****************** SHARK OF THE SEVEN ****************** Demo Version 1.5 readme.txt Version 1.5 Copyright program software and content 1999 PulseCode Interactive LLC. All Rights Reserved. Developed by PulseCode Interactive LLC. http:\\www.pulsecode.net email: info@pulsecode.net Installation and Technical Information ====================================== We hope that you enjoy this demo version of Shark of the Seven. Minimum System Requirements: NOTE: 3-D Acceleration is required. Pentium 233 MHz 16 MB RAM 25 MB of free hard disk space CD-ROM drive 640 x 480 display, 16 bit (High) color or higher Microsoft Windows 95/98 Microsoft DirectX 7.0a (included) or above Windows compatible sound card Windows compatible mouse 3-D accelerator card with minimum 4 MB RAM Recommended System Requirements: Pentium II 266 MHz 64 MB RAM 800 x 600 display, 16 bit (High) color or higher AGP 3-D accelerator card with 8 MB RAM NOTE: This demo version had been tested on the following cards: Voodoo3 3000 AGP by 3dfx (3dfx Voodoo3 Chip Set) Creative Labs Voodoo2 3-D Blaster (3dfx Voodoo2 Chip Set) STB Velocity 4400 (nVidia Riva TNT Chip Set) ATI Xpert 128 (ATI Rage 128 Chip Set) Diamond Viper 770 Ultra (TNT2 Ultra Chip Set) You may experience problems with other cards. For tech-support, please report bugs to bugreport@pulsecode.net. Installation ============ The Shark of the Seven demo requires 25 MB of free space on your hard drive. 1. Place the Shark of the Seven demo CD in your CD-ROM drive. 2. A window will pop up prompting you to install Shark of the Seven. If no window pops up, double click on your CD-ROM drive icon in the My Computer folder. Open the folder named "Shark" and Double click Setup.exe. The InstallShield Wizard will guide you through the rest of the installation. 3. DirectX 7.0a is required for Shark of the Seven. If you have an older version, please install version 7.0a from the DirectX folder on the CD-ROM. Playing the Game ================ To start the demo, open your Start Menu, find the Shark of the Seven Demo folder (or whatever folder you specified during Setup), and select 'Play Demo'. The first time you run the demo, you will need to select your display driver using the "Video and Audio Options" button on the initial dialog box. You may then click on the "Play Demo" button to play the demo. Have fun! Getting Started --------------- In Shark of the Seven, you will help Katala the great white shark in his quest to break the curse of the Seven. In the Song of the Seven it is told that to break the curse "the Seven must meet". Katala's search for the others of the Seven will take you all over the world, from the tropic island of Isla La Tortuga, to the Ronne Ice Shelf of the Antarctic. There are two levels available in the demo version. In the first level, you play as Katala, the great white shark. In the other, you are Khyber, a black-headed seagull. The full version of the game features levels where you play as all seven creatures, including a dolphin, killer whale, emperor penguin, leopard seal, and sea turtle. Starting the Game ----------------- When you start Shark of the Seven, a window pops up prompting you to select: Video and Audio Options Play Shark of the Seven Exit Audio and Video Options ----------------------- When selecting video settings, be sure that your 3-D accelerator driver is selected as the display driver. Shark of the Seven will run fastest at 640 x 480 x 16 bit color. By default Decorative Objects (starfish, plants) are enabled. For better performance, uncheck the Decorative Objects box. If you have a faster machine or video card, you can try running at higher resolutions. If you are unable to select a video driver, please see the Troubleshooting section of the readme.txt file on the Demo CD. Selection Screens ----------------- Selecting Play Shark of the Seven brings you to the main menu. Start: This begins your game. After an introductory cut scene, you will begin the Dyer Island level. To play the other level, choose Load. Load: This takes you to the Level Select screen. In the demo, you can choose between Dyer Island (great white shark) and Isla La Tortuga (seagull). (see Level Select.) Options: On the options page, you can set the volume, texture resolution, and toggle the key setup. Quit: Choose Quit to exit the game. Level Select ------------ In this screen you can choose between playing the Dyer Island or Isla La Tortuga levels. It is recommended that you play the Dyer Island (great white shark) level first, since it is the starting point of the story. Use the arrow keys to choose, then push Enter to begin the game. Options ------- On the Options screen, you can adjust certain settings for enhancement of your game experience. Volume: Move the slider to adjust the audio volume. Texture Resolution: Move the slider to the right to favor high resolution textures (for high resolution display modes), or the left to favor low resolution textures (for video cards with