Section 1: Disclaimer / Agreement
Section 2: Recommendations for Cyber Chick to run
Section 3: Story on Cyber Chick
Section 4: Playing Cyber Chick
Section 5: FAQ (Regarding me and Cyber Chick)
Section 6: Credits and Greets
Section 7: Files of Cyber Chick (CC.ZIP)
Section 8: Known bugs in Cyber Chick
Section 9: Technical features in Cyber Chick
Section 10: Items and enemies of Cyber Chick
Section 11: Cyber Chick Music Editor v2
Section 12: Cyber Chick Level Editor v2
Section 13: End of README file
Section 1: Disclaimer / Agreement
I, as James Robert Osborne, will NOT take any responsibility to what my program does to you or your hardware/software. This means you will run it at your own risk. This program is also provided as FREEWARE (NOT public domain). I can NOT guarantee its desired outcome on your computer, but I'll give my best fixing major and minor bugs. My program is NOT to be sold or used in any other possible financial gaining purposes, unless authorized by me. The game, images, story, and music made by me are copyrighted so ask permission if you want to use them.
Section 2: Recommendations for Cyber Chick to run
You can get best results if you're running in straight DOS mode, where/when Windows isn't running. It's a shame, but it's true. Getting around 65 to 75 FPS will give you a really smooth game.

NOTE: Other than Windows 3.X, 95 or 98, I'm not positive about CC running on other newer versions of Windows, since DOS is dying.

VGA card or better
A CPU that supports 386 instructions or higher
300 MHz or higher recommended
20 MB of HD space (decompressed cc.zip)
600k of base memory required
640k of EMS minimum (without sound and music)
4 Megs of EMS at the most (with sound and music)
Sound Blaster v2.0 (Sound is optional)

ENCOUNTERING THESE ERRORS?

** 'Not enough free EMS memory' or 'No EMM Driver Detected' **
In Windows 3.X, just go straight to DOS, run it, and see if that helps. If not, then you're out of luck on playing Cyber Chick. :P
*************************
If you're in Windows 95 or 98, it's no problem!
A few things have to be done though:
Click on "START"
Click on "RUN..."
Type in NOTEPAD, and hit enter.
In NOTEPAD, click on File, click on open.
type in 'c:\config.sys' and hit enter.
Now that it's open, do this:
*** PAY ATTENTION HERE: ****
Where you see the letters 'NOEMS', delete ONLY those 5 letters, 'NOEMS', and leave the rest of the text ALONE!
If you've touched anything else, open it again, and do NOT save!
If you've only removed those 5 letters, click on File, Save it, and Exit.

NOTE: You'll have to restart your computer for this to take in effect. Then after you've restarted your computer, run Cyber Chick.
*************************
If you're in Windows XP, it's no problem!
A few things have to be done though:
Right click on your desktop
Go to New >> Create Shortcut
Put CC, CCLEVLED, CCMUSICE, and SETUP on your desktop
Right click on the programs' icons
Go to Properties
Click on Memory
Change EMS and XMS to AUTO
Click Apply or OK
That should do it.

**** IF YOU'RE STILL GETTING 'Not enough free EMS memory': ****
NOTE: This is assuming you're in Windows, and not in straight DOS mode.

** Is there still a DOS window? If not, then hold Alt and hit Enter, or unless/until it's in a DOS window.

Now that we have a DOS window, let's proceed:

Click on properties.
Click on memory.
Click on EMS, and change it to AUTO.
APPLY the effect, and close the program by OK.
NOW you should be able to run my program.

IF YOU'RE STILL GETTING 'Not enough free EMS memory' do this:

Click on "START"
Click on "SHUT DOWN..."
Click on "Restart in MS-DOS mode" and hit Enter
After that, go to the directory where Cyber Chick is located, and run it.

Do you want sound in your game? Are you having trouble with it?

Run SETUP.EXE so it will configure sound for CC.
You can default CC's default settings for sound such as:

Sound on/off, port, IRQ, and DMA.

DQB uses Sound Blaster 2.0, and it checks the sound settings by the BLASTER environment variable. If you don't want sound, or don't have sound support, just type this in the DOS prompt:

CC /NOSOUND

That's it. A better way to do it, is turn the sound off in SETUP.EXE

You may also edit the sound settings by address, IRQ, and DMA values in SOUND.INI. They're automatically in hex value, and you don't need "&H220", "0x00000220", or "220h", just "220". Also, if you want it on auto detect, just leave all the last three lines to "-1". That's also the default values that automatically detect the settings for you while executing CC. "SOUND.INI" already has these default settings:

-1
-1
-1
-1

1) The first line is the sound on and off switch. Any nonzero value will turn the sound on, else zero keeps it off. If sound is off, (or "0" valued) the rest of the sound settings and functions are ignored.

2) The second line is the address. '-1' means auto-detect for the address. If you change -1 to 220, it will read 220 as hex notation for the address.

3) The third line is the IRQ. '-1' also means auto-detect the IRQ settings. Most of the time, it is either '5' or '7', but it's '-1' for auto-detection.

4) The final line is the DMA. It too, can auto-detect by adding '-1'. This common value is '1', but it's on '-1' for auto-detection.

Also, having Cyber Chick in its own directory would be recommended. Make sure all the files and sub directories are unzipped properly, so there wont be any "file not found" errors. With PKUNZIP, use the -D switch, so the sub directories will be extracted.

Section 3: Story on Cyber Chick

Alexa on that couch of hers

NOTE: The story is just that, a fictional story. If it causes controversy, and/or you're offended by it, then ignore it. If anything similar exists, it's just one huge coincidence!

September 3rd, 2015: 7:32 PM

Why is everybody dying? Could it be that the invincible media are encouraging unprotected sexual intercourse and immorality? The AIDS virus still spreads like a fire, and the American President could also be behind this conspiracy! Why is this even happening, or why suspect the president? Let's get to the story:

According to statistics, a huge debt will eventually corrupt the entire American society. The predicted debt will be sixty-trillion dollars! President Cannon noticed it had a lot to do with the recent population explosions in the United States. He eventually concluded that the cause of the problem, is too much people in this country. What's a better way to control it? More abortions? Reduce birth rate? Perhaps something more evil like pretending to go along with it? Why reduce God's people at all?

If legalized abortions caused so much controversy back in the late 20th century, imagine what the new law 'Reduce Birth Rate to One' (or RBRTO) caused in mid April, 2011. This recent law has created more controversy than any controversies combined! It's also the most violated law of all time. Unfortunately, the RBRTO will be with us for a while, since it was forced by the Legislature, the Executive, and the Judicial. This all originated with the ACLU, but that's another story. This proves once again, that money was their main priority and USA can easily be corrupted.

Each female legally may have ONLY one child or none. This also meant that having twins, triplets, etc. was unlawful. This of course, is what caused the giant controversy, since ONLY one child could be chosen to flourish. Having more than one child without a valid birth certificate(s) that are younger than April 1, 2001 12:00 AM EST, constitutes a felony to the RBRTO.

Since nothing has worked on controlling the population, something more malicious has been resorted to softly 'control' the population. Could it be to reduce the AIDS propaganda, and to thwart the medical experts finding the cure for it? EXACTLY! The president knew this was an evil confidential ordeal, but something had to be done. At the same time, he believed that letting the population grow more was malicious to our limited earthly resources. Is this a good or evil choice?

