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1990-06-26
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239 lines
Faces(Tetris III)
by Spectrum Holobyte
ABOUT FACES...
The object of FACES is to assemble chin, mouth, nose, eyes and forehead
segments of a face into a complete face that will then be removed from the
playing screen. When a perfect face is completed(one that uses all five
segments if the same personality), all "blocked" segments of the column the
face was on will be removed down to the next "open" segment. If a mixed face
(a complete face with segments of different personalities) is completed, the
"blocked" segment directly below the completed face will be removed. When a
face is completed, it will be transferred to the left hand side of the screen.
The game is over if a column of "blocked" segments reaches the top of the
playing screen.
THE TERMINOLOGY IN FACES...
A SEGMENT refers to a portion of a face which is a block containing either a
"chin," "lips," "nose," "eyes" or "top."
A PERSONALITY refers to a specific face. For example, Joan of Arc is a
personality.
A PERFECT FACE refers to a completed face that contains all five face segments
of only one personality.
A MIXED FACE refers to a completed face that contains segments of more than
one personality.
MOVEMENT refers to the horizontal and vertical manipulation of a pair of face
segments as they fall from the top of the game screen.
SWAPPING occurs when you transpose the position of the two face segments on
game screen.
FLIPPING occurs when you substitue the cureent face segments with a different
pair of face segments. The alternate pair will always be the same portion of
the face(chin, nose, etc.) but it might be a segment of a different
personality.
LEVELS OF DIFFICULTY...
There are 10 difficulty levels in FACES, numbered 0-9. The higher the
difficulty level, the faster the face segments will drop from the top of the
screen. Also, the number of different personalities that can appear increases
by one every two levels beginning with 4 on level 0 and increasing to 8 on
level 9. The different personality categories are listed below:
LEVEL CATEGORY # OF PERSONALITIES
0 Universal Faces 4
1 Modern World Figures 4
2 Faces from Art 5
3 Scientists 5
4 Musicians 6
5 Historical Americans 6
6 Literary Figures 8
7 Monsters 7
8 Historical Figures 8
9 American Holidays 8
ADVANCE MODE...
Adcance mode gives the expert FACES player an added challenge. When advanced
mode is selected, the segments fall much faster then they do in regular play
mode. The benefit of playing in advanced mode is that your score for dropping
pieces and completing a face is greater then it would be in regular play mode.
The benefit of playing in advanced mode is that your score for dropping pieces
and completing a face is greater then it would be in regular play mode. Of
course, the game is much harder...
SCREENS...
CONFIGURATION SCREEN
The configuration screen allows you to set the options you would like to have
for your FACES game. This screen will appear at the conclusion of every game
to allow you to adjust your options before playing again. To move and select
choices on this menu, use the arrow keys and enter. Following is a brief
description of the options available to your from this screen:
LEVEL
This option allows you to change the level of play for you game. The range is
from 0(slowest speed and least number of personalities) to 9(fastest speed and
greatest number of personalities).
ADVANCED MODE
This toggles the advanced mode ON or OFF.
CONTROL
This toggles your controls to utilize either the KEYBOARD or the JOYSTICK.
PLAYERS
You can select the number of players(up to 10) using this option. If more then
1 player is selected, all players will be playing in tournament mode.
If HEAD 2 HEAD is selected, two players can compete against each other through
direct-connect or over a modem.
SHOW HIGH SCORES
This allows you to view the top ten scores on your FACES game. Press any key
on the high score screen to exit.
RESET HIGH SCORES
This option will allow you to clear the top ten high scores. You will be
prompted for confirmation of this action in case you selected it by mistake.
LOAD GRAPHICS
Use this selection to substitute faces in the game with faces that you have
created on you own.
UNLOAD GRAPHICS
Use this selection to remove faces that you have inserted using the load
graphics option.
QUIT
This quits the program by exiting to DOS.
HOW TO PLAY...
To complete a face, you must assemble the face segments in order; chin, lips,
nose, eyes adn then top. If you place any segment out of order(for example,
placing a chin segment on a nose segment) that piece will become "blocked."
