Compute! Gazette 1993 November/1993-11.d64/suprockfall1.sda/ROCKINSTRUCTIONS

Text File | 2022-09-20 | 11KB | 372 lines

           super rockfall
           --------------

  copyright 1988 mark a. dickenson

this instruction file must be
included with the program!

this program is not public domain
but made availible as a form of
shareware.  what this means is that
you can copy the program and give it
to anyone as long as you don't sell
it.  when i say the program is a
form of shareware, i mean that even
if you like and use the program alot
you are not required to send any
money, like a normal shareware
program would ask.  if you feel the
program is worth something, then
send whatever you would like, no
preset amount (btw, the money is a
good incentive to update what i have
written and write new programs).
send all donations, complaints (i do
want to hear any you have),
suggestions (yep, i want those too)
and complements (especially) to:

mark a. dickenson
600 south west street
nevada, missouri  64772

you may abort these instructions and
return to the title screen by
pressing the 'backarrow' key, in the
upper left corner of the keyboard,
next to the '1' key.

if you wish to use this program on
any disk drive other than a 100%
1541 compatible (like the 1581 3.5
inch drive), you should copy all of
the programs except these two:
   rockfall boot
   rockloader
this is the speedloader used to
quickly load the program and they
will not work on the non-compatible
disk drives.

now on to how the game works.

one new feature is the ability to
play the music in stereo.  if you
have added a second chip to your
c-64/128, you can take advantage of
this feature.  you will be asked if
you have a standard c-64/128, Six
voice stereo modfication at address
$de00 or $df00.  if you do not have
a modified c-64/128, select
standard.  otherwise select the
address location where the second
sid chip resides.  if you would like
more information on how to modify
your c-64/128 for 6 voice stereo
sound, look in the music/utilities
area of quantum link or people link
for a file called 'stereo.mods2'.
this contains all the information
you need to add the second sid
chip.  if you need more help,
contact 'jabba hutt' on people link
or 'sysop sids', 'sysop jon' or
'mark ad ii' on quantum link.

the object of the game is to pickup
every piece of gold or mineral in
the shortest amount of time.

the gold or mineral is represented
by a colored block that is rapidly
moving downward.  to pick it up just
move your man over the item and you
will grab it.

there are hazards along the way in
the form of boulders.  if you remove
the supporting dirt or mineral from
beneath them then the boulders will
come tumbling down and you could be
squashed.  there is dirt surrounding
almost everything and you can clear
enough away so you can push the
boulders out of the way.  but beware
you can only push one boulder at a
time, two are too heavy.

if you grab a piece of mineral or
dig the dirt from under a boulder,
you are safe until you move.  then
the boulder(s) will fall down.

in some levels you will have to
master the use of diagonal movement,
because that will be the only way to
complete those levels.

if you should ever get trapped press
the 'd' key to kill your current man
and start over with a new one.

you can also press the 'backarrow'
key, located in the upper left
corner of the keyboard, to abort the
game.

a pause feature has been added to
allow you to study any given level
(or just to catch your breath)
without the timer counting down or
the music playing.  just press the
'p' key to pause the game.  to
resume the game press the 'r' key.

in the first level you will always
have a randomly designed screen to
solve.  after that you will then be
able to complete the levels that
have been created by myself and
others.

the scoring is as follows:

  100 points x level for minerals
    1 point  x level for dirt
   10 points x level+1 for each
      second left on the timer when
      you complete a level

to start the game, just plug a
joystick into port 2 of the computer
and press the 'f1' key to begin.
you will be given 3 men to complete
all six levels with.  you will
receive an extra man at 50000
points.

there is a demonstration mode and
you can start it by pressing the 'd'
key or when the title music stops
(about 4 minutes) the program will
automatically start the
demonstration.  just press the 'd'
key to return to the title screen.

you can also select the playing
speed from slow, medium or fast by
pressing the 's' key.

if you press the 'f5' key you will
be presented with a list of all the
groups of levels on the disk (each
group contains six levels).  just
highlight the one you want to load
and press 'return'.  after it has
loaded you will be back at the main
title screen.  if you do not find
the group you are looking for, just
press the 'backarrow' key, in the
upper left corner of the keyboard
next to the '1' key.  if you are
using a separate disk to hold the
levels you must remember to
re-insert the main program disk.
otherwise the program cannot find
the music files to play during the
game and it will default to playing
the title music.  if you want, you
can also copy the music files over
to the disk you have the extra
levels stored on.  the main program
doesn't care where the music is, as
long as it can find them.  if it
can't, the title music will be
played instead.

lastly, by pressing the 'f3' key you
can enter the level editor.  this is
where you can create your own levels
or modify others.


       level editor commands
       ---------------------

press '0' to start with a blank
slate of just ground.

press '1' through '6' to edit
existing levels.

press 'a' to abort back to the title
screen.

press the 'f7' key and you will be
able to save the six levels in
memory to disk.  you can now add
your name to the group of levels
before you save them.  this will let
everyone know who the creator of the
levels happens to be.  the name
cannot be larger than 20 characters
and it will be added to the group
when it saved to disk.  you must
also enter a 1 to 6 character group
name.  this was only a single letter
of 'a' through 'z'.  i found this
too limiting as there are many
levels out there and there needs to
be some difference in names.  if you
do not enter a group name you will
be returned to the title screen.  if
there is another group on the disk
with the same name it will be
erased!  no warnings are given!  so
check first by going back to the
title screen and pressing 'f5' to
see what the names are.  then return
to the editor menu and save the
levels.

to edit, use the cursor key to move
a flashing block around the work
area.  then press:

  0 for ground
  1 for a boulder
  2 to place your starting
    location only one of these
    allowed
  3 for gold/mineral
  4 an immovable brick
  5 an empty space

  a - abort and return to level
      screen.  you will lose any
      changes made.
  * - you are finished and would
      like to save this screen as a
      level.

------------------------------------

-=> important <=-

there have been many changes to the
editing area, most of which will not
be noticed.  three bugs have been
eliminated.

1. when you placed the starting
   position it was there and
   couldn't be changed.  now all you
   have to do is erase it using any
   other character.  the program
   will then allow you to place it
   somewhere else.

2. you could save a level without
   any gold on it.  you cannot
   finish a level without there
   being at least one piece of gold.

3. you could also save a level
   without a starting location.
   this will nolonger be allowed.

when finished, you will be asked
what level number you would like to
save this screen as.

if you were editing an existing
level, the number of that level will
be placed after the question mark.
if you press return at that moment
it will be saved as that level
number.

if the number after the question
mark is a '0' then it is a new level
and you must enter a level number.
if you press 'return' or '0' it will
abort and you will l