
 DotBot v1.13
 ------------

 A game by Edgar M. Vigdal + Simon Quincey
 Manual.txt v1.13 by Simon Quincey



DotBot is a new PC + MAC game with the focus on great gameplay, lot's of action, bonuses, secrets and features. The demo version has only 12 levels and a few things missing but the full version has all 100 levels. The full version also has more bonuses, speed rounds, music and other extras. Registering allows you to get further addons to the game too and also any new versions of the game as they become available.

DotBot is a shareware game. This means that you can download the free demo, play and test the game, and if you like the game you can then order it online.

If you have already bought this game then thankyou very much. 



Requirements for playing this game:
***********************************

This game should run very easily on a wide range of systems. There are plenty of options in there to turn things down if your system is quite low spec. Its been designed to be friendly with laptop screens and monitors of all resolutions by including a "zoom" mode (more on that later). The minimum resolution supported is 800*600 and the game does default to fullscreen mode but you can easily switch to windowed mode with F4 or by choosing the windowed mode option on the options screen. This setting IS stored for your next game.

NB// An 800*600 windowed game is actually 806*625 (due to window borders) so a laptop whose highest resolution is 800*600 will probably be limited to fullscreen mode only.

PC
--
Minimum: PII-350, 32MB RAM, 16MB Video, 40MB HD Space + DX7 or newer.
Medium:  PIII-800, 128MB RAM, 32MB 3D Video, 40MB HD Space + DX7 or newer.
Best:    P4-2.8GHz+, 512MB RAM, 128MB 3D Video, 40MB HD Space + DX7 or newer.

MAC
---
The development MAC was a MAC Mini. A 1.66ghz core duo, intel GMA950 gfx chip, 1GB RAM and OSX 10.4.9. There is a universal Mac binary available that allows the game to run on newer Intel based Macs and now also the older PPC based Macs.

The game supports Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP and Vista and now there is also the Mac version available. For the PC version you must have DirectX version 7 or later installed !! This can be downloaded direct from Microsoft at this address

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.mspx

The game also supports windows installed joysticks and/or joypads and mouse control. Unfortunately PTK does not support joystick control in the MAC version but maybe in the future this will be added.

TIP !: Do not have too many programs running at the same time! This can make the game run slow and jerky on lower spec machines. As with any game really.

..and always check for newer or better drivers for your graphics or sound card!

(www.nvidia.com  for geForce powered cards)
(www.ati.com     for ATI powered cards) 



Installing the game:
********************

PC
--
After you have downloaded the game, locate the directory where you selected to store the download. You can use the windows explorer to do this. When the file dotbot.exe is located, you start the install process by double clicking on the file. When the install program starts just follow the onscreen instructions. If you keep clicking next through the whole install process, the game will be installed to the default location and a shortcut icon will be placed on the desktop. You can also select to add a quickstart icon.

MAC
---
After downloading the dotbot.dmg file, double click the icon/file and then double click on the DotBot pkg icon to start the installation of the game. The game will be installed to the application folder in a new folder called DotBot. You can then create an alias file for the game and copy that to the desktop.


Starting the game:
******************

After the game is successfully installed, a shortcut icon is added to the desktop named DotBot. You start the game by double clicking on this icon. If any errors are reported or the game does not start, please locate the file named "dotbot.dbg" in the DotBot directory, and send this in an email to

dotbot@emv-software.com

 ** NOTE **

Hopefully this section will never appear on your system, but if it does, heres what you need to know.

Theres a 2nd line of error trapping that comes with the game (PC version only). If the game randomly crashes to the desktop (and its the games fault) then an error report is created in DotBots dying breath. Also, DotBot will activate the CrashReportSender.exe. This little tool will create an email to be sent to me (Edgar M Vigdal). The created email will be sent when you click the "send" button and the sender program will tell you if it was successful. It'll also automatically close when you click "ok" on the success box. The information will tell me exactly where in the game the error occurred and a few pieces of info about your system. The crashreportsender uses an mxlookup technique to send the email directly to bugs@warblade.as bypassing your email client and if you wish to send this manually then simply send the last created dotbot.dbg file to the above email address. 1 other thing to know about the crashreporter is that the tool tries to find your default email address to be sent with the report (so Edgar can reply). This cannot always be found and so you should not always expect a reply...


