ASTRAWARE Palm OS Products 
 
Shattered Worlds: Space Combat for Palm Information
Current released version: 1.1 - 11th February, 2004
Current release expires: never
Feedback to: Skwork Studio (spacecombat@astraware.com)
Game Info: http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?prodID=53056
Recent update headlines: Tapwave Zodiac Enhanced version released! - New Mission added

Copyright 2003 Skwork Studio. Published by Astraware Ltd. - www.astraware.com
All rights reserved.

Introduction

Space Combat is the first of the Shattered Worlds trilogy from Skwork Studio centered around the war between the Inner Planet Alliance and the Outer Colonies. Space Combat is a revolutionary 3D space flight game, never before seen on the Palm, using the 3dmgpl Engine technology developed by Skwork Studio!

To find out more about the Shattered Worlds trilogy, visit www.shattered-worlds.com. Also, drop by the Space Combat forums, hosted as part of the Astraware community forums.

Space Combat features:

How To Install

Use an extractor program such as WinZip on the PC or Stuffit Expander (on the Mac) to get at the Shattered Worlds: Space Combat for Palm files. Install the game by double-clicking the .prc file, which opens the Palm Install Tool program.

Use the HotSync button as usual to install the game onto your handheld. If you have a handheld with an expansion card, you can then move the game over to it. Do this before you register the game!

Now run Shattered Worlds: Space Combat for Palm and tap the screen to play the game!

If you've got any queries about Shattered Worlds: Space Combat for Palm or the registration process, first check out our knowledge base on our website (you must be connected to the internet to access this). If this doesn't help, get in touch with us at support@astraware.com. If you've got any questions (or suggestions, we love those) about the game itself, please get in touch with us at the email address at the top of this page.

Shattered Worlds - the story so far...

In the early twenty second century human outposts were established in the immediate vicinity of Earth. These were rapidly expanding due to the influx of settlers from the overpopulated homeworld and thanks to massive resource investments by private companies that were encouraged financially by the government.

Friction between the remote, outer colonies and the central government soon started to develop. The Earth bureaucracy started to fear that the inner world colonies might break away and join with the outer colonies. Such a development would have been disastrous for Earths population as the homeworld was heavily dependant on the import of products manufactured in the rapidly developing industrial base of the inner colonies.

Several major attempts for a political settlement proved fruitless, and soon the Inner Planet Alliance was formed between Earth and the majority of reluctant inner colonies.

In response to what appeared to be a breakdown of diplomatic relations, the Defense Force initiated a massive recruitment drive to triple the size of its Space Combat Command and was preparing to move several heavy combat squadrons into the colonial regions to preserve unity through an overwhelming show of force. A reconnaissance squadron was dispatched ahead of the main force to harass enemy communications and defenses.

It is unknown what kind of response it will encounter... but YOU will be one of the first to encounter it...

Overview - The ASF2 Fighter craft

As a member of an advance fighter squadron tasked with scouting and reconaissance you will initially be flying a twin-engine advanced tactical space fighter, the ASF2 "Cutter". Please select "Tutorial" from the main menu to test fly the craft.

The ASF2 is equipped with twin fusion engines and a type 3 protective shielding generator. You can control distribution of available power between your shields and energy weapons. Increased power to the shields will reduce damage from incoming fire. Reduced weapon power will adversely affect the range and lethality of energy based weapons.

The on-board computer automatically analyses all available sensor information and provides you with a list of targets on the right multi-functional display (MFD). The option to track a single target on the HUD by selecting it is available.

The multi-functional display on the left lists the weapons loadout currently available to you.


The ASF2 is fitted as standard with:

  • Advanced multi-frequency lasers - These photon based energy weapons have an excellent range range but average power, primarily used in dogfights against lightly armored opponents.
Be careful to adjust the recharge rate and watch your available weapons power or you may find yourself unarmed until the lasers recharge.

Against heavier targets, Alliance Command may issue the following additional weaponry:

  • "Dart" Missiles - These medium range guided weapons automatically track their target homing in for a kill. They should not be fired until the proper target is tracked by the on-board computer.
  • Open Coil Plasma Cannons - Requiring extensive modification to fit, these are linked directly to the engines of the ASF2, allowing the pilot to unleash devastating bursts of energy at least twice as powerful as standard lasers. Keep an eye on your weapons energy level, as the discharge mechanism requires large amounts of power to contain and direct the engine plasma. Once outside the containment field of the discharge mechanism, the plasma disperses rapidly, making them relatively short range weapons.
  • "Caltrop" Bombs - These free-fall fusion weapons are 3 times more powerful than the Dart missile but lack an efficient homing mechanism. They must be carefully lined up on a target prior to release, and should be reserved for slow moving or stationary targets.

Finally, keep an eye on your damage indicator and adjust your shield recharge rate accordingly.

Controls

The default control setup in Space Combat is designed for a combination of stylus flight control and buttons (for firing and changing target/weapon) - The options for controls are much wider, so experiment with them and find a set-up that is best for you!

Stylus Controls

Space Combat has two modes of stylus control set from the options menu (Directional is active my default)
Directional: Drag the stylus in the direction you wish the ship to turn, the more off centre the stylus the faster you turn. Bring the stylus back to the centre to stop turning.
Rotational: Drag the stylus up and down to pitch the ship up and down, dragging the stylus left and right rolls the ship in that direction! Again, the further off centre the faster the turn speed.

