                            GUNFIGHT


<<...It's  shoot-out time  and you've  got to be
    faster than your opponent or the computer. Move,
        dodge, or hide behind a covered wagon or cactus.
            But whatever  you  do,  don't  waste  your time
                because your opponent is shooting back. Take your
                    position,  aim,  and fire before he gets you...>>


PLAYING THE GAME

The easiest (and cheapest) way to play Gunfight is to use one of the available 
Atari VCS emulators. I especially recommend Z26 by John Saeger on which it was 
completely developed.

Download Z26 from: http://www.whimsey.com/z26/

For the real experience --> play it on the real thing!

You can order the game on cartridge from Hozer Video Games. Check out their 
homepage: http://webpages.charter.net/hozervideo/

USING THE CONTROLLER

Gunfight uses your joystick controllers. Be sure the joysticks are plugged 
firmly into the controller jacks at the back of your Atari Video Computer 
System.

The joystick controller plugged into the left controller jack controls the left 
cowboy, and the right joystick controls the right cowboy. Hold the joystick with 
the red button to your upper left, toward the television screen.

Gunfight supports two general play modes: 
- 1 Human Cowboy vs. 1 Computer-controlled Cowboy 
- 1 Human Cowboy vs. 1 Human Cowboy


THE SCREEN

The screen is divided into two parts: an upper status area and a game area.

The game area is further divided into three sections: an obstacle area in the 
middle and cowboy zones on either side of it.

In the status area, you'll find three pairs of digits/icons.  They normally 
show, from left to right:

- The 2-digit score of the left cowboy 
- An icon symbolizing the current play mode 
- An icon symbolizing if the computer-controlled cowboy is on or off 
- The 2-digit score of the right cowboy


CONFIGURATION SWITCHES

When the left difficulty switch is in position A (Sheriff), the speed of the 
bullets is doubled, and you're competing against a slightly smarter 
computer-controlled cowboy. Switch to position B (Deputy) for a simpler game (so 
you can learn how to fulfill your duties).

The right difficulty switch toggles the artificial intelligence (AI) ON/OFF. 
This can be done any time on the fly. When in position A, you are playing 
against the AI, and an Atari symbol is displayed in the status line. Switch it 
to B, and a joystick appears there, signifying that the cowboy is under human 
control.

The COLOR/B&W switch in COLOR position enables the horizontal bouncing of the 
bullets. The B&W position disables it.


CHOOSING A VARIATION

There are four game variations in Gunfight: 

Standard, Sixshooter, Escape, & Score

Press GAME SELECT to choose the desired game variation. The current variation 
icon is shown in the status area.


CHOOSING A SCENARIO

There are eight different scenarios available in Gunfight:

Four shootable ones:
Xype Logo, Cacti 1, Stage Coach & Saloon

And four non-shootables:
Arrows 1, Rocks, Arrows 2 & Cacti 2

Press GAME RESET to switch from one scenario to the next. After every Game Over, 
you're automatically carried on to the next scenario.


STARTING THE GAME

Whenever the title tune is playing, you're in the attract mode. The left cowboy 
can now start a new game by pressing the fire button.


CONTROLLING YOUR COWBOY

Within his zone, your cowboy will move in whatever direction the joystick is 
pushed. 

To fire your gun, you need to press the fire button while walking either 
straight or diagonally towards your enemy. The bullets are fired in the 
direction you're walking.

When a cowboy gets hit by his opponent's bullet, his hat will fall off. Watch 
out, because another hit will knock him down and score a point for the opponent!


GAMEPLAY

Gunfight offers 4 different play variants:

Standard: The two cowboys are directly duelling each other. The first to down 
the other player seven times wins this variant.

Sixshooter: Same as the standard variant, except that after six shots, the 
cowboys need to reload their guns. In order to do so, they should quickly pick 
up the ammunition box that is thrown into the scene whenever a cowboy needs to 
reload.

Escape: The left cowboy tries to knock out the right one who's totally 
defenseless! The left cowboy only needs to down his opponent once to win. The 
right cowboy wins if he can survive until the counter expires.

Score: In this variant, destroying a part of an obstacle gains a cowboy 1 point 
and downing his competitor gains him 5 points. The first cowboy to achieve 42 
points wins.


FEEDBACK

I'd really like to read comments, reviews, love or hate mails regarding 
Gunfight. Send your mail to: cybergoth@nexgo.de


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project wouldn't have been possible without the [Stella] guys, the members 
of the Atari 2600 programmers mailing list: 
http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/stella.html

Thanks to the nice people on the list I have found the encouragement, the 
information and the support needed to complete this project!

I think that some peoples efforts deserve a special mention:

Thomas Jentzsch helped me a lot in optimizing various parts of the 6502 code, 
especially the kernel code. Additionally he's one of the top ranking idea 
contributors, playtesters and moral supporters.

Glenn Saunders provided lots of encouragement, ideas and all sorts of 
constructive feedback throughout the whole development process.

Piero Cavina suggested amongst various other things the 'Escape' mode of the 
game.

Eckhard Stolberg as usual provided his superior hardware knowledge, especially 
for the final real thing PAL/NTSC tuning & conversion.

Marcell Bollman transcribed the 'Ring Of Fire' tune.

Tim Snider & Erik Mooney proofread this manual.

XXX created the label artwork.

Various code snippets within the [Stella] archive were used as a base to certain 
subroutines of Gunfight. Worth mentioning are the horizontal positioning 
algorithm of Andrew Davie's QB and the sound driver of Kurt Woloch's Ship demo.

Many other people supported the project with feedback, encouragement, ideas, 
bug-reports or else. Names of other top contributors that pop into my mind (in 
no particular order) are:

Ruffin Bailey, Gonzalo, Erik Mooney, Joe Grand & Chris Wilkson!

Hugs and kisses to Madeleine, for everything!

Thanks to you all! And thanks to all other people that helped creating Gunfight!


LEGAL STUFF

This game is freeware, so the BIN may be freely distributed as long as it is 
accompanied by this documentation file. Gunfight may be included on websites and 
shareware or freeware compilations, but please contact me first. You are not 
allowed to distribute Gunfight on Atari 2600 cartridges without my explicit 
permission.


Gunfight (C) 2001 by Manuel Polik (XYPE)