17 Bit Software 6: Level 6/17 Bit - Level 6 (1998)(Epic Marketing)[!].iso/!groovygames!/paradroid_ii/paradroid_ii.doc

Text File | 1993-06-19 | 22KB | 446 lines

                        ParaDroid_II

THE STORY SO FAR ...

You've entered a world of the future ...  A world where most of
the physical and menial tasks of everyday life are performed by
automated  robots.   A world where even wars  are fought not by
men, but by the mechanized metallic androids created by men.  A
world in which all hell is about to break loose.

While attempting  to make contact with an alien race,  the main
exploration and  defense armada  of the  Galactic Confederation
was intercepted by a small probe.  This probe emitted extremely
high concentrations  of radiation,  of such magnitude and power
our  sensors could  not identify  it.   The  radiation  quickly
penetrated and deactivated all defensive shields.   Soon after,
we lost  contact with  the entire  armada.    The  last reports
indicated that every electrical system had gone crazy -- acting
sporadically  in  an  unpredictable  manner.    These  systems,
unfortunately,   included all  the robots as  well as  all ship
guidance systems.  The last known position of the armada was in
the  Omega Quadrant,  heading toward  an uncharted  area of the
galaxy.

There is only one opportunity left for us to recover our fleet.
One outpost lies  on the edge of the Omega Quadrant.   The last
known  trajectory of  the armada crosses  within  teleportation
distance of the outpost.  Over the course of the last week,  we
at Galactic Central have devised a plan.

A new  robotic  control  device  has been  created  by our  top
scientists  -  one which should be  impervious to  all forms of
radiation.   This device, controlled remotely with a time/space
distortion beacon,  is equipped with anti-gravity thrusters and
a small laser. Although small and extremely defenseless to most
modern weapons,  its power  lies in its  ability to  override a
robot's  multi-processor  control  unit,  rendering  the  robot
immobile.   Once the  robot's brain  has been disconnected from
its body,  the remote control  device can tap  into the robot's
controls and serve as a substitute brain.

Your objective  will be to  control the unit  remotely from the
outpost.  The outpost is equipped with high-emission disruptors
that can be used  to punch a  hole in one of  the lesser ship's
shields.   A burst will be  fired off as the  armada passes by,
and we should  be able to teleport one  or possibly two control
units  onto  the ship.   Once aboard,  you are  to destroy  all
resistance so that the ship may be safely boarded by humans and
its guidance systems returned to normal. Once a ship is cleared
of all robot activity, you will be able to teleport to the next
ship in  the same  manner as with the outpost,  only using  the
ship's disruptors and teleporter instead of the outpost's.   In
order  for  humans to be able to safely  board and  control the
ship, you must destroy the  central command robot on the bridge
of each ship.  Good luck.



SETTING UP THE GAME ...

ParaDroid_II will look for two sub-directories in the directory
ParaDroid_II is in  -  the `snd' and the `CTables' directories.
The  CTables subdirectory  should have  six files in it,  named
`Weapon0.ctb' - `Weapon5.ctb'.  The `snd' directory should have
the following sound files in it:

   background.snd     bg.saucer0.snd      elevatoron.snd
   bg.body0.snd       bg.saucer1.snd      elevatorup.snd
   bg.body1.snd       bg.saucer2.snd      energizer.snd
   bg.body2.snd       bg.saucer3.snd      explosion.snd
   bg.body3.snd       bg.warp1.snd        minilaser.snd
   bg.body4.snd       bg.warp2.snd        nodeshot.snd
   bg.body5.snd       cleared.ship.snd    shutdown.snd
   bg.bridge.snd      collision.snd       transfer.init.snd
   bg.neck1.snd       damage.snd          transfer.no.snd
   bg.neck2.snd       disruptor.snd       transfer.start.snd
   bg.neck3.snd       elevatordown.snd    transfer.yes.snd
                      elevatoroff.snd

I suppose  that if you don't like  the sounds,  you can replace
them,  but be  ABSOLUTELY SURE  that you use IFF sound files  -
anything else and the game will mose likely guru, or sound very
funny.

