Comet Crisis Help File

Comet Crisis ™
Race to save outer space !

© 2006 Primate Games

Table of Contents

1. System Requirements..............................
Minimum Requirements
Recommended Requirements
Game controls and movement

2. Option Settings.......................................
Full Screen
Sound Effects
Music
Turret Linking
Detail Setting
Difficulty Setting

3. Playing Comet Crisis.........................
Managing Players
Creating a new player
Changing current player
Resuming previous game progress
General game play
Planets and missions
Mission Timer
Replaying a failed mission
Saving a High Score
Earning new Ranks!
Meteor Types and Sizes
Cosmic Power ups
Laser Turrets and Recharging
Energy Shield

> 4. Playing Bonus Missions.............................
> Cosmic Trivia
> Space Race

> 5. Troubleshooting...................................
> Setting up external options for Comet Crisis
> Font Smoothing (Windows XP)
> Adjusting the mouse speed
> Uninstalling Comet Crisis™
> Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

> 6. Credits...............................................
> Special Thanks

System Requirements [Table of Contents]

> To play Comet Crisis™, this game requires the following computer specifications to run properly. Be sure to check your system’s specifications for compatibility if problems occur. For other issues, please review the troubleshooting section.

> Minimum Requirements
> Windows XP (SP1)
> DirectX 9.0a or greater
> 600 MHz Pentium or AMD processor
> 256mb RAM
> 32mb video card or onboard video memory
> Windows compatible sound card
> Mouse
> Keyboard
> 20mb hard drive space for game files

> Recommended Requirements
> Windows XP (SP2)
> DirectX 9.0c or greater
> 800 MHz Pentium or AMD processor
> 256mb RAM or greater
> 64mb video card (GeForce or Radeon series)
> Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! sound card
> Optical Mouse
> Keyboard
> 20mb hard drive space for game files

> Game Controls and Movement

> > Primary Mission Controls

> > Moving the mouse left and right also automatically moves the Energy shield left and right.
> > Single Left-click................Fires both laser turrets (while "Linked"), fires left laser turret while "Unlinked".
> > Single Right-click..............Fires right laser turret (while "Unlinked").
> > F1....................................In-game Help (this document)
> > F4....................................Full screen and Windowed mode toggle
> > ESC………….................Pauses the game and accesses the in-game menu
> > Up Arrow.........................Cycle music track up
> > Down Arrow....................Cycle music track down

> > Cosmic Trivia Controls
> > Left-click.........................Used to select an answer
> > F1....................................In-game Help (this document)
> > F4....................................Full screen and Windowed mode toggle
> > ESC………….................Pauses the game and accesses the in-game menu

> > Space Race Controls

> > Moving the mouse left and right moves the ship left and right. Mouse up and down moves the ship up and down.
> > Left-click.........................Pressing this increases the ship's speed
> > Right-click........................Pressing this decreases the ship's speed
> > F1....................................In-game Help (this document)
> > F4....................................Full screen and Windowed mode toggle
> > ESC………….................Pauses the game and accesses the in-game menu

Option Settings [Table of Contents]

> Full Screen
> This feature toggles between full screen resolution and windowed resolution. Running the game in ‘windowed’ mode will increase the overall performance of the game.
> (On by default)

> Sound Effects
> This option turns on and off all sound effects within the game. Turning this off may increase game performance slightly.
> (On by default)
> Music
> This option toggles all game music tracks on or off. Turning this off may increase game performance slightly.
> (On by default)
> Turret Linking
> While active, this feature allows both laser turrets to fire at the same time (and at the same target) with just one left-click. While "unlinked" allows more control by letting the left turret fire with a left-click and the right turret fire with a right-click, independently.
> ("Linked" by default)

> Detail
> This setting controls the amount of debris, particles and other effects. Setting this to "Low" may increase game performance greatly.
> (High by default)

> Difficulty
> This affects the overall difficulty settings of the game. Can be changed at any time as desired.
> (Normal by default)

Playing Comet Crisis™ [Table of Contents]

> Players and save slots
> When playing for the first time, you will be prompted to create a player profile which will save your game automatically while you play!

> Creating a new player
> If a player slot is available, this allows you add additional players to the save slots. If all slots are full, you may overwrite a previous slot with a new player.

