Sneech

"Sneech, It's a new national sport."

     Contents
     --------

      1. Introduction.
      2. History of worm games.
      3. Feature List.
      4. Setting Up.
      5. The Game!
      6. The League and Money System.
      7. End of Game and Rating System.
      8. Full Game Extras!!!!!
      9. Last Bits.


1. Introduction
---------------

Sneech is a fast paced 'Worm Game' game for up to 4 players at a
time. You can also play against 4 computer players and is as far as
I know the first game ever to allow all 8 players to play
simultaneously on screen. This is why the game is so much fun to play.

The game has been played and tested for about 4 months now and in
this time many changes and additions have been made. So the game
has adapted to suit the needs of many people.

When you first play Sneech it might seem at first to be just
another Worm / Tron game. You might find it too difficult or fiddly
to play. Please? Stick at it and you will soon get the hang of it.
The game was really designed to be used by 2-4 human players but it
can be played by 1 player.

But for best results play in a darkened room with the sound turned
up to full and just sprinkle 4 humans and add 2 or more computer
players for taste! Also the later in the day the better! Office
hours will do but I recommend you use up as much bed time as you can!

Before I continue, there are some known bugs in this version! Sometimes
you will find the odd block or piece of 'worm' left on the screen. The
Full game has a few procedures that check the screen for 'spare' bits
when an explosion happens. These procedures were taken out to save on
the size of the file. All I can say is that the full game has worked
well in the past few months, and I don't have the time to spend weeks
getting this demo working perfect! It all adds to the randomness? of
the game anyway! and you are going to get used to randomness when you
meet the Random Factor in the full game!!!!!!!!!!!


2. History Of Worm Games
------------------------

I think everyone at some time has seen a worm game before and I think
most people who have ever programed have written one. I have always
found these games great fun to play but they are almost always
designed for 1 player. I decided to write a version myself but I would
have to change some rules and add some interesting ideas of my own...


3. Feature List
---------------

Here are a list of the features in this Version....

     Up to four Human Players (2 Joysticks) + (2 on keyboard)
     Up to 7 Computer players (Depending on No. of Humans!)
     Computer Players have different tactics!
     You can control your own speed by collecting the speed pills
     There are Slow-down Pills If you get too fast!
     You gain length by picking up size pills,
     You loose length by Crashing!
     Pick up bombs and then crash into another player!
     Blockers Appear to make the game more interesting (Avoid)
     Slip-Mats That let you slide smoother.
     Reverses can be used if needed
     Super Scooper for easy object pickup!
     This demo is limited to 4 games per league.



4. Setting Up
-------------

Controls:-

There are 8 sets of Icons for setting up your players. The four on
the left can be human players or computer players or off and the
four on the right can be computer players or off.

Firstly choose how many players you need by selecting the control
Icons these will cycle from...

Off, Joy1, Joy2, Left Keyboard, Right Keyboard, Computer.

Some people might find the keyboard controls harder but with
practice there not too bad :-

		  Left Keyboard    Right Keyboard

	Up	       Ctrl	      Curs-Up
      Down	    L Shift	      Curs-Down
      Left	      L Alt	      Curs-Left
     Right	    L Amiga	      Curs-Right



Colours :-

Now Select your colours by clicking the colour Icons. With the computer
Players this will also change the tactics and difficulty but I won't
spoil it by letting you know what these are but I will say...

     Blonde, Black, White, Orange      (Harder)
     Pink,   Blue,  Red,   Green       (Easier)

There is nothing stopping you from having an 8 player game when
your all Black! or one player against 7 yellows!


Names:-

Now you can change the names of the human players by clicking on
the name and entering the new name?

Now Click on the Go Button to start the league......


5. The Game
-----------

Quote of the month  "Sneech, it's Like Etch-a-Sketch on LSD"


The game itself lasts for 5 minutes. At the start of the game your
name will be shown as well as the amount of points the other
players could get if they were to kill you!

Then after the countdown the game will start!

     The game is split into 3 time periods these are :-

     Green	    Start off Period	 (Get going!)
     Blue	    Game Time		 (Kill everyone!)
     Red	    Extra Time		 (No pills!)

The object of the game is to kill off all the other players as
quickly as possible. And at the same time collect as many money
tokens as possible.

You have until the end of the Green period to start moving in any
direction you want. After this you will automatically move in a
random direction.

You must avoid the walls, Blockers, yourself and the other players.
If you do crash you will simply shrink. When you shrink to nothing
you are killed-off and out of the game. The game continues until
all the players are dead or the time is up, in which case you will
simply shrink to your death! (Nice Happy Instructions Hey!).

To aid you on you journey you will find Speed Pills (Black) these
pills will last for a short while and you will eventually slow back
down to normal. You will have to keep collecting these to maintain
a decent speed preferably faster than everyone else but not too
fast or else you will be a fool to yourself! If you do go too fast
you can either be very careful until it wears off or you can
collect the Slow-Down Pills (Black-Yellow) to put on the breaks.

