The Endling's Artifice Files

The Endling's Artifice
Author: jmiller89
Soundtrack by: 
	Alec Shea
	Allen Andrews
	Daniele Ghisu
	David Orr
	Gordon McNeil
	James Ghosh
	Roald Strauss
	William Usher
	Johannes Schultz
	Robert Shaw
	James Opie
	Matthew Le Blanc (SynthR)
	Robbie Dooley

Current version: 4.15.79


TABLE OF CONTENTS:
I.	SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
II. 	STARTING THE GAME
III. 	CONTROLS
IV.	DESCRIPTION/PLOT SUMMARY
V.	MAKING CUSTOM LEVELS
VI.	MAJOR CHANGES SINCE IT3
VII.	SAVING AND LOADING THE GAME
VIII.	KNOWN ISSUES


I.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
The Endling's Artifice Java v1.6 or higher in order to run. You can download Java at www.java.com
It should run just fine on any PC made in the last 10 years. Your computer must be able to handle 1024x1024 pixel textures.


II.
STARTING THE GAME:
The Endling's Artifice is packaged differently based on which platform you are running it on. For Windows, it is wrapped in an executable
(.exe) file. For Mac and Linux, it is in an executable .jar file. Download the .zip file, extract it to your desired location, and launch the game. Removing the executable from the provided directory
structure will break the ability to save your game (the game requires a "saves" folder at the same location in which the
executable is located). For the Linux/Mac versions, you may have to run "chmod +x IT4.jar" from a terminal in order to play the game.


III.
CONTROLS
W, up arrow	Move up
A, left arrow	Move left
S, down arrow	Move down
D, right arrow	Move right
Space		Attack (fire gun, stab with knife, throw grenade, plant C4). Does nothing while prone.
Ctrl		Melee attack (knife), Detonate C4
1		Select primary weapon
2		Select secondary weapon
3		Select explosive weapon
4		Select item. Press again to cycle through items.
Shift 		Toggles prone
Q 		Shows objectives
E 		Uses a medkit
F		The "Use" key. Confirm weapon pickup in dialog
Esc 		Exits to main menu
F5		Saves the game
R 		Toggles the radar
~ 		Brings up the console if in debug mode


IV.
DESCRIPTION:
The Endling's Artifice is a tactical stealth/action game. It is a reboot of the Intruder's Thunder series.
You can play the game as a stealth game, sneaking past
enemy NPCs, or as a shoot-em up action game, killing everything that gets in your way. It's entirely up to you.
This game features a rendering engine that uses LWJGL. The game can be played in full-screen or an 800x600 window.
Custom levels can be created by using the IT4LevelEditor, and played in the game.

SYNOPSIS:
November, 2026. The region surrounding Bariloche, extending in a 30 mile radius from the city, has recently seceded from Argentina. Over the past few years, an extreme right-wing presence has taken hold over the region. Argentina immediately imposed economic sanctions, refusing trade with the newly-formed nation-state. One week ago, Chile announced that it would impose economic sanctions as well. Rumor has it that Project Huemul, an effort from the early 1950s to develop the Thermotron, a nuclear fusion power device, had resumed. It is also suspected that the true goal of Project Huemul is the creation of nuclear warheads. A UN inspection on Huemul Island, located in Nahuel Huapi Lake, took place two weeks ago. The inspection was supposed to last one week, but the Chilean announcement prompted the Bariloche state to take two high-profile hostages. You were hired as a mercenary, as you have no official affiliation with any government. For all intents and purposes, you don't exist. The hostages are prominent UN Official George Shavell, and Doctor Cassandra Hooper, a highly-regarded biologist and physicist. Your mission is to rescue the hostages, and to investigate Project Huemul, to see if the nation-state has the ability to launch a nuclear warhead.

V.
MAKING CUSTOM LEVELS:
The Endling's Artifice comes with the IT4LevelEditor.


VI.
MAJOR CHANGES SINCE IT3:
Added Rain and Snow particle systems.
Game window shows 15x15 tiles instead of 20x15.
Added a sidebar like IT1 and IT2 had.
Dialogs now have speaker contexts, and will only display one speaker at a time.
Audio now uses Slick and OpenAL to play .wav and .ogg sounds; soundtrack and sound effects can play simultaneously. Past games used .midi files for sound.
Added unique character sprites for new characters.
General spritesheet overhaul; modernized a lot of sprites.
Added vents that the player must crawl through.
Added a more diverse array of enemy NPCs.
All Boss NPCs have new sprites.
Wrote the story before designing the levels.
Added new types of warps that don't cause the player to "snap" to a certain location after warping to a new room. This allows smooth cutscenes to occur.
NPCs can die and explode on command. They can also "warp" (disappear).
Boss AI has been improved. Bosses react to being shot instead of going on the same old path.
Every weapon class now has 5 ranks. There are now 36 unique weapons in this game.
Health regenerates while prone, only when the player is out of sight.
Booster kits no longer increase ammo and medkit capacity. They increase maximum health by 10 points instead of 15.
Suppressors wear down from overuse, except for ones attached to the Rank 3 pistol, Rank 5 pistol, Rank 5 Tranq. Pistol, Rank 4 SMG, and Rank 5 SMG.
Enemy NPCs now run much faster than they did in previous games. It is now tougher to outrun guards than it used to be.
The radar has been zoomed in to focus more on the player's current area.
Added gun cameras and drones. These can now be destroyed.
Objectives are drawn on the radar as a yellow "X".
Return of RPG-style dialog text
Follower NPCs run by default, and are no longer obstacles when the player attacks
Can no longer run and shoot, this made the game too easy at times, plus it looked bad
Enemies can no longer react and trigger an alert while being shot in rapid succession
Game loads with item and weapon player was last using equipped

VII.
SAVING AND LOADING THE GAME:
In case you didn't catch it in the controls, to save the game, press the F5 button. Games from external levels/levelsets can also be saved! The game's save file will be named after the player, as the player is prompted to enter their name
before starting a new game, opening a level/levelset, or playing the internal single missions.

VIII.
KNOWN ISSUES:
The Linux version may show visible lines at tile boundaries, if running on an older 32-bit machine.
The Java garbage collector may need to occasionally briefly halt execution to clean up unused memory. This is a hobby project; there are things that *could* be optimized, but were deemed not worth the time it would take to do so.