Break Ball v1.60

COPYRIGHT BC SOFT  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~   CREATED BY BRYCE CARROLL

WWW.BCSOFTGAMES.COM  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~BREAKBALL@BCSOFTGAMES.COM

1-SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
2-GAME OBJECT
3-GAME MODES
4-PLAYER CONTROLS
5-POWER UPS
6-SPECIAL WEAPONS
7-TROUBLESHOOTING AND SUPPORT
8-EXPANDIBILITY!!!
9-BUY THE FULL VERSION!!!
10-UPDATES

Windows 95, 98, ME
Pentium II 200MHz or above is recommended
64 MB RAM
~18 MB of Hard drive Space; additional board packs require additional space
DirectX 7.0 or higher. (available for free download at www.microsoft.com/directx)
Mouse, Joystick or Keyboard

The object of the one player or team game is to destroy all of the bricks on the screen, and advance through all 12 levels scoring as many points as possible.  When this is done, an end of game sequence will start. 

For the versus game the object is to kill the opponent.  Each player has X marks where lives would usually be.  These X's track the number of lives that player has.  A player looses a life when a ball (his or the opponents) goes past his paddle and off the screen, or when a power-ball goes past his paddle and off the screen.  The player that dies first looses.

There are three different difficulty levels.  The game difficulty levels reflect the speed of the ball when each new ball is given to the player(s).  The CPU difficulty levels reflect the level of challenge of the computer opponent. 

There are 6 different board sets (that come with the full version of the game, this may be expanded limitlessly with boards that will be available for download).  Each board set represents a certain type of brick format that remains somewhat constant throughout the 12 boards of the board set. For example: the RETRO set contains boards that all have 10 rows of bricks, the bricks are one hit each,  the RUBBER set contains levels where the bricks are constantly moving and bouncing across the screen, the ICE board set contains levels where there are moving bricks as well as multiple hit bricks that remain stationary, the FIRE set contains many bricks that are "launched" when hit by a ball, and so on.

If you want a good challenge, try beating the computer with both the CPU difficulty and the difficulty on nuts, with the players being 20 hits each...

*** Main Menu ***

<Enter> or <Space> to choose an option
<Left Ctrl> or <Q> to go back a menu
<ESC> to quit and exit game
use arrow keys to scroll through options

<Left Button> to choose an option
<Right Button> to go back a menu
move mouse to scroll through options

<Button 1> to choose an option
<Button 2> to go back a menu
use controller to scroll through options

*** IN-Game Controls ***

<Left> to move paddle left
<Right> to move paddle right
<Space> hold space while pressing left or right to move paddle at "turbo" speed
<A> does nothing until you have a special weapon. Then, it is used to power up a special weapon.  You must hold it down, until the weapon is powered. When it is powered, it will      make a sound or you will see a graphic (depending on the weapon selected) that will let you know it is powered.  At that point, release the button to use the special weapon. In addition, at the beginning of a one-player or a team game this button releases the ball.
<B> scrolls through the special weapons.  Everytime this button is pressed, the powering up of the special weapon is reset. 
<P> pauses the game, <Space> un-pauses the game
<ESC> use to exit game.  This will return you the main menu.

<Move Mouse Left> moves the paddle left
<Move Mouse Right> moves the paddle right
<Left Button> does nothing until you have a special weapon. Then, it is used to power up a special weapon.  You must hold it down, until the weapon is powered. When it is powered, it will make a sound or you will see a graphic (depending on the weapon selected) that will let you know it is powered.  At that point, release the button to use the special weapon. In addition, at the beginning of a one-player or a team game this button releases the ball.
<Right Button>scrolls through the special weapons.  Every time this button is pressed, the powering up of the special weapon is reset. 

