BOMBERMAN GAME PROJECT
######################

Written by Fury
Version 1.02

+-----------------------------------------------------
|DISCLAIMER
+-----------------------------------------------------

"I do not accept responsibility for any effects,
 adverse or otherwise, that this software may
 have on you, your computer, your sanity, your
 dog, and anything else that you can think of.
 Use it at your own risk."

+-----------------------------------------------------
| INTRODUCTION
+-----------------------------------------------------

This is a version of my Bomberman game project
which started on July 2000. I don't develop this
project in order to bring new concepts of gameplay
or to make the best Bomberman game ever but to
increase my programming skills and have a game
project I can show to be hired.

+-----------------------------------------------------
| HISTORY
+-----------------------------------------------------

This program is still, and will always be under 
development. You can check the latest history of 
this project by browsing its website. You'll be 
informed of what was changed, fixed, added, and 
removed in each version.

+-----------------------------------------------------
| SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
+-----------------------------------------------------

This program has been tested under Windows 95 OSR2,
98 PE/SE, 2000 and XP.

It requires DirectX 7.0 or later to run. It is
recommended you set your display to at least
16 bit color depth. A sound card is recommended.

+-----------------------------------------------------
| CONTROLS
+-----------------------------------------------------

During a match :
- Here are the configurations :
  Keyboard 1 (Default) : 8/5/4/6 + PageUp/Home
  Keyboard 2 (Default) : R/F/D/G + 2/1
  Joystick X (Default) : Up/Down/Left/Right + Button1/Button2
- On your configuration :
  - Up/Down/Left/Right : make your bomber move
  - Action 1 : drop a bomb if possible,
               or lift the bomb you are onto.
               hold Action 1 to hold the bomb.
               release Action 1 to throw the bomb.
  - Action 2 : stop a bomb you kicked that is still rolling,
               or punch a bomb that is right in front of you.
- Escape : pause the match and make the menu box appear
- P : pause or resume

In the menu screens :
- Up/Down : select another field to modify
- Left/Right : change value of current field
- Backspace : previous screen
- Return : next screen

In the menu box :
- Arrows : change between yes or no
- Return : validate choice
- Escape : make the menu box disappear and resume the match

Anywhere in the game :
- F1 : set 320x240 display mode
- F2 : set 512x384 display mode
- F3 : set 640x480 display mode
- F4 : set windowed display mode
- CTRL + F12 to quickly exit the game without confirmation

Please note that the display mode you chose may
be unavailable on your computer. The program will
not change the display mode if this one is
unavailable.

+-----------------------------------------------------
| LEVELS
+-----------------------------------------------------

A very cool level editor was created by
Rommel Santor, and it's free! Thanks to him, 
creating levels is now as easy as pie. The 
editor is included with the game in a separate 
directory called MakeLevel. Please send any 
mail about this level editor to its author. 
His email can be found inside the readme text 
file provided with the editor.

When you're done creating a level, save the
file in the "Levels" directory of the game.
There can be up to 10 levels in this directory,
from L1.TXT to L10.TXT.

+-----------------------------------------------------
|BUGS
+-----------------------------------------------------

There is a known bug that only happens with 
Windows 98. The game is sometimes very slow, 
sometimes the speed is normal, sometimes it is
very fast. I saw the source of the problem, but
the solution would almost require me to recode
the graphics engine from scratch, and I would
waste a lot of time. That's why I prefer to wait 
that Windows 98 dies. Besides, Windows 2000
and especially Windows XP are really better,
the latter should kill Windows 98 in no time.

If you find a bug, please e-mail me the following
information :

- Description of the bug (what happened?)
- What part of the game was the bug in (when and
  where did it happen?)

Thank you very much for your help.

+-----------------------------------------------------
| FAQ
+-----------------------------------------------------

Here are the frequently asked questions and 
their answers.

Q. I get an error message about DDRAW.DLL.
A. Please ensure you have downloaded and
installed Microsoft DirectX 7.0 or later.
You can download it at www.microsoft.com/directx

Q. I get an error message about FMOD.DLL.
A. Please ensure you have unzipped the ZIP
file in a directory before launching the
executable.

Q. Will you add network support?
A. Yes, I'm currently working on it. It may
take a few months before it's really OK
to use, but I already have some cool results.

Q. How do I make joysticks work?
A. You have to plug in the joystick(s) to your
machine, install it within Windows, ensure
Windows can read the joystick(s) state.
Finally, launch the game, and you will be
able to select JOYSTICK1, JOYSTICK2, etc
according to the number of joysticks you
have.

Q. My computer beeps when there are too many
keys pressed on the keyboard.
A. This is a known bug. In fact, it depends
if your keyboard's hardware supports a lot
of keys pressed at once. Generally USB and PS2
keyboards are OK with this. Older keyboards
generally can't have a lot of keys pressed
together.

Q. Can you send me the source code of your game?
A. No. I'd like to keep it secret for a while.
I wouldn't like to see that a fool used the code 
to do something stupid, or to make money. I mainly
coded this game in order to be hired as a game
programmer. I'll probably release the source code
when it is getting old and when I have at least
a two years experience in the game industry.

Q. Did you stop working on this game?
A. Yes. Thanks to this project I was hired as a
game programmer and I'm now coding 8 hours each day.
It's hard for me to be motivated to work on this game 
in the evening. That's why the development is
suspended, not stopped though.

Q. Will you make this game open-source?
A. Yes, it will very probably become open-source
in the near future. 

+-----------------------------------------------------
| CONTACT
+-----------------------------------------------------

You can contact me by e-mail for problems,
suggestions, etc, anything constructive.

Before e-mailing me :
- Please check the FAQ section before asking
  questions. You won't waste your time, and me
  neither. I may not answer if it's in the FAQ
  and I'm bored to answer. 
- Please speak either english or french. No 
  spanish, no deutsch, no japanese, no zaoulaba, 
  or whatever your language is. I will only 
  answer to english or french mail.

My e-mail is thibaut (dot) tollemer (at) free (dot) fr

Visit the project site to get the latest information 
about the project and to download the latest 
version : http://fury94.free.fr/
       or http://www.bomberman.fr.fm/
