CD Shareware Magazine 1997 January

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SCARYFISH VERSION 2 INSTRUCTIONS ScaryFish Version 2 is an exciting multi-species fishing game for 1-4 players. The game is extremely realistic except for the lack of mosquitoes, jet skis, pollution, overfishing, or looney activists. Anglers will appreciate the realism, but you can enjoy the game even if you never fish in real life. The game simulates the excitement of exploring a world filled with fishing holes, choosing presentations, casting, anticipating the bite or strike of a fish, and fighting fish once they are hooked. The game has a variety of options for where you fish, mode of play, and presentation including rod and reel, line, bait/lures, and accessories. The multi-species aspect of the game makes it extremely exciting and suspenseful; you never know what species will bite your line next. You might be innocently fishing for Bluegill or Crappie when suddenly... a huge Catfish or Gar runs off with your line! Or you might be fishing for Bass, fighting what you think is a trophy Largemouth, but when you land the fish it turns out to be a Carp! As you play the game a number of humorous mishaps might occur such as tipping the boat or catching something that isn't even a fish! You can run this game over and over without mastering it or getting tired of it. The results will be different every time you play since as in real life, luck is a factor along with skill, strategy, patience, and reflexes. If you're new to this game, see the paragraphs "Getting Started" and "A Few Hints" later in this file. _________________________________________________________________ Configuration Menu This lets you change and save preferred settings for the game's text colors, sound, etc. Usually the default settings will be fine and some values can be changed elsewhere in the program. When you leave this menu the program will ask if you want to save your custom settings; if you say Y the program will save a file called SCARY23.CFG and load these settings as the default every time you start the game. -Text Choose between 16 colors, black & white, or b&w high intensity. -Sound Turn it off if you are running the game at work and don't want the boss to hear the sound at the beginning of sessions. -Show Rod After Cast If you have a slow machine (under 20 MHz), you might prefer to set this to "No" if rod animation is slow on your machine. -Toggle S-O-A-LCR Fish Alarm Only matters if you own a state-of-the-art depthfinder. _________________________________________________________________ The "Screensaver" Some people pay $30 or more for tropical fish aquarium screen- saver programs. This game includes a "screensaver" simulating a deep 10000 gallon tank filled with the types of fish pursued by anglers. This feature cycles through twelve different species distributions, showing each set of fish for about a minute. The individual fish will be different each time you view the "screensaver". The fish have different sizes for a given species; occasionally a real "lunker" will appear! Press any key to move from the "screensaver" to the main menu. -Screensaver Attributes -Background Color: Black, Dark Blue, Dark Cyan, or Brown. -Number Of Fish: 1-32, or varying for the number at hole. -Length: How many minutes it shows each distribution before moving to another distribution. _________________________________________________________________ Create New Character You must have a player character before playing the game. If running from a floppy drive, be sure the disk is not write- protected. At the prompt, type the name for your character (the first 8 letters/digits must be unique for each player character). The game keeps track of population dynamics for each character, so one person's fishing success will not be lessened as a result of another person "fishing out" several holes. Each character is given an extremely generous initial endowment including a rod and reel, the necessary tackle to begin fishing, assorted bait and lures, and a large sum of money for future purchases at the stores. You can access characters from different disks or directories by specifying a path such as 'A:\' or 'C:\GAMES\'. _________________________________________________________________ Visit Local Store After you select "Go Fishin'" from the main menu and select your character, choose "Visit Local Store" to buy bait and equipment. Each world has its own store. You will get to shop at the store for the world at which your character currently resides (you begin at City Bait & Tackle). Buying stuff at the stores can be a lot of fun and is a good outlet for "tackleholism". There are nine categories of item: Bait: worms, minnows, etc. Buy a lot since it gets lost quickly! Line: available in different line tests Lures: many different artifical lures are available Misc: hooks, sinkers, bobbers, leaders, and other useful items Motors: let you move around faster in water Rods: each rod has a recommended line range. Choose between casting or spinning depending on the type of reels you use. Reels: each reel has a recommended line range. Use spinning reels with spinning rods; use baitcast and spincast reels