Software of the Month Club 1996 December

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▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ █████████ █ █ █████████ █ █ █████████ █ █ ███ █ ███████ ███ █ ███ █ ███ ███ █ ███████ ██████ █ █ ███ █ █ █████████ █ ████ ███ ███████ █ ███ █ ███ █ ███ █ ███████ █████████ █ █ █████████ █ ███ █ ███ █ █ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Version 1.0 First Release Copyright (c) 1996 Tom Murphy All rights reserved. 19 August 1996 Note: Please read this file with a monospaced ASCII font. Dos EDIT works nicely, or use the accompanying T.COM (type T escape.doc). Well, Escape is feeling done, sort of. This is the first release version, so don't expect everything to work perfectly, though I have done a lot of testing and things should be ok. If you find any bugs at all in this version please do send them my way. █▀▀█▀▀▀█▀▀█▀▀▀█ If you're a computer wiz and don't want to read █ ▀█ ▀ █ ▀██ ██ the installation and basic instructions, skip to █ ██ █ █▀ ██ ██ the part where this appears: ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ █▀ ▀█▀ █▀█ █▀█ ▀█▀ ▀█ █ █▀█ █▀▄ █ ▀▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ ▀ (This is just a trick. This never appears. get off your high horse and read the docs like everyone else!) ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄ █▄ █▄ █ ▄ What is Escape? █▄ ▄█ █▄ Escape is a fun VGA puzzle game for PC compatible computers. It is rather detailed and engaging, does not force you to solve the puzzles in any particular order, and allows the user to create his or her own levels. (And much more!) ████▀▀█▀▀█▀▀████ █▀██ ▀█ ▀█ ███▀█ What does it need? ████ ▀█▀ █ ▀████ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Escape needs very little to run. A 286 with 1 meg of ram and VGA will do it. The game will run off a 1.44 mb floppy disk. However, Escape was not designed to be run on slower computers. Slow computer speed will not make the game impossible to play, but will make the screen display and disk access much slower, decreasing the overall quality of gameplay. This is the recommended configuration: ■ 486 dx/33 or better processor. ■ 4 mb of ram (8 mb for running under Win 95) ■ PC Speaker ■ Microsoft compatible mouse ■ VGA (320x200x256) Escape runs OK in Windows 95, provided you run it in a full screen DOS window. You do NOT have to "restart the computer in MS-DOS mode" to play. Escape may run fine in Win 3.x, but it is severely discouraged. Please exit Windows to DOS (not a DOS shell) before playing. ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄ █▄ █▄ █ ▄ Okay, how do I play? █▄ ▄█ █▄ First you'll need to decompress the archive. You should not be reading this file if the archive is not already expanded, so it is safe to assume that this is already done. Once this is done, you can play the game. ■ This game was not designed to be run under Windows 95. It uses very few system resources and so should run perfectly well, and it does, but be advised that it will always run better without interruption and from DOS. The recommended way to launch the game is from a full-screen DOS window. (You can use the file manager too, but then you can't use command line switches.) So run Escape.exe. DOS users type: ESCAPE While in the proper escape directory, of course (for example C:\ESCAPE\ if that is where you decompressed it to). Once the game starts, the first thing you'll have to do is pick a user. You can create a new user by pressing "N" and delete an old one by pressing "D". Select the one you want and press [ENTER]. Your progress on campaigns and your character will be saved. (Note that if you create a new user, you must give a valid DOS filename (8 characters or less)! If you enter a bad filename, Escape will either truncate it or make you start over. You do not need to make your own user to play the game, though if more than one person will probably be playing the game, your best bet is to make separate users to keep track of progress separately. When you start, you'll get a menu, where you can either pick a 'campaign' (whole bunch of levels stuck together) or an individual level, or change your character. You choose these options by pressing the numbers next to them (press 3 to change your character, for example). The characters are all the same other than the way they look. To start, pick campaign mode. There are several