Club Amiga de Montreal - CAM/CAM_CD_1.iso/files/444.lha/zombie/rules

Text File | 1990-12-03 | 14KB | 276 lines

                            Zombie Mall Rules

     Background

     A mysterious  force has  afflicted the earth, causing the dead to
     rise up and attack the living.  The more they kill, the  more the
     numbers  of  the  undead  are  increased  by  their victims.  The
     zombies do not retain their living personalities nor do they have
     any recollection of their previous lives; instead they are almost
     mindless, unable to perform even simple  tasks such  as opening a
     door.   However, what  they lack  in mental capacity they make up
     for with their inability  to  feel  pain  or  fatigue,  and their
     relentless hunger  for living human flesh.  The only way a zombie
     can be stopped is to destroy its brain.

     Before an effective defense can be mounted to  combat the growing
     menace, all  organized resistance is swept away.  Small groups of
     survivors are  forced  to  flee  populated  areas  to  escape the
     wandering hordes  of undead.  One such group, consisting of three
     men and a woman, chance upon a deserted shopping mall  and decide
     to take  it over.   Their plan is to seal the mall to prevent any
     more zombies from entering  it and  to destroy  all those trapped
     inside.   Having secured  the mall,  they hope to be able to stay
     alive long  enough  to  be  rescued.    You  command  these brave
     individuals in their desparate attempt to control Zombie Mall.



     Beginning the Game

     To start the game, simply double-click on the Zombie icon and the
     game will  commence.   There will  be a  few minutes  delay as it
     loads the  sound and  graphics files.  This delay can be lessened
     by transferring the game files to either a hard disk  or ram disk
     and  assigning   the  volume  name  zombie:  to  that  device  or
     directory.

     After the title screen is displayed, the game screen will appear.
     In the top left of this screen you will see the floor plan of the
     mall.  The dark brown lines represent brick walls, the blue lines
     are glass  walls, and  the apertures  represent open  doors.  The
     upper right area of  the screen  contains the  characters' status
     boxes.    Below  the  character's  name  are displayed his or her
     available movement (M) and shots (S)  per turn.   The  format for
     these values  is two  numbers separated  by a  slash.  The number
     before the slash represents the number of movement points (shots)
     used up  this turn,  and the  number after the slash is the total
     number of movement points (shots) the  character can  make use of
     in a  turn.  Below these statistics is an indication of what type
     of weapon the  character  is  carrying  (W)  and  the character's
     health (initially OK).

     In  the  bottom  left  of  the  screen  is  a small area in which
     messages  appear  describing  events   occurring  in   the  game.
     Occasionally, questions will appear to which the user is expected
     to respond either yes or no.

     In the bottom right of the screen are gadgets used to control the
     characters'  actions  and  to  display  the  help screens and the
     score.  They will be described in a later section.

     When the game has finished loading, you will be asked if you want
     shopping music.  Press either  'y' or  'n' to choose.  Throughout
     the game you can use the 'm' key to toggle music on or off.


     Winning the Game

     As the leader of the group of humans, your job is to gain control
     of the  shopping mall by destroying all of the zombies inside and
     closing the outer doors of the mall to  prevent any  more zombies
     from entering.   When these objectives are accomplished, you will
     win the game.   If all  of your  characters are  killed or become
     zombies, you  will lose.  There are objects in the mall which the
     characters can pick up and use to help you on your mission.


     Sequence of Play

     The game is played as a sequence of alternating human  and zombie
     turns.    The  computer  controls  the  zombies,  you control the
     humans.  The human turn is conducted by selecting a  character or
     group of  characters who  are together  and then  moving them and
     shooting  at  zombies.    When  human  movement  and  shooting is
     complete,  select  the  "DONE"  button  and  the zombie turn will
     commnece.  The zombies will move toward any character which moved
     in the  last human turn, if they saw the movement.  If any zombie
     ends its movement on the same  square  as  a  character,  it will
     attack the  character(s) with  whom it  shares the  square.  When
     these attacks, if any,  are complete,  it becomes  the human turn
     once again.


     Human Movement

     You  must  first  choose  which  character or characters to move.
     This can be done in two  ways:  either  click  the  mouse  on the
     desired character's status box, or click on the human figure (the
     ones with guns) in the map display.   If more  than one character
     is in  the same  square, all of their status boxes will turn blue
     to indicate that the character or characters are active.   When a
     character or  characters become  active, all zombies within their
     field of vision become  visible.   You can  click on  each of the
     characters'  boxes  in  turn  to  check  their  positions  before
     selecting one to  move.    Once  you  begin  to  move  or  fire a
     character or group you are committed to moving only it that turn.

     Any characters that have moved in the previous turn may  not move
     in the  next turn (ie. they cannot move two turns in a row).  You
     may still  select characters  who moved  in the  previous turn to
     check their  position and  situation, but if you try to move them
     they will become unselected.  After a group is selected,  you can
     choose to  split the  group up by clicking on the status boxes of
     those characters you wish  to leave  behind.   Once you  begin to
     move the group, it cannot be split.

     To move  the character group, use either the arrow gadgets at the
     bottom of the display or the numeric key pad.  As they  move, you
     will notice  that the movement number to the left of the slash in
     their status boxes will increment to  indicate how  many movement
     points they have used up.  It costs one movement point to enter a
     square.  Characters may not pass through an  open door diagonally
     or through  a closed  door at  all.  The cost to open or close an
     interior door is two movement points.   Closing  an exterior door
     requires a  full turn.   Entering  a zombie-occupied square costs
     one movement point, but exiting the  square can  cost between two
     and  twelve  movement  points,  depending  on the strength of the
     zombie unit.

