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1989-12-15
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A Work of Pseudo-Medieval Fantasy
Copyright (c) 1987, 1988, 1989 Castle Technologies Company
All Rights Reserved.
------------------------------------------------------------
written by Brian Sanders
Revision 5.0, Advanced
STANDARD EVALUATION RELEASE
============================================================
In this manual:
- What this game does, in a nutshell
- How to get in touch with the game author
- How to play the game
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------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction and Background
============================================================
Welcome to the splendors of Xoru....
A distant land where your inventiveness and skill are
the "tools of the trade" for unravelling devious, mysterious
puzzles, guarded by ugly and ferocious beasts. Only by the
grace of Fortune and your own ingenuity, by exposing secrets
that hold the land hostage, would your life be spared; even
in a style befitting none but the greatest of kings!
Play of the game usually requires a bit of exploration
in the beginning, to gain familiarity with the new, bizarre
surroundings. On discovery of a number of items, the clever
player will understand similarities between unrelated areas,
or things which ought to be made "right." Of course, here
and there a clue may be carelessly dropped, so there is a
reward for vigilance. Solving these puzzles will gradually
reveal the greatest obstacle of all: The Great Enslaver
Titan of Xoru, warrior-giant of awe-inspiring stature, whose
defeat will lead to the complete mastery of the game.
Advanced XORU is a role-playing adventure game which
allows the computer to "come alive" for a moment,
interacting with you in a fantastical pseudo-medieval world.
With its natural-language interface, Advanced Xoru allows
the player to communicate with the game and its environment
using common, everyday English sentences. The story unfolds
in a variety of vivid scenarios, depicting lavishly arrayed
dungeon chambers, evil drooling monsters and mysterious
treasures. All such joys are within the grasp of the
courageous, worthy adventurer.
------------------------------------------------------------
Registration and Ordering Information
============================================================
Advanced XORU comes to your doorstep via modem, courtesy of
Castle Technologies and the User-Supported Concept. The
User-Supported Concept delivers quality software to you at a
very reasonable cost, allowing you to use the software on a
free trial basis. Under this marketing concept, you can
make an unlimited number of copies of the game without
restriction; since XORU isn't at all copy protected, it is
quite easy to back up and install on other floppies, or to a
hard disk if you choose.
Note: This Evaluation copy is from the same code that
constitutes the Registered version. The capabilities
of the evaluation program are a subset, not of what you
can do in the registered version, but of how far you
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can go. This copy includes the entire first level of
the dungeon for the purpose of your evaluation.
Xoru is a cleanly written, professional software
product which will provide the avid adventurer with endless
hours of challenging entertainment. Your own registration
of this product has the following benefits:
* You will receive a disk with a copy of the
game, which includes many additional
features. Some of those features are:
The second and third levels of the dungeon,
which complete the game set with many
additional rooms, characters, monsters,
tunnels, and puzzles, making the game
complete and winnable.
A text-graphics finale: one last interactive
challenge before the game concludes when you
win it.
350 moves of unrestricted access to all of
the game's features.
* You will receive a full copy of a typeset,
spiral-bound instruction manual that reveals
many otherwise undocumented features of the
game.
* You will be entitled to customer support,
giving you notification of future products
and high priority in any questions you might
have about using the game.
* Paying for your copy of the game also
encourages us to develop products using the
Shareware system, including other computer
fiction games.
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If you would like a copy of the Registered version of
Advanced Xoru on diskette, including the manual and sample
map, send a check or money order for $19.95, also including
any applicable sales tax (CA residents 7-1/4%) and
shipping/handling costs, payable to:
Castle Technologies Company
Post Office Box 3297
Livermore, CA 94550-0897
A ready-made order form has been included for your
convenience. Simply type PRINTME at the DOS prompt and
follow the instructions given to obtain a printed copy of
the form. Be sure to specify which size and format diskette
you would like to receive.
Also available is a DOOR-compatible version of Advanced
Xoru, which allows the game to be played over telephone
lines using modem equipment. This product supports TBBS,
PCBoard, Auntie, QuickBBS, and many other bulletin board
systems. SYSOP license registration costs $ 44.95.
Some special notes regarding the distribution of Evaluation
Advanced Xoru:
This revision of Advanced Xoru and accompanying
documentation, designated by "5.0", supercedes all
previous revisions and the terms outlined in their
documentation. Additionally, only the most recent
revision is available for registration.
The Shareware Concept is only effective if the software
it supports is exposed to the public. Please feel free
to distribute Shareware Xoru either by bulletin board
system or by the more traditional exchange of
diskettes.
If you re-archive Xoru, such as into another
compression format, please be sure to preserve the
archive name. It is extremely difficult to keep track
of different versions of the game when the archive
naming convention is destroyed.
Distributors: Please send us your address so that we
can make the latest revision of Xoru available to you.
We restrict the lawful reproduction of this evaluation
software in that, if a fee is charged for such
reproduction, it may not exceed $ 4.00 per copy. This
limit applies regardless of media type or size used,
but it does not include charges which may result from
shipping expense or sales tax. Thank you for your
greatly appreciated service.
5
------------------------------------------------------------
Game Installation
============================================================
Here is how you get the game started with your computer
hardware. You need, at the very minimum, the following
equipment:
an IBM PS/2, AT, XT, PC or 100% compatible with 192K of
RAM memory
a color or monochrome monitor with any IBM compatible
video card adaptor ( e.g. VGA, EGA, CGA, MDA,
etc.)
