Sam's Voyage! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Written by: Jason King ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Finished: Feb '97 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The story so far... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sam, from the planet Smiler was travelling through space on his usual Sunday afternoon ride when he ran out of fuel and crash landed on the planet Grimmer. Thankfully he wasn't hurt... Sam obviously wants to get back home to his happy friends on the planet Smiler but the Grimmers don't want him to go as he is the first sign of happiness they have seen for years... The only way back is via a series of dangerous slabs in space that have been the only connection between the two planets since they were separated many years ago and no one has yet dared to set foot on them... Sam sets off on his dangerous journey of 25 levels of varying danger but finds that one of the Grimmers, Gordon, is jealous of Sam's happiness and is prepared to kill him to stop him returning to the planet Smiley where he can once again be happy... He has decided that if he ever gets home then he is going to be a hero. He swears to himself that he will go to the most dangerous slabs and collect at least 1000 points on every single level to show his bravery... Gordon pursues Sam on his long journey home... Can Sam out wit the evil Gordon and will he ever manage to get back to his former happiness and fellow Smilers??? Tips... ~~~~~~~ You need to collect at least 1000 points on every level before you can proceed to the next. A slab on the far right will turn into a green arrow slab to indicate that you may proceed... Before going for the difficult points try to ensure there is enough distance between you and Gordon so that you can get the points and get back to a safe position before he catches you... Avoid the broken slabs at all costs but you may use them to your advantage. You will discover how in good time. You may find that on some levels there will be an extra life. These occur at random and only when you don't have the full four lives (including the current one). There are not many and you cannot rely on them to be there all the time... You should be very careful not to get stuck on a part where there is no alternative route out. These are basically the straight bits or corners where Gordon can trap you and these are very dangerous. If you try to stay on a loop when Gordon is near, you should be safe as you can't easily be trapped but he may still catch you if you don't always take the quickest route away from him... Be very careful not to accidentally fall off into space. This may seem obvious but a small lapse in concentration can easily lose you valuable lives especially on the more scattered random looking levels... The boring stuff... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have written this program mainly because I enjoy programming computers of all shapes and sizes and thought it was about time that I wrote something that hopefully people can enjoy and so give something back to the many ST loving people worldwide, me included... I have gained a lot from the Atari ST over the years. It is the ST that got me really interested in programming. I have since began a degree in Software Engineering and am currently working as a Graphical User Interface designer... I have released this game as shareware and all I ask is for a small contribution of 5 pounds if you like the game. For your kindness and honesty I will rush to you another one of my games called blast_it. If the response to Sam's Voyage! is good enough to make it worth while then I will be more than happy to write more software for this platform... Of course if you don't like the game and think it is not worth 5 pounds for two games then give it away to someone else who may like it. You may wish to keep the game and not pay me a contribution. This is fine but I won't be releasing any more software if too many people are dishonest enough to do this. It has taken up a lot of my spare time to write... Send your contributions and any comments to: Jason King, 8 School Lane, Newbold Coleorton, Leicestershire, LE67 8PF. You can email me at: jrk@isise.rl.ac.uk During weekdays I should be able to reply to emails within a few minutes most of the time. If you wish to register with your 5 pounds then make sure you include your address so I can send you your other free game and be able to contact you concerning any new releases... I hope you have as much fun playing this game as I did writing it. This is my first shareware release and I hope there will be many more to come... Jase...