less texture memory). Watch the swimming fish to see the effect. If your video card does not support level of detail bias, you will not be able to adjust the texture resolution. Gamma and Brightness: These sliders adjust gamma-correction and brightness. They should be used in conjunction with your monitor controls to improve the contrast and luminance of the displayed image. Note the changes to the correction curve, displayed in the box to the left of the sliders. If your card does not support software gamma correction these sliders have no effect. To restore the default correction curve, click the 'Defaults' button. Pilot-style checkbox: When this box is checked, the controls will be "pilot-style", i.e. up and down reversed. This is the default setting. To use normal controls, uncheck the box by clicking on it. Decorative objects checkbox: By default, this box is checked, meaning there will be decorative objects in the game. These include starfish and floating plants. To improve performance, uncheck this box. Controls -------- Shark of the Seven is designed to be played with two hands on keyboard. The mouse is used in the selection screens only. System Keys Esc Exit the level P Pause F12 Screenshot Screenshots will be placed in the installation directory. They are in Windows bitmap (.bmp) format, and are large files. Player controls: In Shark of the Seven you have complete freedom of movement. Most of the movement controls are located on the numeric key pad, and are intended to be operated with the right hand. 4 left Turn left 5 Reverse 6 right Turn right 7 Home Roll Left 8 up Forward 9 Pg Up Roll right 0 Ins Burst of speed/Flap wings The Burst/Flap key should be pressed repeatedly to give the player a burst of speed. Holding down the key has no effect. When you are the seagull, pressing Burst/Flap flaps your wings. If you press this key once while walking on the ground, you will walk faster for a short time. The remaining three movement keys are: R Nose down F Nose up Spacebar Action (attack, talk, etc) These are "pilot style" controls (up and down reversed). You may reverse them in the Options Screen if that is your preference. The action key is used whenever you want to interact with another creature. Depending on the nature of your relationship, the action may be talking, attacking, or even grasping. When attacking, the AutoStrike feature will briefly override the player controls, increasing the accuracy of your attacks. View Controls The view control keys are located on the left side of the keyboard, and are intended to be operated with your left hand. W Look down S Look up D Look right A Look left Z Zoom in X Zoom Out C Toggle Camera This key toggles the camera position between being above or below the player. V Center View This key negates the look keys. The view keys are also "pilot style" and can be changed in the Options screen. Targeting --------- As you maneuver your player creature, a target creature is automatically selected for you and is indicated by a target reticle. To interact with the targeted creature press the Action key (spacebar). A white target reticle indicates that pressing the Action key will Talk to the creature. For non-conversational targets, pushing the Action key will engage the AutoStrike feature. The player's steering controls will be briefly overridden, allowing for more accurate strikes. The Burst/Flap key will still function during AutoStrike. The target reticle turns green when pushing the Action key will engage AutoStrike. A red reticle means that the AutoStrike feature is engaged, and therefore, the player cannot steer (but may Burst/Flap). NOTE: The AutoStrike feature helps you make more accurate strikes, but you still may miss the target. Aim as best you can before engaging AutoStrike to increase your chances of hitting the target. When the player is out of range of the AutoStrike feature, the reticle color indicates what type of action may be performed on the target. When the action will be Attack, the target reticle is yellow. The target reticle is blue for all other actions, including Pick Up and Drop. There is a round sighting dot to help your aim. When the dot is centered in the reticle, your player creature is directly facing the target. Displays -------- Map There is a small "radar" style map in the upper right corner of the game display. The player is indicated by a white triangle. North is always up on the map. Creatures of the same kind as the player are indicated by white triangles. Smaller animals are indicated by black triangles. Larger creatures are indicated by red triangles. The player triangle's orientation indicates the direction the player is facing. All other triangles point up if the creature is above the player, or point down if the creature is below the player. Conversation Box The box at the bottom of the game display shows the conversations. To the left of the box is a picture of the player. The player's target is displayed