alex4(6)							   Games Manual 							  alex4(6)

NAME

       alex4 - Alex the Allegator 4, a retro platform game

SYNOPSIS

       alex4 [gamefile]

DESCRIPTION

       Guide  Alex  the Allegator through the jungle in order to save his girlfriend Lola from evil humans who want to make a pair of shoes out of
       her.

       Alex the Allegator 4 is a platform game in the style of old Gameboy games.  You can play the game with a keyboard or a  joystick.   On  the
       keyboard the following keys are used:

       Arrow keys   Movement

       Alt	    Jump

       Control	    Shoot (only when you've found eggs to fire!)

       When you're on the menu screen, you can choose the window size with the following keys:

       1    160x120 window

       2    320x240 window

       3    640x480 window

       4    full-screen

CUSTOM MAPS

       The Alex the Allegator homepage links to many user-contributed maps.  Each set should contain several ".map" files and a text file describ-
       ing the collection.  To play the maps, simply start alex4 with the name of the text file as argument.

       If you want to create your own maps, you can use the built-in map editor (described below), but you'll need to create the description  file
       yourself.   This  is  a plain text file that needs to list the file names of your maps between "#start#" and "#end#" markers (these markers
       are not optional).  You can include a description of the maps outside these markers.  For example, for a collection of three maps:

	      In this game, Alex must rescue the Yellow Tetris Piece from the pirates of Ching Shih.
	      #start#
	      journey.map
	      sea-of-despair.map
	      endgame.map
	      #end#

USING THE MAP EDITOR

       Use the map editor to create your own maps.  You can enter the map editor from the menu screen or by pressing F1  while	playing  a  custom
       map.  The basic editor commands are:

       Shift+L		   load an existing map

       Shift+S		   save the map

       Insert+Left/Right   widen the map

       Delete+Left/Right   shorten the map

       F1		   change the map's properties, e.g. its name.

       Maps  are  composed  of	tiles.	 Tiles	can  contain scenery, enemies, items and other game objects.  The mouse cursor shows the currently
       selected tile.  To draw tiles, use the left mouse button.  You can cycle through the available tiles by using the z and x  keys,  choose  a
       tile from a palette using the p key, or pick a tile from the screen using the right mouse button.

       Tiles can be given special behavior using the following commands:

       q	 instant death

       w	 map exit

       e	 roll activator

       r	 breakable block

       t	 submerged in water

       y	 on the water surface

       a	 Alex' start location (facing left)

       Shift+A	 Alex' start location (facing right)

       Use the following command to place items and enemies:

       1	 extra life

       2	 star bonus

       3	 cherry bonus

       4	 egg

       5	 extra heart

       Shift+Q	 grunt

       Shift+W	 spear grunt

       Shift+E	 crusher

       Shift+R	 spike fish

       Shift+T	 jellyfish

       Shift+Y	 cannon

       Shift+U	 spike truck boss

       Shift+I	 ground pounder boss

SEE ALSO

       The Alex the Allegator series homepage <http://allegator.sourceforge.net/>

AUTHOR

       Alex the Allegator 4 was written by Johan Peitz, Free Lunch Design.

       This manual page was written by Peter De Wachter <pdewacht@gmail.com>, for the Debian project (but may be used by others).

								    2008-02-07								  alex4(6)