campaigns included with the game, but you should start with "tutorial". Type in Tutorial and press enter. Tutorial is the Escape tutorial. It contains 11 levels which attempt to illustrate as best as possible how each of the 35 or so blocks work. You should try to complete all of these levels before moving on to the actual game. If you have trouble completing them, you can read the list of tiles and what they do, or the solution list for the tutorials. On the campaign menu, you are shown a list of level titles. Navigate the menu with the arrow keys and PgDn/PgUp, and press Enter to start a level. Levels which have been beaten by the current user will have an asterisk (*) next to them. In the game, you move your character around with the arrow keys. You can restart the level by pressing [Enter], or quit by pressing [ESC]. Sound is toggled with "S", and a little icon is displayed in the lower right-hand corner to indicate the current status of the sound. The tutorial attempts to nonverbally show you how the game is played, so theoretically I could leave you with just this information and you would have enough to learn. So, for those who have particularly big puzzle- solving egos, feel free to go play at this point. But come back when you're ready and read about Escaped, the Escape level editor. If you are having trouble, please see the end of this document with the tile descriptions and tutorial walkthrough. ████▀▀█▀▀█▀▀████ █▀██ ▀█ ▀█ ███▀█ For advanced users... (novices should skip to the ████ ▀█▀ █ ▀████ next section which covers the level editor, ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Escaped) You can load individual files from the command line: ESCAPE level These levels end in .esc, and are created with the included level editor, Escaped. User #1 (which is always "Nobody") will automatically be selected. These are the extensions used for Escape data files: .XCP - Escape Campaign file. (ex Tutorial.xcp) .ESC - Escape Individual Level. (ex frog.esc) While playing a level, "L" will load a new level, and "C" will load a new campaign. For really advanced stuff, see the official Escape web page at: http://members.aol.com/vroomfonde/escape ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄ I'm frustrated with these levels, so I want to ▄ █▄ █▄ █ ▄ make others suffer with my OWN levels. How do I █▄ ▄█ █▄ use Escaped? ESCAPED.EXE is the level editor. The requirements for Escaped are slightly more than Escape; a Microsoft compatible mouse is required. I would also highly recommend a small knowledge of DOS, for navigating and moving files that you create. You can also do this through the File Manager in Windows 95 or Windows 3.1 (though I discourage running Escaped under Windows 3.1). Run ESCAPED.EXE through DOS (or click on it in File Manager). If you want to save some time, you can load an existing level automatically on the command line, like so: ESCAPED frog The level frog.esc has to have already been created for this to work. You should now be on the Escaped editor screen (no fancy menus this time!). Escaped was designed to be easy to use, yet let users take full advantage of all the tile functions. This is the same level editor which was used to make all of the levels included with Escape. ████▀▀█▀▀█▀▀████ █▀██ ▀█ ▀█ ███▀█ Okay, but how do I USE it? ████ ▀█▀ █ ▀████ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Using Escaped is simple. The left mouse button "draws" on the tile grid with the currently selected tile. The right mouse button will "erase"; that is, draw standard grey floor. The currently selected tile is displayed in the very top-left corner, next to the tile menu bar. When you first start the program, this will be tile #3, the blue wall. To select a new tile to draw with, simply left-click on it in the tile menu. It should appear in the top left corner. You may notice that the menu only displays 17 tiles, and yet there are 41 in the game (No, this is not a crippled unregistered version *wink*). You can rotate through the menus to use the rest of the tiles by clicking with the right mouse button on the tile menu. You can also use the Up and Down arrows on the keyboard. Two of the tiles are special tiles: Panels (the dark grey circle on the floor) and Transporters. When these are placed on the grid, the status line on the bottom of the screen will read "Set Destination". The next left click of the mouse will set