Crazy Collection 10/CC-10_2.iso/gms__os2/mlgp2/data.a00/COMBO2.HLP

OS/2 Help File | 1995-08-08 | 107.6 KB | 325 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. How to play ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

                              How to play Combo II

When you start Combo II you have a playing field full of pipes. These pipes are
not necessarily connected to each other, even though some of them are.
Somewhere in the pipes are also a few balls, waiting to be released. Your goal
is simply to connect the pipes and manage to roll the balls into their
respective homes.


There are four different colors of balls, and each ball has its own home with
the same color, as I'm showing you here above. You must make sure that you get
the right ball to the right home, otherwise your game is over.

The pipes from where the balls are released are marked with the above arrows so
that you easily can find them. The balls are released three seconds after the
game begins, so during this time you must find where each ball is, and connect
a few pipes so they have something to roll in. Make it quick!


In order to connect the pipes you can rotate them clockwise and anti-clockwise
with the left and right mouse buttons. Each time you press a mouse button, the
pipe that is pointed out by the mouse pointer is rotated 90 degrees in the
corresponding direction (you can swap the directions if you prefer that).

You can also steer a ball by rotating the pipe that the ball rolls through. A
ball always follows a pipe in one direction and if you turn the pipe to a new
direction, the ball will of course continue in the new direction. It's as
simple as that, and of course you don't need a drivers license...


When a ball reaches a T-crossing pipe, as I'm showing you above, you can steer
the ball without having to rotate the pipe. In the bottom left corner of the
game's window there is a steering button. When a ball rolls through a
T-crossing pipe it turns in the direction of the arrow on the steering button.
If you want to change the direction, just click on the steering button and it
will change to the opposite direction.

Above I'm showing you what the "left turn" and "right turn" steering buttons
look like. Remember, however, that you must always see it from the ball's view,
so left and right is seen from the ball's "eyes", not from yours. You should
also note that it's only when the ball enters the T-crossing pipe from the
"bottom" and rolls towards the crossing, that it turns.


So what's more to tell you about Combo II ? Now you know that your goal is to
connect the pipes and steer the balls to their respective homes, right?

OK, then you should know that in the pipes aren't only the balls, but also good
bonus and bad bonus objects. To collect a good bonus object you steer a ball
over the object. You will then get bonus points, see the list below:

Good bonus objects:
- The Hamburger gives you 50 points.
- The Cake gives you 40 points.
- The Orange gives you 30 points.
- The Cherry gives you 20 points.
- The Strawberry gives you 10 points.

A nice thing, when you are having many balls rolling in the pipes, is that when
you catch a good bonus, the number of points you get is the 'value' of the good
bonus times the number of balls you have rolling. So, if you have three balls
rolling and you catch a hamburger, you would get .... hmmm .... let me see ....
I wasn't very good at maths in school, and I haven't learned much since ....
150 points! Not bad, huh? (I meant that it wasn't bad that I could calculate
that!)

The bad bonus objects are the absolute opposite, they will decrease your score
or do other nasty things to you, see the list below.

Bad bonus objects:
- The Rocket increases the speed of all balls, and once they are sped up you
can't slow them down...
- The Boxing glove bounces the ball back in the opposite direction.
- The Frog throws the ball to a random pipe, and you never know where it will
land...
- The Large mushroom decreases your score by 80 points.
- The Medium mushroom decreases your score by 40 points.
- The Small mushroom decreases your score by 20 points.

All bonus objects, good and bad, will move! They will pop down into a pipe and
stay there for a while and then jump to another pipe, so catch the good bonuses
while you can. And, of course, watch out for the bad bonuses!

Note that the frog throws the ball to a random pipe, but never to a pipe where
a ball already is.


The above dynamite load and the bomb are two really nasty things that also
appear among the pipes. They don't appear in a pipe, but rather have their own
places. And, lucky for you, they don't move. Watch out for them because if you
bump into one of them with a ball, your game is over....

Your game is also over when:

o You collide with two balls.
o You roll a ball out of a pipe. You must always make sure that all balls have
  pipes to continue to!
o You roll a ball into a home that doesn't belong to it. Each ball must go into
  its own home.
o And, as I said, if you bump into a dynamite load or bomb with a ball.

One last thing, when you've finished a whole level you get 500 points. I almost
forgot to tell you that.

OK, I think I have told you everything that I know of Combo II now, and I hope
you have understood exactly how to play it. If not, practice makes perfect, so
go ahead and try it out.

If you want to, I could give you some nice tips & tricks, or show you the keys
help before you begin. What do you say?


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Tips & tricks ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Tips & tricks

o Before the balls are released, you should try to connect at least two or
  three pipes so they have something to roll in. If you don't....you'll be
  having a tough time.

o The pipes where the balls are to be released can be rotated, even before the
  balls are released.

o Learn to use both mouse buttons to rotate the pipes. When you master the "two
  button technique", you will find it's easier to get higher scores.

o If you think that the speed is too low, for example when you have connected
  all the necessary pipes and all balls are heading home, you can speed up the
  balls a little. To do this, double-click on one of the balls' home. This will
  increase the speed a bit. But be aware of that it's not only the ball which
  home you click on that is sped up - ALL balls are sped up. And once you have
  sped them up, you can't slow them down again! So take it easy with this
  feature, if you're having bad luck a bad bonus might pop down into a pipe
  where your balls are rolling. And then you might be in real danger....

o To get as high score as possible, try to keep the game running as long as you
  can. Avoid rolling the balls into their homes too early, it's better to keep
  them rolling and to collect as many good bonuses as possible, since the next
  level will be even more difficult...

o Try to collect as many good bonuses as possible immediately after the start,
  since the speed constantly increases, making more and more difficult.

o Try to lock all balls except one in an "infinite loop". This way it's easier
  to control the game and increase your score. Just watch out for the  in those
  "infinite loops"....

o Don't try to catch good bonuses that are more that four pipes away, they will
  probably be gone by the time you get there...


