Welcome to the world of Super Sled Acer!!

Now you can barrel down Doom Mountain in your very own Super Sno-Racer
Deluxe sled! Okay... not really... but you can help Super Sled Acer make
it down the hill. :)

On the way, you'll steer around dangerous obstacles like trees! And rocks!
And skiers, snowmen, and... well, I'll leave some surprises.

Legaleseish-like stuff
----------------------

Super Sled Acer is copyrighted 1991 and 1996 by Mike Brent. All rights not
explicitly licensed to the end user are held by the author. All characters,
concepts, designs, and distinctive likeness thereof are owned by Mike Brent
(in other words, the Super S* Acer concept and the character therein. :) )

Trivia: in 1996 this software was reviewed as the absolute worst kind of
shareware tripe! THE WORST! I'm number one!

More Trivia: Nobody paid the shareware fee. I blame the reviewer who lied
about the system specs to make his article sound more impressive. ;)

!!SHAREWARE!!
-------------

Yep! That's right! It's shareware now! If you like it, and want to let me
know, send me $1! Canadian or US or Australian or whatever is convenient.
Heck, if you're really ambitious, send two!

Now for the neat part two of this shareware offer. If you like it, but don't
want to pay, *don't*! But you still have to write me and let me know. :)

Of course, I will still accept postcards, fan-mail, dolphins, bridges, cars,
and oddly-glowing meteorite chunks as payment.

---

How to run this (briefly)
-------------------------

Put all the files into a directory. Go into that directory. Type
'SLEDACER'. (If you are using the option menu, you already know that.)

Yes, I still have that hacked up CGA support. If you're a CGA type, then
use 'SLEDACER c'. This is the second to last program I expect to use that,
though.

How to use this once it's running
---------------------------------

This is my first PC game to utilize the joystick.. and I've already learned
a few nifty things about the not-so-nifty hardware that drives it, and the
BIOS, for that matter. You can take 'em both and.....

err... that's off-topic.

Once the title page comes up, it will invite you to press space or fire to
begin. (If you've just finished a game, you'll see your score in the bottom
right corner). Press space or fire. You'll then see the main text page/
options page. (Note: if you use joystick and press fire, you will probably
be asked to calibrate the joystick first. Just do as it asks.)
You can access the following options:

(K)eys: When you press K, a flashing Asterix (not of Gaul) will appear after
the 'Left' indicator. Press the key you want to use to move left. Sorry,
arrow keys don't work. The asterix will move to the 'Straight' indicator.
Press the key you want to use to move straight. Finally, the asterix will
move to the 'Right' indicator. Press the key you want to use to move right.
The space bar, if used for straight, will display as SPC. For left or
right, the space bar will appear as a space, to teach you a lesson for being
so silly. You cannot change the 'brake' key, which is always either
shift key, cause I said so.

(M)ode: Pressing M will toggle between PROPORTIONAL and DIRECT mode. These
are used with keyboard play. In direct mode, pressing a direction key will
start you moving at maximum speed in that direction. In proportional mode,
pressing a direction key will start you moving slowly in that direction.
Pressing it repeatedly (up to 8 times) will move you faster in that
direction. Proportional is an experiment and may not be useful. But you
really should have a joystick anyway.

(D)ifficulty: Pressing D will cycle through the 3 available difficulty
levels: Normal, Expert and Easier. The only difference is the speed of the
game.

(C)alibrate: Pressing C will bring up the joystick calibration screen. If
you pressed FIRE to begin, you have already done this, and shouldn't have
to do it again. If you don't have a joystick, you can use ESC to get out
of this.

(R)ead docs: displays this text file.

Pressing space or fire will start the game. Pressing ESC will at most times
end the game and the program.

Once in game, you will see your sled on a white hill. You will also see a
score indicator, your lives remaining, and a brake indicator. Use your
chosen control system to play, moving left and right to avoid obstacles.
There is a jump after a few levels, you are allowed to hit that, and you
will fly through the air for a few seconds, and not hit enemies.

Pressing the fire button or holding shift turns on your brakes, which
instantly starts the brake guage counting. It also slows you down, but
will not stop you. If the guage completely fills up, your brakes will
fail for several seconds, leaving you at top speed. Releasing the brakes
will start the guage counting down again.

There are nine levels to complete. Each one introduces a new threat (except
level 5, which introduces the jumps, which are not threatening.)

Level 1 - Watch for trees.. pretty basic.
Level 2 - Watch for rocks... still... pretty clear sailing
Level 3 - Watch for skiers... a pain, but avoidable
Level 4 - Watch for snowmobiles... a bit faster
Level 5 - Watch for jumps... you can jump over things!
Level 6 - Watch for snowmen... as if it wasn't crowded enough
Level 7 - Watch for slides... unstable snow behind you!
Level 8 and 9 - well... they're top secret. ;)

If you do hit something... you'll fall off your sled. As long as you have
sleds remaining, you can get back on and continue down the hill..

------------------------------------------
Bit 'o Babble - Nothing else of importance
------------------------------------------

It's been nearly 2 months since I did my last game, Super Shooting Acer.
About time I finally got back on the ball... I'm supposed to be getting
the better games done, and I still have a few things to learn.

