Hacker 9/HACKER09.ISO/Amiga/WDDemo.lha/WastedDreams/ReadMe

Text File | 1998-08-04 | 16KB | 388 lines

        /                                     \
        \       VULCAN SOFTWARE LIMITED        \
         \        in association with           \
          \   Digital Dreams Entertainment       \
          /                                       \
         /             presents                    \
  /\    /                                          /
\/  \  /        W-A-S-T-E-D D-R-E-A-M-S           /
     \/        (Amiga CDRom Demo Version)        /
                                                 \
          The Mysterious Alien Speech Adventure  /
________________________________________________/


Can you can unravel the mystery?

Wasted Dreams presents, incredibly realistic "rota-scoped" character
movements within a stunning "hand drawn" scrolling environment based around
a complex and evolving plot with plenty of puzzles, violent shooting action
(for up to 2 players) and over 60 minutes of digital speech.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
-------------------
Wasted Dreams has been developed to run on both PAL and NTSC systems and in
its simplest form requires a minimum 68000 CPU, 3Mb of Memory (of which 2Mb
must be Chip Memory) and a 2x Speed CD drive (Although a 4x Speed or higher
CD drive is recommended for better performance).

DEMO INFORMATION
----------------
Simply double click on the Wasted Dreams icon. The first thing you should
do is hit the Escape key to get access to the menu options.

Note: The Demo version is in the English language only and has no save functions.

PRE-ORDER WASTED DREAMS COMMERCIAL CDROM NOW!
---------------------------------------------
U.K. Sales Credit Card Hotline: Weird Science Limited [phone]

Live Long & Prosper!

 Vulcan Software Limited
  Vulcan House
   72 Queens Road
    Buckland
     Portsmouth
      Hants PO2 7NA
       England U.K.

       Tel: [phone]
       Fax: [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]
     Pages: www.vulcan.co.uk


THE PLOT
--------

PERSONAL DIARY

Name:   Johanson
Date:   2057 AD

FIRST ENTRY
Looking back it's hard to imagine how I ever got into this position, I mean
who would have believed that a simple military soldier `qualified in
defence` would eventually become a pioneering space explorer looking for
a new Earth! Still, we've all got to adapt and do our bit for an
alternative future.

I keep remembering how much hope we had placed in the success of all the
previous space missions, from Apollo right up to the ExplorerFX, but I now
fear that our time is running out.

Unfortunately the Multi-national companies, `we all once believed in`, now
own and manage over 80% of Earth's resources and have corrupted our natural
evolution for personal gain, this leaves 90% of Earth's population in
poverty and now that toxic pollution and crime levels are increasing way
out of control we simply have to find a new `refuge`. If we have any hope
for the `survival of the human race` then allot of us need to abandon our
over populated home and move to a new oasis somewhere amongst the stars.

So here I am, incredible as it may seem, but I'm part of the ExplorerFX2
mission, the reasons why I am on board is pretty straight forward `and
somewhat ironic` but to cut a long story short, we simply ran out of
qualified scientific explorers, so the military intervened and put together
our outfit as a last resort replacement.

Harper, myself and roughly another 500 crew members are all set for take
off, ready to venture forth into the unknown, ready to find a new home.

9 MONTHS LATER
Moral was low, and we had all had enough of travelling trough the deepest
darkest parts of space. Just when all the hope in our hearts were about to
vanish and when the entire mission seemed to be just another wasted dream
we came across a distant and remote `class 4` planet in the Geminorum
system, we christened it Agillera.

First scans of the planets surface had determined that it was suitable for
living on, moreover, there were many edible plants and various simplistic
animal forms. We soon landed and quickly established base camp and
initiated our basic survival apparatus, it didn't take long before we began
to explore our potential new home.

6 MONTHS LATER
Our base camp has now grown into a fully functioning settlement that Earth
would be proud of, so far we have operational military, supply, medicine,
research, storage and control zones and our community is emerging as
stable, however I'm amazed that after 6 months I am still meeting new crew
members `for the first time` on my rounds.

The exploration of this planet has proven it to be a remarkable find, as
well as being geographically stable it has its own established food chain
that could feed the remaining human race for decades.

To my disappointment we have all deduced that there is no form of
intelligent life on this planet, although there were some remote signs of
its existence from a bygone era somewhere on the West side. This discovery
has seemed to affect some of the crew as they seem to be more distant than
normal, but I suspect all the hard work we have endured is really to blame.

ORGANISATION MEETING
After an organisation meeting we all decided it was time to tell mother
Earth of our findings and that the Earth's surplus population has finally
found a new home, after all these years. As inter-stellar communications
are impossible we new that some of us would have to make the long homeward
journey back to Earth to relay the news, still this gave us a chance to pay
one last visit to our old home and also help plan the evacuation.

