THE SENTINEL In a strange universe of 10,000 worlds,where the only force is pure energy, a lone Synthoid does battle against the Sentinel & agents;Sentries. Control the Synthoid in an attempt to dethrone the Sentinel as the ruler of each of the 10,000 worlds. As you move about the individual landscapes,avoiding the withering stare of Sentinel & Sentries, you must gain a position from where you can destroy the Sentinel; her energy becomes yours & the landscape is complete. You now Hyperspace to a new word where a fresh challenge awaits + only 9,999 words to go & victory will be yours. GETTING STARTED Upon loading being complete,the title screen will be displayed.Pressing the mouse buttons or any key will access the Landscape Selection Screen. Each landscape except the first,is reached via a 8-digit code. We will deal with how these codes work later. For now,just press the RETURN key & a rep- resentation of the 1st landscape will appear. This representation gives you your first info. about the landscape that awaits.You will be able to get an idea of the terrain involved in landscape,plains,valleys hills, chasms & so on.It will also show how many Sentinels & Sentries.Have a good look,this is all the info you will get.The screen will be prompting you to press any key, press any key. You are now in the landscape. MOUSE CONTROLS Press the leftbutton & a cursor will appear on the screen.This cursors your means of control & movement. We will now get used to its functions & their implementation. Move mouse right & the cursor will cross the screen in that direction. When the cursor approaches the edge of the screen your Synthoid will turn in that direction.Now move cursor to left of screen & left of the Synthoid turn to the left & you will be returned to the view that you began with.Move the cursor right of the screen & leave it there.The view will now pan round & will keep doing so until cursor is centred. If you let the view move 21 times then you will have returned to the starting point. Now start moving the cursor to top & bottom of the screen,so that your view pans up & down If you leave the view panning, up or down, you'll eventually reach a point beyond which you can look no further,the point whichis almost vertical,either upwards or downwards. You will know if panning has stopped by looking the cursor,whilst panning is taking place, cursor will flash. If not flashing,then the view is stable.By moving cursor to one of the corners of the screen, you can achieve a diagonal pan. The screen don't scroll in a diagonal fashion, rather it moves the view first on the horizontal plane & then on the vertical, to achieve a diagonal effect. Now that you have discovered the principles of viewing the landscape, spend time getting used to the mouse & changing the view point of your Synthoid, as speed will become an integral part of the game-play. THE FUN STARTS HERE Now you have become used to looking around you, we start to discover how to move in the landscape, how to create & absorb.Sentinel is a game of energy, & the units of energy that exist in the landscape have a variety of forms. One unit is represented by a tree & this is the building block on which the rest of the game takes place. While looking around, you see that there are many trees within the landscape. These are for you to take to build up your energy. We shall start by absorbing a tree. You may notice that below & to the right of the starting view(the view that you get on first arriving in the landscape)there is a tree. You should move three times diagonally & twice down, from the starting view, to look at the square on which the tree stands. Ensure cursor is over the square on which the tree stands & press the left button. You will see the tree disappear. The tree, or at least the energy, still exists. Look to the small figures above the screen,you will notice that there are currently 3 small Synthoids & a boulder (an inverted U). If you notices this section before, you will remember there was a small tree where the boulder now is. This is because every object within the landscape has energy values. Values are as follows: 1 Unit: a Tree & a Meanie 2 Units: a Boulder 3 Units: a Synthoid & a Sentry 4 Units: a Sentinel (By now you have heard a clunking sound, & possibly seen a box at the top right corner of the screen to fill with static.This means that the Sentinel is scanning you & absorbing your energy.The action of absorbing or creating anything will start the Sentinel turning.If this has happened,then you will probably have died.(don't worry about this at present, we'll get on keeping you alive a little later). Now that you absorbed an object, it is time to create one.From the starting position, look around until you find a square that doesn't have anything on it. With the cursor on the target square, press 'T' & a tree will appear. You will notice that the energy indicator has dropped by 1 unit(ie.a tree). Now absorb the tree by pressing the left mousebutton.Now, press the 'B' key on the keyboard. This time a boulder will appear. Absorb the boulder as you would a tree, press 'R'.You will see a synthoid . You are almost there. By now you will have died. Start again & use the techniques that you have learnt to start moving about the landscape. From the starting view, turn to a position from which you can see a square, as before, &,with the cursor on the chosen square, press the key 'R'. As before a Synthoid will appear. Now press the right-hand button of the mouse. For a moment the screen will turn blue & you hear a 5 note tune. When the screen comes back, you notice that things look a bit different - you have transferred into the 2nd Synthoid! When the transfer is complete you will be looking back at your oldSynthoid. Absorb it as you would a tree - energy level should be same as before you moved into a new Synthoid. Now to put the technique to use.From the starting position,find a square as before & create a boulder.Then,with the cursor still on the square,press R. You'll see that a Synthoid has been created at top of the boulder.Press the right button & you'll have transferred in to the 2nd Synthoid, but because you,re also on a boulder,your position in the