Belgian Amiga Club - ADF Collection/BS1 part 40.zip/BS1 part 40/Doc_disk2.adf/CUBEMASTER-doc

Text File | 1978-11-16 | 16KB | 352 lines

                CUBEMASTER

    Welcome to CubeMaster, an action packed shoot'em up with a good
deal of strategy as well. This document gives information you'll need to
know that isn't self-explanatory from within the game itself.

1. Our Contract

    You and I have an agreement.

    For my end I worked the better part of ten months (on and off but
there was quite a lot "on" I can tell you) on CubeMaster making it a good
balanced and fun game. CubeMaster is my first game attempt and while other
games for the Amiga may be more flashy in some respects CubeMaster should
earn high marks for playability and entertainment value. This is what I
wanted to achieve.

    For your end of the agreement you should not distribute CubeMaster
to others nor receive it yourself from another person through illegal
means. This isn't a threat. It's an agreement. It's a trust.

    As long as we can continue to pay the salaries of ASDG's employees
and keep our computers dry by putting a roof over them, we'll bust our buns
to provide you with quality products and service. Piracy makes it very hard
for companies like ASDG to continue their efforts and should those efforts
cease, the very best of what makes the Amiga personal computer so dynamic
(the creativity, quality and caring by small businesses such as ASDG) shall
cease as well.

2. Machine Requirements

    CubeMaster will operate on any Amiga personal computer with a
minimum of 512K of chip memory and version 1.2 of Kickstart. A joystick is
strongly recommended but is not required. Sound plays a large part of
CubeMaster so make sure your Amiga is hooked up to a set of speakers.

3. Machine Set Up and Multitasking

    If you are using a joystick, connect it to the secondary mouse
port. CubeMaster multitasks cleanly and can be started from the Workbench
or the CLI. The game also handles external memory correctly as well.

    On a 512K machine CubeMaster will take up most of the available
memory so while multitasking is possible it won't be practical.

    On machines with more than 512K CubeMaster can easily be
multitasked with other programs. In fact, clicking on a screen other than
CubeMaster will put CubeMaster into pause mode (except when you click on
the title screen in which case the CubeMaster game selection screen
suddenly jumps out at you).

4> The CubeMaster Distribution Disk

    The CubeMaster distribution disk contains the CubeMaster game as
well as the files the game requires to run. The CubeMaster game itself is
in the root directory of the floppy and is visible from the Workbench.

    Also visible from the Workbench is the CMScore drawer (or
directory). This drawer contains three files which constitute CubeMaster's
scoring facility.

    CM.LevelScores is the machine readable form of the best times
through each of the 100 levels of CubeMaster. If this file is missing it
will be recreated automatically. This file is not visible from the
Workbench.

    CM.TopTen is the machine readable form of the ten best point scores
that have ever been reached (so far) for complete games. If this file is
missing it will be recreated automatically. This file is not visible from
the Workbench.

    ScoreReport is the human readable condensation of both the above
files. This file is visible from the Workbench and can be read by
double clicking on its icon.

    The CMTitle directory contains the title screen for CubeMaster. It
was done by Gred Tsadillas and is copyrighted material and NOT in the
public domain. The title screen must be present for the game to operate.
The CMTitle directory is not visible from the Workbench.

    The CMSound directory contains the sounds needed for CubeMaster.
These sounds were done by me and were a lot of work indeed. These sounds
are NOT public domain and are copyrighted material as well.

    The Coockoo clock sound provided by Rick Rae And The Fabulous Sound
Effects was recorded live in the control room of WEVA Radio. Thank you
Rick, I wanted to use more bu there just wasn't room.

    All sound files MUST be present for the game to operate.

    The Credits program visible from the Workbench in the root
directory of the CubeMaster disk will play a pre-recorded message thanking
various people for their contributions to the to the development of
CubeMaster. Starting up Credits simultaneously with another CubeMaster
program is not suggested since the files involved are quite large and will
cause a long delay in loading.

    The CopyProtection program visible from the Workbench in the root
directory of the CubeMaster disk will play a pre-recorded message from
people who work at ASDG Incorporated thanking you for not taking away their
livelihood. As with Credits, wait for this program to complete before
starting another since thrashing on the floppies will age you before your
time.

5. Setting Up CubeMaster On Hard Disk

    For CubeMaster to work it must know where to find the files it
needs. The startup-sequence on the CubeMaster distribution disk contains
the following lines:

    assign CMSound: CubeMaster:CMSound
    assign CMScore: CubeMaster:CMScore
    assign CMTitle: CubeMaster:CMTitle

    To install CubeMaster on a hard disk copy all CubeMaster files to
your hard disk using whatever organization you prefer (the easiest is to
use the three directory organization I've used).

