "Galactic Warriors," a current
list of the ten highest scores and the initials of the players. Each time a
new name and score are added to the list, it is saved to disk on the current
drive.
To erase the high score list, use DOS to delete the .HSC file on the disk.
When the game is played again, the high score list file will not be found, and
the default list will be used.
THE DEMO MODE
When the game is not being played, the demo mode will run continuously. In
demo mode, you can toggle the sound on/off and also toggle between joystick or
keyboard mode.
To begin game play in the demo at levels 1-5, press the corresponding <1>-
<5> key. To start the game at level 1, press the fire button.
**** TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION ****
SYSTEM SUPPORTED
GALACTIC BATTLE will run on IBM PC/XT/AT/PS2 and 100% compatible computers.
It requires one floppy disk drive, 256K of memory, and one of the supported
graphic adapters below.
GRAPHIC ADAPTERS SUPPORTED
GALACTIC BATTLE will run on the supported systems above which use a CGA,
EGA, VGA, Hercules in simulated CGA mode, or Tandy 1000 graphics adapter. The
resolution used is 320 x 200.
The EGA, VGA, and Tandy 1000 utilize all 16 colors. The game was developed
on the EGA and looks its very best in any of the 16 color modes.
The CGA utilizes all four colors to the best of its abilities. The game
contains special graphic images colored especially for the CGA, i.e., they are
not used with the other graphic adapters. There should be no visual problems
with the mapping of the 16 colored images for EGA, VGA, and Tandy to the four
colors of CGA.
The Hercules display mode is in a dithered (but not garbled) format to
adjust to the lower screen resolution, accomplished by simulating the CGA
adapter.
SOUND EFFECTS
All sound effects are designed and implemented as background sounds, i.e.,
they will not disturb game play.
RUNNING GALACTIC BATTLE OUTSIDE BIG BLUE DISK:
To run this program outside ^1Big Blue Disk^0, type ^1GB^0.
DISK FILES THIS PROGRAM USES:
^FGB.EXE
^FGB.IMG
^FGB.CMP
^FGB.DEM
^FGB.HSC