Using the stylus you can also select the current weapon from the Weapons MFD on the left hand side, and targets from the Target MFD on the right. You can also fire the currently selected weapon by tapping the stylus rapidly in the box around the crosshairs.

Button Controls

The button controls are fully user configurable! Almost any button on the Palm may be used for any function in game - from the Options menu select "Buttons" and then tap on each control you wish to configure - Space Combat even supports the directional controller and extra buttons of the Tapwave Zodiac!

Technical Info - for the Curious!

3Dmgpl is a multi-platform 3D game engine used by Skwork's Shattered Worlds brand. The engine is available for Win32, WinCE (MIPS and ARM), Palm OS 3.5+ (68K) and Palm OS 5 (ARM) platforms. On the Palm OS 5 platform 95% of the engine resides on the ARM side.

Many other features of the engine include:

  • 3D transforms
  • 2D/3D clipping
  • Software rasterization
  • Perspective texture mapping
  • Additive blending
  • Collision detection and avoidance
  • Terrain visualization
  • Time scaled physics
  • Sampled sound
  • Asset management

The 3Dmgpl engine can be easily ported to other embedded or development environments, and is particularly well suited for those platforms that lack hardware assisted rasterization features.

Please contact Skwork Studio for more information on existing licensing options.

Registering

In Demo form, you can play missions 1 and 2 of Shattered Worlds: Space Combat for Palm completely free, as you decide whether you like it or not. To play higher missions, please purchase a registration code!

Registering Online:

For those that like the speed and convenience of buying of the internet, when you register for the game, you'll get a code which will unlock the game and remain valid for future upgrades. Go to the web page at http://www.astraware.com/games/skwork/spacecombat/ for more details.

You'll need to know your HotSync ID which you can find by running Shattered Worlds Space Combat, and going into the menu, and selecting the 'Register...' option. Your HotSync ID will be filled in for you below.

When you register, Astraware will generate a key based on your ID, which will normally be sent out by email within 48 hours of you registering. When you receive your key, go to the same register option, and enter the key into the space provided.

Release Revision History!

Release 1.1 : 11th February, 2004

  • Tapwave Zodiac enhanced version added. Features:
    • Analogue controller
    • Enhanced screen area - uses the full 480x320 screen!
    • Rumble effects
  • New Mission added (Mission 16)
  • New improved icon
  • Other bug fixes and minor improvements

Release 1.0 : 8th December, 2003

  • First Public Release

Feedback

If you've got suggestions about how to improve Astraware Shattered Worlds: Space Combat for Palm - or with reports of any problems you've had, then please contact us!

Shattered Worlds: Space Combat for Palm enquiries/feedback: spacecombat@astraware.com
Registration problems: registrations@astraware.com
General Astraware enquiries: feedback@astraware.com  

Contributors

Developed by Skwork Studio
Sergei Savchenko
Kate Lemch
Nikolay Savchenko

Additional Art support Baka Entertainment

Astraware
Developer Support: Kieren Smith
Compatibility Testing: Graham Harrison, John "Dougal" Keith

Thanks also go to the beta testers who helped make this game great!

Software Licence Agreement

This is a legal agreement between you, the end user, and Astraware Limited. Read this agreement very carefully. If you do not wish to accept this agreement, you may not use Shattered Worlds: Space Combat for Palm on a device or software emulator.

  1. Grant Of License
    This License permits you to use Shattered Worlds: Space Combat for Palm on any single computer, provided the software is installed on only one handheld device at any time.

  2. Copyright
    The software is owned by Astraware Limited. and is protected by United Kingdom copyright laws, international treaty provisions, and all other applicable national laws. You may not modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, dissasemble or otherwise attempt to discover the code and algorithms of the software.

  3. Other Restrictions
    You may not rent or lease the software, but you may transfer your rights under this license agreement on a permanent basis provided you transfer all copies of the software and all written materials and the recipient agrees to the terms of this license.

  4. No Warranty
    The software is delivered as is and Astraware Limited. makes no warranty as to its use or performance. Astraware Limited. does not, and cannot warrant the performance or results you may obtain by using the Software or its documentation. Astraware Limited. makes no warranties, express or implied, as to noninfringement of third party rights, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. In no event will Astraware Limited. be liable to you for any consequential, incidental or special damages, or for any claim by any third party.

Legal

Astraware Ltd takes no responsibility for any adverse effect that this software could cause to your machine or the data on it: backup important data before using Shattered Worlds: Space Combat for Palm. Shattered Worlds: Space Combat for Palm is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. Shattered Worlds: Space Combat for Palm is licensed, not sold.

You may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble this software.

Astraware’s and its suppliers’ entire liability and your exclusive remedy shall be, at Astraware’s option, either (a) return of the price paid, if any, or (b) replacement of the product that does not meet the warranty and which is returned to Astraware with a copy of your receipt. This warranty is void if failure of the product has resulted from accident, abuse, or misapplication. Any replacement software product will be warranted for the remainder of the original warranty period or thirty (30) days, whichever is longer. These remedies are not available without proof of purchase from an authorized source.

Written permission must be obtained before distribution of this game, either in demo form or full form, through any online or offline methods. 

Copyright 2003 Skwork Studio. Published by Astraware Ltd. - www.astraware.com.

Astraware and the planet logo are trademarks of Astraware Limited. All rights reserved.