landscape will be higher. Due to the higher position you'll be able to see more in the landscape:trees to absorb,squares to move to. You have embarked on a unique gaming experience. MAKING IT WORK the Sentinel is a complex, yet simple game. You should be able to absorb & create objects, although you will probably have died many times.Now to deal with staying alive. As was mentioned earlier,when you make any kind of move other than panning, the Sentinel & the Sentries if they are there,will start turning to look at you. Their movement is akin to that of a lighthouse beam, turning steadily in one direction (either clockwise or anticlockwise).Should their view look upon ANYTHING that has an energy value thats greater than one,then, through the same process of absorbtion that you used, they'll break down the object into single energy units (a Sentinel can't store energy as you can). So,to stay alive,your first aim is to avoid the Sentinel's gaze.There is no substitute for experiencem but follow these guidelines & you should get to grips with things pretty quickly: i) Always make sure you know in which direction the Sentinel is turning, so that without looking at it you can anticipate when the withering stare will reach you, & react accordingly. ii) Keep on the move;it doesn't take the Sentinel long to turn full circle. iii) When you move,always try to create a boulder & a Synthoid, so that you will gain height & therefore your options will increase. iv) To absorb Sentinel,as with other objects,you MUST be able to place your cursor on the square on which it stands,so gaining height is very important to completion of a landscape. v) If you find yourself being scanned by the Sentinel, DON'T PANIC! Energy will be taken from you a unit at a time, & you may find that you have just enough time to create another Synthoid & move to a position of safety. If you feel that you don't have enough time to move,then there is the last way HYPERSPACE.By pressing the key H you will be transported to another, almost random point in the landscape to try again,at an energy loss of three units (this is because the loss of previous Synthoid). If you have < 3units left, then Hyperspacing means suicide. The 'almost' random nature of the move is because the new position that you are moved to will be on the same level of terrain or below.Beware: you bay end up in a position from which you cannot move any further.If this is the case then suicide is the only option. vi) Absorb as many trees as you can, & always reabsorb your old boulders & Synthoids. Gain as much energy as possible. vii) Rather than panning all the time,you can turn through 1800À by pressing the key 'U' (a U-turn). viii) You can hide from the gaze of the Sentinel,either behing parts of the landscape or behind trees. If the Sentinel can't see you;will keep turning. This raises another aspect of the game - the Meanies. Meanies are created by the Sentinel /Sentries when they spot a Synthoid but cannot see the square on which he is standing to absorb him.The Sentinel or Sentry will look for a nearby tree & will transform the tree into a Meanie. The Meanie swiftly rotates until he can see the Synthoid &, hopefully, the square where he's standing. If this is the case then you'll be Hyperspaced. There is nothing you can do,other then absorb the Meanie before he looks at you, or move out of the way. If you don't have enough energy to Hyperspace, then the Meanie will destroy you. You will know if the Sentinel or a Sentry can see you in this way when the scanning box (top right) is only half-full of static, consequently this is known as half scan. ix) Energy in the landscape is static, it can be absorbed & distributed,but cannot be either created or destroyed.If a Sentinel breaks down a boulder & a Synthoid for example, the energy will not disappear,rather it will be re- distributed as five trees elsewhere in the landscape. x) While you have enough energy, you can place as many boulders as you like on top of each other, with a Synthoid on top.Use this technique to dominate the landscape more quickly, but beware; if you are scanned whilsy on a top of such a stack you will almost certainly lose a lot of energy. xi) HELP feature-gives you an idea of where you are in the landscape. First, ensure that your Synthoid is looking into the sky, then press the HELP key. This has the effect of giving you a view of the landscape from the position of sky which you looked towards.This also acts as a pause facility & can be very useful in providing you with information about the landscape. ONE POINT IS LEFT - HOW TO WIN Your object is to absorb the Sentinel & any Sentries that may exist. Having done this, you must place yourself on top of the Sentinel's tower & then, satisfied with your achievement, press the Hyperspace key.After a few short seconds you will be given an eight digit code to a further landscape. WRITE IT DOWN + make sure you don't make a mistake! This is your only means of getting to any other landscape other than #0000, & as such acts as game save. When you load the game you can get to any landscape you wish, as long as you have the correct code. When you're on top of the Sentinel's tower & Hyperspace the program calculates how much energy you have left(three units are taken away for the hyperspace) & gives the code for the landscape that corresponds to your remaining energy.So,if you have just finished landscape #25 with 15units left,you'll be given the code to landscape #37(25+15-3=37). Keep going like this, recording all your codes, all the way to #10,000! Once the final Sentinel has been absorbed,nothing else within the landscape can be absorbed. However, you can still distribute energy, so you can chose the next landscape that you go to. Say you have just finished landscape #25 with 15 units remaining, rater than hyperspacing immediately, creating one tree will leave you with 14 units,giving you the code to landscape #36. You can use this technique if you have problems with a specific landscape. Supposing that landscape #37 is very difficult(no landscape is impossible), you could return to #25, complete again & try to end up with the code to another landscape, possibly higher than #37.