The only real way to crack this conspiracy was to claim to have found the cure for AIDS, and living proof of it. The cure for AIDS has been found in DarkDread City of California! DarkDread City is a city built in 2008, due to the heavy population. It wasn't all that beautiful, but it was still livable to the doctor who found the cure for AIDS! The doctor's daughter wasn't too thrilled about it, since she has heard the same thing several times before. The doctor's daughter name is 'Alexa'

Alexa Cullers, AKA Cyber Chick, had a conspiracy theory in her recent nightmare. She also realized that it was ridiculous enough for men still not able to find the cure for AIDS. When she looked up some reference on her old father's friends, it said they were either missing or deceased!

These missing doctors were also trying to find the cure for AIDS as well as Alexa's father. Alexa kept having multiple thoughts that the governments know something about the missing doctors. She also thought it was just a silly elaborate dream. Then later on, when she paged her father, she found out he was missing! She passed this conspiracy theory to her friends on the internet, including her long distant friend, Clinton. She also believed this was a serious concern for the FBI to know about, but she doesn't know if she can trust them as well.

She tried finding her father quietly, but she couldn't find him. She used her father's lab for looking up leads and clues on her father's possible presence. Unfortunately, nothing has been found on her father. It's been weeks later, and still nothing on her father. Later on, she decided that the only way to find him was to think just like her father. She decided to learn through his basic material, then his recent material on AIDS.

Alexa thoroughly looked through her father's material on the recent research on AIDS. It appears her father had found a vaccine to reduce the AIDS to a minimum! He mentioned that the entire vaccine formula is contained in four separate potions near his lab table. It mentioned that the four liquids in separate potions had to be separated for a much longer life span of each ingredient. It was to keep each ingredient sustaining for years, for further testing. If they were combined, it would only be effective for up to eight hours, so vaccine injection had to be done immediately, after combined.

The weird thing about the potions, is they're missing! She knew her father keeps all his potions within the lab. After she tells her online friends about the potions, she starts to wonder if spreading the news on her father's potions was a big mistake. Now she starts to wonder. She locks up everything in her house, and adds an armlifting electro gun to her arm for extra protection.

The next four hours, when she was stressing for her father's return, she became tired, laying uncomfortable on the couch with her father's recent papers on AIDS. Then she finally went to sleep. When Alexa rested for ten minutes, something mysterious happened to her body; it made her really strong! She apparently woke up and realized someone intended to dart-poison through her arms! It appears that the poison is definitely not a poison. It made her really strong in fact. This still angered her enough to snap without thinking twice. Immediately she knew she was on her own to find the cure for AIDS. She decided to let nothing get in her way, and get those potions back!

When she looks outside from the window of the lab, there lies a huge space colony floating in the sky! Of course something was going on! Not only that, but everyone that is usually roaming the streets are missing! Unfortunately, the ship is too high in the sky, so she goes back inside immediately, and increases her power to the maximum in the lab. She now has a gun, stronger body, and unlimited general electro beams. The quest goes on from there..

Section 4: Playing Cyber Chick

Screenshot from starting theme

NOTE: If you hold down the 'F1' key, you'll see a pop-up menu that will give you all the keys that work during the game.

## Keyboard commands:

ESC | Instantly and unconditionally quits Cyber Chick (Be warned!)
F1 | Viewing keyboard commands, just hold it down and wait. This works during the game.
F2 | Displays the framerate of the game. If the framerate is approx. 60-70 frames or higher, then you've got a good computer to run CC, not to mention the best results for gameplay. This works during the game.
F3 | VSync switch. By default, VSync is toggled, so you get proper speed in the game. This enabled feature also reduces the flicker in the game. You can also turn it off, if the game seems a bit slow. You may also use /NOWAIT at the prompt.
F4 | RESET THE GAME (It will restart Cyber Chick, so be warned!)
F5 | Enable/Disable background images. (Default is enabled)
F6 | Enable/Disable map based images. (Default is enabled)
F7 | Enable/Disable foreground images. (Default is enabled)
F8 | Enable/Disable object based images. (Default is enabled)
F9 | Stops the music in the background. (In case the music annoys you)
ENTER | Pause, and changing your weapons. There are twenty-five 'Gun + Beam' combinations in this game, so have fun! During the pause screen, Hit LEFT and RIGHT keys to select the gunsets, and UP and DOWN keys to change what you got during the game. Remember, you'll only see changes, if you have new gun(s) or beam(s). Also, on the pause screen, on the top left, you'll notice a map that helps you out where to go, and where you've been.
RIGHT SHIFT | This is to select from the three custom gunsets during the game. The green-highlighting will indicate the current gunset you're using.
CTRL | This is for Alexa to jump.
ALT | This is for Alexa to shoot her gun.
+ / - | This will increase or decrease master volume in Cyber Chick. In Windows 95 or higher, this may not work, so be warned! You may also alter the master volume before running CC by using: CC /SETVOLnn. Again, this may not work.
UP | This will do four things in certain situations: If you're ducking, you'll stand up and point your gun up. If you're in a ball, you'll sit up to duck. If you're near or on the ladder, you'll climb up. If you're near an entrance of some types, you'll go in it. Other than that, you'll be pointing your gun up.
DOWN | This will point the gun down, climb down a ladder, and duck. If she has the Morph Jel, she can turn into a ball by hitting down twice.
LEFT / RIGHT | Moving Alexa right and left during the game. (As if that wasn't obvious)

Section 5: FAQ (Regarding me and Cyber Chick)

1) Q: What's the difference between 'guns' and 'beams'?
A: The guns shape the movement patterns of the beams, and the beams are the bullets that come out of the guns. There are four different new guns, and four different new beams in this entire game. Also, you can have up to three different guns and beams combos at a time by selecting each with RIGHT SHIFT.

2) Q: How do I change the guns or beams themselves?
A: If you have a new gun(s) or a new beam(s), hit Enter to the pause screen, press the arrow keys Left and Right to select which gun combo. Then press Up and Down to browse the guns and beams. These are displayed in the order of the three gun combos you see in realtime.

3) Q: This is all the game does?
A: What you see in cc.zip is everything you get. This game was mainly experimental for me to learn how to design and program a simple 2D side scroller. Next part was to have fun with this engine! This was also intended for an NES Metroid quality clone, so please don't think I was trying to make the SNES Super Metroid. Let's just say roughly 90% of my time went into graphics, so sorry if you expected more in the programming area. If you want to see the programming effort I have done in this game, look in the 'source\*.bas' directory.

4) Q: How do I kill certain big bosses that wont die?
A: Find their weak spot with your gun. ;)

(Development related)

1) Q: WOW! You did from programming, to writing music, to graphics?
A: Yup, sorry it has taken so long in the graphics area. :P Graphics designing has been my biggest complaint on Cyber Chick. The entire engine was rewritten at least eight times, with over 100 builds! The newer builds usually contained both minor and major new features and changes in the code. Yeah, everything you see listed in the 'source\*.BAS' directory are all written by me. Graphics of course, really took so long, 100% of them drawn by me. 100% of the music scores written by me as well. Story and QB tools as well.

2) Q: What inspired you to make this game to begin with?
A: After I finished the experimental Hack-Man series, I decided that I needed to challenge my talent. When I saw Peanut Patrol 2 from Jason, I couldn't believe the capabilities of the game! I asked Pete of Pete's QB site if I should make a Contra clone (Another NES game) or a Metroid clone. It was then decided that I would make a Metroid clone. Not only is my game based on Metroid, but there's more games that inspired me to make Cyber Chick. Such games included a bit of Contra, Gunstar Heroes, the Castlevania series, and the Legend of Zelda series.

