		  *********************************************
		  *          Cosmic Defender v0.2b            *
		  *          (C) Risto Ahonen 1997            *
		  *********************************************

				-- LICENCE --

This early version of the program is free to use. You may use it and copy it 
to others, but you may not sell it or make any modifications to it. This 
program has no warranty of any kind, use it at your own risk. 


			       -- THE GAME --

You are a pilot of a high performance war ship. Your mission is to defend
Earth by destroying hostile alien forces that are occypying nearby 
starsystems. You must fly on different planets and use your weapons to blast 
the aliens away. Each planet contains certain number of areas that must be
cleared before moving to next planet. However, this early versio on the game
contains only one planet.


			     -- INSTRUCTIONS --

Fly your ship and destroy aliens. When all objects are destroyed a message
appears on the screen and you can press L-button to leave the mission area
and move to next area. Currently the game contains three types of enemies:
fighters, ground guns and radar stations. When enemies hit your ship or you
crash with the ground your shields are damaged. When all shields are gone 
your ship will explode.

You can select control method from the options menu. The ship can be 
controlled with keyboard, mouse or joystick. Before using joystick you must
calibrate it. The calibration values are automaticly saved. When using mouse 
the left button fires and right button selects weapon. 

Keys:
	       Cursor keys   = control direction
		    A        = increase power
		    Z        = decrease power              
		  Control    = fire weapon
		  1,2,3      = select weapon
		    W        = toggle weapon
		    T        = find neares target
		    M        = show big map
		  F1-F4      = select view point
		   F5        = toggle cockpit
		    X        = toggle crosshair
		    L        = leave area after destroying the enemies
		    +        = change size of the window
		    -        = change size of draw area withing the window

Joystick buttons:
		1 = fire weapon
		2 = select weapon



			 -- SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS --

This program requires OS/2 version 3.0 or higher, DIVE-compatible graphics 
adapter (preferably a fast one) and a fast Pentium PC (over 133Mhz 
recommended). Optionally sound is supported with MMOS2. The music in the 
game requires General Midi compatible sound card or synhesizer. If your 
sound card doesn't have wavetable GM-sounds, the title music may not sound
good and turning off the music may be a good choise. Joystick driver must
be installed if joystick is used.


			     -- INSTALLATION --

Create a directory for the game and unzip the archive into it. Enter COSMIC
to start the game.

			      
			     -- PERFORMANCE --

The game requires quite a fast PC to run smoothly. High resolution and high
color depth slows the game and best speed is obtained with 640x480/256 colors 
display. The size of the game window has an effect on the speed of the game.
You can change the resolution of the game window by selecting
options from the main menu. However the game must be restarted to apply
the new resolution. You can also speed up the game by reducing the draw area 
within the window. The program uses almost none floating point arithmetic 
so it perfoms well also with Cyrix 686 chip.

 
                        -- COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS --

There are now two command line parameters:

	QUIET - this parameters sets the sound and music off.
                Useful if you have problem with sound and cannot start the game

        RES X Y - Sets the resolution of the game window 
                  (minimum resolution is 100x100)

Example: 
Entering "COSMIC -RES 600 400 -QUIET" sets the resolution to 600x400 and 
disables all sounds and music.


			    -- KNOWN PROBLEMS --

- Fonts are not always readable with low resolution (<320x200).
- Title music is not completed


			     -- VERSIONS --

Below is a list of changes and new features in different versions. The list
of new features may not be complete.

Version         Changes

  0.2b     - fixed bug that prevented v0.2 to work with more than 256 colors

  0.2	   - Added different planets
	   - Joystick control
	   - Mouse control
	   - Flight characterics slightly changed (now possible to fly    
	     upside-down)
	   - Mouse pointer is hidden in full screen mode during the game
	   - Added warning sound when the ship is stalls
	   - Some bug fixes

   0.1     - First public release


			     -- FUTURE PLANS --

Future versions of the game will probably include better looking enemies, more
different enemy types, different planets, better topography for terrains and 
better instructions.

I'm writing the game on my spare time and possibly will release it as shareware
when it's ready. I have lots of other projects to do so I can't give any
time table for new features.


 			     -- USER SUPPORT --
 
If you have any problems you can send questions to me. However, I do not 
guarantee that I can or have time to help. THIS PROGRAM IS NOT FULLY TESTED, 
but it seems to work on my computer. Use at your own risk!

All feedback is welcome!!!

Risto Ahonen
email: rahonen@cc.hut.fi

http://www.hut.fi/~rahonen/cosmic.html