VectorTrap ~~~~~~~~~~ A Black Dragon Production "No Bobs? No Sprites? No WAY!"... "YES WAY!" The Scene Is Set ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Several new and deadly breeds of virus have hatched themselves out inside your Amiga, and only you - as a computer controlled antidote capable of laying down "traps" for the viruses - can clean them up! These nasties aren't the usual boot-sector annoyancies, they're the real thing - living demonspawn that'll eat away your circuit boards! (Cabbage-brained humans please note the above paragraph is entirely fiction for the sake of giving this addictive little number an excuse of a storyline. Thankyou.) Loading The Game & How To Play It ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VectorTrap requires 1-megabyte minimum, preferably a 1200 machine (for maximum speed - I won't make up excuses around the fact that AMOS is not exactly the Nigel Mansell of programming languages, okay?) and you will also save yourself some eye-strain if you've got a monitor because the mazes are tiny and very complex. You'll also need a joystick plugged into the usual port (no keyboard/mouse alternatives). Once loaded, simply press FIRE to play. The tasty title screen and music will vanish and you'll find yourself slap-bang in the middle of the first level. The simple objective is to clear the Amiga's memory of nasty viruses (which flash on the scanner in the top left). You can only kill them by ensuring they collide with a set "trap", and these are laid down by you when you press the fire button. You can only set a trap when you are completely still; the joystick must not be held in any direction, or you may end up teleporting instead (see below). You begin with 20 traps, but you can pick up more in the maze. On the scanner, traps appear as yellow dots. There is no maximum to the amount you can carry. Your lives are indicated on the far right of the screen and appear as red circles. After each level you complete, you'll get an extra life as a reward. There is also a score display, and an indication of how many viruses you have yet to kill. Sometimes the computer may catch on to your skill and insert another virus just to annoy you, but you need only kill as many as the display shows. There are plenty of levels to go at, and several breeds of nasty virus. In the Amiga's memory maze you'll come across green slime; this is acid formed by the viruses and must be AVOIDED at all costs! ~~~~~~~ By pressing FIRE and holding LEFT or RIGHT at the same time, you'll be teleported to another position in the maze. The higher the level you are currently on, the bigger the maze will seem. However, the entire game is played within the SAME maze, so you might (might!) get to know certain areas. Good luck on that one. Hints And Tips ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * If you're standing on a trap, you're safe until a virus collides with you. After that, of course, you're vunerable again. * Viruses home in on you very quickly and mimic your moves. By using skillful manipulation, you can get them out into the open for trapping without having to move any more than left and right a few times. Experiment and you'll see what I mean. * You're never trapped yourself; teleporting is always an option, but be careful, it's random so you could arrive in the middle of a nest of viruses! * Keep stocked up on traps; if you run out, you're harmless and the viruses will get you. Sometimes it's better to risk a teleport than to try running for it. AMOS Source Code Of The Year ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For the measly sum of £2.50 you can grab the full AMOS source code for VectorTrap, and pick up a hell of a lot more on the same disk, too. A fully-working start-up version of Black Dawn's 3D-dungeon-engine, a brilliant-looking (and magazine-featured) platform game, loads of press-praised puzzlers (including "Pollymorf" - The One coverdisk game!) and LOADS of useful routines are also included. Get in contact with one of the leading Shareware/PD/Licenceware teams and see how programming's done. If you're already involved with a new game or production but aren't sure how to go about marketing it, try contacting us - we're experienced in Shareware and you can use the Black Dragon logo (now associated with cool software thanks to a hell of a lot of successful releases!) to help premote your creation. We'll only plug the best, but you won't know until you try. Write to this address (enclosing cash, or a cheque, or Postal Order for £2.50 made payable to Andrew Campbell you want the AMOS code disk) and expect a prompt, 100% reply: BLACK DRAGON DESIGN 4 ALLOE FIELD PLACE ILLINGWORTH HALIFAX HX2 9ES ENGLAND We've got LOADS more PD/Shareware games, write for a full list. All the PD titles are FREE as long as you supply the disks/postage - which is the way it should be, folks (hint, hint PD-CD makers- £20 a time! It costs less than a quid to make a CD!). The Reason ~~~~~~~~~~ This game was made to prove you don't need flashy graphics to have a good larf. Me and my brother were hooked on it for ages because it's just different, and it does get you on edge, especially with the speed of some of the viruses, together with the eerie electronic sound FX. There's no bobs, no sprites, no fancy parallax scrolling, no animation no mind-bending puzzles... just a nice little game. That'll have you PULLING YOUR GODDAMNED HAIR OUT!!!!!! Ahem. Credits And Thanks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VectorTrap was coded by Andrew Campbell (AJC, or me, who is writing this now) of no particular fame... apart from perhaps Black Dawn II. The wicked music (which for some reason reminds me of Sky's "Hotta"!) was originally composed by Mike Richmond (but AJC edited it like hell to suit his own tastes - as per usual. Sorry Mike!) and the game was tested by the usual Black Dragon team members, especially (how hard it is to say the git's name) Tristan Campbell. :-) Enjoy the game as though it's the last Black Dragon'll make. Cos it might just well be. - AJC/1/12/94