SPACE 1/SPACE - Library 1 - Volume 1.iso/games/416/mummy/mummy.asc

Text File | 1990-07-07 | 15KB | 306 lines

Albert Baggetta
P.O. Box 351
Feeding Hills, MA  01030-0351


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The Mummy's Tomb

By Albert Baggetta



Dear Dr. Golana:
      It is with the utmost urgency and the greatest
excitement that I write my old friend and colleague as I
sit in my study at the university, here in the heart of the
Egyptian desert.
      You no doubt have already heard of my discovery of the
tomb of the ancient pharaoh, King Epthos.  It is a great
find because until now his life had been a great mystery,
veiled by the ages -- his tomb buried by the sands of the
desert.
      Let me fill you in on the history of Epthos, as it was
known.  He was not a well-liked pharaoh and had no friends.
He did, however, enjoy seeing other people suffer.  It was
this sadistic side of him, mixed with a warped sense of♪dark
humor, that caused him to create huge mechanical
puzzles that would lead his victims to such a state of
frustration that they either became totally insane or ended
their lives in an attempt at relief.
      Because of this nature he became known to his people
by two nicknames -- the Puzzler and the Great Frustrater.
Well, Golana, I have uncovered a long hidden secret of King
Epthos.  As a monument to his obsession, he commissioned a
huge underground tomb, not only to house his mummy, but to
leave one last set of puzzles to perplex any human who
might fall upon it.
      Epthos feared little in his lifetime, but his one
great obsession was that someone would someday outwit him
at his own game of frustration.  At the far end of the
tomb, he had inscribed his name in a room called the Hall
of Conquerors.  A room, as it seems, meant to be a
challenge to any would-be adventurers.  If one makes it to
this room (and there is only one entrance) he may change
the ensconced name of Epthos to his own -- a great blow to
the spirit of Epthos, which still haunts the recesses of
this vile chasm.
      I know all of this, doctor, because I have
successfully traveled the tomb.  Let me tell you, it was no
easy task and has taken a tremendous toll on my life.
      I advise you, Golana, against undertaking such a
quest, not out of vanity for myself, since my name is now
inscribed on the wall, but for fear of losing a good friend
to the designs of the terrible Epthos.
      I send you this note to warn you, because I know that
you would soon find the tomb, even though I have kept it a
secret from the rest of the world.  But even as I pen these
words, I know you will ignore them and set about the quest
immediately, so let me help you with some advice.
      There are four conflicts awaiting one who sets about
this adventure.  First you will encounter the puzzle of the
coffins.  Second you will encounter the journey through the
Taboo Caves.  Third there is the challenge of the Maze of
Epthos.  And finally, there is the confrontation with the
Sphinx of Epthos.  If you make it through all of these
chambers you will have outwitted the evil pharaoh and be
allowed to record your name on the wall of the tomb, as the
mummy of Epthos solemnly looks on.
      Be warned, however, that this journey is not to be
taken lightly, and there are numerous pitfalls hidden along
the course.  The dangers are as real as those we
experienced years ago in our adventure with the Pharo's
Curse and as perplexing and harrowing as our recent
adventure as dungeon masters.  Even with all your skills
you will always be at the mercy of Fate.
      One final word, Dr. Golana.  You may only enter the
tomb from the East at night, so be sure to carry a lantern.
When you are approximately ten feet from the pyramid of
Epthos flash the light twice at the East wall of the
monument.  Be prepared for an extraordinary journey into
the tomb of Epthos.
      Goodby my friend, and good luck.  Perhaps I will see
you again.

