Action Arcade 1997/Action Arcade 1997.iso/games/3d-mania/3dmania.txt

Text File | 1997-01-01 | 12KB | 384 lines

Copyrights:                                Author:
Microtech AG                            D. Geisenhoff
Theaterstrasse 10
CH-4051 Basel







Contents
1.       General                            2
1.1.        Introduction                    2
2.       Hardware                        2
2.1.        Requirements                    2
2.2.        Some notes to 3d-stereoscopy            2
3.       Installation                        3
4.      Playing the game                    3
4.1.        Objective                    3
4.2.        Keys                        4
4.3.        Mouse                        4
4.4.        Joystick                    5
4.5.        Specials                    5
4.6.        Maniac's Shop                    6
4.6.1.            Access                    6
4.6.2.           Features                6
4.7.        Advancement                    8





















1. General

1.1. Introduction

3D-Mania is a strategy-game, which has rised from the idea of Tetris and
which has been mixed with elements of role games. 3d-Mania offers many
new interesting possibilities to test and/or improve your strategic skill.

The following features characterize 3d-Mania:

    -Stereoscopic 3d-viewing (with glasses)
    -Randomly appearing stones with special functions (specials) make
     the game interesting and eventful.
    -Maniac's Shop: Here special stones or functions may be bought.
     The currency are score points.
    -Advancement: When playing minimum 5 minutes your actual score
     will be added to a total score. Depending of your total score you will
     advance by one grade. The higher the grade the higher the number
     of options that are available.
    -Supports Sound Blaster / AdLib
    -Supports joystick / mouse


2. Hardware

2.1. Requirements

    -minimum MS-Dos 3.0
    -minimum 80286-10
    -minimum 640 Kb RAM
    -minimum VGA
    -AdLib or Sound Blaster adapter (optional but highly recommended)

2.2. Some notes to 3d-stereoscopy

3d-stereoscopy makes it possible to see a real three-dimensional space with
the help of an optical illusion. For this you need 3d-glasses, which are
included with the game. To keep costs low the glasses are constucted quite
simply. But they have been constructed in a way that they suite as well for
spectacle-wearers as for non-spectacle-wearers and that they don't irritate
you while wearing them.

To prevent an eventually temporary irritation to allergic persons (exertion,
indisposition) you should keep a distance of minimum 25 inches to your
monitor. In addition the 3d-effect is more effective with a bigger distance.

In the 3d-mode the game is two-colored (red and blue). Unfortunately multi-
color 3d-effects may only be realized with a big technical effort and would
certainly not fit into a game budget.

3. Installation

Install 3d-Mania to your harddisk with the install-program on your diskette.
Proceed as follows:

Put your 3d-Mania diskette into your floppy drive and enter at the DOS
prompt:

A:INSTALL  if your diskette is placed in drive A: or
B:INSTALL  if your diskette is placed in drive B:.

After having started your installation-program you may enter the source-drive,
the target-drive and the target-directory into which you want to have copied
3d-Mania. If all is correct, press the F5-key to start the installation. The files
will be copied to your harddisk.

After the installation has been completed you may start the game by typing
the following at the DOS prompt:

3DMANIA

if 3d-Mania does not start, try to install again and be sure that all your entries
(source-drive, target-drive and target-directory) are correct ! If the installation
does still not complete, ask your dealer.


4. Playing the game

4.1. Objective

It's your objective to place and fit figures appearing on your screen into a
three-dimensional space in such a way that they fill out a whole plane. Each
filled plane will be removed an you get points added to your score.

In addition you must prevent the placed figures from growing upwards
because the game will be over as soon as a new appearing figure doesn't fit
into its space because it's used by already placed figures.

General rules:

    -The higher the plane to put your figure the more points you get.
    -The more complex a figure the more points you get.
    -The more difficult a special the more points you get.
    -The higher the level the more points you get.
    -Filled planes give points.
    -When filling the lowest plane in a way that there are no cubes left,
     you get 3 bonus points.



Bonus points will be added to your score at the end of the game with 1% of
your end score.

It's your objective to get as many points as possible by using a lot of skill and
strategy to immortalize your name in the Hiscore-list (Hall of Fame).


4.2. Keys

Left arrow    Move left
Right arrow    Move right
Up arrow    Move up
Down arrow    Move down

D        Rotate in the XY-plane clockwise
E        Rotate in the XY-plane counter-clockwise
S        Rotate in the XZ-plane counter-clockwise
W        Rotate in the XZ-plane clockwise
A        Rotate in the YZ-plane clockwise
Q        Rotate in the YZ-plane counter-clockwise

Space        Place the figure
P        Pause
ESC        End game

F1        Maniac's shop


4.3. Mouse

Move mouse:
The figure follows the movement of your mouse.

Mouse keys:
Left                       Rotate in the XY-plane clockwise
Middle                     Rotate in the YZ-plane clockwise
Left+Right                      Rotate in the YZ-plane clockwise
Right                       Rotate in the XZ-Plane counter-clockwise
Left+Middle                    Place the figure


Note:
In spite of mouse support we suggest to play the game with the keyboard
because you play faster with the keyboard. The benefit of speed is especially
important in the higher levels.






4.4. Joystick

The figure follows the movement of your joystick.

