BLIND FURY ENGINE BETA (v0.42) README

!PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT IN FULL BEFORE RUNNING THE BLIND FURY ENGINE BETA!

PLEASE NOTE:
All* images, sounds and music in this beta are taken from the Sega game 'Streets of Rage 2' for the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis. If you like the look of this game and want something more, I strongly urge you to go out, buy a Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, an extra pad, a copy of 'Streets of Rage 2' and get a friend round to play 2-player. The beta of this game and the final product will both be free pieces of software and the final product will not contain any graphics 'ripped' from 'Streets of Rage 2'. The graphics were taken from 'Streets of Rage 2' to test the engine for 'Blind Fury'. You must not distribute the 'Blind Fury beta' in an incomplete or modified form (which includes without this file). No one can be held responsible for any damage this program might cause - it is used at your own risk. Finally, The Blind Fury Engine beta is exactly that - a beta. This test will not represent the final product graphically in any way.

Ok, now that that's over, here's the low-down on the controls:
Arrows - Select in menus/Move player
Enter - Confirm selection in menus
Esc - Quit to main menu from game
O - Toggle high detail mode at the main menu (until option menu exists)
P - Toggle debugging mode (useful if you plan to write scripts)
A (+key combination)- Use special
S - Attack (press repeatedly for combos)
D - Jump

There is more than 1 flying kick, experiment by standing still/moving and holding directions while pressing attack. At the moment, there are 3 (same as SOR2), more might be added/taken in the full release.
There is only 1 special in at the moment - I only needed the one for testing. The key combination for it is ->->(A) (forward, forward, A).

To those of you that downloaded version 0.2 and 0.25, I apologise for the amount of really obvious bugs in them. In retrospect, I shouldn't have released those versions. Still, I think this version more than makes up for the inadequacies of the previous versions - Enjoy!

Minimum Requirements (for high detail mode):
P2-266 (will run on lower speeds - read 'known bugs')
Vesa (2.0+) compatible video card
20 megs of RAM (untested, more might be needed)
Microsoft Windows 9x/Dos

Minimum Requirements (for low detail mode):
P200 (will run on lower speeds - read 'known bugs')
Vesa (2.0+) compatible video card
20 megs of RAM (untested, more might be needed)
Microsoft Windows 9x/Dos

Recommended Specification:
P2-300
Fast vesa (2.0+) compatible video card
64 megs of RAM
Microsoft Dos
Soundblaster AWE32

The faster the computer you have, the more responsive the keys will be. This game runs at 640x480 in 16-bit colour at 60fps (I think...). I can't confirm myself that it runs under Dos, seeing as it keeps crashing on my system (you probably need cwsdpmi.exe), but considering I programmed it for Dos, if your computer's setup up correctly, it should be fine. Either way, it has been confirmed that this game works perfectly under Windows 95 and 98 under a Dos box. NOTE: This game does NOT run under Windows NT4/2000. If you succesfully manage to run it under NT4/2000, e-mail me (x@telefragged.com) and I will add instructions to this readme. If you start up the game and everything looks orange or not coloured correctly, get Scitech Display Doctor.

With the new scripting system (read scriptng.txt), you can make your own scripts to control what happens in the levels. The scripting document gives fairly detailed instructions on using it. Due to its relevant state of infancy, scripts have to be compiled with the code (An external script compiler and script reader will be implemented later), so any scripts you make, send to me, I will compile it for you and send you the zipped exe file. I am also happy to make any amendments in scripts, or give advice if necessary. I will only be accepting scripts for a while, as I don't want to be swamped with them, but if there are some particularly good scripts, you could be asked to write scripts for the actual game. You could even go further and make your own graphics to go with your scripts - if they're good enough, you could have even started off the actual game! If you've read the version revision list, you might notice that beside a lot of new operators for the script, they have 'untested'. This is because they are exactly so - untested. Unfortunately, with schoolwork and other commitments, I don't have the time to do all this programming as well as write/add to a new script every time I update the scripting engine. If you are thinking of making a script, try to use as many operators in the most interesting ways you can imagine. At the moment, the scripting engine is powerful enough to have enemies jump out of windows and start chatting, and in the next version (either next week, or the week after) it will be even more powerful, so don't hold back in what you're trying to do. If you find you can't do something for whatever reason (maybe there isn't an operator that could be useful), post it on the message board and I will either reply with a work-around or add a new operator to the script.

