PIXELSHIPS v1.51                    Copyright (c) 2000-2001 Kris Asick
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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

	MINIMUM:
	
	* Pentium 100 Mhz Computer with VESA 2.0 SVGA Graphics
	* Pentium 133 Mhz Computer with VGA Graphics
	* MS-DOS 6.2 or Windows 95/98
	* 4 Megs of RAM
	* 2-Button Mouse

	RECOMMENDED:

	* Pentium 200 Mhz Computer
	* 3-Button Mouse

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QUICKSTART:

	Use the mouse to select options, hold F1 in most situations to
get help relating to what you should be doing. (Cannot hold F1 on
YES/NO dialogue boxes or when entering your name when creating a new
pilot.)

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DISCLAIMER:

	This game has been deemed freeware, allowing the user to make
multiple copies of the software provided he or she does not modify or
sell the software. Copies must be made in whole and must be
accompined by this documentation. As with many software applications,
the user cannot hold Kris Asick responsable for any damages this
software may or may not cause. You use this software at your own risk.

	Although the software has been scanned for viruses prior to
its release, because of internet hackers and such the user is
encouraged to scan the product before running to be absolutely sure it
will not harm his/her system.

	CWSDPMI.EXE is included for users running MS-DOS, or running
in MS-DOS mode and acts as a protected mode server, allowing software
to run in protected mode. This program is copyright to its respectful
owners and is included simply as a convinence so people requiring
CWSDPMI do not have to search long and hard to find it.

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WHAT ARE PIXELSHIPS?

	In the future, around 2047, a new type of toy was created to
appeal to all ages called the PixelShip. Each PixelShip was about one
to three feet long, and each one is composed of blocks which
automatically rebuild itself if detatched. These PixelShips could fire
low-energy weaponry, harmless to Humans, that would register on other
PixelShips causing them to record damage when networked to a viable
server. If a PixelShip took enough damage, it would be instructed to
litterally fly apart into its component Pixel blocks.

	For the last 200 years many generations of PixelShips were
built, resulting in a total of 160 known/theorized models. Almost
every PixelShip was designed with a restructuring method that allowed
them to be upgraded into bigger and better ships, and because some
ships never stay together long enough to hit these upgrade points,
some upgraded versions are only theorized to exist as their existance
has yet to be discovered, however is proven fact by their
programming.

	In this game, you play as a newbie PixelShip collector. Your
ultimate task is to collect as many of these little ships as you can
by flying your own through randomly generated holograhpic courses and
missions. The rules are simple, you can keep any ship you vacuum up
entirely, and you lose any ship that suffers too much damage.

	Sounds easy, hunh? Well, better break out the caffine because
this game's gonna eat up a good chunk of your time!

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COMMAND LINE OPTIONS:

	-stars n
		Replace "n" with the number of stars you want shown in
		the background during the game. Can be 0 to 1024.

	-vga
		Force the game to run 320x200x256 VGA Mode 13h. Use
		this if your VESA driver is bellow v2.0 and the
		autodetection does not work correctly. You may also
		have to do this if the SVGA mode doesn't sync to the
		monitor refresh rate correctly. (A warning will appear
		if this happens.)

	-svga
		Force the game to run 320x200x256 VESA2.0 SVGA mode.
		Some computers can run this mode perfectly and get a
		boost in performance on slower processors, but for the
		most part this mode doesn't make for much of a speed
		difference.

	-skipmouse
		Skips the mouse autodetection in case it is not
		working correctly. (NOTE: You NEED a mouse to play
		this game!)

	(NOTE: -skipsync and Sync Testing have yet to be implemented.)

	-skipsync
		If the game wont start up because of a Sync Error, and
		you've tried everything, use this command line switch.
		It skips the sync testing and thus forces the game to
		play no matter how slow or fast it goes. It is not
		recommended that you use this switch because you could
		end up playing with framerates as low as 10 or as high
		as 500! (And the game is designed ONLY to play at 70.)

