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 =  Astatine  =
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Version 1.2.

Part 1 -> Controls
Part 2 -> General Tips
Part 3 -> Game Guide
Part 4 -> Version History
Part 5 -> Acknowledgements and Thanks
Part 6 -> Legal Junk
Part 7 -> Contact

Thanks for downloading the game and opening the ReadMe.

ASTATINE is a game by Filip Skwarski (AKA Cesque) and Purianite. It's a platform
game with emphasis on combat, exploration, and background storyline.

ASTATINE was created using the program Game Maker 7, by Mark Overmars, and
currently owned by the YoYo Games company.

ASTATINE is also a radioactive chemical element with the atomic number 85, but
hopefully you downloaded the game and not the chemical.

~ Part 1: Controls ~

In the start menu, press Up/Down to select your choice and Right to confirm.

Arrow keys	- movement
Down key	- confirm (dialogue messages),
		  interact (talk, activate switches, etc.)
Z		- jump
X		- shoot / attack
Shift		- hold it down to move without changing the side you're facing
M		- turn music on / off
Q/E		- switch to the previous / next weapon
Escape		- go back to the main screen
		  (bear in mind that you can't go back and lose your progress!)

Once you get a backpack:

A/S/D		- open the item list in central display (if not open)
A		- previous item
S		- use selected item
D		- next item
W		- drop selected item
I		- change between central (default) and side display

Once you get a magic enchantment:

C		- switch between enchantments / no enchantment

~ Part 2: General Tips ~

1. Explore! Apart from the possibility that the essential item(s) may be in
   the area that you've just left, the game contains a lot of secrets, so
   exploration is either crucial, or very rewarding. It is always a good
   idea to return to previously visited areas after you acquire a new ability,
   defeat a boss, or just to check if you didn't miss something.

2. Save wise, save often. Astatine is a game which rewards bravery and
   exploration, but it also punishes death. Make sure you save whenever you
   find a savepoint. Sometimes you may even want to backtrack a bit after
   getting past an important event or getting an upgrade to save your game.

3. Look for clues... every secret, path and a way to get past an area or
   a boss is somehow marked, but sometimes you need to keep an eye for clues,
   details, or just think a bit. Try interacting or otherwise messing with
   things that look unique, specific, or out of place.

4. Learn to access and use your inventory - it may prove crucial to quickly
   use that potion in the middle of an important battle!

5. Finally, getting a new weapon does not mean that you have to abandon your
   previous one. Particular weapons (and enchantments) work well against
   particular enemies, although mostly not in terms of damage, but gameplay
   mechanics: the cooldown, distance or speed that a weapon offers may be
   crucial when fighting different types of enemies.

Have fun!

~ Part 3: Game Guide ~

Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD! It is not necessary to read this section, but it may
offer you some information that you may have missed in-game, or some tips about
particular objects / enemies. Use this as a reference when confused.

a.) Weapons

There aren't many weapons in this game, but all of them have their use.

1. Chainsaw	A very powerful weapon, despite its limited range. Use the
		chainsaw to stun enemies, rip them into pieces, and conserve
		ammunition for other guns.

2. Pistol	Your basic gun. It's rather slow, but useful in the beginning.
                The shots hit the enemy instantly. Explore a bit and you may
		find a second pistol, for twice the firepower.

3. Shotgun	A good all-around gun. It dishes out powerful blasts which,
		paired with the fire enchantment, may get rid of most weaker
		enemies in one hit. Most powerful at short range.

4. Perforator	AKA the machine-gun / nailgun. Eats up ammo very fast, but it's
		also very deadly. Make sure you watch the ammunition supply.

5. R. Launcher	Do I really need to describe this one? The rocket launcher is
		a deadly invention capable of blowing up most enemies to pieces
		with just one blast. Be careful, because it can also hurt you.
		The rocket launcher cannot be paired with offensive enchantments.

b.) Items

Items in Astatine may prove crucial to your success / survival. Hoarding them is
not necessary, but it helps. You can keep up to five inventory items. Potions
and energy sigils are easy to come by, the other items are more rare.

Healing Potion	Restores your health.
Energy Sigil	Restores your magical energy, used for enchantments.
Freezing Dust	Freezes all enemies on screen for a time period. Can be used both
		to get rid of them easier, or to avoid them.
Icon of Prot.	Renders you invulnerable for a period of time. Pay attention
		to when it runs out!
Magic Bank	Provides you with infinite magical energy for a period of time,
		but then drains away all of your energy.

You can also find non-inventory items, power-ups usable on touch. These are:

Heart		Restores some of your health.
Magic Sigil	Restores some of your magical energy.

c.) Enchantments

Astatine does not have spells per se: it uses a system of enchantments. Every
enchantment has a preprogrammed situation in which it uses your magical energy
to provide you with some effect: the trigger may be shooting, getting hurt, or
just being in the vicinity of an enemy. Here's a list of what you may find...