ParaDroid_II uses no libraries,  no devices,  no multi-tasking,
and no strange commands.  So it should be very easy to run, and
should  NOT guru  (unless  one of the sound files  isn't an iff
file).

You will be able to play  the  full version of  ParaDroid_II if
your Amiga has one meg of chip ram or more,  and some fast ram.
If you have 512K of chip ram and 512K of fast ram,  you'll only
be  able  to play  ParaDroid_II in  one player  mode,  and  the
majority of sound effects will not be used (boo-hoo).  You will
also experience a reduced  weapon-collision detection effect  -
some weapons will look like  they grazed  an  enemy robot,  but
they  will  not  hit.    This  reduced   detection  isn't  very
noticeable,  however,  especially when  your robot is careening
around  a corner  with  a  dual plasma  discharge  right up his
motivators.  Other than that,   gameplay is  the same.   You're
really missing out on the game  if you don't have 1 meg of chip
ram  -  without all the sounds, the game's just not the same.

To start  ParaDroid_II  on an Amiga  with 512K of chip ram  and
512K of fast ram, execute the following script (I have included
a copy for your pleasure)...

    Stack 8192
    RunBack ParaDroid_II
    EndCLI >nil:



PLAYING THE GAME ...

It's easy  to start this game  -  double click on the icon.  If
you're going to start it from a command shell, you will need to
run ParaDroid_II as a background task, and close the shell when
the program prompts you to.  ParaDroid_II closes the WorkBench,
since it  needs all the chip  memory it can get.   Once all the
support files have been loaded,  you will be prompted  with the
main menu.  Select one or two players with the joystick in port
2.  If you're playing one or two player mode and another person
wants to  join in,  he can grab the  joystick in the other port
and hit the button.   To make things a little tougher, this can
only be  done three  times per player  before the  game must be
re-started from the beginning.

If you don't use the icon  to start ParaDroid_II,  be sure that
the stack  is set to  at least 8192 bytes,  or the program WILL
crash.

Objective:
   Your objective is simple - destroy everything, except the
   other player.   You can destroy an enemy  robot in one of
   three  ways  -  shoot him or  cause him to  be shot by an
   enemy,  run into him and beat him up, or transfer into an
   enemy robot.   The higher your score,  the better  you're
   doing.

Robots:
   Robots are classified  numerically from 007 to 999.   The
   higher the classification,  the more powerful  the robot.
   Each robot has a certain weapon recharge rate (even if it
   isn't armed), a certain armor rating, a certain amount of
   power,  a certain acceleration  and maximum speed,  and a
   certain number of node shots. The 007 unit is the control
   device unit.  You start the game with the 007, and remain
   in control of this unit at all times - it attaches itself
   to other robots as you control them.

Weapons:
   There are  seven different types of weapons.   The bigger
   the weapon looks when it is fired, the more powerful. You
   get bigger  weapons when  you transfer into  a robot that
   is equipped with one.   You may fire a weapon by pressing
   the  joystick  in some  direction  and  hitting  the fire
   button.    Once a weapon  has been fired,  it will take a
   little time for  the weapon to recharge  before it can be
   fired again.   Different robots  have different  recharge
   rates, so watch for robots with fast rechargers.  You can
   tell when  your weapon  has recharged  by looking  at the
   gauge  in the  upper  left hand  corner of  your  console
   display.   When the gauge is full of green,  it's time to
   fire again.

   Disruptors are a  different kind of weapon.   A disruptor
   appears  as  a flash on  the screen,  and  sounds  pretty
   weird,  kind of  like a Romulan  disruptor or  something.
   Disruptors damage anything  that is in sight of the robot
   firing the disruptor.   There are several robots that are
   immune to disruptor fire  -  most upper level robots, and
   the  409 and 666 class robots.   Any robot  not immune to
   disruptor fire stands little to no chance against a robot
   equipped with one.

