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Assassins - Ultimate CD Games Collection 1
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Assassins - Ultimate CD Games Collection (1994)(Weird Science)(Track 1 of 2)[!][Amiga-CD32-CDTV][CDD5332].iso
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instructions
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shootups
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orbit3d
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1988-08-06
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6KB
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SCENARIO: You are the pilot of a small space vehicle in orbit,
along with your Mother Ship, around a large black hole in space.
Your vechicle is supplied with oxygen for life support, fuel for
maneuvering, and torpedoes for destruction of asteroids captured
by the gravitational force of the black hole. The object of the
game is simply to survive in orbit as long as possible. To refill
your supplies of oxygen, fuel, and torpedoes, you must
successfully rendezvous and dock with the Mother Ship. To
preserve these vital supplies, you must protect the Mother Ship
from destruction.
MODES OF PLAY: The game can be played as a 3D projection, "Run
3D", or as a red-blue dual image projection requiring the use of
red-blue 3D glasses, "Run Dual 3D". Three modes of operation are
provided called "Learn", "Play", and "Demo".
In the Learn mode, you have unlimited oxygen, fuel, and
torpedoes, and neither you nor the Mother Ship can be destroyed.
The Learn mode allows you to practice maneuvering in orbit without
being immediately destroyed.
In the Play mode, oxygen, fuel, and torpedoes are consumed as
they are used and must be resupplied by docking with the Mother
Ship. Quantities of these supplies remaining on your ship are
indicated on the screen, and an alarm will sound if supplies of
oxygen or fuel are nearly gone. Also indicated on the screen is
elapsed time in seconds. Survival time in excess of 300 seconds
is an excellent score.
The Demo mode is a replay of an encounter with a famous pilot
at the controls to prove that it is possible to survive for a
short while, at least. A small symbol at screen lower left shows
the position of the joystick at all times to demonstrate the
technique of maneuvering in orbit.
CONTROLS: Your vehicle thrusters are controlled using the
joystick (connector #2). Your vehicle is accelerated in
directions parallel or diagonal to playfield grid lines by
joystick movement. Torpedoes are launched in these same
directions by joystick movement with the "Fire" button down. You
are limited to two torpedoes at a time.
In case of exhaustion, you can cause the game to pause at any
time by pressing the spacebar.
DOCKING: You can dock with the Mother Ship by making contact
while matching your speed and direction of motion. If docking is
perfect, you vehicle will be taken aboard the Mother Ship. If you
make hard contact, you will hear the clang of your hull against
the Mother Ship, but docking will be successful. If your speed
and direction do not match within acceptable limits, you will be
destroyed. Once docked, undocking is accomplished by pressing the
Fire button. In any event, you cannot remain docked for more than
10 seconds.
ORBITAL MOTION: Although you have powerful thrusters, you do
not have enough fuel to constantly overcome the gravitational pull
of the black hole. In order to survive, then, you must achieve a
stable orbit allowing you to cease expenditure of fuel while
launching torpedoes to protect the Mother Ship. Expenditure of
fuel should only be required to change the shape of your orbit to
rendezvous with the Mother Ship, or to move quickly out of the
path of an approaching asteroid.
Changing the shape of your orbit in a predictable way will
require some practice. The key to these maneuvers is to avoid
moving either directly toward or directly away from the black
hole. Instead, move your vehicle around the black hole, and let
its gravity pull your vehicle into an orbit.
Begin in the Learn mode, and observe the motion of your vehicle
without applying any thrust. Generally, you will find yourself in
an oblong or elliptical orbit which swings very close to the black
hole at one end, and far out into space at the other end.
Experiment with applying thrust in short bursts either in the
direction you are moving (acceleration) or opposite to the
direction you are moving (deceleration). To achieve predictable
results, it is best not to apply thrust in other than these two
directions. In general, thrust in the direction of motion will
take you into a higher orbit while thrust opposite the direction
of motion will take you into a lower orbit.
The ability to change your orbit from elliptical to circular
shape will be useful in docking with the Mother Ship.
Deceleration at the closest point of approach to the black hole
will circularize your orbit at a small distance from the black
hole. Acceleration at the farthest point in the path of your
orbit will result in a circular orbit at a large distance from the
black hole.
Observe the joystick position while running the Demo mode for
an illustration of the techniques required to control orbital
motion.
CREDITS: ORBIT 3D was written by Richard Horne for use in the
public domain. The game was written entirely in assembly language
using the Metacomco assembler and the Metascope debugger. Sprites
were edited using Sprite Editor by Scott Lamb. Sounds were
digitized using the Perfect Sound digitizer and software.
Inspiration for the Dual 3D mode comes from the excellent 3D
Breakout by Tim Kemp.
Finally, much credit goes to Rama Horne, who tolerated with
good humor the hundreds of hours necessary for her husband to
write and debug this program.