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DISCLAIMER

Nitrion is a registered trademark of Nitrion GmbH (http://www.nitrion.com),
we are not in any way affiliated with that company and its products.
This is an unfinished alpha version, we are not responsible for any damage the
software may cause to your system. Use at your own risk!
This product is freeware.

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NITRION readme file content
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 Alpha/Final release info
2 The story
3 System requirements
4 Ingame keys
5 Known bugs and missing features
6 Feedback
7 Credits & contact


1 Alpha/Final release info
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Finally, after almost 2 years after its original announcment,
we bring you Nitrion.
Nitrion is a classical vertical shoot 'em up in an 80ies-cliché style.

Unfortunately, we were never able to finish the game due to studying/work/etc
and thus it's still in the half-finished state we left it over one year ago.
Due to this fact, there are a couple of bugs in the game you should know about.
Mind you, they will never be fixed because we finally stopped development.

But don't despair, we are planning a sequel to Nitrion right now, which will
hopefully be an all-around improvement (software engine, real pixeled graphics,
better action, animations).


2 The story
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The solar system, year 2052. Sgt Jack Pepper accompanies the Vicepresident of
Earth to one of the regular talks on independency with the Governor of the Mars
colony. The negotiations are still in progress, as suddenly a group of
terrorists storms into the hall. They immediatly overpower the Vicepresident's
guards and take them all as hostages. Sgt Jack Pepper is completly helpless, he
too was taken by surprise. Shortly after the kidnapping, the leader of the
terrorists, Al Kaiser, who remains in the background during the whole operation,
declares the independance of Mars from Earth. On top of this, he sets an
ultimatum for Earth: if his secret agents back on Earth aren't released from
prison within the next 48 hours, he is going to shoot the Vicepresident. The
President of Earth knows that there is no chance to send an elite troop to mars
to free the hostages before the ultimatum is over. Thus the President decides
to release Al Kaiser's agents from prison, and they quickly scatter  all over
the planet to hide and wait for new orders from their leader. Meanwhile, on
Mars an extraordinarily crazy and fanatic terrorist gains access to the prison
cell where the Vicepresident and Jack Pepper are held hostages. He kills the
Vicepresident in front of Pepper, but he is unable to prevent the act. Not much
later, the President of Earth hears the news. The terrorists are no trustworthy
partners to deal with. Thus he commands the Terran Army to gather all their
ships and attack the Mars colony. This is the beginning of the first Mars war.
By now, Pepper was able to free himself and the other remaining hostages. He
escapes from the building and steals a terrorist starfighter to help Earth
defeat the terrorists on Mars. While the war is still in progress, terrorist
scientists start developing a secret weapon made of a crystal which is only
available on Mars. If used together with a satellite dish to enhance the
waves emitted by the crystal, this weapon would disable all computers in a giant
area. An area as big as Earth. The terrorists weren't prepared well enough for a
long space war, thus they soon retreat together with the plans for the still
unfinished secret weapons into a subterran cave system on Mars. The Earth forces
are unable to locate Al Kaiser and his remaining soldiers. After the war has
ended, Sgt Jack Pepper is awarded a medal for bravery by the President in person.
But Pepper is not lucky that the war is over. He feels guilty that he could not
save the Vicepresident. He knows he will have to face Al Kaiser someday again,
and this will have to be the final fight.

Following the events on Mars, Earth increases military presence on Mars
drastically. Funds for military inventions are being increased. And the success
is enormous: the Russian Professor Dimitri Tokarev of the Institute of
Biotechnology in Moscow discovers that a liquid derived from a certain plant can
be used as fuel. He calls his discovery 'Nitrion'. But it's not ordinary fuel.
With the help of this substance, space ships can travel fast enough to reach
other solar systems within resonable time spans. This means that he who
controls Nitrion, has the ability to found new colonies on planets in other solar
systems. Soon after Tokarev's discovery is covered in the news, Al Kaiser finds
out about it in his underground shelter. He orders his agents on Earth to steal
some of the plants used to make Nitrion and bring them to mars. Al Kaiser's
scientists discover that the plant does not grow under any circumstances on
Mars. The terrorist leader knows what to do: he has to conquer Earth to grow
the Nitrion plants if he wants to expand his power over the universe. But first,
there's Mars. Luckily, Al Kaiser's scientists finished the development of the
secret weapon. 
15 years have passed since the first war on Mars. Now Al Kaiser is back. His
secret weapon disables all the Earth force's weapons on Mars, none of their
ships can fly and none of their tanks can move. Even most of their guns are
controlled by computers. They all refuse to work under the influence of the
crystal's waves. It's easy for Al Kaiser's soldiers to fight the Earth army
on Mars, as they can't offer much of resistance. After a rather short battle,
Mars is once again in Al Kaiser's hands. He uses one of the big motherships
the Earth forces had orbiting around Mars to equip it with the secret weapon.
The orders of the ship are to fly towards Earth and disable all the military
forces there using the crystal.

The situation for Earth is desperate. The only chance for Earth to continue
to live freely is the Professor: he built three prototypes of a ship equipped
with Nitrion for extra-manouverability. The ships also use a newly developed
biocomputer, which is immune to the crystal's waves. There's only one man on
Earth brave (and willing) enough to take up the fight against such a superior
army: Sgt Jack Pepper. But he is not alone fighting the battle of his life up
their in space around earth: Professor Tokarev is able to supply Pepper with
new weapons which he is currently still developing. Tokarev plans to launch
them into space within ballistic projectiles, because these don't need
computers to work. Pepper's mission is simple: he has to destroy the
mothership in order to disable the crystal's influence on the electronics of
Earth.

You are Sgt Jack Pepper.


3 System requirements
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- Windows OS
- 32MB OpenGL compatible graphics card
- Some CPU above 500MHz probably


4 Ingame keys
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[ESC]    brings up the menu at the beginning and during game to pause
[SPACE]  selects option/shoot
[TAB]    Silent Bob
[CURSOR] keys to navigate/move


5 Known bugs and missing features
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- Press ESC after the title screen to bring up the menu
- Game restart function doesn't work, you have to manually quit the game
  via ESC and start it again
- No highscore table
- Music restarts after pause
- Unlimited 'Silent Bob'
- Gameplay is pretty unbalanced (weapons, enemies, bonus items)
- There is a spot where hardly any bullets hit you on the screen
- ... and more, probably


6 Feedback
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If you somehow despite all enjoyed our little game, or you'd just generally
like to make a comment about it, please write to:

team@elitepigs.de

We'd love to receive some mail (except spam ;)!


7 Credits & contact
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Code:     Thomas Obermaier - t.obermaier@elitepigs.de
Graphics: Hannes Drexl     - h.drexl@elitepigs.de
Sound:    Thomas Drexl     - uwe.hoeck@gmx.net

Our website: http://www.elitepigs.de - stay tuned for future projects!

Nitrion uses the fmod soundsystem - http://www.fmod.org

(C) 2001-2003 Elitepigs GameDevelopment