
            The Carnage Beneath  - By Allen Bosak        April 2001
						
					  email:     dioncullen@hotmail.com

 Prelude
*****************
  'Don't spend it all at once', tells you your father. 
  You shove the ten-dollar bill in your pocket and curse him under your 
breath while you walk away.
  'How long can I last here with ten lousy bucks!', you grunt.
  You look around and see some of the rides that are scattered around the 
park turned temporary carnival site. On the mini roller coaster, thrill-
seekers shriek as their vehicle plunges down a steep decline. In the opposite 
direction, dodgem car patrons moan as two teenage boys use their car to ram 
the other drivers into the outside walls. 
  After walking for 20 minutes, you become annoyed at having all the dough 
still in your pocket.
  'Everyone at this damn carnival has found something to do except me'. you 
think depressingly.
  Queues of people were getting dizzy on the loop to loop. Others were 
finding out their destinies in a psychic's tarot cards. Like everything else 
you've seen, those two possibilities also didn't appeal to you. Learning 
calculus during math's class supplied you with enough experience of 
dizziness, and about the only thing you want to know about the future is 
when Nine Inch Nails where going to tour again. 
  You consider using the money to catch a bus home, but instead turn into
an aisle with game booths arrayed along both sides. On passing each booth 
you swivel your head and examine it's contents, discovering either an 
inappropriate children's game or something you wouldn't even waste monopoly 
money on. 
  You stop after having inspected less than a dozen stalls. Near you a child 
finishes poking a collection of ping pong balls into a porcelain clown's 
mouth and walks away with a furry animal toy.   
 'There's no point going further..., not if it continues on with this kind 
of stuff', you grump.
  While contemplating whether to continue on or leave, you notice a crowd
around one of the larger game booths at the other end of the aisle. Your 
excitement builds as you wonder what has drawn a swarm of people to one 
particular stall. Curiously you start toward the gathering, shuffling through 
the moderate traffic also walking in the aisle.
   When you finally arrive, you stop at the perimeter of the large crowd and
look at the stall. Manning the front corners are two tall LED displays which 
stream an assortment of messages up and down their lengths. A scoreboard and
game clock, embedded in a lengthy beam of wood, hang in-between the two 
displays. Further up, nesting on the roof, is a neon sign, the illuminated 
tubes forming the words 'The Carnage Beneath'. 
  Directly outside of the booth is a wooden bench. It's polish is overcome 
with scratches and occasional graffiti. A person currently playing the game 
stands poised behind it, a rifle resting underneath his young chin. Almost 
every second he fires a bullet at objects inside the stall.
  You peer into the stall's interior. Along the back wall, stretching from 
one side of the booth to the other, are a number of mechanical trolleys. 
Rolling along on each trolley are aluminum cans, a large portion of them 
having gaping holes in their sides, the result of a bullet's passage.
 'This is more like it'. you think happily. 'There's is something here that's 
not crummy'.
  You eagerly move into the crowd, find a position that allows you to see both 
the player and the inside of the stall, and stand and watch.
  'The player's quite skilled', you think after a few minutes of studying him.
You observe his finger rapidly squeeze the trigger, sending a volley of 
bullets into the stall. The sounds of cans rupturing and bullets ricocheting 
are echoed back as some of the bullets hit their metal targets, others 
slamming into the wall beyond. A number of the struck cans are knocked off of
their perch from the force of the bullet and finish up on the stone floor, 
rattling briefly before they come to rest.
  Steadily the player conquers each level, though each time with an 
increasingly smaller amount left on the game clock. After completing level 
six, he rests the rifle down by his jeans and exhales in relief.
  You look over to the clock and discover that the player has finished the 
level with only a second of time remaining. 'He only just made that one', you 
think, and wonder how he will fare on the next, more difficult level. 
  After a brief rest, the player gets in stance and brings the rifle from 
his side to it's position under his chin, ready to start. When the first set 
of cans edge onto the trolleys, he swings the rifle toward them and begins 
shooting.
  On previous levels, the player was able to take a little time in preparing 
each shot. Now an urgency has taken over in response to the difficulty of the 
level. You witness shot after shot hail upon the booth's contents and against 
it's walls, the barrage ceasing only while the player reloads his weapon.
  On his first two attempts, the player fails to complete the level. Sweat 
that had been light only a level ago starts to stream down his face as he 
wait's anxiously for his last chance to begin. He uses the sleeve of his 
T-shirt to mop some of the moisture away, looking at the overcast sky as if 
to attribute the mild weather for his perspiration. 
  Family members of the player begin to clap and cheer as their relative 
attempts the level for the final time. Individuals from the crowd also offer 
their encouragement to the struggling player.
  All the support appears to help him. During the first minute he rakes up 
enough points to make advancing to the next level a possibility. More of the 
crowd gets behind him, ahwing or ohhing depending on whether his shot hits or 
misses.
 'All he needs to do is keep it up' you think.  
  Late in the second minute however, after a promising start, the player's
accuracy starts to falter. Multiple shots now sail past a target before a 
bullet would eventually strike it. The player, unable to control his 
frustration at constantly missing, shoves the rifle viscously against the
bench, causing the booth attendant to issue him a warning. 
  When the clock enters it's last minute, you know it will reach zero before 
the player can accumulate enough points. The player, probably also sensing 
his almost hopeless odds of triumph, unleashes a fierce, final assault that's 
more a release of anger than a tactic to inspire victory.
  When his time runs out, the player places the weapon down on the bench and 
leaves through a path created for him in the crowd. The people hovering 
around begin to murmur in anticipation of who will play next. Before anyone
else decides upon playing, you march through the crowd and fork over your 
dad's money. 
  After picking up the rifle, you briefly turn around and notice the 
previous player taking a look back as he exits the outer edge of the crowd. 
The scoreboard that tallied his score has been reset. The targets he 
destroyed have been replaced. All that remains of his efforts, is the 
carnage beneath....
   You turn back around and begin shooting.