3) Q: Could you make Cyber Chick any better?
A: Absolutely! There's always room for improvement on anything. In fact, that's why CC went through so many builds and a few entire rewrites. This time, I've finally decided that it's enough. For one thing, Cyber Chick is still limited to realmode DOS. Sacrifices were also made in CC, but I've optimized for hours, just to gain back more base memory. The original plans for Cyber Chick are just too big (See the EXE filesize) for realmode DOS to handle, so that ended up hurting me a great deal. It all started when the IDE (QB.EXE) became useless. In addition to all this, I believe I've encountered every limitation to realmode DOS. Seriously though, I don't want to continue on improving Cyber Chick in DOS, since I've been doing that for years! Cyber Chick is now good enough to my standards.

4) Q: Did Cyber Chick take years to complete?
A: For me alone, yes. I firmly believe a game like Cyber Chick would only take about a year to finish off 100% if given that much effort. Graphics were a killer for me, since I am very critical towards my own artwork. I've also slacked off so much on it, because I was either bored with it, or had tantrums over the base memory limitations of realmode DOS. I was never satisfied with Cyber Chick's status, so I would constantly add bells and whistles as well as removing other bells and whistles.

5) Q: What programming aspect did you hate while making Cyber Chick?
A: Personally, I hated learning assembly so I could modify DQB and delete code I didn't need for Cyber Chick. The big pay off is I gained more memory from this. :) I now find assembly easy to work with, but it is time consuming to write big stuff for it.

6) Q: Are you doing anything else after CC?
A: Plans for Cyber Chick 2 have been made for quite some time. I will not make any promises about working on Cyber Chick 2 since I've made some costly horrible promises I didn't keep on Cyber Chick!

Section 6: Credits and Greets

Tools and credits:

* Paint Shop Pro v3 (great palette manipulation) by JASC software.
* Paint Brush (Windows' graphics editing program) by Microsoft.
* QuickBASIC v4.5 (Programming language) by Microsoft.
* DQB v1.71 (Excellent game programming library) by Angelo Mottola.
* Music engine/editor by me, using DQB's SOUND.OBJ for compatibility.
* Level editor by me, using DQB.
* Instrument samples were from my Yamaha PSR-620 keyboard.
* Sound effects came from http://www.SoundAmerica.com

Jason Gould and NutZboy made an awesome game called Peanut Patrol 2. When I saw this game, I was shocked by the quality of this game, and gave me relief that it was possible to come up with excellent side scrollers in QB! It's too bad that PP2 will no longer be supported by them. Their latest demo still has potential. Jason wanted to set a standard with PP2, and it did for me!

Terminator_Z and White Shadow's game called FoX also inspired me to get my game on the go! If you ever want to see another complete platform game, look it up on some QB websites and download it. It is a fun complete game that will keep you playing!

Pete AKA Peter Berg suggested Cyber Chick should be a Metroid clone instead of a Contra clone. I love both games, but I really needed to base this on one game. Pete used to do daily updates on his site http://www.thunderbirdatlatl.com/petesqbsite, but he no longer updates it.

Angelo Mottola made an awesome game lib for QB called DirectQB. This pretty much gave me faster graphics, EMS memory, better input, and sound. CC would be impossible to make without this and QB v4.5. He now makes games for the Gameboy Advance system, and can be found at http://www.ecplusplus.com.

Julie Porter did the voice for the theme song. A huge thanks goes to her. She also inspired me to do more music in the main future. Julie Porter also wants me to announce she's from Camarillo California. :) Julie, will you marry me? :)

Robert Miles and Michael Cretu have a huge influence on my music life. These guys maintain their integrity and grow musically. They're not the puppets you see on MTV these days, they really love to express their artistic freedom. Their websites are http://www.robert-miles.com and http://www.enigmamusic.com

Alexa Cullers (Her maiden name) is a real person married to someone. Unfortunately, I've lost contacts with her in late 2001. :( I hope she will look for me someday, so I can tell her about the game finally getting complete! I hope she's doing ok at the very least.

I think more importantly, I should be crediting God Himself more than anyone else, since He has created me and made me gifted to do music, graphics, writing, and programming.

* Cyber Chick is programmed, created, and developed by me
* Graphic designs and hand drawn artwork are all drawn by me
* Music pieces and music engine are all written by me
* Level maps and level editor are designed by me
* Story and most of the ideas are written by me

GREETINGS:

Greetings to everyone on my ICQ list, and those who supported me on the development of Cyber Chick for years! There's so many people, I bet I forget someone (I hope not), but here it goes in alphabetical order:

_narf (Jason Gould had a big support for me since day one, thanks!)
Adam (Creator of QMOD for ChaosMedia.net Thanks for inspiration!)
AhmedF (ogaming.com and thanks for the website dedicated to my games!)
Alan O'Hagan (CGI-Joe Thanks for helping me learn basics of assembly!) :)
Angelo Mottola (Thanks for DQB!) Good luck with ECPlusPlus.com!
Bram (BXNes and great attempt on making Nintendo in QB!)
Bud The Fish (Kyle Smith) Good work on Chess and thanks for motivation!
Chaoticmass (Thanks for uploading my content onto NeoBASIC)
Deception (Julie Porter) Thanks for motivating me to do my music!
Dunric (Thanks for the build 33 webspace!) Good luck with WFPC!
Eagle-X|Loath (Thanks for motivation as well Sam and helping me out)
Glenn (This guy knows more about QB than anyone else I know)
Jake Oster (Thanks for your huge support on CC and good luck to music!)
Jorden Chamid (Former owner of http://www.qb45.com and thanks!)
Jeremy Hammond (Xec96) www.Hulla-Balloo.com (Maker of Shell Shock)
JQB45 (Lost Soul) Good luck on your enhancing QB quest!
Lithium (Chris Adams) Good work on XGmae and nice final boss ideas!
lutasarts (Philip Lutas) Retired from QB, but thanks for the support!
Marcade (Neozones.com and thanks for not being too mean to me) :)
Pete Berg (ThunderBirdAtlatl.com/PetesQBSite) Cyber Chick's main site!
RaeVan (formally AKA BattleCraft99) One of the first on my ICQ list!
Sknapper (Scott Knapp) Awesome attempt to make Contra and Alice!
solus (Creator of EN) Good luck on the fastest RPG engine! :)
Speige and V1ctor (recoding/appending DQB for improvements) Thanks!
Terminator_Z (Did an awesome job on FoX with White Shadow)
The Car(Eric Carr and thanks for telling me about Ham3D)
WeirdAlexa(Amy Cullers) This is Cyber Chick in person! =)
wildcard (Editor for qbasicnews.com) Thanks for the interview!
Zephod (funny person) Thanks for the idea of displacing letters!

Section 7: Files of Cyber Chick (CC.ZIP)

NOTE: ALL source code was originally in the parent directory where CC.EXE is now located. I moved the source into the "SOURCE\" sub directory to organize this out for users. If you want to edit the source and make it functional, move all the files back with these commands in DOS:

"CD [CYBER CHICK's Base directory]"
"CD SOURCE"
"MOVE * .."

If you want to edit CCLEVLED source files or CCMUSICE source files, you'll need to load QB v4.5 with "QB /L DQB" at the prompt. Compiling will be as simple as "Make EXE.." unlike CC*.BAS files.

