Amiga DropZone
--------------

DropZone is based on Archer Maclean's classic C64 Defender-style shoot-em-up 'n'
save-the-men.

I found that it was the one thing I really pined for when my C64 died, and when I
couldn't find any versions for the Amiga I was driven to learn a language and
write my own.

It took around two years (sometime in the mid-nineties) to complete, including
distractions and hardware breakdowns (and nervous breakdowns and snack breaks).
And now it seems to be the only thing I use the Amiga for, when I want a good,
sweeping, hyperactive nostalgia-fest. Which is pretty much the reason I wrote it.

Comparing it with the original recently, I was surprised to see how different it
actually turned out. You see; I based it solely on my memories because I didn't
have a working C64 to check with. Yes; the basic concept's there, and there're
the superficial differences of the different coloured level backgrounds and
different level-types and so on, thanks largely to the computer's increased
capacity (and Archer's original was almost certainly built with better
programming skills) but I think my version was infused with a spirit of nostalgic
fun, coloured by all my other memories from the times I used to play it. And
looking back, it's certainly much more controllable, much easier to dip into for
a splash of retro-action; I wanted to give the player as much fluid, free control
as possible to enhance the gameplay, spending a lot of time tweaking the various
thrusts, gravity and elasticity factors, and then building up the characters of
the supporting cast...

I think it turned out a little closer to my dreams than I expected. And I'm happy
with that.



Note
----
It works well enough on my A1200HD, so you might want to consider that
a base system for playing (I think it doesn't run on basic original A500s...)

If I remember right, the program looks for a DropZone volume, so you'll probably
need to create an assign to find it, i.e. 'assign dropzone: [path of your
dropzone directory]'

Let me know [if]/[how badly] it works at the email address above (Uploader:).

P.S.	This readme was written when uploading to aminet. Any other readmes or
docs in the archive were written years ago so might contain out of date
information. Any questions; just email me.



Hidden
------
The cheat mode is switched on by pausing the game ('p'), then
pressing right-amiga and help. You'll here a sound if it works. Various keys have
different effects when you're paused and the cheat mode is on. For example, 'r'
puts you in random level mode, and 'right square bracket' skips a level. Remember
that you need to be paused when you press a key in cheat mode to get its effect
(many make a sound).

Pressing 'c' on the main title screen brings up the control screen. Use the
cursor keys to make changes. 'Nouns and Adjectives' loosely refers to the
dictionary which is used to create random level names.

When loading, hold down 'space bar' for Scarecrow Mode! Or hold down 'o' for
Original Mode which keeps a dark sky for each level.



More Info
---------
Read the AmigaGuide instructions in the docs/ directory...