Your colleague and partner,
Professor Dimaryp Stone

---------------------------
The Game

      "The Mummy's Tomb" is a low resolution game for all
Atari ST computers.  It is a role playing game, an
adventure game and a game of chance, all rolled into one.
In fact, it is really several games used as a vehicles for
the story you just read.
      The game was created with GFA BASIC (that fantastic
and easy language) and compiled with the GFA compiler, so
it runs relatively fast.  Put the disk in your drive and
boot up the program, MUMMY.PRG, to play the game.
      If you are playing the game for the first time, the
title will stay on screen a little longer than on
subsequent plays because a file is being written to disk.
This file will contain the name of the current winner, that
will be displayed in the final room of the game.
      After the title and opening melody, a little animation
will get you (Dr. Golana) to the base of the pyramid and
down into the bowels of the tomb.  Here you will be offered
a difficulty choice for the first game: EASY or HARD.
Since the first game will be a game of chance involving six
coffins, hard is exactly what it means -- I found it just
about impossible.  (Because this is so difficult to succeed
at, I have given a special award at the final display for
those who travel this course.  Next to their name will be
an accolade symbol, indicating that this explorer took the
ultimate challenge and won.)
      Actually, you might not even get to the first game,
right away.  As in all tombs (fictitious or otherwise)
there always seems to be some kind of pressure plate to
push on, which either opens a secret door or leads you to
your doom.  The tomb of Epthos is no exception.  You must
press on a foreign object, described on screen (actually
the mouse controller in your hand).  There are three
choices: the left button, the right button, or both buttons
at the same time.
      If you make the correct selection, you will be allowed
to play the first game; if not, you will be sent back to
the surface, only to start over again.  Remember, Epthos
was also known as the Great Frustrater.
      Making it through the first contest, you will find
yourself in a small sealed chamber, with the ceiling slowly
crushing in on you (this is great news).  Looking out into
the room you will see a stone walkway, littered with bones
(ruins of poor players from the past).  The perimeter of
the room, above and below, is lined with heavy, granite
doors.
      Behind these doors are the coffins of Epthos.  One
door at the bottom will open with an ear cringing squeak,
and out will slam one of Epthos's coffins.  Notice that on
the breastplate of the coffin there is a symbol.  All of
the ejecting coffins will have symbols on them.  They are
as follows:

      ^      Pyramid
      &      Monkey
      *      Star
      +      Cross
      @      Snake


