1. Introduction 2. Disclaimer 3. Installation 4. Configuration 5. Getting ready to play 6. Playing the game 7. Bug report 8. Requirements 9. Contact
If you enjoy the game, please consider making a donation. 1. Introduction HEAD-ON is a 2 player 2D gravity shooter, also including 1 player mode. It was made entirely by Bjørn Bæverfjord and Øyvind Mørk (Headstrong Software). Our primary goal was to create a game that we would have a lot of fun playing. This game genre was very popular many years ago, but until now you couldn't find an up-to-date game like this for PC/Windows. While we were at it, we tried (at least :)) to make the best 2D gravity shooter ever. This type of game has been made many times before, true, and we have borrowed a few elements from here and there. However, we did put a lot of ourselves into it. The game has its own feel, and many unique features. You do not need a staff of one hundred people in order to produce a game that is playable and has great fun value. HEAD-ON does not require a Pentium 4/3D hardware solution in order for it to run properly - far from it. In addition it's very small in size. These things make it possible for most people to easily get it off the Internet, AND being able to run it with fair speed on older computers. And we think that this game is just as fun as any. 2. Disclaimer Use this software at your own risk. It has been tested and works perfectly on numerous computers, even emulated on a Mac, but we can not guarantee its behaviour on all computers. 3. Installation The game doesn't need to be "installed" - just unpack it (if needed) and run "Head-On.exe". Furthermore, it will not tamper with the registry, nor will it create any files outside of it's very own directory. The game does create a config-file ("head-on.cfg") which resides in the "gameData" directory. This file contains the settings of the game. If problems related to the configuration of the keys/buttons occur, try to delete the config-file and start over. The game also creates a logFile.txt, but more on that particular subject later. 4. Configuration All you need to configure, is the controls of the ship(s). Select "Options" from the main menu. Next, press return whilst marking the function you'd like to configure. Then press a key or a button (or move your controller in the proper direction) to bind the function.
Default mapping:
DualHead has been tested on a Matrox Millennium G400. To select you need to have connected and configured 2 monitors according to the user manual. 5. Getting ready to play On the main menu, you can choose from 1 or 2 players. You also have a choice of two gameplay modes: In "WAR!" mode (2 players only), the goal is to make the other player's life as miserable as possible, aided by the available weaponry. In "GET!" mode (1 or 2 players), the goal is to snatch as many stars as you can, within a time limit of 99 seconds. Each star gives you 100 points. You will not receive any points for hitting or killing an opponent with weapons. But, of course, it can detain your opponent. When you've selected play mode and numbers of players, choose "START", and you will be taken to the levels menu. Press F11 on Fractal Frenzy if you want to enter a seed value for the fractal landscape or if you want to see the last value used. Pick the level you fancy, and you're off. 6. Playing the game Each ship has two categories of weapons available: "Gun" and "Special". Each category has 4 variations. The "Gun" is lighter than "Special", and fires shots in the formation of your choice. Irrespective of which formation you choose, the gun will fire just as many rounds per second. In the "Special" category there are 3 weapons, and one speed boost. The speed boost might come in very handy in "GET!" mode, but can also be useful (and just as fun!) in "WAR!" mode. We might add that the "Shockwave" (Special3) does not inflict any direct damage, but if it causes your opponent to crash into a wall, what's the difference? :) Now, how do I choose from these weapons? When you are docked, press the "Special" key, and an indicator will appear just above the ship. Use your left and right key to choose from within a category, and use the Special key to proceed to the next category, and finally finish. You can take off at any time. During a game round, you might want to restore your ship's shield/fuel/ammo. You can always do this on the platform where you started, or where your opponent started, but on some levels there might also be additional platforms. It is possible to pause the game by pressing the escape key on your keyboard. You will see "Quit? (Y/N)" on the pause screen. If you are using joypads, press "Gun" to select "Y" or any other button for "N". Naturally, you can also use Y/N on the keyboard. "Y" will quit to the level menu, while "N" (or escape) will unpause the game. We strongly recommend joypads for this game - at least one, anyway. Then you won't experience trouble with keyboards that can handle only a few keypresses simultaneously. Screenshot: Press F12 (creates BMP files in the game folder) 7. Bug reports If you discover a problem, a bug, or something that resembles one, please contact us. Your problem could be the cause of a bug that we haven't yet discovered, and we're very interested in knowing about it. IMPORTANT: If you experience a software crash, remember not to run the game again until you've salvaged the file "gameData\logFile.txt". It will most likely contain info on why the game crashed. When you start the game again, this file will be overwritten by a new one. Send the log file along with a description of your hardware composition (if possible) and the failure, to: headon@start.no 8. Requirements · Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP (HEAD-ON has been successfully tested on the VirtualPC emulator for Mac OS) · DirectX5 or higher · 2MB PCI Graphics card · 16 bit Soundcard · 75Mhz Pentium class processor · 8MB Free RAM 9. Contact Homepage: http://sciencezero.org/headon/index.html Mirror 1:  http://home.no.net/headon Mirror 2:  http://baeverfj.home.online.no/headon E-Mail: headon@start.no   That's all there is to it :) Have fun and enjoy!