When compiling CC*.BAS (the game engine itself), you'll need some of the files contained in QB45.ZIP in the same directory:

BC.EXE
BCOM45.LIB
BRUN45.LIB
LINK.EXE

When editing BAS files, use Notepad or EDIT.COM. QB.EXE will simply not have enough memory for this. That's why I made COMPILE.BAT. If you want to modify CYBER.ASM, you'll need an assembler such as MASM 5.1 or higher in the same directory.

FILES:

BLANK
CC.EXE
CCLEVLED.EXE
CCLEVLED.INI
CCMUSICE.EXE
CCTEXDAT.DAT
CCTXTEND.DAT
SAVEDATA.SAV
SETUP.EXE
SMALL.FNT
SOUND.INI

SOURCE\CC.BAS
SOURCE\CC.MAK
SOURCE\CC2.BAS
SOURCE\CC3.BAS
SOURCE\CC4.BAS
SOURCE\CC5.BAS
SOURCE\CCLEV.BI
SOURCE\CCLEVLE2.BAS
SOURCE\CCLEVLE3.BAS
SOURCE\CCLEVLE4.BAS
SOURCE\CCLEVLED.BAS
SOURCE\CCLEVLED.MAK
SOURCE\CCMUSIC.BI
SOURCE\CCMUSIC2.BAS
SOURCE\CCMUSIC3.BAS
SOURCE\CCMUSIC4.BAS
SOURCE\CCMUSICE.BAS
SOURCE\CCMUSICE.MAK
SOURCE\COMPILE.BAT
SOURCE\CYBER.ASM
SOURCE\CYBER.BI
SOURCE\CYBER.LIB
SOURCE\DQB.LIB
SOURCE\DQB.QLB
SOURCE\FINALBOS.BAS
SOURCE\SETUP.BAS

BITS\00.BIT
BITS\01.BIT
BITS\02.BIT
BITS\03.BIT
BITS\04.BIT
BITS\05.BIT
BITS\06.BIT
BITS\07.BIT
BITS\08.BIT
BITS\09.BIT
BITS\10.BIT
BITS\11.BIT
BITS\12.BIT
BITS\13.BIT
BITS\14.BIT
BITS\15.BIT
BITS\16.BIT
BITS\17.BIT
BITS\18.BIT
BITS\19.BIT
BITS\20.BIT
BITS\21.BIT
BITS\22.BIT
BITS\23.BIT
BITS\24.BIT
BITS\25.BIT
BITS\26.BIT
BITS\27.BIT
BITS\28.BIT
BITS\29.BIT
BITS\30.BIT
BITS\31.BIT
BITS\32.BIT
BITS\33.BIT
BITS\34.BIT
BITS\35.BIT
BITS\36.BIT
BITS\37.BIT
BITS\38.BIT
BITS\39.BIT
BITS\40.BIT
BITS\41.BIT
BITS\42.BIT
BITS\43.BIT
BITS\44.BIT
BITS\45.BIT
BITS\46.BIT
BITS\47.BIT
BITS\48.BIT
BITS\49.BIT

HELP\blank1.htm
HELP\blank2.htm
HELP\bar.gif
HELP\bar2.gif
HELP\bluecon.gif
HELP\cc.gif
HELP\cclev01.gif
HELP\cclev02.gif
HELP\cclev03.gif
HELP\cclev04.gif
HELP\cclev05.gif
HELP\cclev06.gif
HELP\cclev07.gif
HELP\cclev08.gif
HELP\cclev09.gif
HELP\cclev10.gif
HELP\ccmusice.gif
HELP\clinton.jpg
HELP\dinomech.gif
HELP\disks.gif
HELP\eball.gif
HELP\emucard.gif
HELP\eyesis.gif
HELP\firewire.gif
HELP\greencon.gif
HELP\gunbeam1.gif
HELP\gunbeam2.gif
HELP\gunbeam3.gif
HELP\gunbeam4.gif
HELP\gunbeam5.gif
HELP\gunbeam6.gif
HELP\gunbeam7.gif
HELP\gunbeam8.gif
HELP\heameur.gif
HELP\HELP.BAT
HELP\high.gif
HELP\icu.gif
HELP\jetsoon.gif
HELP\laph.gif
HELP\lawbug.gif
HELP\lbord.jpg
HELP\leechbub.gif
HELP\logo.gif
HELP\minger.gif
HELP\morph.gif
HELP\pepmento.gif
HELP\potions.gif
HELP\rbord.jpg
HELP\readme.htm
HELP\readme2.htm
HELP\redcon.gif
HELP\room.gif
HELP\rufus.gif
HELP\should.gif
HELP\sinbug.gif
HELP\space.gif
HELP\spitz.gif
HELP\story.gif
HELP\suit.gif
HELP\thumpoin.gif
HELP\treasure.gif
HELP\warning.jpg
HELP\worm.gif

MAINPAGE\
MAPS\A0.MAP
MAPS\A1.MAP
MAPS\A2.MAP
MAPS\A3.MAP
MAPS\A4.MAP
MAPS\B0.MAP
MAPS\B1.MAP
MAPS\B2.MAP
MAPS\B3.MAP
MAPS\B4.MAP
MAPS\C0.MAP
MAPS\C1.MAP
MAPS\C2.MAP
MAPS\C3.MAP
MAPS\C4.MAP
MAPS\D0.MAP
MAPS\D1.MAP
MAPS\D2.MAP
MAPS\D3.MAP
MAPS\D4.MAP
MAPS\E0.MAP
MAPS\E1.MAP
MAPS\E2.MAP
MAPS\E3.MAP
MAPS\E4.MAP

MUSIC\
SOUNDFX\1.WAV
SOUNDFX\2.WAV
SOUNDFX\3.WAV
SOUNDFX\4.WAV
SOUNDFX\5.WAV
SOUNDFX\6.WAV
SOUNDFX\7.WAV
SOUNDFX\8.WAV
SOUNDFX\9.WAV
SOUNDFX\10.WAV
SOUNDFX\11.WAV
SOUNDFX\12.WAV
SOUNDFX\13.WAV
SOUNDFX\14.WAV
SOUNDFX\15.WAV
SOUNDFX\16.WAV
SOUNDFX\17.WAV
SOUNDFX\18.WAV
SOUNDFX\19.WAV
SOUNDFX\20.WAV
SOUNDFX\21.WAV
SOUNDFX\22.WAV
SOUNDFX\23.WAV
SOUNDFX\24.WAV
SOUNDFX\25.WAV
SOUNDFX\26.WAV
SOUNDFX\27.WAV
SOUNDFX\28.WAV
SOUNDFX\29.WAV
SOUNDFX\30.WAV
SOUNDFX\31.WAV
SOUNDFX\32.WAV
SOUNDFX\33.WAV
SOUNDFX\34.WAV
SOUNDFX\35.WAV
SOUNDFX\36.WAV
SOUNDFX\37.WAV
SOUNDFX\38.WAV
SOUNDFX\39.WAV
SOUNDFX\40.WAV
SOUNDFX\41.WAV
SOUNDFX\42.WAV
SOUNDFX\43.WAV
SOUNDFX\44.WAV
SOUNDFX\45.WAV
SOUNDFX\46.WAV
SOUNDFX\47.WAV
SOUNDFX\48.WAV
SOUNDFX\49.WAV
SOUNDFX\50.WAV
SOUNDFX\51.WAV
SOUNDFX\52.WAV
SOUNDFX\53.WAV
SOUNDFX\54.WAV
SOUNDFX\55.WAV
SOUNDFX\56.WAV
SOUNDFX\57.WAV
SOUNDFX\58.WAV
SOUNDFX\59.WAV
SOUNDFX\60.WAV
SOUNDFX\61.WAV
SOUNDFX\62.WAV
SOUNDFX\63.WAV
SOUNDFX\64.WAV
SOUNDFX\65.WAV
SOUNDFX\66.WAV

