Best if viewed at full screen in Courier New 8 pt font.
Please read this whole document before playing Ladrion

FILES:		Ladrion.prc and LadrionLevels.pdb
SIZE:		58K and 13K (respectively)
TYPE:		Palm OS application and Palm OS database (respectively)
GENERE:		Palm OS game (arcade)and Palm OS level database (respectively)
AUTHOR:		Jude Nelson
CONTACT:	judecn@comcast.net
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
	Any Palm OS Hardware
	Palm OS 3.5

_________________
Table of Contents

I.	About
II.	Legal Stuff
III.	The Game
IV.	Controls
V.	Credits
VI.	History
VII.	The Future

_____________
I. 	About

This game was written with the OnBoard Suite 2.4.2 by David Lawrance and RsrcEdit 1.017b by quartus.net.  It has been tested on a Sony CLIE SJ20, a Sony CLIE NX80V, and an emulated Palm IIIc.  This program is freeware, and I am not responsible for anything this program may cause or lead to the causing of therein.  Use at your own risk.

YOU NEED BOTH FILES TO RUN THIS GAME; IF YOU EXECUTE Ladrion WITHOUT INSTALLING LadrionLevels.pdb, YOU WILL CRASH YOUR PDA!!!

___________________
II.	Legal Stuff

This program is freeware.  It has no warranty, nor is it guaranteed to work on any PDA (personal digital assistant).  In theory, not in practice, the program functions normally on a PDA with the aforesaid requirements, but there is no guarantee due to extraneous conditions on the end-user's PDA(s).  This program may not work correctly if the end-user's PDA has a modified operating system, low memory, damaged hardware, low battery, or has been changed from its original brand condition in any way.  The end-user is advised to use this program at his or her own risk, and is allowed to freely distribute this program and any related files without the developer's permission in any form.  The end-user is not allowed to reverse-engineer this program or any related files (i.e. files or databases designed to work with Ladrion.prc or any files created by Ladrion.prc).  The developer, in turn, guarantees that there has never been nor will there ever be any code within the program or related files designed to intentionally cause harm to the end-user or the end-user's property in any way.  Any harm that does occur is completely unintentional, but by downloading this program (meaning that the program was transfered from a server computer to a personal computer), the developer no longer maintains any responsibility for the actions of his software, and the end-user acknowledges that any unexpected events are now soley his or her responsibilty.  Please note that this includes events that occur both on the PDA or the personal computer.

________________
III.	The Game

Anyone who has ever played Breakout or some variant before should recognize this game instantly.  For those of you who have never heard of or seen any game like this, here's how it works:

_____Overview_____
The user controls a "paddle" at the bottom of the screen.  On the screen, there are "bricks" of varying design and color (if applicable), and at least one ball of varying design and color (if applicable).  The object of the game is to knock the ball toward the bricks without letting the ball drop past the paddle through the bottom of the screen.  Whenever the ball touches a brick, the brick or the ball may change (usually, the brick will disappear unless otherwise stated below).  The object of the game is to make all of the bricks disappear (if they can in the first place) without losing the ball to the bottom of the screen.

The direction of the ball is determined how the ball strikes the paddle.  The user moves the paddle across the bottom of the screen to rebound the ball(s) back into play toward bricks.  The rebounded direction of the ball is dependant on two things:  the current velocity of the paddle and the location on the paddle where the ball strikes.  If the ball strikes an edge of the paddle, for example, the ball will rebound at a small angle (it will move horizontally more than vertically).  If the ball strikes the middle of the paddle, the ball will rebound at a larger angle (it will move more vertically than horizontally).  The velocity of the paddle at the point of contact will put a spin on the ball, which will alter its rebound angle (i.e. the paddle will put "english" on the ball).

Whenever a brick is destroyed by a ball (meaning that it is "hit" by the ball and disappears), an upgrade may appear and fall slowly to the bottom of the screen.  You can collect these upgrades with the paddle by running into them as they approach.  The upgrades may help or harm the player in his or her persuit of the object of the game.  They are discussed below.

There are fifty levels to complete.  Each time a level is "beaten" (meaning that all of the bricks that can be destroyed are destroyed), the next level loads.  The game continues until the user runs out of "lives" (each time all of the balls on the screen fall out of the game, a "life" is lost).

The secondary object of the game is to collect as many "points" as possible.  Points are accumulated through the collection of upgrades and the destruction of bricks.  High quantities of points ("scores") are recorded along with the player's initials and are saved in a "High Score" table.

