MATRIX ATTACK 1.21 README TEXT FILE !!! ATTENTION !!! Please read this file to understand how to play MATRIX ATTACK! M.A. is a very different game, and without proper guidance, you won't be able to appreciate all the goodness that is Matrix Attack. Note to Newbies: If your playing matrix attack for the first time we suggest you read the instructions and then play in puzzle mode. Puzzle mode will slowly introduce you to different ideas, such as clusters, combos and linkers so its perfect for the Matrix Attack Beginner. Note to users who have anti-alising capabilities (like a geForce3): TURN YOUR anti-alising ON!!! MA LOOKS SOOO GOOD WITH AA ON! ****************** *** -= KEYS =- *** ****************** F1 -> Play Prev Track F2 -> Play Next Track ESC -> Leave game or current menu WASD/ARROWS -> Move cursor in menu or in game ENTER -> Hold a gem to switch (then move cursor to finalize switch) SPACEBAR -> Flip a gem *** DEBUG KEYS *** F11 -> Turn on/off Camera mode, Camera keys ( zoom IN/OUT with Z and X keys, UHJK pan camera ) F12 -> Debug mode (shows FPS) YOU MUST READ THE INSTRUCTIONS IF YOU WANT TO FULLY UNDERSTAND MATRIX ATTACK!!!!! *********** -= INSTRUCTIONS =- ********** THE 2 BASIC MOVES Flipping: Flipping is an easy move, you press SPACE BAR and the gem your cursor is on will flip sides. You should take note as to where your cursor is on the passive side so you will know what color is going to emerge. Switching: You can take a gem and switch places with another gem by switching. To switch you need to select a gem by placing your cursor over it then press and hold the ENTER key to hold onto that gem. While holding ENTER, move your cursor in a new direction, (either UP, DOWN, LEFT, or RIGHT) and the gems will switch with each other. You should take note that you affect the “passive” side of the board when switching, this is an important fact, especially in puzzle mode. !!!! ATTENTION !!!! The switching DIRECTION is the hardest thing to understand in matrix attack. Because of that fact, I’ve put little dots on the gems you CAN switch with when you press enter. To explain how and why the dots are where they are read on. Left and Right directions are easy to understand because the gems are right next to each other. But Up and Down is another story. The best way to explain this is to know that the board is the SAME as a 2D checkerboard. But we are using gems instead of squares. For example: if you are on the far left side of the board and you switch downward, you will switch with the gem that is to the far left. If you are on the 2nd to the left gem and you switch downward then you will switch with the 2nd to the left gem underneath you. In this way you can see that the board is the same as a 2D checkerboard. THE TWO SIDES OF THE BOARD Active side: The active side of the board is displayed on the left, and it is the only side that is checked for clusters, combos, and linkers. This is also considered the “front” side of the board. Your eyes will mostly be focused on this side of the board because that’s where all the action is. Passive side: The passive side of the board is displayed on the right, and it is the side that does not get checked for clusters, combos, and linkers. This is also considered the “back” side of the board. The passive side is useful for knowing what gems will appear on the active side in the future. You will know what the colors are in the future because when clusters clear on the active side they will flip over to reveal the colors on the passive side. THE MODES OF PLAY Time Trial Mode: The goal of time trial mode is to obtain as many points as possible through clusters, combos, linkers and streaks. This mode is also the only mode where your score gets recorded in the TOP TEN. Puzzle Mode: In puzzle mode points don’t mean a thing even though they are displayed. The goal of puzzle mode is to clear all the colored gems in a given number of moves. This is possible because unlike time trial mode, when you clear a gem it’s color will become grayed out. You will have to execute clusters, combos, linkers even timed switches to complete all the puzzles. If your having a hard time getting past a particular puzzle you can “cheat” by going to the puzzle password option in the menu and typing in “PUZZLExx” where xx = the number of puzzle you wish to go to. DEFINITIONS OF MOVES CLUSTERS: Clusters are when you have 5 or more gems of the same color, that are next to each other. This will clear them, causing them to flip over. IMPORTANT: When gems flip over the color that was on the passive side flips over to the active side. In this way you can know what colors will replace the gems you cleared. COMBOS: Combos are when