BeanMachine - Readme.html

Version 1.0[beta] - Copyright © 2004 by Sascha Willems (www.delphigl.de)
Note
This game is Freeware. That means you are not allowed to charge money for it, and it's also not allowed to distribute this game (for example on the internet or other medias) unless you have permission from the author (me). I also can't be held responsible for any damages that this program may cause to your system.
Requirements
As the game is still in it's early stages I didn't have any chance to test it on a broad range of computers. But as long as your system is fast enough and has a graphics adaptor that supports at least OpenGL 1.1, the game should run.

 Minimal configuration :
  - AMD Athlon/Intel PentiumIII with 500 Mhz (1GHz or more recommended)
  - 64 MByte Memory (128 or more recommended)
  - Graphics adaptor with 16 MByte Memory and OpenGL-support (32 MByte and GeForce or better recommended)
  - Soundkarte
  - Windows 98/Me/2000/XP

 Tested graphics adaptors :
  - ATI Radeon 9700 (Catalyst 4.5)
  - NVidia GeForce 4-Ti4400 (Detonator Rel.53)
Version history
Version 1.0[beta]
  New
  • Story Mode (Singleplayer)
  • Enhanched combos
  • New scenario "Industry"
  • New scenario "Red Planet"
  • Scenario "Egypt" overworked
  • Scenario "Colosseum" overworked
  • Separate hiscore list for the story mode
  • Particle effects for bean combos
  • Loading screen with status indication
  • More detailed log output (beanmachine.html)
  • New key to instantly drop the current bean pair
  Fixes
  • Fixed a bug where the playground of the second player wasn't displayed correct. That bug also was a performance hit that has been eliminated.
  • Wrong gameover-condition if beans were still falling has been eliminated.
  • "Umlaute" now are displayed correct.

Version 0.2 :
  New
  • Two-player mode (Split screen)
  • Black beans for the opponent on bean combo
  • New pair of beans now smoothly fades into the scene
  • Updated configuration tool
  • Updated menu structure
  • Beans are now displayed with a comic-like border
  • Highest level raised to 25 (10 in 0.1)
  Fixes
  • Bean rotation has been reworked. This should work correct now under all circumstances.
  • Connceted beans now fade according to the current Fps instead of a wrong given factor.
Version 0.1 :
  First release
Configuration
BeanMachine has it's own configuration utility (BeanConfig.exe) that allows you to access all important options of the game. To get detailed information on one of the settings just hover the mousecursor about the question mark left of the options name.
As of now, only the keyboard can be assigned to control both players. But one of the next version will definately have support for gamepads and joysticks.
Gameplay
Like in Dr.Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, it's your target to stack beans on the playground and to combine them in such a manner that they disappear and give you points. Such a combination needs at least 4 connected beans of the same color, but diagonally connections don't count. Here are some examples of connections that'll give you a combo and remove those beans from the field :
         o
         o    o    oo   ooo
   oooo  oo  ooo  oo    o
   
New in this version (0.2) are "black beans" that are there to hinder you. You get them either if you start a free game at a higher difficulty or if you play with two players and your enemy get's a bean combo (one black bean than will be dropped onto your field). This beans can't be combined with other black beans and can only be removed from the field if you do a regular bean combo that touches this bean.
Game modes
BeanMachine comes with a variety of game modes to make it more fun to play :
    Free play
    As the name suggest this is an endless game mode for one player. You can stack beans as long as you want or until you're game over. You collect points and advance levels (higher level means faster bean falling) and in the end you can (if you were good enough) enter the hiscore list.
    Split screen
    The most addictive mode of the game where two players fight against eachother. Each player has it's own playground and if one player has a bean combo, the other one becomes a black bean dropped onto his field that can more or less block his current action. The game is over as soon as one player looses.
    Story mode
    In this mode you play a timeline through all the scenarios and in every scenario you have a given amount of time to eliminate an also given amount of beans (the ratio between those get's harder as you advance). If you handle that, you advance to the next scenario, and if you make it through all scenarios you can enter your name into the hiscore for the storymode.
Credits
Thanks to :
  • Borland for the still best IDE of the world, called Delphi
  • All members of the DGL-Forum that helped me testing this game
  • Motörhead for making the music that follows me through life now for over 12 years
  • Textues :
    Although I'm very fit at coding and modelling, creating textures isn't my strength at all. So BeanMachine uses mostly (except few pieces) textures (some modified) from other artists. All of them are in public domain, but I still like to give credits :
  • Sock (http://www.planetquake.com/simland/)
  • Pete Parisi (http://www.badmeat.com)
  • Texturen aus einem eingestampften Spiel namens Gologotha (Die Seite gibts nicht mehr, genauso wie ne E-Mail)
  • Iikka "Fingers" Keranen (http://www.digital-eel.com/surface/)
  • unDuLe (http://www.planetunreal.com/undulation/)
  • Lloyd Morris (GLKM@eidosnet.co.uk)
  • WhiteBlaizer (whiteblaizer@hotmail.com)
  • Kevin Hill (http://planetquake.com/lvl/)



  • Copyright all content 2004 by Sascha Willems - www.delphigl.de

    "We are Motörhead...born to kick your ass!"