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 -=] Yet another Space Shooter [=-
(Copyright (C) 2000 by Raiser Frank)

Author:  Raiser Frank aka CrashChaos
Version: 1.00
Licence: GPL

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Table of Contents:

1. Installation
  1.1 exe version
  1.2 Full src version
  1.3 Only src version

2. Getting started
  2.1 Commandline switches

3. Game tipps

4. Contact information

5. Thanks

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1. Installation

  1.1 exe version

The installation of the exe version is pretty straightforward. Simply unzip the yass_exe.zip file into a directory of your choice and then run yass.exe. All dependables are already included in the distribution of yass_exe.zip and so you shouldn't have any problems with that. (Of course this will only work for Win-Systems)

  1.2 Full src version

Unzip yass.zip into a directory of your choice. You can then run YaSS with "python startup.py". But you will need some additional software for it to run: SDL, Python2.x, pygame This document will not provide any information for the installation of these software packages as there is already enough information of this kind available along with the packages. So here are just the addresses where you can get the necessary packages:

SDL: http://www.libsdl.org
Python2.x: http://www.python.org
pygame: http://www.pygame.org

After you installed these packages correctly you shouldn't have any problems running YaSS.

  1.3 Only src version

You will need either the exe or the full src version for this one to work! It does NOT contain images and sounds. The src only version is mainly thought for windows user who tried the exe version and want to take a look at the sources.

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2. Getting started

After you successfully started YaSS you will be presented with a loading screen and after that with the main menu. Use your cursor keys to change between 'Start' and 'Highscore'. Space or Enter will select one of these. Highscore obviously will only show you the highest scores reached :)... so let's 'Start'.. Once you chose 'Start' you will be right in the action of Level 1. Navigate your ship with the cursor keys and shoot with space (just keep the spacebar pressed down until you're dead ;) There are 4 levels and each of them confronts you with some waves
of enemies and a level boss. The rules are simple... it is a Shoot'em'up actually isn't it? :)

  2.1 Commandline switches

There are a few commandline switches that can be used with YaSS:

python startup.py [{-fullscreen | -nosound | -diff n | -speed}]

- fullscreen will start the game in fullscreen mode

- nosound deactivates the sound

- diff n sets difficulty to n (0 = easy, 1 = medium, 2 = hard) default is 1 (medium)

- speed will make a few changes for the game to run faster on slower CPUs. I tried YaSS on a 700Mhz CPU where the usage of -speed was not neccessary.. but with slower CPUs you might want to use it. It will be less fun of course as there are some nice things left away (some explosions and sounds mainly)

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3. Game tipps

Here are a few tipps that should keep you alive (at least for some minutes ;)

- The homing bullet which always flys into your direction will not fly towards you once you're higher up the screen than the bullet

- Don't try too hard to avoid getting hit. You will get hit. Just try to take the least damage :)

- The bosses aren't very hard (except maybe the last one). You can kill them easily once you know where to place your ship best

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4. Contact

Official YaSS Webpage: http://141.30.225.9/~crashchaos/yass

The author can be contacted via email: crashchaos@gmx.net

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5. Thanks

Special thanks go to:
- Pete Shinners

  for being the author of pygame and helping me out with some performance issues as well as providing me sample    code of SolarWolf (you can find SolarWolf at:
  http://shredwheat.zopesite.com/solarwolf )

- David Clark
  
  for helping me out on some performance issues

- the guys in #pygame

  for their assistance with pygame specific issues

- Sven Oppermann

  for hosting the YaSS webpage on his private server