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A Kevin Murphy Game 03.04.07
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Contents
Contact - kevinmurphy23@hotmail.com Website - http://www.kjmsoftware.co.uk/ |
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| About
The Game Auto Cross Racing is a racing car game, viewed from above the cars
for Windows PC Computers. |
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Game
Features |
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1Ghz processor |
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Running the SETUP.EXE file from your installation folder will open up the graphics settings box. From here you can select your desired graphics resolution. The default settings are 1024 x 768, 32 bit color depth and full screen |
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The game can be played either with keys or Digital joystick / joypad. You can choose which option to use via the Main Menu Options screen. The menus are navigated via the cursor and return keys only.
In Game Default Keys. The in game keys can be redefined via the Main Menu Options Screen.
In Game Joystick Controls. Accelerate = Joystick Button 1 The joystick can be configured via the Main Menu Options screen.
In Game Menu Navigation = Cursors Keys and Return. Main Menu.Navigation = Cursor Keys and Return.
In Game Hot Keys. F1 = Cycle through the 6 cameras. |
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The Main Menu screen has 6 options. Navigation is via the Cursor and Return keys. 1. Track selection. Use left and right cursor keys to select a track to race. Available tracks will be colored. Unavailable tracks will be locked and greyed out. Press Return to select and drive track. 2. Easy / Normal Mode. Press Return to toggle Easy and Normal modes of play. Only the first 5 tracks and the first 10 cars are available to unlock in Easy Mode and you can race for the easy trophy on the 5th track. Normal mode is harder to play, but all 10 tracks and all 20 cars are unlockable with the 10th track being the trophy race. 3. Laps. Use left and right cursor keys to change the number of laps you wish to race. 1 - 99. The harder the track the more laps you will want to race as progress per lap will be slower than on the easier tracks. 4. Car Selection. Use left and right cursor keys to select a car and press Return to make a purchase. You cannot purchase the same car as your current car, only if you have sufficient cash and if the car is unlocked. Every time you unlock a track a further 2 cars will also be unlocked. 5. Options. Press Return to go to the Main Menu Options screen. Here you can delete saved games, redefine keys / joystick and alter the music volume. 6. Exit. Press Return to quit the game back to windows. Press Y or N when asked. Your current game will be saved automatically when exiting the game. |
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The Main Menu Options screen is accessed via the Main Menu screen and itself contains 10 options. Navigation is via the Cursor and Return keys. 1. Reverse Joystick. Pressing return toggles Yes and No. This option reverses the X axis of the joystick. Reversing the player car steering. 2. Swap Joystick Buttons. Pressing return toggles Yes and No. This option swaps over the accelerate and brake buttons on the joystick. 3. Accelerate Key. Redefine the key used to Accelerate the car. Press Return once, then press the Key you want to use. The key chosen will be displayed next to Accelerate. 4. Brake Key. Redefine the key used to Brake / Reverse the car. Press Return once, then press the Key you want to use. The key chosen will be displayed next to Brake. 5. Steer Left Key. Redefine the key used to steer the car left. Press Return once, then press the Key you want to use. The key chosen will be displayed next to Steer Left. 6. Steer Right Key. Redefine the key used to steer the car right. Press Return once, then press the Key you want to use. The key chosen will be displayed next to Steer Right. 7. Boost Key. Redefine the key used for Nitro Boost. Press Return once, then press the Key you want to use. The key chosen will be displayed next to Boost. 8. Delete Saved Games. Press Return to delete both Easy and Normal saved games. Press Y / N when prompted. 9. Music Volume. Use Left and Right Cursor Keys to alter the music
volume slider. 10. Back. Press Return to go back to the Main Menu screen. |
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The In Game menu is accessed by pressing the Escape Key whilst in game, after Return has been pressed to start the race and consists of 11 options. Use Cursor Keys and Return to navigate. 1. Continue Race. Press Return or Escape to leave the in game menu and return to the race. 2. Restart Race. Press Return to quit your current race and restart a new one on the same track. 3. SFX Volume. Press Left and Right Cursor keys to move the sfx volume slider left and right. This will alter the in game sfx volume levels. 4. MusicVolume. Press Left and Right Cursor keys to move the music volume slider left and right. This will alter the in game music volume levels. 5. Tree Detail. 3 detail levels are available by pressing Return. Off ( no trees ), Low ( basic trees ), Hi ( trees and tree shadows ). Altering the tree detail level will help with poor performance and increase the frame rate. 6. Car Smoke. Pressing Return will either turn On or Off the smoke the car generates when skidding. This option is to aid poor game performance and to increase the ingame frame rate. 7. Mini Map. Pressing Return will toggle the ingame Mini Map On and Off. This also helps with poor performance by increasing the frame rate. 8. Camera. Pressing Return cycles through the six camera modes. Fixed allows the camera orientation to remain fixed as the camera follows the car. Rotational allows the camera to turn with the car and always tries to align itself so the car races up the screen and a locked camera which locks the cameras yaw orientation to the cars yaw orientation. All cameras have an Auto Zoom option too, which increases the cameras height the faster the car travels, thus aiding visibility. 9. Camera Height. Using the Left and Right Cursor keys alters the camera height slider. This will raise and lower the camera. A higher camera setting will allow for a larger view of the track which will make racing easier. Recommended for beginners. 10. Skidmarks. Press return to toggle the player car skidmarks on and off. This also helps with poor performance by increasing the frame rate. 11. Exit Game. Press Return to quit the current game and return to the Main Menu. |
