                                PyroPaddles II
                                     by
                                Avishay Yagoda
                                   (Pyros)
                                 Version 1.4

PyroPaddles 1 sucked, I know, it was made as a gig, I didn't really put work
into it.
BUT NOW... PyroPaddles return! this is not your ordinary " I'm top, you're
bottom, this can never end if we both can play, since all I gotta do to
not lose is to be at the centre after I hit the ball. "
This game is ROUND. Means both paddles don't just move left/right one in
front of each other, they move along a full CIRCLE, even able to pass
on eachother.
Now for stuff that actually mean something:

OBJECTIVE: Get as much points. Points are gained by making to ball fly past
           the circle. If you fail to hit the ball on your turn, your
           opponent gets a point.

TURN?: Well, even that it's possible to reach a ball after you hit it, the
       ball will just get past you. You know that you should hit the ball
       when your paddle's color is lighter than your opp's.
       at the beginning of each round, both of you can hit the ball first,
       and you can tell that by that both paddle's colors are light.

PLAYERS: PPII can be played with 2,1 and even 0 human player. In the main
         menu you can select who/what plays each paddle. The cyborg hand
         means this paddle will be controlled by the computer, and the
         keyboard means a human player controlls it.

COMPUTER PLAYER: Don't get pissed if it allways wins, I won just a few
                 rounds. It is possible if the ball hits a U-turn when the
                 computer is too far to return, but this rarely happens. A
                 better way is taking advantage over the extra-width bonus,
                 in order to bounce the ball more far than usual.
                 There are two types of computer players, one tries to take
                 bonuses (cyborg's hand with gold coins) and the other one
                 doesn't. One against eachother, the type of computer player
                 allmost doesn't matter (exept of 3 strikes bonuses), but
                 it's much a pain to play against the bonus taker, since it
                 will try to take the flip-keys bonus. Computer only aims
                 for beneficial bonus, it doesn't care whether it hits other
                 bonuses or not.

KEYS: PLAYING KEYS:
      (Default, type "pp2.exe setup" in the DOS command prompt to change it.)
         Red human player: Left and Right (arrows)
         Blue human player: Q and E
         Pause/Unpause: Pause (duh)
         Exit to main menu: Escape
      MENU KEYS:
         Left/Right: select paddle
         Up/Down: select paddle's controller
         ENTER: start playing
         Escape: Quit

BONUS: little box on the playing circle. Hitting it will cause various
       effects accoring to effect's type. appears and disappears (if not
       hit after a certain amount of time) in a constant frequancy.
       blinks a little before you can hit it.

BONUS TYPES:
(HP=hitting paddle, the paddle who hit the bonus.
 NHP=the paddle who didn't activate the bonus)
1) Extra Width : [<->] : Makes HP wider.
2) Phantom Balls :  [`*.] : Generates two balls that you CAN'T hit, that
                            flys along with the real ball. The phantom balls
                            will only appear on NHP's turn.
3) Flip keys [><] : Switches NHP's keys (left=right, right=left) for a
                    little while. If HP hits a second Flip keys bonus WHILE
                    the first one is on, effect will remain until end of
                    round.                     
4) Slow Ball [.*'] : Ball bouncing off NHP will fly slower. Ball hitting HP
                     will have normal speed.
5) Doggy [^O^] : Generates a doggy that fetches the ball from NHP, and sends
                 it right back to NHP. Disappears after one hit.
6) Redirect Ball [/-o] : Randomly changes the ball's direction. Change is not
                         very radical, but it can be a pain.
7) No Victory [<V<] : Make the turn state as if the round just started.
8) U-Turn [/\] : Switches turns, ball does a 180 degrees turn.
9) 3 Strikes [/o] : Hitting this bonus box three times (in the same round)
                    will cause HP to automatically win.

Making Notes:
I drew all the GFX in PSP.
Used Allegro, the game programming library, for screen output routines,
and for creating the .dat file.
Wrote and compiled the whole thing in DJGPP and RHIDE.

Versions:
1.0 First version.
1.2 Computer doesn't lose without using bonuses, can't even win itself.
    Added: now you can select whether computer will try to grab beneficial
    bonuses or not. 3 strikes bonus work.
1.4 computer's thinking method improved, it now tries to bounce the ball to
    where the opponent will have as less time to aim back as possible, not
    to the fartherest place from the opponent (though these two points are
    close). At last 3 strikes bonus fully works, with blue player too.
    Now there's a keys setup, accessed by typing "pp2.exe setup" in the
    command prompt. After you finish the setup, the changes are saved and
    the game begins.
    Corrected this text file.

DO NOT SELL THIS!!! I DON'T!

yagoda@netvision.net.il
www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/6993
