            FULL DOCUMENTATION TO XP8 / WEATHERMINE SOFTWARE

    The Story:

    In the cold darkness, the alien probe drifts into the outer reaches of
    the  star  system,  drawn  by the stars gravity. For days it continues
    unnoticed, its power systems long ago burnt out. Finally,  it  crosses
    the  outer  system  sentry  ring,  and  triggers a series of automatic
    warnings.

    On the homeworld, a computer console hums into life, beginning a chain
    of events that eventually leads to interstellar war.

    Planetary defence launches fighter craft to intercept the unidentifies
    object, and find it to be a probe of unknown origin, apparently adrift
    and powerless. It is brought back to a high security military base for
    examination.

    After many days, military scientists reach  the  conclusion  that  the
    probe represents no immediate threat. It appears to have been launched
    by an alien civilisation,  in  the  hope  that  it  may  be  found  by
    intelligent  life  and lead to contact between the two species. It has
    been sucessful.

    The information within the probe has revealed what we  believe  to  be
    the  alien own star system. The probe itself suggests their technology
    is inferior to ours, although it must be remembered that much time has
    passed  since  it was cast into the vastness of space - we do not know
    how long it has taken to reach us, and must expect the aliens to  have
    advanced technologically in the intervening years.

    Twenty years later....

    All  attempts  to  contact the aliens with interstellar communications
    have failed. We do not know if the signals have failed to  reah  them,
    or have simply been ignored. Military command has therefore decided to
    send a starship to  the  alien  star  system  with  the  intention  of
    establishing  contact  with  them.  This is a peaceful mission, and as
    such the  starship  is  lightly  armed,  and  carries  many  respected
    scientists.  We  eagerly await the moment when contact will finally be
    made....

    Our starship reported entering hte alien star system, and detection of
    approaching alien craft. That was the last we were to hear to from it.
    Fearing the worst, we launched several military cruisers  towards  the
    alien  star  system  to investigate. Shortly afterwards we learnt from
    long range scanners that our starship had been destroyed. As  cruisers
    approached  alien space, they themselves came under unprovoked attack,
    and responded with deadly force.  We  destroyed  many  of  the  aliens
    attack craft before we withdrew from enemy space.

    Since then, we have been at wra with the aliens.


    Several years later....

    We are losing the war. The enemy are simply  too  numerous,  and  have
    inflicted  severe  losses  on our forces in recent encounters. We fear
    that in another year, they may have completely defeated  us.  However,
    we   believe   they   have  a  fundamental  weakness.  Their  military
    infrastructure appears to be heavily centred upon their homeworld.  We
    believe  that  a  successful  assault upon their homeworld would leave
    their military in disarray, and lead to our ultimate victory.

    We have therefore thrown everything into a strike force which is  even
    now entering alien space and heading straight for their homeworld. The
    next few days will determine the outcome of the war.

    Loading instructions:

    Disc 1 is self-booting - simply turn on your machine and put the  disc
    in.  You  will  see  some title screens, then the main XP8 menu screen
    (hold down fire to  speed  through  the  different  screens).  Disc  4
    contains a hard disk installer.

    The Main menu screen:

    From  the  main  menu  screen  ou  have  the choice to start the level
    indicated, (see playing the game) or to enter the option screens.  Use
    your  particular  control  method  to  highlight  the various options,
    pressing fire to select.

    The Main option screen:

    From here you can  change  various  aspects  of  the  game.  Most  are
    self-explanatory.  It  is  from this screen that you choose one or two
    players, by turning the selector on or off. Make sure  you  have  your
    preferred control method selected for each player.

    Customise options:

    You  can  also  enter  a  'customise option' screen, from here you can
    cheat as much as you like. It is possible to make the  game  extremely
    easy  with all the options turned on. So, if you would like to see all
    of the game, who are we to stop you.

    Password:

    If you have completed a mission already and don't wish to  repeat  the
    experiece you can enter the password given at the end of the mission.

    Control methods for Player 1 and 2:

    Joystick: Joystick positions for movement.
    Fire button fires.
    Left Alt to toggle weapons.
    (Right Alt for player 2).

    Joypad:
    Directional controller for movement
    Red or Green button for fire.
    Blue or Yellow button toggle weapons.
    Side buttons scroll up and down through weapons
    Pause / play for pause / resume
    While paused press Yellow and Green together to quit level.

    Keyboard: Player 2 only
    Cursor keys for movement
    Right shift for fire / or turn off auto-fire.
    Right Amiga for auto-fire.
    Right Alt to toggle weapons

    Additional controls:  All methods

    <Space> Morph ships
    < P >   Pause game

    While paused:

    < Q > Quits mission
    < R > Resume mission
    <F10> Jump to Workbench

    Playing the game:

    After the mission objective has been described to you, the  game  will
    begin.  You  should  first become aware of your ships status panel, at
    the top of the screen for player one, and at  the  bottom  for  player
    two:

    ---------------------------------------------------------
    |Mission|Weapon| Weapon  |Your |Number| Shield |   %    |
    |objects|power |  type   |Score|shield|Strength| Level  |
    |  left | bar  |Indicator|     | left |   bar  |Complete|
    |--------------------------------------------------------

    Basically, your overall objective is to reach the  end  of  the  level
    without  losing  all your shields. Along the way you will meet various
    types of ships, some are useful power-up ships the other will try  and
    destroy you.

    If  you  fail  to  achieve  the mission objective you will have to try
    again.

    You will also come across boss ships, ypou can't  miss  them,  they're
    bigger  than  the rest and they don't leave you alone until one of you
    is gone. To  help  you  judge  their  shield  strength  the  '%  level
    complete'  indicator  will  change  red, when this % reaches zero it's
    destroyed.

    Power-ups:

    You will notice green disc shape objects spinning  around,  these  are
    power-ups  for  your ship. There are eight standard weapons available,
    plus special all powerful weapons which will temporarily  disable  all
    standard ones. As well as these weapons there are:

    Bomb:           B
    Extra Shields   S
    Shield Restore  +
    Immune          I

    You can power up each of your weapons by collecting more of the  same.
    You  can  see  the  particular  weapons power bar go up each time this
    occurs, but there is a maximum after which  any  more  collected  will
    result in an overload explosion which acts like a bomb.

    You will never lose your weapons you lose a shield, in which case your
    present firing weapons power will drop. You can disable  this  in  the
    customised options if you wish.

    Two-player mode:

    If things get a little tough by yourself you can call on a  friend  to
    play  as your wing man. In two player mode you fight side by side, any
    power-ups revealed can be collected by either player. You can however,
    combine  your  ships  to become one. This is activated by pressing the
    space bar when in close proximity to  one  another.  Player  one  will
    steer  and  fire  forward guns, player two acts as rear turret gunner.
    Space bar will release your two ships. The gun turret will gain  power
    the longer it is left unfired.

    Finally: Good Luck!

    (c) 1996 M.C Waters & A.J. Fenton-Jones.
    WeatherMine Software. All rights reserved.

    Program: Matthew Waters

    Graphics: Anthony Fenton-Jones

    Music: Daniel Dean

    Title Page & Logo: Tero Lehtonen


    Right you have come to the end  of  the  docs,  this  game  is  really
    awesome  so  please, please buy this game as it is the start hopefully
    of many projects for this company, if  you  don't  buy  it  then  well
    DELETE IT

    20  quid  is  very  little to ask for some hard earned months worth of
    programming and well, its your choice now.


    Typed up by HELLFIRE!