TILES\00.TIL
TILES\01.TIL
TILES\02.TIL
TILES\03.TIL
TILES\04.TIL
TILES\05.TIL
TILES\06.TIL
TILES\07.TIL
TILES\08.TIL
TILES\09.TIL
TILES\10.TIL
TILES\11.TIL
TILES\12.TIL
TILES\13.TIL
TILES\14.TIL
TILES\15.TIL
TILES\16.TIL
TILES\17.TIL
TILES\18.TIL
TILES\19.TIL
TILES\20.TIL
TILES\21.TIL
TILES\22.TIL
TILES\23.TIL
TILES\24.TIL
TILES\25.TIL
TILES\26.TIL
TILES\27.TIL
TILES\28.TIL
TILES\29.TIL
TILES\30.TIL
TILES\31.TIL
TILES\32.TIL
TILES\33.TIL
TILES\34.TIL
TILES\35.TIL
TILES\36.TIL
TILES\37.TIL
TILES\38.TIL
TILES\39.TIL
TILES\40.TIL
TILES\41.TIL
TILES\42.TIL
TILES\43.TIL
TILES\44.TIL
TILES\45.TIL
TILES\46.TIL
TILES\47.TIL
TILES\48.TIL
TILES\49.TIL

Section 8: Known bugs in Cyber Chick

NOTE: These are rare bugs I can't fix, since most of them are not DOS related. I do encourage people to use straight DOS mode to possibly minimize these problems. Straight DOS mode is so much cleaner and faster, and uses a bit more base memory.

1)
PROBLEM:
Cyber Chick wont point her gun up-left and shoot using the regular arrow keys!

REPLY:
I've only had two cases of this from Bud The Fish, and RaeVan, but I do know they're real. I tested this on two different keyboards and that is where I found the problem. The cheap Micro Innovations keyboard creates this problem while my fancy Compaq keyboard allows all buttons pressed. My only solution to this problem:
Use the numeric pad for directional movement. If you have a joypad, use that by adding this at the prompt:

CC /JOY

2)
PROBLEM:
The maps, sounds, and graphics appear to be scrambled during the game! The graphics look like they've been scrambled, and the sounds have more pops and distorting hisses than before! The areas in the game are scattered with random tiles!

REPLY:
This is because Windows messes with EMS. I can't fix this at all. Please go to straight DOS mode on this. The maps, sounds, data, and graphics are stored in EMS, so I'm sorry if that is bad news to you. EMS gets treated inconsistently occasionally by Windows, so sorry. Personally, I only get this problem, when I minimize the DOS box, and click back on it to full screen.

3)
PROBLEM:
The volume control is not doing anything in Windows!

REPLY:
Once again, this is because Windows 95 or higher has done something with the master volume control. Straight DOS mode will fix it though.

4)
PROBLEM:
The joypad or joystick isn't working well in Windows!

REPLY:
Try it in straight DOS mode. If it works well, that's good. If it doesn't, you're out of luck.

NOTE: If there's any more problems you're having that are not answered here, email me at: wisdomdude@cyberdude.com

Section 9: Technical features in Cyber Chick

At the command prompt, there are optional switches that can be used with Cyber Chick:

Example:

"CC /NOSOUND /NOWAIT /SETVOL15 /DEMO4 /JOY"

-NOSOUND

This will disable the use of sound in Cyber Chick You'll encounter this use, just in case your computer is very intolerant of sound blaster and/or simply because you don't have sound support whatsoever.

-JOY

This will enable the 4-button joypad (or possibly joystick), so make sure it is connected to your port! While this is enabled, most of the game keys on the keyboard will be disabled. The joypad works more effective in straight DOS than Windows. The only joypad tested with this game is the InterAct Propad 6. Button configuration could vary from joypads!

-NOWAIT

This will turn off Vsync, and allow the speed of Cyber Chick to become faster than its normal rate with vsync on. This is something you'll only want to use, if you're on a slow computer, and you're desperate. Some people will want to turn it off to check out the speed of Cyber Chick. You'll notice it's quite fast in some areas of the game. ;) Also, you may turn it on and off during the game with the key 'F3'

-SETVOLnn

This will not function correctly under Windows 95 or higher, so it's best to be in straight DOS mode. If you're wanting to alter the master volume, you'll need a number between zero and fifteen for 'nn' in '-SETVOLnn'. Zero means total silence, and fifteen means its loudest. Using other numbers than zero through fifteen will have its bits truncated to fit between zero and fifteen.

-DEMOn

I don't expect people to mess with this at all, but here's the details just in case:

This will allow users to record and replace the beginning demos. The beginning demos are the demo walkthroughs shown at the beginning of Cyber Chick, when idle. The keys in the demo are allowed: Up, Down, Left, Right, Ctrl, Alt, and Right Shift. The 'n' shown in '-DEMOn' represents the demo scene you want to record over. Cyber Chick has four demo walkthroughs, so use the numbers between one and four. Using other numbers than one through four will have its bits truncated. The preset variables, such as the items CC starts off with, are modified through the CCLEVLED program. Joypad/joystick with demo is possible. The (assigned) execute button on the joypad/joystick will not take into effect or be needed.

NOTE: CC's demo recording feature is not a completely debugged feature for users to use. It's really intended for those who are serious about editing them, especially me.

Tile plotting engine:

Cyber Chick uses a sophisticated tile engine for flexibility. There are three maps used simultaneously that do the following tasks:

Map 1:
This is an 8-bit map, since there's not a lot of attributes needed. This map consists of collision mapping for just about every object including Cyber Chick herself. It also consists of objects, dynamic platforms, items, doors, switches, and enemies. The excellent thing about this being separated from the other tile maps are the use for secret sectors and paths.

Map 2:
This is a 16-bit tile map, since there's nearly 1500 combinations in use. This is the primary tile map for the foreground layer. It may only be used for the foreground, but having Map 3 makes depth a lot possible. The huge number of combinations has a lot to do with animation effects. This means I can vary the number of animated tiles per cycle, the speed of the sequencing frames, and make use of yucky pseudo translucency effects.

Map 3:
This is a lot like Map 2, only this time, the differences have nothing to do with the map itself, but how it's used. The use of it has a lot to do with when to plot, and where to plot. It's not limited to a foreground, like Map 2. You can choose to have it plot before the Map 2 tiles, after the tiles, and after all the objects to create depth. The plotting also allows map wrapping (or "rollovers").
What this means, is that you'll have an infinitive pattern with the map. Once it reaches the end points of the tile mapping borders for either direction, it will keep filling the screen with the rest of what's visible and remaining left on the visible screen. This was really hard to code, but I got to to it eventually. I wrote all the conditions I needed for it. The mapping has a variable depth rate, where the tiles get scrolled to the speed you want them to scroll along with the camera. The scrolling movements can be auto or manual.

Basic palette effects:

Since DQB's fading routines are limiting, I've decided to write my own for flexibility. Everything is as follows:

* Palette fading in and out with variable attribute range.
* Palette changes never make snow on screen, because it is written to a double buffer, and updated after vsync.
* Palette rotation is used for those smooth cycling colors.

