Tank Battle Help
Contents:
Overview
Game Play
Power Ups
Offline
Internet
Chat
Web
Contact
Download
Overview:
This is just your basic tank battle game. Very simular to the old Atari version.
Just a 2D game with very simple graphics and sounds but with nice play. Additional
options in my version are Power Ups and user maps.
And, of course, internet support.
Controls are very basic; just use the up/down/left/right arrow keys to
move and shoot.
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Game Play:
Once you set up a game, either offline or internet
player simply move thier tank using the keyboard. Each player's weapon is determined by
the currently active power up. Currently, there is no scoring,
so players can continously shoot at each other. When a Tank is "killed", it will be randomly placed
on the map.
Player Controls:
- Up Arrow - Moves Forward
- Left/Right - Turn Left/Right
- Down - Shoot
If playing with 2 players on one PC, the second players cotrols are:
- W key - Moves Forward
- A key/ Dkey - Turn Left/Right
- S key - Shoot
After preparing your game, select "Start" from the "Tank" menu to start the game.
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Power Ups:
Currentlt, there are only 3 power ups:
- Invisible
Makes the user invisible for 60 seconds. If the player is playing online
the tank will be visible on only one PC, otherwise,
the tank will be invisible to all. This permits team play online (if players share the same PC),
thier tanks will always be visible to each other.
- Bouncy
Gives shots a longer life span (range) and enables the shots to bounce around the screen.
- Death Bomb
My favorite, but really not useful. Gives shots extra range and causes shots to
explode on impact with walls to create additional shots. If combined with bouncy,
the original shot will not be destroyed and will continue to generate more shots.
Very messy to use, but fun sometimes.
The use of powerups is only effective for a limited time. If you need more time,
You can send me money via PayPal. Joking only. The death bomb has a 2 minute
use limit. Invisiblity is limited to 1 minute and Bouncy is limited to 5 minutes.
If the map has extra powerups, they can still be used. Also, if you use the Lock Power Ups
option, there is no time limit on use.
Ok, here is what the actual menu options say, and what that means ...
- Use All Power Ups
This enables the use of all three powerups and will check all menu options
except for Lock Power Ups.
- No Power Ups
This will disable the use of all power ups and uncheck all menu options.
- Bouncy
- Invisible
- Death Bomb
- Lock Power Ups
This forces all users to use the same power up options as checked above.
If any power ups are collected during play, they are ignored because the
power ups are "Locked". Leave this "Unchecked" to permit players to
collect powerups during play.
Power Ups are collected by "driving" over them.
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Offline Setup:
Offline game play is the easiest to prepare for. All you need do is select amap
to play (optional), select your power up options
(also optional) then set up for a 2 player game. Currently, single player is not supported.
To configure for 2 player, go to "Options" menu, "Players" and check the
"Two Player" option. Player 1 will use the arrow keys (Up/Down/Left/Right)
and Player 2 will use (WASD) keys. See also Game Play.
Then simply select "Start" from the "Tank" menu to begin play. To pause your game,
select the "New Game" from the "Tank" menu.
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Internet Setup:
So, you want to play online ....
This game uses TCIP for internet game play. If you are the host, all players will
connect to your PC, otherwise, you must connect to thier PC. Seems simple so far eh?
Setting up an internet game can be broken down into several simple steps ....
- Talk to other players
Either via a telephone, email or chat.
- Decide which player will host. This should be the fastest PC or a PC
with the most permisive firewall. Or a user that is good at configuring a firewall.
- The host MUST provide the IP address of his PC. Run IPCONFIG.exe
a windows app (all windows users have this) to determine address.
- The host decides on a communications port (com port) the default is 1666,
but can be changed by going to "Options" - "Port". ALL PLAYERS MUST USE THE SAME PORT.
- Then, the host decides on a map and power ups.
- When ready, the host selects "Tank" - "Host"
- Then everyone else "Tank" - "Join" and then enter the host's IP address.
- any PC using 2 Players select "Options" - "Players" - "Two Player"
- When all users have joined, the Host selects "Tank" - "Start"
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Chatting with Other Players:
Setting up this game to support chat at the same time was too complicated.
So, here is a link to a web-based IRC chat room
You could also use MIRC, MIM or YIM ....
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Custom Maps:
Loading a custom map is easy. Go to "Options" - "Load Level".
The default map names are *.map but *.txt can be loaded as well.
All maps are 32x32 in size. This size seems to fit the screen best.
If a map supports power ups, these will be used if collected and
that particular power up is enabled. See Power Ups.
Making a custom level is pretty simple too. I use Notepad with the line wrap
turned off. You could also just load an existing level into Notepad and then edit it.
However you decide, these are the special letters that have meaning:
- # - this is a wall
- 1,2,3,4 - player 1,2,3,4 start locations
be advised that player start rotations are preset, only the locations will change.
- B - bouncy power up
- V - invisibility Power Up
- D - Death Bomb Power Up
- all others are ignored and treated as floors
You can save as either *.txt to make editing easy or as *.map. To play this map with
other players, they must already have the file. This is part of the hosts job in preparing
for an online game. See Internet Play
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My Web Site:
My website is www.archonrpg.com
The you will find links to my other games and apps and also some movies.
other useful links are:
DarkBasic
PureBasic
GameMaker
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Contact Information:
I (Norman Perry) can be reached via email here
or via my website www.archonrpg.com
or in the darkbasic forums as user "waffle".
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