CATACLYSM'S EVE DEMO1
1999-2000 DIGITAL PARADOX SOFTWARE
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Instructions and FAQs

Thanks for trying out the Demo1 of Cataclysm's Eve!  Please read
this file in its entirety before playing.  It contains basic info
about CE, along with answers to common questions and problems.

You should also make sure your system meets the requirements:

Processor:  Pentium-Class (133MHz recommended)
RAM:        8 Megabytes
Hard Disk:  10 Megabytes free
Sound Card: Sound Blaster, Gravis UltraSound, Adlib, or 100% Compatible

You must also have at least 450 Kilobytes of DOS conventional memory
free, and in order to hear music, EMS support must exist.


Table Of Contents
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I.      Introduction
II.     Playing Cataclysm's Eve
III.    FAQs
IV.     Known Bugs And Compatability Problems
V.      Credits
VI.     Contacting DPX


I. Introduction
--------------------------------------------------------
"You are Cirrus, a boy of sixteen living in the medieval town of
 Sardonia.  Taunted constantly for your weakness and cowardice,
 you search desperately for the opportunity to prove your worth
 to the townspeople.  Just when things seem their worst, odd
 happenings start frightening the town.  People disappear, and
 frightening sounds are heard coming from the castle.  When
 Cirrus decides to get to the bottom of it, he has no idea
 what he's getting into... a quest has begun, one that will
 lead him across the globe and far into the future and the
 past..."

Welcome to Cataclysm's Eve.  This is a Fantasy Role-Playing Game
unlike any you have seen before.  As Cirrus, you travel the globe
and transcend time.  You fight legions of enemies through diverse
territory in several different periods.  This is an extensive
adventure, one that will take tens of hours of solid play to
complete.

What you have before you is just the "Demo1".  This demo has about
an hour's worth of gameplay in it.  It's only the beginning!  The
entirety of this demo is but an introduction to the full game.
Don't doubt that we'll finish it, either - we've already got about
half of the full game's areas designed and implemented.  So stay
tuned, because this fall, the full version of CE will debut, and
will be monstrous!

Cataclysm's Eve was programmed in QuickBASIC 4.5, with some graphics
routines written in Intel 80x86 Assembly Language.  It uses the BWSB
library by Edward Schlunder (Freeware) for sound and music.  Aside
from the sound and music code, ALL of Cataclysm's Eve was coded by
Digital Paradox, and ALL art and music was exclusively created by us
specifically for CE, as well.


II. Playing Cataclysm's Eve
--------------------------------------------------------
If you've played a "Final Fantasy"-type RPG before, gameplay
should be fairly straightforward.  There are two basic parts
to the game: the field, and the battle screen.

THE FIELD
This is where you walk around, interact with NPCs, watch dramatic
plot events take place, and do just about everything else except
fight.  Note that "field" doesn't necessarily refer to a literal
"field" of grass or anything - it can be any type of terrain at
all.  That includes the interior of a house, castle, or dungeon;
a small town or a large city; a temple, a cave, a palace, or
anything else you can imagine.  And trust us, in the full version
of Cataclysm's Eve, there WILL be every type of terrain you can
imagine - and some you can't!

THE BATTLE SCREEN
This is where all of the fighting takes place.  Your party is
shown towards the bottom of the screen, and your opponent(s) toward
the top.  Fighting is turn-based - first you get to make a move,
then each of your enemies makes one in turn.  You are presented with
a menu of options, the contents of which changes throughout the game
based on the items and equipment you have in your posession.  Here are
the functions of the three menu options that are always present:

        Attack   Your character will perform his/her basic physical
                 attack on an enemy of your choice.

        Item     You may choose an item from your inventory.  It will
                 be used immediately.

        Run      Your character will attempt to run.  If the attempt is
                 successful, you will exit battle right away, receiving
                 nothing.  If it's not, you've wasted your turn.

There is no magic system in this demo, but an extensive one is
in the works for the full game and upcoming demos.


III. FAQs
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Q: How many people worked on this game?
A: Only two, xms and Null of Digital Paradox (DPX).

Q: Who did what?
A: Check the credits section later on in this Readme.

Q: Hey, I'm stuck at <insert point in game here>!!  Can you help
   me out?!
A: Maybe.  E-mail us (check the contact info further down).

Q: I noticed that the game <crashes/malfunctions/does some other
   horrible thing> when I do <such and such>.
A: Check the "Known Bugs and Incompatabilities" section further
   down.  If the problem you discovered isn't in there.  Then please
   tell us about it!

Q: This game kicks ass!
A: Thanks!

Q: This game sucks ass!
A: That kind of attitude will get you nowhere.


IV. Known Bugs And Compatability Problems
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The "Screen Bounce" Bug:
Sometimes, upon approaching the right or bottom sides of an area,
the screen bounces or jags a bit.

The "Beige Pixels" Effect:
On slow computers, in areas with dense scenery, stray beige pixels
can sometimes be seen appearing and disappearing all over the
place.  It's not too obtrusive, though.

SYSTEMS WITHOUT EMS COMPATIBILITY:
The capability to use EMS memory is required to hear music in CE!
If you do not have it enabled, here's what to do:

1. Open your CONFIG.SYS file in your favorite text editor.
2. Make sure that the following two lines are both present, EXACTLY
   AS SHOWN BELOW:

   DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
   DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE

   If either is not, add it.
3. Save the changes and restart your computer.  Now CE should work
   with music.

IF YOU HAVE TO RUN CE WITHOUT MUSIC:
If, for one reason or another, you can't get music to work at all,
you won't be able to run CE at all until you disable music.  Here's
how:

1. Open "cedemo.ini" in your favorite text editor.
2. Locate the line labeled "Music=0".
3. Change the 0 to a 1.
4. Save the change, then start CE.  It should now run properly, with
   no music.

Alternately, you can just copy the "cedemos.ini" file in the CE
distribution, and overwrite your active cedemo.ini with it.


V. Credits
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CATACLYSM'S EVE DEMO1 is by DIGITAL PARADOX (DPX) SOFTWARE
March, 1999 - May, 2000

DPX is:

xms
-Programming
-Music
-Area Design and Plot Development

Null
-Graphics
-Area Design and Plot Development

Look for the full release this fall!


VI. Contacting DPX
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Digital Paradox and its members can be contacted in the following
ways:

DPX Website:    http://xeron.net/dpx

E-mail:         dpxsoft@xeron.net
                xms@optonline.net (xms)
                null@optonline.net (Null)

ICQ:            xms-
                        nick: xms
                        UIN: 11395868
                Null-
                        nick: smoothLogix
                        UIN: 41527027

IRC:            EFNet #quickbasic
                xms, |null|

AIM:            Ripmarotr (xms)
                smoothLogix (Null)