Translucency:

Cyber Chick may use up to 8 attributes for translucency. I've actually written my own, since I was really desperate for memory and speed. DQB has some nice routines, but I really wanted speed so bad. I made a 2048 byte table to allow all background combinations with the 8 attributes. I've never had the need for more attributes. Also, the table is actually calculated in the actual game. Translucency has custom opacity and variable final attribute range. Very useful for lights, shadows, clouds, water, lava, glass, anything! :) Another reason for this, is I simply didn't like pseudo translucency. You know, 50% checker effect, frame switching every next frame. It's just well... yuck. :P

Music system:

I could have used DS4QB, but I wanted to use straight DOS mode.
I could have used QMIDI, but I wanted to use samples with music.
I could have used BWSB, but I wanted less base memory consumption.

CXE = Music data
WAV = Samples

Since nothing satisfies my needs for a music system, I wanted to write my own. I also got the satisfaction of doing realtime effects as simple as my needs. I have looping effects which are conditional in realtime, just like how Super Metroid did the intro, before starting the game.

The timing of the music system all falls with CC's VSync rate. I actually like this, because I notice the similarity happens in ZSNES's logical frame rate of the game. I've also added fading volume effects, which affects all the music channels, and its volume within volume level. The CXE format is very compact, because I've written a very simple music system.

The sound engine part uses DQB's sound engine, since it was good enough for me. Too bad DQB didn't make a music engine as well, but I guess I can't have everything. ;) Now that I have a compact, straight DOS-based, sample based music engine, I am happy with it. :) The instrument WAV samples are separated from the CXE files, because that saves a ton of disk space. In BWSB, I'd have to have the samples within each music piece.

Section 10: Items and enemies of Cyber Chick

ITEMS:

Energy Balls:
These you collect from mini enemies. Sometimes, the mini enemies will give you big energy balls, small energy balls, or none at all. The big ones give Alexa 20 more hitpoints, and the smaller ones give her 5 more hitpoints.

Treasures:
This game contains hidden treasures. These are bonus collectors' items in Cyber Chick to enhance gameplay.

Doodle Gun:
This will shape your bullet's movement to a wavy pattern. It can be useful for a better bullet range than CC's default gun.

Spread Gun:
This will allow five bullets to spread out like a spray. It's a better bullet range, and is undoubtfully better than using the Doodle gun.

Laser Gun:
This allows up to eight bullets in one press of the trigger. Allowing eight bullets compared to one, gives you about eight times the power! This is considered better than the Spread gun.

Field Gun:
This allows bullets to circle around her for a while, and then deploy from her. Whenever you're in tight spots, this can come in real handy. :)

Ice Beam:
This will freeze the little enemies solid cold for a while. While they're frozen, you can step on the enemies, and use them as a platform to reach a high spot.

Micro Beam:
This beam will penetrate through almost anything! Extremely useful, when you see a switch blocked off with solid walls. If it runs into an enemy, it will stop.

Power Beam:
This beam contains 240 volts of electricity, and can do twice the damage, compared to other beams. You may also use it against the blue doors to short circuit its barriers.

Reflect Beam:
This beam will bounce off of walls, floors, and anything solid. The number of bounces it makes are limited, and the beam will stop. If it runs into an enemy, it will also stop.

Energy Disks:
These disks will allow Alexa to have more energy. If you get a disk, you will get 100 more maximum hitpoints. You will also get all of your lost power restored.

Morph Jel:
This special jel compresses Alexa's size into a ball. Now that she can turn into a ball, it will allow her to fit through small areas! You'll need to hit down to duck, then hit down again to turn into a ball.

Weather Suit:
This will allow Alexa to walk through hot liquids, to very cold liquids. Unfortunately, the suit doesn't provide her oxygen, so you'll need to retrieve air once in a while. She may also run into liquids that are too hot for the suit to handle, so be warned!

High Jump Boots:
This will double her jumping height. The boots will strengthen her leg muscles, so she can jump a lot higher than ever!

Space Jump Boots:
These boots are air compressed, and provide powerful jet blasts to lift Alexa. She'll need to perform flips (or spins) like a football in the air to take in effect. If she's descending in the air too much, she can't use it.

Potions:
These guarded potions could be Alexa's father's potions. You will need all four of them to see what they're used for, when you get back to Alexa's house.

SMALL ENEMIES:

Rufus:
These robotic critters hoover along walls, floors, ceilings, and anything else in the way. They're not intelligent, but if they're touched, they provide a big static charge. They're usually used as amusing toys for people to look at, but these are decoyed with static electricity to kill smaller creatures. They have 20 volts of electric shock.

Emu Card:
They fly left and right, and change opposite direction, when running into a dead end. They have wings of a bird, and they look like mechanical birds. They have 30 volts of electricity and their purpose is to kill anything going near it.

Pepimento:
They bounce off of objects and provide a powerful punch, when anything touches it. Their movements are fast, and they have similarities of what's contained in space jump boots. Since they spin in the air, and are shaped as spheres, they can be in the air without any gravity pulling them down. Their name is derived from pepperment candies, since they're red and white just like one.

Leech Bubb:
These bubbles are seeking for heat and carbon dioxide, so they can harm Alexa, if she's touched one. They're very slow, but can really damage Alexa.

Sinbug:
They look like miniature flying saucers, and seek for heat as well. They make jet fast movements, and a pause to cool off, so be warned. They can be the most irritating of all enemies, since they're very intelligent, and try to drive into Alexa.

Lawbug:
These creatures use a new form of air much lighter than helium, so they can be upside down, and never fall to the ground. They're fast horizontally, and they're designed to kill objects that get in the way. They provide 40 volts of electricity to sting anyone.

Spitz:
These disks bounce at a constant rate, and never move horizontally. They're very harmful, and they can absorb bullets as a source of energy. They can bounce low, and can also bounce high.

Jetsoon:
This is a bullet-proof-boxed-cannon, and shoots out infinitive rockets. The rockets don't explode unless shot, but they have sharp edges all over it. The rockets will seek heat and they will deploy, once detected. The speed of the rockets vary, so be warned! Their main purpose is to slice anyone with a gun.

Dinomech:
A non-moving dino skull shaped droid. It doesn't move, but it will spit fireballs at a patterned rate. They're strong and shoot in two directions, depending where they're facing.

Thumpoin:
This is the heaviest mini robot, and can smash anything with its 100 volts of electricity. If anything goes below it, it will drop down fast, and cause a small earthquake. This is a very dangerous robot, but it can be defeated. It will also lift back up in the air by its own magnetic field.

Firewired:
These huge lightning bugs are mechanical. They contain just 60 volts of electricity to lighten their abdomen, but fly in circular patterns. They can be slow, fast, clockwise, counter clockwise, and other variable radius sizes.

Mentark:
These green spinning cone shaped droids are fast, but only stick to the flat ground. They have about 120 Volts of electricity to surprise its victims, so be warned! They're built with a very strong shield, so you'll be firing at them for ages.

Centark:
Same model as the Mentark, but it's red, and it's additions are spitting out fire at victims! They can spit fireballs directly towards Alexa's position, so keep moving!

Dentark:
Same model as the Centark, but it's blue, and it's new addition is the strongest shield known to men. You can't defeat them with anything.

Eyesis:
It goes after Alexa slowly with three shields of danger. The three rotating shields protect the eyeball in the center. They can cause severe damage to Alexa, if she collides into them. The eyeball in the center is strong, but still vulnerable to a defeat.

