Copyright: Copyright(c)1994 LittleWing CO.LTD.


Contents

Contents for Crystal Caliburn Help

Crystal Caliburn is a PINBALL Simulation Program.

To learn how to use HELP, press F1.

Introduction

What Is Crystal Caliburn?

Legend of King Arthur and Caliburn

From the Developer

Credits

How to...

Playing the Game

Pausing the Game

Assigning Extra Keys

Entering Your Name for the HighScore Roster

Entering the HighScore Contest

Commands

File Menu Commands

Operation Menu Commands

Option Menu Commands

Tips

Get Status Report During Game

Optimizing Performance

Quick Trouble shooting

No Effect Sounds are produced

No BGM is produced

Please read the Player Guide. It contains additional information to help with Trouble Shooting and Technical Support. Also, you'll find information and illustrations on Features and Rules and Pinball Fundamentals. These may help improve your skill and allow you to achieve higher scores.


From the Developer

Almost four and a half years ago, we purchased a Macintosh IIsi. Fujita, who has been a real pinball fanatic since his childhood, decided to develop his ideal pinball simulation game on this Mac. At first, he planned to implement a circuit motion feature in which the ball accelerates around a circular ramp. He gave this idea up pretty soon, but the idea made an impression on him and soon afterwards his favorite pinball game "Getaway" from Williams implemented this feature. The concept also reminded him of the particle accelerator "TRISTAN" in a university town, so he named his program after it.

When Fujita asked Reiko to paint a picture for TRISTAN, she immediately thought of the story of "Tristan and Isolde", not knowing Fujita's original idea came from a particle accelerator. So she created artwork with the image of a maze garden work. Fujita was completely shocked at first, but eventually came to love it.

Crystal Caliburn is a completely original game, unlike our second pinball game, Eight Ball Deluxe for the Macintosh, which simulates an arcade machine. As such, Crystal Caliburn can be considered one of the TRISTAN series; in fact, Sir Tristan is in this game. He is one of the "knights of the round table". Though we don't know yet if he will appear in our next pinball game, we've already begun to make plans for it.

Lastly, we'd like to thank Scott and Mary of StarPlay Productions, Inc. for their great effort, cooperation, and friendship across the Pacific Ocean. If we had not met them, the birth of Crystal Caliburn would have come much later.

Now we are pleased to present to you our third pinball game. We hope you enjoy it.

Yoshikatsu Fujita and Reiko F.Nojima

Autumn, 1994

Note: LittleWing would enjoy hearing your comments about Crystal Caliburn and may be reached at LittleWing CO.LTD., P.O. Box 30, Toyamaminami, Toyama-shi, Toyama-ken, 939 Japan. Please address technical questions to StarPlay technical support in the U.S.


What Is Crystal Caliburn

What Is Crystal Caliburn?

Crystal Caliburn is a pinball simulation designed in the style of pinball machines of the 1980's (90's style pinball machines are characterized by video mode). The main features of 80's style pinball are three dimensional ramps and fast moving balls. They also have stronger flippers to compensate for more steeply sloped playing surfaces. (The DATA EAST catalog showed flippers breaking walnuts!)

The first purpose of Crystal Caliburn was to implement realistic ramps. We wanted to reproduce the feeling of shooting balls fast up ramps. The next purpose was to have three balls in play simultaneously. There is a big difference in the techniques for keeping two and three balls going at once.

Our first game, TRISTAN, was designed to be fairly easy, and it included many features which arcade pinball players would have wanted. For example, it had double kick-backs, which are frequently included in computer pinball games, but rarely appear in arcade machines because of mechanical limitations. Also, it had easy-to-get extra balls and locked balls that release when a ball drops.

In contrast, Crystal Caliburn was designed to be a harder game, with many more features. Players should decide which combination of features is most effective with the current playfield, in order to get high scores.

Please try playing first without reading the manual. Then read the explanation of features and try again. You will find new ways to enjoy the game.

Have fun!


Assigning Extra Keys

This feature allows you to customize Crystal Caliburn operation keys to optimize the keyboard to your playing style. The original keys will remain active after you assign new keys.

After choosing Assign Extra Keys from the Option menu, a dialog box will be opened to designate new keys.