    Then, to run CubeMaster make sure you've executed assigns similar
to the ones above (only modified to suit the location on hard disk where
the files actually reside).

6. Game Startup

    Upon entry into CubeMaster the title screen will be displayed. When
the sound of bouncing CubeDrones starts you know CubeMaster is finished
loading.

    CubeMaster will alternate between the Selection Screen and the
title screen about once every 10 to 11 seconds. Pressing any key while the
title screen is being show will bring the Selection Screen to front.

    There are lots of things which can go wrong in starting up
CubeMaster. For example, there may not be enough memory for the game. I
have tried to check for every eventuallity and should some kind of fault be
found I have tried to present understandable and accurate error reports.
For example, if there is not enough memory available CubeMaster will tell
you so and exit cleanly. If a file was not available, CubeMaster will tell
you so and again, exit cleanly.

7. Selection Screen

    The Selection Screen is fairly self-expaining. From here F6 through
F10 and the E key are enabled.

    E will cause CubeMaster to exit after writing out its score files.

    F10 will cause CubeMaster to write out an updated copy of the
ScoreReport file in case you want to see it NOW (recall that CubeMaster
multitasks!)

    F9 allows you to select the starting level of play. This can be any
interger number from 1 to 100. However, if you don't start from the
beginning (level 1) your top ten score will not be recorded but your best
time score will.

    F8 allows you to select your name for scoring purposes. Be crazy.
If you don't select your own name your score files will become peopled with
the Unknown CubeMaster. Who is the Unknown CubeMaster anyway.

    F7 enters you into a practice screen where you can learn to fly
your Manned Mobility Unit. Just to make things more interesting some of the
Bad Guys are enabled though your shields will not become weakened by them.

    F6 starts your CubeMaster run at the level you've specified (level
1, the beginning, if you didn't use F9 to alter your starting level).


8. Controlling The CubeMaster

    Remember that you are in zero gravity. Once you start travelling in
a direction it will require an equal force in the other direction to stop
you.

    Your controls are:

        Forward Joystick (or the up arrow on the keyboard)
activates your forward rockets. You will be propelled in whatever direction
the CubeMaster happens to be facing.

        Backward Joystick (or the down arrow on the keyboard)
activates your retro rockets. You will be propelled against whatever
direction the CubeMaster happens to be facing.

        Right Joystick (or the right arrow on the keyboard)
activates your clockwise attitude rockets. You will rotate clockwise.

        Left Joystick (or the left arrow on the keyboard) activates
your counter clockwise attitude rockets. You will rotate counter clockwise.

        Joystick Button (or the space bar) will activate your
particle cannon. Sometimes you will be in Equal Mass Reaction mode. When in
this mode when you shoot forwards, you go backwards. Makes things quite
tricky.

        You also have a brake (the B key or the "B" gadget). Using
the brake will cost you time so use it with discretion.

        The P gadget or the P key will pause CubeMaster. Being in
the Manned Mobility Unit for too long can become uncomfortable. If you know
what I mean.

    When the game is in progress you can use the F1 key to increase the
volume of the sounds or the F2 to decrease the volume. Or you can frob the
volume knob on your stereo.

    Remember that you are in zero gravity. Once you start travelling in
a direction it will require an equal force in the other direction to stop
you. (I said this before didn't I?)

    Interactions between you and the CubeDrones or the Bad Guys are
modeled on real world physics so controlling the CubeMaster in the real
game is not as easy as it is on the practice screen (where there are no
CubeDrones).

9. The CubeDrones

    There are two sizes of CubeDrone. Big and Little. Break the big
CubeDrones into little ones. Break the little ones into space dust. There
are also seven different colored CubeDrones each having different
properties. Large CubeDronew have "more" of the special property than small
ones of the same color.

    When "Reincarnation" is on (which it usually is) small CubeDrones
if not destroyed quickly enough will revert to large CubeDrones which must
be broken down all over again.

    CubeDrones also change colors on their own if you don't shoot them
quickly enough. Sometimes this is to your advantage. Sometimes not. It is a
sign of a maturing CubeMaster when you know which is which.

    Green CubeDrones are the only exception to the color changing rule.
Theis, coupled with the fact that Green CubeDrones require multiple hits of
the particle cannon make them extremely frustrating to deal with. You'll
usually find your last CubeDrone left is a Greenie. On the balance,
bouncing into a Greenine does not do you any damage.

    Yellow CubeDrones are a real drag. Touching them will cause all
your controlls to become mixed up for some period of time. You know when
you've been confused when the coockoo clock chimes. Yellows do not cause
shield damage. Destroying a Yellow CubeDrone will decrease the amount of
time you are confused.

