Vectorzone Public Alpha v0.027a           Copyright ©2012 Pixelmusement
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WARNING! - This is an ALPHA version of this game. Many of the features
that are planned are not yet implemented and the game may even crash or
lock up your system, especially if it does not have enough video RAM or
you tweak the configuration file to values that aren't quite valid. You
test this game entirely at your own risk; Pixelmusement cannot be held
responsible if absolutely anything goes wrong.

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System Requirements:

* Windows XP/Vista/7
* Video card with 256 MB video RAM and Pixel Shader 2.0 support

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Keyboard Controls:
AWDS		Move your Vector Assault Craft (VAC)
1~4		Select Weapon (For now, just various Blaster rapidities)
UIOP[]		Change the Hue, Saturation, Lightness of your VAC
Spacebar	Show Sector Map

Mouse Controls:
Cursor		Aiming
Button 1	Fire Weapon

System Buttons:
F6		Toggle Glow Effect
F7		Cycle Map Drawing Mode
ESC		Quit

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F6 - Toggle Glow:

The glow effect is made to enhance the presentation of the game but
some players may be overly sensitive to it. In this case, you can turn
the glow effect off. This will also help performance on systems with
outdated or low-quality graphics hardware that is not optimized for
high pixel fill-rates.

Disabling the glow effect and changing to Map Drawing Mode #2 will
provide its own unique presentation and will burn far less GPU power.

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F7 - Map Drawing Modes:

There are three drawing modes available which alter the way the game
is rendered to the screen:

#0 - Solid
All map tiles are rendered solid. No specifc effects performed. This
mode is best for players who are sensitive to the depth effects which
are performed in the other modes.

#1 - Depth Effect (Default)
All map tiles are rendered with a depth effect and solidity. This is
the default mode as it enhances the presentation without being too
tough on the eyes for most players.

#2 - Translucent Depth Effect
All map tiles are rendered with a depth effect and translucency, giving
the map a very unique feel, but also makes everything brighter and adds
many more colour variations. It's best suited for use when the glow
effect is disabled as it is extremely bright if the glow effect is on.

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Notes:

* The configuration file "Vectorzone.cfg" isn't generated until after
  the game is run for the first time. You will usually find this file
  in a common data location. (For XP users it will be "Documents and
  Settings\(current user)\Application Data\Pixelmusement\Vectorzone")
  Once it is generated you can edit the values inside to tweak various
  game settings.

* If you run into performance issues you'll likely have to disable the
  glow effect, as it burns a ton of GPU power, except at low quality
  but then it can be very hard to look at. Turning the glow off and
  enabling Map Drawing Mode #2 looks pretty good and is much easier on
  the GPU. You can also try running at a lower resolution, turning off
  vSync, or switching between running windowed and fullscreen.

* If the game is using too much processing power, try going into the
  3D application settings for your video driver and disabling "Threaded
  Optimization" or any feature with a similar name, as such
  optimizations usually only benefit highly CPU-intensive games.

* If you see strange fragmentation in the lines when moving, this is
  caused by some LCD monitors and the way they refresh themselves.
  Unless you can go in and change your display's "response time",
  there's little that can be done about this and will affect ALL games
  you try to play that run at high framerates with thin, high-contrast
  lines for graphics. :/

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Presently Known Bugs:

v0.027a - Whene enemies first spot you, they fire their first shot in
          the wrong direction.

v0.024a - Energy can drop below 0. This will be normal behaviour until
          the ability to die is added.

v0.024a - Destroyed walls aren't yet updated on the automap.

v0.024a - If an error occurs, the error message may be hidden behind
          the display and the game will crash upon clearing it. You'll
          then have to manually disable the vectorzone.exe process from
          task manager to clear it from memory.

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Contact Info:

If you wish to make a feature suggestion or submit a bug report, please
send these details to: vzone@pixelships.com

Keep in mind that by sending in a suggestion or bug report, you waive
all rights to those ideas and information. This is because many
suggestions may already be planned for the initial release or
subsequent releases and bugs will get found and squashed sooner
or later.

Send all other inquiries to: gemini@pixelships.com

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Version Release History:

0.027a - Added particle effects and Crawler enemies. Added ability to
         select different Blaster rapidities until more detailed
         weapons are added. Perfected the collision detection routines.

0.024a - Added collision detection, status bars, and the beginnings of
         weapon handling. Weapon shots presently set to damage the
         map far more easily than normal for sake of experimentation.

0.022a - Fixed a bug with disabling the glow effect that caused all the
         graphics to be rendered too dark. Started adding gameplay
         elements such as status bars and player stats.

0.021a - Very quick re-release to add some options for people who are
         sensitive to the glow and/or depth effects in use.

0.02a  - Second public alpha release. Completely overhauled to remove
         the spinning camera. Features an entirely new mapping system
         to go along with the new design plans.

0.01a  - First public alpha release. Features the beginnings of map
         generation, inventory, tile placement and system
         configuration.