**** **** ****** ****** ** ** ****** ** ****** ** ** ****** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** *** ** ****** **** ** ** *** ******* ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ****** ****** ** ** ** ** ****** ** ** ** (Version 1.0) (C) 1989,90 by Florian Marquardt Jagdschloss Hirschbrunn Germany 8861 Dornstadt-Auhausen Levels by CHRISTOPH (!!!) marquardt. Digitized by >>>> CHRISTOPH <<<< ((( Sound-digitizer by Florian Koch ))) This game is freeware. You may copy it freely but you must always include this file. ======== =MANUAL= ======== MechFight is a role-playing game. You can explore a world, buy or find items and fight against robots and aliens. During the game you are asked to fulfil some tasks. How to install MechFight on a harddisk ====================================== You can do this simply by dragging the GAME- AND(!) the EDITOR-drawer-icons from the disk to your harddisk. Please make sure that the EDITOR and the GAME subdirectories are in the same directory of your harddisk. Starting MechFight ================== Booting from the disk --------------------- Turn on your computer or use Ctrl-Amiga-Amiga to reboot. When the workbench disk picture appears, insert the MechFight disk. Wait for the workbench screen to appear. NOTE: You can also start MechFight without booting from the disk. In this case, it will use the standard topaz font unless you have the flow-font in your fonts:-directory. ************************************************************** ** NOTE: ** ** The "MechFight"-disk MUST NOT BE WRITE-PROTECTED!!! ** ** (Otherwise MF will get stuck when it tries to save levels** ** on the disk). ** ************************************************************** Double-click on the disk-icon. Then double-click on the GAME-icon. Wait for the MF-icon to appear and double-click on it. (If you do not want to see the title pictures every time you start MF, you must press the left mouse button immediately after having double-clicked on the icon. You mustn't release it until the MechFight- display appears on the screen.) Click once on the MF-screen to activate it. Enter your name. You only have to do this once. You start in Beta-X, a space station in the orbit of BAHRAN, a planet with a rocky underground and a thin atmosphere. You do not have any items at first. Explore the station, earn some money, buy weapons and shields and try to find persons who give you some tasks. The display =========== There are three main elements in the display: the textwindow, the scrollwindow and the gadgets. Every message appears in the textwindow. Sometimes you are told something about the room you are in or you are told whether you have hit an enemy or he has hit you. In the SCROLLWINDOW, you see a small part of the landscape (the "PlayMap"). If you move your robot, this visible part of the landscape will scroll in the appropriate direction. The GADGETS: ------------ There are four arrow-gadgets to the right of the scroll window. Clicking with the mouse on them will cause your robot to move in the indicated direction. The gadget in the middle of the four arrows is for using your weapon. (Lasers, machine guns, grenades, bombs and short-range weapons). The lower three gadgets are labelled WEAPONS, COM and STATUS. In this version, WEAPONS and COM do not cause any useful actions. Clicking on the STATUS-gadget will bring up a status-message of the form: STATUS: ENERGY: Your energy, 0 means you are destroyed. SST: Your shooting-strength, depends on the type/level of your long-range-weapon. HST: Your hit-strength, depends on the type/level of your short-range- weapon. AC: Armor-Class. Standard level is 200. The lower the level the better for you. AC=0 would mean you can't be hit at all. AC depends on the type/level of your shield. CREDITS: The amount of money you are carrying. DEX: Dexterity. Standard value is 10. A lower value means you can hit (short-range-wp) in shorter intervals. SRWP: Your current short-range-weapon LRWP: Your current long-range-weapon SHLD: Your current shield. A typical example of a STATUS-message: STATUS: ENERGY: 3500 SST: 80 HST: 60 AC: 170 CREDITS: 1578 DEX: 10 SRWP: Striker LRWP: ML Laser SHLD: Std Shield The menu ======== If you click on the right mouse button once, a menu will appear under the mouse cursor. It looks like this: /---------\ | Menu: | | Actions | | Game | | Cancel | \---------/ The Actions submenu ------------------- looks like this: /-----------\ | Actions: | | Inventory | | Take | | Drop | | SRWeapon | | LRWeapon | | Shield | | Cancel | \-----------/ Inventory: Displays all your eight items in the form Nr. ITEMNAME TYPE#AMOUNT 3 E Bit E#03 Take : Takes an item at the current position if there is any. (Otherwise you are told "There is nothing") Example: You find: ML Laser. Do you want to take it (y/n) ? --> Type 'y' or 'n' on the keyboard. You can use take everywhere (not only when you stand on containers, blue boxes or a destroyed robot.) There may seem to be nothing in a room, but using "Take" might reveal some hidden items. Drop : By this command you can drop an item. Select this item with the mouse: Click on it in the inventory list which will be displayed. SRWeapon : Select your short-range-weapon with the mouse by clicking on it in the displayed list. >>> A short-range-weapon is of the TYPE 'R' <<< LRWeapon : Select your long-range-weapon in the same way. >>> A long-range-weapon is of the TYPES 'F'-'L' <<< (G=grenade, K=bomb, L=laser or machine gun) Shield : Select your shield. >>> A shield is of the TYPE 'S' <<< Other item-types: ================= 'E': Energy-item. Collect it and you'll get more energy. 'C': ID-Card. Weapons ======= LASERS just fire laser bolts. GRENADES are fired at a maximum distance of 5 fields. They explode and randomly hit nearby objects (robots etc.). BOMBS are laid on the field in front of you. A timer will start and after some while they'll explode. They can destroy some walls or rocks, depending on the level of the BOMB. They also damage robots, aliens or even yourself if you don't take care and get away quickly. NOTE: A bomb of level 5 (i.e. when equipped, your SST is 5) corresponds to a laser of level 50. With grenades it is the same. The Game submenu ---------------- /--------\ | Game: | | Quit | | Debug | | Coords | | Cancel | \--------/ Quit : Quit the game. You can choose whether you want to save the current status or not. Debug : Not for you. (Enter a number ranging from 0 to 200. 0=player) Coords : Displays the coordinates of the robot. The keys ======== You can invoke some of the actions described before also by using keys: Right-ALT : Use weapon. Arrow- keys : Move. t : Take. i : Inventory. Messages and special fields =========================== If you step on certain fields (which sometimes don't seem to be special at all), messages will appear - sometimes descriptions of places, sometimes computers requesting you to enter a password, sometimes an information. There are fields that teleport you to another location or even to another level. Some fields cause a door to open or to close, a hostile robot to appear etc. There are also fields which show pictures or check if you have a special item (e.g. an ID-Card). It may be that you even don't notice you have stepped on such a field. There are fields which will start a timer and after a short while a bomb will explode, a door will open, a message will appear or something else may happen. Saving ====== The current level is saved automatically if you enter a new one. (by teleporting). If you return to the old level, all monsters you have killed aren't there any more. If you want to quit the game, you are asked whether you want to save. If not, the next time you play MF you will start at the point where you were when you saved the last time. BUT THE LEVELS WILL HAVE BEEN SAVED IN SPITE OF THIS, EXCEPT FOR THE LAST LEVEL. (This is because every level is saved when you enter a new one). If you are playing MF for the first time and don't save when exiting, MF will believe you are a new player when you restart it, although the levels may have been changed by your last game. TO RESET ALL, FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS AT "Beginning a new game". If you type 'y' when exiting the game, a file called 'Player.save' will be saved to disk. It contains information about your name, the current level, your coordinates, the 8 items you are carrying, your srwp,lrwp and shld, your energy,ac,sst,hst,dex and credits. This file will automatically be loaded the next time you play MF. Normally, you should save every time you quit MF, because otherwise you might get into serious trouble. (An item isn't there any more and it isn't in your inventory either - so if it was an important one, you can't continue). Another possibility is to quit and re-enter the game every time you enter a new level. When you are killed, you can continue from the old position, because the current level is only saved when you quit. Beginning a new game ==================== If you have died or are stuck, you might want to begin a new game. You can do this by double-clicking on the NEW_GAME - icon which should be in the GAME - drawer. All necessary files will be recopied from the EDITOR-drawer to the GAME-drawer. (files with the endings .it,.objs, .pm,.texts,.texts.l). The Player.save - file will be deleted. If you restart MF now, you will be asked for your name and will start in the space station. (like it was when you first played MF)