> Changing current player
> To change a player, simply enter into the player management menu and left-click on any player to change to that player. Doing so will automatically load that player's score, current mission and other information.

> Resuming previous game progress
> The last player save that was used will automatically be loaded upon the next time the game is started. If you do not wish to use this player, visit the player management menu to "change players".

General Game play [Table of Contents]

> Comet Crisis takes you on a journey through the solar system to battle the increasing threat of rogue asteroids, comets and meteors. The missions begin with the first planet from the Sun, Mercury at which you begin your quest to defend each planet from the incoming meteor storms.

> Upon completing the game you will be rewarded with a laser in Quick Race mode and full powered lasers at the start of each stage in Planet Defense mode.

> Planets and missions

> Beginning with the first planet nearest the sun, your mission is to protect these planets from the meteor storms;

> - Mercury
> - Venus
> - Earth
> - Mars
> - Jupiter
> - Saturn
> - Uranus
> - Neptune
> - Pluto
> - Mysterious "Planet X"

> Each planet has 6 stages of play which follows as such:
> - Round 1 "Cosmic Trivia" - Answering correctly to this trivia will earn you a reward!
> - Missions 1 through 5 - Battle through five stages of asteroid assaults!
> - Round 2 "Cosmic Trivia" - A second opportunity to earn some bonus points or rewards!
> - Missions 6 through 10 - Battle through five more stages of insane meteor mayhem!
> - Round 3 "Cosmic Trivia" - Final opportunity to earn some bonus points or rewards before leaving this planet.
> - Space Race to next planet - After successfully defending the previous planet, you must now navigate your way to the next planet!

> At the end of each mission, you will receive a report of points rewarded, asteroids destroyed and more!

> Mission Timer

> The mission timer represents the amount of time remaining to defend the planet from bombardment. Once this timer reaches zero and the planet's integrity is above zero, the mission is a success and you advance to the next mission. If the planet's integrity reaches zero (as shown on the planet's integrity meter) then the mission is failed and you must replay the mission.

> Replaying and/or failing a mission!

> If a mission is failed, you will be offered to reload your progress from the last save checkpoint. At which all earned points and progress will be lost. Becareful not to fail too many missions!

> Saving a High Score!
> Every time the game saves your progress, the highscore table is updated with your new score and your previous high score is replaced for you!

> Earning new ranks!
> Every time the game saves your progress, the game checks and upgrades your Rank automatically based on your score. The current points required for each rank is as follows:

> Cadet - All players begin at this rank.
> Ensign - 500,000 points
> Pilot - 1,000,000 points
> Leiutenant - 2,000,000
> Commander - 4,000,000
> Captain - 8,000,000
> Major - 16,000,000
> Colonel - 32,000,000
> Vice Admiral - 64,000,000
> Admiral - 96,000,000
> ??? - 150,000,000

> Meteor Types and Sizes

> All asteroids and meteors have 5 sizes ranging from tiny to huge.

> Rock
> Meteors, asteroids and comets made of rock are easily destroyed with little effort and do an average amount of damage if smashing into a planet.
> Rock asteroids tend to split and crumble when blasted, so be prepared to fend off smaller rocks!

> Metal
> Metallic asteroids, meteors and comets are comprised of dense iron, nickel and other hard metals. Because of their composition they are extremely difficult to destroy and can cause global disasters on an epic scale if impacting a planet.

> Ice
> Frozen particles of space dust collected over millions of years form these floating chunks of ice. Due to the structure of these asteroids, they are very easily destroyed, quickly burn up upon re-entry and deal very little damage to a planet's surface, but a hazard none-the-less.

> Cosmic Power ups

> These power ups and rewards can be found within asteroids or floating aimlessly in space. There are two types:

> Mission Power Ups
> When an asteroid, meteor or comet is destroyed, typically these power ups can be found. When one of these power ups touches the planet's energy shield or the player's ship, they become active and are put into effect. Power ups appear in both the 'defender' mode as well as the great space race.

> - Time Shift
> This power up removes a few seconds from the mission timer, ending the meteor storm sooner or allowing the race to complete quicker..

> - Shield Upgrade
> When collected, the planet energy shield increases, changes colors, and some energy is restored. When collected during the space race, the ship gains a protective barrier!