the destination of this tile. For panels, this means the tile that disappears when you step on it. For transporters, this means the location where it sends your character when you step into it. After setting the destination of a panel or transporter, subsequently moving the mouse over that tile will cause a white outline to be drawn around the destination tile. If you want to change the destination of a panel or transporter, simply put another transporter or panel on top of it, and set the new destination. Erasing or putting a normal tile in that space will remove the destination tag automatically. The spacebar places the starting position for your character, which defaults to the (almost) lower left-hand corner of the screen. You can start your character anywhere on the map. Use the "T" key to title the level. If the level already had a title, it will appear for editing, otherwise you should make one up and type it in. There is about a 24 character limit (I think). Press "L" to load up a previously saved level. Press "S" to save the current level. If you haven't given the level a filename yet, it will prompt you as if you had hit "A" for Save As. Filenames are normal DOS filenames - up to eight characters, letters and numbers only. Do not add an extension; escape will add the .ESC extension automatically. Press "A" to 'Save As' the current level (to give it a filename other than the one you gave before or loaded). Subsequent "S"aves will use this filename. Press "P" to test your level. Test it a lot. Hit [esc] when you're testing to return to the game. Press [esc] or "Q" to quit and save. If the level has changed since the last save, you will be shown a text representation of the level and asked if you want to save it. If you do, then hit "Y" and enter a filename. ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄ █▄ █▄ █ ▄ What is this "Crash Recovery" deal? █▄ ▄█ █▄ If you enter an invalid filename or something else to crash Escaped, it will often save your work in a file called CRASHxxx.ESC, where xxx is a 3 digit number. You can load up this level again and save it as whatever you like. ████▀▀█▀▀█▀▀████ Ha! This is all too easy for me! I want some advanced █▀██ ▀█ ▀█ ███▀█ stuff! (Novice users should skip to the ████ ▀█▀ █ ▀████ next section, on XENCODE/XDECODE, or the ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ section on Escaped level creation tips) The numbers 0-9 will set the Random Level AI type. (Types 1-4 exist right now). You should look at them to see what they do. (0 and 5-9 just clear the level) These are used in conjunction with "R", which creates a random level for you (be advised that it clears your current level!). Note that these levels are not necessarily solvable, in fact they usually won't have an exit, but they have some degree of intelligence to them (except for type 1). They are mainly designed to give you a starting point to get the creative juices flowing, so to speak. Pressing "E" will designate whether this random level will 'overwrite' the old one or not. It defaults to doing so. This is difficult to explain so play with it both ways to see what I mean. Pressing "F" will fill the level with your currently selected tile (unless it is a panel or transporter, for obvious reasons). Not particularly useful, really, but can be used in conjunction with "E" and "R" to use different backgrounds for the random levels. Every minute or two an unsolicited message will appear on the bottom of the screen, reminding you of commands and things. You can disable these by pressing "M". You can also make them appear without waiting by pressing "." (period). Alt-M will shell "cdplay", so if you have a program for playing CDs (or anything else), you can make a batch file called cdplay.bat and put it in the directory, and run it with alt-m. If you want it to do a normal DOS shell, make the cdplay.bat just say one line, "command". I was going to take this out of the editor but now I think it might come in handy. [Enter] redraws the screen. ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄ █▄ █▄ █ ▄ I suck at this! How do I make good levels? █▄ ▄█ █▄ Test your levels, and then have someone else test them too! There is often a much easier way of completing the level which you have overlooked. Here are some level creating strategies: 1. Create a reasonably easy level which is solvable, then obfuscate it, keeping it solvable. Add dead ends and distracting blocks... 