Shouldier:
The most sophisticated mini enemy. They're on wheels and spit fire out, when Alexa is near them. Their tall shields can stand anything, and will harm Alexa by a ton. Their defense system makes them the most intelligent of all the mini enemies.

Laphronic:
These floating mines will come after Alexa, and explode out fireballs. They're in a constant position until Alexa gets too close. One tip is just to stay away from them. If you really have to get close, just keep moving!

Heameur:
The biggest of all mini enemies and reaching I.C. U's scale. These creatures move in fast wavy patterns, and can be the most difficult to shoot. They aren't the strongest, heaviest, or most intelligent, but that doesn't mean they're the most difficult to defeat.

BOSS ENEMIES:

I.C. U.:
A large eyeball droid covered with acid. It lives in a giant human skull, and its existence to reality is questionable. The boss enemy protects itself with smaller eyeballs, and the smaller eyeballs are solid shields.

Warmworms:
Several giant worms with a huge mouth that could spit out giant thorns. These worms are half plant, and half animal, and they come out of their pipes randomly. Several will come out, if there's danger.

Breminger:
This giant statue is the heaviest of all boss enemies, and can take up a lot of room! It rides on uranium wheels due to its weight. The boss is covered with ice, uranium, some electronic equipment, and mostly metal. It spits out small eyes from the head, and the eyes contain about 20 Volts of electricity. Be careful, because the eyes are also attracted to Alexa like a magnet, and can outrun Alexa!

Cyber Room:
This room is completely digital, so it converts the attacks on Alexa to analog. It uses 10 maneuvers to attack against Alexa, and the source of power is below the monitor. The mysterious guy behind the screen tries to kill you with his maneuvers. Always keep moving, and learn to avoid the maneuvers!

Clinton:
The last enemy of the game. He is variable, so no description is necessary. :)

Section 11: Cyber Chick Music Editor v2

Music editor from the Windows' DOS Box

This music editor took a lot of my time to write. I've always wanted to make a music editor of some type, and now I've finally accomplished that. Making one allowed me to put my theories to test, and they pass. :) Here is what I designed it to do:

16 channels of music to allow hearing all those sounds simultaneously.
16 nonlinear music tracks, plus one master track for power editing.
16 samples to be used (which I admit, is limiting).
Directly compatible with DQB 1.71.
Use 100% keyboard or 100% mouse in your session.
Realtime recording while playing back music, plus step recording.
Measure transposing, note transposing and cloning, and quantizing notes.
Your basic COPY, DELETE, CUT, PASTE, UNDO, SELECT ALL edit features.
Compile music to bytecode for your game.
Other people can use this music editor for their games.

For more info on this, check out "Music system" under Section 9: Technical features in Cyber Chick

I'm not going to write a whole lot on using this editor, since most people wont bother caring. If there is a question or two on using this, email me at: wisdomdude@cyberdude.com

Section 12: Cyber Chick Level Editor v2

Starting logo of the level editor

The level editor also took a lot of my time to create, but it is worth having. :) Almost anyone can have fun using this level editor, since it is designed for everyone to use. Here is what you can edit:

The level maps and their attributes
The background graphics and their attributes
The foreground graphics and their attributes
The demo scenes and their attributes
Lots more with a click of the mouse!

This program is 100% mouse oriented and it is required for this level editor. There is a WARNING you must know when using this level editor. If you want your changes saved, then save it before loading. Loading will not prompt you for saving.

On MASTER SAVE AND LOAD Window, this is what happens:
*** The keys ` or ~ can bring up this window. ***

"QUIT"

It's actually on every window, but anyways. This will get you out of the editor. Be careful though, this will NOT prompt you to save your changes before you exit. It will save changes made in CCLEVLED.INI though.

"LOAD Everything"

Just as it suggests, it loads up everything that can be altered by the user. It mainly loads the selected zone and the sector's data. Within the sector data are the graphics and music. To reload only the sector (without reloading a zone), you'll need to use "Load Room DATA". After you've loaded this, it will be available for you automatically, when you restart the level editor. BE CAREFUL, it will NOT ask you for a "Do you want to save?" prompt!

"LOAD Room DATA"

Loads the selected sector from the map on the left. This basically does the same thing as "Load Everything", but without reloading any zone. Loading this will also NOT prompt you to save before loading.

"BackG"

Loads just the specified background you want without prompting.

"Tiles"

Loads just the specified tile set you want without prompting.

"Music"

Loads just the specified music and automatically plays the music file.

"SAVE Everything"

This will literally save everything. It will save the following:

MAPS\??.MAP The zone map and room settings that is loaded
BITS\??.BIT The background graphics that is loaded
TILES\??.TIL The tile set graphics that is loaded
SAVEDATA.SAV Demo scenes are in this file

NOTE: You may save everything by hitting F10.

If there is a question or two on using this, email me at: wisdomdude@cyberdude.com

On ALL Window, (Preview mode), you can see an accurate rendering on
what will look like in the actual game.
*** F1 key will bring up this window. ***

Hold on left button of mouse, and drag it all over the field to scroll smoothly over the sector.

If you're viewing a DEMO sector, you can use the right mouse button to assign Alexa's starting coordinates.

On the OBJ window (Object map layer), this is where I put objects in it.
*** You may use F2 key to pull up this window. ***

You may use 'O' key to pop up Object selection window when needed.
You may use 'G' key to display grid on the tile field for measuring.
You may use 'S' key to pop up scrolling window when needed.
You may also use the keyboard arrow keys to select different objects n the window. Objects include:

Items
Doors
Dynamic platforms
Mini enemies
Boss enemies
Extra special stuff

On the Tile 1 Window (Tile 1 map layer), this is the main tile map.
*** You may use F3 key to pull up this window. ***

You may use 'T' key to pop up Tiles selection window when needed.
You may use 'G' key to display grid on the tile field for measuring.
You may use 'S' key to pop up scrolling window when needed.

To select, use the right mouse button to create a box. After selection, you may copy a chunk of tiles using the 'Z' key. To paste the copied chunk of tiles, use the 'X' key.

There are 1755 tile combinations including animation and translucency, so this map layer helps out a lot. You may use it to draw over or behind objects including Alexa.

You may also use the keyboard arrow keys to select different tiles in the window. Tile effects include:

Map value: Method: Tile effect:

0000 [none] [none]
0001 to 0216 Regular [none]
0217 to 0324 Regular Flicker: Non-animated
0325 to 0378 Regular Animated: Total frames = 4: Speed = 16
0379 to 0405 Regular Animated: Total frames = 8: Speed = 8
0406 to 0418 Regular Animated: Total frames = 16: Speed = 4
0420 to 0431 Regular Flicker: Animated Total frames = 4: Speed = 16
0432 to 0446 Regular Flicker: Animated Total frames = 5: Speed = 16
0447 to 0554 Regular Animated: Total frames = 2: Speed = 32
0555 to 0662 Regular Animated: Total frames = 2: Speed = 8
0663 to 0878 Blend Translucency: Non-animated
0879 to 0986 Blend Translucency: Total frames = 2: Speed = 32
0987 to 1040 Blend Translucency: Total frames = 4: Speed = 16
1041 to 1067 Blend Translucency: Total frames = 8: Speed = 8
1068 to 1080 Blend Translucency: Total frames = 16: Speed = 4
1081 to 1296 FastPut [none] (Speed efficient put method)
1297 to 1404 FastPut Animated: Total frames = 2: Speed = 32
1405 to 1458 FastPut Animated: Total frames = 4: Speed = 16
1459 to 1485 FastPut Animated: Total frames = 8: Speed = 8
1486 to 1498 FastPut Animated: Total frames = 16: Speed = 4
1500 to 1755 BoxFill Solid tile color (Very speed efficient)

On the Tile 2 Window (Tile 2 map layer), this is the EXTRA tile map.
*** You may use F4 key to pull up this window. ***

You may use 'T' key to pop up Tiles selection window when needed.
You may use 'O' key to pop up Options window when needed.
You may use 'G' key to display grid on the tile field for measuring.
You may use 'S' key to pop up scrolling window when needed.

