Roll your mouse over an active option, the option will hi-light, and the mouse pointer will turn to a pointing hand to indicate that the option is clickable.
If an option is grayed out, nothing will happen when the mouse rolls over it.
Main Menu Options Breakdown
Return to Adventure - This option only appears if the user has gained access to the menu while a game is in progress. This could happen by exiting the game section from the main menu button on the nav-bar, or by exiting from the game section into the Chart Room and then exiting into the menu.
Choosing this option will put you back in the game section in the exact location that you were in when you exited.
If a game is not in progress, this option will not appear.
New Adventure - When the user is ready to start a new adventure (that is from the beginning) this is where they will click.
This takes the user to the prologue slide show. If the user chooses to skip the slide shows in the future they may do so by hitting the space bar or ESC key.
This option is always available.
Load Adventure - This will take you to the load / save adventure screen.
This option is only available if a game has been saved. If the user has never saved a game up to this point, (or deleted all the saved games) the option will be grayed out but still visible.
Save Adventure - This will take you to the load / save adventure screen.
This option is only available if the user gained access to the main menu by exiting the game section, and a game is in progress. In every other case, this option will be grayed out.
Chart Room - This will take you to the Chart Room.
This option is always available.
Web Links - This will take you to the web links screen.
This option is always available.
Options - This will take you to the options screen.
This option is always available.
Credits - This will take you to the credit screen.
This option is always available.
Help - This will take you to the help screen.
This option is always available.
Quit - This brings up a dialogue box, there are two buttons in the bottom of this box labeled 'Yes' & 'No'.
Clicking 'Yes' will quit out to the system. Clicking 'no' to this new dialogue box will take you back to the main menu, 'yes' will exit to the system.
Clicking 'no' will remove the 'quit' dialogue box and restore the main menu.
This option is always available.
The Adventure Interface.
At the bottom of the screen is an upward pointing arrow. By resting your mouse over the arrow this will raise the NAV- BAR (short for navigation-bar). To lower the NAV-BAR, rest your mouse over the TAB marked DOWN. On the nav-bar are some important tools.
* First, there are three inventory slots to hold items that you will find during the course of your adventure.
* Second, there is a book. This is your log. Check it frequently to review your progress, and gain invaluable hints that can help you out of tough situations.
* Third is the medallion icon. This will take you to the Chart room, where you can research and study nautical history of the 1790's
* Last, there is a Main Menu button that will take you back to the main menu.
When you move the mouse-pointer around the screen, you will notice that it changes shape. In order to walk around the ship, move the mouse until the pointer changes into a compass. This indicates that you can walk in that direction. Clicking the mouse will move you forward. This is how you will move about during the course of the game.
During the course of the game you will be able to talk to various people. To do this, roll the mouse pointer over the individual you wish to talk to until the pointer turns to the mouth icon. Click the mouse to initiate a conversation
Some items can be used, picked up, or researched. To use an item, roll the mouse pointer over top of it, until the pointer turns into a hand. This indicates that the item can be manipulated.
* To use that item, click on it.
* To Manipulate that item, click and drag it to the inventory slots on the nav bar.
* The item can be researched by clicking on the right-hand mouse button (or by holding down the Control or Option Key and clicking at the same time, if you have a Macintosh), and you will be taken to the chart room, where you will learn about that item.
The Chart Room
The chart room is where you will go to research and study the nautical history of the 1790's.
To choose a topic to study, either type the topic you wish to search for in the text field, or look for it on the list of topics on the left side of the screen.
Double-click on the topics to view that specific entry.
Mac/OS - specific stuff
* If the item can be researched, Control or Option-click the mouse, and you will be taken to the Chart Room, where you will learn about that item.
Quitting the Program
There are two ways to exit the program:
* The first is by clicking on the 'Quit' button in the main menu. (This is described in further detail in the 'Main Menu' section of this document.)
* The second is by typing CTRL-X (COMMAND-PERIOD on the Mac/OS). This will bring up the Quit dialogue box. (See the 'Main Menu' section).
Once you load the "Search for the Golden Dolphin" CD into your CD-ROM drive, the AUTO-RUN screen will appear. This will allow the user to:
* Play- Begin a Search for the Golden Dolphin Adventure, once the program has been installed.
* Install - Install the program.
* Uninstall - Uninstall the program.
* Quit - Quit the Auto-Run.
If you have the Auto-Run CD feature disabled on your computer or if the Auto-Run does not automatically appear, this option will not be available to you. To INSTALL this program, open the Golden Dolphin CD on your computer and click on Setup.exe if you have a PC or Install if you have a Macintosh. After the Golden Dolphin installation is complete, setup will check the user's system for QuickTimeTM . QuickTime 4.0 is required to run this program properly. If the system does not have Quicktime 4.0 installed, the QuickTime installation process will begin and it will be installed to the user's hard drive. After the installation is complete, you may play the game.
There are two ways to play "Search for the Golden Dolphin". From the Auto-Run Screen, click Play, or from your Window's Start Menu, select Golden Dolphin. Machines possessing the minimum requirements may experience intermittent problems with the Play button on the Auto-Run screen. If you do experience this we recommend that you use the Start Menu method to launch the program.