2. Work backwards. Start with the guy at the exit, then work backwards. For instance, you can put down a hole and then a grey block behind it... move the guy backwards, dragging the block (mentally...) until it is in some other position, etc. etc. This ensures a solvable level and they can get pretty complicated. 3. Make a simple level, and then solve it. Whatever way you solved it, edit the level again to make that particular route impossible. Keep going until it is sufficiently difficult (but still solvable!) 4. Use different sorts of random levels. If you don't like the AI, you can always close your eyes and spray tiles everywhere yourself! =) ████▀▀█▀▀█▀▀████ █▀██ ▀█ ▀█ ███▀█ What are these XENCODE and XDECODE programs? Frankly ████ ▀█▀ █ ▀████ they scare me. ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ What good is making levels if other people can't play them? I have included the XENCODE and XDECODE programs with each copy of Escape as a standard way of sending levels through electronic mail. They are easy to use, and should be compatible with just about any mail program. Now would be a good time to mention that I would love to receive your levels. Please, if you make any, mail them to ImightbeTM@aol.com. Please see SENDLEV.TXT for more information on sending your levels to me. ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄ █▄ █▄ █ ▄ Let's start with XENCODE, ok? █▄ ▄█ █▄ Okay. XENCODE is used to encode Escape levels so they can be sent via electronic mail. To encode one level into a mailable .TXT file: XENCODE level (the output file will have the same filename as the level, and the .TXT extension) To encode multiple levels into a single .TXT file: XENCODE output level1 level2 level3 level4 (etc. etc.) (levels will be output to output.txt) XENCODE assumes the extension .ESC, which is the normal Escape level extension, for the input file(s) if you do not specify one. The output extension defaults to .TXT. This text file should then be pasted into your e-mail message. Generally the way you paste is to do the following (for Windows mail programs): Open up the text file in windows notepad. Highlight the contents and press ctrl-ins (or select Edit/Copy). Put the cursor in your mail window and select Paste from the Edit menu. The Escape level can appear anywhere in the mail, and can be accompanied by text. ████▀▀█▀▀█▀▀████ █▀██ ▀█ ▀█ ███▀█ Okay, great, what about XDECODE? ████ ▀█▀ █ ▀████ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ XDECODE is used to decode XENCODED levels received via e-mail. If you receive a level in an e-mail, save the e-mail to disk (Usually in the menu under "File" and then "Save As") in the Escape directory, preferably with the .TXT extension. Then run XDECODE: XDECODE mail.txt or just XDECODE mail XDECODE will extract all the files it finds in a given text file, and you need not remove headers nor other text in the e-mail (it will search out the levels on its own). ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄ █▄ █▄ █ ▄ How do I contact you? █▄ ▄█ █▄ I can be contacted in the following places: Tom Murphy 7 Re: Escape 1.0 339 Still Hill Rd. Hamden, CT, 06518.1830 USA ImightbeTM@aol.com On irc as "Frood", usually on irc.qnet.com. http://members.aol.com/imightbetm Please don't forget to visit the Escape Web Page for info and levels and stuff: http://members.aol.com/vroomfonde/escape ████▀▀█▀▀█▀▀████ █▀██ ▀█ ▀█ ███▀█ What about registration and other legal stuff? ████ ▀█▀ █ ▀████ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Escape is shareware. This means that you're allowed to play it, and if you like it, buy it. However, I want Escape to be fun and popular more than I want to make money off of it. For this reason I have set a rather low registration fee, and I have given you a fully functional version with the editor and everything. If you want me to set a "trial" period, I'll say 42 days. Use Escape all you want for 42 days. After 42 days (or sooner if you like), decide if you want to pay me five dollars to register. If you do, then see the information below. If you don't want to register, don't. I would rather think that someone is registering my program because they actually like it, rather than because they are legally bound to. (Though you are, by the way. *evil laughter*) If you register, you get the following stuff: 1. A disk (or disks) in the mail with the following: a. Escape and all of it's component parts, registered. b. The 50 level registered campaign. c. The entire Escape User Level Archive*. d. XCAMP, a utility for creating your own campaigns. e. Many other Mooseware games and utilities. 