                               Grey Thunder
                        Yet another clichd space game.
                            Colin McEwan 1993,1994
                            1.03 (27 Jun 1994)

==> Introduction

Far into the 21st century, the world as the average punter in the 20th
century knew it was in dis-repair, and generally in need of a good, stiff
talking to. This world was so polluted, so barren, so empty that mankind
simply thought "stuff this" and went to live on the moon. One punter,
however, was left behind - You. It happened one morning, you were sitting at
your RiscPC 1200 playing this terribly addictive arcade game called "Grey
Thunder", which was written by the legendary Colin McEwan way back in
1993... This game was so addictive that when the last shuttle was due to
leave, you just sat there and kept on playing. Bad move. Alone in the world,
you must guide your craft through some rather nasty bouncing balls, a couple
that seem to be pursuing a sort of odd sine-wave pattern, some nasty cones
that come at you from really inconvenient angles, and a few nasty green
monsters, before you can bear to tear yourself away from your computer and
phone for a rescue shuttle or something. Can you do it?


==> Controls

        Z       Left
        X       Right
        "       Up
        ?       Down
        Return  Fire

There is no 'Pause', as such, but closing the player status window will halt
the game.


==> Playing

Once loaded, click Select on the icon bar icon. This opens a small Player
Status window, which shows your score, lives, and a status message.

Your score is a simple number, your lives are represented as a series of
bullets. Each bullet counts as one life. The status message is usually what
level you're on, but it is used for other purposes too (such as 'Game Over').

Okay, you maneouvre the little grey thing, and fire big firey things at the
other little objects. They start off as little bouncey balls, then a new one
gets added every level.

When you've shot enough nasties, a BIG nasty comes on, and you've got to
shoot it wnough to kill it before it'll die, and you can get past onto the
next level.


==> Miscelaneous

If you like icon-bar games, but find that the tiny size of the sprites and
things is unbearable, then close all windows and load the "BigMode" module
from this application directory. That ought to make things a bit bigger!

A copy of my Magniscope application may be useful too. Or, if you've got a
RiscPC, switch to a 16 colours, and as low resolution as possible, then go
to the Display manager menu, and go into the mode stringie thing ite (I've
forgotten what it's called - I only saw it once at the Computer Depot), and
change the parameters after the EX and EY to 0, then press return. This'll
get you closer to the action :-)

This game sometime is a bit slow when there's a lot of sprites in view, so
it's really best to run on a fast machine. If, that is, you can afford one!
Ooh, I want a Risc PC 700 with loads of RAM, 2Mb VRAM, and a floaty-point
accelerator thing.


==> Chickening out

If, quite sensibly, you decide you've had enough of this, then just select
the Quit option from the main menu, and that's you free of all obligations
to save the Earth or other such nonsense.


==> Licence

This game is Freeware (No-one in their right mind would pay good money for
it), and as such may be copied about, thrown around, up-loaded, down-loaded,
eaten, burned, distributed, etc, subject to the following conditions:

  A small charge only should be made for distributing this application to
   another party, to cover only media, carriage, and other expenses. NO
   PROFIT of more than 25% of the total cost (to the distributer) should be
   made by the distributer (the distributor being any party passing a copy
   of this application to any other party)

  NO PART OF THIS APPLICATION MAY BE CHANGED, ALTERED OR OMITTED in any
   way, shape or form whatsoever.


==> Contact, etc.

Suffer Ye no illusions. I hate this game. It stinks. I knocked it up
yesterday and put the finishing touches to it today. (It is now just after
10:15 am and I'm finishing the Help file. )  The name is just the first
really clichd sounding name I could think of. Don't go thinking I like that
sort of stuff. No way. I am a realist.

If you want to write to me or anything, then you can do so by writing the
following on a stamped envelope:

                       Colin McEwan
                       11 Helen Way
                       Bonhill
                       Dunbartonshire
                       Scotland
                       G83 9PJ

       If you send me a blank disc (or even better, one with some decent
P.D. on it), you can get some of my other marginally less rubbish P.D.
software. Well, enjoy the game, it didn't cost you anything...:-(


==> Anomoly

Why do Risc User and everyone say the RiscPC can go up to 16001200, when
the data-sheets only say 12801024?


==> Version History

1.00 First version.

1.01 Added another level, fixed small bug with message, made BigMode module,
altered dyeing routine. That's about it. Left !FullScr as it was, as I
couldn't remember all the changes I'd made to the main app. Oh well. Also
got rid or RO3 borders, as it looked weird under RO2. Did the BigMode module,
so erradicating the need for !FullScr, so that's what I did TO !FullScr.

1.02 Added end of game baddie and assosciated paraphenalia. 13 Oct 1993

1.03 Hmm, just spent a couple of hours fixing some bugs and stuff in the
GemPD catalog, and found this 'ere thingie nestling in my "Progs" directory.
So, I spent another couple of hours tidying this up, and also trying to
complete it, which I can't seem to do anymore. Ah well. Anyway:
Fixed big baddy so that it works!, changed the missile/firey/thingey sprite.
Fixed a bug whereby the status message wasn't updated. Got rid of the stupid
character set, and just used a bullet for the lives thing, as it doesn't
work anyway on a RiscPC. Used a Poll_Idle instead, and some other things I
can't remember now. 25 Jun 1994


==> Breakdown

Well, its just two-days over a year since the first version of this
appeared. I've really neglected it, haven't I? Ah well.

If anyone wants to do some more nasty sprites (I've run out of
inspiration!), please feel free to send them in here, and if you've got any
suggestions for weird movement patterns,..


Well, the Glastonbury festival thingie's just finished, and I was watching
it on TV. So, That's what Radcliffe and Lard look like. Who is Katie
Puckrick anyway?

Did anyone see it on Saturday? With Bjrk? What gives people the impression
she's weird? I don't know... (sarcasm)