> - Laser Upgrade
> When collected, it charges the turret lasers to full and upgrades the damage output by one level and resets the laser's firing speed.

> - Gravity Well
> When collected a strong gravitational force randomly appears and attracts all asteroids, meteors and comets on screen towards it.

> - Speed Boost.
> Touching this causes the ship to gain faster movement, if collected during the defense mode this causes the lasers to fire faster!.

> - Invulnerability
> Allows the ship to travel through asteroids unharmed for a short time. Also causes the planet shield to take no damage for a short time.
> - Neutron Bomb.
> Collecting this clears the screen of all asteroids and meteors!

> - Bronze Star.
> A small medal awarded to keen space pilots. Adds a small point bonus.
> - Silver Star.
> A small and valuable medal awarded to elite space pilots. Adds a few points.
> - Gold Star.
> This gold medal is reserved for the galactic defenders and is very valuable, awards many points.

> - Red Cosmic Crystals.
> These crystals award points when collected.
> - Green Cosmic Crystals.
> These crystals award points when collected.
> - Purple Cosmic Crystals.
> These crystals award points when collected.

> Firing the laser turrets and recharging

> When each time the lasers fire (with a left-click), a small amount of energy is used from the each of the turret's batteries. When all energy is depleted from the battery, the turret cannot fire until the available energy recharges. Turret battery energy will recharge automatically over time.

> It's best not to waste energy by shooting randomly into space unless absolutely necessary, however if you do find yourself out of energy, try using the planet's energy shield to deflect incoming asteroids until the turrets are replenished.

> Planetary Defensive Energy Shield

> The energy shield is a key element in planetary defense. It is used to collect resources as well as deflect rogue asteroids and meteors. When a meteor or asteroid strikes the shield, the shield dims, representing the loss of energy used to deflect the object and the object is deflected away from the planet. While not intended for the primary defense of the planet, can be a useful tool in case the laser turrets require recharging from time to time.

Playing Bonus Missions! [Table of Contents]

> Cosmic Trivia
> During the trivia round, a question will be presented along with four possible answers. Only one of the four answers is correct. To select an answer, simply left-click on the choice you wish to make to select it, then when ready, click the "Launch" button. Once the launch button is clicked you cannot choose a different answer.

> Each trivia stage has a limited amount of time to choose a response. If no answer is chosen before the time reaches zero, the stage is failed as if you chose a wrong answer. At which the correct answer shall be presented and the game continues.

> For tips and clues to solving some trivia questions, refer to the in-game fun facts!
> Space Race
> After completing all trivia questions and 10 defense missions of a planet, you will enter the "Space Race" mini-game. The objective of this game is to move the rocket ship left and right to avoid asteroids and meteors, while collecting power ups and reach the finish line.

> This is your ship, move it around the screen using the mouse, beware of asteroids!

> If at any time the ship hits an asteroid or meteor, the ship will explode and respawn back in the middle of the screen and the stage will continue. The ship may be destroyed as many times as needed, however each ship loss results in less points awarded at the end of the race.

> Once the finish line is crossed, the stage ends and you advance to the next planet!

Troubleshooting [Table of Contents]

> Setting up external options for Comet Crisis™

> Font smoothing (Windows XP)
> On some computers the text (fonts) within the game may appear to be jagged and blurry. To correct this, simply right-click on the computer’s desktop background and choose “Properties”.

> Next, choose the “Appearance Tab” for the display properties dialog box.

> Left-click the gray button named “Effects”, finally be sure that the second option down “Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts” is checked. It is also recommended this setting be set to “Standard” mode. Then click OK and exit the dialog.

> Tip: Most computers have this setting already enabled by default; this feature should only be adjusted if desired.

> Adjusting Mouse Speed (Windows XP)
> To increase the mouse cursor's movement speed within Comet Crisis™, you will need to adjust the mouse speed for Windows.

> To do this, simply go to the START menu and choose SETTINGS, then click on CONTROL PANEL.
> *If using "category" view, then click "Printers and other hardware" and then click "Mouse" to access the mouse settings.
> *If using "classic" view, then simply double-click "Mouse" to access the mouse settings.
> Finally, choose the "Pointer Options" tab (center tab) and adjust the MOTION setting to your liking.