 PERMSSN    UID  GID    PACKED    SIZE  RATIO     CRC       STAMP          NAME
---------- ----------- ------- ------- ------ ---------- ------------ -------------
[generic]                  665    1140  58.3% -lh5- bbda May  7  1999 DropZoneV1.0.info
[generic]                36540   75332  48.5% -lh5- 93ba Oct 18  1996 DropZoneV1.0/CDesign1.2
[generic]                  347     670  51.8% -lh5- 82a7 May  7  1999 DropZoneV1.0/CDesign1.2.info
[generic]                  430     993  43.3% -lh5- 5e20 May  7  1999 DropZoneV1.0/Docs.info
[generic]                10171   24240  42.0% -lh5- 22c3 May  7  1999 DropZoneV1.0/Docs/dropzone.guide
[generic]                 1330    1857  71.6% -lh5- b937 Oct 17  1996 DropZoneV1.0/Docs/DropZone.guide.info
[generic]                  496     601  82.5% -lh5- 6ff8 Sep  6  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg0.cop
[generic]                  208     601  34.6% -lh5- bff5 Sep  6  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg01.cop
[generic]                  496     601  82.5% -lh5- 6ff8 Sep  6  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg02.cop
[generic]                  191     601  31.8% -lh5- c6e1 Oct 17  1980 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg1.cop
[generic]                  567     601  94.3% -lh5- b7f6 Sep 14  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg10.cop
[generic]                  534     601  88.9% -lh5- 8a10 Sep 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg11.cop
[generic]                  601     601 100.0% -lh0- a9ba Sep 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg12.cop
[generic]                  522     601  86.9% -lh5- fc58 Oct 15  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg13.cop
[generic]                  455     601  75.7% -lh5- 7cc8 Sep 15  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg14.cop
[generic]                  591     601  98.3% -lh5- 1097 Sep 15  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg15.cop
[generic]                  428     601  71.2% -lh5- 518c Sep 15  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg16.cop
[generic]                  520     601  86.5% -lh5- 8f89 Sep 15  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg17.cop
[generic]                  506     601  84.2% -lh5- 27b2 Sep 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg18.cop
[generic]                  520     601  86.5% -lh5- 9ac9 Sep 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg19.cop
[generic]                  568     601  94.5% -lh5- e3c6 Sep 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg2.cop
[generic]                  581     601  96.7% -lh5- 85d4 Oct 15  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg20.cop
[generic]                  493     601  82.0% -lh5- 4fb1 Sep 23  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg21.cop
[generic]                  472     601  78.5% -lh5- fe0e Sep 23  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg22.cop
[generic]                  467     601  77.7% -lh5- 84be Sep 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg23.cop
[generic]                  461     601  76.7% -lh5- 536d Oct 17  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg24.cop
[generic]                  597     601  99.3% -lh5- 826a Oct 13  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg25.cop
[generic]                  601     601 100.0% -lh0- e67e Oct  4  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg26.cop
[generic]                  404     601  67.2% -lh5- 8355 Oct 26  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg27.cop
[generic]                  549     601  91.3% -lh5- 483f Oct  9  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg28.cop
[generic]                  414     601  68.9% -lh5- 6ad7 Oct  9  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg29.cop
[generic]                  219     601  36.4% -lh5- 3b8a Mar 21  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg3.cop
[generic]                  601     601 100.0% -lh0- 1981 Oct  9  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg30.cop
[generic]                  390     601  64.9% -lh5- 28ba Oct  9  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg31.cop
[generic]                  208     601  34.6% -lh5- fe17 Oct  9  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg32.cop
[generic]                  336     601  55.9% -lh5- d123 Oct  9  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg33.cop
[generic]                  458     601  76.2% -lh5- 5311 Oct 15  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg34.cop
[generic]                  453     601  75.4% -lh5- 3005 Oct 15  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg35.cop
[generic]                  584     601  97.2% -lh5- 87bd Oct 15  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg36.cop
[generic]                  333     601  55.4% -lh5- 7d6d Oct 15  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg37.cop
[generic]                  524     601  87.2% -lh5- 9f59 Oct 15  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg38.cop
[generic]                  474     601  78.9% -lh5- d8b9 Oct 17  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg39.cop
[generic]                  268     601  44.6% -lh5- 5f9d Aug 27  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg4.cop
[generic]                  424     601  70.5% -lh5- 0b88 Oct 17  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg40.cop
[generic]                  404     601  67.2% -lh5- 184d Oct 26  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg41.cop
[generic]                  282     601  46.9% -lh5- 09c6 Oct 26  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg42.cop
[generic]                  395     601  65.7% -lh5- 71b1 Oct 26  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg43.cop