To complete a perfect face, you need to assemble all five face pieces of only
one personality. You can distinquish the different personalities from each
other because each has its own separate background color or pattern.
If you have a pair of segments straddling a column of pieces, you can move one
piece from side to side without moving the other one. In addition, when one of
the two pieces comes to rest on a column, you can move and flip the second one
on its own.
MANIPULATION THE GAME PIECES...
Pieces will fall from the top of the screen in pairs, and you can manipulate
the movement, flipping and swapping of these face segments either by the
keyboard or a joystick.
SCORING...
Points are accumulated in FACES through a number of different ways.
Each time a pair of pieces finishes its movement on either the bottom of the
screen or on the top of one of the stacks of blocked pieces you gain points.
Unlike TETRIS or WELLTRIS, you do not get any extra points for how far a
piece drops.
Bonus points are achieved on completion of a face. You obtain more points for
creating a perfect face thean for a mixed face. When a face is completed, it is
removed from the game screen.
The taller a completed face is, the more bonus points you gain. However, you
will always get more points for a perfect face than for a taller mixed face.
In addition, the higher the level you are playing, the more points you get for e
each piece and for completing a face. Playing in the faster advanced mode also
increases your overall score.
ADVANCING TO THE NEXT LEVEL...
After completing 10 total faces(any combination of perfect or mixed faces), you
will advance to the next difficulty level. You can also press the + key to
increase your level.
HOW THE GAME ENDS...
The game ends whenever you press the ESC key or when a column of blocked pieces
reaches the top of the game screen. In tournament mode, a game can end after
the set time limit has expired. Play will then pass on to the next player in
the tournament. In head-to-head mode, the game ends when one player has a
column of blocked pieces reach the top of the screen. After the game ends,
press any key to go to the high score screen.
HIGH SCORE SCREEN...
This screen show the top ten scores for your FACES game. If you have just
completed a game where you score was greater than the existing tenth place
score, you will be prompted to enter your name for the record books. Your
name and score will be saved and then placed on the screen among the existing
scores. Note: Some of the lines will be blank until ten games have been played.
TOURNAMENT MODE...
Up to ten players can complete against each other in tournament mode. After
selecting the number of players on the configuration screen, press ENTER to
begin entering the participants' names and the time limit for each player's
game. Use the arrow keys to increase and decrease the amount of time each
player has during their turn. The default time limit is "OFF." If a time limit
limit has been selected, the tournament timer will appear in the lower left
hand corner of the playing screen throughout each player's game.
After pressing SPACEBAR to begin the tournament, the game will prompt Player
One to get ready to play. Pressing SPACEBAR again will start the game.
Each player will play exactly the same sequence of pices as every other player,
and the player with the highest score at the end of the tournament wins.
After everyone has finished playing their game, a tournament scoreboard appears
listing all of the players and their respective scores. If one of the players
has achieved a score high enough to be included on the top ten list, their name
will be placed there as well.
STRATEGIES...
There are quite a few hints and tricks you can utilize in order to play better
and achieve a high score. The following is a short list of basic ones you can
employ in FACES. Not everything is covered; we can't let all of our secrets out
of the bad...
Position your pieces before flipping them. Rather than frantically trying to
flip, switch and move your pieces all at the same time, try to line up the
pieces above stacks where you want them to eventually end up, then flip them.
This tactic is somewhat useful in tournament mode as well, but in head-to-head
mode you usually don't have the luxury of time.
Drop pieces as quickly as possible in tournament mode and head-to-head mode. In
regular play mode, you have virtually unlimited time to maneuver and position
your pieces, but in tournament mode and head-to-head mode you are racing against
the clock. To coin the old adage, "He who hesitates is lost." Nothing could be
more true when you have FACES opponents breathing down your neck.
Try to make perfect faces, especially in head-to-head mode. While it is always
a good idea to create a perfect face, in head-to-head mode perfect faces are
essential to winning. Creating a perfect face sends blocked pieces to your
opponent which could be the difference in the game.
Okay, here are the docs... There were a few things I left out, but they were'nt
really important... Have fun!
Dragon Lord