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QUICK START CONTROLS:

	ALMOST ANYTIME:
		Hold F1 - Brings up Controls For Current Situation
		(Does not work on YES/NO dialog boxes or when inputing
		your name for a new pilot.)

	MENUS:
		Left Click - Choose Option

	TACTICAL INTERFACE: (Pregame)
		Reserve Ships:
			 Left Click - Change Ship (Click replacement)
		Stocked Ships:
			 Left Click - Choose Lead Ship
			Right Click - Remove Ship (Followed by Yes/No)
		AutoMap:
			Left Button - Scroll maps or choose map pos
		General:
			 Left Click - Choose Option

	GAMEPLAY: (Keyboard Controls)
		  ARROWS - Move Ship
		SPACEBAR - Fire Selected Weapon
		LEFT ALT - Vacuum Device (To collect pixels)
		 1 2 & 3 - Select Weapon
		     ESC - Bail Out!
		       P - Pause Game

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HOW TO PLAY:

	On the main menu you have four options, each one self
explanitory. You can play the game, look at the high scores, read the
brief list of credits, or quit. Simple as that.

	When you click Play Game a new menu appears. This is the pilot
roster. You can have four pilots at any one time. Click on an empty
slot to create a new pilot, or click on an existing pilot to continue
his/her game.

	When creating a new pilot, a menu will come up asking for your
name and skill level. Simply type in your nickname, callsign, whatever
you want to be called then click the skill level you want. The higher
the skill level you choose the more points you get. Also, for those
who collect all 160 PixelShips a little secret will open up for anyone
who dares take up the challenge ;)

	Then you must choose your starting PixelShip. You have five to
choose from:

	#001 STARFIGHTER - A fast ship but not very powerful.
	#004     NEMESIS - Average stats but no strong points.
	#007     TRIGULA - A very powerful ship but slow.
	#011 SHUTTLE POD - A bad ship. For veterans only.
	#019    PIX STAR - Powerful and fast but very fragile.

	Afterwards, simply choose your new pilot and start a new game.
At this point, you must choose a campaign to play. Each campaign lasts
for 10 missions. The campaign ends when you either complete all 10
missions or lose all of your reserve PixelShips during a mission. Now,
you can choose between 0001 and 9999. The first digit in the campaign
number determines the difficulty of the campaign. So, campaigns 0381
and 0948 have the same difficulty, but campaign 4912 is going to be
a bit harder than both of them.

	Once a campaign is over, your score will be recorded into the
high score table if it's high enough.

	NOTE: When starting a new pilot, it is recommended that you
recreate your pilot if your first mission is a Warp Zone mission. Warp
Zone Missions contain no PixelShips and are counter productive to your
collecting efforts. (Remember not to confuse Warp Zone Missions with
missions that take place inside Warp Zones!)

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	Next comes getting set for the mission at hand. There are four
basic mission types, and each one must be dealt with in different
ways. These are the types of missions you'll be facing:

	SEEK & DESTROY: You must seek out a ceratin PixelShip and
		destroy it. Collect if possible.
	COIN COLLECTOR: You must collect as many coins in the level
		as you can.
	     WARP ZONE: This zone is BLAZING FAST and contains no
		PixelShips. You need to fly fast PixelShips here.
		  RAID: These missions require you to destroy targets
		rather than collect them. The more you hit the larger
		your score!

	And you can face these missions in over eight environments:

	   SPACE ARENA: Typical Level, Watch For Lazer Bariers!
	     WARP ZONE: Fastest Level Type!
	        NEBULA: Blobs of plasma everywhere. Tough to navigate.
	     ION STORM: Easy to get killed in these! Watch out!
	CLASS B PLANET: Rocky Surface, unpredictable terrain!
	CLASS M PLANET: Rolling Terrain and Clear Skies.
	CLASS R PLANET: Red Planet with Lava Gyzers.
	CLASS Y PLANET: Corosive Chemicals Spew Everywhere!

