THE PLAGUE OPERATION ARETE Excerpts from Chief Engineer's Logbook: 02/04/2102 All operations and experiments are under control and continue to proceed as planned. All genetically engineered species are in final stage of development; final testing of species should commence in two weeks. Everything is proceeding without delays and shipment is still scheduled for May, '02... Amphibian humanoids, class PW-7, are functioning properly and exceed all previously anticipated warfare requirements. Their instincts have successfully been programmed to allow for performance of specific tasks with tremendous efficiency and discipline... Pisces mining class PM-1 has successfully demonstrated the ability to travel through most forms of solid matter... Optical Surveillance system PS-12 has proven to be far more efficient and adaptable than mechanical systems, and is nearing final testing stage... Flying Reconnaissance class IF-9 are adequate in most respects. Development team is experiencing some difficulties 1 with establishing chain of command and programming specific tasks... Psychic Warden, IW-6, is now functioning adequately, although recent difficulties in establishing specific duties have been reported. The development team does not anticipate difficulties or delays... 02/23/02 All new development has ceased for this period. Omega Testing has commenced for all species. Anomalies with the intelligence endowed I Class species have been verified, but not yet corrected. While all tasks continue to be performed adequately, frequent reprogramming of specific duties has been necessary. Certain I Class species seem 'distracted' and at times revert to old programming. Cause for these abnormalities is still yet unknown, but delays of shipment are not expected. The non-intelligent, instinct driven P Class species continue to exceed all requirements... 2 03/27/02 We continue to experience more unexpected and so far unexplainable problems with all I-Class species. In addition we have now begun to experience abnormalities with the P Class... I Class species not only refuse to take new directives, but somehow seem to be forming their own directives. These new priorities and tasks are no longer simple reversions to previous ones, but are entirely alien and almost cruel in nature. The source of these new directives has not yet been determined... Yesterday IW-6 seemed to have imagined a maintenance technician as a threat, and slowly incinerated him. The engineer did not live... The difficulties we are experiencing with P-Class are similar to those first noted in the semi-intelligent species. Although their instinctual programming is still in effect, individual tasks are difficult to direct and show evidence of serious flaws. 3 On 03/24, Amphibian-humanoids PW-7, while performing exercises in Sector 12, became completely misdirected. Although they performed all functions surrounding their task perfectly, the actual task performed was not the one intended. Their anticipated objective was the destruction of a military target in Sector 12. The actual accomplishment was the destruction of Dr. Gillen in Sector 13... Delays are expected. 04/19/02 I no longer hesitate to call this myriad of 'abnormalities' an epidemic of catastrophic proportions. I question whether it is now possible to stabilize the experiment at all. All of our efforts are now directed simply at trying to contain species of all types and classes. The cause for their chaotic and now even horrific acts are without explanation and without precedent. They seem to be reverting to a primeval past they never had... I begin to fear for the safety of the scientists and staff. 4 05/03/02 (Last entry received) I have refused all requests of personnel to abandon this station. This epidemic, this plague, has now spread to humans. This area should be quarantined. This area should be purged at all costs. 5 STARTING PLAY Turn the computer OFF for 30 seconds and then ON to preserve the disk from virus infection. (Amiga 1000 users will have to use Kickstart) Single drive users: Insert Disk 1 in the internal drive. The program will prompt you for the other disk when it is required. Multiple drive users: Insert Disk 2 in drive df1: FIRST. Then insert Disk 1 in internal drive. When the title screen comes up, press the F1 key to toggle between a game with no sound at all, with sound effects or with music. The icon at the top left of the screen indicates the present settings. One musical note indicates a game with sound effects, two notes indicate a game with music. A crossed note indicates not sound at all. Press the fire button on the joystick to start the game. 6 THE GAME Your objective is a simple one: destroy everything that moves. accomplishing this task may not prove so simple... You will be given three men who each have a certain amount of power. Lives remaining are indicated by the L on the bottom of the screen. Power left is indicated by the P at the bottom of the screen. Each time the hero is hit by an enemy his power goes down. When all power is gone, that life is over. Your game is over when you lose all of your lives. If you have enough credits left, you can continue play on the same level. If you continue, your score, lives and power are all reset. You begin with three credits. The program will remember your highest score, which will go into the HighScore table. 7 FUNDAMENTALS OF PLAY * The hero is controlled by a joystick in Port Two. * To jump to a platform directly above you, simultaneously push joystick up and press the fire button on the joystick. * To drop down to a platform directly beneath you, simultaneously pull joystick down and press fire. * Passing by a weapon's icon will cause that weapon to be taken by the hero. Depending on the weapon, it will either be the one immediately used, or a secondary additional weapon available by special command. (See next page). * Whenever a new weapon's ammo has been used up, play reverts to your original blast rifle. * Two bars on the bottom of the screen convey weapon information. The one indicates shots left on special weapons. The other bar indicates charge status of high power weapons (next page). * Your score, lives and power are all indicated at the bottom of the screen. * Press "P" to pause the game. * To quit the game, press "P" followed by "ESC." 8 THE WEAPONS The many methods for obliterating the foe... There are six different weapon types in the game: * Blast Rifle. This is your hero's default weapon. It has a fast firing rate and unlimited shots. * Three-way Blaster. Similar to the above, this weapon does not shoot as fast, but its fire spreads out to encompass a greater area. Limited ammo. * Three-way Laser. Similar to the 3-way Blaster, this weapon has faster fire rate and shoots three bursts all perpendicular to one another. Limited ammo. * Firebolt. Press the fire button and hold it down. A bar at the bottom of the screen will build up. When it reaches its peak, release the button to fire this very powerful weapon. * Laserbolt. This is very similar to the firebolt and operates the same way. * Smartbomb. This will do critical damage to all enemies on the screen. To release it, quickly 'waggle' the joystick left and right or press the spacebar. The two 3-way guns are weapons which temporarily replace the blaster. The others can be used in addition to the immediate weapon. 9 HIGH SCORE TABLE When you've made it into the High Score table, you can enter your name either by mouse or joystick. When you've obtained the highest score, you will have the option to enter your signature onto the highscore table. You can select pen color at the left side of the screen. The tools to aid you in your drawing are on the right side of the screen. The following are the commands available: Draw: Press the left mouse button and hold it down while drawing. Use the mouse to guide the pen. Line: Press the left mouse button to set the starting point of the line. Press the right mouse button to draw a line to the present pointer location. Block: Draws a rectangle on the screen. Again, left mouse button marks the starting point, right button draws the box. View: Views the drawing. Undo: Erases the last task performed. Clear: Clears the screen. Done: Ends the drawing session. The image entered will reappear in Level 3. 10 SOME TIPS FROM THE PROGRAMMERS Watch the attack pattern of each creature closely. For each wave of enemy there is an optimal way for defeating them. Find the best strategy for destroying each enemy and you've won half the battle. You can keep your Laserbolt and Firebolt weapons charged up near their maximum. Keep them near their max so you save valuable time in blowing away the powerful enemies. The immediate replacement weapons (3-way laser and blaster) will usually be present when they are most needed. But you should always show restraint in using Smartbombs, and should try to save the charge-weapons for the end-of-level guardians. 11 WE HOPE YOU ENJOY PLAYING THE PLAGUE. PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS, COMMENTS OR COMPLIMENTS OF ANY KING. "KEEP THE DEVELOPERS DEVELOPING - SPREAD THE WORD, NOT THE DISK!" Piracy hurts everyone. 12 ============================================================================ DOCS PROVIDED BY -+*+-THE SOUTHERN STAR-+*+- for M.A.A.D. ============================================================================