VENTURE 1.1, Shareware version
by Richard Foley

DESCRIPTION
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The VENTURE system provides a complete environment for  designing,
building  and playing point-of-view, graphic adventure games for 
Windows.

The games produced by this system are based around the concept of 
rooms. A VENTURE game consists of a series of connected rooms, on 
many different levels. These rooms can contain doors, creatures, 
sounds, objects, ladders and other items that produce obstacles or 
puzzles for the player to overcome. VENTURE produces two types of 
adventure games, treasure gathering and destination. A treasure 
gathering game is like the original, classic Adventure game. The 
player has to explore the rooms, gathering all the treasures and 
returning them to a specific room. The game is won when all the 
treasures have been gathered. A destination or goal type of game is 
one where the player has to rescue someone or reach a certain 
destination. The game is won when the player gets to the destination 
room.  

During game play, the player uses the Play Screen.  This screen 
provides the player with a view into the room in the direction he or 
she is facing. There are 8 possible direction views in a room, 
corresponding to compass directions. To play the game, the player 
turns around in the room to view different directions, picks up and 
uses objects, talks with and/or fights with creatures, opens doors, 
jumps over abysses and moves from room to room.

In Design mode, the user designs and builds a game using the various 
game design components. The components include: the rooms and their 
layout, the objects and their attributes, the creatures and their 
attributes, scripts for the creatures so they can talk to the player, 
decor items, various level options including random creature attacks 
and object thefts and the game setup options. All the design 
components are viewed in context as they are designed. 


Included with VENTURE are two complete adventure games built with the 
VENTURE system. The first, 'The Caverns of Makalu', is a traditional 
treasure gathering game that takes place in underground caverns and 
has creatures such as dragons, wizards and orcs. The second, 
'Starbase Varga', is a destination type game set in space with aliens 
and robots. These two games demonstrate the variety of adventures 
that can be built with the VENTURE system. 


SHAREWARE VERSION
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The Design module in this shareware version is a demo version. All of 
the design screens and functions are available except for printing and 
saving game designs. Also, there is no on-line help for the Design 
module. This demo version of the Design module is included so you can 
try it out and see if you like building adventures. If you want to 
build large adventure games, you can buy the registered version of 
VENTURE and receive the full Design module. In the registered version 
you can build and distribute adventures with a limit of 500 rooms and 
50 levels. A complete on-line help system, a printed manual and all 
design print functions, including maps, are also included.


INSTALLATION
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Before installing VENTURE, make sure your PC system meets the 
following requirements:


Hardware -

CPU: 80386 or 80486 based IBM PC compatible; 80486 recommended.
File Storage: The VENTURE program files and initial data files       
              require 3 meg hard disk space.
Memory: 4 meg RAM minimum, 8 meg recommended.
Graphics Adapter and Monitor: Any Windows supported display (VGA     
                              recommended). 
Mouse: Required.
Printer: Any Windows supported printer.

Operating System Software -

PC OS: This program requires Windows 3.1 or higher



If VENT11.ZIP has not already been unzipped, unzip it into a temporary 
directory. 

If Windows is not currently active, start Windows by typing WIN and 
pressing ENTER.

From the Program Manager, select FILE and then RUN.

Type the drive and directory you unzipped VENT11.ZIP in and then 
\SETUP.EXE and select OK. (EX: c:\download\vent11\setup.exe) 


Follow the prompts on the screen to complete the installation. The 
only option you can select is the directory to install the program 
in. The default is C:\VENTURE, but you can type over this to select 
any drive/path you want to install it in. 


At the end of the install process, a program group and icon for 
VENTURE will be added to your Program Manager. To run VENTURE, just 
double-click the VENTURE icon.


NOTE: VENTURE is large program that makes extensive use of graphics. 
To ensure the fastest running and fewest memory errors, close all 
other Windows applications before running VENTURE.



INSTALL FILES
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The VENTURE install copies many files to your PC's hard disk. The 
files copied and the directories they are copied to are listed here. 

DIRECTORY:  (root):\Windows

	VSETUP.EXE	VENTURE install program
			(DO NOT run this, it must be run
			 by SETUP.EXE)

DIRECTORY:  (root):\Windows\System

	VER.DLL		Install DLL
	SETUPKIT.DLL	      "	
	VBRUN300.DLL	DLL required to run Visual Basic program
	COMMDLG.DLL	Application DLL
	MMSYSTEM.DLL	      "

	THREED.VBX	Visual Basic resource file
	SPIN .VBX		       "
	CMDIALOG.VBX	               "
	GAUGE.VBX	       	       "

	(NOTE: Many or all of the above files may already be on your
      	 PC. If so, the SETUP program will only install the copy that
         came with VENTURE if it is a newer version.)

DIRECTORY:  (root):\VENTURE

	VENTURE.EXE	The VENTURE program
	VENTURE.HLP	The VENTURE on-line help file
	FILES.EXC	List of game files that came with
                        VENTURE, excluded from game list generation
	MAKALU.WAG	'Caverns of Makalu' game design file
	VARGA.WAG	'Starbase Varga' game design file
	*.BMP		Graphics files for Makalu and Varga
	*.WAV		Sound files for Makalu and Varga


After using VENTURE, two other types of files could be in the VENTURE 
directory: .LST files and .SAV files.  LST files are the lists of BMP 
and WAV files that are needed by a game design. SAV files are saved games. 
They can be restored to continue a game in progress.  


The VENTURE install makes no changes to any Windows .INI files or to 
CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT. VENTURE also has no .INI file of it's 
own.


The only change to the above files that might be needed is adding the 
VENTURE directory to the PATH statement, but VENTURE will run fine 
without adding it.



UN-INSTALLING VENTURE
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To remove VENTURE from your system, delete all the files from the 
VENTURE directory and then remove the VENTURE directory. If you have 
stored any VENTURE game files or BMP or WAV files in a different 
directory, you will have to delete them from there. Then delete the 
VENTURE program group and icon from the Program Manager.



The DLLs and VBXs listed above, in the Windows\System directory, may 
also be deleted, but only if no other program is using them. DLL and 
VBX files are shared resources that may be used by many programs. If 
you are sure no other program uses it, you can delete the file. But, 
if you are not sure, do not delete it.


REGISTRATION
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VENTURE is a shareware product. If you enjoy this product and decide 
to keep using it you should become a registered user. The 
registration fee is $25.00 plus 3.50 shipping and handling. Please 
send your registration fee to:

Richard Foley
17 Morning Glen Lane
Newark, DE 19711


For your registration fee you will receive a registered version of 
VENTURE with a 500 room, 50 level Design module, a complete on-line 
Design help system and all design print functions, including maps. 
You will also receive a complete printed manual. 

This shareware version of VENTURE can be freely copied and 
distributed. The registered version of VENTURE cannot be distributed 
in any way. 


Thank you for using VENTURE and for supporting shareware.

(To print this ordering information, open and print the ORDERFRM.TXT
 document that was unzipped from VENT11.ZIP.)

