Readme for Rocket Commander
===========================

More information can always be found on http://www.RocketCommander.com
This game was build by http://abi.exdream.com, visit my site to learn
more about the development progress of the game. Tutorials and Videos on how
to write the game (in german) will be available at the Coding4Fun site.

Source Code:
You will need Visual Studio 2005 c# Express or better to compile, download
it for free at www.microsoft.com if you don't have Visual Studio already.
The code uses the .NET 2.0 Framework and the game does require the .NET 2.0
runtime to be installed on the target machine. Other than that Managed DirectX
December 2005 is also required. You can install all those things automatically
with the Installer from www.RocketCommander.com.
You are allowed to modify the source code and make modifications to the game,
but you have to include the licence.txt file and the header in each file
if you distribute your own game or mod derived from this game. For more details
check out the license.txt file.

Gameplay:
You just have to fly through the space and reach the destination (the green
target in the middle). Unlike other games you don't have to kill anything.
You just have to survife. Collect items to live longer, restore your health,
get extra lifes or special abilities. After the game (if you won or lost) you
will get a score, which will be uploaded to www.RocketCommander automatically.
A local highscore does also exist.

Controls:
Mouse: Move it to rotate rocket in 3d space.
Right mouse button: Hold down to roll rocket around the own axis, useful to
restore default view.
Cursor keys (up/down or w/s): Accelerates or slows down
Cursor keys (left/right or a/d): Strafe left/right (weak because we are inside
a rocket)
Q/E keys to roll like with the right mouse button.

Items:
Refill Fuel (yellow): Required if you run out of fuel, should be collected
around every 30 seconds.
Health (green): Restores up to 50% of your health. If you don't collide with
any asteroid, you will not need it as much. Really important if you low on life.
ExtraRocket (purple): Gives you one extra life. Very powerful and rare item,
you should always collect one of these if you see it.
Speed (blue): This is the coolest item, but the most dangerous one too. You can
fly up to 50% faster than before, but you can't slowdown much and if the
asteroid density is very high this can cost your life in a matter of seconds.
While active you get twice as much points for flying around.
Bomb (red): Allows one free collision with an asteroid. In the beginning this
might not be the most useful item, but as soon as you reach the middle or end
of a level, you really wish there would be more of these items. It helps you
out more than any other item in hard situations and does often save your life.
You can also stack up to tree bombs (screen border gets more red).

Missions:
Easy Flight: First mission, pretty easy, collect all items and fly as fast as
you can for maximum score.

Lost Civilization: This level can be pretty easy up to 80% of the level, if you
just fly savely in the middle and only try to collect fuel items, but the last
part will get very hard. Try to avoid the buildings (white parts on the map)
and if collecting items near them, get the hell outta here after collecting
them.

Valley of Death: Hardest map, even the beginning is not easy at all. You start
with only a few items flying around, but later whole streets of items will
appear in front of you. They are great for getting a lot of points quickly,
but don't let them trick you. Sometimes they will lure you into a trap.

Extra Mission for the Christmas 2005 Edition: Merry Christmas, this level is
packed with items and gifts :)

Extra Mission for V1.1 (March 2006): The Revenge: Very hard mission for
pro gamers, there are a lots of tricks in this mission, but you should play
it a couple of times normally and just reach the goal, then try out the tricks.

More info can be found in the Levels\LevelInfo.txt file.


Copyright 2005 (c) by Benjamin Nitschke (abi.exDream.com), exDream entertainment