Paragon for Windows

Introduction

Welcome to the brick-yard and the brick-bouncing, prize-pouncing melee known as Paragon. Yes, the sphere without fear is back, and this time it's bouncing around your Windows desktop.

The object of Paragon is to pick up the variety of prizes that are strewn about each level. You must get every one before advancing to the next level. In order to do this, you must control the actions of a continuously moving green sphere that bounces around the playing area and moves along wires. Add to that some deadly acid pools, a score that decrements with wall collisions, barriers that appear and disappear, plus a bevy of sound effects, and you've got hours of challenging fun.

How to Play Paragon

The Game Menu

The Options Menu

The Help Menu


The Game Menu

NEW GAME

Starts a new game from the beginning of the first level.

END GAME

Ends the current game without leaving the program.

RESTART LEVEL

Allows you to restart the current level from the beginning. This will cost you one life so try not to use it unless you feel a level has become unsolvable (or you really like what happens to the sphere when it dies). Just like when you die, restarting a level resets your scores back to the value it started the level at.

OPEN SAVED GAME

Allows you to open a previously saved game for continued play. Games are always saved from the beginning of the level. Even if you save with a level almost finished, you will still have to start at the beginning of that level when that game is opened.

SAVE GAME

Saves the current game to disk to be resumed at a later time.

EXIT

Leaves the program.


The Options Menu

SOUND

Used to enable and disable the playing of sounds during the program.

MUSIC

Used to enable and disable the playing of background music during the program.

SHOW SECRET WORD

This game is designed to display a Secret Word when you finish all levels playing Paragon on at least the middle difficulty. If you've already seen the Secret Word or just don't care, this option allows you to disable it from popping up every time you finish the last level.

DIFFICULTY

There are nine distinct difficulties that affect scoring and sphere speed. Easy difficulties make the sphere move slow so it is easier to control, but scoring is low. Conversely, the higher difficulties make the sphere move quickly but scoring is high. Regardless of difficulty, the deduction for hitting a wall while on a wire is the same.

SHOW HIGH SCORES

Used to display and/or reset the current high scores list.


The Help Menu

CONTENTS

Allows the viewing of this help text.

HELP ON HELP

Allows you to view help on how to use Windows help.

ABOUT PARAGON

Allows the viewing of information about the creative talents behind this progam, the program's warranty information and information about Softdisk Publishing. Among this information is technical support phone numbers, mailing addresses and other products and services Softdisk offers. This information will be displayed automatically the first time you run Paragon after which this option will be the only way to view it.

ABOUT PARAGON LEVELS

Allows the viewing of information about the creative talents behind individual Paragon levels.


Prizes

The object of Paragon is to pick up every prize on a level so that you can proceed to the next level. Prizes include apples, grapes, bananas, cherries, yellow sapphires, diamonds, rubies, hamburgers, soda pop, blue pearls, magenta pearls and solid gold spheres.


Easter Egg

In the world of computer programming, Easter Egg refers to an element of a program that is usually hidden to the user. The programmer puts it there for any number of reasons such as testing, stress removal, vanity or just to be plain goofy. Many times, Easter Eggs are hard to find by the user, requiring that a specific thing or sequence of things be done. Since you had the dilligence to actully read the instructions for Paragon, I'll let you in on a secret: there is an Easter Egg in this game. I could have used it to show my picture or initials, but that's a lot of bull (and so is this Easter Egg).

To see Paragon's Easter Egg, you need only start a game and wait six minutes in which you do nothing. Any key presses or mouse clicks will start the six minute timer over. If you don't have six minutes, make sure that the CAPS LOCK is off, the NUM LOCK is on and the SCROLL LOCK is on. Next, type MER and you're set. Now, every time you double click the right mouse button, the Easter Egg will show itself. It ought to be good for a laugh or two even if it has nothing at all to do with the game itself!


Valid Moves

While a sphere is moving along a wire you may cause it to jump off the wire in a diagonal direction as follows:

While travelling on a horizontal (left and right) wire, only the UP and DOWN cursor keys may be used to affect the sphere. If the sphere is moving left, the UP cursor key causes the sphere to jump off the wire in an up-and-left direction while the DOWN cursor key causes a down-and-left direction. Similarly, when the sphere is moving to the right, the UP cursor key causes a up-and-right direction, and the DOWN cursor key causes a down-and-right direction.

If the sphere is travelling on a vertical wire (up and down), only the LEFT and RIGHT cursor keys can be used to affect the sphere. If the sphere is moving up, the LEFT cursor key causes the sphere to jump off the wire in an up-and-left direction while the RIGHT cursor key causes a up-and-right direction. Similarly, when the sphere is moving down, the LEFT cursor key results in a down-and-left direction, and the RIGHT cursor key causes a down-and-right direction.

If an obstruction (like a wall) exists right next to the sphere in the direction you are trying to make the sphere go, the sphere will not jump off the wire and will continue in its current direction. For example, if the sphere is moving up on a wire with a wall running just to the right of the sphere, the RIGHT cursor key will have no effect.

If the sphere is not on a wire, none of the cursor keys have any effect. You must wait until the sphere is once again travelling along a wire to affect its movement.

If you're an avid mouse user, then you're in luck because the sphere can be controlled via the mouse also. While the sphere is on a horizontal wire, clicking the left mouse button anywhere on the play area above the sphere simulates pressing the UP cursor key and clicking below the sphere simulates the DOWN cursor key. Likewise, while the sphere is on a vertical wire, clicking to the left of the sphere simulates pressing the LEFT cursor key and clicking to the right simulates the RIGHT cursor key.


How to Play Paragon

At the beginning of every level, the green sphere starts out on a yellow wire. Wires are either vertical (going up and down) or horizontal (going left and right). While on a wire, the sphere will move along the wire until it hits a wall. After hitting a wall, the sphere will reverse its direction of movement.

While travelling on a wire, you can cause the sphere to jump off a wire and, in doing so, change the sphere's direction to a diagonal that is the combination of the sphere's previous direction and your action. For example, if the sphere is on a wire and moving left and you push the UP cursor key, the sphere will jump off the wire moving up and to the left. Click here to see a summary of all available moves.

It's a tricky concept at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's easy.

After jumping off a wire, the sphere will be bouncing around OUT OF YOUR CONTROL, so time your moves carefully. The sphere will be at the mercy of physics until it hits another wire. Don't worry though, the sphere will always grab any wire it comes into contact with so you won't be bouncing around forever.

The best thing is to just jump in. While you have no points (like at the start of a new game ... hint, hint), you are not penalized for hitting a wall while on a wire. Make use of this free time to get used to controlling the sphere before you tackle a game head on.

After the start of a new level, no points are deducted for hitting a wall while on a wire until after you have made your first move. Use this time to scope out the new level without being penalized. Once you've made your first move, though, you'll once again see deductions when the sphere hits a wall while on a wire.

In addition to the wires, walls and prizes, your sphere will also be joined by disappearing walls and acid pools. Disappearing walls are blue, and (as expected) disappear and reappear. Green and bubbly, acid pools are the only way you can die in Paragon (with the exception of using the Restart Level option from the main menu).

When you hit an acid pool, you lose one life and must start the level over again. In addition, your score is reset to what it was at the start of the level. For example, if you start a level with 200 points and 3 lives and then build your score to 500 points before dying, you will restart the same level again with 200 points and only 2 lives. If you have no lives left, you will not restart the level because the game is over. Additionally, your score will not be reset if the game ends. For example, if you lose your last life with a score of 1500 points and started the level with 400 points, your final score will still be 1500 points.