
                            Free Lunch Design

                                presents

                           Harold, the Homeboy

                                   in


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             I     C     Y        T      O      W      E     R
                                                                   v1.0
    =====================================================================


GENERAL

    Welcome to Icy Tower! This game is completely free. You may play
    it as much as you like without paying a single buck. In exchange
    for playing it, you are instead asked for a small favour. You are 
    encouraged to send any comments you might have about this game.
    See contact & support at the end of this document.


DISTRIBUTING

    Icy Tower is freeware, anybody may (and should) play it. Therefore,
    you are encouraged to distribute this game (in it's original form)
    like crazy. Upload to every website and bbs you know, give a copy to
    all your friends, etc.. However, this game may not be included in a
    compilation or any other kind of commercial package without the
    permission from the author. See contact near the end of this document.
  

DISCLAIMER
                  
    I do not accept responsibility for any effects, adverse or otherwise, 
    that this software may have on you, your computer, your sanity, your 
    dog, or anything else that you can think of. Use it at your own risk. 
    I have, however, never experienced any trouble with it.
                           

DESCRIPTION

    Icy Tower is small and short but surprisingly addictive game. Control
    Harold the Homeboy as he climbs his tower of infinite height whilst
    doing cool jumps and moves in order to get a high score and awe from
    his friends in the hood.


HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

    Required:
	* pc 200 MHz
	* windows
	* directX 7.0 or later	
	* 16 mb ram

    Recommended:
	* pc 400 MHz
	* windows
	* directX 7.0 or later	
	* 16 mb ram
        * sound card
	* gamepad


INSTALLING AND STARTING THE GAME

    Since you're reading this text the game is probably installed and ready 
    to be played already. If not, loacate the installation program 
    (icytower_install.exe) and run it. When installed you will find the 
    necessary shortcuts in your start menu.


THE PLOT

    One day, when Harold had nothing particular to do, he found a huge
    tower. The tower was icy cold, incredibly high and totally deserted.
    "Ey, dis seems like a cool place to hang out in", thought Harold and
    entered.

    The tower was indeed empty, but small platforms here and there made it
    possible for anyone brave enough to ascend to its higher levels.
    "Ey, I bet a homie like me can do some mighty cool jumps and moves in
    here", thought Harold, grazing upwards.

    And so it started... Help Harold to make the coolest and highest jumps
    in history!


THE TITLESCREEN

    The titlescreen will present you with a menu of the following format:

    START GAME		- starts a new game
    INSTRUCTIONS 	- shows you a brief instruction screen
    OPTIONS		- lets you customize the game
    EXIT		- exits to your os

    Use the arrowkeys or gamepad to navigate the menu. The current selection 
    will be pointed at by Harold. Use space or button 1 to select.


THE OPTIONS-SCREEN

    The options menu gives you the following to choose from:

    SOUND VOL		- adjust sfx output
    MUSIC VOL		- adjust music output
    FULLSCREEN          - toggle between fullscreen and windowed mode
    EYE CANDY           - toggle eye candy on and off
    REJUMP              - toggle rejump on and off

    Note 1: Some computers might have trouble running the game in windowed
            mode. Just so you know, this might not always work.

    Note 2: Eye Candy does not add to the game play but will make the
            playing experience better. If your computer is slow and the
            game lags you might want to test to turn this off. 

    Note 3: Rejump. If this is on, you can hold spacebar and Harold will
            jump constantly. If off you'll have to repress space to make
            a new jump. Some like it one way, some like the other.


CONTROLS

    Use the following keys to control Harold:

    Left and right arrows	- run left/right
    Space			- jump
    Esc				- pause
   
    If you have a gamepad connected, use the direction pad to move Harold
    and button 1 to jump.


PLAYING

    The first thing you need to know is that Harold will constantly
    accelerate as long you move him. The second thing is that the faster
    Harold runs, the higher and longer will he jump. The third thing is
    that you can bump into walls, turn around and maintain most of your
    speed. This is a useful technique if you want to do cool jumps.

    As you escalate the tower it will start to scroll slowly and you will
    have to keep up in order to not fall of the screen. This is not so
    hard in the beginning since the scrolling is very slow. But every 30
    seconds, an alarm clock will sound and the scrolling will go slightly
    faster. The clock in the upper left corner of the screen shows you how
    much time you have left until next speed up.

    Icy Tower can be played in many ways, although you might not get very
    much score in some of them. :) The allover goal of the game is to get
    a high score and nice place in the high score list.

    You will get 10 points for each floor you reach. This alone will not
    gain you any great scores however. To be really victorious, you need
    to learn the secrets of combo jumps.

    To start the combo mode, you will have to make a jump at least two
    floors high. Ie run with Harold until you have speed enough, jump and
    land two floors above to where you started.

    When in combo mode the meter to the left of the screen will fill up and
    it will drain within a second. In order to stay in combo mode you need
    to make another jump of at least two floors. If you manage to do that
    before the meter is empty, the meter will be refilled and you can
    continue doing combo jumps.

    When the meter runs out or if you make a non-combo jump, you have
    finished your combo and you will be given score depending on how many
    floors in total you managed to climb during your combo.

    The rewards you can be given are: GOOD, SWEET, GREAT, WOW, AMAZING and
    EXTREME. The latter ones are really hard to get and will require some
    intensive practice.

    The tower is of infinite height and Harold will never reach the top.
    It's up to you to make sure that his stay in the tower generates a lot
    of score so that he doesn't need to feel ashamed in front of his
    friends. Good luck!


TROUBLESHOOTING / FAQ

    Q: The gamepad/joystick acts strange. Pulls in wrong directions aso.
       What is wrong?
    A: During setup your gamepad/joystick will be initialised and calibrated.
       Don't touch it! Let it be still while the game is in setup-mode.

    Q: The game runs slow and choppy! How can I speed it up?
    A: Try turning of the Eye Candy and make sure you run in fullscreen.

    Q: I never manage to get any cool combo jumps! What am I doing wrong?
    A: Try harder. :) Make sure you use the walls to bump on and take
       it slow, you have more time to concentrate than what it feels.
    
                   
CREDITS

    Icy Tower is a game from Free Lunch Design.

    Code, gfx:  Johan Peitz
    Musix, sfx: Anders Svensson


CONTACT & SUPPORT

    Free Lunch Design is an independent game developer from Sweden. Our aim
    is to create small, high quality games, where gameplay is in focus.

    Visit us on the web: http://www.freelunchdesign.com

    If you have comments, bug reports, or just want to ask something
    you can contact Free Lunch Design by e-mail. I do however get a lot of 
    mail, so if you have a question please check the online faqs and forums 
    first.

      E-Mail: johan@freelunchdesign.com


    If you want to support Free Lunch Design in monetary ways, please enter
    our website (see above) and click our sponsors a few times. :)






                                - The End-


