 - EchoStyle  Presents ----------------------------------------------------
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|                                   PowerWorm                             |
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|                               A game with a worm                        |
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|                                     MANUAL                              |
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Note: f you have word 97: I recommend you read PWORM.DOC in the docs dir,
it looks a lot nicer :)


INDEX

1. INTRODUCTION
2. SPECIFICATIONS
3. INSTALLING AND RUNNING THE GAME
4. THEMES
5. TROUBLESHOOTING
6. SUPPORT



1.INTRODUCTION

Welcome to PowerWorm, the game with a worm! 
PowerWorm is a nibbles-clone, an old arcade-classic by Microsoft in QBasic.
I started PoweWorm when I saw an ad on Neozones, a challenge to make the best wormgame. 
So I started this thing. But due to technical difficulties the
game wasn't released in time (my harddisk broke down, and I couldn't
do anything for a month!) A beta was luckily already released to my
friends to test, se as soon as my PC was restored, I could continue,
restart from the beta. But by then the contest already was
finshed. I don't know who won. So I released it like any other
game, and here it is, for you to play. ;)

2. SPECIFICATIONS

Requirements:

An IBM compatible PC
386 or higher Processor
2 MB EMS
An Extended Memory Manager (like EMM386)
MSDOS 3.0 or higher
A 256 color VGA compatible card and monitor

Also Supported:
Soundblaster or 100% compatible SFX Card
Soundblaster or 100% compatible midi music card
Joystick/Gamepad

3. INSTALLING AND RUNNING THE GAME

To install, unzip the pworm.zip file to a directory using PKUnzip or Winzip, go to DOS
(if you have windows, a dos box might work), and change to the directory where you
unzipped the pworm files. (eg: C:\>cd pworm)
If you want to use a sound card for midi music, first type
SBMIDI to enable the driver. (Don't just click on it from
windows, it will unload as soon as you go back to the GUI)
You will need a soundblaster or 100% compatibel music card
for this. If you own a wavetable or MPU401 compatible device,
then type SBMIDI /3 to enable it. Now type pworm to run.
The POWERWORM short intro will play, press escape to
skip it. The first time you run, you will be asked to
answer 3 questions:

- SFX
The computer will ask you if you want Sound effects during the game, you will need a soundblaster
 or a 100% compatible sound card for this. Type Y(es) or N(o)
- MIDI
The computer will ask you if you want MIDI music during the game, you will need a soundblaster
 or a 100% compatible sound card and the SBMIDI driver loaded for this.
- Computer Speed
Then, you will be asked about your computer's speed (don't lie ;)
This will Modify the delay and the speed of the game to run good on your PC. Because the speed of your PC is dependant from a lot of different things, the speed will almost never be right. During the game (when you're controlling the worm) press +/- on the numeric keypad to change the delay.
 The higher the delay goes (+), the slower the game will go, and vice versa. Then, when the peed is good, press * on the numeric keypad to save the changes.

Playing the game

When you run the game, you will get the powerworm screen.
Press a key. The scren will become grey and a little menu
will appear in the upper left corner. In that menu you can
select your theme. Select your theme using the up and down
arrows and enter to continue. The game will then begin.

What to do

You control a worm. The worm will move. It won't stop moving.
You can direct it using the left and right arrow keys. You must
take as many sprites as you can. A sprite is an object appearing
in the playing field. A sprite can be many forms, depending
on the theme you chose. In the army theme it will be a little
flag. You can take a sprite by worming over it.
The more sprites you get, the higher your score
get, but the longer your worm gets. The worm may not
crash into the wall or himself, if he does, the game's
over. You may understand that the higher your score goes,
the harder the game gets, b'cause the worm keeps getting
longer and longer, and he can't crash in to himself. The
purpace is to get the highest score. Maybe it's hard to
understand, but just play it and you'll see.