Additional comments about the crash: In the crashreport tool
------------------------------------------------------------

You can add whatever you like to the additional comments box. Maybe you were about to start a game, or start a bonus round ? Maybe you just cleared a particular level. You can of course choose to cancel this email too, but please send these reports in if you get a random crash. Sending these mails will be very helpful to us and everyone else playing the game.

If any problems arise using this tool, then you can still help by sending the dotbot.dbg file to bugs@warblade.as as it will also contain the crash report text.

 Thankyou.



The profile system:
*******************

On first run of the game you should be asked if you wish to create a new profile. Just supply a name and click "use" before you start playing and the game will record your statistics on many things. You don't have to create one (just press cancel) but then your playing stats will not be recorded. As you play, and your stats rise, you will start to unlock hidden extras and awards. Can you reach the ultimate award ???

To access your profile and see how you are doing (ingame or during menus) just press TAB or select the option at the bottom (if on title screen). If no profile is created then pressing TAB will do nothing ingame.

NB// To create a profile you must be on the menus and in single player mode.



The menu screens:
*****************

When the game has successfully started it will be showing you the title screen. The game logo, credits and halls of fame will cycle periodically. If you are on the highscore lists you can cycle through them with left and right and scroll through the scores with the up and down arrow keys. Also, after a certain amount of time the game will start to play itself. (Pressing fire exits this demo mode.) When the title screen is showing you can use the mouse to select all the options along the bottom of the screen. You can also use the cursors and fire to select menu options.

 The menu items:

 START        : Starts the game of course.
 HALL OF FAME : Takes you to the scoreboards.
 OPTIONS      : Set up the keys, number of players, skill modes and gfx options.
 PROFILES     : Shows you your current profile and allows to create new ones.
 HOW TO PLAY  : A few tips on how to play.
 ABOUT        : Credits.
 QUIT         : Quits the game. You will be asked for verification.



The options:
************

On the option screen you will find the following options:

 Sound FX Volume (0-100 on a slider)
 Music Volume (0-100 on a slider)

 In the PC version you can choose between OpenGL or DirectX modes (choose the mode thats best suited to your video card). DirectX is the default mode for compatibility reasons but OpenGL can be a lot smoother. OpenGL does require a better video card though and the MAC version uses OpenGL mode as DirectX is unavailable of course.

 16bit/32bit graphics (32bit has smoother colours but may reduce framerate)
 Fullscreen/Windowed (choose your screenmode)

 Zoom (this option is primarily for widescreen displays.)

nb// Zoom mode is a way to keep the aspect ratio of the game correct on high resolution widescreen monitors or laptops. If you run the game in fullscreen mode on a widescreen monitor without zoom mode switched on then the gamescreen will appear stretched sideways. You may prefer a fullscreen stretched view so the decision is yours.

nb// The Zoom function does have an error currently in the PC version when using the DirectX mode. Its actually from the PTK development language and not the gamecode and we hope this will be fixed very soon. It is only a visual glitch and doesn't effect gameplay.

 Skill Mode (kids, easy, normal, hard and Ace!)

 Player number (1,2,3 or 4 players)

 Game mode (in turn, duel or co-operative) 4 player co-operative would mean 2 teams of 2. Kind of a duel co-op mode :)
  
At the bottom of this options screen are some links to further options and from here you can go to the input options page and the extra options page.