After a mass vote, 20% of the crew opted to board the ExplorerFX2 and be
the bearers of good news, myself and Harper included.

1 DAY LATER
Sitting comfortably in my chair, I'm watching the rest of the crew board
the ship, all those faces showing excitement and happiness. In a way I feel
sorry for people who will be staying behind on Agillera but oddly
many of them did not want to make this 9 month return journey.
On my left I can see Harper, he's already in a deep sleep, I start to feel
the same drowsiness..

SOME TIME LATER
The horrific explosion wakes me abruptly, the ship is shaking violently,
people are running around in a panic. The next thing I remember is Harper
pulling me by the arm, I'm following him through flames and smoke
trying to understand what's going on... I can hear his voice shouting,
'Press the red button!! Press the damn red button.'

Through a mist I can see my hand pressing the button, then all of a sudden,
all I could see was the infinite emptiness of space directly in front
of me.

Another explosion blankets the flashing lights, the next thing I remember
is trying to control the escape shuttle, we are diving deeper and deeper,
the gravity of Agillera is pulling us down, Harper is shouting something I
can't understand, the noise is unbearable, I press the bu...

I get up and look around, broken trees, smoke and a smashed shuttle. I
begin to recall what happened, pieces of the puzzle are coming together
now, I remember the destruction of ExplorerFX12, I remember our escape in
the shuttle,  Harper?...

LAST ENTRY
I can see him lying on the ground......what the hell happened? Something
must have gone wrong at launch, none of the crew could have survived that
explosion and by a miracle I have survived and crash landed back onto
Agillera.

INTRO ANIMATION (Not in Demo)
-----------------------------
The intro animation will set the mood for this "Mysterious Alien Speech
Adventure" aswell as providing you with the plot so far, at any point you
can click the "Escape" key or "Mouse Button" to quit the animation to enter
the Game.

GAME MENU OPTION SCREEN
-----------------------
The first thing you will see is the Game Menu Option screen (which can also
be accessed at any point from within the game by pressing the "ESC" key).
Use the Up & Down "Arrow" keys or your Joystick to choose an item from the
menu and press the "Shift" key or your Joystick button to initiate your
choice.

LANGUAGES (Not in Demo)
-----------------------
Thanks to the A.T.O. this menu item allows you to choose which of the 18
languages the Wasted Dreams text should be presented in.

CREDITS
-------
Find out who the hard working team members are who made this awesome game!

OPTIONS
-------
In the options screen you have the following sub choices.

PLAYERS
Here you can set whether Wasted Dreams should be played by 1 or 2 players.
Please note, that if you decide to change the number of players mid-game
then you will have to start the adventure from the beginning.

VIEW MODE
Here you can toggle the screen mode between PAL or NTSC

SHOT MARK SOUND
Here you can turn ON or OFF the "Shot Mark Sound", if ON it allows you to
hear a warning sound when an enemy has his weapon aimed directly at you and
a slightly different sound when you have successfully aimed your weapon at
an enemy.

TARGET CURSOR
Here you can turn ON or OFF the "Target Cursor", if ON it allows you to see
a target cursor over your character when an enemy has you in his weapons
line of sight and also a target cursor over the enemy when you have them in
your weapons line of sight.

CO-OPERATIVE MODE
If playing the 2 player game, then you can "enable" or "disable" the
co-operative mode, if enabled it prevents you from shooting each other and
harming each other in the midst of complicated battles, if disabled then
better take care not to kill each other!

MESSAGES TYPE
In here you can set the type of message system you would like when playing
Wasted Dreams. You can choose whether you would like just Text, just
Digital Speech or both at once.

CONTROL
-------
In this section you can dictate the input method for each player with a
choice of Joystick or Keyboard control.
Please note, in the 'two player option' both players cannot choose keyboard
control simultaneously.

NEW GAME
--------
Choosing this option will start Wasted Dreams from the beginning.

LOAD GAME (Not in Demo)
-----------------------
Choosing this allows you to load one of 6 previously saved positions.

SAVE GAME (Not in Demo)
-----------------------
Choosing this allows you to save your current position in one of 6
available slots and you will have the option to name your save file.
Please note, all saves are made direct to your "S" directory on your hard
drive.

QUIT GAME
---------
I'm sure you wont use this much but if so it takes you back to your
workbench.