with casting rods. Trips: tickets to fish at other worlds. Local Bass Lakes and Medium-Sized River are shareware worlds. You can buy tickets to the "*" worlds, but you won't be able to use them until you register. Some are one-time trips (Local Bass Lakes and Medium-Sized River) which send you back to the "base" world, while others (Minnesota Lakes, Ozark/ Mid-South Reservoir) are trips to "base" worlds which let you stay as long as you want. Note: User-created worlds are handled a bit differently than PMP Software worlds. For user-created worlds, you don't buy trip tickets. Instead, you purchase the trip right before you move to the world. The program will tell you the cost of the trip and whether the world is a base world. Visual Aids: Polarized glasses let you see deeper in the water. LCRs (fishfinders) let you see what's underwater. If an item isn't available at a given store, it will be listed as "Not Available"; you must go to another world's store to obtain that item. Some items are available only at registered user stores but wouldn't be very useful at the shareware worlds. Don't worry about spending too much money at the stores, since you get monetary rewards for your fishing success in the game. The "Visit Store" option from the main menu only lets you visit stores at the "base" worlds. To visit a store at a non-base world, select the "Visit Local Store" option from "Go Fishin'". _________________________________________________________________ View Records The game maintains a list of records including biggest fish, most points, most fish, and other categories. If you do well in the game you might set some new records. "The Top 20" shows the heaviest fish caught in the game. Getting a "Biggest Of A Species" record is a challenge, especially the #1 fish (the world record in real life). "Most Points" is the best measure of success in the game. The "IFGA" records honor the biggest fish for a given line class. You might dread the possibility of setting one of the "Records You Won't Brag About!" _________________________________________________________________ Registration Info This lets you know how to register and get full enjoyment from the game. Send a filled-out printout of the file ORDER.FRM with payment to the author to receive the benefits of registra- tion including access to more worlds, species, and tackle, a hardcopy user manual, and notification of major updates. With the release of the Make Your Own Worlds Utility and SCHTKR, registered users in theory have access to an unlimited number of worlds! _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Go Fishin' Modes of Play and Tournament Options The game has two main modes of play: the "relaxing" mode for 1 player, and the competitive tournament mode for 1-4 players. Both modes let you choose the length of the session (1-4 hours). The "relaxing" mode has few rules, but the tournament mode has a variety of options. You can choose which species count: all species, black bass, or custom (over 2 billion combinations). Distribution of winnings can be proportional based on the relative success of the players, or winner-takes-all. For daily limits and minimum length limits, you can choose between no limits, suggested limits, or custom limits. If daily limits exist, you can decide whether to allow culling (replacing the smallest fish in a limit catch as opposed to deciding whether a fish counts right when you catch it). Scoring can be determined by most points (the best measure of success) or by most pounds. Each player can contribute to a "pot" for highest score, most fish, or biggest fish of the session. _________________________________________________________________ Getting Started You can play the game once you create a character. To fish at a world other than City Park Lake, go to the store and purchase a trip to another world. Registered users can fish at any world for which the player has a ticket. Non-registered users can fish at Local Bass Lakes or Medium-Sized River if the player has a ticket. Players can fish at City Park Lake at no charge. Once you choose the world and the game accepts your choice, you will be asked the length of the session: 1-4 hours. Under the default settings a game will last about 15 minutes (real life) for each session hour for each player. Here are some suggestions on what to buy the first time your character goes to the store: -at least one $5 trip (Local Bass Lakes or Medium-Sized River) -a rod other than the "El Cheapo" -some more line (maybe 3 units of 100 feet, 8 or 10 LB test) -some more bait (gets stolen quickly!) and maybe a few lures _________________________________________________________________ Moving Around In The World You will move around in the world to reach the fishing holes. Each hole is marked with a big 'X'; just move to an X square and the game will ask if you want to fish there at that time. Some holes are accessible by land while others must be reached by boat. Here are the key controls: Cursor/Arrow keys: move in direction of arrow. If you make a bad move, the term "cursor" might have a double meaning! E/e: Enter boat if on same square as boat / Exit boat if in still water m: turn Motor on/off (if you have