[generic]                  257     601  42.8% -lh5- 9ae8 Oct 26  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg44.cop
[generic]                  269     601  44.8% -lh5- 30d6 Oct 26  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg45.cop
[generic]                  110     601  18.3% -lh5- 5a0d Oct 26  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg46.cop
[generic]                  111     601  18.5% -lh5- a900 Oct 26  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg47.cop
[generic]                  227     601  37.8% -lh5- 3da4 Oct 26  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg48.cop
[generic]                  316     601  52.6% -lh5- 78fd Oct 26  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg49.cop
[generic]                  209     601  34.8% -lh5- f4b9 Aug 27  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg5.cop
[generic]                  401     601  66.7% -lh5- 46b7 Oct 26  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg50.cop
[generic]                  286     601  47.6% -lh5- 4288 Oct 26  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg51.cop
[generic]                  309     601  51.4% -lh5- 0916 Oct 26  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg52.cop
[generic]                  420     601  69.9% -lh5- fe12 Oct 26  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg53.cop
[generic]                  460     601  76.5% -lh5- 30ca Oct 26  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg54.cop
[generic]                  309     601  51.4% -lh5- 5891 Oct 26  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg55.cop
[generic]                  498     601  82.9% -lh5- 86d6 Oct 27  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg56.cop
[generic]                  407     601  67.7% -lh5- a151 Oct 27  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg57.cop
[generic]                  479     601  79.7% -lh5- 4473 Oct 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg58.cop
[generic]                  396     601  65.9% -lh5- aae6 Oct 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg59.cop
[generic]                  425     601  70.7% -lh5- 486f Aug 27  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg6.cop
[generic]                  519     601  86.4% -lh5- f8dd Oct 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg60.cop
[generic]                  381     601  63.4% -lh5- 62c5 Oct 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg61.cop
[generic]                  235     601  39.1% -lh5- c7ad Oct 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg62.cop
[generic]                  400     601  66.6% -lh5- 86f8 Oct 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg63.cop
[generic]                  438     601  72.9% -lh5- e843 Oct 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg64.cop
[generic]                  456     601  75.9% -lh5- d420 Oct 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg65.cop
[generic]                  476     601  79.2% -lh5- fd60 Oct 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg66.cop
[generic]                  485     601  80.7% -lh5- 5840 Oct 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg67.cop
[generic]                  478     601  79.5% -lh5- fb2a Oct 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg68.cop
[generic]                  535     601  89.0% -lh5- 69cd Oct 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg69.cop
[generic]                   69     601  11.5% -lh5- 9010 Aug 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg7.cop
[generic]                  471     601  78.4% -lh5- c2f6 Oct 28  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg70.cop
[generic]                  533     601  88.7% -lh5- 6100 Nov 15  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg71.cop
[generic]                  349     601  58.1% -lh5- 52c8 Dec 19  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg72.cop
[generic]                   82     601  13.6% -lh5- f451 Jan 25  1997 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg73.cop
[generic]                  285     601  47.4% -lh5- b9a3 Feb 19  1997 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg74.cop
[generic]                  280     601  46.6% -lh5- 8440 Feb 19  1997 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg75.cop
[generic]                  598     601  99.5% -lh5- 970d Oct 17  1980 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg76.cop
[generic]                  298     601  49.6% -lh5- 754c Sep  3  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg8.cop
[generic]                  504     601  83.9% -lh5- 66b1 Sep  3  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackg9.cop
[generic]                  382     601  63.6% -lh5- 790a Oct 17  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackh1.cop
[generic]                  535     601  89.0% -lh5- a69c Oct 17  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackh2.cop
[generic]                  390     601  64.9% -lh5- a4ba Oct 17  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackh3.cop
[generic]                  395     601  65.7% -lh5- 9400 Oct 17  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropbackh4.cop
[generic]                   90     166  54.2% -lh5- 7f56 Sep 30  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropcon1.cop
[generic]                  129     166  77.7% -lh5- 7630 Sep 30  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropcon2.cop
[generic]                  491     601  81.7% -lh5- 0c05 Sep  8  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropfl1.cop
[generic]                  493     601  82.0% -lh5- 5234 Sep  8  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropfl2.cop
[generic]                   69     601  11.5% -lh5- 9010 Oct 31  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/dropori.cop