In-Game keys

Left arrow  : Rotate left
Right arrow : Rotate right
+           : Decrease speed, increase delay
-           : Increase speed, decrease delay
*           : Save current settings
P           : Pause/Resume game
Esc         : kill yourself

In-Highscore-screen keys

If you get into the highscoresk, type your name and press enter, otherwise, press enter anyway.
In the bottom of the screen, a menu will appear, this is what it will say
Enter  : Continue  (continues the game, you may try again)
Escape : Clear (Clears the highscores)
X      : Exit (returns to DOS)

4.THEMES

When you run the game you will get the theme menu in the upper left
corner. This is where you select your theme. You will notice, that
when you restart the game and select another theme than the one you
selected the first time, the game will look different.
Themes are collections of items (SFX, BG Music, BG drawing, Palette, Objects)
which adjust the game to a subject. You can select your theme when
you run PowerWorm. There are three themes included:

* Army
* Techno
* Mexico

You can make your own themes. There will be a tutorial and special
program released for this soon. Come and take a look at the site to see
if it isn't there yet.

http://come.to/qbmax

Then click EchoStyle, go to the Games section, and click PowerWorm.<br>

5. TROUBLESHOOTING

Q&A

I don't get SFX
- You must have a soundblaster or 100% compatible card to play SFX
- Check other porgrams, your speakers/headphones might have a bad connection,
  or your soundcard might be badly configured
- Check the configuration, run RESET.EXE to re-answer the questions on MIDI,
  SFX and Computer Speed
- If these don't work your soundcard might not be compatible with DMAPlay

I don't get MUSIC
- You must have a soundblaster or 100% compatible card to play MUSIC
- Check other porgrams, your speakers/headphones might have a bad connection,
  or your soundcard might be badly configured
- Check the configuration, run RESET.EXE to re-answer the questions on MIDI,
  SFX and Computer Speed
- Check the midi file, it should be smaller than 32 K
- Check if you loaded SBMIDI
- Try to load OLDMIDI.EXE instead of SBMIDI.EXE
- If these don't work your soundcard might not be compatible with QMidi,
  contact jesse dorland for more info: jessedorland@hotmail.com

The game goes way to fast/slow
- Run RESET.EXE, you can than change the speed setting
- You can manually alter the delay during the game by pressing +/- on the
  numeric keypad when you are playing, then press * on the numeric keypad
  to save the new settings.

I have a wavetable/MPU401 device and I get synthesizer/no music.
- Run SBMIDI /3

I get a SBMIDI not loaded error, but I did load the driver
- Check if the driver loaded itself on interrupt 80h, otherwise it won't work
- If you're running from windows, don't just first click SBMIDI then PWORM,
  go to a dos box and load the two programs in the same dos box
- try to run OLDMIDI instead of SBMIDI

When I try to run the uncompiled version of PowerWorm, QB says it can't find something.
- You need QB4.5 with the media library to run this program (media.qlb)

I get an error that I don't have EMS, but I have lots of RAM
- Run from windows, or use an extendee memory manager, like EMM386
- PowerWorm will need 6 handles= 28 pages of ram = about 2 megs 


Things to mind

When you forgot to load SBMIDI, so you don't have any music, then, during the
game, you alter your speed and save the settings (*), you will save
NO MUSIC, and there won't be any anymore. Run RESET.EXE to turn the midi
back on.

Yes, you can use parts of this program in one of your own, but
you have to ask me first. If you wan't to use one of the libs,
contact their authors. I am not responsible for any damage done
by this program to your PC.






6.SUPPORT


EchoStyle's Webpage:
qbasic to the max:
http://come.to/qbmax
then click ECHOSTYLE

Email: qbmax@usa.net

7. CREDITS


Programming
J.Hendrickx
QBMAX@usa.net

QMidi
Jesse Dorland
jessedorland@hotmail.com

Blast lib
Andrew L. Ayers

DMAPlay
Mike huff

The guy from
the EMS lib,
whoever that is

My friends for beta testing:
(in alphabetical order :)
Gert Demol
Nicolas Magnies (nicoLOL)
Philippe Michiels (Happy Groover)
Ruben Wiedijk (Balor)






8. LEGAL STUFF

LEGAL STUFF: POWERWORM (c) ECHOSTYLE 1998. THIS PROGRAM IS
PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT LAW AND DISTRIBUTED AS FREEWARE ON AN
AS-IS BASE. YOU CAN FREELY DISTRIBUTE IT AS LONG AS YOU DON'T
MAKE ANY CHANGES. YOU MAY USE PATS OF THIS IN YOUR OWN PROGRAM,
BUT YOU MUST CONTACT ME FIRST. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY MATERIAL
OR PSYCHOLOGICAL DAMAGE DONE YOU THIS PROGRAM, READ README.TXT
BEFORE RUNNING THE GAME.





















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