> These settings should only be adjusted if desired. Increasing the motion setting of the mouse will increase the movement within Comet Crisis™.

> Uninstalling Comet Crisis™

> To remove Comet Crisis™ from your computer, simply go to the Control Panel and choose Add/Remove programs. Select Comet Crisis™ and choose “remove”. Then simply follow the on-screen instructions.

> Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

> If a problem occurs, please check the system requirements to be sure they are what the game requires to work properly.

> If you are unsure of your computer’s specifications, and if you are using Windows XP, you can simply go to the START button, choose “Run” and type “dxdiag” to retrieve detailed information about your computer.

Credits [Table of Contents]

> Primate Games, LLC

> > Jerry Pritchard, President

> > Matthew Gillikin, Vice-President

> > Jack Seymour, Chief Technical Officer

> > Ryan Gibson, Operations

> > Sarah Pritchard, Web mistress

> Comet Crisis™ Production Team

> > Jerry Pritchard, Project Manager/Designer

> > Matthew Gillikin, Additional Design/Producer

> > Jack Seymour, Lead Programmer

> > Ryan Gibson, Additional Design/Testing

> > Adam Butler, Content Artist

> > David Chen , Character Artist

> > Tony Zharoff, Balance and Testing

> > Chantra Vorng , Balance and Testing

> > Joseph Chen, Sound Effects

> > Christine Eftink, Testing

> Special Thanks!

> > Mark Overmars & the GameMaker community
> > (GameMaker © 2006 The GameMaker Company)

> > Trond Gundersen, "Soundsystem v3" OGG DLL extension, used with permission.

> > Brandon Schoech (tepidmonkey), Windows system font "Galaxy Monkey" aka "galax___.ttf", used with permission.

> > Ray Larabie, Windows system font "astronbo.ttf", used under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.

> > Square Bear, music loops;
> > "303 Dreams"
> > (These songs copyright © Square Bear and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > Baker TRG , music loops;
> > "Anatomy of Desire"
> > (These songs copyright © Baker TRG and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > Lee I. Garnett, music loops;
> > "Austrian Dawn"
> > (These songs copyright © Lee I. Garnett and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > Vika, music loops;
> > "Big Clouds"
> > (These songs copyright © Vika and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > Decennial, music loops;
> > "Decennial music 13 "
> > (These songs copyright © Decennial and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > DJ Hemp , music loops;
> > "Dreary Nation"
> > (These songs copyright © DJ Hemp and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > Asim Khan, music loops;
> > "Familiar" and "Happy Beat"
> > (These songs copyright © Asim Khan and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > Nemo, music loops;
> > "Happy Ext."
> > (These songs copyright © Nemo and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > Dlaor, music loops;
> > "Happy Loop"
> > (These songs copyright © Dlaor and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > Iman Studios, music loops;
> > "Is Revolve" and "Sepration Trance"
> > (These songs copyright © Iman Studios and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > pOwer SMC corp , music loops;
> > "not important XI "
> > (These songs copyright © pOwer SMC corp and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > James Peraino, music loops;
> > "Arp and Strings"
> > (These songs copyright © James Peraino and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > DrivenOut, music loops;
> > "RoboticTranceLoop"
> > (These songs copyright © DrivenOut and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > Vyachelav, music loops;
> > "SweetElectro"
> > (These songs copyright © Vyachelav and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > Juergen, music loops;
> > "techno2"
> > (These songs copyright © Juergen and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > Sashank Tadepalli, music loops;
> > "Dectective Onlook "
> > (These songs copyright © Sashank Tadepalli and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > Sam Eklert, music loops;
> > "Ktrip"
> > (These songs copyright © Sam Eklert and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.)

> > Manu, music loops;
> > "Beautyfill"
> > (These songs copyright © Manu and used with Comet Crisis™ under the license "Freeware" as offered by the original author.

> Thank you for playing Comet Crisis™ by Primate Games.

> © 2006 Primate Games, LLC.
> The Primate Games "monkey" logo is a trademark of Primate Games, LLC. All rights reserved.
> Comet Crisis™ and its related banner logo are trademarks of the Comet Crisis™ brand also copyright 2006 Primate Games, LLC.