'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' PARACHUTELESS JOE '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' MSX Game for the MsxDev'05 by Paxanga Soft. 2005. For MSX1 with at least 16k of RAM and 16k of VRAM. This game is totally for free. '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' [0] Introduction.- Parachuteless Joe is the first game of Paxanga Soft which is 100% programmed in ASM. Is there a better way to start that a 32ks ROM for the MSX1? And it's 100% free too. Don't take it too seriously. I am not used to make serious games, and this time with more reason. It's a bit like the life itself, you start fine and later you finish as you know, but the most important is what you did meanwhile. So, I hope you will enjoy it, understanding this concept :) And make it with style! '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' [1] Skysurf.- > History of skysurf: 1980: In California, parachutist people started to experience with their own bodies to glide. After that they spreaded the standing up and sitting falling techniques. 1988: In France they started to do snowboarding jumps, but these ones were inappropiate 1989: The board and the hooks were designed. The basic positions were conceived: loop, tonneau, twist and helicopter. 1990: First tandem. 1993: First world tournament. > Positions: Standing up: It means unstabled balance because the centre of gravity is placed over the push. Horizontal downwards: This let the opening in a different position of the vertical but the athlete is not forced to release the board. Being seated: This position shows great safety: stable balance and the centre centre of gravity downwards. It lets to control the board moving the feet position and modifying the legs rotation way. > Free fall: The Skysurf Team's performance begins at 15.000 feet. The parachute opens at 2.500 feet. The Skysurfer does a free fall at about 180 Kmph and moves horizontally at about 50 mph. This descent lasts 50-70 seconds while he does rotations and aerobatic acts and feels the pressure of the wind over the board at the same time. The board slides over the ultimate wave... the sky. But Joe is a clear-ideas man. He thinks that life is for living it as it comes and even if you smash against floor in the end, it is better to do it with style and guts. So he does not need a parachute. If he smashes several times, doing more and more positions and proving agility and reflex he will be remembered as a real macho man and will become part of history. He will be, or course, the best skysurfer ever too. Besides a new era will start with him, the behaviour study and human philosophy. You can believe it or not, but it will happen. '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' [2] Game control.- The game can be controlled with cursors and spacebar or with joystick in port 1. In both modes Joe moves all around the screen by using the 8-way directions and makes the aerobatic acts by pressing shooting button + key combinations. You can cancel the game by pressing the ESC key. In the menu screen just up and down work to move through the options and pressing fire we can select the desired one. In the records table, if the player is good enough, keys from A to Z, spacebar, "." and "!" can be used to write the name. The BS key can be used to erase and Return to confirm.. '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' [3] Menus.- The menu shows 3 optiosn: > One Lonely Friki: One player to finish all the levels then Joe can be famous. > Two Alternate Frikis: Two players alternatively. Only one jump per player to demonstrate who is the best. > Hall of Frikis: To watch the Top Scorers list. They are the good ones. Besides, if the game is played with MSX computers over MSX1 the screen refresh can be selected pressing the SELECT key. (50 or 60 Hz). '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' [4] The Game.- The goal od the game is easy, just fall and crash. This time nobody will say that I've made it difficult! But, if you want to get a good score, there are some things to think about while our player falls: > Checkpoints: You must go through them as much as you can. It is really difficult to go through all of them so is is not necessary. But if you don't go through too many of them then it won't worth... So be prepared! Every Checkpoint scores 30 points. > Flags: The same as Checkpoints. Get many of them and if you want to pass to the next level. The main differences with Checkpoints are: 1) Flags are harder to get and 2) they score 100 points. > Lifes: Joe's heads are around the sky, but there are not much of them. It is difficult to get them, but if you pick at least one you can try the level again just in the case that you die. Every life scores 20 points. > Positions: The positions or aerobatic acts make the fall more interesting. These are your last attempt to create something cool in your life so you should learn to do them. But of course you could lose many checkpoints or flags if you are not concentrated on the fall. You can do aerobatic acts if you keep the spacebar pressed and then do some cursor key