     The active  characters'  movement  amount  is  determined  by the
     character with  the least number of movement points.  So if Shane
     and Leo are moving  together,  they  will  be  limited  to twelve
     movement points per turn for every turn they are together.  Every
     movement turn  the characters  get their  full movement allowance
     back,  so  there  is  no  accumulation of movement points between
     turns.


     Doors and Objects

     Characters may open and close interior  doors at  any time during
     their turn at the cost of two movement points.  Since zombies are
     too brain-dead to operate a door knob, this  is an  effective way
     of  limiting  their  freedom  of  movement  and  protecting  your
     characters.  The outer doors of the mall require much more effort
     to close.   To  close an  outer door,  the character must end its
     movement adjacent to the  outer door.   On  that character's next
     turn  it  may  close  the  door  by expending all of its movement
     points.  The method of operating a door  is as  follows: click on
     the gadget  with a picture of a door (or press 'd').  The message
     will  appear,  "Which  direction?",  and  you   must  select  the
     direction of  the door  in relation to the active character.  The
     direction may be selected by clicking on an arrow gadget or using
     the numeric  keypad.   It can also be selected by clicking on the
     square on the opposite side of  the  door  in  question  from the
     active character.

     There are  two types  of objects in the game which characters may
     pick up: rifles and serum.  Only Leo and Lana may pick  up rifles
     since Burl and Shane already have rifles.  Any character may pick
     up serum.  The rifles will give Leo and Lana double the offensive
     power that  they have when carrying pistols.  The serum will cure
     any infected player (infection will  be  described  later).   The
     serum will  always be found in Columbia Drugs and the rifles will
     always be found in Guns 'R' Us, but the locations of these stores
     will change  from game  to game.  To discover the names of shops,
     use the mouse while  moving  to  click  on  empty  (or occcupied)
     squares and their names will appear in the message area.


     Shooting

     Each  character  carries  a  weapon  and  can  use  it to destroy
     zombies.  Leo and Lana carry  pistols,  which  are  only  half as
     effective as  the rifles  carried by  Shane and  Burl.  There is,
     however, a sporting goods store where  rifles may  be obtained to
     replace the pistols.

     Shooting zombies  when their  is only one active character (count
     the blue status boxes)  consists of  selecting the  "FIRE" button
     and  then  a  target.    The right mouse button performs the same
     function as the fire button.   When you  choose "FIRE"  the mouse
     pointer turns  into a  crosshair, which  you then place over your
     intended target and click the left  mouse button  to fire.   When
     there  is  more  than  one  active character, you must choose the
     characters who are to fire (the "shooters") before  selecting the
     target.    For  example,  say  Shane, Leo and Lana are active and
     there is a  zombie  they  wish  to  terminate.    Select  fire by
     clicking  the  right  mouse  button;  a  message  appears saying,
     "Choose shooter(s)",  at which  point you  may choose  one or two
     (never more  than two)  characters to fire. Select Shane and Lana
     to fire by clicking on their status boxes (messages appear saying
     "Shane takes aim",etc.) and then click with the left mouse button
     on the zombie. There will be two shots fired and  both characters
     will have their shot counts incremented by one.  Needless to say,
     two characters firing at the same target have a better  chance of
     destroying their target than one does.

     The closer a character is to its target, the better the chance it
     will have of destroying the target.   A  character may  fire at a
     target  in  its  own  square,  but runs the risk of panicking and
     losing the opportunity to fire.  The best place to  shoot from is
     from an square adjacent to the target.

     Characters also  get an  opportunity at  "self-defense fire" when
     they are attacked by zombies during the zombie turn.   Before the
     zombie attack is resolved, the players get one free shot at their
     attacker, but it does not count towards the characters' limit for
     the turn.   This fire occurs automatically, so you do not have to
     conduct it yourself.


     Zombies

     Zombies are very stupid and slow moving.  They usually just stand
     around  not  doing  much  of  anything, but they are attracted to
     movement and can  sense  when  food  (you)  is  nearby.    When a
     character  moves  through  the  field  of vision of a zombie, the
     zombie will move one  square towards  the character  which moved.
     Occasionally, zombies  can become  extremely excited  and will go
     berserk, even smashing through glass walls to get  at their prey.
     Berserk zombies  can be  identified by a flashing yellow outline.
     If one of the characters is  bitten by  a zombie,  it will become
     infected with  the zombie  disease.   Once infected, it is only a
     matter of time before the unfortunate character becomes  a zombie
     too.  This new zombie can be identified by a flashing outline and
     a letter 'S' on its chest.  It is like  any other  zombie, except
     that  it  is  scarier,  so  characters  trying  to  shoot it will
     experience a greater chance of panicking.  There  is one possible
     reprieve for an infected character: find the serum located in the
     mall drug store and use it.  If another character  has the serum,
     the  infected  character  should  join that character, and in the
     next turn, it will get the  chance of  using the  serum and being
     cured.

     The other  possible outcome  of tangling  with a  zombie is being
     stunned.  A stunned character can neither move nor fire, and will
     remain that  way until  another character  enters its square.  If
     the stunned character already shares its square with an unstunned
     character at  the time of stunning, that unstunned character will
     have to exit the square and  re-enter it  in order  to revive the
     stunned character.


     Game Credits

     Hobie Orris         Game Design and Implementation, Rules

     Derek Grime         Pictures and Zombie Deaths

     Edgar LeBel         Shopping Muzak

     David Pengelly      Serum Idea

     Anne Ostrom         Much Playtesting