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. Menu commands ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Menu commands

Select the menu command you want to know more about from the following list:

o New - Start a new game
o Pause - Temporarily suspend the game
o Statistics - See how you're doing
o Hall of fame - Who's the best?
o Game - Change game specific settings
o Look-and-feel - Change the feeling of the game
o Interface - Make Combo II look even better
o Sound - Change the sound and music
o Help index - Where can I get information?
o How to play - Yes, what shall I do?
o Tips & tricks - Neat stuff...
o Menu commands - What's on the menu today?
o Keys help - What keys can I use?
o Help using help - Help me...
o Product information - Who is responsible for this...


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Keys help ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Keys help

The keys you will use in Combo II are VERY easy to remember. There are none!

Combo II is controlled by only.


To turn a pipe clockwise or anti-clockwise you click on the pipe with the left
and right mouse button respectively. Each time you click, the pipe will rotate
90 degrees.

Keyboard shortcuts common for all games:
Ctrl-P pauses the current game.
Ctrl-N starts a new game.
Ctrl-S toggles sound on/off.
Ctrl-M toggles music on/off.

That's all you need to know to control Combo II! Easy, isn't it?


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. Combo II Introduction ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Welcome to Combo II!

A screen full of pipes! This game will turn you into a plumber...

When you start Combo II you have a lot of pipes that are not connected to each
other. Somewhere in these pipes are a few balls and their respective homes.
Your goal is simply to connect the pipes and steer the balls to their homes!

To be able to connect the pipes you can rotate them clockwise and
anti-clockwise, by clicking on them with the left and right mouse buttons.

The pipes where the balls are released are marked with the above arrows. The
first thing you should do when a new game starts, is to find the starting
positions for all balls and quickly connect the first few pipes for them, so
they have something to roll in.

OK, no time to lose. Let's see if you can connect some pipes and get the balls
into their homes. To start Combo II, please press the start button. It is the
one I'm showing you here above, and it's always located in the upper left
corner of the game's window. Just press it and your off playing!

If you want some more information before you throw yourself into the game,
select one of the following related topics:

o How to play - The rules of the game.
o Tips & tricks - See some neat stuff.
o Keys help - To learn which keys to use.
Note that this introduction is only displayed automatically the very first time
you start the game. If you want to see it some other time, just press the F1
key.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 6. Statistics ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Statistics

On the three statistics pages you can view various statistics, and see how you
and your opponent are doing.

Page 1 and 2 show statistics for the two players, while page 3 shows statistics
about how many times they have played, how many games they have cancelled and a
few other things. You also see some information on the very last game played.

Help on buttons


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 7. User defined size page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

User defined size page

On this page you define the size of Combo II's playing field. You can adjust
both its horizontal and vertical size by using the Width and Height input
fields. Enter a value in each field, or use the up and down arrows to adjust
the size. Valid entries are 5 to 16 for the width and 5 to 11 for the height.
The preview window shows you what it will look like when you are finished.

With the smallest, medium and largest buttons you can quickly select one of the
predefined sizes.
 The smallest button gives you a 5 by 5 playing field.
 The medium gives you a little larger playing field. The width will be 10 and
the height 8.
 And the largest gives you a 16 wide by 11 high playing field.

Help on other buttons


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 8. User defined details page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

User defined details page

o Balls
     With this setting you define how many balls you want to have in the pipes.
     You can have between 1 and 4 balls.

o Traps
     As you probably know, Combo II's playing field contains traps that makes
     it harder for you. With this settings you can define if you want few,
     medium or many traps.

o Bonus objects
     With this setting you define how easy it should be to get good bonus
     objects. You can choose between easy, medium and hard. If you select hard,
     for example, it's hard to get good bonus objects, but easy to get bad
     ones...

o Initial speed
     I shouldn't have to explain this setting, should I? Well well, with this
     setting you define how fast the balls should roll from the beginning. You
     can choose between slow, medium and fast. While you play Combo II the
     speed of the balls increase, so begin at a low speed.

o Help on buttons


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 9. Mouse rotation page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Mouse rotation page

In Combo II you can use both the left and the right mouse button to rotate the
pipes. With this left button rotation setting, you define if the pipes should
rotate clockwise or anti-clockwise when you press the left mouse button. The
right mouse button will rotate the pipes in the opposite direction. You can see
in the preview window how the rotation will be done (the upper is the left
mouse button and the lower the right mouse button).

Help on buttons


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 10. Misc. display options page ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

Misc. display options page

o Track mouse
     If you activate this setting you will see the above marker following your
     mouse. It will show you where the mouse pointer is, thereby making it
     easier for you to keep track of it among all the pipes.

o Display explosions
     When this setting is activated, an explosion will be displayed whenever a
     ball can't roll any further. An example of this is when the ball doesn't
     have any pipes to continue to.

o Help on buttons