/===========================================================================\
||                      OVER 0.09    November 1997                         ||
\===========================================================================/

Minimum System: 386 with SVGA (Vesa 1.2 or higher req.)
Ram required:   1 meg should be ample!
HD space:       ~300kb 
OS:             Has been reported as working in:
                Win 95
                Win 3.11
                DOS 6.x (with CWSDPMI)
                OS/2

This is a bug fixing release mainly.  Due to hardware problems and upgrades
I haven't been programming much lately.  Everything seems to be sorted out
now (fingers crossed) so I can start work on it again.

A new commandline switch has been added to allow control of the scrolling
speed.  The default speed is right for my P166, but you may need to change
it for best results.  The format is:

OVER -sx        where x is the speed, from 1 (slow) to 5 (fast)
                                                          
*****************************************************************************
Old save game files will NOT work with this version - Sorry!  Highscore
tables will be fine, however you may wish to delete your current one and
start again, as I have been more generous with the points in this version!
*****************************************************************************

Let me know what you think, and check back to the website, I'll upload
new versions as I work on it.  I have added a ideas/submission page to
my web site which will allow you to join the mailing list for information
about updates.

This game needs your help!  Email all your ideas/comments about it to me,
or post to rec.games.roguelike.misc which I read regularly.  

Any ideas I receive will be seriously considered.  

KEYS:

Arrowkeys/keypad        Move around
5                       Do nothing (rest) - note, keypad has to be in
                        numlock mode for this to work.
shift-q                 Quit
shift-s                 Save and Quit
I                       inventory screen
,                       pickup
ESC                     Leave inventory screen
'A' - 'L'               Select item (on inv screen)
                        then: 'E' to equip that item
                          or  'D' to drop it
                              'Q' to quaff potions
                              'R' to read scrolls
'1' - '6'               Unequip item (on inv screen)
'>'                     Descend staircase

The ability to print out high scores is now included.
Run Over with the -v parameter ['v' for view] and it will display the top
500 list to the screen.  Just redirect it to the printer or a file,

e.g.    OVER >SCORES.TXT -v     Will save the scores in SCORES.TXT
        OVER >lpt1 -v           Will print out the scores 

CTRL-C should force an exit from the game if all else fails (i.e. you hit
a bug!  Please let me know if the game locks up on you, and what happened
to cause it).

Once again, your feedback on this project is VITAL!

Jeff Barrow
jbarrow@ihug.co.nz
http://crash.ihug.co.nz/~jbarrow

This program is written in C using DJGPP. 

=============================================================================
File Listing

OVER.EXE        The main game executable - run this one!
OVER.TXT        This file
CWSDPMI.EXE     DPMI manager for those people not running windows
CWSDPMI.DOC     DPMI manager doc file
EMU387.DXE      FPU emulator for those with non-fpu machines

=============================================================================
Acknowledgements

Darren Hebden for support, ideas and most of all those terrific SVGA tiles!
Various others who have emailed me with ideas & comments

The creators of Rogue, Hack, Nethack, Moria, Angband and ADOM.
If you enjoy this game, be sure to download the above.

=============================================================================
History

VERSION 0.09
- Fixed bug where WC and AC were not being set correctly by the auto-
  equip routine
- Fixed bug where you fall asleep at random times.
- Added a proximity check to the monster movement routine, they they won't
  charge towards you unless they 'hear' you approaching.  Should help when
  going to a new level.
- Added visit webpage option in the main menu.  Uses Win95 Start command to
  open up the default browser.  Can't seem to keep the game alive when doing
  this - so it is effectively another quit command!

VERSION 0.08
- Matched the potion names to the potion tile colours
- Added commandline argument to alter scrolling speed
- Fixed the string input routine so it worked better with null strings
- Added the title screen logo (supplied by Darren Hebden)
- Fixed the bug in the palette loading routine that affected some colours
- Changed font routine over to 8x16 font with anti-aliasing, instead of 16x16
  Font supplied by Darren Hebden
- Replaced random number generator with a (hopefully) more random routine
- Rearranged tile ordering system
- Fixed bug which allowed you to read or drink any item!
- Removed bug which let you get your HP's back at no risk (hehehe)
- Changed starting hitpoints so they are always maximum
- Added SVGA support using Vesa 1.2, converted all graphics routines, added
  tiles drawn by Darren Hebden
- Added potions
- Fixed bug in game delete routine which stopped games being deleted for
  characters with long names
- Added print score routine [syntax OVER -v]
- Added several new weapons
- Added support for different tiles for walls/floors depending on player
  depth in dungeon
- Added 88 new monsters
- Added menu for selecting your class
- Added a couple more scrolls
- Added scroll alias support
- Made few monsters appear on higher levels
- Gave more score points for experience and gold
- Changed LOS code so stairs are always visible once found
- Starting items are auto-equipped now
- Changed mini-map code to use 7x7 tiles for display instead of pixels

VERSION 0.07, 6th July 1997
- Revised object handling code
- Added item aliases (for hiding unidentified potions/scrolls/items)
- Added identification code for removing aliases
- Added potions
- Added code to wait for a keypress before removing the graphics screen
  when dead
- Updated inventory code to allow drinking of potions
- Added magical event codes (for shared use by all magic items/monsters)
- Made objects/monster numbers proportional to the amount of empty space
  in the dungeon, not the size of the dungeon
- Fixed bug in random name generator which sometimes corrupted object tables
- Message window preserved when going into inventory
- Hooray!  Fixed the bug which caused the game to crash occasionally when
  picking up objects.  This was a problem with my logic, not the code, so
  it took longer to find!  Incidentally, this was in the game since 0.02,
  but only really became apparent in 0.06.

