Entry for gbax2005

title: Fleet of One

author: Peter Keuler

this game is Multiboot and tested with the GBA Movie Player(limits the file size to 216Kb)
the thrusters look better on actuall hardware than on emulators


Game
----

This game is a Arcade Platformer with rpg elements (think Crimsonland)
It features infinite random tile generation a unique running system

Story
-----

The Threatener Prototype was finally complete. The president of Fortress Inc need merely say the word
and the unstoppable weapon would go into mass production.  Planetary conquest would not be far behind.

However, Fortress Inc's president felt he needed to test it in the field at least once.  Yes, after it 
destroys the first person to catch his eye, mass production shall begin; that man, with the helmet,
and the cape.

Fighting back is not an option, however.  The Threatener Prototype may be unstoppable, but not 
undelayable.  You have to buy time, as much as you can before your inevitable fate.



Mechanics
---------

Your health behaves as in normal games, except when it gets lower you run slower and cant jump as high

Your endurance appears when you take a skill that uses endurance, it slowly recharges, and if you use it
beyond its limits, itll take your health away

You gain experience by staying in front of the Threantener Prototype, every (non bullet-timed) second 
that you stay in front of it 3 things happen: you get an experience bonus, you get a health boost , the
rate of health boost and experience gain increases.  Also you health can go beyond the max in this 
manner, your preformance also increases with this increased health

there a 2 health pickups, a red one and a rainbow colored one (heales more) if you get one of these when
your health is beyond the max, it returns your health to full.

the blue pickup regenerates some of your endurance

the yellow pickup gives you a boost

Controls
--------

A is jump

Hold B for boost skills if you have em

L is berzerk if you have it

R is ghost if you have it

Start is pause

if you hold down both triggers or select when you unpause you get 0 health (good for if you forgot 
to put up jumping skills)

Skills
------

You get bonus points every here and there. They are not requried for the skills under "Strife"

The other skills require bonus points to put them up initially.	Also, two of the feats that require
bonus points are chosen at random every time the scenery changes

Some skills can be put up beyond the first time, some can't


List
----

-STRIFE

	Max hp: puts up the ammount of damage you can take, HOWEVER, does not improve your preformance
	at low health

	Bound Speed: Increases the speed you leave the ground when you finish your running animimtion
	affected by current health

	Air Speed: Increases the speed you accelerate in the air

	Weightless: reduces the effect of gravity when you hold the jump button

	Jump Power: Increases the power of your jumps on the ground
	affected by current health

	DJump Power: Increases the power of your jumps in the air
	affected by current health


-Power(all use endurance & putting them up more increses their power & activates when B button is held)

	Super Bound: self explanitory

	Super Jump: ditto

	Super DJump: too complicated to explain


-Technique
	
	Regen: uses endurance, slowly regenerate health

	Random Boost: randomly get boosts, putting this up increases the power of the boosts

	Refelection: projectiles ramdomly bounce off of you

	Air Dodge: your double jump can now be directed with the D-pad

	Teleport: your double jump is replaced with the ability to teleport, the higher your Djump Power,
	the farther you teleport, unaffected by current health

	Triple Jump: you get an extra air jump


-Determination

	Berzerk: Activated with the L trigger. While berzerked you can't die and behave as if you were
	at full health, putting this up increases the ammount of time you berzerk

	Ghost: Activated with the R trigger. Everything passes through you while ghosted, putting this
	up increases the ammount of time you can ghost

	Speed: you cant die if your going fast enough

	Airgod: you cant die in the air



Tools used
----- ----

Ham				http://www.ngine.de/

Visual Ham			http://www.console-dev.de/

the Hel library			http://www.console-dev.de/

karwall sound			(included with ham)

the Gimp			http://www.gimp.org/

Pivot Stickfigure Animator	http://www.geocities.com/peter_bone_uk/software.html (used for aid in rawksome running animation)

Freak Noise Creator		http://freaknoise.com/ (most sound effects, my sister made the exp noise)

mod plug tracker		http://www.modplug.com/

gba movie player		http://www.movieadvance.com/



edumucation
-----------

http://www.gametutorials.com/	learnin c++

http://www.about.com/		learnin more c++

http://www.aaronrogers.com/ham/	learnin ham

www.ngine.de's foums		helpfull info	
	 

about me
--------

email: ryzorm_sayrone@hotmail.com

This is my first official try at making a game.  Took about 7-8 months to learn c++, learn ham, build an 
engine, and mess around with sound, grafics,code, ect.
I hear one should work smaller games first before undertaking a medium-ish sized project, but after
the tutorials and a couple of little demos I felt ready.  I started working on this game the day I 
thought of it.

I decided to start learning c++ on my own 'cause all my friends were going to college and dishin out
serious usd for more useless school learnin.  I decided to see how littel I could spend to learn
programming and work on a game.

I browsed all the free tutorials online I could find.  Nearly all of them were boring and difficult to 
comprehend in one sitting.  I usually stopped using them and looked for a different one after a couple of
lessons.  Then I found gametutorials.com, they managed to walk me through most of the world of c++
without being boring, and using their "talk to me like a 3 year old" teaching meathod to make it 
understandable.(note: there tutorials were free but arn't currently, but I am planning to spend the $50 
on them soon, they are by far worth it)

I did, however, spend $35 on a gba movie player.  Multiboot cabels were like $40, so hey, cheaper and 
does more stuff.  I got a 256 mb CF card for 7$, that was a pretty good deal.

Unfortunatly, the limit to the file size is 216 kb to get games to work on the gba movie player.  I 
filled it up pretty good, LITERALLY one more line of code could put it over 216, so this is the final
version. 