Enter the key for each field of the dialog box.

On keyboards which have the SHIFT, CTRL, ALT keys on both sides of the keyboard, the left and right keys do not work independently. For example, if you assign the left SHIFT key to the left flipper, both SHIFT keys will activate the left flipper. So assign your keys carefully.


File Menu Commands

Exit

Quits Crystal Caliburn


Operation Menu Commands

Insert Coin

Adds a credit each time chosen.

One credit is required per player per game.

New Game

Starts the game.

Resume Game

Resumes paused game.

There is a three second delay before action begins.

Reset Game

Aborts a game in play and clears all counters.

You must first press the ESC key to pause the game and then choose Reset Game.

Auto Demo Mode

Begins an automatic demonstration of Crystal Caliburn.

When you are in the Auto Demo Mode, pause the demonstration by pressing the ESC key. Choose Reset Game to exit the demo mode.


Option Menu Commands

Effect Sounds

Turns game sound effects on and off.

BGM Sounds

Turns the back-ground music on and off.

Maximize on Play

When this option is chosen, the Crystal Caliburn window will be maximized on play (i.e. all screen area surrounding the playfield will be blacked out during play).

For a 640x480 screen, this option is always on and cannot be changed.

Record Score in Log File

When this option is chosen, all scores will be recorded in a text file 'CCWLOG.TXT'

You can only open this file using a text editor, such as NOTEPAD, or a word processor.

BGM Version A

Choose one to select BGM version. Version A is designed for FM Sound Systems such as 'SoundBlaster Pro'.

BGM Version B

Choose one to select BGM version. Version B is designed for music synthesizers such as 'Roland SC-55'.

Single Player, Two Player, Three Player, Four Player

Choose one to determine the number of players in the game.

Each player alternates turns playing for each ball. Remember, you must have at least one credit per player.

Assign Extra Keys

Allows the assignment of new keys to operate the flippers, plunger and nudge keys.

Please refer to Assigning Extra Keys for more information.

Create HighScore Report

Creates a text file that records the four current high scores in a verifiable format that may be used to enter the HighScore Contest. Use a text editor such as Notepad to print this report and mail or FAX a copy to StarPlay for the T-shirt and world contests.


Entering the HighScore Contest

Crystal Caliburn is designed with a unique high score authentication capability built into the game. A special internally generated confirmation number is recorded with each of your scores. You may mail or fax StarPlay your high score printout and compete with other players anywhere in the world.

Please refer to the Player Guide for details.


Playing the Game

Crystal Caliburn recreates the experience of arcade pinball as fully as possible. Just like in an arcade, to play you must first insert coins and start a new game. Then use the plunger to launch the ball and the flippers to keep it in play. Also, like in the arcade you can nudge the table to affect the ball, but be careful -- too much nudging and you'll Tilt!

Insert Coin:	CTRL+I

Start New Game:	CTRL+N

Plunger:	 SHIFT

Left Flipper:	 Z

Right Flipper:	 /

Nudging:	SPACE

During the game, the ESC key pauses the action. You may go to other applications while the game is paused, and then resume where you left off by choosing Resume Game from the Operation Menu. During the game you may press CTRL+I to add a credit and CTRL+N to add a player (until the first player loses the first ball).

See also Assigning Extra Keys


Entering Your Name for the HighScore Roster

If your score is one of the four highest, the program will prompt you to enter your name for the high score roster. Crystal Caliburn simulates arcade pinball machines by using the flippers to spell out your name. To do so, use either of the flipper keys to scroll through the alphabet, one advances, the other descends. Use the SPACE bar to select the letter, BACKSPACE to erase a letter. Press the ESC key or SPACE to the end to finish entering your name.


Get Status Report During Game

You can get a status report by holding one of the flippers for eight seconds. It's best to do this while cradling the ball. The status report will tell you how many balls are locked, how many extra balls you have, and the status of your Bonus, Bonus Multiplier, Battle Bumpers, and Jackpot. Current high scores will also be listed.


Pausing the Game

You can pause the game by pressing the ESC key.

You may go to other applications while the game is paused, and then resume where you left off by choosing Resume Game from the Operation Menu.


