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Text File
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1998-07-09
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14KB
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363 lines
Version - 1.15 - 25th June 1998
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Presents...
**
*SUNBURST*
**
Background
=--------=
[Try a Yorkshire accent for this]
Now then, in my day we didn't have none of this fancy matter transporter
stuff. Life was simple. You tried to keep yourself out of the way of the
empire, and alive, with enough credits to your name to stop Shotgun, and
Dribble from blowing your kneecaps away for not paying them back the money
you'd been lent.
Aye, in them days you knew what a real fight was. None of this drone fighter
stuff. We had to fight proper, with our bare hands. We used to have to press
the trigger ourselves, none of this poncy mind control rubbish you kids
now-a-days get off on. And if we were lucky, we'd come home at the end of
day, with our spacecraft shot to bits, that's if you had your own space
craft, which many of us didn't. And ah mam'd give us a pan of gruel and ah
dad'd beat us round the head with a long stick, and we'd be glad for it.
Luxury! We didn't had a home, we had to live on an asteroid in space. We'd
spend all day scrubbing our asteroid clean and stopping them Polaniss scum
from mining it. We got paid half a credit each for that. And at the end of
t'day, we'd come home and ah mam'd give us a pebble to suck and ah dad'd beat
us to within an inch of our lives with a metal bar, and we were the lucky
ones!
An asteroid! An Asteroid! I'd have given my right arm for an asteroid. We had
to live on a piece of debris flying through space. We had to pay ah mam 5
credits to get up at the crack of dawn and spend the entire day, and half the
night mind you, licking the debris clean and trying to stop the emperial
forces from taking it over, and the Polaniss scum from mining it. An' when
we'd come home ah mam'd break all our teath and make us eat them and ah dad'd
flog us to death with roll of barbed wire. And that were on our birthday.
Debris? Debris! I'd have given my entire body to medical science for a lump
of debris. We had to live on a particle of space dust traveling at the speed
of light through hyperspace with no oxygen. We had to sell our soul to the
devil every morning so as we could spend 25 hours a day wiping the atoms off
our debris using the lenzs of our eyes. And we had to stop the hoards of
aliens in hyperspace from devouring our space dust, and we had to stop the
Polaniss scum from mining it and the empire's evil forces from taking it
over. And when we'd come home, our mam'd spit in our faces and our dad'd rip
off our arms and beat us to death with the soggy end. Then he'd fling our
limp bodies on the fire so that he an' our mam could watch us burn. And that
were if it were a good day....
Really grandad?
Well.... no. But we didn't have any matter transporters.
Aye, them were the days.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SunBurst (yep, we defy English by having a capital letter within a word), is
a 2-Dimensional space shoot-em-up with 360° rotation. There a four worlds
(Imperial, Poliniss, Virain and The Void) each with three space stations.
The idea is to trade between the space stations and different worlds to gain
money which can be used to upgrade your ship, buy a new ship or to buy new
cargo. You don't need to buy any galactic hyperdrive to enter another world,
what you have in each world is a 'jump station'. This station can create a
jump gate upon request to jump to a world of your choice.
SunBurst is mission based so you are nearly always doing a mission
with the ultimate goal of stopping a gigantic bomb from ripping a world to
bits.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keys
=--=
ZX - Rotate
'/ - Speed up, slow down
<Return> - Fire
T - Selects nearest target
R - Selects target before that one (In arbitrarily ordered list)
Y - Selects target after that one (ditto)
N - Selects next missile type
M - Fires missile at target if selected
H - Request hyperspace jump gate (only at a jump station)
D - Request docking permission
F1 - Show Status screen - allows selection of system target and cargo to be ejected.
F2 - View previously received messages.
- - Increase energy to shield recharger
+ - Increase energy to shots - shot energy used up every time you fire.
<-|- Increase energy to engine - allows faster top speed.
