Readme & Instruction manual

Disclaimer
I will not be responsible to any destruction or damage my game does
to you or your computer. Although I spend many hours debugging my
software and making sure it runs smooth and clean, I cannot ensure that
your computer will run flawlessly. In other words, Run this program at
YOUR OWN RISK!

Running the game

Installation Instructions
Dos/Windows 9x/me/2000: Run the setup.exe program and follow the onscreen instructions (remember where you tell it to install the program, that's where you will be needing to look for it later).
Linux i386: Untar the tar.gz archive to a new empty directory.

Running the program
To run the game follow the instructions specific to your system:

Dos: type "char" from the command line in the char program directory
Windows 9x/me/2000: Double click the "charwin" icon in the program directory.
Linux i386: cd to the directory where you installed char and type "char" from any xterm.

Command line switches
To use a command line argument, simply run the program from the command prompt like so:
charwin -arg or
char -arg

Windows only:
-res X Y Z: Forces the game go use video mode X by Y with color depth of Z.
-win: Forces game to run in a window instead of fullscreen (16 bit color dektop recommended for this option!)

Dos only:
-mpu: I wrote this specifically for my crappy sound card, this forces mpu-401 midi driver for music.

All systems:
-mute: Disable sound (usefull for playing music from another program and the game at the same time)
-reset: (untested) Resets all game and hiscore data and, this action is irreversible!

Troubleshooting/FAQ
Before emailing me or submitting a bug-report on this game, make sure you don't have any of the problems described here first:

Q -When I run char, the program quits giving me a message such as "error loading somefile.dat".
A - Your installation of char was done improperly or is currupted, reinstall as the program and try again.

Q - The program quits and reports "out of memory" error message!
A - Your computer does not have enough free RAM to run the game, try closing some programs and running the game again..

Q - I'm getting stuck in a wall when I am sent back after death!!!!!
A - Read below in the controls section for the "D key command" to get yourself out of a sticky situation..

Q - Whenever I get to a certain point in the game, it stops; reporting an illegal operation, or segmentation fault or something like that...
A - This is a bug in my software, email me with an exact report of where and when the crash occurs and I will remedy it as soon as possible.

Q - You designed "char' with the looks of a multiplayer game, .....so why isn't it multiplayer!
A - I plan on trying to develop and release a multiplayer edition of char in the future, sit tight!

Getting started...

Selecting a difficulty level
After you get to the title screen you will be given an option to toggle the difficulty level (normal by default). If you are playing char for the first time, you might want to select "easy" so you can get used to the gameplay and the controls. Once you become more experienced, you'll want to select the other levels "normal" and "hard" for more of a challenge and more of a reward at the end :-).

Results of beating the game on different difficulty levels:
*Easy - Ending.
*Normal - Ending, unlock bonus game 1.
*Hard - Ending, unlock bonus game 2.

Controls

Command Effect
------------------------------------------------------------------
Keyb. Up or Joystick button 2: Jump
Keyb. Right and left (joypad) Walk
Keyb. Control or Joystick button 1 Fire weapon
Keyb. 1-3 Select special weapon (if obtained)
Keyb. P Pause game
Keyb. D Kill yourself (if you get stuck in a wall which shouldn't happen often).

How to play

Lives & Continues
To advance in the game, Char, you must clear stages. You are given an amount of lives and continues to help you do this. When you lose a life, you are restarted right where you left off. When you run out of lives, you have to use a continue to start back at the beginning of the stage you died on. When you run out of continues, the game is over.

Coins
When an enemy is destroyed, he bursts into coins that can be collected by the player. If you obtain 200 coins, you will be awarded an extra life.

Powerups and Powerdowns
There are many special items spread througout this game, here is an explanation of each:

- Life: An extra life.

- Continue (rare): An extra continue.

- Spring: Increases jump power.

- Ammo: Increases ammo for your various weapons.

- Jolt: Increases player's speed.

- Skill: add's a special skill to player.

- Beer: blurs player's vision and messes up coordination. (makes player drunk).

- Led weight - Reduces jump power.

Weapons

There are 3 weapons scattered throughout the game. Each one has it's own special ability. I am leaving their discription out as a suprise :-).

Authors
Note: Char is, and always will remain, an entirely free game.
Source code will not be released until a decision is made at a later date.

Credit

Mike Farrell (__Kain__)
Programming, Sound effects, & Game Design

Ian Sharp
Stage 6 Assistance & Stage 5 Assistance

Shawn Hargreaves & the Allegro community (www.allegro.cc)
Allegro Game Library

Thanks to all the artists of the
games that were carefully selected
to make up the different levels of
this game.

Your hard work will not be
forgotten.....

LightSword Software