Firebutton 1 + stick left    Rotate in the XY-plane, counter-clockwise
Firebutton 1 + stick right    Rotate in the XY-plane, clockwise
Firebutton 1 + stick forward    Rotate in the YZ-plane, clockwise
Firebutton 1 + stick back    Rotate in the YZ-plane, counter-clockwise

Firebutton 2 + stick left    Rotate in the XZ-plane, counter-clockwise
Firebutton 2 + stick right    Rotate in the XZ-plane, clockwise
Firebutton 2 + stick forward    Rotate in the YZ-plane, clockwise
Firebutton 2 + stick back    Rotate in der YZ-plane, counter-clockwise

Firebutton 1            Place the figure
Firebutton 2            Maniac's shop


4.5. Specials

While playing, different stones with special functions called 'Specials' appear
randomly and depending on your actual level. These special functions are
explained in the following:

Crash: (beginning at level 2)
The crash special is allways a cube. It falls down through all placed cubes
and removes them. The points of the removed cubes are substracted from
your score.

Speedy: (beginning at level 2)
The figure falls twice as fast as normally and you get twice as many points. If
you don't place the figure explicitely (space key), it will disappear.

Drop: (beginning at level 1)
The figure must be placed explicitely within 2 seconds otherwise it will
disappear. If you place the figure you get twice the points.

Hidden: (beginning at level 0)
This figure is quite difficult to see. You get 1.5 times the points.

Spin: (beginning at level 3)
This figure rotates automatically into a random direction. You get 2.5-times
the points.


Ghost: (beginning at level 4)
The ghost-figure may only bee seen from time to time. You get 2.5-times the
points.

Night: (beginning at level 5)
The night falls over the game and the playfield becomes invisible. At night
there are just cubes as figures which don't fall down by themselves. You get
3-times the points for each cube placed. For each filled plane you get one
bonus point. How long the night lasts is left to chance.

At night there are two ways to play. Either you know your playfield by heart
and you place the cubes with the help of your memory or you use the echo
(F1-key). The echo gives you the distance from the actual cube to its next
cube below. It costs 5 points.


4.6.  Maniac's Shop

4.6.1. Access

When pressing the F1-key while playing (except during the 'night-special'),
you enter the maniac's shop where different functions and special stones
(features) may be bought with points.

You have to decide if the bought function gives you more advantage in the
actual situation as it costs points.

4.6.2. Features

Crash:
The next figure will be a cube. It drops through all the placed cubes and
removes them. The points of the removed cubes are substracted from your
score.

'Crash' is very useful if you piled up a tower of cubes in your game which
could be the couse for an unwanted end of the game.

Overlap:
The next figure will overlap the cubes in the plane where you place your
figure.

Prev. Level:
The game continues in the previous level.

Slow Motion:
The next 20 figures will fall half as fast as normally.

Skip Figure:
You select a figure which will be skipped when it appears. 'Skip Figure' is
useful when you see that a certain figure would mess up you game if it would
appear.

Select Figure:
The next figure will be the one you selected.

Skip Next:
The next figure will be skipped. 'Skip Next' is useful when you see that the
next figure could mess up your game.

Small Quake:
The game is hit by a small quake. The first two cubes 'not standing on firm
ground' will fall down.

Remove Top:
The top plane will be removed.

Explosion:
The next figure will be a cube which destroys all the cubes surrounding it as
soon as it hits the floor. Cubes beeing placed above holes created by the
explosion will fall down.

Reveal Cubes:
During the next 20 figures the game displays on the left side of the screen
the exact position of each cube in each plane. This gives you the possibility
to quasi see through all the planes.

Skip Figure 5:
You select a figure which will be skipped five times.

Acid:
The actual figure becomes acid. Each time you place a figure, the 'acid-
figure' will eat into a plane below until it hits the floor. The acid-feature is
most profitable when it is applied to a big figure.

No Night:
The 'night-special' (see Specials) will be switched off for all the game. This is
recommended especially when you don't feel very sure with the game, yet.
The game may be over very quickly when the 'night-special' is active and you
don't act cleverly.

Quake:
The game is hit by a quake and all cubes 'not standing on firm ground' will
fall down.

Upside Down:
All the playfield is set upside down by exchanging all the planes. The top
plane becomes the bottom plane, the second top plane becomes the second
bottom plane, and so on.

Upside Down is useful when the top planes are filled more than the bottom
planes. This happens mostly when the figures place themselves anywhere.
This meens you don't have the game under control anymore !

Time Bomb:
The time bomb is a cube which is placed on a certain plane. When the
'match has burned down' the time bomb explodes and all the plane, where
the time bomb has been placed, blows off.

Undo:
The last 20 steps may be undone step by step and the corresponding figure
may be placed again.

The undo-feature is especially useful when you messed up your game with
an unnecessary mistake and you'd like to continue at the spot before you
made the mistake.

Clear:
All the playfield will be erased and you continue at the beginning. Attention:
This feature costs you half of your score !


4.7. Advancement

If you play minimum 5 minutes, your actual score will be added to a total
score, regardless whether you made a hiscore or not.

Depending of your total score, you will be advanced by one grade.

The higher the grade, the higher the number of options and features that are
available.

Who acquires the highest grade is considered as the absolute 3d-Mania-
freak and may be sure of the greatest admiration by his friends and
competitors.