1 floppy disk drive of either 3-1/2" or 5- 1/4"
variety, or a hard disk
Advanced Xoru will most likely come in a packed file format
containing the following files. Make sure you have them
all:
AXORU.DOC Game Documentation (this file)
AXORU.EXE Executable
AXORUA.SCE Special internal data files
AXORUC.SCE .
AXORUE.SCE .
AXORUF.SCE .
AXORUG.SCE
AXORUH.SCE
ORDER Order form
PRINTME.BAT Batch file to print out Order form
To begin the game, simply place yourself in the same
directory as the above files, and type XORU at the DOS
prompt, pressing <Enter> afterward. The game will load in a
minute, then instantly pop onto the display.
In the succeeding screens, fill in the query boxes until you
get to the Character Class input box, where you can use the
up and down arrow keys, or the first letter of an option, to
select your character.
Then, an introductory story will flow down the screen. When
you see the single idling word "MORE", XORU is giving you
the opportunity to read the previous text before continuing.
Pressing any key at this time instructs the computer that
you want to go ahead.
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------------------------------------------------------------
Game Play
============================================================
When you are at the little square prompt (or chevron on some
remote terminals), you are ready to play the game. At this
point, you can interact with the computer, commanding it to
lead you throughout the adventure before you. Additionally,
you can influence the environment of the game by telling the
computer what you want to do.
These commands follow previous adventure games' conventions
and let you explain things in common English phrases. You
can get help from the computer by typing, simply, HELP
(pressing the <Enter> key afterward.)
Most of the game involves getting around, so typing such
sentences as "WALK NORTH", "CLIMB THE STAIRS" or whatever
lead you into new areas, describing them in a detailed
fashion for you to explore. You can do other interesting
things by typing your request, verb action-word first, nouns
and modifiers following. Some examples of valid statements:
CLIMB DOWN THE LADDER
TAKE THE RING
EAT THE BERRIES
BREAK DOWN THE DOOR
CLIMB THE WALLS
SCREAM AND RUN IN CIRCLES
KILL THE BUGBEAR
CAST GULVOYEUR
INVENTORY
WALK NORTHWEST
NW
EXITS
VERBOSE
SAVE GAME
EXAMINE THE STATUE
TAKE THE RING AND THE CLOAK
DROP ALL BUT THE KEY
INSERT THE KEY IN THE LOCK
TAKE TWO RINGS
To leave the game, type QUIT
When checking your status, type STATUS
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------------------------------------------------------------
How to Contact the Author, i.e. Feedback!
============================================================
In the interest of developing future products, as well as
perfecting existing ones, your feedback as a software user
is VERY important. Suggestions which have particular merit
may even be awarded by monetary or other means if we use
them. If you find a bug in the game or have any sort of
comment at all, please write in. We will reply to questions
and comments if you include a self-addressed stamped
envelope with your letter. Write to:
Castle Technologies Company
Post Office Box 3297
Livermore, CA 94550-0897
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The author also provides customer support on the following
fine bulletin board systems, where the latest copy of the
game can be obtained:
GamesMaster; Dublin, CA; (415) 828-8012
2400/1200/300 baud, PCBoard, 116 megs online
Windraker; Livermore, CA; (415) 373-9689
9600/2400/1200 baud, Auntie, 50 megs online
The Records Department; Pleasanton, CA;
(415) 426-0470
9600/2400/1200/300 baud, TBBS multiline 120+ megs
online
FIDO Net node 161/42
Please address any mail to the author.
------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright Notification and Legalities
============================================================
This game Software, manual and all other
documentation contained within this product are
copyrighted and all rights registered and reserved
by the author. Persons using the evaluation
software marked "EVALUATION" or "EVAL" are
encouraged to try the game before purchasing it,
and may distribute the evaluation versions freely.
It is, however, illegal to sell any version of
Xoru, or duplicate registered copies of the game
for purposes of distributing them. Willful
violations of the United States Copyright Law can
result in civil damages of up to $50,000 in
addition to actual damages, plus criminal
penalties of up to one year of imprisonment and/or
$10,000 fine.
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------------------------------------------------------------
CHANGES MADE TO XORU, REVISION RELEASE 5.0
============================================================
Outlined below are the major additions and changes which
have been made since the previous release, 4.41.
* The fabric of the dungeon was neatly pulled open, and a
third level was dropped inside. This level is both
magic and monster-compatible with the other two levels.
* You may find some more interesting characters showing
up on the scene. Some of these are related to the fact
that the third level is providing housing.
* An interactive text-graphics segment provides a finale
to the game, which can be experienced by only those few
who reach the end of the game and face the Ebon Titan
himself. This segment is functional over the BBS DOOR
interface, using both ANSI colors and keypad input.
* Some of the puzzles and dungeon features of previous
versions of Xoru have been modified to fit the new
theme of this version. Monsters and combat have been
greatly enhanced, and there is no longer an option to
leave monsters out of the game for this reason.
* Sound has been added!
* An overwhelming number of other refinements and
additions have been included in this release, such as
an animated title screen for color ANSI players,
EGA/VGA expanded screen size support, or the addition
of another character class with its own unique
capabilities.