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It is recommended that all non essential windows applications are closed to help with overall game performance and that your computer graphics card drivers are up to date. Disconnection from the Internet is also advisable. Full screen graphics modes will always provide faster frame rates than windowed modes, with a scalable window providing the slowest frame rates. Options that will help to increase framerates. 1. Lowering the Tree detail level. 2. Turning the Mini Map off. 3. Turning the Car Smoke off. 4. Turning Skidmarks off. 5. Changing to Full Screen mode with a lower screen resolution. It is not advisable to use large mp3/wav music files, as this will increase loading times dramatically. Reccomended size for each music file would be around the 5 mb mark and you can fill the music folder up with as many music files as you wish. The ingame framerate is locked at 60 fps and will not rise any higher even if your monitors refresh rate is higher. Altering your monitors refresh rate to 60hz will help to provide a smoother update but is not essential. |
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As your car takes damage it's body will deform and will also produce smoke trails. The more crumpled your car is the more smoke will be produced. This will also degrade your cars performance, so you will need to make a pitstop to repair the damage. Judging when to pitstop, as in real life can be crucial to victory. Do you delay in the pits and possibly lose places but gain boost upon leaving or struggle on with a damaged car which is harder to control. Each car has it's own pitstop position in the pitlane and the player car always uses the 1st pitstop position marked with the words PITSTOP. Drive into the pitstop box marked as PITSTOP, wait near the middle of the box for a few seconds ( you will hear pitstop sfx, machinery ect ) and when the commentator shouts go you will see the words GO rise from the pitlane, This is your cue to leave the pitstop and rejoin the race. Experience will help you decide when to pitstop. |
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The first golden rule to success in any racing game is to learn and memorize the tracks. This will allow you to anticipate corners and thus take a faster line and an overall quicker lap time will result. Regular glances at the mini map will also help to refresh your memory.
If you keep finding yourself crashing or spinning off the track, you're going too fast. Don't worry about winning at first. Instead, concentrate on staying on the track as much as possible and memorizing the track as you go. Changing to one of the Auto Zoom Cameras and or changing the Camera Height will give you a greater view of the track and should help to make driving easier
Memorizing where the oil and ice patches are is also essential to obtaining fast lap times.
Some Tracks have multiple routes. You can judge which route is the fastest by keeping an eye on your lap time and best lap time in the on screen display.
You always start in last place in the grid order ( it's more fun working your way up through the field ). You can often gain several positions from the start by driving as fast as possible down the pitlane with copious use of the boost button until the first corner is reached, as no cars will be pitstopping from the start of the race.
When leaving the pitstop, take a quick glance at the mini map to see if any other cars have pitstopped. If not. it will be safer to accelerate down the pitlane until a high speed is reached and then to rejoin the main track.
The boost feature is probably the most important feature to master as poor usage will result in wasting what little you have. The boost is most effective in boosting your cars acceleration, so using the boost whilst at a high speed will have little effect.
The boost feature can be used in the following ways. 1. Boost out of the pits. 2. Boost past your opponents on straits. 3. Boost leaving a corner to gain grip. 4. Boost to rejoin the track after going offroad. The Boost feature cannot be used to aid in braking or when reversing.
As you progress in the game the tracks and opponents become harder. You will need to upgrade your car when you can afford it as each subsequent car in the car list has superior performance than the previous.
If you find progress on a particular track difficult, why not abandon it and race on an easier track to earn enough cash to upgrade your car. Then re attempt the track with the new faster car.
Dirty tactics can be employed against the AI opponents. If you find yourself behind a car with heavy damage you can deliberately collide with it in order to make it pitstop. This technique is advisable in the closing stages of a race.
Forcing opponents off track or into the oil / ice patches can also help you gain positions.
Sometimes, it's preferable to wait behind a gaggle of cars until they have all navigated a corner and then to accelerate past them on the straight, rather than trying to pass them before or during a corner, which would probably result in you taking more damage or crashing off road.
The Mini map displays all the cars and theyre positions on track. The Red dot is always the player car, the Green dot shows the first place car and the many Blue dots are the AI cars. If the Green Dot disapears from the mini map the Player Car will be in the lead and in first place. This will also be shown on the Position display in the top right hand corner of the screen.
On occasion you may find yourself off track either through crashing, being pushed or through simply trying to find a faster line. While it pays to experiment to find out whch corners can be cut to save time , some corners must be navigated. If you happen to miss one of these corners you will see a flashing Checkpoint Missed message displayed above your car and a white ring will appear on your mini map, showing exactly where on the track the checkpoint was missed. If you decide to carry on, your current lap will not register when you cross the start / finish line. Instead you will have to drive around the track again until you fall within range of the missed checkpoint. On some occasions it will be more beneficial to turn the car around and drive back towards the missed checkpoint. Other times, it will be more efficient to carry on and drive around the track again. Other times, a restart may be needed. A missed checkpoint is a rare occasion and usualy happens when you find yourself offroad by a considerable amount.
Car control comes with practice and after a short time you will notice that you are able to anticipate and slide into and out of corners, boosting on the exit and overtaking as you go.
Practice makes perfect. Have Fun :) |
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Game Design - Kevin Murphy Programming - Kevin Murphy Graphics - Kevin Murphy Sound Effects - Kevin Murphy Music
- Dejan Subotin (Dafunk) Playtesting - Kevin Murphy with the kind help and feedback of various users from the forums of
Additional Car Graphics - SuperMotoXL Designs Check out the great music of Dafunk and other composers at
I hope you enjoy the game K.Murphy |
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