The UNINSTALL feature is part of the Search for the Golden Dolphin program. To Uninstall the program, click on the Uninstall button on the initial screen. In Windows, the program may be uninstalled using the Add/Remove Programs feature in the Control Panel.
As you help Nathaniel Thorne navigate through the ships of "Search for the Golden Dolphin," you'll notice that your mouse pointer will change shape. What shape it takes depends on the nature of what in the viewscreen the pointer is currently resting on:
COMPASS: When the pointer turns into a compass, that means that by clicking on the left-hand mouse button (regular mouse button if you have a Macintosh) Nathaniel Thorne will move in the direction of the cursor.
MEDALLION: The pointer rests on a person, place or thing for which there is an entry in the Chart Room. By clicking on the right-hand mouse button (or by holding down the Option Key and clicking at the same time, if you have a Macintosh) you will go to that Chart Room entry automatically. See the Chart Room section of this README file for a complete description of how the Chart Room works.
MOUTH: The pointer rests on a character that will speak to Thorne if click on the left-hand mouse button (regular mouse button if you have a Macintosh).
OPEN HAND: The pointer rests on an object that Thorne can take or manipulate if you click on the left-hand mouse button (regular mouse button if you have a Macintosh).
CLOSED HAND: By clicking on an object and holding down the mouse button, you can drag an object from the viewscreen into your inventory window (see below). By doing the same to an object in the inventory window and dragging it into the viewscreen, Nathaniel Thorne can "use" that object with another object in the viewscreen. Simply drag the object from you inventory window and drop it onto the object you want to use it with by letting go of the mouse button. When dragging an object across the screen, your mouse pointer turns into a closed hand.
Note that sometimes the mouse pointer will turn into both a medallion icon and a mouth or open hand-- especially when it rests on characters that can be talked to or objects that can be picked up that also have Chart room entries that are associated.
The user selects a slot and then clicks the save / load button.
To select a slot:
* Click on a new slot with the mouse. All the slots will be empty except the one that the mouse is over. The Quill icon will mark the active slot.
The screen will be set up as follows:
There will be ten slots (in which Save Games can be stored).
Depending on whether the user chooses to Load or Save at the Main Menu, the appropriate title will be placed at the top of the screen.
Each slot has 3 sections. From left to right they are;
* The date (in game) on which the game was saved.
* The Ship or port where the user is located (USS 'Golden Dolphin', USS Declaration, USS Friendship, HMS Hyacinth, The Triomphe, or St Kitts).
* An open text field in which the user can enter a description of the saved game.
At the bottom of the screen there are three buttons;
Main Menu - Takes the user back to the Main Menu.
Delete Game - Clears the game slot, and erases the saved game
Save / Load Game - This button can be in two states.
* If the user clicked the 'Save Adventure' option in the main menu, this button reads 'Save' and will save the hi-lighted game.
* If the user clicked the 'Load Adventure' option in the main menu, this button reads 'Load game' and will save the hi-lighted game.
Save Adventure - The user arrives at this variation if they choose the 'Save Adventure' option in the Main Menu.
To save a game the user must:
* Choose the slot they wish to save into;
* Click on the [empty] text and replace it with a description of the game. (If the slot has already been used, the user can change the description or not type anything and use the previous description;
* Click the Save button;
The save game file will reside in the Prefs folder within a folder called 'Golden Dolphin - PC or Search for the Golden Dolphin - Mac" on the users hard drive.
After saving a game, the user is brought back to the Main Menu.
Load Adventure - The user arrives at this variation if they choose the 'Load Adventure' option in the Main Menu.
To load a game the user must:
* Choose the slot containing the game that they wish to load.
* Click the load button.
After loading a game, the user is brought back into the loaded adventure.
To increase video performance in Search for the Golden Dolphin, the application "Dolphin" has been allocated 16MB of memory for the suggested memory allocation. If your system has 32mb of memory or less, we recommend turning Virtual Memory on and setting it to at least 48mb. If your system has more than 64MB of memory, you may choose to increase that allocation to 20MB to further enhance the video playback.
We do not recommend running this program on any machine lower then 604 processor with less than 32mb of memory.
b. REWARDS SECTION
In the Search for the Golden Dolphin Rewards section, the winner will receive 5 certificates redeemable for valuable prizes. After you win the final adventure, you will be taken to the Rewards section, where you will be prompted to save your rewards. This will be your only opportunity to do so. Your rewards will be saved on your desktop in a folder called "Golden Dolphin Rewards". The rewards will be saved as bitmap files if you have a PC or PICT files if you have a Macintosh. In order to redeem the prizes, you must send the certificates directly to Cinegram Media, Inc.
c. TWO CD-ROM DRIVES NOTE
With systems that have 2 CD-ROM drives, please use your primary CD-ROM. We do not recommend installing and or running the "Search for the Golden Dolphin" CD from the second CD-ROM drive.
d. SPACE BAR AND ESCAPE KEY
You my skip past slides shows, negative outcomes (when you unsuccessfully complete an adventure) or the credits section by using the space bar or escape key on your computer keyboard.