You will have to collect the size pills (white) to maintain your
length. Basically the bigger the better (who said size doesn't
matter).

You can gain points by killing people. If you do kill someone you
will get their kill bonus as displayed at the start of the game. If
you don't kill them but they just bash into you they will shrink by
Approx 10% and you will gain some of what they have lost. You will
also increase your destruction bonus. You also get a bonus for how
fast you go and how large you get.

Look out for the Slip Mats you will travel across these at a faster
pace, so be crafty and use them.

You will also be able to collect the Free Bombs that will appear
during the game. When you have a bomb you will be allowed to crash
into another player and blow away some of there tail. This can also
be used to finish them off if they get to the 'Tiddler on the lose'
stage! But you wouldn't do that to one of your friends would you?


6. The League and Money System
------------------------------

During the game small green tokens will appear. This is where you
get your money. Sometimes small yellow tokens will appear. The
yellow ones are money boxes and they explode when you touch them,
sending approx. 4 green money tokens out around that area for you to
collect. When someone is killed off before the extra time period
approx. 4 green tokens will be left behind. If that player was the
second to last player to die, then approx 4 yellow money boxes will
appear. As you can see, the best way to collect money is to kill
everybody else off!

This Demo is set to 4 x 5 minute games per league. Depending on how
much money you collect you will be given some equipment to help you
during the game.

Extra Speeds :- $400     Maximum of 2 Demo only

This Lets you start off the game on a faster speed. You will slow
down again so you will need to top it up again.

Super Scooper :- $230

This lets you pickup objects easier. You will be given one of these
if you can't afford anything.

Reverse :- $250          Maximum of one Demo only

If you have reverses and you are ever trapped completely (that is
on all 3 sides), you will be reversed and the tail becomes the head
and the head becomes the tail.


7. End of Game & Rating System
------------------------------

At the end of the league the winner is the player with the highest
Rating. This is usually the player with the most points but it does
take into account other factors.

The rating system gives a fair rate for how well you have played on
a whole and was added to the game for the Hi-Score table which is
only in the full game.

     The rate takes into account:-

     No. of Human Players.
     No. of Computer Players.
     Money left after last game.
     Points.
     The Game Options. (Full Game Only)


8. Full Game Extras!
---------------------

Your Version of the Full game is waiting on my desk in an envelope.
All I need is your address and a cheque for 5 pounds and it will be
winging it's way to you!

Here are a few things to expect when it arrives :-

     Full control over the game options ie,
     Play Practice Game or up to 25 Games in a league.
     Games Can last 3-20 minutes.
     The Speed Pills can Pop up Quicker.
     Lowest Speed Can be set higher.
     You can start off with size (10-400).
     The Size Pills Can be turned off?
     Auto size increase so that you don't have to bother picking up
     the pills all the time!

     Blockers can be More or less Frequent or turned off.
     Slip mats, More or less Frequent or turned off.
     Slip mats stronger!

     Full In-Game documentation.
     No hanging around for the graphics to decompact.
     Top 20 Hi-Score Table Automatically Saves to disk.
     Save Game options and Game Set-Up.

     Probably a lot more things by the time you get hold of this demo!

Shop section:-

     You can control what you spend your money on.

     Buy Extra Start-off Speeds
     Buy Extra Start-off Size
     Buy Reverses.
     Buy Bombs.
     Buy Bomb Deflectors to protect yourself.
     Choose to buy Super Scooper or save the money!
     Buy a Stunner to stun the first player to touch you.
     Buy a No-Dead-Money to stop other players cashing in on you.
     Buy a Pass-Through so that you can drive through yourself.
     Tip off the Random Factor?
     Buy an * EXTRA LIFE! * to bring you back from the dead.
     Plus interest on any money not spent and equipment not used.

Other Extras include :-

     Special Last Screen Arena with Blockers already set up.
     Special 'IT' bonus prize!
     Extra Sound Samples.
     The Incredible Random Factor!

I will also send demos of other games I have done like Peg It,
Shroom Gammon and Jelly Othelly.


9. Last Bits
------------

I hope you like this game because I have spent a lot of time making
very small changes to it during the last few months. If you don't
like it then why not let me know why or even let me know what you
think I could do to improve it.

I would really like to add more human players to this game but as
far as I know the keyboard can't really be used to add more
players. I have tried but the only way I know it can be done is by
using an interface plugged into a port on the rear of the computer,
thus allowing you to plug in two more joysticks. This has been used
for games like 'Dynablaster'. I haven't got dynablaster so if
anyone knows where I could buy the said piece of equipment or
better still the information needed to make one. Also if anyone
could let me know of any way of reading this using amos? I know
this sounds like a pretty daft question but it would be worth it to
get 6 or more people playing the game at the same time.

I could add an option to link another amiga up and utilise the
joystick ports and maybe even let you use the second keyboard to
allow up to 8 human players!

If I get asked by enough people I will alter the program to allow
10 players ie. 4 Human 6 Computer!!! I just didn't think anyone
could be that keen on my little worm game.

Enjoy!