Additional Credits
************************
- Fade routines by Philipp Lenssen
- Keyboard handler by Joe Huber Jr
- Rockwall and rockfloor taken from Rise of the Triads by Apogee Software
- Can explosion routine by Andrew L Ayers
- Intro bullet flight-path created from Hydroxide's Starfield program
- QMIDI v4.1 by Jesse Dorland
- SNDSETUP.EXE created partly from QMIDI code
- Wav playing code by Mike Huff              
- Wav files collected from various sites across the internet. Edited later.  


Game Requirements
******************
640KB EMS memory free
Mouse
Sound Blaster or compatible card 

Loading game
************************
To run game with sound and music use: 
-CARNAGE.BAT 

To run game without sound or music use:
-NOMUSIC.BAT 

Sound & Music
**************
This game attempts sound card auto detection on startup. If this proves 
unsuccessful you have two options. The first is to run SNDSETUP.EXE and 
configure the sound card yourself. For this option, you need to enter 
the type of sound card you have, and it's baseport and 8 bit/low DMA 
value.  The second option is to use NOMUSIC.BAT, which will run the 
game without sound or music.

Important note
***************
By pressing F1 during the game, help screens containing much of the 
information below can be found, with the benefit of graphical aids
to the explanations provided.

How to play
************
  The aim of The Carnage Beneath is to acquire points by shooting the 
numerous cans on the trolleys. A certain amount of points are required
(See 'STATUS BOX' section) in order to pass to the subsequent level, with 
a total of 8 levels present.
  A sight scope is used for the bullets ultimate destination and a 5 round 
chamber housing the bullets is used to shoot the cans. When required, 
chamber is reloaded by shooting the brown bench, located at the bottom of 
the screen.
  Each type of can is worth a different amount of points (See 'CAN POINTS' 
section) and extra points can be achieved by bonus plays (See 'BONUS 
PLAYS' section). A time limit is imposed on every level which you must 
acquire the level's required points within. A further threat on each level
is dynamite sticks which strip time from the clock if they detonate, but 
five bonuses are included that improve a player's capabilities (See 'BONUS 
ICONS' section)  
  After completion of each level, a number of bonuses concerning your 
gameplay are tallied up and added to your overall score (See 'BONUS 
POINTS SCREEN' section).

 
Controls
*********
 Esc            - Quit/Skip Intro
 F1             - Help
 F5	        - Sound on/off
 F6		- Music on/off
 F10	 	- Quick Death
 P              - Pause
 LM button      - Shoot
 RM button      - Credits/Point Remaining


STATUS BOX
***********
  On each level start up and by pressing the right mouse button, a box  
will be displayed on the lower half of the screen. The amount of credits 
you have left is displayed here and also how many points are required to 
proceed to the next level. If the required number is 10000, then 10000 
more points are needed to complete the level.


CAN POINTS
***********
  The four types of cans are worth a different amount of points to one
another. Can Points are listed below.

Cola Can - 100 points
Soda Can - 200 points
Icet Can - 300 points
Milk Can - 400 points

BONUS PLAYS
************
  As you progress through the 8 levels, shooting cans randomly will not be
enough to guarantee successful completion of a level. Maximum points can be 
acquired by aiming for bonus plays. The bonus plays are listed below.

Triple Line Hit Bonus  - 600 Points
Gained by shooting all three cans of a single release along the three 
lowest trolleys.

Three of a kind Bonus  - 700 Points
Obtained by shooting three cans of the same type in succession.

Back to Back Bonus  - 800 Points
Collected by shooting all three can types (cola/soda/icet) in series and 
on three different trolleys. Any order is permitted.

Quick Hits Bonus  - 900 Points
Acquired by shooting four cans in the space of three seconds.


BONUS ICONS
************
  During the game you will encounter varies graphical icons rolling
amongst the cans. Each icon is a different kind of bonus, with one
inflicting a penalty if not shot. To activate a bonus you must shot the
the icon during the game. 
Types of bonuses/penalty are listed below.

1) Credit Bonus
One credit gain

2) Double Chamber Bonus
An extra five round chamber for 15 seconds.

3) Bullet Bonus
Unlimited Bullets for 10/15 seconds. 

4) Points Bonus
Doubles the points on the next can shot. 

5) Time Bonus
20 seconds added to time.

6) Dynamite Penalty
10 seconds deducted from time if dynamite is allowed to explode.

BONUS POINTS SCREEN
********************
  On completion of each level, bonus points might be given on four
aspects of the game. 
The bonus point categories are listed below.

1) Time Bonus
The amount of time remaining on the clock.

2) Carnage Bonus
The amount of cans issued during the level in comparison to how many
were shot/hit.

3) Bullet Use
The amount of bullets fired in comparison to how many hit viable targets.

4) Flawless Play
Every can in the level needs to be shot to gain this bonus.

Note : After a bonus level, only the flawless play bonus will be evaluated


END OF FILE
