"README" CONTENTS:
1- INSTALLATION
2- ORIGINAL SOUL - The Game
3- What is ARTIFICIAL LIFE EXPERIMENT SET anyway?
4- Feedback , keeping in touch, etc.

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Installation:
Assuming that you have unzipped the file (otherwise
you wouldn't be reading this), copy over BWCC.DLL
to your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory (if you have an
old one be sure to rename it). That's pretty much it.
You can run this from windows FILE | RUN menu option.
The executable is ORIGIN.EXE. Or create an icon for it 
in a folder and run it from there. 
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ORIGINAL SOUL- The Game
 welcome to the first of hopefully many stand-alone
applications derived from ARTIFICIAL LIFE EXPERIMENT SET. 
Here, in ORIGINAL SOUL you possess the body of a
KILL STAR, a YELLOW cyberbug on top of the food chain.
Use the ARROW keys to hunt prey and  evade enemies.
To kill, you must come in contact with your prey.
You prey on herbivorous BLUE C-RAYS and are enemies of 
cannibal RED JFISH. You'll consume food(rays) and mature 
and eventually give birth (cigars all around). The baby 
kill-stars are smaller and will get to adult size at the 
age of maturity (briss is optional). The body that you
possess will eventually die of old age, or it may
starve to death if you are an inefficient predator.
You have two indicators on top of the screen, orange
energy bar and blue age bar. If either of those is critical
you can TRANSFER YOUR SOUL(PAGE DOWN key) to the body of 
your strongest child(if you have any), and live on. 
If a body dies from natural causes or is killed by 
your enemy while you are in possession of it, you
are dead and the game is over.
** CONTROLS:  arrows UP, DOWN, RIGHT, LEFT, 
move your cyberbug in those directions. The effect
is cumulative, e.g. from stopped position 1
UP keystroke will result in half speed up, next
UP keystroke will put you at full speed, the 
next two DOWN arrows will bring you back to a stop.
Move to capture and consume prey or to evade enemy.
PAGE DOWN transfers your sole to the next body 
to be possessed. Any other key or mouse click
pauses the game. At each new game or soul transfer
a notification box appears. Your new body should be in
an orange box  on middle-top of the game window. Your
body will be in the highlighted orange box while your
soul's in it. Clicking on Play, resumes a paused game.
** GAME SPEED: since there are many computers with many
speeds, and even more people with different speed
comprehension, the game has a system speed multiplier.
To change overall game speed, from main menu, select
ADJUST SPEED, and change the speed multiplier. The
default is 1.0. Start at a slow speed to get a hang
of the game. 
** LEVELS: we have 5 levels, start with 1, practice,
enemies are weaker than you, try to master your
hunting skills. Then go to 2, get to know your enemy.
As a rule they are weaker than you. But some
are not and they bite back. If an enemy chases you,
evade, if he catches you he'll kill you. Hone your
chase and evasion skills. When ready, go to level 3.
There, avoid the enemy all together, if you can.
Beyond that you are on your own. I can't
take responsibility for what the jfish'll do to you.
** STRATEGY: behaviors are genetic, so recognize behavioral
patterns just as you would with real living things and
react accordingly. Here's what I've learned:
1- The prey and enemy act instinctively and fast, so
going in long chases is futile for you. Your children
are better equipped to do that, you are too slow to 
react and think too much. So use that as you strength:
2- The prey, needs to feed, so when they are grazing 
on the grass patches they are vulnerable. So hang
around clustered grazing patches and pick them off.
3- prey and predator alike do get genetic diseases, 
i.e. random mutations in their genes that effect
their behavior, some will have dull sensory ranges.
If you find one of those in a grass patch giving birth
don't kill it, let it produce off spring and set up 
in its path as it leaves it's parent and pick it off
as it comes to you.
4- if an enemy latches on to you and the chase is on
try quick zigs and zags, they some times work.
5- enemies match up energy-wise, i.e. the stronger
kills the weaker. Energy is gained by consuming food
and released by moving around,..... and having kids.
So don't get in to fights immediately after childbirth.
And try to eat well before a fracas. Oh, and pick on 
some body smaller than yourself, like enemy kids!?!
The energy capacity of a bug is a genetic trait. 
JFISH have lower capacity than STARS at level 1, 
a little less  at 2, a little more at 3 and more in 4 and 5.
As a rule don't fight unless your energy level is %100.

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What is ARTIFICIAL LIFE EXPERIMENT SET(ALES) anyway?

Well, you just played a set of experiments, or scenarios
from ALES. It lets you create different species of cyberbugs
and play with 'em. As you noticed these bugs have a "mind of
their own". They aren't programmed to do anything, rather
they decide on what to do, based on their genetic makeup.
Their genetic variables control what they look like, how
fast they move, what they eat, how much they eat, when they
mature, when they give birth, how long they live, etc.
ALES - v1.0 beta has been released, beta2 is next on my plate.
It's priced at $25.00
ALES DEVELOPER's KIT alpha , including source, tools etc. is available 
but unreleased. It isn't priced yet.
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FEEDBACK

Original Soul is donation-ware. If you like it you  can contribute $5(or more). You can distribute
it freely. If you want to get in to artificial life more, order ALES.
I am looking for any and all feed back. There are bunch of add-ons on my plate, like selective
mating, world models, 3D perspective, directed mutations, etc. and I need all the help I can get.

Here's some info. as to how to reach me:

Mike Baharmast
736 13th Street, #205
Miami Beach, Florida 33139
305-534-5179                   -- phone
mbaha@bridge.net               -- email, or
73143,1534@compuserve.com      --   "  