VERSION 0.06, 29 March 1997
- Fixed MAJOR bugs in save/load game routines!  Your 0.05 save games will
  no longer work now (not that they were working properly anyway!)  This
  should fix random crashes after restoring a save game.
- Added 'rooms' - large open areas where the monsters like to gather.
- Fixed bug where keypad '.' would save and quit - now only 'S' does that
- Added a minimap - will eventually be on a scroll, but you can preview
  it now with '#' - for debugging only of course :-)
- Line of Sight added, currently only the areas in your direct line of
  sight are highlighted, allowing you to see the items/monsters in them.
  Should items remain visible at all times, or just in LOS? Let me know
  your thoughts
- Added a new type of maze, this one is generated by drawing a lot of
  rooms and then connecting them with passages, instead of the other
  way round!  Game randomly selects between the different types of maze.
- Added highscore table code
- Made weapons one/two handed - no more equipping 2h swords & gold shields
  together
- Added traditional delete save game after death code
- Changed default name - now if you don't enter a name, you get a random
  name (usually unpronouncable!)
- Bug Fixes/Small changes/Optimizations, too many to list

VERSION 0.05, 10 January 1997
Back to work this week :-<  Only weekends and evenings to program now!
- Optimized graphics routines/scroll speed
- Changed the screen draw routine to allow for scrolling around large maps
  This will be great for designing huge non-random levels.
- Have made the size of maps random as well & adjusted number of items and
  monsters to be relative to map size.
- Escape key now aborts unwanted inventory actions
- Drew a title screen and game options menu
- Added a load/save routine (note: save formats are subject to change between
  versions as the game develops)
- Changed the updating so that when you move into a monsters attack range,
  the screen is redrawn so that you can see the monster attacking you.

VERSION 0.04, 3 January 1997
- Added monster structures
- Put in the item level limiter (so you don't find titan blades on level 1
  anymore!), fixed bug which allowed only a few items to be generated.
- Put in monster display routine
- Put in simple monster movement routine (really silly at the moment, but
  will increase the monster move AI as I go)
- Moved inventory code into separate include file, added code to allow for
  dropping items
- Added code to initialise monster data arrays & added 33 monsters
- Added combat routines & death code for player and monsters
- Added rest key and recover hitpoints code
- Added gain level routine
- Added a random element to the monster move routine - If the monster can't
  make a sensible move, it will make a random one.  Also defined several
  types of movement - charge, flee, random move, stationary.
- Added '>< characters to the font
- Executable compression used
- Added stairs down & code to make them work - old levels are thrown away
  at the moment, they will become persistant later on.
- Added class code, with separate stats & items for each class
- Put in debug stuff

VERSION 0.03, 13 December 1996
- Added armour, helmets & shields
- Calculates weaponclass and armourclass now
- Rewrote the code which initialises the items to allow for easier/faster
  addition of lots of new items
- Chopped out bits of code and put them into separate modules for easier
  editing of the main game code.
- Added 116 items
- This version was released early to replace 0.02 which didn't include the
  DPMI manager for DOS users.

VERSION 0.02, 6 December 1996
- Font/graphics data integrated into main executable using a bin->.h
  converter
- Arrow keys move around as well as keypad now
- 'I' command partially implemented
- ',' command to pick up items implemented
- Status line put in
- Lots of code ripped out and replaced with more efficient/useful code.
  (mostly invisible changes, but had to be done!)
- Rewrote all the item code to have items stored in a list, instead of being
  linked to the map position - allows multiple items per square.
- Added code to reveal the map as the player walks around
- Added status line to bottom of inventory screen
- Put the graphics code into a separate include file
- Put in a couple of test weapons
- added equip/unequip basic code

VERSION 0.01, 30 November 1996
- Simple version, just with the graphics in and a few bags of gold.

=============================================================================
LICENCE:

This program may be freely distributed provided all files are transferred
and no modifications are made to the program, data or text files.
This program is to be used on the understanding that the author is not
responsible for any damages resulting from use/misuse of this program,
although every effort is made to ensure that the program is bug-free and
harmless.

=============================================================================
CONVERSIONS:

At this stage of development, there will be no source releases or
conversions to other platforms - I'd prefer to concentrate on getting one
codebase to work before porting to others <g>

=============================================================================
THE FUTURE:

Things that will be added in the next release 0.10 (hopefully):

- Help files
  In-game documentation to assist newbies, as well as identification of
  on screen items/monsters by a cursor based id system.
  This was going to be in 0.08 but ended up taking too long to implement -
  will be in next release though
- Doors for you to close to stop the monsters (unless they can open them
  of course!)
- More scrolls
- Rings
- Yep, even more bugfixes!

I'm going to try and release more versions more often - this will hopefully
give you a keener sense of the work involved rather than 1 version every
4 months.

Things that I have in mind for the game (long term):

- Monster inventories
- Special levels loaded from disk + editor for designing these
  (possibly public release of editor so players can build their own levels
  for inclusion in release of new versions of the game)
- A plot!
- A win sequence
- Unique items
- More monsters
- Quests

All these changes are vapourware at the moment - don't ask me when they'll
be included, some things on that list are easier than others, but rest
assured the game will continue to evolve.  Let me know what you
think is important/cool for the game and I'll consider adding it!

Jeff.