We are desperately seeking artists and musicians - if you're handy with a mouse/graphics tablet or you're more professional and are interested in doing something like this in your spare time, your help would be greatly appreciated. The same goes for musicians, but at the moment, art is a lot more important to get the actual game started. The engine is reaching a more mature state, as you can see from the version revisions list and is pretty much ready to have a game laid over it soon. If you're interested at all, e-mail me at x@telefragged.com and I will get back to you as soon as possible (within a week).

Please report any bugs to me, x@telefragged.com, but read the 'Known bugs' and 'missing features' sections below first.

Missing Features:
-Game (this is an engine beta)
-Holds/throws
-Proper menus
-Special Effects (not all are missing)
-Skys + Sky effects (not seen in the test level)

Known bugs (also see below in the version revision list):
-If your computer isn't fast enough, enemy sprites drop out when hit and other animation glitches may happen. May cause the game to be slightly unplayable. Can happen on slow computers trying to run high-detail mode.
-If your computer isn't fast enough, keys are very unresponsive.
-The game still runs if it doesn't start up in 16-bit colour - get Scitech Display Doctor.
-The player doesn't die even when his health is zero (for testing reasons).

Credits:
-DJ Delorie for DJGPP
-Shawn Hargreaves for the brilliant dos-library Allegro
-Sega for making the amazing game 'Streets of Rage 2' that inspired this.
-My friends & family for saying it looked great when I knew it looked shite :-)
-Jamiroquai for making such excellent music to listen to
-Microsoft for making Dos and NT4
-Radio 1, Kiss FM and Capital FM for playing some good music. Especially Kiss FM.

Versions with one decimal place are public releases.
New features/bug fixes:

v0.42 (10/03/00)
-Added character picture slides to the special sequence
-Added sound to the special sequence

v0.4.1 (10/03/00)
-Marvel vs. Streetfighter style backgrounds during specials
-NOTE: The last version was meant to be released, but ISP problems stopped me from uploading anything

v0.4.0 (04/03/00)
-No change since v0.3.7

v0.3.7 (03/03/00)
-Bug fix: Fixed jumping animation glitch!

v0.3.6 (03/03/00)
-Updated scripting document

v0.3.5b (29/02/00)
-Added special bar relevance (you can only pull of a special if you have enough power in your special bar)
-Re-coded the routine that draws the ID bars
-Interesting effect: It is possible to add a monster with chartype 1 (player sprites)

v0.3.5 (28/02/00)
-ADDED SPECIALS!
-Bug fix: No more than one person could attack at the same time
-Bug fix: The script in the first test level would go into an infinite loop

v0.3.3 (25/02/00)
-Lots of preperation code for specials
-Collision detection revamped:
   -All collision detection related bugs fixed (see bug fixes below)
   -Runs slightly faster
   -Collision detection is called when the DRAW_CHARS operator is used (might change later)
   -Prepared for specials
-Bug fix: Double damage done when 2 or more characters attack at the same time fixed
-Bug fix: Slow down when attacking/attacked fixed
-Bug fix: Slightly more responsive keys on slower computers
-Bug fix: Hitting an enemy while they're falling no longer freezes that enemy and renders them invincible
-Coming in next version:
   -Specials
   -Updated scripting documentation
   -Fixed jumping animation glitch (?)

v0.3.2b (21/02/00)
-New script operators:
   -START_MUSIC
   -STOP_MUSIC
-Level header format changed
-Bug fix: MOVE_CHAR works
-Bug fix: EXECUTE_BLOCK works and no longer halts scripts
-Bug fix: FADEOUT works
-Bug fix: ADD_MONSTER now works with EXECUTE_BLOCK

v0.3.2 (21/02/00)
-New script operators:
   -FADEOUT
   -NONE
-Bug fix: Frame limiter code changed:
   -Runs at correct speed
   -Runs optimally on a P200 and lower
   -High detail mode runs better (but still needs a fast computer)
   -Keys a lot more responsive
   -Movement a lot smoother
-Bug fix: FADEIN works
-BUG: FADEOUT doesn't work

v0.3.1 (15/02/00)
-New script operators:
   -EXECUTE_BLOCK
   -END_BLOCK
   -FADEIN
-Level header format changed
-New variables added
-Different graphics
-BUG: FADEIN courses crash, disabled at the moment.
-BUG: Various commands have trouble with EXECUTE_BLOCK (for example, ADD_MONSTER)
-WARNING: Using an until command (DO_UNTIL, WAIT_UNTIL & STOP_UNTIL), or GOTO will cause infinite loops in an EXECUTE_BLOCK block.

