In Manic Manoeuvre you have to guide your car from the start of a track to the end, within a time limit. To do this you actually construct the road that the car is to drive on while playing the game. It may sound weird but when you play it you will see what I mean.
THE MAIN MENU
From the main menu (which appears when you first load the game) you can toggle between music + sound effects, view the information screen and the high score tables, set the difficulty level and (obviously) start the game. The difficulty level affects how much time you get to complete a level. On easy level you get 75 seconds, on normal you get 60 seconds and on hard level you only have 45 seconds to do each level.
HOW TO PLAY
When the game starts you will see a grid of road sections appear with your car at the bottom of the screen. By using the joystick you can shuffle these sections of road about and get them to form a road from the top left hand corner of the grid to the bottom right hand corner. To the left and bottom of the grid is a fixed road that you cannot move, this is what the car will start on and is where the car will finish up if you successfully negotiate the grid. On the right hand side of the screen is a panel, which shows information such as time left, lives, score etc.
ARRANGING THE ROAD
To move pieces of the grid around, just use up, down, left and right on either the joystick or keyboard. There is always a gap in the grid and it is this that you move a piece into, which in turn leaves a gap where that piece use to be. For example if you push up and the gap is above you, the road piece below the gap will slide up into it, leaving a gap where it just came from. Please note that you cannot move a road section that the car is currently on.
As you drive onto the various road pieces (which include corners, straights, crossroads etc) they will change colour. It is perfectly acceptable to drive over a road section more than once, but you will only get points for the first time you use a road section (score is added upon completion of a level - see SCORING).
TIME
When you start a level the car will automatically begin moving towards the grid, from the fixed road. To halt the car press fire. This is where the time limit comes into effect. While the car is frozen, the time will go down. You will then be able to sort out a suitable route for the car to travel on. Once you are happy for the car to progress, just press fire again and the car will begin moving and your time will stop going down. Please note that you cannot halt the car while it is over two sections of road, or after it has left the grid at the bottom right hand corner.
If the time reaches zero then the car will begin moving again and you will not be able to stop it. If this happens your only chance is to get the car back to the fixed road at the bottom right hand corner or to pick up a time bonus (which will then allow you to stop it again).
DYING
If the car hits the edge of the grid, and is not at the bottom right hand corner exit, it will crash. It will also crash if you drive into the gap, or into a road section the wrong way. When you crash a lorry will come along to pick you up, and you will then start the level again. Note, if you wish to speed up the lorry picking you up, just move the joystick or press a direction key.
HAZARDS
Some road sections are one way only, represented by a yellow arrow on the road pointing the direction to travel. There are also blocked off crossroads, where one of the directions is blocked by a barrier and is impossible to pass. Even worse are the broken road sections, which apart from not being able to drive on them, are impossible to move around the grid like a normal section. These can prove to be a major obstacle, however they do not appear until a few levels into the game.
BONUSES
There are also a few bonuses to be collected on your travels. There is a random score bonus, represented by a question mark (unlike normal scoring this will be credited instantly). Also there is a times two and times five bonus, which will either double or multiply by five your score for completing a level. There is a time bonus, represented by a clock, which will give you an extra random amount of seconds. Finally there is an extra life bonus, which is represented by an illuminated car. To collect any of these bonuses, simply drive over them. When you collect a random score or time bonus, look at the "Info" section of the panel to see what you got.
SCORING
Upon each level successfully completed, you will receive 100 points for each section of road driven on. This can be multiplied by 2 or 5 if you have picked up the appropriate bonus. You will also receive 50 points for each second of time you have remaining, as well as a bonus of 1000 points multiplied by the level you are on (eg. on level 3 you will get a 3000 point bonus). You can also get up to 5000 points from the score bonus. High scores can be recorded on the high score table. If you get a high score use the keyboard to enter your name.
KEYBOARD CONTROLS
Press S on the high score table to save it to disk, please make sure the disk is write enabled if you do this. Press F1 during the game to pause, press F10 to return to the main menu. The F2 key turns the music on/off. To use the keyboard to play the game use Q for UP, A for DOWN, O for LEFT, P for RIGHT and I for FIRE. Finally, pressing E on the title screen returns you to workbench.
HARD DRIVE INSTALLATION
To install to hard drive, simply copy the DATA drawer, MANIC and READ ME files to your hard drive and double click on MANIC to run!
CREDITS
Programming, graphics and sound by Dion Guy. Playtesting by Philip Guy. Music courtesy of the public domain. Additional help and support from Peter Caddock and Martin Allen.
NOTICE
Manic Manoeuvre is (C) 1995 Creative Coding and is not public domain or shareware. Copying is prohibited without prior written permission.
