Premiere - UFO-2. Devils pit.

     UFO-2. Devils pit.

       New details.

(C), Vyacheslav Mednonogov
________________________________


  Still, she came out! By the time
Publication of this issue of the journal
UFO-2 sold already more than half months. The development 
process game and its main differences from

"UFO. The enemy is not known" enough detail in previous issues. 
Many have already themselves to evaluate the merits and

disadvantages game. Therefore, there is
base to draw some
results than I did, in fact, there
and loans.


             Glitches.


  Hmmm. A word spoken is past recalling. Something which, as 
this in version 2.00 was enough. On Just in case, I even list

most unpleasant mistakes and shortcomings:
 - Do not take into account the moral;
 - Incorrect handling of mouse buttons in the battle;
 - Tentakulaty idle
(Now it's just the beasts);
 - You could see through the floor;
 - You can not always shoot from the
floor to floor;
 - Errors in financial
calculations;
 - Black marks for newcomers;
 - The death of aliens from the thermal stress;
 - Podvisanie program, if
the stranger had nowhere to go (the calculations
could be 20-30 minutes);
 - Sub-optimal algorithms
settlement movements of aliens;
 - Errors in the storyline,
resulting in a game, it seems,
general was impassable.


  I will not look for excuses for myself, first of all this was 
explained by the desire as soon as possible to release the 
game. If she had not was released in late April, its release

for some reason had
be postponed for a month, and not a fact
that there would be fewer glitches.



          Version 2.10.


  Every cloud has a silver lining. I got
a large number of requests and
critical reviews, which
will try to accommodate. I am very grateful to everyone who has 
spent a lot of time on the game, and took the trouble to give 
his opinion. As a result, the game was finalized more than 
fifty items, and now has a fairly complete form. All that is 
listed above, was corrected. That's what I've changed and added 
to your request:  - Reviewed the parameters of weapons;

 - Extended the range of the supervisor;
 - Accuracy and deflection at a shot now depend
distance;
 - A greater variety of situations
when released into the aquanaut (falling morale, injuries, 
panic);  - Find a more pleasing color landscape;

 - Change sales prices, wages, cost of ammunition;
 - Lower ranks assigned fast;
 - Added a new rank - Marshal;
 - Given the number of aquanauts
battle;
 - The growth of energy now depends
the rank and value of the remaining
time;
 - Change the order of studies
that make the game interesting;
 - Speeded up the calculation of displacement
aliens;
 - And much, much more.


  Naturally, all owners
previous versions are eligible for
free exchange.

              ____


         New details.


  The game comes
with a detailed, albeit a little boring, a description. As 
usual, it nobody reads, but it is generally not necessary - the 
game interface sufficiently "transparent" for

user. However, there are moments on which the description is 
silent. So you should tell them here.



  Weapons. Its most important parameters can be found in the 
Encyclopedia ufologist. "Besides these, it is characterized by 
the radius of the explosion, the weight and the magnitude of 
the applied injury and devastation that can be learned

only experimentally. The value of injury is usually from 0 to 3.
Destruction described in the same
as a UFO-1 (see ZF # 1).

  Weapon weight ranges from 0
Up to 4 standard units. Depending on the title can aquanaut
carry a different weight (from 3-unit
for the average up to 7 units for
Gen.). Do not forget about it
and you can best equip your crew.


  Remember also that the loss of morale or exit from the
control - a temporary phenomenon,
so it is not necessarily immediately press the button "Load" - 
the game will be just interesting. 


  In general, the ability to save
and restore a game situation during the battle extremely
detrimental to the true connoisseur
games on the Spectrum. She came up with
Americans for their "unicellular" users. For us, brought harsh 
Russian conditions, its use is simply a disgrace.



  In the end I decided to make
a little trick. I think you will not
Labour to bite him, but still
Give that you should not blindly rely on the "Encyclopedia of 
ufologist, although all that is written there, true. Nor should

hurry up with some research, because some of them
is "empty", while others
If they hurry, add
only an extra headache.


  Many causes difficulty
chasing UFOs. Sequence of actions
here the following (for a small ship). Right arrow key (or
LEFT) Take a UFO to the edge.
Next, use only the UP / DOWN keys, trying to shoot
at a time when the rate of vertical displacement is minimal.
Aim should be closer to the center.
For large and medium-sized UFO everything
same thing with exactly the opposite. Hour workout - and you 
have ac in this case. At first

do not forget to press R and T.


  As in the first game in the UFO-2
enabled debug immortality
but I think it again no
detect.


  Perhaps, for now. I can only
recommend - carefully
Read the instructions. Yes, another well
I strongly advise - Play with your mouse, you'll enjoy.

            ________


    Technical details.


  The total volume of the game (in the form of 
nekompressovannom) is 1.4 megabytes. Total number of files - 
more than 90. The game includes some 20 landscape, which

represented by approximately
1400 sprites, plus about 150
sprites depicting characters, different icons and piktogramki.

  The total amount of executable code
- 36 kilobytes, which, in my
opinion, a lot (compare Rom
Spectrum - 16k). The game really is 100% written and
debugged at IBM, as mentioned
in the journal spectrophone. I'm not too lazy to write quite 
tolerable assembler, so assembling toys, including the contents

All pages that do not exceed 2
seconds (Pentium).


  By the way, for the journal
"Spectrophone. Very disappointing,
that its wording constantly put negative feedback on
"UFO-1, more so on the basis
Letters to the buggy owners,
stupidly hacked versions. I do not
I think that he wrote so
bad game, which no one
said a kind word. Nobody
interferes with the creative team STEP
as many extoll its
"Star Heritage", but as they say, their praise, and not someone 
else's scold.


              ____


          What's next?


  Do not know yet. There are three options:

1. Company MICROPROSE released
a third of its UFO, which
finally came to us. You
understand where I'm going?

2. Now IBM is very popular
games like WarCraft and DUNE. I would
described them as a dynamic strategy. Imagine a cross between a 
UFO and UFO-1-2: you have many heroes, but you manage

their dynamics. Technical
difficulties for the establishment of such
games on the Spectrum, in general, not
Is that necessary to increase
sector review and consider a convenient way of setting goals in 
front of his soldiers. 

3. Oh, and finally, the game type DOOM (or rather, the type 
WOLF 3D). Many saw the Doom-demo from our Friends from abroad. 
It is seen that a rough design, and if

try, we can speed up redrawing the game screen about half (or 
better to expand the visible sector). Some difficulties are 
possible with mathematical calculations, and the rapid scaling 
sprites heroes but there is nothing impossible. And who knows, 
maybe will one day

something like "UFO-3D. Children
dungeon. "


               Glory Mednonogov.

               June 4, 1996.