[generic]                  769     769 100.0% -lh0- 1957 Sep 23  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/hall3.cop
[generic]                  335     582  57.6% -lh5- 1ae9 Oct 15  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/index.txt
[generic]                 6234   11994  52.0% -lh5- 7cd2 May  7  1999 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Back/names.asc
[generic]                 1013    3952  25.6% -lh5- b258 Dec 28  1997 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Console.iff
[generic]                27271   38010  71.7% -lh5- 401d Oct 17  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/DropZone.iff
[generic]                 1809    6580  27.5% -lh5- 7ffe Oct  1  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/dropzone.shp
[generic]                 2689   16080  16.7% -lh5- 9b60 Sep 30  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/dropzone2.shp
[generic]                16722   25016  66.8% -lh5- f309 Oct 17  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/DropZone32.iff
[generic]                   30     264  11.4% -lh5- 1bee Oct 17  1980 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Fonts/DropZone.font
[generic]                  772    1832  42.1% -lh5- eec3 Mar 31  1993 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Fonts/DropZone/8
[generic]                 2159    6248  34.6% -lh5- fa0d Oct 19  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Landscape.iff
[generic]                 3761    8672  43.4% -lh5- 1c52 Oct 31  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Landscape2.iff
[generic]                  362     904  40.0% -lh5- 8715 Oct 17  1980 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/littlelogo.shp
[generic]                  246     888  27.7% -lh5- ae14 Oct 17  1980 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Loading2.iff
[generic]                   32      32 100.0% -lh0- 7751 Oct 18  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/palette1.pal
[generic]                   32      32 100.0% -lh0- 7abe Oct 18  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/palette2.pal
[generic]                   32      32 100.0% -lh0- e977 Oct 18  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/palette3.pal
[generic]                   32      32 100.0% -lh0- a71e Oct 18  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/palette4.pal
[generic]                   32      32 100.0% -lh0- 2b48 Oct 18  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/palette5.pal
[generic]                   32      32 100.0% -lh0- 1cde Oct 18  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/palette6.pal
[generic]                   32      32 100.0% -lh0- c0cb Oct 18  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/palette7.pal
[generic]                   32      32 100.0% -lh0- c404 Oct 18  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/palette8.pal
[generic]                12572   13936  90.2% -lh5- bf65 Sep  8  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Sound/alert1.smp
[generic]                11104   12802  86.7% -lh5- ab7a Sep  8  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Sound/alert2.smp
[generic]                  499     528  94.5% -lh5- c360 Nov 11  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Sound/blip.smp
[generic]                 1837    1850  99.3% -lh5- f35b Nov 11  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Sound/bomb.smp
[generic]                 9190   13032  70.5% -lh5- 289d Oct 17  1980 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Sound/cryfade.smp
[generic]                22503   27984  80.4% -lh5- 2dad Nov 11  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Sound/exp2.smp
[generic]                 2054    2114  97.2% -lh5- 15ff Nov 11  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Sound/pickup.smp
[generic]                 2054    2114  97.2% -lh5- bbdd Nov 11  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Sound/pickup2.smp
[generic]                 3778    4126  91.6% -lh5- f1a7 Nov 11  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Sound/pulse2.smp
[generic]                 4898    5224  93.8% -lh5- 789d Nov 11  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Sound/robot.smp
[generic]                11302   12472  90.6% -lh5- 9913 Nov 11  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Sound/teleport.smp
[generic]                 3592    4316  83.2% -lh5- e8af Nov 11  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Sound/thrustd.smp
[generic]                 4777    5142  92.9% -lh5- f906 Nov 11  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Sound/Whistle2.smp
[generic]                 5516   15922  34.6% -lh5- dc19 Oct 17  1980 DropZoneV1.0/DropData/Title.iff
[generic]                77094  235868  32.7% -lh5- bedf Dec 30  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropZone
[generic]                  706    1558  45.3% -lh5- 6b10 May  7  1999 DropZoneV1.0/DropZone.info
[generic]                13409   13409 100.0% -lh0- babc Oct 17  1996 DropZoneV1.0/DropZone.jpg
[generic]                  375    1844  20.3% -lh5- f2ae May  7  1999 DropZoneV1.0/DropZone.jpg.info
[generic]                 1279    2406  53.2% -lh5- 705e Apr 27  1999 DropZoneV1.0/DropZone.Readme
[generic]                 1329    1852  71.8% -lh5- 891c May  7  1999 DropZoneV1.0/DropZone.Readme.info
[generic]                  428     993  43.1% -lh5- 4d66 May  7  1999 DropZoneV1.0/Icons.info
[generic]                  366     948  38.6% -lh5- a466 Oct  7  1996 DropZoneV1.0/Icons/Drawer.info
[generic]                  707    1558  45.4% -lh5- 93fd Dec 18  1996 DropZoneV1.0/Icons/DZ.icon.info
[generic]                  839    3596  23.3% -lh5- c9f7 Oct  7  1996 DropZoneV1.0/Icons/DZHi.icon.info
---------- ----------- ------- ------- ------ ---------- ------------ -------------
 Total       140 files  341449  663891  51.4%            May  9  1999