F9 - Close map
F10- Medium range map
F11- System map
J - Subspace jump, allows you to move around the system map. Direction
moved is the direction the ship is facing when it goes off the edge of the
screen, and not when you press J.
TAB - Eject currently selected cargo type. (Selectable on F1 Status screen)
MISC KEYS
=-------=
You probably have to buy these things in the equipment shop under misc
S - Auto-pilot, steers ship towards target when active. Press C to
deactivate. NB NEEDS AUTOTRACKER TO WORK.
C - If autotracker is fitted, this points ship towards target - hold it
down.
A - If Attractor field fitted. This will attract the target towards the
player (while the key is held down) as long as the target has no propulsion
of its own, eg cargo, asteroids. Note that this is an experimental piece of
technology and its powers of attraction are a little suspect!
E - Electronic Counter Measures. This is an anti-missile device and its
effect on any missiles in the area will vary depending on what type (of ecm)
you have.
Q - Turn cloaking device On
W - Turn cloaking device Off
EFFECT OF DAMAGE
=--------------=
Damage only takes (accumulative) effect when the damage has become critical.
This is shown by the red section of the bar on the status screen.
Damage can also be seen as a series of LEDs next to the shields. Green is ok,
yellow is damaged, but repairable, red is critical damage. The righthand LED
is the status of the ECM and cloak if fitted.
*life support - If critical, then a counter showing the time until total life
support lost will be shown in the message bar. You must return to a space
station for repairs as quickly as possible.
*engine - Reduces the maximum possible speed.
*weapons - Reduces the firing rate.
*scanner - If critical, the scanner may malfunction.
*targeter - If critical, the targetter is unable to work out the distance to
the target or its shield's strength.
MISC FEATURES
=-----------=
Automatically swaps hud (Head-up Display) map to medium when main map is
system - otherwise hud shows close range.
Auto-repair only works when shields are >66% ie showing green.
ECM will only work when fully charged.
Cloak will automatically turn off when discharged and cannot be activated
again until approx 1/4 charged.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tutorial
=------=
* Load SunBurst by double clicking the !SunBurst icon. SunBurst will install
on the icon bar.
* Click menu on it and explore the available options. Noting the Status
window and the information available there.
* Click select on the icon bar icon to enter the game. After the intro you
will be returned to desktop where you can either load a new file or you can
start anew. Click select on the icon on the icon bar and you will receive
your first mission and a few handy hints. Read them, scrolling the message
down by moving the mouse, and clicking at the bottom of the screen to return
to the game. [To read a past mission message you can press F2 and select the
message you want to read again.]
* You may press F12 at any time (except when reading messages) to return to
the desktop.
* You are in flight mode; your ship is the one outside the green rotating
space station. You may enter the space station by requesting docking
permission and then moving into it.
* Use the ZX/' keys to fly around for a while. You may shoot anything you
like with the "Enter" key.
Ship's Energy
=-----------=
* Note that when you shoot, your laser charge gets used up. When you stop
firing, it recharges slowly. The rate of recharge is controlled by your
energy levels which are displayed on the right-hand side of the control
panel around the centre (three green bars).
* Press the = key to increase your laser energy level. Note how the laser
recharges faster, but your top speed has now been reduced.
* Press <-| (Backspace) to increase the energy level to your engines. You can
now fly faster again, but your laser recharge rate (and shield recharge
rate) are reduced (possibly to nothing).
* If you attempt to fire with no laser charge, a handy hint will appear at
the bottom of the screen to tell you which button to press to raise the
level.
* The - key increases the recharge rate of your shields. Use the - = and <-|
keys wisely to control the flow of energy around your ship.
Targetting
=--------=
* Press T. This will set your current target to be the closest object. The
small white cross flying round your ship points towards it.
* Use R and Y to move through the targets available. Information about them
is available in the target window at the top right. Your target will flash on
screen and also on your close range and medium range maps (F9 and F10).
* Use targeting to fly towards a distant object, and to target your missiles.