2. Other bonus prizes and special goodies. 3. My esteemed thanks and obsequious technical support. 4. A nice warm vibraty feeling all through your gutty-wuts. Registration is ONLY $5.00 US currency. Please make checks out to Tom Murphy, and don't forget to mention that you want Escape and not some other game. * The Escape User Level Archive is freeware, and consists of levels which Escape players have submitted. So note that it is not being sold, it is included for FREE. Anyone else can get the Archive by sending a self-addressed-stamped-disk mailer and blank disk to the address above. (you will also want to write somewhere that you want the EULA.) Most of all, though, I want people to have fun. If you really like Escape, write me! I want to hear! (maybe it will even help me get into college!) If you make any good levels, e-mail them to me! I won't try to make you feel guilty for not registering, I promise. =) Legal stuff: The term "this program" or "the program" refers to Escape. Escape is considered a package, including all of the files in the archive. Also, since I pulled this legal info out of Tomopoly, if I say "Tomopoly" I mean "Escape". ESCAPE is distributed AS IS. Under no circumstances can Tom Murphy or Mooseware Development be held responsible for any damages whether directly or indirectly related to this program or the use of this program. No warranties or guarantees, express or implied, will be honored. The user is responsible for use, misuse, or abuse of this program. This program is Copyright (c) 1996 Tom Murphy. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED! Distribution This program may be freely distributed as long as no fee is charged, except for the following conditions: (1) Any registered version of this program or portions thereof cannot be distributed in any way, shape, or form other than from Mooseware Development to the person who registered the software. Registration is NON-TRANSFERRABLE! (2) This program CAN be distributed on pay online services such as America Online or Prodigy as long as any fees are based on time spent online or on a flat monthly fee. This program CANNOT be distributed on ANY service which charges a fee per download. (3) This program can only be distributed in its original form (the program, the whole program, and nothing but the program). This means that additional levels cannot be distributed inside the archive, nor modified graphics or any other modifications. Distributing modified versions of Escape is a Copyright violation. (4) Escape can only be distributed through mail-order shareware catalogs with the written consent of Tom Murphy. (5) This program can be distributed on shareware CD-ROM if all the following conditions are met: 1. Tom Murphy is sent written notification (through the Post office please) through certified mail or with a request for a reply. 2. A copy is made available for purchase by Tom Murphy. If you want to be particularly generous you can send me a free copy. =) 3. Information concerning the CD (price, name, distribution method, etc.) is also mailed to Tom Murphy. 4. The price of the CD does not exceed $75 US. 5. The CD contains other shareware programs. 6. The original archive ESCAPE10.EXE is contained on the CD. The CD may also include the files uncompressed elsewhere, but the original file must be present. Write to me for information if you do not have the original archive. 7. The CD makes it clear that the author receives no money from the sale of the CD for his/her work, and explains the shareware concept. (6) Levels created with Escaped by the user can be distributed freely, however they cannot be sold. ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄ █▄ █▄ █ ▄ Who would you like to thank? █▄ ▄█ █▄ Escape was written by one person? This is not true. The game itself is my work, but many people helped create levels and gave me ideas. Overwhelmingly I'd like to thank my brother Mike Murphy for creating nearly as many levels as I did and giving me many ideas for the game, as well as Patricia Funtik and her sons, for creating several agonizing levels which showed me that this game is sometimes even too hard for *ME*. They also gave me many good suggestions on the game and were my official beta testers. Thanks! I'd also like to thank the other people who helped make levels, including the rest of my siblings and several of the kids from my Game Builders class at the Eli Whitney Museum. Thanks! The following people helped make levels for Escape: (THANKS!) Tom Murphy 7 (Me!) Mike Murphy Brian Funtik Patricia Funtik (aka Lemmyn) Kevin Funtik Taylor Murphy Kerrigan Murphy Tom Piekos Jeff Bernadoni Abigail Gillis Evil Boy (If you made a level for the ORIGINAL version of Escape -- that is, before it was released -- and your name is not listed above, write me or give me a ring so I can straighten things out.) ████▀▀█▀▀█▀▀████ █▀██ ▀█ ▀█ ███▀█ Just what do you want? ████ ▀█▀ █ ▀████ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ■ Levels! Make me some levels so I can get the Escape User Level Archive started! Be infamous and have the deep satisfaction of other people getting frustrated at your levels and wishing to kill you! For information on sending levels to me, please see SENDLEV.TXT. ■ Suggestions and comments! I want to hear how you like this game. Drop me a mail message and help me get into college. ■ Spoons! I am always looking for more spoons of any kind. Send them to: Tom Murphy VII The Spoon Campaign 339 Still Hill Rd. Hamden, CT 06518.1830 USA The official Thousand Spoons Web Page: http://members.aol.com/spoons1000/spoons.html - Tom Murphy. ImightbeTM@aol.com ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄ █▄ █▄ █ ▄ This is so long! Where are the appendices? █▄ ▄█ █▄ The following Appendices are for people having trouble with Escape or for people who want to, basically, cheat. If you want to get the full puzzle-solving experience, you should not read this. ████▀▀█▀▀█▀▀████ ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄ █▀██ ▀█ ▀█ ███▀█ ■ Appendix 1 ■ ▄ █▄ █▄ █ ▄ ████ ▀█▀ █ ▀████ █▄ ▄█ █▄ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Tile Descriptions You will notice that certain blocks can do certain things. Here is a brief description of each block: 1. Floor (empty) - This can be walked on, shot over, etc. 2. Red block - This can be pushed by the guy in any direction. It can be used to push down panels (see later), or block lasers (see later) but it can't be pushed in holes (see later...) 3. Blue block - Can't be pushed, moved, anything. A wall. 4. Grey block - Same as a red block, but can be pushed into holes. 5. Green block - Can be moved one space in any direction, and then turns into a blue block. Must be pushed onto a floor (#1). 6. Exit Door - The player must touch this to exit (win). There can be more than one on any given level. 7. Hole - Blocks the player from moving, but doesn't block lasers. You can push a grey block into the hole, and it (and the block) will disappear. 8. Gold Block - This block can be pushed from any side, and will keep moving until it hits anything but a panel or regular floor. It can push down panels if it lands on them, and can block lasers, but can't be pushed into holes. 9. Shooter - If the player walks onto a space aligned (vertically or horizontally) with this tile, they will be shot with a laser and they'll die. Lasers can be blocked by anything but panels, floors, holes, and electric floors. 10. Panels (grey circle on floor) - When the player or a block is on top of one of these, another block somewhere will disappear. When the player steps off, or the block is removed, the block will reappear. You can do some neat stuff with these (including screwing up the game); play around with them. 11. Stop Sign - Usually used to signify a block which can be removed with a panel, but it acts exactly the same as 3 (a stationary wall). 12-15. Arrows - These are walls, which can be used for decorative purposes or to hint what is to be done in a level. Exactly the same as #3 except the way they look. New stuff: 16. Rough (bumpy grey) - These can be walked on like normal floors, and lasers can shoot over them, but blocks cannot be pushed on them. 17. Electric floor (yellow floor) - This cannot be walked on, but if a block is pushed onto it, the block will be disintegrated. These floors are shut off by #18, and can be shot over by a laser. 18. Electric button (on) - Pressing (touching) this will turn it into #19 and turn all the #17s into #1s. Cannot be shot over, walked on, etc. 19. Electric button (off) This is simply the off version of #18. It acts exactly the same as #3. 