v0.3.0 (11/02/00)
-New script operators:
   -ELSE - untested
   -END_ELSE - untested
-Scripting document updated

v0.2.9b (11/02/00)
-New script operators:
   -MOVE - untested
   -STOPMOVE - untested
-Slightly more responsive input
-Almost all documented scripting operators are working

v0.2.9 (10/02/00)
-New script operator:
   -MOVE_CHAR - untested
-Scripting document updated

v0.2.8b (10/02/00)
-New script operators:
   -IF - untested
   -END_IF - untested
-All variables can now be accessed when using comparitive operators or the CHANGE_VALUE operator
-Scripting document updated
-BUG FIX: Freeze frame bug fixed
-Minimum spec for low-detail mode lowered

v0.2.8 (08/02/00)
-Various extra scripting operators
-Scripting documentation changed for new commands and various amendments.

v0.2.7b (07/02/00)
-v0.1 scripting documentation finished
-Small bug in the level 1 script fixed

v0.2.7 (07/02/00)
-SCRIPTING FULLY WORKING! Not all commands are in yet, but all the significant ones are
-No external script interpreter/compiler yet
-Documentation for custom scripts being made

v0.2.6 (06/02/00)
-ADDED PRELIMINARY SCRIPTING!
-Documentation will be added in next version release (v0.3) to make custom scripts.
-Scripts need to be compiled with the code, so all custom scripts have to be sent to me.
-No bug fixes yet

v0.2.5b (01/02/00)
-Added new special effect: fog (hi-detail mode only)
-Bug: Jumping/flying kick animation glitch - happens on all computers
-Bug: Enemy 'freeze-frame' bug (see v0.2.4b) - happens on all computers

v0.25 (27/01/00)/(28/01/00)
-New routine: add_time
-New AI directive added:
  -Circle anticlockwise
-Not enough features to warrant the v0.3 status

v0.2.4b (27/01/00)
-AI bug fixed
-New AI directive soon to be added:
  -Circle anticlockwise
-New bug(?): Enemies stop animating but carry on moving and attacking (?) - could be caused by slow computer

v0.2.4 (27/01/00)
-AI directives added! (proper AI)
-New AI directives:
  -Circle clockwise
  -Approach
-Bug in AI, soon to be fixed (nothing much)

v0.2.3 (27/01/00)
-AI applied to all enemies

v0.2.2c (26/01/00)
-Slight optimisation
-Bug: Flying kick animation glitch still present (?) - needs to be checked on a faster computer (feedback please!)
-Enemies fall down when getting fly-kicked
-Flying kick collision detection improved

v0.2.2b (25/01/00)
-Slight optimisation
-Bugs seem to be caused by slow computers, minimum spec changed
-Enemy hitting himself bug doesn't seem to appear anymore (?)

v0.2.2 (24/01/00)
-Flying kicks in!
-Low detail mode runs at full speed on a P200 (maybe less, untested)
-Fixed 'continuos hit' bug that happens on faster computers (this fix also speeds up the game)
-Known bug: flying kick animation glitch (will be resolved in next version)
-Known bug: Enemy able to hit himself (will be resolved in next version)
-Interesting effect: The dumb ai-controlled enemy can be made to beat up the other monsters by positioning the player correctly :-)
-More preperation for proper AI

v0.2.1 (24/01/00)
-Many optimisations
-Detail toggle at main menu
-Preperation code for proper AI and flying kicks

v0.2 (23/01/00)
-Collision detection works for all players/enemies
   -More accurate collision detection
-ai_think routine working
-Draw stack implemented (sprites drawn in the right order on screen)
-Bug fix: If you restart the game without having the Go! sign on the screen when you quit, it restarts properly now

v0.1
-Support for 10 enemies, no ai
-Slightly more responsive combos
-Parallax scrolling

*Except health/special bars, menu background image, hi-detail mode fog image, 'Blind Fury' fire sprites, arrows/buttons in special mode, the backgrounds during specials, the text font used throughout the game, menu move/select sounds and the 'fist-through-air' sound.
