Nerdkill game for PocketPC

========================================================================
         File: nerdkill_pocket_100.zip
       Author: Raphael MOLL (ralf-nerdkill at alfray dot com)
      Release: 1.0.0 (final, .Net Compact, 27 May 2004)
Compatibility: Win32 / .Net Compact 1.1
     Location: contrib/games
  Description: A blast-all-these-nerds game
        Notes: Get rid of these annoying nerds. Shoot them, gun them,
               electrify them, explode them! No one must escape!
               First presented at Paris' Be GeekFest, Feb'97.
               Presented at BeDC Master Awards, May 1997.
========================================================================


Notes
-----
- You must install .Net Compact 1.1.
- "CAB" files are provided for installation.
- No installer is actually needed if you have all the DLLs.


Politically correctness statement & warning
-------------------------------------------
- If you find the content of the game objectionable, please do not use it
  or do not let your children use it.
- The game does not promote antagonism beliefs, violence or haste
  against any kind of people, religion, race or class, especially nerds.
- All characters used in the game are fictitious.


Usage
-----
- Remember to turn off the sound when playing in public, unless you want to draw attention :-)
- Start the game.
- Select a weapon (by default the gun is selected).
- Click on one of the moving little nerds and watch.
- Try different weapons.
- Scroll with the navigation pad.


Goals & strategies
------------------
- There is no goal. The game quits when all the nerds are gone.
- There is no score. Just relax :-)
- One strategy is to aim at every single nerd use a precision weapon.
- Another reverse strategy is to use a wider scope weapon, such as the
  dynamite.
- I particularly enjoy the chain reaction of mines.
- Although it is technically possible to finish the game using solely
  the bulldozer or the coke can, it can be really tedious.


Compatibility issues
--------------------
- None known.


History
-------
Nerdkill 1.0.0 BeOS was released around 1997/1998.

I first saw Nerdkill on a roommate's Amiga 4000 back in '93 or '94 at the university.
The game was developed by Adam Girvin (adamg1 at ntlworld dot com, http://girvnet.org.uk)

As an early BeOS adopter, I wanted something fun to do and so I started writing 
clone several years later using whatever I had in mind that I saw back on the Amiga.
The first version was coded in little more than a night or two, right before the
Paris' Be GeekFest, Feb'97. Two friends, Pulco and SpH helped with the graphics and
the sound "effects".
At the time I was able to run an original Nerdkill.lha on an 
Amiga emulator, but for no more than a few seconds. We added a couple of improvements
on the original version and never tried to write a perfect clone -- just something
fun to watch and play.
Later, we had some ideas about a 3D version and some
improvements but we never followed through -- also I believe it would have removed
the simplicity of the original version.

Several years later on another continent, I was in need of some C# coding practice.
Once again Nerdkill was the ideal candidate. The game is simplistic enough in that
it doesn't interfere with the coding practice and it's fun enough to allow completion
of the project before my mind flies somewhere else ;-).

Having Nerdkill work very nicely using .Net 1.1 on desktop, I was curious to see what
performances one could get from a Pocket PC running the .Net Compact Framework. The
result is Nerdkill Pocket.


Suggested reading
-----------------
Included is a nice review from the BeOS leading news site, BeDope.
Reprinted with permission from Mike Popovic < http://bedope.com/mike >


------

Have a nice nerdkilling :-)

If you have any question or remark, feel free to mail me at :

	ralf-nerdkill at alfray dot com

Any problem is worth examining it.
Regards,
R'alf.
mailto:ralf-nerdkill at alfray dot com
http://www.alfray.com