   When hit by a weapon,  robots lose power.   If you are in
   control of a robot  and his power  reaches zero,  the 007
   unit will abort control of the  robot and fly away as the
   robot dies.   Once the 007's  power reaches zero,  you're
   dead.

Collisions:
   When your robot and an enemy robot collide,  they overlap
   and begin fist-fighting with one another.  Sometimes it's
   hard to break  this up  -  you'll encounter resistance as
   you try to break away.   As they fight,  power is lost in
   both robots.   The bigger robot  (the one with the higher
   Armor rating) will generally win a sustained fight.

Transfers:
   The most complicated and important  part of  this game is
   transferring  -  the process  through which  your control
   unit attempts to disconnect  the robot's `brain' from his
   control circuitry and connect itself to it instead.   You
   enter  transfer mode by  holding down  the button WITHOUT
   moving.  Once the Transfer gauge fills up green,  you may
   start moving,  while holding the button down.   Releasing
   the button  will abort transfer mode.   While in transfer
   mode,  touch the enemy robot you want to take over.   The
   grid  then appears  as a 3-d  group of  wires  leading to
   twelve boxes  in the center.   Whoever has  more boxes in
   the center that are his color wins.  You control the side
   closest to you, and the computer controls the other side.
   Your color is light blue,  and the enemy's  is dark blue.
   As soon as you enter transfer mode, let go of the button.
   The transfer  gauge  will begin  unfilling.   During this
   time,  you can switch sides  by pushing the  joystick up.
   Once you've got the side you want, hit the button or wait
   until the transfer gauge unfills.   Then,  a gong will go
   off and the battle will begin.  You have a certain number
   of node shots,  displayed  on the  bottom of  the screen.
   Move the  joystick  right and left  across the nodes  and
   wires to a wire that goes directly to a box.  Hitting the
   button connects the node to the wire,  and (hopefully) to
   a  box in  the  middle.   Some wires branch,  so  you can
   control two boxes  with one node shot.   Other boxes take
   two  or  three nodes  connected up  to make the box  your
   color.   Nodes last only a short time  before their power
   is expended,  so if you  and the computer  connect to the
   same box,  whoever connected to it last  will control it.
   Once the  transfer gauge is  filled again,  transfer mode
   ends.   Whoever controls more boxes  in the middle  wins.
   If you each  control six,  a tie is declared  and you try
   again with a different wire configuration. The more boxes
   you control, the better.

   Once you have control of the enemy robot, he will respond
   to your commands just like the 007 does. However, you may
   notice a small but consistent power drop. This power drop
   is caused by the enemy robot's brain - any boxes he still
   controls  by the end of transfer  are linked to functions
   of the robot.   The enemy robot brain uses these links to
   fight against your control,  resulting in a gradual power
   drop. The more boxes the enemy robot controls, the faster
   the power drop will be.   If you control all twelve boxes
   by the end of transfer mode,  the enemy robot's brain has
   been successfully disconnected  completely from its body,
   and there will be no gradual power drop at all.

   While  in transfer mode,  you  cannot be damaged  by  any
   attacking  robot or weapon.   This  is accomplished  by a
   special  feature  of the 007  -  it taps  into the  power
   supply  of the robot it controls  and uses the power as a
   high-energy deflector shield.   Unfortunately, this high-
   energy  output  places a  great  deal of  strain  on  the
   robot's power supply,  so the power supply  is completely
   burned out by the time the transfer is complete.   So the
   last  robot  under  the 007's control  is dead  when  you
   transfer to a new robot.  When transferring from a 007 to
   any other robot,  the 007 has to use its own power supply
   to provide  the shield.   If transfer is successful,  the
   007  can replenish  its own power supply  from  the newly
   acquired  robot.   If  transfer  fails,  the  007's power
   supply dies.

