                            Death From Above
                                  2.00
                           A Projectile Game

                                   by

                               Wim Bonner

                       wbonner@yoda.eecs.wsu.edu
                      27313853@WSUVM1.CSC.WSU.EDU
                       72561,3135@Compuserve.com

                            Special thanks:
                               Todd Crowe
                               Ed Grether
                              Fred Hunter
                             Jeff Kavanaugh
                               Brian Cost

Death from above is a fairly self explanative ballistic game.  The object
of the game is to kill off the other players.  Your arsenal is made up
of a cannon that you can rotate through 180 degrees, from 0 degrees
facing right, to 180 degrees facing left.  You launch an explosive
object from the muzzle at a speed and angle you select, and from there
on it travels by the laws of physics.

The main controls allow you to adjust the angle and thrust.

There is a separate player setup control which allows you to Change
your name, Change your color, and change the size of the explosive
charge you throw.

The size of the explosive can have interesting effects.  The explosive
size is directly related to the size of the hole in the ground when the
projectile lands, and it is also directly related to the mass of the
object.  If you increase the size of the explosive, the bomb is not
going to go as far, and it is going to make a bigger hole.

You can blow yourself up.  You don't get credit for the kill if you kill
yourself.

--

This game is designed to run across a LanManager Based network.  It
should work across any other network under OS/2, but as I have not had
the ability to test on anything other than LanMan, I can not guarantee
it.

--

The DFASERVR.EXE program must be started first.  If you plan on playing
across a network, the DFASERVR program must be run on a network server
that has been set up to share Named Pipes.

With version 2.0 of this program, the server automatically supports up to
6 players.

--

To start play, each player connects to the server by running a copy of
DFA.EXE.  DFA will take an argument of a server name if you want it to
default to connecting to a particular network server.

The window that comes up allows you to select where DFASERVR.EXE is
running.  The program makes a lan manager call to see if there are other
machines available to connect to beyond the local machine.  If you
specified a server on the command line, it is listed as the default
server to connect to, otherwise your local machine is assumed to be the
default.

Your player controls appear when you have the ability to shoot, and are
not visible again till every player has taken a shot.

The server program exits when there are no longer any people alive in
the current game.

--

I have written this program as a learning tool in Presentation Manager
Programming, as well as interprocess communication and Multi-threaded
programming.  As such I am not asking for money in distribution of this
program.  I would like to know of any problems you run into with this
program.  Actually I would like just about any comments you can make on
the program.

My compuserve electronic mail address will be my most long term email
address, but while I am still a starving college student, my other two
addresses will be checked much more frequently.

Enjoy the game...  Up to 6 at a time, from anywhere over a network.
