Disclaimer and Copyright:
I have no responsibility for whatever happens to any material, software, hardware or anything else due to use/misuse of this game. However, this should never happen, and if it does, please email me about it and I'll try to solve your problem.
This game is freeware, which means that you can distribute it freely as long as you don't modify the files, and as long as they're distributed all together. You cannot charge any money for this game without written permission from me (Joakim Ahnfelt-Rønne). If you want to do this (perhaps for inclusion in a magazine, or for any other purpose) email me and we'll probably figure something out :) The Martian Venture game engine and files are © Joakim Ahnfelt-Rønne.


System Requirements:
486DX 66
(untested on slower machines, may run fine)
A DOS capable OS
(such as DOS, Windows etc.)
EMS enabled (1MB+ available)
(See troubleshooting for more about this)

Recommended:
Pentium
(233+ MHz)
Mouse
(Has to work in DOS)
Soundcard
(Also has to be DOS compatible)


The Story:
A long, long time ago, there was an alien called Turt le Martian. He lived on one of the many space stations his people had built just before their home planet was destroyed by their enemies, the Evaals. The Evaals had been Mr. Martian's people's enemies as long as anybody could remember, and they had always lived in the fear that the Evaals one day would attack them once again. However, people seemed to forget this as the decades passed, and one day, a scientist invented a teleporter. This teleporter was used to transport people and goods from station to station, and it greatly increased their urge to invent new things. The teleporters required a lot of energy, and so a new reactor was invented. All space stations were equipped with such a reactor, and everybody was happy.

Little did they know, they were being watched. The Evaals had spies all around. Fortunately they had no reason to attack. All was fine until one day, when the Evaals' biggest power plant had a meltdown. They needed power as fast as possible. Their dictator ordered an attack on the space stations, and they scared everybody but Mr. Martian away from them. They set up crystal poles, which transmitted pure energy to the Evaal main ship in every space station, and also set up traps and let aliens loose to ensure that their enemies, Mr. Martian's people, wouldn't return.

Without power, Mr. Martian's people couldn't use the teleporters anymore. They only knew that if they destroyed the crystal poles, they would work again. However, they had no way to return without the teleporters. Only Mr. Martian was left on one of the stations. He had to destroy every crystal pole so his people could return. And that's where your adventure starts...
Good luck!
(What did you expect?)


Game Instructions:
Welcome to Martian Venture!
This is a side scrolling platformer featuring colorful graphics, challenging levels, advanced AI, and a lot of other stuff. The objective is quite simple: destroy all the crystal poles and find the exit! Yet it's not always as simple as it might first seem. A lot of challenges and different enemies will try to stop you before you reach the exit of the level. However, you can fight these with your plasma machine gun. Every moving enemy can be eliminated with this weapon, it's just a question of hitting them enough. Your ammo is infinite, but you can pick up limited ammo which increases your firing rate threefold and thereby helps you out a lot, so look out for them.
You are introduced to the gameplay in a tutorial, so don't worry. :)

Game controls:
Jump: Ctrl
Shoot: Alt
Run: Left and right
Climb: Up and down

Menu keys:
Select: Up and down
Confirm: Enter

Misc Keys:
Pause: P
Exit: ESC


Using the Level Editor:
The level editor is mouse controlled. I suggest you start by clicking on Help, and then go from there. When you're creating a level, remember to make it challenging, fun and make it look good. It's also a good idea to use the little arrows to show the route you want the players to follow.
The 'Test' option may cause problems on some systems. It seems that Windows doesn't like DOS programs to execute one another. You can optionally run 'GREEN.EXE LEVEL.LVL' to test it. For example, running 'GREEN TEST' would allow you to play TEST.LVL. However, the 'Test' option works perfectly in pure DOS.


Level Packs:
A level pack file is just a file that tells the game engine what order in which to play the levels. The format is as follows:
MYLEVEL1.lvl, SECNDLVL.LVL, LEVEL3.LVL...
The level names can be any 8.3 (DOS) file name, but remember the extension.
To play a levelpack, run "GREEN -L LVLPACK.TXT" where LVLPACK.TXT can be any 8.3 (DOS) file name.


Troubleshooting:
Unfortunately, the editor crashes; this is not my fault. Windows ain't too happy about my editor (especially the 'Test' option). It will run fine in DOS. Actually, there're serveral known problems, due to bad backwards compatibility in Windows and in hardware. Sound cards are especially prone to be incompatible with DOS. However, this may be fixed by using VDMSound (this is assuming that you're running Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000). Additionally, the game requires EMS to run, and it might be disabled if you're using Windows. Here're some tips, but I can't guarantee that they will work:

Windows 95 or 98:
It should not be necessary to do this in Windows 95, since EMS is turned on by default, but in some cases, you will have to include this in your CONFIG.SYS (usually found in C:\):

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE

Windows ME, 2000 or XP:
Make sure EMS is turned on for every single DOS program here. Right-click on the shortcut and select properties. Then click on the memory tab and turn EMS on (set it to 1024 or higher, setting it to 'Auto' is preferable) or choose "run as Windows 95/98" (not available in Windows ME).
Tip: If you want this done by default, search for _DEFAULT.PIF, open it and set the memory properties as described above.

If it still won't work:
Check your SYSTEM.INI (probably in C:\WINDOWS\) under [386enh] for EmmExclude or NoEMSDriver statements, and remove them if possible. If it still doesn't work, add a ReservePageFrame=yes statement under the [386enh].


Contact Information:
Joakim Ahnfelt-Rønne
Email: Joakimar@c.dk
MSN: Joakimar@c.dk
ICQ: 148669969 (temp)
AIM: JoakimAhnfeltR (temp)
Web: http://www.qbrpgs.com


Credits:
 Programming, idea and graphics:
Joakim Ahnfelt-Rønne
 Levels:
Rico, Nexinarus, Joakim
 Spell checking and editing:
Frankie
 Sounds:
Many different sound archives on the net, and probably some games too ;)
 Beta testing, suggestions and greetings:
Rico, Nexinarus, Fling-Master, Blitz, Lithium, V1ctor, Kackurot, and tonnes of other people, probably even somebody I never talked to ;)

This game uses Direct QB by EC and RelLib by RelSoft.


End of document. © Joakim Ahnfelt-Rønne. A Danish production.