SPACE TRADER
============

Space Trader is a strategy game for PDA computers
running Palm OS version 2.0 or higher.

There are two versions of the game: one for
black & white Palms and one for color Palms.
Both these versions can be played on any Palm, 
though you will only see the large color pictures
if you have installed the color version on a
color Palm. The in-game colors are supported
by both versions. The reason that there are
two versions, is that the black & white version
is much smaller than the color version.

I found that several people cannot find functions
to buy equipment and such. These options are
available through the menu, which is accessible
by tapping the standard Palm menu button. Many
of the game's less often used functions are 
available from there.

Information on playing the game can be found
in the game itself. There is extensive help on
every screen, which can be accessed through the
Help menu, using the option Help Current Screen
(shortcut H). Also, the Help menu contains some
separate entries that explain the overall design
of the game.

The document file SpaceTrader.html contains an
elaborate manual on many of the game's particulars,
even those that aren't covered in the Help menu.
It's not really necessary to read this file, but
it can help you to become a successful space
trader.

Space Trader is rather large and complex, and not
suitable for short, quick games. It is suitable
to be played for several minutes, to be picked
up at a later time, though. Those who want a
game like this but which can be finished in, say,
15 to 30 minutes, should pick up Matt Lee's 
DopeWars or Dave Webb's SolarWars.

This game's homepage can be found at:
http://go.to/spacetrader

If you want to contact the author to discuss the
game, file a bug report, ask a question or simply
express your feelings about it, you can do that
by email: space_trader@hotmail.com

This game is freeware and copyrighted by its author, 
Pieter Spronck. It can be freely distributed, as
long as it remains unchanged, and is accompanied 
by the original files it was delivered with:

Readme.txt (this file)
SpaceTrader.html (the game's documentation)
SpaceTrader_color.prc (the color version of the game)
SpaceTrader_black&white.prc (the black & white version)
Version.txt (version differences)

Any references to the classic 80's game Elite are
intentional.

Have fun playing Space Trader.


TECHNICAL DATA
==============

Name:          Space Trader
Version:       1.1.1
Author:        Pieter Spronck
Release date:  December 24, 2000
Palm OS:       2.0 and higher
Size:          315K (230K for B&W version)
Creator ID:    STra
Distribution:  Freeware
Homepage:      http://go.to/spacetrader
Email:         space_trader@hotmail.com


KNOWN ISSUES
============

Version 1.1 had problems when people tried
to install it on one of the oldest Palm types,
with OS 2.0.x. It reported that there wasn't
enough memory. I don't know if this problem
has been solved in version 1.1.1. It may
have been, because this version uses slightly
less memory than the previous version.

When tapping between the "Y" and the "W"
shortcut button (on some systems this is: in
the upper right hand corner of the "W" button),
it can happen that the "Tips" page for the
current screen is shown. After the screen is
closed, a small information "i" is shown on top
of the "W" button. I don't know what causes
this, but it is certainly not something I have
programmed.

One beta tester reported that occasionally
(though it's very rare), when starting the 
game, he gets an error message stating "Chunk 
over-locked", after which he needs to do a 
soft reset. After the reset, the game runs 
fine. I have been unable to replicate this 
error. Besides this beta tester, only one 
user reported a problem which is equivalent 
to this: he got another message when starting 
the game the very first time, but in the same 
area of the program code, and after a soft 
reset, the game ran fine for him. At the 
moment, I strongly suspect this problem 
is due to some kind of system hack. Several 
hacks have been reported to me as giving
problems, not only with Space Trader, but
also with other Palm applications. Notably,
this has been reported to me about Phlegm 
hack and QuickBits.