      Your job is to match the symbols on your coffins (they
eject from the top doors) with those of Epthos.  You can
call your coffins, one at a time, by pointing your "hand"
(mouse pointer) to the doors above you and clicking the
left mouse button.  A coffin will descend, but there will
be no symbol visible.  You must "feel" along the lower
parts of the coffin to make the symbol magically appear.
If you match the signs, your success will be acknowledged,
as will your failure if you do not.  If you are playing the
hard game you are at the mercy of the fates.  In the easy
game you will have a much better chance when you figure out
the system.
      There are a couple of options to bring out your mummy
cases.  You could bring them all down at once or one at a
time.  If you would like to send any of them back, simply
click on the door frame area.  You cannot send back a
coffin once a sign has been revealed.  The mummy's coffins
will appear on their own; you cannot select which will come
forth, and you cannot force any of them to leave.
      Basically this is a non-violent game, because no one
really gets hurt or killed.  The worse that happens is that
you are sent to the beginning of the game to start over, a
rather frustrating blow to one's ego.
      If you do not match the coffins in time, the ceiling
of rock falls in on you (I thought you said this was non-
violent), forcing you into a shaft which sends you back to
the surface, where you are then returned to the university
for retraining in the fine art of exploration.  The game
ends with an option to restart.
      Should you succeed in solving the puzzle of the
coffins, animation once again takes over and sends your
little image off to the next conflict, The Taboo Caves of
Epthos.
      You will find yourself at the beginning of a dark
tunnel -- the only exit is on the other end.  The tunnel is
lined with bones, and the walls have mirrors hanging on
them.  Above you tons of granite, precariously weigh on
your mind.
      To navigate the tunnel, press on the left mouse button
and hold it down.  You are frightened, so the pace is very
slow and nerve wracking.  In addition, to put you a little
more on edge, you can hear and see the ceiling occasionally
crumbling and cracking.  In the back of your mind is the
fear that all will collapse on you at any moment.  As you
progress on your journey through the cave you get the
feeling you are not alone.
      There is one real danger here, and it will happen only
by chance.  A great tremor cracks the ceiling, opening a
huge fissure leading upward.  A mysterious magnetic force
grabs you and pulls you to the surface, forcing you to
start the journey all over again.
      Perhaps luck is with you, and you make it through.
You will be greeted by a message left by Epthos,
congratulating you on your success and warning you not to
be too much at ease.  Press the left mouse key to begin the
journey through the Maze of Epthos.
      The maze is not too difficult to navigate, but it does
require concentration and quick reflexes.  You will be
thrust through the maze by an invisible force.  Guide
yourself by clicking on the left or right mouse, to avoid
the green receptors jutting out from the walls.
      If you make contact with these beams, you will be sent
back to the beginning of the maze to start your journey
again.  You will be given four chances to complete your
journey.  If you fail on the last pass, guess what?  Yup,
you will be sent back, this time only to the coffin room.
Exasperating, huh?
      Successfully completing the maze will bring you to the
last challenge -- conflict with the Sphinx of Epthos.  You
will begin under the watchful gaze of the Sphinx, at the
other end of this draped chamber.  Below the walkway, you
will see a selector box.  All of the action is frozen until
you select one of the offered spells.
      Choose one by clicking with the RIGHT mouse button on
your choice.  After making your selection, it is "high noon
shoot out" time in the tomb.  Your image will proceed
toward the Sphinx until it reaches a reasonable distance or
you cast your spell.  You can do this any time by pressing
the left mouse button.
      If your spell (red/yellow beam) is strong enough, the
Sphinx will harmlessly disappear, allowing you passage out
of this room (maybe).   If the Sphinx's spell is stronger
(red beam), it's bye bye for you (&%#$@*&...).  There is
the possibility that the first doses of these spells are
equal in strength, but the exchange of spells will continue
to flash until one of the opponents is defeated.
      Successfully traversing this last chamber, you will
enter the Hall of Conquerors, where you will see the name
of the last conqueror (at the start of the game Dimaryp
Stone will have his name here, since he was the last person
to enter this room.  You will see a prompt which will allow
you the honor of becoming the new conqueror.
      After a flamboyant pat on the back, you will see two
gold blocks (leftover treasure, no doubt).  Point to one of
these and hold down the left mouse button to make a
selection.  One will end the game (you can go victoriously
to a well deserved rest), while the other will allow you to
play the game again.
      Game ideas like the one controlling "The Mummy's Tomb"
often occur to me in rather strange ways.  This one, for
example, came out of my fascination for a couple of very
powerful commands found in GFA BASIC:  GET and PUT.
      These commands allow the user to "cut and paste" (for
you word processors out there) sections of the screen,
making duplication of fine detailed and colored objects a
thing of ease.  If I wanted to line draw and fill the mummy
cases in this game every time I wanted to display them, the
game would become severely retarded in speed.
      As it stands, all I had to do was "draw" and fill the
object once (on the title screen), take a "picture" of the
image with the GET command and then PUT the picture
anywhere I wanted it, any number of times -- all done at
tremendous speeds.
      Well (getting back on track) once I learned about GET
and PUT, I began to wonder if I could incorporate the image
into a loop, as a sprite, and slide it around the screen.
And if I could slide the image around the screen, how about
off the screen and then maybe back on again.  The
possibilities seemed mind boggling.  Through
experimentation, I realized that all of this was possible
and created some very unusual effects.  Imagine being able
to take a picture of the whole screen, and then in a loop
slide it left, right, up or down -- Wow!
      With all this thinking going on, it seemed like there
was a game bound to come forth.  Yup -- a matching game.
Instead of hiding the matching objects behind a set of
cubes, dead center on screen, I decided on something like
drawers that slide on and off the edges of the CRT.  But
the old idea still needed a new twist.
      The final idea came to me as I was watching one of
those Indiana Jones adventures on TV.  He or one of his
helpers always seems to push some secret lever that opens
some secret door that leads to some secret passage or
slides out a secret panel.  This inspiration led me to
mummy coffins (OK, so I don't think normally), and the rest
is history.
      "The Mummy's Tomb" is not an impossible game, but it
can be very frustrating.  The secret to winning, like the
secret of Indiana Jones's survival, is persistence.