
                            Free Lunch Design

                                presents

                           Harold, the Homeboy

                                   in


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             I     C     Y        T      O      W      E     R
                                                                   v1.2
    =====================================================================


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 its original form)
    like crazy. Upload to every web site 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
                  
    Free Lunch Design does 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. We 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	
	* 32 Mb ram
        * sound card
	* game pad


INSTALLING AND STARTING THE GAME

    Since you're reading this text the game is probably installed and ready 
    to be played already. If not, locate 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 title screen will present you with a menu of the following format:

    START GAME		- starts a new game
    LOAD REPLAY		- loads and plays replays from disc
    INSTRUCTIONS 	- shows you a brief instruction screen
    OPTIONS		- lets you customize the game
    EXIT		- exits to your OS

    Use the arrow keys or game pad to navigate the menu. The current selection 
    will be pointed at by Harold. Use space or button 1 to select.


THE OPTIONS MENU

    The options menu is divided into four smaller menus. They are all 
    described here:
    
    GAME OPTIONS
    
    Here you can alter settings that controls the character and floors.
    To add custom characters, see that section below. Start floors
    must be unlocked by jumping higher and higher in the tower.
    
    	CHARACTER	- select what character to play with
    	START FLOOR	- select what floor type to start on
    	
        	
    GFX OPTIONS
    
    The graphical options control the visuals of the game. Eye Candy comes
    in three flavours; none, some and lots.
    
    	EYE CANDY	- increase or decrease amount of graphical objects
    	FULLSCREEN	- toggle between fullscreen and windowed mode
	
	
    SOUND OPTIONS
    
    Here you can change the audio output.
        
    	SOUND VOL	- adjust sfx output
        MUSIC VOL	- adjust music output
    	
    	
    CONTROLS
    
    In the control menu you can customize the keys used for the game.
    
	LEFT		- select key for left
	RIGHT		- select key for right
	JUMP		- select key for jump
	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.


GENERAL CONTROLS

    Move about in the menus using the arrow keys and enter. When playing, 
    these are the default keys for controlling Harold:

    Left and right arrows	- run left/right
    Space			- jump
    Esc				- pause
   
    If you have a game pad 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. I.e. run with Harold until you have enough speed, 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 and a few more. 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!


REPLAYS
   
    Icy Tower 1.2 features the possibility save your jump sessions and
    view them at a later time. You can also send the replays to your friends
    and brag about how skilled you are. Every time you finish a jump session,
    a menu will appear where you can either watch it all again, save it or
    continue to the main menu.
    
    If you choose to save the replay, you need to enter your name (so that
    you can take credit) and a filename. How far you got, your score etc.
    will be recorded automatically. The replays will be saved in the 
    replays/ directory where you installed Icy Tower. If you want to send
    your replay to a friend, this is the place to look for it.
    
    To view a replay at a later stage, either open it via the LOAD REPLAY
    option in the main menu, or simply drag and drop the file on the Icy 
    Tower icon.
    
    
CUSTOM CHARACTERS

    In Icy Tower 1.2 you can make your own characters, complete with their
    own sound effects and background music. It's not altogether easy, but 
    if you set your mind to it, you will succeed. For information on how
    to make your own characters or add someone else's, read the information
    available in the characters/ directory.


TROUBLESHOOTING / FAQ

    Q: The gamepad/joystick acts strange. It seems to pulls in wrong 
       directions and so on. 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 off 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.
    

SPECIAL THANKS

    A game doesn't get done all by itself. There's always people and stuff 
    around who inspires the final product. We'd like to thank the beta 
    testers who valiantly played the game inside and out looking for bugs 
    and recording cool replays.

		Aleksander Janeczko
		Arnon Yaari
		John Boney
		Matthias Freund
		Marek Fajkowski
		Robby Forrest
		Tomer Bauer

    Thanks a bunch! 
    
    Also, all of you who play the game and compete with your friends, 
    spreading the game all over the world. Thank you too! Additional 
    thanks also goes to Florian Rode for giving me some hints how to 
    prevent him from hacking the game. :)


AUTHORS & CONTACT

    Free Lunch Design is an independent game developer from Sweden. 
    Our aim is to create small, high quality games, where gameplay 
    is in focus. 
    
    Icy Tower was written and designed by Johan Peitz. Johan Peitz 
    also drew the graphics. The fabulous music was composed by Anders 
    Svensson who also created the sound effects. 

    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. We do however get a 
    lot of mail and it might take a while before we answer, so if you 
    have a question please check the online FAQs and forums first. 
    
	E-Mail: info (at) freelunchdesign (dot) com 

    If you want to support Free Lunch Design in monetary ways, please enter 
    our web site (see above) and click our sponsors a few times. You can also 
    donate money from the site via PayPal. 


FINAL WORDS

    Icy Tower became a game much bigger than we ever could have imagined.
    It is played and enjoyed by gamers of all ages, all over the world. 
    It's nice to see that all the players of Icy Tower out there, are having 
    as much fun as we had when we created the game.

    In closing, here's a poem by John Boney:

    [   Harold

	As I sat  there,  trying to complete  my work,  he was calling me. 
	When I  was in the hall  gathering  books,  I heard his voice.  My 
	heart pumps more blood  through my restless body,  and he is still 
	there, constantly beckoning me.  I have said to him that he cannot 
	control  my life,  but his power  overrules my futile pleas.  I am 
	a dog on a leash, the cruel master  constantly  jerking me back to 
	him. When we first met, he only spoke in unintelligible ramblings. 
	"Whoop-a-doobadoo!"  he would say.  My friend why do you speak so? 
	I see  you  for  hours  everyday, yet  I  cannot  understand  you. 
	"Whoop-a-doobadoo! Whoop-a-doobadoo!"  The more I listen, the more 
	I hear.  "Come,"  he now says,  "I want to be with you."  I try to 
	sleep,  but he jerks me back  from my rest on this  cold floor. If 
	only I  could remove  this painful  collar, which  engrafts itself 
	around  my neck and  controls my  head.  Oh,  how it itches.  I am 
	powerless  before the master.  His eyes are covered  to shield him 
	from the pain  he is causing. He is unaware  that he is abusing me 
	every moment he lives.  "Join me. You are safe in here." Ouch, why 
	must you  jerk me so?  Your kazoo is  harmonious,   but it plays a 
	tune of death. Are you trying to torture me?  If only you knew the 
	strife  you  inflict,  you  could  change  your  ways.  You wear a 
	toboggan,  for  it  is  cold  within  these  walls.  But I have no 
	protection,  except this collar,  which I fear may never come off.
	
							     -- John Boney   ]





                                - The End-