20. Transporter - Stepping on this tile will send you to another space on the level. Blocks lasers, pushable blocks, etc. etc. 21. Breakable (cracked grey) - Touching this block will cause it to disintegrate and disappear. 22, 23: Horizontal/Vertical sliders - These blocks can only be pushed in the directions that their arrows point. They can be used to block lasers but cannot push down panels or fill in holes. 24, 25: 0 and 1 buttons - When one of these is pressed, all of the horizontal sliders will be turned into vertical sliders, and all of the vertical sliders will be turned into horizontal sliders. 26-31: Wires - These wires conduct pulses from #32 (buttons) to the lights (33-35). They only conduct in certain directions (the directions which the conduit points in... I guess this is pretty obvious.) They can be pushed and act identically to red blocks. 32: Pulse button - Pushing this will send pulses in all 4 directions, which can travel down wires to lights or directly to the lights themselves. Cannot be moved, but blocks the lasers. 33-35: Blue, red and green lights - These blocks, when sent an electric pulse, will toggle their respective floors between the 'high' and 'low' positions. They cannot be activated on their own, and are otherwise stationary and solid. 36, 38, 40: Blue, red and green 'high' floor - This is basically a wall. You can't walk over it or shoot through it. It can be toggled to the 'low' position by sending an electric impulse to the same color light. 37, 39, 41: Blue, red and green 'low' floor - Can be walked over and shot over, but blocks can't be pushed on it. Can be toggled to 'high' floor. ▄▄ ▄▄ ▄▄ ████▀▀█▀▀█▀▀████ ▄ █▄ █▄ █ ▄ ■ Appendix 2 ■ █▀██ ▀█ ▀█ ███▀█ █▄ ▄█ █▄ ████ ▀█▀ █ ▀████ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ Tutorial Walkthrough If you are still having trouble with the game, you get one more chance. Here is an entire walkthrough of the tutorial, which explains how each of the tiles work and why they do certain things. You're on your own after this. Tutorial 1: Blocks This one is rather self explanatory. I guess I shouldn't even bother, but here is what you do: 4 up, 3 right, 2 down, 3 right, push up, then 4 up, 8 right, 3 down, 1 right, touch exit. Nothing special happens with the tiles in this one, so see the tile list in Appendix 1. Tutorial 2: Holes Here you are introduced to holes. You can't walk over holes, but you can get rid of them by pushing a grey block onto them. 3 up, 2 right, 3 down, 9 right, 5 up, 1 right, push down 4, 1 left, 1 down, push right 2, 1 left, 4 up, 1 right, push down 3, 1 left, 1 down, right 3, touch exit. (Basically you are pushing the two grey blocks on the right down and into the holes blocking the exit. You can test the reactions of other blocks (none) with the holes in the center, but you don't need them at all.) Tutorial 3: Lasers This tutorial introduces you to lasers. Lasers shoot you and kill you if you step in front of them. Unless, of course, there is something blocking their path, like, a block. 10 right, 1 up, 1 right, 2 up, 1 left, push up 1, 1 right, 1 up, 3 left, 1 down, 1 left, 1 up, 1 right, 1 up, push red block left 6 (so it is lined up with the laser on the top), 1 down, 3 left, up 2, touch exit. (You are pushing the grey block in front of the laser at the bottom of the screen, then pushing the red on in front of the laser at the top.) Tutorial 4: Panels Panels are the grey circles on the floor. Stepping on them or pushing (some) blocks onto them will cause a tile somewhere else to change. The change is from whatever was there to "empty". Stepping off or removing the block will change it back. Two panels can point to the same spot, in which case pressing both of them will be the same as pressing none of them. 3 up, 3 right, push yellow right, 4 up, 4 right, push grey down 3, 2 left, 3 down, 1 right, push red up 1, 2 down, 8 right, touch exit. (You are pushing blocks onto the bottom 3 panels, which removes the stop signs blocking your way to the exits. Try pushing and stepping on the panels to get the hang of it.) Tutorial 5: Rough Rough is the same as the floor, except blocks can't be pushed onto it. 2 up, 9 right, 1 up, push grey up 2, 1 right, 1 up, push grey left 7, 1 down, 1 left, push grey up 1, 4 down, 6 right, 2 down, 1 right, push grey up 1, 1 left, 1 up, push grey right 3, 1 down, 1 right, push grey up 2, 1 right, 1 up, push grey left 3, 1 down, 1 left, push grey up 2, 1 right, 1 up, push grey left 7, 1 down, 1 left, push grey up 1, 1 right, 1 up, push grey left 1, touch exit. (You are pushing the two grey blocks through the path in the rough, up to the holes blocking the exit) Tutorial 6: Electric Before you cheat: Don't shut off the electricity immediately. Electric floor (bright yellow floor) will disintegrate most blocks that you push into it. You shut off the electricity by pressing the button that says "ON". 