(M to fire, if you have bought any).
The Mission
=---------=
* Press F2 to allow you to read the messages you have received, and click on
the message you got when you first started.
* It tells you that you have a package and that you need to deliver it to
Research1, a space station in the Void system. Click out of the message and
click again at the bottom of the screen to return to the flight screen.
* Press F1 to go to the status screen. In the middle of the screen, under the
secondary systems heading, you should find that you have a parcel. If you
click on it, then it appears in the secondary systems display to the right
of the screen. It should say that its status is OK.
* When you buy or receive new secondary systems, you can select them from
here. However, you do not need to have them selected to activate them.
* On the right hand side there should be a list of available targets. Move
the mouse over them and watch the map change. Click on Research1. It will
appear in your system target window at the bottom right.
* Research1 is not in the Imperial system, so you will need to use a
hyperspace jump gate to get to the void system. You must first go to the
Imperial hyperspace jump station. Each system has a similar station which you
must use to jump out of the system.
(Cargo Ejecting)
* On the ship status screen (F1) the left hand list shows all the cargo
available. Unless you have picked any up, you shouldn't have any, and your
hold will be empty. The space available is shown. If you click on a cargo
type, then the next cargo you eject (with the tab button) will be of that
type, if you have any.
(Mission Continued)
* Click off the bottom or right of the status screen to return to the flight
screen.
* Press F11 to choose the map of the current system. You are the blue
flashing dot, the other flashing dot is your current system target, and it
should be the hyperspace jump station.
* On the system map, the hyperspace jump station is in the top left of the
map. Imperial HQ, where you are now, is on the right middle. To move across
the system map, you must point your ship in the correct direction (facing the
way you want to jump) and then press the J button.
* You will probably be too close to another space object. Fly away from them
using normal power. Hold J down until you jump.
* Continue to jump until you get to the hyperspace jump station.
* NB The map wraps round the side, so you can jump off one side of the map
and come back on the other to get to your destination quicker.
* NB You cannot just FLY across the system map. You must do a jump to move
about it. Space is very large!!!
* When you are at the hyperspace jump station, dock by pressing D to request
docking permission. Then run into the station.
* Press F12 to return to the desktop and save your game using the menu
option. This option is only available while you are docked at a station.
* Click on the icon again and launch your ship. Press H to request a
hyperspace jump gate. Fly into it. You will find yourself in the Void Station
near the hyperspace jump station (Near on the system map).
* Your system target should now show Research1. Fly towards it, and dock there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Credits
=-----=
Programming - Owain Cole (VOTI)
Chris Wymark (ex-VOTI)
Logoz/Marketing/Advertizing - Nathan Atkinson (VOTI)
Graphix - Owain Cole (VOTI)
Ben Preece
Andrew Bramah
Joe Burmeister
Muzak and Sound FX - Owain Cole (VOTI)
VOTI
=--=
Contact VOTI at the below address:
2 Moor Park,
Eaglescliffe,
Stockton-on-Tees,
Co. Durham
TS16 9HB
E-mail: n.a.atkinson@durham.ac.uk (Until July 1999)
WWW: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Campus/3873/
VOTI currently consist of:
Owain Cole - Programmer/Musician
Nathan Atkinson - Agent/Webmaster/PR/Marketing/Advertising/Occassional gfx
Peter Spence - 3D Graphics
Paul Thomson (DFI) - 3D graphics engine programmer/Demo Coder
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright
=-------=
It is a criminal offence to sell, hire, offer or expose for sale or hire or
otherwise distribute infringing (illegal) copies of this computer program
and any perons found doing so will be prosecuted.
In other words, it is illegal to copy any part of this software (except the
QTM module and the Stasis modules which have their own copyright notices).
One copy is permitted for personal use. The Acorn games scene is dying so
don't completely kill it by copying this.
SunBurst is © Visions Of The Impossible 1998