Wrecking Ball!!!!!!!
by
Dreamtechinteractive

++About the game
Welcome to this demo of Wrecking Ball.  This is the second beta release--and although it's fun, there are more great things in store to make it even better.  
+object of the game
The object of this game is to break all the bricks in each level.  This is a very early demo and only has ten levels.  There are seventeen columns of blocks arranged in eight rows, making 136 blocks.  Break all the blocks and you move to the next level.

+Game Play
Imagine playing pinball--but instead of hitting bells and switches to increase point value, you're hitting blocks.  For each additional level you reach, the blocks become harder to break and the ball bounces right off them.  If they do break, the ball continues its trajectory until it encounters another ball, the wall, or the crash zone.
If the ball lands in the top center--that is, center and quietest, the blocks will shrink to half their size.  If it lands on the bottom--that is, in the center where it's very loud, you will hear a crashing sound and lose that ball.  The higher the level, the bigger the crash and block shrinkage zones.  The number of remaining balls will then be announced.  There are also special places that do special things, but I think that I'll let you find those for yourself.  After all, everybody loves easter eggs.  Here's how they work: there is one place that causes blocks to grow.  This is randomized at the beginning of the game, so once you find it you can get the ball to go there whenever you need your blocks to grow throughout the game.  There are three other bonuses which are all randomized every time you hit one, as well as at game startup--so you'll never find them in the same place twice.    
There are two other features of this table: springs on each side at the center which send your ball screaming from side to side, and a hole in the middle of the table which spins your ball and sends it shooting off in a random direction--and messes with your score, for good or bad.
You'll want to familiarize yourself with the sounds.  There is currently no sound help, but the names of the files are mostly self explanatory.  Pay special attention to shrink and grow, as these two sounds will be heard when--well, when the blocks shrink or grow.

++Keystrokes
When you first start the game, you are asked to choose a difficulty level--press 1 through 9 on your keyboard.  You then hear a weird voice say, "Launch the ball!"  Push down arrow until the ball is at the desired speed, then press up arrow to launch it.  This mimmicks the action of pulling the launcher of a pinball machine back and then letting go.
There are two sets of keystrokes used to move your ball.  
+Like pinball?
The shift keys, control keys,  and space keys function exactly like flippers on a pinball table.  When the ball is anywhere from on the rightthe to just right of center, press right shift and the ball will go forward and left.  Flippers on the top center and bottom center shoot the ball toward the bottom or top, so If the ball is in the center, and is very quiet or very loud, hit the space bar.  This not only makes it go forward or backward but protects your shrink and crash zones and slows it down somewhat.  This is good if you find the ball going too fast.  Enjoy this slowing down feature--it's not going to be in the next release because you are shooting the ball toward the crash or block shrinkage zones when you hit the space bar.
If the ball is anywhere from left of center to extreme left, use the left shift key to send it to the right.  The control key sends it speeding off to the opposite side--good when the ball's volume matches a block's volume--but that only works if the ball is in the bottome half of the table.  .  
Using the flippers is relatively easy, but they don't get the ball moving as fast as you might like.  Therefore, there is a second set of keys you use to move the ball.
+Wacky Breakout
The rows of keys above the row with the space bar and shift keys act as a paddle, which, instead of being moved by the mouse, is placed at the position of the corresponding key.  For example, pressing the l key moves the paddle to the extreme right.  If the ball is there, the paddle will hit it.  There are nine columns of keys arranged in four rows.  they are:
1 through 9
q through o
a through l
z through period.
The bottom row of keys move the ball very slowly.  It is made to go mostly forward.
The top row of keys sends the ball speeding off, but its direction is irratic and the side-to-side speed is based on its speed before the keystroke was pressed.  However, there are times when speed is all that counts--so make that ball move with shift and number keys.
+checking your stats
There are currently three sets of stats you can check.  Use the insert key on the six pack to find out how many blocks have been broken and how many are left.
Use the delete key, under insert, to find out how big the blocks are.
Use the home key to locate remaining bricks.
Use the end key to hear your score--woopse, that's four stats--ah, progress!  
++Sounds in the game
When the game starts, you'll hear music and the voice welcoming you to the game.  I haven't completely switched from Sapi to human speech yet, If you do not hear some words spoken, make sure a TTS engine is installed on your computer.  You will also hear thumping noises.  They are panned across the soundscreen.  They are the blocks.  The deepest thumps are blocks closest to the bottom, while higher clicks are bricks furthest away.  You will be able to hear, by these sounds alone, where all the bricks are.  When the ball hits one, you will hear it shatter.  When this happens, the ball will either bounce to the left, right, ahead, or back at you.  Sometimes it can break multiple bricks, bouncing between them until it reaches the bottom of the soundscreen.
You will hear additional sounds when the ball bounces off the sides, and a boing sound when it bounces off the back.  You will only hear the boink sound if the ball hits to the sides of the block shrink zone or the blocks are completely shrunken.
If the music is too loud, you can adjust it by pressing and holding the up and down arrow keys below the six pack.
++Scoring
Scoring is simple.  The closer the blocks are to the bottoms of the screen, (in other words, the louder the ball is,) the higher the point value for broken bricks.  Also, the closer to the center the blocks are, the more points you score because the top center is the block shrinking area.
++Credits
Thanks to Phil Vlasak for making the first breakout game for the blind, and to Jim Kitchen for teaching me how to use human speech to speak point values. .  There is also a person out there, whether the name be Shawn, Shaun, Sean, or some other spelling, who came up with the title for this game--thanks, it's a good one!
Ken Downey