There are 18 types of bricks in this game:
	red bricks----------|
	orange bricks-------|
	yellow bricks-------|----all of these bricks take one hit by a ball to destroy
	green bricks--------|
	blue bricks---------|
	purple bricks-------|

	green one-way bricks------These bricks have a white-to-green gradient which "points" up or down.  The 				  	  direction in which the brick points determines which direction the ball 				  	  will pass through it.  For example, if a ball passes through a one-way 				  	  brick which points up, the ball cannot pass down through it.  These bricks 				  	  are indestructable.  If a ball is passing through one in a vertical 				  		  direction, the brick puts a strong spin on the ball.  Be careful--the spin 				  	  can be so strong that it throughs the ball off of the screen!

	red/yellow teleporters----When a ball hits one of these, it is teleported to another brick just like 				  	  it.  These bricks are indestructable.

	maw bricks----------------These bricks have four teeth in them that surround a maw which consumes 				  	  balls rather than being destroyed.  Obviously, these bricks are 				  		  indestructable, and should be avoided.

	gray/white steel bricks---These bricks are indestructable and serve as an obsticle.

	ball bricks---------------These bricks contain yellow, blue, red, and green pigments in them that 				  	  merge to form a ball when destroyed.

	bomb bricks---------------These bricks contain explosions in them that detonate upon destruction and 				  	  destroy surrounding bricks.

	gray regenerating bricks--These bricks remain destroyed for a short while before growing back.  These 				  	  are classified as indestructable and thus do not need to be destroyed to 				  	  complete a level.

	green/purple stone bricks-These bricks take multiple hits to be destroyed.  Their maroon cores decay 				  	  into a yellow/green putty as they are pulverized by the balls and are 				  	  eventually destroyed.

There are 8 types of upgrades that fall from the ruins of destroyed bricks.  Upon collection, some of them lodge themselves into the gray core of the paddle to indicate their presence.

	red upgrade--------------Upon collection, these upgrades increase the width of the paddle making it 				  	 easier to rebound balls.

	orange upgrade-----------These upgrades decrease the width of the paddle

	yellow upgrade-----------These upgrades cause the game to move at a faster pace (usually only 				  		 noticeable on Palm OS 5 handhelds).  This upgrade does not show up in the 				  	 paddle's core.

	green upgrade------------These upgrades cause the paddle to become magnetized, so balls stick to 				  	 the paddle when they strike it.  This is great for aimed shots.

	blue upgrade-------------These upgrades install a missle launcher on the paddle that fires rockets 				  	 (one at a time) which destroy bricks.

	purple upgrade-----------These upgrades slow the game down.  They do not appear in the paddle's core 				  	 upon collection.

	black upgrade------------These upgrades take away lives upon collection.  They do not appear in the 				  	 paddle's core upon collection.

	white upgrade------------These upgrades award lives upon collection.  They do not appear in the 				  	 paddle's core upon collection.

Additionally, there are 3 types of balls in Ladrion:

	gray balls---------------These balls simply destroy bricks on contact if applicable

	red balls----------------These balls create explosions upon impact, doing extra damage to surrounding 				 bricks

	yellow balls-------------These balls do not change direction when they hit bricks--they pass through 				 and eradicate any bricks in their path aside from indestructables and stone 				 bricks.

_____Strategy_____

Due to the variance in bricks, upgrades, and balls, there actually is some strategy to this game unlike the original Breakout game.  Treat each level like a puzzle, because each level requires a slightly different strategy that must be used to effectively complete it.  Here are some tricks to Ladrion:

1.  Try to aim your balls toward empty "pockets" in the level.  Here, balls can destroy five or six bricks before returning to the paddle, giving you extra time to react to a change in direction as well as expediting the level completion

2.  Aim for strings or groups of bomb bricks at first--these can tear away as much as half of the level for you!

3.  Take a few milliseconds to aim your balls away from hazards.  Some of the harder levels have maw bricks in the level which are easy to hit without proper accuracy.

4.  Beware of teleporters.  You must use them in some levels, but be extra careful to watch where your ball is going when it enters and exits them.  Also, balls, when they exit teleporters, are unable to destroy bricks for a few seconds (the teleportation temporarily loosens their molecular structure), so don't depend on them to help you do as much damage as you hope.