It uses the same 1755 tile combinations just like "tile 1 map layer". What makes this map layer different than the main map layer, is it has more effects with the plot itself, such as auto and variable-depth scrolling, wrapping, and being able to draw behind tile 1, over tile 1, and over objects. This layer becomes optional to use, but comes in handy! Look up more info on this on "Tile plotting engine" under
Section 9: Technical features in Cyber Chick

Here is the basic layout:

[none]: This simply omits the extra tile layer

Back:This draws the tile layer behind everything except the background layer. The depth rate is variable.

Normal: This draws over tile 1 layer, but objects can draw over this method. The scrolling depth is fixed to match tile 1's depth.

Fore: This draws over everything including Alexa. This layer has the most effects such as pattern wrapping, auto-scrolling in any direction, variable depth for foreground illusion, and can be very useful to hide hidden sectors.

On the BG Window, this is the main large background that always sits in the back.
*** You may use F5 key to pull up this window. ***

You may use 'O' key to pop up Options window when needed.
You may use 'G' key to display grid on the tile field for measuring.
You may use 'S' key to pop up scrolling window when needed.

This background is very fast to plot compared to tiled images. Here are the basic effects for this layer:

[None]: (The background just sits there, very fast)

Auto scrolling: The background moves on its own without camera movement. Left or right direction is optional.

Depth scrolling: This is to give the illusion that the background is very far away. The depth distance is variable.

On the Drawing Window, there's a ton of features to make some graphics for Cyber Chick's sectors:
*** You may use F6 key to pull up this window. ***

Palette keys:

'C' is to copy RGB attribute
'P' is to paste RGB attribute
'I' is to create a gradient shades from point A to point B

Background or Tile/Tile editing: These left hand buttons allows you to toggle between the background and tiles drawing. Each may have their own settings of selected tools, size, zoom level, and more.

Copy: You can copy a selected image into a clipboard!

Paste: You may paste the image inside the clipboard to your drawing. When pasting, you can also have a solid put, or a transparent put. The pixels that have zero-valued pixels are removed. In solid mode, the selected color replaces the zero-valued pixels.

Undo: You may undo the last change done in your image.

Clear: This gives you a whole new grid to work with over the drawing.

Zoom: You may zoom in and out of the drawing field from the sizes 1 x 1 pixel, 2 x 2 pixels, 4 x 4 pixels, and 8 x 8 pixels display.

Size: This tool is very handy for the pen and spray.

Pen: To plot pixels on screen. The pen size can vary with 1 x 1 pixel, 2 x 2 pixels, 4 x 4 pixels, and 8 x 8 pixels.

Line: Click one point of the screen, drag the mouse for desired shape, and release to draw a line on the screen.

Box: Click one point of the screen, drag the mouse for desired shape, and release to draw a hollow box on the screen.

Box-Fill: Click one point of the screen, drag the mouse for desired shape, and release to draw a solid box on the screen.

Circle: Click one point of the screen, drag the mouse to vary the radius of the ellipse, and release to draw a hollow ellipse.

Circle-Fill: Click one point of the screen, drag the mouse to vary the radius of the ellipse, and release to draw a solid ellipse.

Spray: You may drag the mouse, and plot random pixels around the cursor. The radius size can be changed with the size selection:

1 x 1 = 8 pixels in diameter.
2 x 2 = 16 pixels in diameter.
4 x 4 = 32 pixels in diameter.
8 x 8 = 64 pixels in diameter.

Paint: You may click and drag the cursor, and paint over the cursor spot. This will paint over colors that are connected to each other, so results are pretty much the same like in Paint Brush under Windows. If you fill in a hollow shape, make sure there's no leaks in the shape!

Selection tool: This tool has a lot of purposes. When you select something, it creates a dotted temporary box-shape in your image. What is inside the box can be used for number of things:

You may scroll the image inside of it in any direction.
You may mirror or flip the image upside down in it.
You may swap pixels by selected color and previous chosen color. Use the 'R' key.
You may copy the drawings to the tile maps! You'll use the 'Z' key to copy selection!
You may copy the image inside of it to a clipboard, and paste it.

Dithering selection: You may drag the mouse, and plot frame-fixed dithered pixels around the cursor. The size can be changed with the size selection. This is very useful for making more shades.

64 Palette tray: You can switch from the background's palette to the tiles' palette. Each have their own 64 attributes. You may also edit the RGB values of each attribute except the zero valued attribute.

On the Monitor Window, this is where you can change the palette effects and edit the translucency!
*** You may use F7 key to pull up this window. ***

The background layer and tile layer have their own following effects:

Fading to a certain color within a variable number of steps per cycle.
The fading may fade to a desired color specifically its RGB values.
The fading steps can last up to four seconds on value 255.

Palette rotation is where you can swap all the neighboring values in each cycle. This looks neat, when you want to have waterfall effects without having to animate the drawings itself. The start and end positions can vary within its 64 attributes. You may rotate to the right, or rotate to the left.

As for the translucency, this can be tricky, if you don't know what you're doing. Here is an explanation on what it does:

It uses the tiles' attributes two through nine. If the sprite uses values 129 through 136 (2nd to 9th value for tiles relatively), it will make a translucency effect with the tiles. Each of these eight attributes (2nd to 9th) have their own properties:

Opacity level (0% to 100% opacity)
0% = invisible transparent result
100% = solid result

Final starting color range (FC1)
Final ending color range (FC2)

The starting and ending colors are 48 to 223. This allows users to use only the final color result desired.

The reason why it uses 48 to 223, is because the rest are made specifically for Cyber Chick's main stuff. This would simply make uglier appearances in the final color range.

0 to 23 belongs main stuff like fonts/doors/items
24 to 47 belongs to Alexa
224 to 255 belongs to boss enemy

NOTE: You'll need to hit 'REFRESH ALL!' for your translucency changes to take effect!

On the MIS Window, this is where Demo attributes are modified.
*** You may use F8 key to pull up this window. ***

The following you may modify:

Demo sectors #1 through #4:

Energy level
Energy tanks
Space jump ON/OFF
High jump ON/OFF
Morph jel ON/OFF
Weather suit ON/OFF
Gun+Beam selected
The guns and beams

NOTE: For Alexa's starting coordinates to be modified, you'll need to go to the ALL window, and right click on the field where you want her position. The demo sectors are in DarkDread city with the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 labeled in "MASTER SAVE AND LOAD" Window.

Section 13: End of readme2.htm file

I've been working on this project for a very long time, and I've finally got it done. The project started somewhere late of 1999, and I'm so glad this thing is put to rest! This project is freeware, and I've even included the source code.

If there is a question or two on using this, send me a message at: wisdomdude@cyberdude.com

# Thank you for playing Cyber Chick!