11 right, push grey left 2, 13 left, 4 up, push grey up 1, press left, 5 down, 14 right, touch exit. (You push the grey block at the bottom into the electricity, then you press the button on the left wall to shut the electricity off) Tutorial 7: Transports Before you cheat: Don't shut off the electricity immediately. Transports send your character to a different spot on the level. 12 right, 1 up into transporter, 1 down, 5 left, 1 up, push grey left 1, 2 right, 2 down, 1 down into transporter, 3 right, press down, 5 right, 1 up into transporter, 1 down, 5 left, 1 up, 2 left, touch exit. (You are taking the transporter on the right (the one on the bottom kills you) getting rid of the grey block by the exit as with tutorial 6, taking the transporter at top, shutting off the electricity, and then transporting back) Tutorial 8: Broken Broken blocks disappear when you touch them. 3 left, press left, 1 left, 3 down, touch left, 3 left, 1 up, 6 left, 1 up, touch up, 1 down, 3 right, 2 up, 1 left, push grey left 2, 2 left, touch exit. (You are disintegrating the broken block in between the grey one and the hole, then pushing the grey one into the hole. You can experiment with the thing in the middle and see if you can get to the top right corner, but this is not needed) Tutorial 9: Sliders Sliders can be pushed only in the direction that their arrows point. Pressing the "0" and "1" buttons will toggle their direction. 1 down, 7 left, press down, 7 right, 2 up, push slider up 1, 1 down, 2 left, push slider up 2, 2 down, 1 left, push slider up 3, 3 down, 3 left, push grey left 1, 5 up, 1 left, touch exit. Tutorial 10: Wires 1 Before you cheat: You can push the wires around like blocks. Wires are a bit complicated, and tutorials 10 and 11 give some people trouble. The pinkish blocks with the yellow/black borders are buttons. The buttons send pulses of electricity out in 4 directions when pressed. The electricity flows through wires to the 'lights', which are the colored (red, green, or blue) blocks with yellow/black borders. When the electricity hits a light, it toggles the respective colored floor between the 'high' and 'low' states. When it is 'high', a grey square appears in the center, and you cannot walk over it. When it is 'low', it can be walked over. 1 right, 2 up, press up, 2 right, press up, 2 right, press up, 1 down, 7 right, 1 up, push wire up 1, 1 left, press up, 3 down, 3 right, touch exit. (You are pressing the buttons on the left to make your way through the colored floor bits. Pay attention to how the buttons are connected to the lights so you can see how it is done. Then you push the wire segment between the button and red light on the right to clear the floor by the exit) Tutorial 11: Wires 2 This one causes the most problems. Before you cheat: There is a switch on the bottom, by the exit. Everyone misses that one for some reason. Since the button sends out pulses which toggle the states of the floor, and there are 2 states, sending 2 pulses will reset the floor back to the way it was. Sending 3 pulses is the same as sending 1 pulse. Get it? 2 right, 2 up, push wire up 1, 1 left, push up, 1 left, 3 up, 1 right, push wire right 1, 2 left, 2 down, push right, 4 down, 11 right, 3 up, 2 right, 3 up, push wire left 1, 3 down, 2 left, push up, 3 down, 1 right, push down, 4 right, touch exit. (You are touching the button in the middle on the left (connected to the blue light) once, pushing the wires in place to connect it to the red light, then pushing the button again. Then you're walking through the bottom, pushing the wire in the top right into place, pushing the button, and then pushing the button on the bottom) You're done! Now try playing the REAL levels. And no help from me for those! Documentation Copyright (c) 1996 Tom Murphy.