combinations. It is not necessary to do them as fast as possible, so make sure that the movements are the correct ones. Every aerobatic act has a cursor key combination and a scoring depending on the difficulty. You can see them in the chapter [7] of this manual. > Rook. This is evil contrasting with this happy game. A rook will appear fluttering around the screen if you are much time in the upper side of the screen which makes the game easier. If it touchs Joe he will lose the control until we balance him again by pressing quickly the fire button. When the rook is on the screen, you can't make any aerobatics. Then finally your fall won't be so easy as you could expected. The goal is get a good scoring then you can "spread" it with your friends and feel like you are a hero or something. But, of course, that score will be increased as many as enough checkpoints, flags and aerobatic acts will be done to access the next level. Difficulty level will be higher after passing some levels in this order: Easy --> Medium --> Hard After completing the last level Joe will be a hero. After falling Joe will crash the floor. Even then you can be a good skysurfer and try to land over the target. At 2 players mode, there is just one fall for each player at a random level, and they must get higher score than the other player. Who gets more points wins. If they draw, they must play another round. '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' [5] Scoreboard.- The scoreboards in Parachuteless Joe are divided in 2 parts, left and right. To the left we can found (up to down): > Level: Actual level. > Altitude Graphic: It shows the free fall path of Joe. > Speed: Kmph when going down. To the right we have the real scoreboard, from upside to down: > Aerobatic act scoring: Points of the last aerobatic act. > Aerobatic acts list: Last aerobatic acts done and number of them. > Score: Totual scoring of this stage. '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' [6] Count.- After finishing the stage and do a good hole, the scoring count is made. The next information is shown: > Total scoring of that level and next to it the maximum amount of all the game This is in this way because the scoring in each level are not added, only the highest is stored. After finishing the game this one will be the good one and will be shown as the Top Score if higher than at least one of the general ranking. > Number of Checkpoints that we have missed, and if it is not that high then it shows if we can pass to the next level. > Number of Flags picked up and if the minimum of them to go to the next level has been got. > Quality of the aerobatic acts and if it is enough to go to the next level. > Target Bonus: If we crash into the center of the target then 1000 points are added. > Life. It shows if a life has been collected then if the level is not passed we can try it again. After valuating the results it is decided if we can pass to the next level. So the minimum of Flags, Checkpoints or Aerobatic Acts have been surpassed. If we can't go to the next level and no life is collected, the game is finished. In this case if the maximum scoring is over at least one of the Ranking we will store our name, until our MSX will be turned off. In the 2players mode only the maximum scoring of each player is took into account. So the higher one is the winner of the game. If they draw, then they must repeat the round. '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' [7] Summary.- Go through most of Checkpoints and get most of the Flags and do aerobatic acts. The experience will tell you the correct amount of them to go to the next level. About aerobatics, you must know it is a bit more important the variety than the quantity. > Checkpoints: 30 points. > Flags: 100 points. > Life: 20 points + possibilityt of trying again in the same level if it is not finished. To do the aerobatic acts press fire and while holding it pressed do it with cursors. Some ones are easy: > Get the board: Down-Down-Up ("-" means no pressing of cursors) > Loop: Left-Right-Left-Right > Free Feet: Up-Down-Left-Right > Somersault: Down-Up-Down-Down. > Horizontal Somersault: Left+DownLeft+Down-Left ("+" means pressing at the same time) And the rest ones you must to find them by your self! It is not that difficult! When finishing try to center on the target you can win 1000 points. '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Credits.- > Program, Graphics and Design: MsxKun > Music: Darth Fistro & Terrific Tunes > Beta-testing: Darth Fistro > English translation of this manual: Saeba '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Greetings.- To everybody who have tested the game in the last MSX Users Meeting of Barcelona, for their support and opinions. To Karoshi Corporation for doing a so interesting contest and to everybody who create new games for it, they keep the MSX1 alive. Also to the ones who still develop software or hardware for MSX or create magazines web pages or whatever. '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' (c) 2005 by Paxanga Soft http://paxangasoft.cjb.net e-mail: paxangasoft@yahoo.es