Heart of The Alien Redux 2004 (c) Gil Megidish (gil at megidish dot net)
Thank you for downloading Heart of The Alien Redux! This rewrite brings the wonderful game to modern computers and consoles.
For more information, please visit the project homepage at http://hota.sourceforge.net/
NOTE You are required to obtain a copy of Heart of The Alien. In order to play the game, put your Sega CD disc in your drive. As an alternative, you may use ISO and MP3s prefixed "Heart Of The Alien (U)" and put them in the same directory where you unpacked this distribution.
USAGE
Running HOTA with no custom settings will follow the game flow as
it plays the introduction, and then pops up the code entry screen.
Running ``alien -h'' will display a list of acceptable parameters.
Here are some interesting settings:
--iso use iso and mp3s, as noted above
--double double size window
--fullscreen start in fullscreen
--room n start from script n
--record record your key pressed
--replay replay recorded sequence
--fastest play game as fast as possible
--intro-test play all animations
--sprite-test show sprites in the current script
KEYS To control your character, you may use either set of cursor keys. Moreover, here are extra keys available:
Z shoot, keep down in order to run
X use your whip
C jump
F5 quicksave (1 slot)
F7 quickload
ESC leave game, or skip animation
DINGUX: Y shoot / run A whip B jump L quickload R quicksave SELECT skip animation / quit game
BUGS
The final version will be announced when no more bug reports have
been received, and no request for features posted. You are more
than welcome to report a bug on the SourceForge project
page (see links below.) When submitting a bug, if possible, please
record your keys and attach ``recorded-keys'', or attach a
``quicksave'' file to help reproduce the problem.
* BUG: during introduction, there is no horizontal scroll when
the female passes the screen.
* BUG: earthquake is missing in introduction
FAQ
Q: Why can't I play Another World (or Out of This World.)
A: This project is for Heart of The Alien, Another World was
attached to HOTA as bonus (or to increase sales.) You may
still play it on modern computers using
dosbox (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net) or
bochs (http://bochs.sourceforge.net)
Q: I think I found a bug!
A: Some of the bugs you may find also appear in the original game.
There are plenty suspected. Only one has been checked and found
faulty in the Sega CD version as well:
* First screen, run left, quickly run right (away from the beast,)
and run left again. Beast is gone.
Q: I hear sound effects, but no music.
A: You are probably using --iso. SDL_Mixer must be compiled _after_
SMPEG was installed. Otherwise, SDL_Mixer will not play any mp3s.
Q: I want to request a feature.
A: Sure! Don't hesitate, see Contacts below.
LINKS
* Homepage: http://hota.sourceforge.net
* Bugs and Requests: http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/hota/
* My wiki entry: http://www.megidish.net/wiki/index.php?title=Heart_of_The_Alien
* MobyGames entry: http://segacd.mobygames.com/game/sheet/gameId,8140/
* Underdogs entry: http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=3180
* Walkthrough: http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/segacd/game/8569.html
* SDL: http://www.libsdl.org/
* SDL_Mixer: http://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_mixer/
* SMPEG: http://www.lokigames.com/development/smpeg.php3
CONTACT
The entire work was done by a single person. Opinions, praises
and flames are mostly welcome.
I can be contacted at gil at megidish net