
                        *  F U S E C U T T E R *

                                   by

                        John Christian Lonningdal

                              Version 1.0
                           
                           30. September 1995
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COPYRIGHT

The author have all rights over this program and its components. You may
however distribute it freely as long as no charge is taken for it. Only
a small fee for duplication is allowed.

I am not liable for any damage caused by this program. Any loss caused
by use or misuse of this program is not my responsibility.

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MY STORY

I've just finished my Cand.Mag. degree at Molde regional College and
will start on my Masters degree January 1996 at University of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, USA. Programming have always been a hobby of mine, and
I hope sometimes to be working with a team designing games. Most of
my projects never get finished as I at some time need people to work with.

Fusecutter is a project I started one day I felt like programming a game,
and really get it finished. Of course a game never gets finished so I
had to set some limits to how far I would go. Version 1.0 is the first 
finished version that I choose to distribute freely. The game is also
being submitted to the X2FTP programming competition in Finland. This
version only have 30 levels as I haven't had the time to design more.
A random level generator is planned in the next version.

The whole game is based on an Amiga game by Rune Espeseth under the 
same name. Otherwise all programming, graphics and music is done by me.
All programming has been done in Borland Turbo Pascal 7.0 with a lot
of inline assembly for the graphics routines. The graphics has been
drawn in my own editor called JOBE (version 1.2 now availiable). The
music pieces is written using Fasttracker 2 by Triton.

To get sound and music into the game, I've used the MIDAS sound system
written by Petteri Kangaslampi and Jarno Paananen. Thanks for an
excellent library!

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REQUIREMENTS

486-66 VLB or better for full speed (70fps). I've added a system check that
should compensate timing in slower systems, but the game might behave odd
and jerky if it lies on the edge of the full 70fps and half 35fps. It has
only been tested on 486-66 VLB systems.

The MIDAS system supports Gravis Ultrasound, SB 1.0, SB 1.5, SB 2.0, 
SB-Pro, SB-16, MS-Sound system, PAS, PAS Pro and PAS-16. 
The GUS MAX and SB-AWE should work fine also.
I've experienced problems on the GUS, as MIDAS seems to have difficulties
uploading samples correctly for the music playback. The problem results in 
mixed up samples, sometimes pretty bad. I will try to fix this in future
versions.

Only keyboard control. No mouse or joystick required.

It should work fine with memory managers like QEMM and EMM386.

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INSTALLING

All files must be in the same directory, and the game must be run from 
the same directory.

Before you start, you have to configure your soundcard by running MSETUP.

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INSTRUCTIONS

The game is pretty easy to play so I will only explain it in short terms.

The goal is to disarm all the bombs using a fusecutter. Our hero can
only carry one fusecutter at a time, and it vanishes when you use it on
a bomb. So all levels have an equal amount of bombs and fusecutters.
There are two types of bombs, normal and time based. The normal bombs explode
when your global time in the bottom right corner runs out. The timebombs
each have it's own time so you will have to plan more about which bombs to
take first.

You can not go back into your own tracks so you will have to think
carefully so you don't get closed in. Fortunately you can go out on one
end of the screen and come back in on the other side. This will make
things easier.

There are clocks to pick up for extra time. The global time for the normal
bombs to explode will then get longer. The timebombs are not affected.
You get 25 seconds extra time for each clock.

If you trip over a toombstone you will loose 10 seconds of time so try to
avoid bumping accidetaly into these.

There is a lot of money to get also. This will increase your score.
Each money sack will give you 100 points.

When you disarm a normal bomb you will get the current global time left
as points. Disarming a time bomb will give you points for both the global
time left and the time left on the timebomb you disarmed.

When you finish a level you get the global time left added to your score.
This global time at the end of each level will add up to extra lives.
100 seconds add up to one extra life.

If you don't disarm all the bombs before the time runs out, or if you get 
closed in your own tracks, they will explode one at a time claiming
one life each.

Can you become the master fusecutter and save the world from utter
destruction? Start playing and prove that you are a true hero!

During gameplay you can adjust the music volume by pressing the
+ and - keys on your number keypad.

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If you like (or hate) this game please send me a postcard:

        John Christian Lonningdal
        Lerumsvei 56
        N-5073 SKAALEVIKNESET
        NORWAY

I also have an Internet email address that is valid out January 1996.

        John.C.Lonningdal@hiMolde.no


ENJOY FUSECUTTER!
John

