
                                CycloTron

                         a 4kb Tron clone game
                          for your Oric Atmos
	


Author:        Mickael Pointier (aka Dbug)
Platform:      Oric ATMOS (not Oric 1/Telestrat compatible)
Release date:  September 26th, 2004
Contact email: mike@defence-force.org
									 


  ----------------
 / Introduction /
----------------

As a programmer of ENCOM, the famous high tech company that specializes in 3D
temporal scanning and other reconstruction systems, you worry about the 
disappearance of some of your colleagues yesterday. Searching for them, you
finally arrive at the 3D scanner console, and on the desk you recognize the 
ballpoint pen of Flynn, the ex-genius of the company that got laid off last 
year after a big argument with Dilliger, the current boss of the company.

Trying to figure out what happened, you decide to log on to the console and
check for any trace of what Flynn was trying to do there.

You are so preoccupied by the endless stream of data that moves across the 
screen that you do not notice the movement behind you: Directly behind you 
is the complicated system that is used to scan items in 3D. The lens cover 
slides down and brief impulses of light start to shine around the head of the
laser canon, while a barely audible buzzing noise is being emitted from the 
energy amplifier.

Suddenly noticing that something is wrong, you turn your head towards the noise,
but at this moment all the energy stored in the generators is expelled and
concentrated in the laser beam that meticulously starts cutting you down in
pieces of atomic scale. A few seconds later, nothing remains of you in this
room.

But this is not the end, it is only the beginning.

As soon as you started being dematerialised in real life, you got reconstructed
atom per atom, ... or rather "bit per bit", in the vast memory of ENCOM's 
cluster of mainframe computers.

As soon as you reappear, you are enslaved by the Master Control Program's 
cerberus and put in a numeric jail. Your destiny is to die in various games 
reminiscent of the time of Roman Gladiators. Fortunately for you, the Master 
Control Program does not know that you are the nearest equivalent on earth of 
what could be called a god of video games. You easily manage to escape from the 
light cycles arena and roam freely outside.

However you are still a prisoner of the numeric world, currently driving a fast 
moving light cycle, trying to survive, avoiding any collision with the computer 
subsystems and data, moving from one disc area to another in the hope of 
finally defeating the Master Control Program and save all your friends who are 
still prisoners of the  computer.

Good luck !




  ----------------
 / How to load  /
----------------

You can play this game on a real Oric Atmos, or use an emulator.
To play the game on a real Oric Atmos, put the tape in the tape player and type:

	CLOAD"" 

then press RETURN/ENTER. The message "SEARCHING" should appear in the status 
bar at the top of the screen. You can then press play on the tape player.
After a while you should see "LOADING". Once loaded, the game will start 
automatically.

(For emulator users, check your emulator manual.)



  ----------------
 / How to play  /
----------------

After the animation showing the TRON logo, the highscore table appears, the
colours start to animate, and the message "PRESS SPACE TO PLAY" appears 
blinking at the bottom of the screen. Just press the space bar when you are 
bored :-)

You are then required to enter your name. This is a secure computer system, 
so you have to log in. Just type your name using normal keys. You can also use 
LEFT and RIGHT arrows to move around, DEL will erase the current character, and 
the ESCAPE key will erase the whole text field which by default contains the 
"SIMPLE USER" name. This name will appear later in the highscore table, so be 
sure to enter a name that will let you show everybody how good you are.

Please note that you can also use the UP key on this screen to switch between
the two available control modes.

Two control modes? Yes: 2 key (relative) mode, and 4 key (absolute) mode.

ENCOM early simulations showed that the human population is roughly split in
two categories when things have to be moved on a screen. In the case of this
simulation, some people will be able to think as if they were actually driving 
the bike, and thus they only need two keys. One to turn 90 degrees to their 
LEFT and the other to turn to the other side.

Other people will feel very uneasy with the 2 key control method because they 
are outside, watching on a computer screen something that moves in a particular 
direction. For them the best control mode is the 4 key one, where pressing 
UP, DOWN, LEFT or RIGHT will make the light cycle move in the chosen direction.
Just do a dummy game session in both modes and decide which one feels better to
you. 

When the selection is done, simply press RETURN/ENTER to validate the name and
enter the game.

From this moment you will be playing through a number of different levels,
using the keys you chose to move your bike, and trying to survive and finish
each level.

You can press the P key to pause the game, and you can also press the ESCAPE
key to exit the game and get back to the introduction.



  ---------------
 / The levels  /
---------------

The objective of each level is clearly explained during the generation of each
level. Each level is a combination of colour schemes, obstacles, and game rules.
Some levels have obstacles, some have none, some levels have a surrounding wall,
some don't and wrap around in one or two directions. In some levels you
are alone, in some there is a RED light cycle controlled by the computer.

You start the game with a total of 3 lives, you lose one after any collision,
after three collisions you are disconnected from the system and disappear from 
the world forever. That's a sad way to disappear, so stay awake !

Please note that after each level the speed increases slightly.

After the 8th level the game wraps around to level 0 with additional speed.

After each successfully finished level you get some bonus points.
	



  -----------------
 / Tips & Tricks /
-----------------

When you are playing versus a computer controlled bike, you can try to do a
"bike shot". If you collide with the bike of the opponent, you are granted
the victory. This gives you a chance, because the computer AI is not
that bad, and with the scrolling and obstacles, the odds are against you...

Try to anticipate your trajectories, and take advantage of the fact that you 
have three lives, and that there is NO RANDOM event in this game. 
Try to experiment, and after a while you should manage to go through all levels 
with no difficulty.



  -------------
 / Greetings /
-------------

I wish to thanks the following people, that have been helping me improving this
game by offering advices, giving test feedback, or proofreading this 
documentation (not including this part, or course !), the list is in lexical
order:

* DJ-Katy
* Fabrice Frances
* Jede
* Jonathan Bristow
* Jylam
* Peter
* Romu
* Symoon
* Vanja Utne

Also special greetings to every individual person than helps keeping alive all
these old machines we like that much, either by reviewing the minigames, or by
creating them, or by organising such competitions.



  ---------
 / Bonus /
---------

As usual this game as been released with complete source code. If you assemble
it, you will notice that the final size of the executable is 4569 bytes. The
final release is made using FilePack (available in the OSDK on Defence-Force
website), that crunch it to 4069 bytes (including the 146 bytes long LZ77 
unpacking routine).

This source code is supposed to be assembled using the OSDK. You can port this
code to do variants of this game on other machines, you can use tricks and tips
found in this code. Just notice me when you use something, its good for my
pride to know that I've done something that is useful for someone else.

Alternatively, if you find something particularly lame, don't hesitate to give
me that information so I will hopefully do something better next time.

Thanks !