Fire		A basic firepower upgrade. The weapons you use will be imbued
		with burning flames, dealing extra damage over a period of time.
Sound		Enemies that touch you become stunned. Useful if you can't
		avoid getting hurt.
Storm		A magic orb above your head shoots out stunning projectiles at
		nearby enemies. Very useful against fast and annoying enemies,
		like bats.
Protection	Think of this as a mana shield: It uses your energy to decrease
		the damage you receive, from all sources.
Exudation	This powerful enchantment allows you to steal enemy's health
		and recover your own as you attack them.

d.) Upgrades

The most precious kind of upgrade in Astatine is the heart-shaped power-up, which
increases your health bar permanently. Of course, these upgrades are well-hidden,
so keep looking.

The other kind of upgrade you may get is an increased energy bar. There are no
pickable power-ups for that, but your energy bar is increased whenever you find
a new enchantment, and some of these are optional. In other words: Keep looking!

Oh, and there are also other upgrades, more or less significant, providing
you with double jumping, increased firepower, etc. Keep looking ;)

~ Part 4: Version History ~

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

Version 1.2.

 - Q/E keys can now be used to cycle through weapons
 - The final boss room's engine is now animated :)
 - A small notice added to the Soulless boss room
 - Cultist enemies behave slightly differently
 - A new easter egg added ;)
 - A lot of bug fixes
  (walking out of visible level, background parallaxing, music bugs, etc.)

Version 1.1.

 - Shops now have a visible marker where you have to press Down
 - The darker set of city tiles have a brighter surface
 - Weapons can now be selected using NumPad
 - The final boss of Nightmare difficulty now visibly dies
 - Changed the final text (credits) after beating Nightmare difficulty
 - One text line correction
 - Some minor balance changes (eg. the final boss now has slightly less health)
 - Some other minor fixes (eg. a bug with the inventory display)

Version 1.0. (since the beta)

 - New loading screen
 - The game now starts in a window, with fullscreen option selectable
 - Optional, permanent side-display for the inventory added
 - Items jump back to empty slots when you use/drop an item
 - Key items are now displayed in the inventory
 - Boss healthbars added
 - The rocket launcher guardian battle reworked
 - Most boss battles adjusted in terms of balance
 - Blood splashes added in Nightmare difficulty
 - Jumps in the Mausoleum and the Wizard's Tower made easier
 - Two new savepoints added (Wizard's Tower, Blinded Lighthouse)
 - Walking down slopes improved
 - Other minor changes (balancing, typo correction, graphical fixes, etc.)

~ Part 5: Acknowledgments and Thanks ~

First of all, great thanks to Purianite, who did the soundtrack for the game.
Unfortunately I had to decrease the size of his tracks, but without him, the
game's atmosphere would not be the same.

Second of all, thanks to the people of the GM community who gave me feedback
and suggestions. Time Wraith deserves a specific mention, for all the times he
bothered me about this game (heh), but there are also others - I'll just be
cruel and not name them everyone because it includes a lot of people. Special
thanks go to jw, whose work inspired one of the enemy sprites.

Third of all, many thanks to anyone who decided to play this game or actually
managed to beat it, and to anyone who remembers that this project took me over
a year to complete (partly due to my laziness, but nevermind that).

And finally, here are my main inspirations in terms of video games:

- Cave Story (Doukutsu Monogatari)
- Soldexus
- Detoss Law
- Quake (the original one), Doom (1&2) and Blood
- Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and Soul Reaver (also the original one)
- Final Fantasy 6
- Legend of Zelda series
- Sacrifice
- Grave Spirit
- Rez series by Rez/Clay
- Games by cactus in general

...and other things:

- the film Brazil by Terry Gilliam
- the books and novels by China Mieville
- the works of H.P. Lovercraft
- the book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
- the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist
- my own dreams, and some individual life experiences too :P

Some of the sound effects for this game come from the game Quake, by id Software.

The script used throughout the game is Shavian, invented by Kingsley Read, based
on the initiative of George Bernard Shaw. (here I should also mention the great
site Omniglot, providing information about virtually all of the world's scripts)

~ Part 6: Legal Junk ~

If you decompile the game or use any other methods to salvage spare parts or
otherwise plagiarise my work for your own means without giving me credit, try to
sell my game for individual profit, or pretend yourself to be its author - I will
haunt you in your dreams.

Apart from these, feel free to do anything you want with it. One of the finer
ideas is to tell other people about it :)

Finally, I apologise to anyone who may feel offended by my work.

(wait, who am I kidding?)

~ Part 7: Contact ~

Send me anything (apart from anthrax, explosives and chain letters) at:

squarski@gmail.com