Anyway... as I write this only the bells 'n' whistles of the menu, boot
code, and the joystick handlers are done. The joystick was trickier than
I expected... for some reason the BIOS routines delivered unreliable
results. My own code (swiped in turn from the book 'Tricks of the Gaming
Gurus'.... good book! Sams Publishing, Authors LaMothe, Ratcliff, Seminatore
and Tyler, ISBN 0-672-30507-0... recommend it to anyone wanting to do
games on the PC.. and it's sequel).. since I've been up all night again, I
guess this one'll take two days to finish. Oh well. [Note: it took a lot
longer, due to adding new things, experimentation, being busy looking for
a job, etc etc.]

This game is based exactly on the original TI-99/4A version.. in fact,
that's the exact same title page that I drew up with TI Artist+ years
ago... touched up, dithering removed, and more colours added. I've changed
some of the patterns, though, so there are more surprises.

All my finished work will end up on my web page, along with previews of
what I've planned to work on. Address is listed above. My list of games
to do is getting pretty long.. but I'm more keen on some than others.

Right now, I've got:

At The Races - just a simple little horseracing game.. want to get
SoundBlaster playing samples out of that... also want good animation, but
I can't draw a horse. ;) Will probably be my last game supporting CGA and
my old graphics library, as I expect to move up to Turbo C, which doesn't
do Windoze or Protected Mode like I hoped, but I paid $100 for it and I'm
going to use the cursed thing. Man... over $600 for the Borland C
compiler... why are they so bloody expensive? Afraid of competition? ;)

Galactic Exploration - this is a text-based space exploration game... I'm
not sure if I'll release it, it's meant to be for my BBS. But I want someone
else to build the designs... ah well.. it may be put on hold or skipped.

Super Speed Acer - I tend to describe this to people as 'Power Drift with
guns'... a fast, bouncy racing/shooting game... but with full color
digitized graphics. We'll see how it comes out.. I've high hopes.

Super Space Acer - I've been building up to this game for nearly 5 years...
based on my original game, which was designed in 1989, and a TI version
started in 1990 and finished in late 1991. I refuse to confirm even thinking
about the Atari ST version. :) Spent 9 months trying to convince Atari that
my current design would fly and fly well on their Jaguar. After talking
with them and constantly hearing positive feedback (but delays and excuses
for the delays).. they fired everyone we spoke to, and mailed us a letter
saying "We apologize for the delay in getting back to you, but Atari
receives many such proposals of this kind, and we were not able to get
to yours until this time." Outright lies please me so much... anyway, this
is a 3D-perspective shooter... and you'll like it. I'm a shooter fan, I
won't let this one go. ;) (Heh... this is also the one all the parody names
were based on...)

Super Sales Acer II - not too sure when this'll get done... but it will be.
The basic idea is to improve the graphics and animation, and provide a lot
more variety in enemies and things to interact with... generally making
it what the first game should've been. :)

Super Shooting Acer II - again, this game expands on the original.
Generally, you'll have proper backgrounds, and mouse control to shoot back.
More variety again... maybe even a storyline! :)

Super Scaling Acer - another uncertain one... but based loosely on the
arcade classic 'Crazy Climber'. Remember that one? ;)

Super Strong Acer - a silly digitized wrestling game... but I don't know
how keen I am on it.

Fighting Game - this game, like Super Space Acer, has been around for a long
time. Originally conceived about 3 years ago as a fighter for the Atari
Lynx... guess what? I never got a devkit from Atari. (Ok, I didn't have
$5k US, either)... it's undergone a lot of revision. Now coming for the
last resort, the peecee... the latest revision to the plan has made it
into a chunky 3D fighter. (Don't go expecting tiny and smooth polys...)
It's attraction is expanability and a user editor to make your own
fighters. I'm hopeful for this one, but it's a long ways off yet.

New Life II - This is another silly diversion.. Gord and I are supposed
to do it up sometime... a chance to relive your life... or maybe someone
else's... but with a silly twist. Not sure how we'll keep the filesize
down, though. Based on my game New Life, and Gord's game Life II,
he claims unrelated, both on the Apple II.

Bad Dad - I was bugged to provide an updated version of this. After refusing
to give Junior the keys to the new Porsche, Dad is locked in the cellar.
To escape, Dad must swim through a shark-infested moat, climb a staircase
filled with tumbling boulders, and cross a lawn filled with ravenous power
mowers. Based on an idea from the Official Computer Hater's Handbook by
D.J. Arneson, who was probably kidding. ;) An updated copy of my TI
version.

Mike Ward's Punch-Up - originally done by me on the Apple II (yes, it's a
Punch-Out clone)... updated with digitized fighters. Again, a silly little
game.

Mist's War - I've been thinking a lot about this one, I'm rather keen on it.
I created a character named Mist for a Muck on the net, and I don't seem to
be able to RP him to the extent I created story for. So.. I'll make a game
around it, instead. Sorta RPGish, but still an action game. Mist is a
noble Lion-Morph, who has been cursed by an evil wizard. His body was
dissolved into a mist of cloud-like vapour. Over time, Mist has learned to
control his new form, and can temporarily take on solid form. His new
ability allows him to take several forms, each with different powers. He
can become a lion, a dragon, a dolphin, and a warrior. To defeat the
wizard, he must find the magic crystals, and place them in their proper
places. Then something will happen, and he'll be able to battle the wizard
to end his curse. (Storyline is still being worked on :) ). Parts of it
are based on my old Crystal Quest games for the TI-99/4a... or at least..
what those games were supposed to be like. :)

And that's that for now... I can't think of much more to babble about.
Go play the game! I'll babble more in the end credits. ;)

2022 Note: None of the above happened. ;)
