PROGRAM:        Alien Breed IV: Final Assault
VERSION:        1.0
AUTHOR:         James Vernon - TCPA
DESCRIPTION:    Shoot-'em-up
MACHINES:       TI-83, TI-83+, TI-86
PLATFORMS:      Ion, MirageOS, TI-86-OS, most TI-86 shells
LANGUAGE:       Z80 Assembly
RELEASED:       December 2001
SIZE:           TI-83 Ion Size:         12179 bytes
                TI-83+ Ion Size:        12097 bytes
                TI-83+ MirageOS Size:   12097 bytes
                TI-86 Size:             12464 bytes


##################
## Installation ##
##################

    TI-83 Ion:
        Copy the file ab4.83p to your calculator, as well as any Levelsets
        you want to play. Run Ion and select "Alien Breed IV: Final Assault".

    TI-83+ Ion:
        Copy the file ab4.8xp to your calculator, as well as any Levelsets
        you want to play. Run Ion and select "Alien Breed IV: Final Assault".

    TI-83+ MirageOS:
        Copy the file ab4m.8xp to your calculator, as well as any Levelsets
        you want to play. Run MirageOS and select "ABIV: Final Assault".

    TI-86:
        Copy the file ab4.86g to your calculator. If you're not using a
        shell, use the following command to run the game: "Asm(ab4" (without
        the quotes). Otherwise, run your shell (eg. Rascall) and select
        "Alien Breed IV: Final Assault".


##########
## Keys ##
##########

    Some keys are labelled differently on the TI-83(+)/TI-86 calculators, in
    such case the TI-83(+) one comes first, the TI-86 second.

    MAIN MENU:
        Up/Down                 Change selection
        [2nd]                   Select

    IN-GAME:
        Arrow Keys              Move
        [2nd]                   Shoot
        Top Row                 Select weapon 1-5 (if available)
        [ALPHA]                 Access Intex Console (if facing one)
        [DEL]/[MORE]            View Radar Scanner (if have one)
        [MODE]/[EXIT]           Pause
        [MATH]/[GRAPH]          Teacher Key

    PAUSE:
        [ENTER]                 Return to game
        [CLEAR]                 Main Menu

    INTEX NETWORK SYSTEM:
        Up/Down                 Change selection
        [2nd]                   Select


########################
## Object Of The Game ##
########################

    The object of each Levelset is to complete all if the Levels in it. Each
    Level will have a specific objective for you to complete and in most
    cases you won't be able to get to the next Level without achieving this
    objective.

    The general idea of the game is to blast away as many of the aliens as
    you can to save the Human race. The Levelsets that come with the game
    have .txt files that explain the objectives of each Level. Hopefully also
    when people release their own Levelsets they also do something along the
    same lines.


#####################
## Version History ##
#####################

    v0.9 <> June 2001
        TI-83 Ion Size:         7807 bytes
        TI-83+ Ion Size:        7783 bytes
        TI-83+ MirageOS Size:   7784 bytes
        TI-86 Size:             8004 bytes
                - Demo release
                - Versions for 3 different calculators!

    v1.0 <> December 2001
        TI-83 Ion Size:         12179 bytes
        TI-83+ Ion Size:        12097 bytes
        TI-83+ MirageOS Size:   12097 bytes
        TI-86 Size:             12464 bytes
                - Full version
                - Levelset Editor to make your own Levelsets
                - Includes 1 complete Levelset and 1 demo Levelset
                - 5 enemies
                - 5 weapons
                - 3 Queens
                - Smooth 8-way scrolling


#####################
## Future Versions ##
#####################

    Hopefully in the future, archived Levelsets will be supported for both
    the TI-83+ Ion and TI-83+ MirageOS versions of the game.

    Other than that, I haven't really thought about this one too much at the
    moment. The only other ideas I have are to go over the code more
    thoroughly to check for some optimisations.

    I do have intentions of completing the AB2 Levelset that was in the demo,
    but we'll see if I get around to it...

    If you have any suggestions for the game, please contact me.


#################
## Source Code ##
#################

    As you may have noticed, I have released the full source code to the
    game and also the Levelset Editor (written in C and x86 Assembly for
    MS-DOS). Included also is a file called "build.bat". You can use this
    file to compile the game.

    You are quite welcome to use any parts of any of the source files as long
    as you give credit where due... note that MOST but not all of the code
    here is written by me - I have borrowed some things from other
    programmers.


################
## Disclaimer ##
################

    This program is written in Assembly and therefore could crash your
    calculator, although it shouldn't. In any case, I take no responsibility
    for the consequences of you using this program on your calculator.


##################
## Thanks to... ##
##################

    - Everyone for their patience whilst I struggled to get this game
      completed.
    - My beta testers (listed below).
    - Patrick Davidson for the many ideas used in this game to make it
      portable across so many calculators!
    - Everyone at the TCPA.
    - Assembly Coder's Zenith for the TI-86 include files, which had to be
      modified slightly to work with TASM.
    - Detached Solutions for MirageOS.
    - Matthew Shepcar for Rascall.
    - Hannes 'Movax' Edfeldt for Devpac83.
    - Scott Dial for Devpac8x.
    - Alan Bailey for Prgm86.
    - Jimmy Mardell & Florent Dhordain for the Huffman routines.
    - Matt Johnson for Image Studio.
    - Jeremy Goetsch for Assembly Studio 8x, mainly the Sprite Editor ;)
    - All my fans of the Alien Breed series.
    - Team 17 for the original Alien Breed games.


##################
## Beta Testers ##
##################

    Many thanks to the following people that did some beta testing for me:

    - Jordan Butler
    - Mike Dennis
    - Jason Foster
    - Nathan Johnson
    - Zac Targac
    - David ????


###################
## Closing Notes ##
###################

    That's about it - enjoy the game ;) Please feel free to email me with
    your comments/suggestions.

    If you create any Levelsets, please send them to me so that I can put
    them on my website, because I will be setting up a page that is dedicated
    to extra Levelsets for this game.

    You are allowed to put this game on your website as long as the files in
    this zip file aren't separated. For more great TI programs, check out the
    TCPA site, http://tcpa.calc.org.



Alien Breed IV: Final Assault
Version 1.0
Copyright (c)2001 TI-Calculator Programming Alliance
Written and Programmed by James Vernon <james@calc.org>
ICQ#: 71589304
http://jamesv.calc.org
http://tcpa.calc.org