	On your tactical screen you can look at the layout of the
level and check out the stats of your PixelShips. You can also setup
your reserve ships for the level. You can have up to five reserve
ships at any one time, but remembering that you need free reserve
slots to capture new ships! So you should select your number of empty
reserve slots based on how many ships you expect to encounter during
the level, and based on your skill level how many ships you expect
to lose.

	First, you should select the ship you want to lead off with
simply by clicking on it in the "Ships Avilable" box. Next you should
set up your reserve ships by clicking on the reserve slot you want to
set first, then clicking on the ship or empty slot you wish to set it
to.

	Another feature you will use later on is upgrading. The little
box in the middle of the screen displays how much experience the lead
ship has. The more experience points, the brighter the random flashy
dots in the box. If the ship has enough to be upgraded, a "U^G" button
appears. Click it, and next thing you know you'll have a new, more
powerful ship!

	Once all that's done click "Begin!" to start the mission!

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	During the level you control your ship using the controls
mentioned in the Quick-Start section above How To Play. The objective
is to simply complete the mission for points.

	During the mission you will find two types of enemies: Droids
and PixelShips. Droids are simple obstructions in a sense, trying to
block your way from getting out of the level alive. PixelShip battles
are different though. When a battle with a PixelShip arrises the
screen will slow to a halt, allowing you to square off one-on-one with
the renegade ship. Should you win, the PixelShip will be blown into
its component Pixels. Quickly! Hold the LEFT ALT key to vacuum the
pixels towards your ship! If you have a free reserve slot, and vacuum
in ALL of the component pixels, the PixelShip becomes yours!

	Also during the mission you will encounter powerups. There
are 12 different powerups you can discover. Note that with the
exception of the experience powerup, all powerups are temporary and
wear out once the level is finished or if you change ships.

	'P' - Increases your POW rating by 5 to 10.
	'S' - Increases your SPD rating by 5 to 10.
	'E' - Increases your EGY rating by 5 to 10.
	'D' - Increases your DEF rating by 5 to 10.
	'M' - Increases all of your attributes by 2 to 5.
	'*' - Gives the ship 10 experience points.
	'o' - Four different types of coins give various point values.
       'II' - Restores your shields by 50%.
	'^' - Allows you to swap to a reserve ship. (Also restores
              your shields... but only if you change ships.)

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GAMEPLAY TIPS:

	* Don't be discouraged when things get tough. This game is
	VERY hard to play, even on normal skill levels. Just keep at
	it and eventually you will begin to get better.

	* Some ships have strange features. You'll have to discover
	them for yourself.

	* You should always take a full reserve of ships with you into
	a Warp Zone Mission because you wont find any PixelShips to
	capture during the mission. (Excluding other mission types
	that take place INSIDE warp zones!)

	* If you want to drop out of a campaign because its too tough
	or because it is really boring, but you don't want to delete
	your pilot, simply empty your reserve and lead off with a ship
	you don't want. Get the ship destroyed and the campaign will
	be over. (This does count as a lost mission however.)

	* There ARE biased ships in this game. In other words, some
	ships are extremely good, while others are extremely bad. You
	have to determine this for yourself as there are 160 ships to
	sort through!

	* Always try to destroy enemy droids as they frequently carry
	powerups to help you during your mission!

	* When capturing a ship make sure you pilot towards it so that
	the pixels you are vacuuming don't stray too far off course.
	Since ship pixels fade out randomly remember to steer your
	ship to collect the darkest ones first!

	* Smaller ships are more likely to be destroyed when colliding
	with the surface than larger ships. Also, the faster you're
	going the more likely you'll be destroyed.

