Industrial Espionage By Alistair P. Duncan (C)1994 Alistair P. Duncan, Tiger Software & Wildcat Productions SHAREWARE This is what most people consider to be the boring and patronising bit, but please read it anyway. This game has a shareware fee of five pounds (sterling). Paying this fee entitles you to the following : A version of the game which will be personalised for you. A level creator enabling you to make your own levels. A year of low cost upgrades and discounts on my other products. Just before I released this game I thought to myself, what can I do to make people register? I did consider crippling the game in some way but I realise from personal experience that crippled programs tend to get up everyones nose. So I have chanced my luck somewhat and left it in one piece. Of course some of you may think yipee I don't need to send him a thing. Take it from me though, that is a bad habit to get into. If you take that attitude with every shareware program that comes along slowly all us program authors will stop writing any further programs and then what will you do ? It is becoming a trend for disgruntled shareware authors to move into licenceware and for the uninitiated that means that you are forced to pay us first before you get your hands on the program. Which is a great risk for you as you will have no idea what you will be getting or indeed whether you will even like it. Shareware is a great concept as you can try games first and eliminate the possibilty of getting 'stung' by a poor product after parting with your cash which is an all too common occurence within the full price commercial sector. Even if you genuinely dislike the game for some reason, take the time to put pen to paper and tell me why not (and please be constructive and not insulting). If you don't bother to do this we authors will never know what you want from our products. So please, before you just take this game and run, think of me the poor sod who has worked day and night to bring it to you and remember I need money just as much as anybody else. My address is at the end of this file. Enjoy the game.. Alistair P. Duncan --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction Industrial Espionage is a game for 1 - 4 players who each take on the role of a spy attempting to steal secrets from a company. Along the way you must search rooms, plant bombs, shoot guards / other spies and access computer terminals in order to complete your mission. You may choose to play any number of separate missions and at the end of each mission the winner will be announced. An overall result will be announced when all missions have been played. How to start Press a mouse button on the title page to get to the options screen. On this screen you can do the following : Select which spies are playing - This is done by clicking on the relevant spy portrait. A selected spy will have a lit bulb above his head. Select skill setting - Each spy can have their skill level set independently of the other spies. Players who have become expert at the lower levels may wish to make their game harder by raising their character's skill level. The skill level controls items such as the number of lives for the spy, number of moves available per turn and how easy it is for the spy to be shot. Click on the OKAY button when done. Select a mission The Industrial Espionage file selector will now be displayed. A list of available missions will be displayed on it. Simply click on one and press OKAY to begin. You will notice that I have supplied a RANDOM button. This will randomly pick a mission from those available so that a player can never be accused of picking a mission that he / she knows better than anyone else. Mission description Next to appear is the mission description screen. All the goals of the mission are displayed on this screen. You operate it as follows : In the top right is the object window. Displayed in this window is the currently selected object. The arrow buttons immediately below it allow you to move through the available objects. The objects are : MICROFILM DOCUMENTS PHOTOGRAPHS FORMULAE You will notice that in the bottom left of the screen there are four boxes with the relevant spy names next to them. These boxes hold what object each spy has elected to hunt for. So if you wanted the red spy to collect photographs you would adjust the object window until photos were displayed and then click in the red spy box. Spies do not have to pick different objects but as there is a limited supply of each object it is recommended that no more than two spies elect to hunt for the same object. Of course the game becomes more competitive if all four spies decide to hunt for the same object. Above the object boxes is a floorplan of the selected level. It is important to try and memorise it as there is no chance to view it during play. Below the object select window are level details. These tell you how many turns each spy has to complete the mission and the difficulty level. Between the object boxes and the floorplan is a small window. In this window the description of the secondary (or sub) mission will be displayed. This mission is not compulsory but is worth 10,000 cash to the first spy to acomplish it. In the bottom right is an exit button. When everything has been set up properly click this to begin play. Playing the game The colours play in the following order : RED BLUE GREEN GREY The game screen is layed out as follows : At the top of the screen are two main features. The dialogue box takes up most of the room. It displays a lot of important details. Firstly it displays the colour of the current player. It also displays how many goes the player has to play on the current turn, the number of the current room and the number of the exit room if it is known. Below all this is a small message box where important messages will be displayed during the game. The second main feature at the top of the screen is the hunted object window. This window holds a constant reminder of what object you are seeking. Remember that you have to find four of your chosen object and make it to your exit room in order to win. Please also note that it is permitted to collect four of another object and win but you will not gain the 50,000 point bonus if you choose to do so. Below the hunted object window is the action window. Displayed is a pictorial representation of the current action. The left and right arrows below