any cluster happens without the direct aid of the player. So if a player made a cluster... and in turn those gems flipped over... causing another cluster (because the new colors that flipped over match up)... that would be considered a COMBO. Combos can continue if you keep the board active and perform another combo, even if the combo is not a result of another combo. LINKERS: Linkers are when you make a cluster using the SWITCH method and drag that last gem (the linker gem) to another 4 or more gems, causing another cluster. If you cause a cluster using the FLIP method you WILL NOT obtain a LINKER gem. ( So if you wanna do some linkers.... then ya need to switch ) STREAKS: The streak counter will count the seconds you have activity on the “active” side of the board. By activity I mean, creating clusters, combos, linkers, even switching fast enough will cause the streak counter to keep going! The highest streak is recorded if you make the TOP TEN list. ************************* *** -= POINT TABLE =- *** ************************* POINTS FOR CLUSTERS: Depending upon how many gems are in the cluster you get x points per gem. 5 gems, 10pts per gem ( 50pts) “CLUSTER!” 6 gems, 20pts per gem ( 120pts ) 7 gems, 40pts per gem ( 280pts ) “SWEET CLUSTER!” 8 gems, 50pts per gem ( 400pts ) 9 gems, 60pts per gem ( 540pts ) “RUTHLESS CLUSTER!” 10+gems,70pts per gem ( 700pts+ ) POINTS FOR COMBOS: For each combo on the combo counter you get 50pts (This is added on top of cluster points) 1 combo 50pts “COMBO!” 2 combos 100pts “ARRR, PIRATE COMBO!” … … 6 combos 300pts “HAHAHA! MAD MAN COMBO!” … … POINTS FOR LINKERS: For each linker on the linker counter you get 250pts (This is added on top of cluster points and combo points) 1 linker 250pts “LINKER!” 2 linkers 500pts “CRAZY LINKER!” 3 linkers 750pts 4 linkers 1000pts “INSANE LINKER!” … … POINTS FOR STREAKS: During a streak for each cluster you get ("streak time" X 2) points (rounds up). So if you execute a cluster when your streak time is 10.0 seconds, then you get 20 extra points at the time the cluster was executed. The bigger the streak time the more points you will get per cluster. To encourage streaks, the announcer will say different things depending upon how high the streak is. Each time the announcer says something you have increased your current "streaklevel" as well as more points as depicted on this table below. You will also get a message at the end of the streak telling you what time you made, as well as how well you did. StreakLevel TimeTill next level points awarded 0 StreakTime >= 4.0s 50pts fire particles shoot out. 1 StreakTime >= 7.0s 100pts "STREAK!" 2 StreakTime >= 12.0s 200pts "SUPER STREAK!" 3 StreakTime >= 18.0s 400pts "FIRE STREAK!" 4 StreakTime >= 24.0s 800pts "COME ON BRING IT!" 5 StreakTime >= 28.0s 1000pts "DON'T STOP NOW!" 6 StreakTime >= 32.0s 1200pts "HELL YEAH!" 7 StreakTime >= 40.0s 1400pts "HOLY COW!" 8 StreakTime >= 50.0s 2000pts "HOLY COW!!!!!" <- louder ****************************************************************** *** YOU WANNA PLAY MATRIX ATTACK LIKE THE PROS!!??? READ ON!!! *** ****************************************************************** Keep that board ALIVE: If you can keep the board alive, you can take home a beefy score. The longer the board is alive the longer your streak is as well as the higher your combo counts go. Keep finding clusters; even if they are only 5 gem ones. They still keep the board alive. And with all those gems flipping around your bound to run into free combos. Set up Linkers: If you want lots of linkers... just set those guys up... so you got groups of 4 gems all over the "active side" of the board (right side). Then take the linker gem all up and down the board causing linkers all over the place.. and may cause accidental combos (which is always cool). Set up Chains of combos: Look at the "passive side" of the board(the left side) so you know what gems will flip over. Pick one of those bad boys(gems) and on the "active side" of the board put together at least 4 gems next to the gem that you intend to flip. THEN put together a cluster so that the gem you intend to flip, flips. Then that will cause a chain reaction with the other gems you set up... causing a combo. You can set this up for a long chain... getting LOTS of combos... and lots of points. Skip any of the puzzles: Just go to password and type in "puzzle#" where the # == 1<36 Puzzle 37 is the last puzzle.. you can't beat it. That’s our lazy way of saying you win, heh. Many of us have student web pages at www.digipen.edu, please check us out! Team Matrix is: Tim Berry Eli Emerson Andy Kaplan Ryan Kohler Greg Morchower Max Szlagor - Thanks for playing our game!