******JIMSOFT SOFTWARE presents... Alien Breed for the TI-83******

CONTENTS
========
1.  Introduction
2.  Installation
	I.  Copying
	II. Checking you have all required files
3.  Getting Started
	I.  Main Menu
	II. Loading Levels
4.  Playing
	I.  Exploring Levels
	II. Attacking
	III.Guardians and the Queen
5.  Custom Level Editor
6.  Programmer's Notes


1. Introduction
---------------
	Welcome to JIMSOFT's Alien Breed for the TI-83. This is a
bird's-eye-view shoot-'em-up originally made for computers
(Commodore Amiga's, IBM's) that I have attempted to convert to the
TI-83. This is the first version that I have made, but I'll
probably make another version or two in the future.

2. Installation
---------------
I. Copying
	Copy the file ALIEN.83g to your TI-83 and hopefully all
the required files will be copied across.

II. Checking you have all required files
	Here is a list of things you must have on your calculator
to make Alien Breed work:
ALIENBRD PRGM	The execute file.
ALNAIMVE PRGM	The artificial intelligence for the aliens.
ALNBLOCK PRGM	Reads data from Matrices and writes to the screen.
ALNCHECK PRGM	Checks to see if you have completed the mission
		properly.
ALNDECMP PRGM	Decompresses the levels.
ALNEDITR PRGM	Custom Level Editor.
ALNGRDN1 PRGM	Guardian program.
ALNINFOR PRGM	Displays mission objectives.
ALNPLAYR PRGM	Main gameplay program.
ALNQUEEN PRGM	Queen program.
ALNSCREN PRGM	Draws the playing screen.
ALNTEST1 PRGM	Re-assigns list data when an alien is killed.
ALNXPLSN PRGM	Draws the explosions for when you abort a mission.
Pic1     PIC	Stores data for Levels 1 and 4.
Pic2     PIC	Stores data for Levels 2 and 5.
Pic3     PIC	Stores data for Levels 3 and 6.
Pic0     PIC	Stores data for the Custom Level.

3. Getting Started
------------------
I. Main Menu
	There are 7 options in the Main Menu:
New Game- Starts a new game.
Enter Passcode- Enter a passcode to start on a later level.
Instructions- Gives you basic instructions.
Edit Custom- Edit or make a new custom level.
Play Custom- Play your custom level.
Credits- Show the credits.
Quit- Quits Alien Breed for the TI-83.

II. Loading Levels
	Yes, I know, it takes ages to load levels. It takes about
3-4 minutes. That's because of the process it has to go through
to decompress the level. This is explained in the Programmer's
Notes. A bar like this ---------------- will eventually change
to this **************** as the level is decompressed to tell you
how much has been decompressed.

4. Playing
----------
I. Exploring Levels
	Press the arrow keys to move left, right, up and down. It
takes a few seconds to display the next screen, but I made it so
that you stay in the middle of the screen so that if an alien is
near you, you can always see it. To display
a map of the level, press [5]. Press [Mode] to pause.

II. Attacking
	There are four shoot buttons - one for each direction:
[8] shoot up; [4] shoot left; [6] shoot right; [2] shoot down.
For an alien to kill you, it has to be in the spot right next
to you (not diagonal). You only have 1 life; you lose this, you
must start again!! If you stand on an Air Duct, then you fall down
it and die. Eggs are just like walls.

III. Guardians and the Queen
	On certain levels there may be a Guardian (a big alien)
or the Queen alien. For these parts, the screen will clear and
then you will have the whole screen to battle the Guardian or
Queen with. You can't pause or display the map, you use the same
buttons to move and shoot, although you don't see the bullets.

5. Custom Level Editor
----------------------
	The Custom Level Editor is great for making and playing
your own levels, but it takes time to make levels. It's better
to design the level before you go ahead and make it, so that you
don't forget the layout of the level while you make it. Here is
a list of things you can put in a block (each level can be a
maximum of 21*21 blocks): nothing; wall; door; key; air duct;
alien; start; finish; ammo; guardian warp; reactor/computer;
queen warp; or an egg.
	Placing walls, doors, keys and ammo is simple. Just change
to the block you want to place it in, and change content to the
object. Air Ducts and eggs are also easy, along with
reactors/computers. It's advisable to place only one start and one
finish in a level. I made it so that you don't need to do anything
to finish the level, so if you want to have a guardian or queen,
you should have it so that you have to go through the warp to
get to the finish.
	If you do want to have a guardian or queen, you don't need
to have it in a big room; all you need to do is place a warp,
and when the player steps on this warp, they go to the guardian or
queen program automatically. Each ammo block contains 5 bullets.
A level can't have more than 10 aliens, but it can have as many
guardians or queens as you want.

6. Programmer's Notes
---------------------
	Here is how the decompression works. The data for two
levels is stored in each picture 1-3. Each level contains up to
21*21 blocks. 4 pixels (2*2) are used to store the data for each
block, and different combinations mean different contents. There
is a number for each combination, and this number is stored in
Matrix [A] in the corresponding cell. This is the process that
takes about 3-4 minutes to complete. I won't give a list of the
pixel combinations here, but it is possible to work them out by
stuffing around with the editor or reading certain parts of the
code.
	When the program has to display the area you are in, it
reads the Matrix [A] cells around you and displays the appropriate
icon for what's in that cell. That's why each screen takes a few
seconds.

	That's about all I have to say. I hope you enjoy Alien
Breed for the TI-83, and I may make some new versions in the
future. If you have any suggestions on improving this game or
for a new game, e-mail me on:
jimsoft@hotmail.com
	Any suggestions will be taken into consideration.
Thanks.
			James Vernon