it allow you to scroll through the available options. When you have the action that you desire you may activate it by clicking its picture. The actions are as follows : SMOKE BOMB The smoke bomb has the effect of causing any guards in your current location to leave the room. Useful in cases where you need to clear a room and do not have enough goes or ammo to shoot them all. The disadvantages of this option are that you will not gain any score for the guards that vacate the room. Also the smoke bomb does not affect other spy characters. Each player begins the game with four of these bombs. SEARCH Selecting this action will cause any cash or special objects in the current room to be shown up as question marks. It is important to note that bombs that have been placed by spies (including your own) will not show up as a result of this action. The only way you can become aware of a bomb is to stand on it. However when it come to defusing bombs you will need to have searched the room in order to successfully defuse them. PLACE BOMB This action will cause a bomb to placed at the precise point where your spy is standing. You are immnue from your own bombs. You begin the game with two bombs. It is important to note that guards are immune to bombs as they hover above ground level. DEFUSE BOMB This action will defuse all bombs at the same x co-ordinate as your spy. It is important to note that you will not be able to defuse bombs unless you have searched the room or used the bomb detector (see later) to locate any that exist. GIVE UP If you think that your mission is hopeless and you wish to quit select this action. You will be removed from the current mission and will not receive any score for it. You will be allowed to take part again in the next mission. PICK UP If you have searched a room and some question marks have appeared you may move onto the same squares and use this function to pick the object up. When you do so you will be informed of what it is you have collected. DROP This will drop your currently selected object in the current room. One of the game rules is that there may only be one special object per room. So if an attempt to drop an object fails you will know there is a special in the room you are in. PHOTOGRAPH This option is only relevant to the special mission that requires a photo to be taken. Selecting it will simply cause you to be informed that you have successfully photographed the current room. DETECT BOMB Selecting this action will activate your spy's bomb detector (naturally). This will check two squares out from your present position in the four main compass directions. You will receive one of three responses : a) No bombs in immediate vicinity. b) Bombs fairly close (i.e about two squares distant). c) Bombs very close (i.e about one square distant). Please note that if bobms are located they will not be displayed on screen in anyway. The blind spot is that the detector does not check diagonals. SHOOT Selecting this option will produce a gun sight. Simply manoever it over the spy or guard you wish to fire at and click a mouse button. Whether you hit or not is determined by your spy's skill level and the target. Order of hit difficulty (most difficult first) : COMPANY DIRECTOR (Special mission only) OTHER SPIES GUARDS Every time you successfully hit your target you will be awarded cash. However, you are never informed of the amount until the end of the mission. You begin the game with ten shots. When you run out you need to find your spy's terminal in order to re-load (see later). Immediately below the action window are the direction controls. Click on the relevant arrow to move in that direction. At the bottom of the game screen are the inventory boxes. You may only carry four objects at any one time. The currently selected object is represented by its box containing a light bulb. This currently selected object is very important for several reasons. 1..When you select the drop action the currently selected item will be dropped. 2..If you are shot you will drop the currently selected object. The same will happen if you are attacked by a robot or walk onto a bomb. Therefore it is sensible to make sure the currently selected box is empty or contains a unimportant item. Also please note that you do not have to have an empty box selected in order to pick up an object. The computer will position the item in the first empty box that it finds. Guards Guards feature on all the levels supplied with the game. They hover above the ground and are consequently immune to bombs. Guards vary in colour according to their strength. So if you shoot a guard successfully it will change colour to indicate that it has been reduced in strength. Strengths go as follows : 4 .. Light Grey 3 .. Dark blue 2 .. Orange 1 .. Dark Grey There is a maximum of four robot guards per room. On their movement phase, the guards will take the most direct route to their chosen prey. Guards can move a maximum of six squares per turn. Guards cannot leave the room in which they were deployed. Terminals Each participating spy has a computer terminal of their colour somewhere on the level. The terminal serves two important functions : 1..The first time you walk onto it you will be told what number your exit room is. 2..Every time after that walking onto it will re-boost your ammo level to ten shots. Winning the level In order to complete the level you must collect four of the same object and get to your exit room. Your score will be boosted if you have collected four of the object you chose at the beginning. Each levels performance is scored as follows : Lives left x 1000 Objects collected x 1000 Four of the same object = 10,000 Four of the chosen object = 50,000 Amount of cash collected You will not receive any score if you gave up on the level. After points have been alocated you will be asked if you wish to play another level. If you choose not to a final table will be displayed which will inform you of the overall winner. LEVEL CREATOR This is available to all those who choose to register the game. This creator will allow you to plan your floor layout and decide how many guards will be present in each room. For more details contact me. How it was done : Industrial Espionage was written using : AMOS Pro 2.00 Deluxe Paint IV AGA HARDWARE : A4000/30 (2+2) 80 Meg HD Address for registrations or comments : Alistair P. Duncan 113 Brook Street Soham Cambridgeshire CB7 5AE