THE GAME BEGINS
---------------
Your space shuttle has crashed back on Agillera, scrambling from the wreck
you should first salvage any useful items from the rubble (preferably some
weapons) and then be prepared for some exploring and surprises until you
get familiar with your environment. If you have chosen the "two player
mode" you will both be able to explore your world but remember to stay
quite close to each other as both of you need to be visible on the same
screen at all times.

PLAYER MOVEMENT
---------------
You have the ability to walk in 8 directions around your environment with
the landscape scrolling around your position, the edges of some screens
allow you to exit from your current location where you will re-appear at
the edge of a new location (In the 2 player game you will both need to exit
the same screen boundary for it to take affect).

WEAPONRY & PUNCHING
-------------------
By pressing the "Shift" Key or your Joystick Button (depending on your
input method) you will initiate your held weapon, your character will
change stance and you can now fire at will. By using the "Arrow" keys or
pushing the joystick you can rotate your character on the spot through the
8 directions (very handy for full scale battles). At any point you can put
away your weapon by choosing the appropriate "Arrow" Key or pushing the
Joystick in the direction that you are currently facing. If you ever run
out of ammo for your weapon, you can always resort to punching your enemies
but you will need to be close to them aswell as facing them.

AMMO CLIPS
----------
Throughout the game you will come across ammo clips for your weapons which
will help keep you prepared for any future encounters. In the "two player
game" it might be wise to work together to allow the most needy character
to pick up the available ammo, in some cases when an enemy dies he will
drop his ammo clips so act fast!

SHIELDS
-------
Every time you receive damage your shield will lose strength, when this
runs out you are vulnerable to death so be careful, throughout various
parts of the game you will have the ability to recharge your shield and
should do at every opportunity.

LOOKING, COLLECTING, EXCHANGING AND OPERATING OBJECTS
-----------------------------------------------------
Whenever you come across an object that can be viewed, collected, exchanged
or operated, the relevant "action" icon will automatically appear on the
bottom menu bar. By pressing the "Shift" key or your Joystick button you
can initiate that available action.

RUCKSACK & ACTIVE OBJECT
------------------------
You have the ability to collect many objects throughout your adventure,
many will be integral elements to certain puzzles. Although you can collect
many objects you can only have one from within your collection activated at
any one time (this object has a hi-lighted surround). At any point in the
game you can hold down the rucksack key (see controls) and scroll through
your collected objects. The object you stop at (with hi-lighted surround)
will now be classed as your active object. If the left or right arrow icons
are hi-lighted (either side of your rucksack) then that will indicate there
are more objects for viewing in that direction.

USING OBJECTS
-------------
If you are at a certain location within the game that requires the use of
one of your collected objects, then the appropriate "action" icon will
automatically appear on the bottom menu bar but only if you have that
specific object activated. For example if a mechanic requires a "navigator
device" and you approach that character, you will only be given the choice
to hand over the "navigator device" if you have that object activated at
that time.

TALKING WITH CHARACTERS
-----------------------
Throughout your travels you will come across many characters within Wasted
Dreams. If the communication icon appears on the bottom menu bar (when you
get close to them) then you will have the option to communicate. All text
(if text option is enabled) will stay on the screen for a period of time,
but can be speeded up by pressing the "Shift" Key or your Joystick button
where as the speech (if speech option is enabled) will ramble on at a
steady pace until cut short by pressing the "Shift" Key or your Joystick
button.

CONTROLS
--------

"Arrow" Keys or Joystick directions

  - In Walking mode, it will make the character Walk in that direction.

  - In Firing mode, it will rotate your characters aim towards that
    direction and will change to Walking mode when your character is
    already facing that direction.

  - In Rucksack mode, Left and Right will scroll through your held objects.


"Shift" Key or Joystick Button

  - If an Action Icon is visible, it will initiate that action.

  - In Walking mode, it will initiate Firing Mode.

  - In Firing mode, it will fire your weapon or Punch if out of ammo.

Accessing Rucksacks

  - Player (1) hold down Left  "Alt" Key or Left  "Amiga" Key

  - Player (2) hold down Right "Alt" Key or Right "Amiga" Key

"Escape" Key

  - Brings up the Main Menu screen.


    _____________________________________________________________________
   /
  / Well that's all you need to know to be able to experience the Wasted
 /  Dreams Demo to the full, we all hope that you enjoy playing it and
/   will support us by buying the full commercial CDRom version.
|
|   For more information on Wasted Dreams please visit the websites:
|
|   Vulcan Software Limited          www.vulcan.co.uk
|
|   Digital Dreams Entertainment     www.dd-ent.com
|
|
 \
  \   WASTED DREAMS Amiga CDRom
   \   (c)1998 Vulcan Software Limited & Digital Dreams Entertainment.
    \    all rights reserved.