Turbolifts:
   Turbolifts  are  used  to get  from  level  to level.   A
   turbolift looks like a sealed door with a round unsealing
   wheel,  much  like  the doors  on submarines.   To  use a
   turbolift,  position your robot  on top of  the turbolift
   (you may find it easier  to position him a little  to the
   right  and down,  making sure  that the upper  left  hand
   corner of your robot is over the turbolift),  and hitting
   the  button without  moving the  joystick.   Once  on the
   turbolift,  you will see a door  colored the same  as the
   level.   Pushing the joystick up or down will move to the
   next  level,  and the color  of the door  will  change to
   correspond  with the  color of the  new level.   When you
   reach the level you wish to enter, hit the button.  There
   are many turbolift shafts, so you may have to use several
   to get around the ship.  The layout of the ship itself is
   left as a bit of a mystery; that's for you to explore and
   discover for yourself.

Energizers:
   Energizers  replenish  your  power  supply.    They  also
   diminish  your score  while they're used.   If you have a
   score of zero, you cannot use an energizer.  An energizer
   looks  like  a  pulsating  star-like  blob.   To  use  an
   energizer,  simply move  the robot you control  onto  the
   energizer until your power supply gauge is full or nearly
   full.   If the robot you control is deteriorating and you
   are on top of an energizer,  your score will continuously
   go down  until you move off  the energizer,  because  the
   power lost from the deterioration is immediately replaced
   by the energizer.  So, when you re-energize, re-fuel your
   power supply  to full  and then get off the energizer  as
   soon as possible.

Consoles:
   Consoles can be used  to see a map of the level you're on
   and to obtain specifications on any of the robots,  up to
   the numerical classification  of the robot  you  control.
   Consoles look like,  well,  a console,  facing one of the
   four  main  directions.   To connect  to a console,  move
   close  to the  console  (make  sure  the upper  left hand
   corner  of  your  robot is  in the  same  square  as  the
   console),  and hold the button down  while not moving the
   joystick.   Once the transfer gauge reaches one fourth of
   the way to full,  you will have connected to the console.
   Connecting  takes some time  because an interface must be
   attained and a power grid must be connected.  While using
   a console,  your robot cannot be damaged  -  the 007 taps
   into  the  power  from  the  ship   via  the  power  grid
   connection,  and  uses  the power boost  to  energize the
   high-energy   deflector   shield  normally   used  during
   transfer. Once connected, you will see a computer console
   (an Amiga, of course),  with three buttons on the screen.
   Select one of the buttons  by moving the joystick  up and
   down to  highlight your  selection,  then  pressing   the
   button.   When you are done using the console, select the
   Quit button.

Levels:
   Each level  of the ship  contains  different  classes  of
   robots.   Some levels  contains  low level  robots,  some
   contain  middle  range  robots,  some contain  high level
   robots,  and some  can have  any robot there is.   Once a
   level has been cleared of all robots, its color will turn
   to dark grey  and no enemy robots  will ever be found  on
   that level again.   No robots  are permitted  to use  the
   turbolifts  except  the  007 and  007-controlled  robots,
   unless  directly ordered to;  and  since  they don't take
   orders anymore, they won't change levels.

   The one level you  MUST clear off as soon as possible  is
   the bridge.  You will recognize the bridge by its color -
   it's crimson red.   You will also find  the two deadliest
   robots on this level  -  the 911 and the 999.  The 999 is
   the central command robot  -  and he's mean.   The 911 is
   the `personal bodyguard' of the 999,  and he will stop at
   nothing to ensure your destruction.

Hints:
   Transfer often  -  your score will suffer  if you use the
   energizers a lot.   This will also provide you with a lot
   of practice transferring.   And if you can't get the hang
   of transfer mode right off the bat, don't panic- it takes
   time.   Pretty soon  you'll figure out  how to pick which
   side  will get the best results  (it depends  on how many
   node shots your robot has),  and how to beat the computer
   at the intricacies of transfer mode.

