Hamsters : version 1.10 , 14/4/94 + StrongARM/RISC OS 4 fixes
========

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away our hero was exiled, told not to return until he had conquered a planet. After years wandering through the empty wastes of space he finally landed on a strange planet. Armed with his trusty laser gun he fearlessly set forth, ready to blast all that stood in his path.
Unfortunately he had forgotten to charge it, and was forced to resort to more basic methods - a very large hammer indeed. Now all that stands between our hero and glory are several thousand cute, furry animals. It's up to you to preserve his honour!
        

Compatibility
=============

This version of Hamsters should work fine on anything from RISC OS 3 to RISC OS Select, on machines with at least 1MB of RAM.


Controls
========

Hamsters is a multi-level politically incorrect platform game. Each level has a time limit. Only when you have successfully squashed every furry animal on the level will you have completed it. Also littered around the levels are several bonus items that you can collect to increase your score.

To move about the levels you need the following controls:

Left              Z
Right             X
Use Hammer/Jump   RETURN

The longer the RETURN key is held down the harder the hammer blow will be.


Options
=======

Hamsters can be configured to your own personal requirements - to tailor the game to your own paticular taste. The options menu is accessed from the introduction screen - to scroll through the options press Z to move up and X to move down. To select a particular option use the RETURN key. Once you have finished tailoring the game select exit options to return to the introduction screen and start the game.

 Start Level
   This allows you to enter a password if you wish to begin the game at a
   particular level.
   
 Scenery
   This will alter the detail of the background scenery. There are Four otions,
   Low, Medium, High and Full.
   
 Blood
   This will tailor the game to suit either the most squeamish or the most
   Blood-thirsty! There are Four blood options, each altering the degree of
   carnage left behind by squashed animals - None, Some, Lots and Buckets.
   
 Messages
   There are 3 options for the ingame messages and prompts - Off, Clear and
   Solid.
   
 Wibble
   The Wibble option reduces or enhances the amount of screen shake caused by a
   hammer blow. There are 4 options - Off, Low, Severe and High. It is not
   recommended that you play Hamsters with Buckets of blood and a High Wibble
   setting if you are suffering a hangover.

 Music On/Off
   Incredibly this allows you to turn the in game music on and off.
   

The High Score Table
====================
   
You can look at this and take heart from the fact that you are not the only
psychopathic maniac that enjoys killing defenceless, soft, furry animals.


Quitting The Game
=================

To exit Hamsters press the ESCAPE key until you return to the introduction screen. Select Return To Desktop. To remove Hamsters from the icon bar press the MENU button over the Hamster icon and click SELECT on quit. The Hamsters goodbye screen will then play. To skip this press the SPACE-BAR.
 

Thanks to
=========

* Tom Cooper for writing the game
* Imparo for releasing the rights
* Matthew Thompson for contributing his copy of the game
* Jason Tribbeck for his module giving a suitable RiscPC compatible screen mode
* The countless millions who have playtested the game on modern machines
* The members of Acorn Arcade's Free Games section for putting this release together. Why not visit http://www.acornarcade.com/features/freegames/ and grab some other golden oldies?