to the right of the box. A red arrow appears to indicate which is speaking. Bars and Icons In the Dyer Island level, the player has two bars located above the player icon. The red bar indicates the player's health. If the bar is empty, the player's game is over. The blue bar indicates the Burst status. Using the Burst key uses up energy. The available Burst regenerates over time. It will regenerate more quickly if the player's health is good. In the Isla la Tortuga level, the player's progress is shown by icons which appear above the player and target icons. The icons which appear over the player icon represent a "saved" baby turtle. The icons which appear over the target icon represent a "lost" (eaten) baby turtle. Level Tips ---------- Dyer Island Try eating some cat sharks and rays. To attack, push the Action key (Spacebar) when a creature is targeted with the green reticle. Notice that the reticle is yellow when a target is attackable, but not within AutoStrike range. If you have trouble catching the cat sharks, try hitting the Burst key several times rapidly after you attack with the Action key. As you eat, your Health (red) bar will fill. The more health you have, the faster your Burst (blue) bar will regenerate. When Kintaga comes, push the Action Key to talk to him. Notice that the reticle is white when a target is conversational. If you ignore him for too long, he will get angry and attack you. Swim north around the island. Genda will warn you if you try to swim south to the main island without a remora. If you're having trouble catching seagulls, try retreating a few body lengths away, and then rushing towards a seagull, using the Burst key. You only have to catch two to impress the remora. Try all of the controls. Do a barrel roll. Sharks cannot execute flips, but Katala is capable of launching himself out of the water. Play with the view controls. Try toggling the camera. Once you have the remora, swim to the south to complete this level. Isla La Tortuga Flying is a little more difficult than swimming. Familiarize yourself with the controls before you talk to the turtle. The goal is to have four out of every five baby turtles reach the sea. To pick up turtles, push the Action Key (spacebar) when they are targeted. You may miss if you aren't close enough. To drop them, push the Action Key again. Hungry gulls will swoop down and carry the turtles to the hill. Once they reach the hill, they throw their heads back and eat the turtles! To make a seagull drop a turtle, startle him by squawking (Action key) right next to him. If he doesn't yelp and drop the turtle, move closer and try again. Try a "wing dash" for a little speed on the ground. While walking forward, push the Burst/Flap key (numpad 0) once. If you push it too many times, your feet will leave the ground. This move is useful when trying to beat another gull to a turtle. To drop to the ground quickly, hold down the Reverse key (numpad 5). Keep trying! The second wave is very difficult. Try to balance carrying the baby turtles with startling the other gulls. Have fun! After the first wave, take a break and fly around the island. Don't wander too far or Khyber will give up on his mission. Enjoy being a gull! The next wave won't start until you talk to Koan again. Troubleshooting =============== Be sure that you have installed DirectX 6.1 or greater, and that you have the most recent drivers for your video card. Shark of the Seven requires a 3-D accelerator card and has been tested on cards that use Voodoo2, Voodoo3, and nVidia TNT chips. Other accelerator cards may not function properly. DirectX 7.0a may be installed from the "DirectX" folder, located on the Demo CD. If you are unable to run Shark of the Seven, try setting your desktop display mode to 16-bit (High Color), and from the 'Video and Audio Options' page choose 640 x 480 x 16 as the game display mode (this options page is accessible only from the dialog that appears when you start the program) Performance issues ------------------ If you are experiencing poor performance, make sure that you have selected your video card's display driver from the 'Video and Audio Options' page (this is accessible only from the dialog that appears when you start the program). The display device that you select should not be "RGB emulation" or "Reference Rasterizer"-- these are software emulation modes that do not take advantage of your 3-D accelerator. Select a "Direct3D HAL" display device if one is available. Most 3-D accelerator cards run fastest in the 640 x 480 x 16 display mode. To further improve performance, you can also uncheck the "Decorative Objects" checkbox (this disables drawing of nonessential objects). For technical assistance or to report compatibility problems, please send email to bugreport@pulsecode.net To further assist debugging efforts, a file named "eng_release.txt" is created in your installation directory. If possible, please attach this file to your email.