5.  Avoid orange and black upgrades when you can.

6.  If you have to choose between saving a gray ball, and either a red or yellow ball, save the red or yellow ball, because they are rarer in the game and do more damage to the bricks.

7.  Beware of one-way bricks.  They put spin on the ball if it is moving vertically.  They can knock the ball hard enough sideways that it is unrecoverable (it passes outside of the screen).

8.  When you rebound balls with the paddle, and the paddle is moving, remember that the paddle will put a slight spin on the ball, so plan accordingly.

9.  Don't hit all of the ball bricks at once if you can help it.  If you do, chances are that you will lose 90% of your gain within the next 10 seconds.  Ball bricks are more frequent in deadlier levels (i.e. with more maw bricks), so use them sparingly, because in some levels, level completion can only be achieved by careful accuracy and the sparing of these precious commodities.

10.  There is a slight "cheat" I have put in the game.  If you hold down the launch button, the paddle exerts a slight, but noticeable "gravity" on all of the balls, causing them to arc back down to the paddle.  Use this if you can see that your balls are headed for maw bricks or if your balls get stuck in a "loop" (i.e. they repeat their movements through a level so that you can't control them).  Please note that this "cheat" only affects the vertical component of the balls' motions (i.e. the "gravity" only pulls the ball down; it does not decrease its horizontal movement, just like gravity in the real world).

11.  Have fun with the game.  Some of the levels I designed are probably unbeatable, so if you get mad, please don't through your PDA on the ground and stomp it into a million tiny pieces out of frustration.  Take five minutes, collect yourself, and either start over, or put the game aside for the moment.  This game was not designed to be beaten in one day!

________________
IV.	Controls

Ladrion can be controlled with both the stylus and the keys.  The keys are customizable, but the default values are as follows:

Schedule:		Move the paddle left
Address:		Move the paddle right

(any other key):	Release all balls on the paddle; fire rocket (if applicable)
(hold any other key):	exert gravity on the balls

When you press the Menu silkscreen button on your Graffiti pad, you will be taken to a new screen with four menu options (instead of a pull-down menu).  The keys to navigate this are as follows:

Page Up:		Move selection arrow up
Page Down:		Move selection arrow down

Each of the menu options performs the tasks as follows:

About...:		This pulls up my name and contact information
Settings...:		This pulls up the game settings
Start Over:		This starts the game over.  You go to level 1, your score is 0, and you have 4 lives
Exit:			This exits the game

Here's what each of the options on the Settings menu do:

Sound:			This checkbox toggles the game sound effects
Background:		This checkbox toggles the background (applicable only on color devices)
Enable Stylus Control:	This checkbox allows you to use your stylus to move the paddle in addition to the keys
Reset High Scores...:	This button clears the high score table
Calibrate...:		This button takes you to the key calibration screen.  Follow the directions there.
Level +  -:		These buttons control which level you are on.  You can adjust this to any number 			betweein 1 and 50.
OK:			This button closes the dialog box.

To control the paddle with the stylus:

Move the stylus across the bottom of the screen:	Move the paddle
Tap the paddle:						Release all balls on the paddle; fire a rocket (if 							applicable)
Tap and hold the paddle:				Exert gravity on the balls

In all cases, tapping the middle or top of the screen pauses the game.

_______________
V.	Credits

Myself

I am the sole author of this game.  This game was constructed with pieces of code from my previous pinball game for a series of Texas Instraments graphing calculators known as a TI-89.  If you are interested in this game, it can be found at www.ticalc.org, and is called TI Pinball 0.2 Developer's Edition (it sports a table editor).

Friends, Family

They willingly tested this program and gave me many ideas for this game, as I am not much of a pinball wizard myself :)

David Lawrance

His awesome OnBoard Suite allowed for the creation of this program

Quartus

This company's resource editor (RsrcEdit) allowed for the creation of all of this game's graphics and forms.

God

He is always helping me through my programming headaches, codewriter's block, and life in general.  This game would not have been possible without His constant guidance.

_______________
VI.	History

1.0	>>Initial release as Freeware

__________________
VII.	The Future

The future of this game depends on the feedback I get from end-users like yourself.  If there is something you don't like about this game, or something you want me to add, please contact me and I'll do my best to implement it for you.  Also, if you find a bug in this game (by bug I mean that this program doesn't work on your PDA (your PC is out of my hands)), tell me, and I'll have a fixed version sent to you as soon as humanly possible.