Input Options
-------------

Clicking an input option will cycle it from keys to joystick (if one is set up and available) and to mouse. Each of the 4 players can be individually set up. Just click a direction or fire key to change it and then press the key you wish to use. Joysticks are currently only supported in the PC version. Mouse control is primarily added for the kids mode but is available in all skill modes for all players. Just point where you want DotBot to go and he'll take the best route there. He'll even be smart and dodge the BadBots or select paths with more parts to pick up if you select to have the Mouse AI mode ON. If the pointer goes red then you are too far away from a valid path location. With AI mode OFF DotBot will always go where you point by the shortest route. This means he won't dodge BadBots or choose paths with more pickups.


Extra Options
-------------

Extra Options include shadows, anti aliasing and options for older or newer computers. The old computer option (slow) reduces the max number of flares and turns a few effects off or down for better performance. The midrange computer option (normal) is the default and is hopefully smooth enough for everyone. Most effects here are optimised around my (hitm4ns) PC which is an Athlon 3000 single core cpu, 1.5gb ram (makes little difference) and a 256mb nVidia 7600GT video card running Vista Ultimate. Nothing mega fancy but nothing too old either. The highend option (fast) is optimised more around Edgars PC which is a 3.3ghz P4, 2.5gb ram and a 256mb ATI RX1650XT. This top option just adds a few more flares and sparks on some effects and should only be tried if you think the framerate can keep up. Please note we both see slowdowns at times in DirectX mode and we both usually use OpenGL mode because of this. Anti Aliasing is very nice to use and doesn't have a big performance hit but the shadows option does seem to. Try them and see how well they work for you. There is also a backdrop option which offers you the original blank mode, a new static background mode and also an animated background mode. By default the parts that DotBot eats (washers, cogs etc.) will be rotating ingame. There is an option here to make them static if you wish. Another option found here is the HEALTH or LIVES option. The health mode uses a meter that will be knocked down when you touch a BadBot. The amount you lose depends on the skill level you are playing on of course. The lives mode is as before with you starting with 3 lives, and a touch of a BadBot means a life is lost. The health meter is like 1 long life.



The game controls:
******************

You control the player with these keys by default...

   Move Left       =  Cursor Left
   Move Right      =  Cursor Right
   Move Up         =  Cursor Up
   Move Down       =  Cursor Down
   Fire weapon     =  Left CTRL
   Drop bombs      =  Left SHIFT (you must have bombs to drop!)
   Say "Ready"     =  Left CTRL

You can also choose to use a joystick, gamepad or mouse so long as you have one set up within your OS. These controls can be reconfigured of course. Go to the options page and then to the input options page to set up any keys and joysticks you wish to use. The mouse uses the left button for fire and the right button for bombs.

Buffered key input is now included. Press a direction key before you get to a junction and the game will remember that keypress and turn at the junction. This makes the game feel much more responsive to the way you want to move.

   NUMPAD + ingame = Music volume UP
   NUMPAD - ingame = Music volume DOWN
   NUMPAD * ingame = Select a new random track
       PgUp ingame = SFX Volume UP
       PgDn ingame = SFX Volume DOWN
        END ingame = Mute all sounds
         F1 ingame = Instant Save
         F2 ingame = Instant Load

    F8 = Take Screenshot - Files are saved in a folder called screenshots and will be compressed jpgs at 800*600 resolution.

   ESC = Quit game. You will always get a prompt to quit from both ingame and from menus (use escape to pause the game.)



How to play:
************

Guide your DotBot around the levels while eating all the various nuts and bolts and try to get as many points as you can. Grab the glowing Power Parts and catch and kill the BadBots for more points. Power Parts will scare the BadBots blue so you'll know when you can kill them. Bonuses will appear from time to time giving you (if you can grab them), speedups, guns, lasers and much more cool stuff.

Scores are shown at the top, lives left (or health) and bonuses held are shown at the bottom and the bonus timer bars are shown at the sides.

