                                  CHARLIE II

                             Version 1.00 for DOS
             (C) Copyright 2001, by Mike Wiering/Wiering Software

                        http://www.wieringsoftware.nl/


LICENSE

     This software is distributed under the license described in the file
     LICENSE.TXT.


HISTORY

     01-11-01  Version 0.90 (DOS)

        -  First public release


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

     Minimal system requirements:

        -  PC with 486 processor or higher
        -  VGA graphics card

     Also supported:

        -  Sound card (Adlib/MPU401 compatible)
        -  Joystick

     For slow computers, there are options to make the game a little faster:

        -  Select BACKGROUND OFF from the OPTIONS menu
        -  During the game, press "-" (minus on the numeric keypad) to make
           the screen smaller ("+" makes it larger again)


RUNNING CHARLIE II

     If you installed this game using the special setup program for Windows,
     simply choose CHARLIE II from the Start, Programs, Wiering Software
     menu.

     To run CHARLIE II from DOS, go to the directory in which the game was
     installed and type:

        CHARLIE2

     At the title screen, press a key to activate the main menu.


CONTROLS

     During the game, use the following keys to play:

        [Space]                     Jump
        [Left] [Right]              Walk
        [Ctrl+Left] [Ctrl+Right]    Walk faster
        [Down]                      Dive into the water

        [Pause]                     Pause game
        [Esc]                       Quit


     If you have a joystick, from the main menu, select OPTIONS, then
     CONTROLS to configure it.


HOW TO PLAY

     The shareware version of CHARLIE II contains six levels, of which two
     are hidden (indicated with the question marks). The objective of each
     level is to collect coins and diamonds and then find an exit. Some
     levels have a secret exit which leads to a hidden level.

     From the OPTIONS menu, you can select the difficulty: EASY, NORMAL or
     HARD. To complete a level, you must collect at least the following
     percentage of coins and diamonds, which varies per difficulty:

        EASY    55%
        NORMAL  65%
        HARD    75%

     Because the amount of items is different in each level, just keep
     collecting them until you see the message "Find the exit!". If you leave
     a level without the required percentage of coins and diamonds, you will
     have to retry it.

     The hearts at the top left indicate Charlie's health. The number of
     hearts at the beginning depends on the selected difficulty. A super
     heart is hidden somewhere in most of the levels.

     Just like in the original CHARLIE THE DUCK game, Charlie can beat most
     of his enemies by jumping on top of them, but some can only be defeated
     using a shield. Items are hidden in the yellow crates.

     In each level, you can find the letters to spell the name "CHARLIE". If
     you find them all, Charlie receives an extra life.

     Each level has a check point. After touching it, you can start there if
     Charlie loses a life. However, if you exit the game and start again, you
     will always have to start at the beginning of the level.

     When you start playing, you have to select file 1, 2 or 3. Your progress
     is automatically saved in this file. Normally, you can't play levels
     you have completed earlier, but after completing the entire game
     (complete version), you may choose any level to play. Only after
     reaching 100% for every single level, you may add your total score (of
     all the levels together) to the high scores!

     Wiering Software plans to create a world-wide high score list on the
     Internet in the future. Therefore, high scores are saved as a text file
     HISCORES.SAV, which can be sent via e-mail. Check the Wiering Software
     web site to see if you can already send in your scores!


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

     No frequently asked questions yet.


ABOUT THIS GAME

     Several years ago, I started working on a new game engine that would
     scroll parallax layers smoothly on a Pentium 75 or above. I had been
     experimenting with an early version of DirectX for some time, but the
     results were disappointing: most graphics cards didn't support DirectX
     yet and everything became very slow. So I chose to use DOS.

     After some time the engine was completed and I started working on
     CHARLIE II. Due to education and work, development went very slowly. In
     the mean time, computers became faster and new versions of DirectX were
     released and I realized that it would have been better to use DirectX
     after all.

     For a long time, I didn't work on the game at all, but finally I decided
     to make both a DOS and a Windows version. The Windows version is exactly
     the same, but uses DirectX to display the graphics and play the sound.

     Because of the huge levels, it took a very long time to complete the
     entire game (see the screen shots of the registered version!), but now
     it is finally ready!

     I'm only releasing the DOS version now as I'm still working on the
     background music for the Windows version.


PLEASE REGISTER!

     Some time ago, I started a small company (named "Wiering Software") in
     order to be able to spend some more time on writing games. So far, I
     haven't been able to sell much, because most of my games are simply
     free. If many people register CHARLIE II, I will be able to work full
     time on my next project. If not, I'll have to do other work as well and
     it will take ages before my next game is ready. So if you want to see
     more games by Wiering Software, register CHARLIE II!


BUG REPORTS

     Please send any bug reports to bugs@wieringsoftware.nl. Describe what
     the problem is and what kind of computer and operating system you are
     using.
