FallDown Forever v2.0
by Aaron Curtis <acurti1@umbc.edu>
released December 8, 1999
plug -> visit the ZAPO web page, zapo.calc.org
also check my page, www.gl.umbc.edu/~acurti1

New in version 2.0:
-------------------
Link Play!
Other Stuff!
(check the end of this file for version history)


Now a little history...
-----------------------
FallDown was originally a TI-92 (and later 89) game by Thomas Fernique, however one day Ahmed El-Helw saw it and was impressed enough to create an entirely new version of the game for the 82/83 (with the help of Florent Dhordain).  This version was then ported to the 86 by myself and was fairly successful...  At this point no one had planned to do a whole lot more with the Z80 version (not *entirely* true, but that's another story), until one day Ahmed suggested to me that we should do a completely new version for the 86, since it was generally agreed upon that the game's graphics, etc were horrible.  Unfortunately Ahmed dropped out of the project early on (or as he put it, I "hogged up all the work").  So the project was eventually finished.

...or so I thought.  


What's the deal with this game?
-------------------------------
The concept of this game is very simple, you control a ball that is falling towards the bottom of the screen.  At the same time, platforms scroll towards the top which will prevent you from falling any further.  The idea is to keep falling as long as you can, without hitting the top of the screen.  No major changes have been made to the gameplay since the original, since everyone seemed to like it.


So what's different in the sequel?
----------------------------------
-nice grayscale graphics
-animation for the ball
-a real title screen
-top 5 high scores
-link play
-F5 speed is faster (than in the old version 1.4 anyway)
-optional backgrounds
-some screen transition effects
-scoring adjusted a bit
-all the code was completely rewritten


Controls...
-----------
Title screen:

F-keys	-- start the game at a given speed, F1 is slowest, F5 is fastest
2ND	-- toggle background on or off, there's a different background for each speed
MORE	-- view the top 5 (woohoo!) high scores
EXIT	-- quit the game
+/-	-- change contrast
ALPHA	-- toggle 1 or 2 players

In game:

left/right	-- move the ball...  you guessed it, left and right!
EXIT	--  go back to title screen
MORE	--  pause (turns calc off, press on to turn it back on)

High score screen:

letter keys	-- enter a letter (you only get 10)
DEL	-- backspace
ENTER	-- press when you're done


Notes on link play:
-------------------
To start a link game, one player should set the number of players to 2 and select a speed.  This should go to a "waiting" screen.  The other player will automatically be taken to a "waiting, press a key" screen, at which point they should press a key to start the game.  Both players will then compete on the same playfield, until one loses.  Pausing is not allowed.  Pressing exit will lose the game for you.  If the link becomes unstable for some reason, you should hopefully be taken to an error screen.  However I do not recommend pulling out the link in the middle of a game...


Things you may not have noticed...
----------------------------------
-If you really want to save memory, you can delete the title screen and the game won't care
-The platforms get 2 pixels closer every now and then, so you can't play forever...
-If you manage to get pretty far, the speed increases
-F5 is hard :)  ...but you get A LOT more points
-There is a movie starring Micheal Douglas called "Falling Down", has nothing to do with the game, but I liked it :)


Thanks to:
----------
Thomas Fernique  --  made the original game
Ahmed El-Helw  --  it was his idea to make this
Dave Phillips  --  for the rle stuff, also listening to my late night ramblings :)
Blackbelt  --  had his calc crashed a lot by early versions of this :)
ZAPO  --  didn't really help with this, but I'm a member so they have to get mentioned...
Kirk Meyer  --  explained some things to me about grayscale (which I didn't feel like implementing...  oh well)


Release History:
----------------
2.0	- link play!
	- some small optimizations
	- changed background #4
	- added contrast changer to title screen
	- wrote a new random routine, since I felt bad about using someone else's
	- scores now in 24-bit form
	- other minor changes and bug fixes

1.1	- fixed bug with the pause routine

1.0	- initial release


Obligatory Simpsons reference:

Oh, I have a feeling you'll be /dropping/ the charges...