There are also bonus rounds and a few secrets to be found :)

Bonuses started off as being a "1 at a time" type deal, but now you can carry up to 3 at once. However some will replace others. For instance you cannot carry both a gun and a laser, a x2 will replace a x5 and vice versa and the gems and presents will all replace each other. You can however carry a speedup, a laser AND have a present or gem active all at the same time.

At certain scores you can also gain an extra life (1 extra life equates to being given a full health bar)
Kids and Easy modes = 100.000, 500.000, 1.000.000, 5.000.000, 10.000.000 and every 10 million thereafter.
Normal and above = 500.000, 1.000.000, 5.000.000, 10.000.000 and every 10 million thereafter.



Save points:
************

If you reach level 25 then you will unlock a save point. On your next game you will have the option to start from level 25. This applies at level 50 and 75 as well. This will allow you to see all the levels in the game but do remember that starting at a later level will start you at a slightly higher game speed too.



Duel + Team Modes:
******************

2 player, 3 player, 4 player and 2x2 player team duels are available. In team duels each member of a team will help the other member to defeat the other team. In 2 or 3 player duel its everyone for themselves. In all the duel modes you can use bombs, ice, glue, guns and lasers against your rivals and if you lose all your lives you can even control the BadBots and get some revenge. Each player gets their own score and at the end of the game the overall winner is announced. In team games the bonuses will not effect your team mates so things like guns and ice will not hurt them but they will hurt your opponents. Extra lives are placed in a collective pool and when none are left at the bottom you won't come back after a death. If you are sitting out and a fellow player finds a life then you could be revived and play some more. E.X.T.R.A. and bombs are also shared in team modes... Team mode can only use the lives system but duel mode can choose between lives mode or health mode.



Kids mode:
**********

Kids mode uses health mode only and is there just for the little ones. Hearts will appear a little more often in this mode meaning the young ones can play for longer and not worry so much about the BadBots. Some of the bad bonuses either don't appear or rarely appear and the game is quite a bit slower. Mouse aiming is added for this mode and our kids really love it. Mouse mode uses a clever bit of AI where your DotBot will always try to stay away from the BadBots or follow paths where there are more parts to pick up. We hope your kids can have fun in this mode like ours do.



Ace mode:
*********

Ace mode is for the hardcore player. Its fast !! And health is knocked off a bit quicker here if in that mode. It'll be interesting to see what the top scores are in this killer mode.



The hiscore system:
*******************

The hiscores are saved for each game mode and the top 100 scores are displayed in each Hall Of Fame. Press the left and right arrows at the top of each scoreboard to choose which one you are viewing and press the up and down arrows to scroll the lists. Mousewheel support is also added for list scrolling and you can of course click the arrows on screen to move and change the boards. Scrolling uses acceleration too, so a fast mouse wheel move will zoom you to the opposite end of the list where a slower mousewheel scroll will give a smooth slow scroll of the list.

Your scores can be submitted to the online Hall-Of-Fame where you can compete against other DotBot players around the world. Your top scores are submitted when you click the submit button and it will automatically take you to the online list view if you aren't already there. Clicking the list button again will give you a mixed list view which is your local scores and the current online scores together. If you upload new scores then your previous scores are removed (if lower). This is to hopefully stop the board being filled up by 1 or 2 people.

A line at the very bottom of the list will tell you which type of board you are currently viewing wether its local, online or mixed. Please note that for all boards, you can only submit once every 60 seconds. This goes for viewing online scores and merged scores too. It will sync once (get all the online lists) and will not allow another sync for 5 minutes.

Please also note that for syncing and viewing of online scores to work, you must allow the DotBot.exe access through your firewall if you have one. In windows XP the built in firewall will ask wether you wish to allow the connection. You must say yes or it will not work. If you use a different firewall then you must read its documentation about allowing certain files.



