
 -------------------------------------------------
 BeatBall version 1.52     (c) 2002 Stefan Persson
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 w  w  w  .  i  m  p  h  e  n  z  i  a  .  c  o  m


 Introduction
 ------------
  Beatball was created as a side project (music being
  my real passion).

  I've been a great fan of breakout style games ever
  since arkanoid, so I thought I'd make something
  myself =) It's obviously not intended to be a
  competitive game on the market.

 
 Version History
 ---------------
  1.52 Changed to 16 bit colors to increase performance.
       Optimized memory usage.
  1.5  + Added  60 levels making the total 120.
       + New (different) 28 minute long sound track.
       + More extra balls to pick up.
       + Spiced up the menu
       + Oh, a cheat code =)

  1.0  Original release, 60 levels.


 Game Information
 ----------------
  The game was made in "Game Maker 4.1" which is a
  freeware program by Mark Overmars.
  (http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/markov/gmaker)

  Coding, graphics and music was done by me.
  Sound effects were gathered from various free
  archives on the net.

  There are a total of 120 levels in the game that
  have to be completed in sequence.


 Music
 -----
  The music in the game can be downloaded as
  individual mp3 tracks from my web site.
  www.imphenzia.com

  Tracks featured in game play music:
  Prisma
  Club Phaser
  In Search Of Life
  Himalaya [Radio Edit]
  Himalaya [Chillout Remix]  


 Performance
 -----------
  << The Game Is Slow >>
  Yes, this game is slow on pretty much any machine
  out there. It's probably unplayable on anything less
  than a 300 MHz, and even if you're on 2GHz or above
  frames will probably be dropped. This is due to the
  architecture of the "game maker" interpreter.
 
  You may be able to gain some speed by switching off
  the in-game music.

  If you are using a computer faster than 300 MHz and
  the gameplay is still amazingly slow (beyond playable)
  please contact me to try an alternate version.


 Troubleshooting
 ---------------
  << In Game Music Problem >>
  If the music during game-play sounds distorted or
  sounds awful (this probably also applies if you are
  not a fan of trance music =), you can switch if off
  from the configuration menu. This problem is related
  to the mp3-codec as game maker has no native support
  for playing the mp3 files. Music in the menus should
  still be okay as they use wav files.

  << Missing Sound Effects or Music >>
  The sound effects and music may not fit into the
  amount of memory installed in your computer. Try
  disabling the in-game music in order to get more
  sound effects.

  << Stuck Balls >>
  I believe I've eliminated the bugs with stuck balls
  but if a ball does stick anywhere, you can use the
  button 'd' on the keyboard to self destruct. It will
  deduct a life, but at least you'll be able to continue.
  The game has been tested for stuck balls and it should
  hopefully not be a problem.


 Sequel
 ------
  I may do a sequel in BlitzBasic to get full frame
  rate and more features if enough people enjoy the
  game =) I would also make it multiplayable on the
  internet.
