About:
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SOLID GOLD is a Jump'n Run with 8-way soft scrolling. It's written for the
classic Amiga hardware and designed in the style of the early 90s.

The game features ten levels spanning four worlds, with different graphics 
and enemies. Each level's goal is to find an artefact which will lead the 
way to the next world.


License:
--------

Solid Gold in electronic form (web download) is FREEWARE. A boxed version
on a physical disk may be charged for, to cover expenses.

The source text and all its data are PUBLIC DOMAIN.


Solid Gold team:
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Created by Night OWL Design in Herford/Germany.

Frank Wille                     - Code (main programme and level editor)
Gerrit Wille                    - Graphics, Music, Sound, Level Design
Pierre Horn                     - Story

David Steves                    - Beta testing
Marcus Gerards                  - Beta testing


System Requirements:
--------------------

Any OCS-PAL or ECS/AGA Amiga with a minimum of 1 MB RAM (512K Chip RAM
required) will do. The game will also run on high-end Amigas but does
not make full use of their capabilities. It also works on Minimig and
emulators.

Minimum OS version: Kickstart 1.2.

Boots and works from any disk drive.


Versions:
---------

V1.0 31-Dec-2013: First releaese.


Story:
------

You are John Kayle, an adventurer and archeologist, trying to recover 
important artefacts in four different places of the world, competing
with a mysterious secret society.

More information is provided by the in-game introduction sequence.


Control:
--------

The game is played with a joystick in the second port. Recommended is a
Competition Pro like input device, but also game pads are supported,
including their secondary fire button.

Running left: joystick left
Running right: joystick right
Jumping: joystick up (or secondary button)

You can control the hero in mid-air while jumping by moving the joystick
left or right.

The first button (the only button on typical Amiga joysticks) is only used
in the menu and to start the game.


Scoring points:
---------------

Most enemies can be killed by jumping onto them. It is important to hit
them from above. Touching an enemy's side or contact from below are lethal
for the hero.

Killing an additional enemy without touching ground will double the
score for the kill.

After collecting 50 gems of any kind you will be granted an extra life.

Each level is concluded by a statistics screen. It will display the number 
of collected items and killed enemies, opposed to total numbers. Upon 
reaching the maximum possible numbers, an extra bonus is granted.


History:
--------

November/December 2012: A vague plan to start an 8-way scrolling jump'n run
was made.

December 2012: The level editor was written.

January 2013: The game has got a name. First graphics (Maya) and test map.

February 2013: Hero animations. First map scrolling in the game. Starting
with hero map collision checks.

March 2013: Interaction with background objects (bridge, crushing stone
blocks). Sprites to display messages. Sound effects. First Maya level.
First simple monster movements. Dying animation sequences.

April 2013: More complex monster animations (bat, jumping fish, etc.).
Starting with Mansion graphics and maps. Collisions with monsters.
Collectable gems and gold coins in the maps.

May 2013: Checkpoints. Mansion monsters.

June 2013: Menu. Introduction sequence.

August 2013: Loading animation. Egypt graphics and maps.

September 2013: Egypt music and debugging the maps.

October 2013: Planning and design of new features in the Babylon world.
First Babylon graphics and monsters.

November 2013: Babylon maps. High score table. Announcing the release
for this year. Recruiting beta testers.

December 2013: Statistics screen. End sequence. Lots of map reworking,
debugging and bug fixing. Partly redesign of Maya graphics. Trying to
increase game difficulty. Release...


Tools used during development:
------------------------------

Code: vasm and vlink.
Graphics: Gimp.
Music: Renoise and Milkytracker.
Level editor: map8edit (own development).
Hardware: Pegasos2 (MorphOS), PowerBook G3 (NetBSD), PCs (Windows).


Test hardware:
--------------

Amiga 500  OCS, 68000/7MHz,     1MB Chip
Amiga 500  ECS, 68000/7MHz,     512KB Chip, 512KB Fast
Amiga 500  ECS, 68010/14MHz,    2MB Chip,   8MB Fast
Amiga 500  ECS, 68030/33MHz,    1MB Chip,   128MB Fast
Amiga CDTV ECS, 68000/7MHz,     1MB Chip
Amiga 600  ECS, 68EC020/16MHz,  2MB Chip,   11MB Fast
Amiga 1000 OCS, 68000/7MHz,     512KB Chip, 2MB Fast
Amiga 1200 AGA, 68EC020/14MHz,  2MB Chip
Amiga 1200 AGA, 68030/42MHz,    2MB Chip,   63MB Fast
Amiga 1200 AGA, 68030/50MHz,    2MB Chip,   64MB Fast
Amiga 2000 OCS, 68000/7MHz,     512KB Chip, 512KB Fast
Amiga 2000 ECS, 68000/7MHz,     1MB Chip,   8MB Fast
Amiga 2000 ECS, 68030/25MHz,    1MB Chip,   5MB Fast
Amiga 2500 ECS, 68020/14MHz,    1MB Chip,   4MB Fast
Amiga 3000 ECS, 68060/50MHz,    2MB Chip,   128MB Fast
Amiga 4000 AGA, 68060/50MHz,    2MB Chip,   239MB Fast
Mimimig    OCS, 68SEC000/7MHz,  512KB Chip, 512KB Fast
Minimig    ECS, 68SEC000/50MHz, 1MB Chip,   512KB Fast