The music system:
*****************

The full game comes with 3 ingame music tracks, but what if you want to listen to some of your favourite mp3's while playing ? First you could drop a winamp playlist (m3u file) into the games main folder NB!! On the mac the playlist.m3u must be placed in the user folder (eg. /Users/edgar/playlist.m3u). This stops you having to move or copy your music. If no m3u file is found then the game will look in the "UserMusic" folder instead. You can have up to 50 mp3's in here. If no m3u is found and no mp3's are in the usermusic folder then just the default tunes will be used. The tunes you want to hear can be ogg or mp3 format but must be renamed (if using the usermusic folder) so the game can read them. song0.mp3 (or ogg) to song49.mp3 (or ogg) is the naming scheme. By far the best method is creating a playlist with winamp or a similar program.

NB// The playlist must be named playlist.m3u to be read by the game.
NB// Corrupt mp3's in a playlist could crash the game.
NB// MAC ONLY. The Mac version can only load mp3 files!



The voice system:
*****************

DotBot does include a voiceset. If you'd like to create your own just make sure you name the files the same and have them in ogg format (MAC: only mp3 format supported) Back up the originals and place your new ones in the data/sounds folder.

In future we may make more voicesets available but if you'd like to share yours (and we approve it) we could add it to the DotBot download page for all other registered players to grab.



And Finally...
The NEW Instant Save System:
****************************

From v1.09 onwards there is also an instant save option. By pressing F1 while playing you will create a save point. This can be re-loaded (with F2) up to 3 times but then its gone forever. There is a 30 second delay between each save you can make but no delay in reloading. Each game mode for each profile used can have a single save stored. This means Dad can save his single player hard game (so long as he's got his profile in use) while Mum can save her single player hard game too without them conflicting (so long as she is using her profile.) You can save without using a profile too but then all the family will use that non-profile save slot. Best to use profiles if more than 1 person plays the game. When you do reload a savegame you should always get the prompt to press fire and then see the 3,2,1,Go graphics.

One thing to note here is that if you save in a gamemode while using mouse control then change your control options to keyboard and reload that save, then you will have mouse mode again. Almost all options are included in a savefile. These changed options will revert back at endgame if the ones in the save differ from the ones you have selected.



Credits:
********

 Programming + testing

  by Edgar M Vigdal.
 --------------------

 Quality control + testing

  by Simon Quincey.
 -------------------

 All Graphics, Sound Effects, Level Design and ideas

  by Edgar M Vigdal and Simon Quincey.
 --------------------------------------

 Ingame tune and remix (supplied seperately on download page)

  by Infamous.
 --------------

 All other included music is royalty free from various sources.

 check www.infamousuk.com and http://www.myspace.com/1nfamousuk and http://www.bbprecordings.com/ for more of Infamous' great music

 Beta testers

  Simon Quincey + Edgar M Vigdal
 --------------------------------

  Our kids, Marta, Rebecca, Neo and Lila
 ----------------------------------------

         and ALL of you !!
        -------------------

 Special thanks to our extra testers
 -----------------------------------

 Anders (aka Anders Olsen)
 Thursobard (aka David Terrace and Theresa Adshead)
 LukeyBoy (aka Luke Rainford)
 WarbladeRoxStill (aka Arthur Overton)

 please report all bugs or ideas to us on...

 hitt.man@ntlworld.com

 or better still at the EMV Forums at...

 http://www.emv-software.com/forum/phpBB2



 Written using the PTK game engine. http://www.phelios.com/ptk/
 **************************************************************
  A super special thanks to Krysztofiak Patrice for fixing certain issues with PTK
   and the invaluable code help, especially with the Mac versions.


   ...and thanks to you all for playing !!



Known Issues:
*************

PTK Zoom mode bug. Causes some gfx corruption in areas of the game. Recently this issue has been vastly improved but still isn't perfect. Future PTK updates will hopefully clear this away. This effects Zoom Mode in DirectX only.

Lack of joystick support in the Mac version. Hopefully this can be added very soon.

PTK 3.0 is coming !!



Possible Issues (Require feedback):
***********************************

Ctrl Alt Del problems. Game hanging ?
Very high CPU use.



