This program is copyright 1993-1995 by Andrew Plotkin. Anyone may copy or
distribute it freely, as long as no money is charged for it. This program may not
be sold or included in a for-profit collection without written permission from
the author.
Comments and bug reports are welcome at PlayMaker's address (see below), or
you can email me at erkyrath@cmu.edu. I also try to follow comp.sys.mac.games
on Usenet, although I can't be sure of seeing every post there. (Waaaay too big.)
However, I do not give hints. I believe that working on the game is part of the
story, and I don't want to ruin it for you.
Stuff About the Game
This game is a story and a puzzle. The story is made up of several parts, not all of which may be obvious. The puzzle is made up of many puzzles, some of which aren't obvious at all.
The object of the game is part of the fun.
It has been found that working together with a friend makes the game considerably easier (while still being just as much fun.)
And -- oh yes -- the ending is not a bug. Think about it.
Stuff About Registering
System's Twilight is shareware. You can play the first 25% of the game for free; to progress beyond that, you must register. Registering will get you a code sheet which will allow you to play the entire game; if you include an email address, I will inform you of any future upgrades; and the money will give me that much more motivation to write more games.
To register, send $15 (US) with the form below to:
PlayMaker, Inc.
19 Overshot Court
Phoenix, MD 21131-1851
USA
phone orders: 1-800-324-7774
tech support: 1-410-628-0028
fax: 1-410-667-8429
PlayMaker accepts Visa and MasterCard orders by phone or fax. They also accept US checks and money orders made out to "PlayMaker, Inc."
If you have a comment or question about the game, you can contact me care of PlayMaker, or email me at erkyrath@cmu.edu.
Stuff About Playing
Start playing and select "New Game". Then go on from there. Information on controlling your character is under the "Playing System's Twilight..." menu option under the Help (balloon) menu. (Under System 6, it's under the Apple menu.)
In System's Twilight, it is impossible to get stuck or make a false move. Therefore, you can save whenever you want, and you will not need more than one saved game. (In fact, the game automatically saves every five minutes, in case your machine crashes. Or, perhaps, for other reasons?)
The game can be played in 1 meg of free memory. It has been tested with:
System 6.0.7 and various version of System 7.0, 7.1, and 7.5
Mac Classic, Plus, II, LC, Performa, Centris, PowerBook, and others
PowerMac (in emulation mode -- sorry, no fat binary)
Every display depth
24 and 32-bit memory mode
The graphics are designed for black/white, 16-color, or 256-color displays. Naturally, 256 looks best. If you set your display to "thousands" or "millions", the game will look the same as in 256, but it will be slower and take more memory. (You may have to increase the preferred memory size if you play in "thousands" or "millions" mode.)
As with any other program, it may be incompatible with certain extensions, and it may be slower with Virtual Memory turned on.
If the animation doesn't seem to be working properly, try turning off the "Smoother Animation" menu option. And send me a bug report.
If you have multiple monitors, you can select one by turning off the "Cover Whole Screen" menu option. This will reduce the game to a normal Mac window, which you can drag in the normal way to another screen. Turning the "Cover Whole Screen" option back on will expand the window to cover whichever monitor it's on.
Stuff About This Version
Version 1.0.5: This version has no changes in the game; it just updates the ordering information, because PlayMaker, Inc. is now the distributor.
Version 1.0.4: This version fixes more bugs that were causing crashes on monochrome Macs (that is, Macs without Color QuickDraw.) In particular, the game would crash when you tried to pick up certain objects.
Version 1.0.3: This version fixes an intermittent crash in the orb-room puzzles. It also fixes several bugs that were causing crashes on monochrome Macs (that is, Macs without Color QuickDraw.)
Version 1.0.2: This version uses the System 7 file dialogs if they are available. This may or may not resolve a reported problem with Now Menus under System 7.5. The shareware messages have been made clearer. Hopefully people will be less confused about how much of the game you can play before you register.
Version 1.0.1: This version fixes a bug that mixed up the color table in certain circumstances.
If you find that the colors still get mixed up, particularly when icons are moving around the screen, try switching to the map (cmd-M) and then back to the screen you were looking at. If that doesn't help, try switching to the Finder and then back to the game. If that doesn't help, I give up. But it shouldn't be necessary.
Some people have reported that the sound stops working after a while, on Macs which do not have Sound Manager 3.0 (or later) installed. If you have trouble with the sound, download Sound Manager 3.0. It can be gotten on the Internet from ftp.info.apple.com, in the directory Apple.Support.Area/Apple.Software.Updates/Supplemental.System.SW/Sound.Manager.3.0
and probably in other places on other networks. It's free, and many things use it these days, so go for it.
General Stuff
Thank you for registering; thank you for playing; thank you for being a fan of puzzle games; thank you for being generally an interesting person and helping to keep the Universe in balance.
System's Twilight is a production of Sadistic Software and Straw Dogs Group.
Straw Dogs Group is devoted to developing a new American culture of creativity and enlightenment.
Sadistic Software is devoted to making your head hurt.
