ELITE A

Gameboy Advance Version 0.1beta
============================
April 2005

This is a GBA remake of Elite A, which is itself a modified version of the
original BBC disc Elite, modified by A.J.C.Duggan.

The latest Gameboy version can be found at http://www.geocities.com/quirky_2k1/

If this were a GNU program, I suppose it would be called "Eanenk" (Elite A's
Not Elite New Kind) as it is not based on Christian Pinder's seminal remake
efforts. However, it isn't (and can't be) licenced in any way except as "Annoy
the original copyright holder-ware", hence the lack of GNU-isms. 

I'm sure that porting Pinder's work to the GBA a couple of years ago has had
some influence on the way I have programmed various bits of this, but it has
been purely subliminal. I have (almost) completely disassembled the Elite A BBC
program from scratch, and together with Ian Bell's freely available Elite
source code as a reference I've put together this new version. Reading that
source code makes you realise why Messers Braben and Bell went crackers a few
years later. Several hundred k of source and maybe a dozen useful comments in
the whole thing are enough to make anyone take up karate.

In places it is closer than ever to the BBC version - the feel of the ship is
not as damped, planet descriptions are spot on - and there are all the new
things from Elite A. But it has also been designed from the start for the GBA
rather than the PC, so the controls are nicer, the text routines are prettier,
the menus are slightly more navigable. The sound effects are probably "over
nostalgic" though - they are made using semi-emulation (simulation?) of the BBC
sound chip, based on the sound code I wrote for PocketBeeb.


Controls
---------

On the intro screen, press A to load a saved game or B to continue.

Menus
-------

When in game, the L and R shoulder buttons are used for the menu, with A to select the option.

When docked you can launch, wait in the station, trade cargo, acquire special
cargo, buy and sell ship equipment, buy a new ship, examine the star charts,
examine your status, inventory and alter the game options

You can use equipment installed in your ship via the menu when you are not
docked, providing it is fitted. Only items fitted and available are displayed.

Generally in the sub screens, up and down change the highlighted option. Right or A buys things,
Left sells, B cancels.


In space
---------

A - Fire laser, if fitted.
B - Cancel menu, change speed, tap to activate current menu choice.
up - Dive. Speed up (with B pressed)
down - Climb. Slow down (with B pressed)
left - Roll Left
right - Roll Right
L - Menu left
R - Menu right
Start -
Select -

On The Chart Screens
--------------------

d-pad - Move cross hairs around.
B - return cursor to docked planet
when "finding"-
  d-pad to change highlighted letter on the virtual keyboard
  A to select letter
  B to delete letter
  select "?" to search for the named planet
A - show info on planet