Version History:
****************

v1.13 FULL Released 21.02.09
****************************

Fixed   - Life or health modes when playing in multiplayer mode
Fixed   - Load/Save exploit
Added   - New web routines to prevent HOF related crashes when submitting/getting data many times
Changed - Made my own RectFill function to fix crash problems on Mac
Changed - Made my own LineDraw function to fix crash problems on Mac
Changed - Drunk mode removed from kids mode
Changed - Moved the data storage folder (hiscores, options, saves, profiles) to dotbot_data in the user folder on Mac
          NB// In order to keep your saves, profiles, scores etc. you must copy the old files from inside the old program package to the new data folder location. These are dotbot.his, profiles_??.dat, options_??.dat and any SAVEGAME???.dat files. When this is done you should then download and play this new version.


v1.12 FULL Released 25.06.08
****************************

Added   - Sound effect to pill adder laying pills
Fixed   - Mouse graphic re-added to package
Fixed   - Sound effect on scoreboard switching buttons and keys
Fixed   - Start points not saving correctly
Fixed   - Crashreportsender (new version added)
Fixed   - Crashreportsender looks in correct place now for crash report file (stops multiple window issue on vista)
Fixed   - Bombs now work after loading a savegame
Fixed   - Sound on main menu buttons on mouseover
Changed - Submit will now only ever submit your top score (used to be top 5 scores)
Changed - Few sound effects
Changed - Now using BASS library for all sound and music


v1.11 FULL UnReleased
*********************


v1.10 FULL Released 29.04.08
****************************

Added   - Sounds to secret stars
Fixed   - Various level issues
Fixed   - Bonus score after bonus level 10 stays on max now
Fixed   - Corrected number of bonus levels that need to be completed before secret levels are enabled
Fixed   - Fruits bonuses keep going up after level 100 now
Fixed   - Secret levels now unlock during play when requirements are completed
Fixed   - Clicking thru score lists ingame, they now loop around
Changed - A few power pill placements
Changed - Secret markers for 1st secret level (easier)


v1.09 FULL Released 13.10.07
****************************

Added   - SAVEGAME !! See new section just before credits
Fixed   - Double bullet-add-delay
Fixed   - Possible bug stopping dead BadBots coming back to life
Fixed   - Bad magnet reset
Fixed   - Bonus round fruits now score points again
Fixed   - Reference to buying pocmon in dotbot demo
Fixed   - Url in full version pointing to pocmon site
Changed - Maze drawing optimised
Changed - The way scores are synced


v1.08 FULL Released 05.09.07
****************************

Added   - Profile button to title screen options
Added   - Mouse control, primarily for kids mode but available in all other modes too
Added   - BadBots will head to a control point every so often
Added   - Profile message if tab or option selected in anything but single player mode
Added   - Rotation option for parts in extra options
Added   - Cool new Magnet bonus
Added   - AI Mode ON/OFF options for mouse on controls screen
Added   - Arrows on DotBot when using AI mode for mouse control
Fixed   - Fruits not showing in some circumstances
Fixed   - Bonus icons appearing out of place
Fixed   - Drunk bonus now effects last player in duel multiplayer games
Fixed   - Selecting 2 player mode actually left it in single player in some circumstances
Fixed   - Pressing escape from the initial profile window stopped you opening it again
Fixed   - Counting of EXTRA gained in profile
Fixed   - Counting of bombs used in profile
Fixed   - Control settings weren't saved correctly
Fixed   - Take turns mode now shows "press fire to start" when changing player
Fixed   - Profiles disabled if not in single player mode
Fixed   - Playlist bug at level 100-101
Fixed   - Fire button, escape, ctrl and left mouse can now all cancel the level 100 picture
changed - Many sounds, new voice
changed - Blue time on BadBots reduces slower across levels now. Time will eventually be zero


v1.07 FULL Non-Public Version
*****************************

Release - First internal test version

