Doc. SYS: Version 2.10 A Cheerful Arcade Game By Anders Bjerin (NOTE: Written on a PAL system, this program will not display the bottom of its playfield screen when run on NTSC (U.S.) systems. This need not be a hindrance to NTSC-equipped players. As you play, you control a central character -- a round creature with large eyes. Simply keep that character on the visible portion of the screen, and your enjoyment will not be less for lacking the bottom portion.) - - - - - If you have started the game successfully, the program will show you a list of four options: PLAY INFO SET-UP QUIT PLAY If you chose the PLAY option, you will be asked to enter your name (three letters). You can correct what you have typed in by pressing BACK SPACE. To clear everything, point at the option CLEAR, and press the left mouse button. Press either Return, or point at the option OK and press the left mouse button, when you have finished. The program will start. Remember to move the mouse to the left side of the screen, otherwise the program will be in "PAUSE MODE". See GOAL for more information. INFO The program will present you with another menu with five options: GOAL OBJECTS SCORE AUTHOR CANCEL They will give you a brief description of this game. They are included in this file and you will also find more instructions here. So read this carefully at least once. The CANCEL option will bring you back to the main menu. SET-UP Here you can change the default keys. This is handy if you are used to other keys than the ones I have chosen for you. See CONTROLS for more information. The program will ask you to define the keys for: UP, RIGHT, DOWN, LEFT, STOP, KICK. If you want to cancel this task, point at the option CANCEL and press the left mouse button. The option DEFAULT will change the definition of the keys back to their default values. GOAL You have been assigned the demanding task of cleaning your SYSOP's hard disk of viruses. These nasty creatures have infected all sectors, and you have to wipe them off, sector by sector. To eliminate a virus you kick a disc at it. But beware, for the viruses may also kill you. It is important to be fast and kill them all before they start to destroy your 3 1/2" discs. There are 50 different levels (sectors), and on each level the speed will increase. The viruses will also be smarter, and start to hunt you on the higher levels. Each virus has its own characteristic behavior: 1. The magnet is the most dangerous virus. It will follow you everywhere, and it is almost impossible to hide from on the higher levels. 2. The mouse is very mobile and turns quickly around corners. 3. The photo-diode is good at attacking you from behind, and has some other interesting features. 4. The joystick was created by an ugly hacker who liked to play games too much and didn't spend so much time fixing his virus. It is therefore quite harmless, but it may trap you if you are not careful. To pause the game, move the mouse to the right side of the screen. When you want to continue, move the mouse back to the left side. CONTROLS Special keys: F1 : Will make you go continuously without stopping all the time. F2 : Will stop you after every step. F6 : Music ON. F7 : Music OFF. (Very handy) F10: This is an option which should only be used by experienced players. This will allow you to start on level 10, where life becomes harder. This enables beginners to practice on some easy levels, but will not force good players to start on level one all the time. (Your score will be cleared, and you will have three lives again.) The default keys: (You may change these if you want. See SET-UP) UP: 8 (Numeric pad) RIGHT: 6 -"- DOWN: 2 -"- LEFT: 4 -"- STOP: 5 -"- "KICK": SPACE When you have lost a life, press "KICK" to continue. You can also use a joystick, which should be connected to the right port, beside the mouse. SCORE The more viruses you kill with one single disk, the more points you get: Viruses Points 1 2 2 6 3 14 4 30 By putting the 5 1/4" discs together you will earn an extra 20 points. The Surprise Bonus (?) will give you 0-20 points. When you change levels you get 1 point per 5 non-destroyed discs. SYS will look in the current directory for all the files when you start the program. If it can not find the highscore-list, it will try to create a new. If the disk is write-protected, SYS will ask you to un-protect it. However, if you do not want the program to create a new file for you, simply chose the option "CANCEL", otherwise unprotect it and press "RETRY". The same procedure will be repeated when you quit the program and SYS is trying to update the highscore-list. If SYS can not find a sound file when the program loads, it will just continue to load the other files and will later on not use that sound. If you, for example, do not like the sound-effects (for some strange reason), you simply erase them, and SYS will not allocate any space for the sound. Very useful if you want to run several programs at the same time, and do not have much RAM left. If you really dislike the sound, you can add your own effects. The only thing you have to do is to call the sound-files "SYS_Soundx.snd", where x is a number between 1 and 7. They can be in either IFF- or FutureSound -format. Nr1: Bonus. Nr2: Hit. Nr3: Breaking-disk. Nr4: Killed, Nr5: "Kick" Nr6: Ding Nr7: Background sound. The Background sound will sometimes be played at a higher (+2000) rate when someone has taken a "Lattice C Compiler" bonus. AUTHOR I created this game during the winter 1988-89 as an exercise in programming this wonderful computer. It took me around seven weeks to finish and one extra week to debug and check. If you find an error or have suggestions for the next version, please write. I would also like to thank Sioe-Lin Kwik and Mats Bjerin for their moral support and assistance. This program is dedicated to Sioe-Lin Kwik. If you have any good high-scores, ideas, suggestions, programs (PD or your own), demos, information . . . please write to me. My address is: Anders Bjerin 39 Sydney Road Richmond Surrey TW9 1UB ENGLAND After March 1990: Tulevdagen 22181 41, LIDINGO, SWEDEN 4]END OF TEXT