one) Spacebar: Get global coordinates if you have a coordinate finder. S/s: toggle Sound on or off F10 or D: End the session in relaxing mode "weigh-in" in tournament mode F1: Help (shows these controls) The worlds contain many terrain types including forest, grass, still water, flowing water, and various obstacles. Moving takes a different amount of time for each terrain; for example, you'll move faster on roads than through forests. In moving water, your time will vary depending upon whether you move with or against the flow. The amount of time you have left appears to the right of the display of terrains. When playing in the tournament mode, be sure to make it back to the starting point before time runs out; you are charged 500 points per minute late and disqualified if over 15 minutes late! The game will let you know if you can't move somewhere. Some terrain is impassible in all situations (hills & cliffs), some terrain requires a boat, and some requires being on foot. Don't run your boat over water obstacles such as logs or rocks. You are allowed three such klutzy moves before the possibility of an "incident" exists. _________________________________________________________________ When At A Fishing Hole Once you reach a fishing hole and decide to fish, you'll see the close-up terrain of the hole. If you reach the hole by boat, you'll be in the middle; if you reach the hole by foot, you'll be at the edge from which you arrived. At a hole you have the following options: New Rig: lets you choose which rod, reel, line, bait/lure, and accessories to use. Changing your rig will cause a slight time deduction. Move within hole: lets you move within the hole; similar to moving in the worlds. When at a hole, the current does not push you. Cast: Use the arrow keys to select where you want to cast, as if you were fishing there in real life. Some people might cast to structure such as a log or rocks, others might fish the edge of strong current, and others might cast to water of a given depth. Move the cursor where you think the fish are, and press <Enter> when at the desired spot. The game doesn't make you control the rod and reel movements of casting. The accuracy of your cast is based on the rod and reel you use, the weight of your rig, and the distance of the cast. Mismatched tackle could result in an errant cast. Insufficient weight could have the cast fall short, so a bobber or sinker is often necessary when using natural bait. Spinning tackle is best at casting light rigs. Change Speedup Factor: You can speed up the time between bites, but the faster the speedup factor, the shorter the bites last. Default is 4. Exit Hole: puts you back in the main world. _________________________________________________________________ After Making A Cast - Screen Display The screen will show the water as if you were to the upper left of the screen just out of view. Each hole has a value for water clarity; you can see a certain distance down into the water. Sometimes you can see the bottom, and often you can see some of the fish at the hole. If you make an extremely long cast, a vertical bar will split the screen so you can view the water where your rig is. Your bait/lure is represented by an X-crossed rectangle. If you use a bobber, you can see it (unless a big fish has pulled it out of view or you put on too much weight causing it to sink). After Making A Cast - Controls <Enter>: Reel in one turn of the handle (different amount of line per reel) Spacebar: Set the hook; do this when you get a bite A-Z, a-z (any letter key): put reel on freespool Alt-A: disable/enable Antireverse; rarely used Alt-S: Set rod down; some people think this increases the number of fish that bite; don't let a big fish pull your rod in! Alt-D: show Depthfinder Display (LCR) / stop showing it Alt-F: Toggle Fish Alarm if you have a State-O-The-Art LCR Alt-R: show Rod / stop showing it (rod animation slow on very slow machines) right/left arrow: adjust drag up/down 1% up/down arrow: adjust drag up/down 5% Esc: Reel in all the way and return to options for at a hole F1: Help (shows these controls) When using natural bait, you can either still-fish (not reel in) or use a retrieve. If you use lures and want anything to bite, have some type of retrieve. Each time you press <Enter> you crank the reel once. Some people use a steady retrive while others use start-and-stop or jigging retrieves. When a fish bites or strikes, the chance you feel the hit depends on the line test, the rod sensitivity, and the speed of the current. When the word "BITE" appears or you hear a tone representing the size of the bite, press the spacebar to set the hook. You might be too late, you might be fast enough but fail to set the hook, or you might successfully hook the fish. Your chance of setting the hook depends on such factors as the species of the fish biting, rod quality, and bait/lure used. _________________________________________________________________ Fighting a Fish Once you hook a fish, keep an eye on three values to the right of the screen: Force On Line: Try not to let the force exceed the line's breaking strength! Line Out: To land a fish, you must tire him out and bring this value to 0. Drag: The left value is the dial setting which you control (20-100); the right one is the effective setting. Pressing a freespool or antireverse key can lower the effective setting below 20 for emergencies. A stuck drag has an effective setting of 100. Use the same keys as above ('After making a cast - Controls'). Pressing the spacebar increases pressure on the fish and raises the rod tip. Pressing the <Enter> key lowers the rod tip and reels in line if possible. The arrow keys modify the drag. When you hook a huge fish and the force on line skyrockets, you'll understand why 26 keys activate the freespool! With big fish or light line, you might not be able to reel in much line until the fish tires. Just as in real life, it takes practice to land large fish. If you land the fish, you will see a report of the species, length, weight, and point value. If you're playing in tournament mode with daily limits and no culling allowed, you will have to decide whether to count the fish as part of your limit. The fish are released immediately after being caught. ________________________________________________________________ End Of Session When time is up or all player(s) have quit, the game will report session statistics, fees such as late penalties and motor costs, and broken records. For each player, the computer will report detailed stats on fish caught for the session. You can save a printable report if desired (each report has a unique filename). The computer will report player earnings and any tournament winners or pot values. If running from a floppy drive, keep the disk in because the game will save the progress of the character(s). ________________________________________________________________ A Few Hints Natural bait (worm, minnow, etc) usually produces faster action than artificial lures. However, bait gets lost quickly. Unless you know what you're doing, don't hold down keys or press a bunch of keys in advance, since the program maintains the buffer for keys pressed. When moving around in a long stretch of similar-looking terrain, it might seem as if you're not moving, but you are still moving unless given a message to the contrary. If you fish at the same hole over and over again, you might temporarily fish it out. Don't worry if action seems to have terminated, since the holes will recover over time. Go to a variety of holes; registered users have access to many more holes and are therefore less likely to fish them out. When fishing at night, add to the realism by turning down the contrast or brightness of your monitor! Register to get access to more holes, more hints, and many other benefits. _________________________________________________________________ The Registered User Worlds Basic registration gives you access to five huge additional worlds with well over 100 new holes. Here is a short description: Mississippi River (base world): A huge river with good numbers of panfish and catfish (including flatheads and blues), sur- prisingly good bass fishing, and many other species including drum, walleye, and white bass. Includes main channel areas, backwaters, wingdams, and tailwaters. No barges or pollution! Ozark/Mid-South Reservoir (base world): A highland/hill-land reservoir like Lake Of The Ozarks or Dale Hollow. Over two dozen species including all species of bass (LM, SM, spotted, striped, white, & rock), panfish, and catfish. Includes a main reservoir area, a trout park, and fantastic tailwater holes. Minnesota Lakes (base world): A group of northern lakes with many species of gamefish including large- and smallmouth bass, walleye, northern pike, maybe even muskellunge. Includes a wide variety of habitat ranging from barren rocky areas to weedy swamps. Crystal-clear water lets you see fish way down! In addition, two "mystery" worlds exist. These worlds are located in pristine wilderness areas and provide some of the game's best fishing. Most of the salmonoid (trout or salmon) holes are located at these worlds. Most people opt for the maximum session length at these worlds. _____________________________________________________________ The Sequel Worlds! Over 120 holes at six new worlds, requires ScaryFish 2.1 or later and must be registered to access them: Stocked Reservoir - A sizable impoundment stocked with many species. Includes islands, a spillway, and streams with a number of trout holes. An instance of this world is included as a sample file with the Make Your Own Worlds Utility. Appalachian Stream - Treacherous rapids, rough terrain, and great smallmouth and trout fishing. Empties into a TVA reservoir with several diverse fishing holes. Wisconsin Wilderness - A huge north central world with a diversity of habitat. Contains a fictional stretch of Lake Michigan, streams, lakes, and flowages. The diverse fishery includes excellent opportunities for trout, salmon, and musky. Gulf Coast - One of the "scariest" worlds to date, this enormous world contains both fresh- and saltwater species. Includes inshore saltwater areas, a river and delta, tidal bays, and a large freshwater bayou. The Sequel Worlds also have two "mystery" worlds. The names of the mystery worlds can be discovered by reading the Records Contest results files.