	* Always try to stay in the middle of the playing field. The
	further to the back of the screen you stay the more likely
	you'll get killed. Trust me on this one ;)

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TROUBLESHOOTING / FAQ:

	Q: The game runs too fast!
	A: Use the -vga command line switch. If this STILL doesn't
	solve your problem then try running the game in DOS mode. If
	that STILL doesn't solve your problem, then the game simply
	wont run correctly on your system

	Q: The game runs too slow!
	A: Get a faster computer ;)

	Q: How come I need such a powerful computer for just a simple
	2d Sidescroller?
	A: Because the game is designed to run at 70 FRAMES A SECOND.
	This framerate is several times higher than most games of the
	same graphic intensity, thus the power needed to run it is
	higher. This framerate also provides very smooth graphics and
	gameplay for a low resolution video mode.

	Q: Why isn't there any sound effects or music?
	A: Because I'm still learning how to use those drivers in my
	C++ libraries.

	Q: What does this game run under?
	A: The game was designed to run in MS-DOS 6.2. It may or may
	not work in lower versions. The game has been tested and can
	run ok under some Windows98 systems. It is not recommended
	that you run this game under Win3.1 or 95. The game has not
	been tested with WinME or Win2k, but more than likely will
	not run correctly. You are welcome to try though.

	Q: During the game the words "Framerate Loss" appear in the
	corner and my gameplay seems erratic. What's happening?
	A: If you are barely meeting the system requirements of the
	game, you may experience occasional losses of syncronization,
	and may also experience bizzare screen shearing effects. This
	is normal behaviour on less than adequate systems. If your
	computer meets the system requirements, or even surpasses,
	similar results can occur on computers with lackluster video
	cards. The best thing to do in this situation is to boot your
	computer into DOS mode and try running the game from there.

	Q: My keyboard controls are locking up!
	A: This occurs on older computers that depend on the BIOS for
	processing the keyboard. No fixes here, sorry.
	A: Your keyboard may not have a very large keypress buffer
	thus hitting several arrow keys at once doesn't work. In this
	situation try using the numeric keypad instead.

	Q: Augh! The game just crashed while I was in the middle of
	playing and gave me this bizzare error message!
	A: Record everything that you were doing and when the error
	occured, then send the details to my E-Mail address!

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VERSION HISTORY:

 v1.0: Inital Attempt to sell to game companies... failed.

 v1.5: First freeware release.
v1.51: Bug Fix Version.

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KNOWN BUGS:

 v1.5: * Ships #009's and #010's weaponry doesn't work. (Fixed v1.51)

v1.51: None at this time.

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CREDITS:

Original Concept, Programming, Graphics and Ships:
	Kris Asick (Gemini)

Ship Concepts: 97-99, 110-112, 127, 129-133, 146-149, 159:
	Eric Shepperd (Bandit450)

Ship Concepts: 100, 101, 106, 107, 120, 141-143, 154-156:
	Zelion Kirby (Noilez)

Ship Concept: 45
	James Bone (Nightbird)

Special Thanks:
	Everyone who contributed to the Allegro Game Programming
	Libraries! I could never program in Windows without them!

CONTACT INFO:

WEBSITE: http://www.pixelships.com

E-MAILS:   gemini@pixelships.com (general questions and comments)
	  support@pixelships.com (troubleshooting)

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ADDITIONAL INFO:

	PixelShips is my third ever C++ game, and I tried to get it
published by Activision. When they rejected the game, I decided to run
a more subjective reality test over it and realized it was just too
difficult a game for the average gamer. I released it as freeware
because the game would not be profitable in this day and age.

	The concept for the game was initiated several months ago in
December of 1999, when I thought about making a collecting game that
didn't have anything to do with cute and dangerous creatures. That's
when I decided to put spaceships in the place of monsters and turn it
into an action game instead of an RPG.

	The source code itself is in DJGPP C++ and is over 5,800 lines
long. All E-Mails requesting the source code will be quickly
incinerated and not replied to. The ship editor is also not available
in any format even by request. All E-Mails requesting the ship editor
will ALSO be incinerated.

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                        NOW GO PLAY THE GAME!!