   Concentrate on increasing the classification of the robot
   you  control  to  the  highest   you  can  possibly  get.
   Controlling the 999 or an 896 is the best strategy if you
   want to win.   Don't be hasty - playing conservatively is
   a  prudent choice.   Work  your  way up  gradually  -  my
   favorite method  is starting  with the  brown or  earwax-
   yellow level and transferring into a  199 or a 176,  then
   to the light purple level for a 345 or a 369, then to the
   bright  yellow  level  for a 488,  then  up  one  of  the
   shafts near the right end  (the rear of the ship)  on the
   top or bottom wall to the medium purple level  (it's very
   long and narrow)  for a  500 or 600 class robot,  then to
   the level just  below it  (the deep purple  level)  for a
   721,  then  to the  orange  level  just  below the bright
   yellow level for an 817 or a 777,  then to the bridge for
   the 999.

   If you have  a 999 and it's  deteriorating fast,  find an
   896  and take it over.   Chances are,  with all  the node
   shots the 999 has,  you'll get better control of the 896.
   If you've got a 999 and it's not deteriorating, hold onto
   it!!!

   If you have two players, gang up on the big guys.   Enemy
   robots  only fire at you  when they can see you.   If one
   player concentrates on dodging shots,  the other can stay
   out of sight and nail the enemy from a distance.

   Don't go onto a level with  700+ robots unless you have a
   robot of a higher class, or a 409 or a 666. The disruptor
   fire from the 700 class robots will ALWAYS kill you fast.

   Try not to mess with the 911; in a dogfight, he'll almost
   ALWAYS win.  A 999 or an 896 are the best weapons against
   the 911, but even though they have excellent weapons, the
   911  has a FAST  weapon recharge rate.   Best to nail him
   from a distance.

   Transfer with a lot of different robots.   Each robot has
   at least one good thing about him.  You may prefer a fast
   weapon recharge to speed, or faster speed over a powerful
   weapon.

   DO NOT clear off the lower levels  (the ones with 100-300
   class robots) until the rest of the ship is cleared.  Not
   only is killing helpless robots easy, it's silly.  In the
   event that  you get killed  and  lose  control  of  a big
   robot, you'll need to  start  from scratch  and work your
   way  up.   Once  the  levels  with the  hefty  robots are
   cleared,  clean up the ship  by removing the small robots
   with  a big one  you control.   You'll find  it's easier,
   faster, and more entertaining. Nothing quite like running
   around in a  999 or  an 896  picking off little 333's and
   running over 069's!!!



OTHER INFORMATION ...

Greetings from the beautiful Rockies in Colorful Colorado!!!

This program  is for you  to play and enjoy.   You may copy it,
distribute it  for a  nominal fee  (no more than $6),  share it
with your friends, put it on your hard drive and worship it, or
put it in your archives and never look at it again.   Hopefully
you'll enjoy it as much as I do.  I will not and cannot be held
liable  for any damage or loss  caused by  this program,  so be
careful with your joysticks.   This program  may be distributed
as long as this documentation  file accompanies the executable,
and  all the support files  are included  in  the  distribution
intact.

If you like this program and would like to see more,  feel more
than welcome  to send me a check or money order.   Cash is okay
too, but t'isn't a good idea to send cash through the mail. I'm
hoping  to get a positive response  from everyone out there  in
Amigaland,  so I can be sure that programming software for this
incredible machine is  worthwhile.   If you can't afford money,
send me a postcard or a letter or an  e-mail message and let me
know what you think about ParaDroid_II. It would be nice to see
just how many  Amiga users there are  that respond  to starving
young college students  in need of financial and moral support.
If I get  a decent response  and  some good  suggestions,  I'll
probably  make an update  and send it out to anyone who sent me
fundage.




                                 L-8-R  Daze,


                                 Marc S. Seter
                                 1275 West 4th Avenue
                                 Broomfield, CO  80020

                                 InterNet:
                                 [e-mail]


PS, last name's pronounced SEH'TUR (lots of good it'll do ya)