ShellShock 1.0 Readme.txt (C) 2000 Jeremy Hammond
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Hey, Xec96 here. This text file will explain the game to it's fullest.

First off, what's with the name? ShellShock? Wasn't that done before? Well,
actually it was, and it was me! ShellShock was never finished, and since the
name was so cool I decided to recycle it.

Remember to visit the ShellShock website, where you can download patches,
sounds, graphics, levels, and more.
http://shellshock.hulla-balloo.com

Since all the stuff is in the game, I'll explain the stuff that isn't.

[1] Command line parameters
[2] Story
[3] Overview
[4] Controls
[5] Tips and hints
[6] Contact
[7] Credits

[1] Command line parameters
    Yes, there are a few command line parameters, some are even considered
    cheating(bad man!).
Format: SHELSHCK (command)
    [command] :
                mouse        - switches to mouse control. Left click fires,
                               right click does a barrel roll. It's still
                               a little erratic, maybe in future versions
                               it'll be better.
     
                joystick     - Switches to Joystick control. This is pretty
                               smooth, but it's been known to slow the game
                               down. Button 1 shoots, button 2 does a barrel
                               roll. Also works with a gamepad.
          
                [mapname]    - For use with special maps downloaded from the
                               ShellShock website. To use, just type the name
                               of the map(specified from the author's text).
                               When you use this, instead of seeing the normal
                               maps, you see the special ones take it's place.

[2] Story

The year is 2005. The world is at it's peak. The economy was never better.
Crime was at an all-time low. There was no poverty, no social classes, only
paradise. Everybody was happy and everybody had a future to look forward to.

To avoid future war, all weapons of mass destruction were buried deep under
the Earth's crust. It was sealed off from the world above and was guarded
around the clock. Throughout the years, it was forgotten.

Since there was no communication between the world above and the undeground
nation, the guards beneath the Earth's crust had to form it's own society.
Suprisingly, population soared to a level even higher then the world above.
Generations later, the people had no concept of what was above them and what
they were guarding. They thought they were the only people that existed. The
greedy stole all the natural resources and built weapons to combat each other.
Fortunately, they did not know what the nuclear weapons did.

There were many great wars, and the nation cried for order. Eventually, the
people formed a communist government. However, the nation's leaders put too
much power into war expenses. War leaders embezzled billions of dollars. The
original leaders were assasinated. Wars returned to the nation. During the
bombing campaigns, the nuclear weapons were sparked and this ravaged the
underground society. Many of the nukes were ineffective after all these
years, so casualties were low, but more importantly, a great hole exposed
what was above their world.

People were shocked. War ceased immediately as the people gazed at the new
world. Years of underground living has caused the people to become immune
to the radiation. But the world above was not so lucky, as many people were
killed. When the people from underground saw the society living above them,
they became enraged and started taking over many cities. The people above
were helpless as violence was never seen before.

the nation's leaders aboveground was forced to dig up the old records to
find plans for building weapons for proper defense. Since the only plans for
modern weaponary was destroyed in the blast, the only defense they had were
old weapons from the 1960's. This, coincidentily, was very similar to the
weapons that the underground people had, but just a few years older.

It took many years for the people above ground to make these weapons. During
these years, the below ground people built a nation above ground and stocked
it to the brim with anti-aircraft weapons and tanks. It was nearly impossible
to destroy. Air attacks became a common nuisance to the original people, and
the communist's attacks became inaffective. Soon, they stopped altogether.

The democracy above ground send a few scouts to the communists area. They
returned claiming that the communists were preparing for a massive attack.
The nation decided that a counterattack was neccesary. A large air strike
was ordered and the planes were deployed.

[3] Overview
    ShellShock is a vertical scrolling shooter. You are a pilot fighting for
    democracy in a war-torn time. You are responsible for preventing the
    communist attack on the democracy's last bunker. You have five planes,
    each with enough armor to take five hits. Once you lose your three planes,
    the game ends. You lose. To win, you must battle through eight sorties
    over enemy ground. Remember, they have the full advantage in anti-aircraft,
    planes, weaponary, and resources, so your mission will not be easy.

[4] Controls

  Keyboard controls:

    Arrow keys   - Move plane
    ALT          - Barrel roll
    CTRL         - Fire guns
    ESC          - Quit to menu

  Mouse controls:
   (Note: keyboard controls don't respond in mouse mode. To activate mouse
   control, type SHELSHCK MOUSE at the command prompt).

    Move mouse   - Move plane
    Left click   - Fire guns
    Right click  - Barrel roll
    ESC          - Quit to menu

  Joystick/Gamepad controls:
   To activate joystick controls, type SHELSHCK JOYSTICK at the command prompt.

    Move joy     - Move plane
    Button 1     - Fire guns
    Button 2     - Barrel roll
    ESC          - Quit to menu

[5] Tips and hints
    There are strategies that let you be able to shoot more bad guys down w/o
    getting shot yourself.

    * Use barrel rolls when there is lots of anti-aircraft fire, especially
      when there are SAM sites around, they affect the computer's guiding
      signals so they can't hit you as well. Remember, when you're doing a
      barrel roll, you can't move or shoot, so make sure there are no enemy
      planes strutting around.

    * Missles fired from SAM sites will follow you relentlessly until either
      their fuel runs out or they hit you. The best thing to do is destroy the
      SAM site as quickly as possible.

    * Stay away from the sides of the screen. Enemies sometimes come into the
      screen from the sides, so you'll be killed if they come in the same spot
      as you are. This applies to the top and bottom, too.

    * Keep moving. Anti-Aircraft and tanks shoot towards the position you're
      at. If you move, they'll hit air.

    * Ignore buildings, it's a waste of time, plus you stay still when you
      attack them, increasing your chances of being killed. 

[6] Contact
    Send suggestions, comments, and marriage proposals to:
    E-mail: efproduction@ampleworks.com
            webmaster@hulla-balloo.com
    AIM:    XEC96
    IRC:    Xec96(or Xec00, or Xecsy, or Xec0r, or Xeccer, etc) on #quickbasic
            (efnet)
    ICQ:    35007665

    The ShellShock website is at http://shellshock.hulla-balloo.com. You can
    download patches, levels, graphics, sounds, and more.

    Check out my websites:
            http://efproduction.ampleworks.com
            http://www.hulla-balloo.com

[7] Credits
    This game was entirely programmed by me, Jeremy Hammond, except for the
    DirectQB library by Angelo Mottolo. Thanks a bunch.

    Other credits:

    Jason Hammond(twin brother)   - Some graphics, some maps, some concepts.
    Jack Hammond(father)          - Moral support, money(eheheh).


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