
                        ================
                            Barrage
                        ================

                     a game by  Michael Speck
		      http://lgames.sf.net


------------
Introduction
------------

Barrage is a rather violent action game with the objective to kill
and destroy as many targets as possible within 3 minutes. The player
controls a gun that may either fire small or large grenades at
soldiers, jeeps and tanks. It is a very simple gameplay though it is
not that easy to get high scores. 

I wrote this game ''by accident''. I created a little particle system
just because I never did this before and I had read somewhere that it
allows nifty effects for games. Okay, but of course I needed an
enviroment to test it so I started with a background... than I defined
the grenade explosions... but what's an explosion without something
that is destroyed by it? So little inanimate soldiers followed...
and soon I wanted some moving targets... then why not adding scores
to the whole thing? Plus a little menu and a highscore chart and then
there it was. I know a one-gun barrage is not really a barrage but
I like the title, so what? :)

------------
How To Start
------------

As stated in the INSTALL file, start barrage from the proper location.
You may pass the following options to barrage when running it from a
console:
  -d <DELAY>      wait <DELAY> milliseconds in the main loop and when
                  fading; this may reduce CPU usage a great deal but
                  may have impact on the frame rate depending on the
                  speed of your CPU
  -w              don't start in fullscreen but in windowed mode; you
                  can switch this anytime while playing by pressing 'f'
  -s              play silently, thus don't play any sounds; this can
                  also be switched by pressing 's' while playing

-----------
How To Play
-----------

The main menu is quite self-explaining, so we get directly to what is up
when entering the shooting range:
The gun is located at the left side of the screen and has an ammunition
of 36 shots. Aiming is done by simply moving the mouse pointer which is
a crosshair above a target and left-click it for example. A shot is then
fired and an angle of 60 degrees and it will exactly hit the spot you
aimed at. The meaning of the mouse buttons is as follows:
	Left Button		Fire a large grenade.
	Middle Button or
	Ctrl + Left Button	Fire a small grenade.
	Right Button		Reload gun to full 36 rounds.
Similiar to Ctrl+LeftButton being an alternative to MiddleButton
you can use the SpaceBar to reload the gun. ESC quits the game
without checking the highscore. To enter the highscore you'll have
to play a full game of 3 minutes.

Whenever you fire a large grenade the crosshair will turn red for
0.5 seconds. In this time you cannot shoot. Small grenades can be
fired so fast that the crosshair will not change its appearance.
If you run out of ammo the crosshair becomes a triple of red rounds
indicating that you have to reload either by pressing SPACE or 
clicking the right mouse button. Note, that reloading ALWAYS costs
36 points of your score (which cannot drop below 0) no matter how
may rounds where actually reloaded! 

Small grenades cannot damage a tank. Use large ones and aim carefully
you have to hit quite exactly. Also try to prevent jeeps and tanks
from escaping. Tanks come from the bottom and jeeps come from the top
of the screen and for any vehicle that makes it safe through the 
battlefield you will loose half the score you would have received 
for destroying it. Soldiers do not have such a penalty.

Target Scores are:
Soldier		 5 points	(no penalty)
Jeep		20 points	(10 points escape penalty)
Tank		50 points	(25 points escape penalty)

Also keep an eye at the ammo to see wether you have to reload. If you
aimed at a target and clicked, just to realize you have no rounds left,
the target may be out of sight before you can try to fire a second 
time.

Good luck! Dismissed.


Michael Speck
http://lgames.sf.net