    Each shot you fire from your particle cannon causes heat to build
up within it. If the cannon gets too hot, you can't fire until it cools
down. Touching Brown CubeDrones will elelvate the temperature of your
particle cannon making it more likely that your cannon will fail.
Destroying a Brownine will serve to cool your cannon so plan your shots
well. Brown CubeDrones do not affect your shields.

    Blue CubeDrones are perhaps the most dangerous in that touching
them reduces your ability to defend yourself. Touching a Blue has a large
probability of causing the number of particles your particle cannon can
control to be reduced. You can only have five particles in flight at one
time. Touching a Blue might decrease this to four. Then to three. And
then.... Destroying a Blue CubeDrone increases your maximum number of
particles in flight at one time. So if you're low, hope for Blues.

    Light Grey CubeDrones will sap your shield strength if you touch
them. Shields gone, you're gone. However they don't zap you as badly as Red
CubeDrones. Light Grey CubeDrones turn into different colored Drones when
you hit them . All reincarnated CubeDrones start out as Light Grey.

    Red CubeDrones will deplete your shields quicker than you'll care
to experience. They're also different from the other CubeDrones in one
other important way. That is, when other colored large CubeDrones are
destroyed they spawn four small CubeDrones. When a large Red CubeDrone is
destroyed it spawns eight small CubeDrones. Balance this against the fact
that destroying Red CubeDrones is the only way to replenish your shields.

    And last but not least, your friend, the Dark Grey CubeDrone.
Bouncing into the Dark Grey CubeDrone will have no effect on your shields.
Thyat's nice. Destroying a Dark Grey CubeDrone grants you the Halo of
Displacement. That's really nice. The Halo of Displacement shifts the atoms
in your body just enough to allow CubeDrones to pass right through you. The
Halo doesn't last forever though so watch out. Also, missiles launched by
the Bad Guys are tuned to your atomic frequence no matter what state your
atoms are in.

10. The Bad Guys

    As if just navigating your CubeMaster around wasn't hard enough
there are some pretty nasty Bad Guys which come out from time to time.
They'll introduce themselves to you, I'm sure.

    Some Bad Guys will follow you around. Others will waltz around on
their own accord. Some will fire CubeMaster seeking missiles while others
may themselves be CubeMaster seeking missiles. Touching a Bad Guy is never
good for your health. They are known to paralyze unlucky CubeMasters for
extended periods of time or toss them around like rag dolls. Not fun.

11. Other Little Details

    Each screen has an introduction screen. Read it. It will tell you
what modes are present during the next level of play. Reincarnation and
Equal Mass Reaction have been explained before. Sequential mode is a nearly
impossible situation in which you won't be allowed to destroy a large
CubeDrone until all small CubeDrones have been destroyed. When you start
out with a few large CubeDrones this mode becomes quite difficult.
Thankfully, it's rare.

    By the way, leaving a large CubeDrone alone long enough will result
in the miracle of birth. It's not pretty.

    Particles fired by your particle cannon degrade over distance. Some
screens start you off with better grade particles (which last longer) than
other screens.

12. Your Instruments

    The Blue Instrument on the bottom of your screen is an LED meter
counting the maximum number of particles you can have in flight at once.
This is easy to remember since Blue CubeDrones are the ones which affect
your particle count.

    The Brown Instrument is an LED meter indicating cannon heat. The
hotter your cannon the higher the meter until it starts turning red, then
you can't fire at all. This is easy to remember since Brown CubeDrones
affect cannon heat.

    The Red Instrument is your life. It indicates the level of your
shields. When this gives out, so do you.

    Your total score will be displayed at all times. As well as the
score you will be awarded at the end of the present screen. CubeMaster
calculates the difficulty of each screen and presents a "best" score which
counts down every second. The longer it takes for you to complete the
screen the lower your score will be (even if negative).

    The present level number will be displayed. Some say CubeMaster
keeps time on a screen by screen basis for scoring purposes, though.

13. Scoring

    Hitting a large CubeDrone adds a little to your score.
    Hitting a small CubeDrone adds more to your score.
    Destroying a Bad Guy adds a lot more to your score.
    Finishing a level may add or subtrace from your score (depending on
how long it took you to complete the level).

    Total Score at the end of the game may win you a place in the
TopTen score history. Your time through each level, however, is compared
against the best time through the level by another player. Beating records
is important.

14. Get Out There, Your Fans Are Waiting!

    (get out there your fans are waiting!)

15. By The Way

    Thank you for purchasing CubeMaster. I sincerely hope you like it.