<Left on Controller> moves the paddle left
<Right on Controller> moves the paddle right
<Button 1(A)> does nothing until you have a special weapon. Then, it is used to power up a special weapon.  You must hold it down, until the weapon is powered. When it is powered, it will make a sound or you will see a graphic (depending on the weapon selected) that will let you know it is powered.  At that point, release the button to use the special weapon. In addition, at the beginning of a one-player or a team game this button releases the ball.
<Button 2(B)> scrolls through the special weapons.  Every time this button is pressed, the powering up of the special weapon is reset. 
<Button 3(C), 7(Left), 8(Right)> hold one of these buttons while pressing left or right on the controller to move paddle at "turbo" speed

shrinks all of that player's balls one size.  If a ball is the smallest size, that ball disappears off of the screen

enlarges all of that player's balls one size.  There are 6 different ball sizes total

shrinks the paddle one size

enlarges the paddle one size.  There are 4 different paddle sizes

gives the player an additional life

slows down all of that player's balls up to a certain point

speeds up all of that player's balls up to a certain point

gives player two extra balls

changes all of that player's balls into comets.  A comet will destroy any brick it comes into contact with in one hit and will not reflect.

gives player power ball special weapon.  When weapon is released it moves until it either collides with bricks, another paddle, hits a wall, or goes past a paddle an off the screen.  When it collides it explodes, the explosion destroying any bricks in the explosion's radius.  If it passes a paddle and moves off of the screen, it will damage the other player. 
charged - when the ball is full size, a cocked sound will be made

gives player winde up special weapon.  Charging paddle windes it towards the edge of the screen, releasing whips it in the opposite direction.  During this whip if the paddle hits a ball, that ball will be sent away from the paddle at a much faster velocity. If an icon is hit during this whip, that icon will be hit away from the paddle at a faster velocity.  And again, if a power ball is hit, it will be hit away from the paddle at a higher velocity.
charged - when a winding sound can no longer be heard

gives player punch special weapon.  When released punch sends a surge of power the size of the paddle across the screen.  All bricks in its path are knocked loose and sent bouncing across the screen.  All balls in its path increase velocity in the direction of the punch, and are knocked a good distance in the same direction of the punch.
charged - when purple sparks shoot out of the paddle

gives player winds special weapon.  When released all balls within a certain distance of the paddle increase their velocity and move away from the player's paddle.  Occasionally you may be able to create a wind that doesn't stop making you invincible...
charged - when the paddle gets a blue aura around it

The only bugs that this game has encountered is directX compatibility issues.  You must have directX 7.0 or higher to run this game, it is a free download from Microsoft if you do not have it (www.microsoft.com/directX). Other compatibility problems can occur when you have a mouse or joystick driver that is not directX compatible.  The solution for driver issues is to go onto the website of the manufacturer of that device and find a driver that is compatible.  If you cannot locate a driver there, contact the device's manufacturer directly. 

DirectX is becoming a windows standard for programming and all joysticks and mouse devices made within the last five years will have a compatible driver out there somewhere.

If you encounter any problems that seem to be non-compatibility related problems, please let us know and we'll try and help you get this game running.  Some future issues are expected to be addressed in a troubleshooting section on  the web site, but if you do not find your problem there, feel free to contact us  by email or by leaving a note on the discussion page of the website.

In addition to the six board sets that this game comes with, it was made with the intention of adding many more board sets.  The full version of the game comes with a password that will give the owner access to a download section on the bcsoftgames website.  Every month a new board set will be added to this download section for free download.  These download board sets have a simple installation program, and you will then have a brand new board set to play  through!!!  With this expandability, you will never run out of new levels!!! The discussion forum on the bcsoftgames website is a great place to give input as to the type of levels you'd like to see in the future; so you can help decide what kind of levels you'll be playing in the future!

Check the site for information on purchasing the full version.  It costs $15 and includes many more levels, backgrounds and soundtracks.  Go to the Break Ball Page to purchase by credit card or check!

 -  C R E D I T S  -

Game concept, programming, music, most the sound effects and graphics created by Bryce Carroll Email: bcsoftgames@hotmail.com

Some additional graphics and sound effects were contributed by Andre LaMothe See Xtreme Games company website at http://www.xgames3d.com Email CEO@xgames3d.com

A few additional textures were created by the Absolute Cross group.  I appreciate them making their talents free to the public.  See the Absolute Cross website at http://www.absolutecross.com
 
A special thanks to my brother, Russell Carroll, who helped me throughout the process of creating this game with many great ideas.  He also spent many hours creating a great web page, and doing many other things that have helped make this game a success.

Break Ball(tm) 2000-2001 is copyrighted by BC SOFT(tm), and the full version of the game may not be resold for profit, or redistributed in any way without the express written consent of BC SOFT.