
     **********************************************************************
     *+------------------------------------------------------------------+*
     *|+----------------------------------------------------------------+|*
     *||                                                                ||*
     *||      [1mRACING MANIACS                                            [0m||*
     *||      [1mby Paul Gaze, August 1993                                 [0m||*
     *||                                                                ||*
     *|+----------------------------------------------------------------+|*
     *+------------------------------------------------------------------+*
     **********************************************************************

                              [1mWHAT THE GAMES ABOUT[0m
                              [1m~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~[0m

     This game lets you race around a track against either the computer  or
     another  player.  You  also  have  the option to pick up tokens on the
     track and drop mines out the back of your car to hinder your opponent

                                [1mGETTING STARTED[0m
                                 [1m~~~~~~~~~~~~~~[0m

     Getting  the  program running is simple enough,  you just click on the
     icon if from the workbench or type in racingmaniacs from the  cli.  If
     you  have  one of the newer amigas (i.e.  the A1200 or A4000) then you
     will have to change to the enhanced chip set when you run the program.

     The first thing you will come to when you run the program is the intro
     screen  with  the theme music playing in the background.  If you press
     the fire button on the second joystick (or left mouse button) you will
     now arrive at the main menu screen.  To select an option all you do is
     use up and down  on  the  joystick  to  highlight  the  option  you're
     interested  in  and then press fire.  Heres a description of what each
     option does:

     [1m(1)PLAY AGAINST COMPUTER:[0mThis lets one player race against a  computer
     controlled  opponent.  Once you're chosen this option you will come to
     another menu letting you choose the  track.  Once  you've  chosen  the
     track the race begins. See below for information on how to control the
     car.

     [1m(2)TWO PLAYER GAME:[0mLets two players race against each other.

     [1m(3)ONE PLAYER PRACTICE:[0mLets one player practice any track.

     [1m(4)KNOCKOUT COMPETITION:[0mLets you set up a knockout competition between
     any number of players.  First of all you will come to a screen looking
     something like this:

             CHOOSE NUMBER OF PLAYERS:

             Competitors:2
             Human competitors:1


             DONE

     This tell you the total number of competitors in  the  tournament  and
     the  number  of those competitors which are controlled by humans.  The
     remainder are controlled by the  computer.  To  change  one  of  these
     numbers  you  use  up and down on the joystick to highlight the number
     you want to change and then left and right to alter it.  Once you  are
     happy with the number you choose done.  Obviously, you can't have more
     human players than the total number of people in the competition so if
     you try and do this you will not be able to continue.

     After finishing this bit each player can put in their name. To alter a
     letter in your name,  all you do is use the joystick to highlight  the
     letter you want to change and then hold down fire while using left and
     right to change it.  Once again,  once a player is happy with his name
     he selects done to exit and let the next player put in his name.

     Once everybody has put in their names,  the tournament begins.  At the
     beginning  of  each game,  a screen will come up telling you who is to
     play and the round it  is.  The  concerned  players  then  take  their
     joysticks  and  the  game  begins.  The  player given at the top takes
     joystick 1 and the other joystick 0. If a game is between two computer
     controlled  players  then  the  computer  will  figure  out  the  race
     internally and tell you the result.

     [1m(5)GAME PREFERENCES:[0mThis option lets you choose the number of laps  in
     a race and various other things. The screen looks like this:

     GAME PREFERENCES

     LAPS PER RACE:1
     REVERSE RACE?:NO
     SCENERY?:YES
     TOKENS?:NO
     WEAPONS?:NO
     SKILL LEVEL:8

     To change one of these options you just highlight the one you want  to
     change  using  the  up  and down on the joystick and then use left and
     right to alter it. Once you happy you select DONE to exit.

     The meanings of the options here is as follows:

     LAPS PER RACE:This is just the number of laps in a race.

     SCENERY:If this is YES then the program draws scenery by the  side  of
     the track. If its is no, it just draws the road and the opposing car.

     TOKENS:If  this  is YES then you will find various tokens lying on the
     track to pick up. See below for an indepth description of them

     WEAPONS:When this is YES,  you will find you car  armed  with  a  mine
     dropper. See below on how to use it.

     REVERSE  RACE:When  you choose YES here,  the cars will race round the
     track in opposite directions as opposed to the same direction

     SKILL LEVEL:This controls how good  the  computer  opponents  are,  it
     ranges from 1 to 8. 1 is the easiest to beat and 8 the most difficult.

     [1m(6)ABOUT PROGRAM:[0mThis tells you all about me.

     [1m(7)QUIT:[0mEnds the program

                                  [1mCAR CONTROL[0m
                                  [1m~~~~~~~~~~~[0m

     The control of the car is rather straightforward,  just look  at  this
     diagram.

                                 ACCELERATE
                                      ^
                                      |
                                      |
                      TURN LEFT <-----+-----> TURN RIGHT
                                      |
                                      |
                                      V
                                    BREAK

     The  effect  of  pressing fire depends on your speed.  If your at zero
     speed then it changes you from forward gear to reverse and vice versa.
     If your moving then it drops a mine out the back of your car (provided
     you have one).

     On your control panel you will find the following information:

     SPEED:This is the number next to the S
     LAPS COMPLETED:This is next to the L
     GEAR:This is next to the letter G. F=forward gear, B=Backward gear.
     RACE POSITION:This is given next to the P.

     Below this lot comes information on damage to your car. There are four
     icons and on each side of them four strips. The strips give the damage
     to  the  different  sides of your car.  The one on the right gives the
     damage to your right side, the one on the left the damage to your left
     side,  the  top  one  the  damage to your front and the bottom one the
     damage to your rear.  When a strip is blue it means that that side  is
     undamaged. When part of its is red it is partly damaged and when it is
     completely red it is destroyed.

     When a side is completely destroyed any damage occuring on  that  side
     goes  directly to internal components of the car.  This is represented
     by the icons in the middle.  When an  icon  is  blue,  the  system  it
     represents  is  undamaged,  when its red its damaged.  The meanings of
     these icons is as follows.

     The top left icon is the cars suspension.  When this is  damaged  your
     car won't corner so well.

     The  top  right icon is the engine.  When this is damaged you won't be
     able to go as fast.

     The bottom left icon represents damage to the breaks.  If  you  damage
     your  breaks  then you will experience intermittent break failure This
     means that ever so often your breaks won't work.

     The bottom right icon is your weapons system.  If this is damaged then
     you won't be able to drop any mines.

     Below  the information on car damage comes four indicators telling you
     how many mines you have left.  Each indicator represents a mine.  When
     it  is blue you still have that mine,  when it is red you have dropped
     it.


                                     [1mTOKENS[0m
                                     [1m~~~~~~[0m

     Here is a description of the different tokens you can pick up:

     CUBE WITH RED CROSS ON IT.  This is first aid.  If you pick it up, any
     damage to your car will be repaired.

     YELLOW  THING:This  is  a booster.  If you pick it up you will improve
     your acceleration but the effect will only last for ten seconds.

     RED AND BLACK THING:This is a mine.  Driving over it will cause damage
     directly to the internal components of you car.

     BLACK RECTANGLE:This is a warp gate. Driving through it will transport
     you a random distance further around the track.

     All these tokens except the mine can be used twice.

                                    [1mCREDITS[0m
                                    [1m~~~~~~~[0m

     This  game was written using DEVPAC 2 and DEVPAC 3 on an amiga 500 and
     1200. If you have any queries about it you should send them to:

                                   Paul Gaze,
                                 9 Larch close,
                                  Kingsworthy,
                                  Winchester,
                              Hampshire SO23 7NE.

                           Telephone:- (0962) 882819
