BlaGTron 3.01

1989, 1992, 1993, 1994 Pedro Timoteo

Programmed in Borland Pascal 7

WHAT DO I NEED TO PLAY IT?: Should  work in *any* PC (even a XT!), but
needs a SVGA card with at least 512k to use the 800x600x256 mode. (OK,
it only uses 6 colors... but...).  Also,  for that mode, it requires a
VESA driver.

CAN I USE MY SOUND CARD?: Blagtron  can  use a Sound Blaster card (any
of them) for  very  simple  sound  FX.  However,  it  requires the CT-
VOICE.DRV file to be in the  game  directory.  That file is usually in
the C:\SB\DRV  (or  C\SBPRO\DRV,  or  C\SB16...  you  get  the  idea!)
directory. Before copying it, just to make sure it's current (it is so
seldom used by other  programs  that  it  can  be badly configured for
years without you noticing it!), you should copy the INST-DRV.EXE file
(from C:\SB) to C:\SB\DRV and run  it there, selecting the appropriate
options. Failing to do this has  caused problems with some people, who
had to turn off the sounds (because they didn't ask me!)

WHAT ARE THE INSTRUCTIONS?:

The game is very simple to  play  (but hard to master, as usually...).
There are probably many other versions  of this game idea around; most
of them will be better programmed  but  less fun to play... The reason
for this is that  I  made  this  game  originally  just  for me and my
friends to play,  and  it  has  been  under  (little)  alterations for
several years now.
So, the main feature, which  is  the  four-player  option, has been in
this game since the start.

WILL YOU GIVE THOSE !$%&/(? INSTRUCTIONS OR NOT???

All, right, all right! The aim of  the  game is to trap the opponents,
so that they  will  be  forced  to  hit  a  trail  left  by any player
(including himself), which will cause his death. When all are dead but
one, that one is the  winner,  and  gets  a  point. The game continues
then, in a clean screen, with all the players revived.

Short, uh?

YEAH, SURE! BUT SURELY THAT GAME IDEA WAS NOT YOURS???

No, it wasn't. It appeared in the  Walt  Disney movie "TRON" and in an
old ZX Spectrum game called  Blind  Alley.  Which  was MUCH worse than
Blagtron.

ZX SPECTRUM? WHAT'S THAT???

Off-topic!
(Where were you in the early eighties?)

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF EXISTENCE?

Listening to Black Sabbath.

HOW DO I EXIT THE GAME?

When in the scoring screen (which  is in text mode), press CTRL-BREAK.
Yeah, yeah, I know it's a "crap"  way  of exiting a game, but, really,
what's the difference between that  and  ALT-Q or something? It's just
that, this way, I didn't have  to  program  any "fancier" way to exit.
And I'm lazy. Aren't you?

HOW MANY CAN PLAY?

Before you ask, no, you can't play  against the computer. Not only was
it hard to program (even though it  could  be done), but that was, and
is, against my original point in making this game. The idea is to play
against other people! The computer doesn't  laugh at you when it wins,
doesn't scream in fury when it loses, it simply is much less fun!
There *is* a 1-player mode, but that is for practice only, without any
scoring. You can play with  2-4  players  (the  more the merrier), and
there's also a team mode, for 2 teams of 2 players each. Really fun to
play (I still do), if you ask my humble self.

HOW DO I DEFINE THE KEYS?

Just run BTCFG121.EXE from the DOS prompt. It's necessary to run it at
least before the first time you  play.  The  game has 8 direction keys
for each player, but if you find it too much to handle, just play with
the four basic directions. Your other,  more able friends will have an
advantage over you, though.
I recommend "round" key configurations; that  is, the 8 direction keys
positioned around a key. Usually me and my friends use the keys around
S, G, L and 5 on the numeric keypad.

COME ON, YOU COULDN'T HAVE  DONE THIS BRILLIANT, FANTASTIC, INCREDIBLE
GAME ALL BY YOURSELF! WHO HELPED YOU?

Well, uh... I programmed the whole  thing,  but I got support, testing
and  suggestions  from  the   following   unique  (not  necessarily  a
compliment!):
-Jorge Timoteo
-Vasco Godinho
-Hugo Rucha
-Luis "Pato" Quaresma
-Paulo Cavaca
-Pedro Pacheco
-Nuno Cardoso
In addition, I thank the following bands for being a constant help and
inspiration, not only concerning this game,  but also through my whole
life:
-Metallica
-Manowar
-Iron Maiden
-Killers
-Testament
-Megadeth
-Pantera
-Sepultura
-Ozzy Osbourne
-Saxon
-Helloween
and the best of them all:  DIO  and BLACK SABBATH (especially with Dio
and Ozzy)!!!

MUST I REGISTER THIS GAME, OR SOMETHING?

No. This game isn't even  copyrighted!  If someone alters the author's
name and starts selling it, I  can't  do anything. But please don't do
that! You aren't required to  "register"  this,  or  send me money, or
anything.
BUT... if you find that this game gives you and your pals HUGE amounts
of fun (not to mention wild screaming during play), and you feel that,
somehow, I should be "rewarded"  for  my  work...  please feel free to
send  me  some  small   contribution...   That   won't  give  you  any
"registered" version, mainly because there  isn't  one, but would make
me very happy. I'm a college student, and as you probably know, that's
a hard life. If my game has  in  any way contributed to make your life
more pleasant (it's great for  playing  at  work  when your boss isn't
around!), feel free to thank me in any  way you wish. Even a card or a
letter (I currently don't have  e-mail)  would  be great. I would like
your opinions, comments and suggestions, too.
My address is:
        Pedro Timoteo
        Rua Francisco Pereira de Sousa, 9-3
        1500 Lisboa
        Portugal

By the way, if you don't have anything  to do at the moment, why don't
you go to a map or a globe  and try to find my country, Portugal? It's
the most western country in Europe.  I'm  asking you this because many
people (both inside and outside Europe)  think that Portugal is just a
part of Spain. It isn't,  it's  an  independent country. We discovered
Brazil and were the first to  go  to India by sea. Cristopher Columbus
(or Cristovao Colombo,  in  Portuguese),  who  discovered America, was
Portuguese (even though he was working for the king of Spain, which is
why people usually say  that  the  Spanish  discovered America). I say
this here because the distribution  (wide,  I  hope) of this game will
help to  correct the error  with people  who read  this  docs). I also 
write  this because  I'm MAD because  the Portuguese  don't appear  in
Microprose's Colonization!
Enough of the geography lesson for now!

ARE YOU FINISHED?

Almost!
Many game authors usually say "I hope you like to play this as much as
I enjoyed making it". If I said it, you would have a reason to hate me
forever! Well, I hope you play it. I  made it mainly to play it with a
group of friends, fans of Blagtron  from  very long ago (years), and I
distribute it because it can  be  a  good  way  to spend time for many
people. At least, me and my friends  still have lots of laughs playing
it... especially in teams.
Now I'm finished.

                                Pedro Timoteo, 1994

