DEFENDER OF THE WORLD
---------------------
By David Ong Tat-Wee
Copyright (C) 1994, 1995, 1996 All Rights Reserved

Internet email:  ongtw@iscs.nus.sg
Snail mail:  15 Phillips Avenue, Singapore 546940.
             Republic of Singapore.


Defender Of The World (DOTW) is a shoot-'em-up arcade game for the Apple
IIGS, similar in style to the Nintendo/Sega type games.  DOTW boasts of
fast scrolling action, beautiful 16-colour graphics, _LARGE_ game sprites,
multi-layer parallax scrolling, awesome sound effects, cool and rave intro
music, and tons of weapon powerups.  Plus the playing screen is a large
280x160 (same size of Sword of Sodan).



How to play DOTW
----------------

You control your space battle cruiser with either the joystick or keyboard.
For joystick control, the stick moves the cruiser in the corresponding
direction, button 0 fires, button 1 activates power ups.  For keyboard
control, the keypad (1-9) moves the cruiser, key 5 stops moving, open-Apple
fires and option activates power ups.  The default control is keyboard.
Pressing 'j' at the intro menu will activate the joystick.

To get powerups, you need to destroy aliens.  When sufficient aliens have
been destroyd, a round bluish pill with the letter 'P' will appear.  Touch
this powerup with your cruiser to collect it.  For each powerup collected,
the status bar below will light up, showing the current active power level.
Pressing button 1 or option will activate the current power.  To activate
the more powerful weapons (plasma/magma), you need to conserve the current
powerup and collect more.  If the light is green, it means that particular
power is already at its maximum level and no further powerup is possible.

The powerups available are:
- Shot Speed : increases the rate of fire
- Guns (default weapon) : increases the number of shots up to a max of 4
- Side Shot : fires up and down simultaneously, max of 3
- Missiles : extra fire power, max of 4
  (these were supposed to be homing missiles, but again, I didn't get to
   implement them..... :P)
- Plasma : replaces guns with more damaging plasma shots, max of 6.
- Magma : replaces guns with huge fireballs that does the most damage,
  max of 3.
- Shield : renders your cruiser invincible for an interval of time.  You
  may ram your cruiser into anything and survive.  When invincible, your
  cruiser becomes a darker shade of green.  It will flash 5(?) times
  before reverting back to normal status.



Why I release DOTW
------------------

DOTW is currently still very much in its beta stage (in fact, alpha might
suit it better).  Originally, I had no intentions to release DOTW in its
current state.  However, people have been sending me emails, asking me
questions about the game; they all wanted to see something.  Also, school
and work are taking up so much of my time that development progress is
practically nil.  Most importantly, my Apple IIGS has been acting weird
(including the hard disk), so I figure I better release DOTW (in whatever
form it currently is) before my hard disk goes bonkers and everything
dies. :P

This is the most recent update to DOTW.  If you've gotten previous betas
from me, this version has extra stuff not found in them.  Check out the
big boss at the end of level 1.



How much can you play
---------------------

Level 1 of the game is completed and is very playable.  You can fly,
fire at aliens, collect powerups, increase weapon power, and die from
alien shots/collisions.  The aliens will do their best to track down your
space battle cruiser and eliminate you.  So have fun with this.

Levels 2 and 3 were in development before I stopped work.  Level 2 simply
brings you to a huge ice dragon (which is currently harmless) and to a
sector of alien rings (these are active, they can kill you!).  A scrolling
background image of an ice mountain completes the picture.

Level 3 demonstrates multi-layer background scrolling with vibrating
screen effects (the screen vibration is supposed to be caused by the
stalactites falling from the top of the screen onto your cruiser, but as
you can see, they don't really fall in this version..... oh well).
This shows what the game would have been if I had the time to continue
development.

Level 4 was planned but never implemented.



Bugs
----

I think there may be a memory trashing bug, but I can't confirm this.  If
your Apple IIGS crashes during/after the game, just reboot. :)



(Really) Simple FAQ
-------------------

Q: How do I beat the ~@#$*@! big blue crater after the 2nd alien wave?!?
A: Erm, just don't get too close to it, ok. :)

Q: What about the big boss at the end of level 1??  It keeps whacking the
ass off me. :(
A: Just be patient and concentrate.  Its (their really) shots are not
difficult to avoid once you found the pattern.  A powerful weapon helps
definitely.

Q: Help!  The game is too tough!  I can't even complete level 1.  :(
A: Try playing at 2.8 mhz.  Things will be more manageable.

Q: Where did you get the intro music from??
A: I ripped it off an Amiga game and converted it into SoundSmith format.

Q: What about the planet on the intro screen?
A: That was drawn by some Amiga artist in 32 colours which I converted to
16 colour GS format using SuperConvert.

Q: What did you use to draw the rest of the graphics?
A: DeluxePaint II and a bit of help from DreamGrafix.

Q: What's the white number on the upper left corner of the screen?
A: It's the frames per second count.

Q: What are you plans for level 2?
A: Level 2 is supposed to take place in an insect infested polar region.
There are supposed to be flying beetles and moths to attack your ship.
The ice dragon is supposed to lurge at you and fire nasty missiles from
its mouth (ok, its the boss of this level).

Q: And for level 3?
A: Level 3 takes place in a volcano.  Observe the bands of light at the
bottom of the screen caused by the lava.  There are supposed to be lava
spurting from the bottom of the screen and rocks falling from the top.
There are also firebirds and an nasty big dragon that spits fireballs
at you.

Q: Level 4?
A: Level 4 is the final showdown inside the alien base.  They will throw
everthing that they've got at you.....

Q: Have you completed the artwork?
A: Most of the above sprites have already been drawn, including the
animation (with the exception of level 4).  However, they are just not
implemented into the game. :(

Q: Will you ever finish the game?!
A: To be honest, I don't know.....


That's all I have to say.  Feel free to drop me emails/snail mails on the
game.  I'd love to hear from you.  Though I really cannot promise when
(if ever) I will finish the game, still you may never know.....

Have fun!


- dotw -
(David Ong Tat-Wee)
16 Sep 1996