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        Primordial Life -- Shareware v3.0

        Copyright (C) 1995 Jason Spofford
			
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Thanks for trying Primordial Life!  If you think you
might like watching evolution happen in front of your eyes,
this is the screen saver for you!  You might also enjoy
watching biots battle, or watching interesting shapes 
emerge.  I have spent hours watching the dynamics of
cumulative selection.

See below for INSTALLATION instructions.

What is Primordial Life?

  Primordial Life is a shareware artificial life screen saver
that runs under Windows 95 and Windows NT.  Your screen is
transformed into a artificial world where living biots can 
survive and multiply.  The course of evolution can take many
paths, resulting in thousands of biot shapes. 

The sunlight shining down upon this world is transformed into
energy by biots with green lines.  But the world is not that
simple.  There are predator biots with red spikes that can feed
on green biots. Biots are not without a defense against the red
menance, however.  Blue lines can provide protection.

Primordial Life 3.0 improves collisions, adds momentum,
variable velocity, and rotation.  Biots can eat each others lines,
and those lines that have been eaten can regenerate.  There is
also a new light blue line that provides biots with a means of 
propulsion.  A "Color Reaction" feature has been added, allowing
biots to change the color of their lines based on their last
collision.  The environment has new controls as well, allowing you
to change the friction of the environment, and the amount of solar
energy available to the biots.  By enabling the mouse within the
screen saver, you can zap a biot with a thunder bolt, or give one
something eat.  With a right mouse click, you can  change screen
saver settings without even leaving the screen saver.

Just as in Primordial Life 2.0, biots with white lines can inject 
their genetic code into other biots. While white lined biots may not
be able to survive on their own accord, they can still propagate
themselves through sexual reproduction and crossover.  Genetic
material is transferred only when white lines touch non-white lines.
Biots must also be a member of the same species.

Each biot contains genetic code that describes how to build it.  
Over time, the most fit biots gain enough energy to reproduce.  When
they do, they attempt to copy their genetic code. Unfortunately,
crossover and mutations can be introduced which results in children
that are somewhat different than their parents. When biots give
birth, they may chose to put all their energy into one child, or 
divide it among as many as eight. In this manner, evolution takes
place over many generations.  


       *** Shareware Notice ***
  
Primordial Life is shareware. If you like it, please register.  If you
decide to register, press the "I want to buy it!" button found by pressing
the "Register!" button on the Primordial Life settings dialog.  It will start
register.exe which will provide details on how to purchase Primordial Life.
Be sure to provide your Primordial Life identifier.


	*** Registration ***

If you'd like me to continue improving Primordial Life, please register.
I appreciate the support.  There are new ways to pay for Primordial Life
as well.  Through an Internet based shareware fee collection company, I can
accept credit cards, as well as other forms of payment.  Included in this 
distribution is a program called "register.exe".  Run that program for
more details and see http://www.kagi.com to learn about the 
shareware fee collection company.

If you decide to purchase Primordial Life for $12.00, you can
download and use a windowed version of Primordial Life that will let you run
Primordial Life in a window!  I call this version Primordial Arena. 

NOTE: If you'd like to receive a *diskette* with Primordial Life, please
indicate that in your comments.  Otherwise I will assume that Internet
delivery is acceptable. 

Registration also gets rid of the nag screen, allows you to save the 
biots in between invocations of the screen saver, and lets you use the 
mouse and the "in screen saver" menu for your convenience and fun.
I will also give you the next version I create for free.

If you have any questions or comments, you can reach me at:

Jason Spofford
11040 Crossland Drive
Austin, Texas  78726

email: spofford@io.com

You can visit my web page at:
HTTP://www.io.com/~spofford

       *** Known Bugs ***

You cannot use the mouse inside the screen saver on NT, unless you 
start the screen saver from the desktop icon on the control panel.
I don't believe NT allows mouse usage inside screen savers.  

A few video cards have problems drawing biots.  They leave trails
across the screen.  If you see such an effect, please let me know -
I'm trying to track down this problem.

       *** Disclaimer of Warranty ***

THIS SOFTWARE AND THE ACCOMPANYING FILES ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND
WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY
OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED.  Because of the
various hardware and software environments into which Primordial Life
maybe put and because it is possible that Primordial Life contains
software defects, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS
OFFERED.

Good data processing procedure dictates that any program be
thoroughly tested with non-critical data before relying on it.
The user must assume the entire risk of using the program.  ANY
LIABILITY OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT
REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE.


       ***Installation Instructions:***

To install Primordial Life, run "INSTALL.EXE" from either a
DOS prompt or via the start menu by selecting Run.  

To uninstall Primordial Life, run "UNINSTAL.BAT" which
will uninstall the screen saver from your system directory.  

prim30.exe should have unfolded into the following files:

install.exe 
uninstal.bat
Prim30.hlp
Prim30.scr
register.exe
register.hlp
readme.txt
file_id.diz

After installing, go to the screen saver selection dialog and
select "Primordial Life 3" Check out the various settings.
You can also preview those settings.

If you'd like a quick method of bring up the screen saver, check
http://www.windows95.com/apps/savers.html 


Again ... Thanks for trying Primordial Life!
