USER MANUAL

V1.4

 

NOTE

This manual is a supplement to the training provided in the game.
It is advisable to complete the training before reading this.

 
CONTENTS
 
 
1
Space Wrap-Around
2
Asteroid Types
3
Setting up the Controls
4
Tips
5
Support
6
Other Games

 

[ To keep this printer friendly, most images are shown with space being white, not black as in the game. ]

 

 


SPACE WRAP-AROUND

 

3d Asteroids is a 3d version of the classic Asteroids game. It is not just a 2d game with nice 3d models, but a real 3d game, where you are placed in your ship in the middle of space surrounded in all directions by asteroids.

To explain Space Wrap-Around, let us go back to the original 2d game that started it all. The classic 2d asteroids game looks something like the following :

In the 2d version, when a rock goes off one edge of the screen, it re-appears on the opposite side of the screen.

3d Asteroids also has this wrap-around effect. When a rock goes too far away from your ship in space, it will appear again in the opposite part of space, as shown below :

The best way to understand it is to see it happening in the game.

Unlike the 2d version, your ship cannot go off the edge of space. The edges of space are relative to your ship's position - your ship always remains in the center of space.

 

 

 

 


ASTEROID TYPES

 

The Asteroid Field Analysis at the start of every level describes what type of asteroids populate the level.

Here is an example display:

These 3 values are also show in the top left of the screen throughout the game.

 

QUANTITY
This shows the amount of asteroids present. This value is relative to the current level, as the quantity of asteroids increases from level to level.
VELOCITY
This controls the initial speed the asteroids are moving at when the level starts. It also is a factor in the initial speed of newly formed asteroids when larger asteroids are broken up into smaller ones.
LASER IMPACT
This controls how much your laser fire affects the velocity of newly formed asteroids after your lasers have just smashed up a large asteroid.

 

Some examples will clarify this:

 

There is a large amount of asteroids present (for that level) . However the asteroids will be moving very slowly and when you break up asteroids, then new ones will also move slowly.

Easy to kill the asteroids but there's a lot of them.

There are not so many asteroids around, but they are moving quite fast. Also newly created asteroids will be moving fast too.

TIP: Don't come too close to the asteroids when you are smashing them up. The new asteroids will be fast and they may smash straight into you.

There are not so many asteroids around and they are moving slowly. However newly created asteroids will be severely affected by your laser blasts and will fly away from your ship on laser impact.

TIP: Take it easy with the lasers or you will have lots of high flying asteroids knocking about. Better to hit once, turn around, and get the new asteroids as they come towards your ship, so the next laser impact will counter-act the asteroids speed.
Newly created asteroids will be fast moving - having a fast velocity of their own combined with a strong velocity from the laser impact.

 

 

 

 

 


SETTING UP THE CONTROLS

 

USING THE KEYBOARD

The keyboard can be used nicely with this game - below are shown the default controls for the keyboard. When the rotation key (Left Shift) is help down, the movement keys are used to rotate the ship.


Movement Controls

A : Move Forwards Up : Move Up Left : Move Left
B : Move Backwards Down : Move Down Right : Move Right

 

Rotation Controls (Rotation Key held down)

A : -Z axis Rotation Up : -X axis Rotation Left : -Y axis Rotation
B : +Z axis Rotation Down : +X axis Rotation Right : +Y axis Rotation

 

Other Controls

Left Shift - Rotation Key
Spacebar - Fire Lasers
Escape - Pause Game

 

USING A JOYSTICK OR GAMEPAD

In the Options->Controls menu you should be able to setup any joystick or gamepad to control the game.

For Dual Analog Gamepads, the best way to to set them up is have one stick handle the movement and one stick handle the rotation. A stick can only handle two axis, so buttons have to be configured to handle forward and backward movement, and rotation around the Z-axis. This is the default setting for analog gamepads.

 

 

NOTE: Controls can be selected and configured in the Options->Controls menu of the game.

 
 

 

 

 


TIPS

 

As a general rule, unless the Velocity and Laser Impact factors are both very low, you have to take it easy with the lasers. In the early levels this does not matter so much, but later on you will need to control the amount of asteroids around as much as possible.
Go for the smaller asteroids first and get them out of the way before breaking up the bigger ones. Smaller asteroids are more angular in appearance and are also brighter coloured than the bigger ones.
Kill any alien ships as soon as they appear. Not only can they kill you, but they can also start shooting up the asteroids which can create mayhem on the later levels.
Keep an eye constantly on the Nearest Target indicator - the red cross shown on the main window. It is hard to watch 6 directions at once, but this target can indicate to you where to look when you need it.
The 3d sounds in the game make it possible to hear the asteroids coming toward you ship and from where. If you can get surround sound setup on your computer, all the better, you will be able to hear them coming from behind you also.
Keep your ship moving forward, and keep your ship more or less facing the way it is moving - this will make it harder for an asteroid to sneak up on you from behind.
See the "Asteroid Types" section more more tips on how to navigate the different types of asteroid fields.

 

 

 


SUPPORT

 

For online support, go to the 3d Asteroids support page :

http://www.grassgames.com/asteroids/support/index.html

 

 

 


OTHER GAMES

 

Be sure to check out our other titles for Windows and Mac OS X:

 
www.GrassGames.com