Credits

Crystal Caliburn was designed and developed by Yoshikatsu Fujita and Reiko F. Nojima of LittleWing CO.LTD.

Game design, Programming	 ----------	Y. Fujita

Game artwork, Sound Effects,

Package Design,

Manual Illustrations	----------	R. F. Nojima

Publisher	----------	Scott Mesch

BGM, Sound Effects	----------	Ryuichi Sato, Mio Kumamoto

(Ryuichi Sato Music Office)

Manual documentation	----------	LittleWing CO.LTD.

and StarPlay Productions, Inc.

Manual layout	----------	Jodi Ginsberg

Writer	----------	Emil Friedlander, Jodi Ginsberg

Merlin Voices	----------	Fergus -- Audio's Amigos Studio

Marketing and Promotion	----------	StarPlay Productions, Inc.

Testing	----------	Rana Bachman, Mary Mesch

Special Thanks To

In Japan -- Makoto Hayashi, Shinya Murabayashi, and Dad for technical advice on packaging and printing, Kaoru Inahashi for helping to output slides, Toshiro Nakao for introducing a good composer, Hitomi Fuse for BGM image creation, Toshinori Kanda for his contribution to the manual and for beta testing, Mom for daily lunch boxes, our cousins for Alpha testing, and many other people for their warm regards.

In U.S -- Filip Sokol for his design help and expertise in setting up our new office.

Crystal Caliburn(TM) and TRISTAN(TM) are trademarks of LittleWing CO.LTD. HighScore(TM) is a trademark of StarPlay Productions, Inc. Other company names and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Crystal Caliburn Software copyright(C)1993-1994 LittleWing CO.LTD. English Manual & Package copyright(C)1993-1994 StarPlay Productions, Inc. and LittleWing CO.LTD. All Rights Reserved.


Legend of King Arthur and Caliburn

The most famous of English Kings, Arthur was a real person who became the subject of many legends. Orphaned and unaware of his royal lineage, Arthur proved himself the true heir to the English throne by pulling the sword named Caliburn -- also known as Excalibur -- from a stone. The sword was magically entrapped inside the stone, only able to be retrieved by the rightful king.

King Arthur and Queen Guinevere wisely and justly ruled the kingdom from the towers of Camelot. There, the most daring and chivalrous knights of the realm gathered at the Round Table. Arthur's loftiest goal was to regain the Holy Grail from the Saracens, and many knights were sent in the quest.

Merlin, the most powerful sorcerer of his time, used his magic to aid Arthur; in some legends, he was Arthur's half-brother. Later Merlin was bewitched by Nimue who cast an imprisoning spell upon him.

During his reign, Arthur held the Diamond Jousts -- nine jousts whose rewards were large, precious diamonds. Lancelot, Arthur's favorite knight, won all nine of these jousts. The love affair of Guinevere and Lancelot led to turmoil, battles and the death of Arthur.

Upon Arthur's death, his body was placed on a funeral barge and sailed across to the island of Avalon; an ancient name of which is Glass Island. According to the legend, Arthur will revive and return to rule England.


Optimizing Performance

Display

Choose 256 color mode if supported.

Use 640x480 display mode on 4 MB RAM systems.

Try 800x600 resolution for best visual result if you have 8 MB RAM or more.

Update to latest version of display driver software.

Choose 'Maximize on Play' of Option Menu if you're running in the 800x600 or higher resoulution display mode.

NOTE: Crystal Caliburn is optimized to run with 256 color display. The program may work with other settings, but run slowly.

Sound

Update to the latest version of sound driver software.

NOTE: Well designed hardware and software produce the highest quality sound and less overhead for the application. The performance of the sound system affects the smoothness of ball motion during sound.

MultiTask

To get the maximum speed of your PC, please exit all applications except Program Manager before running Crystal Caliburn especially on 4 MB RAM systems. This also helps give Crystal Caliburn more memory.

NOTE: Because Windows is a multi-tasking operating system, several applications may work concurrently, but this makes each application run slower.

Memory

If you find frequent disk access occurring while Crystal Caliburn is running, you are probably low on real memory. Quit other applications and close other windows. Try to decrease the RAM disk and the disk cache size if possible. It may improve performance.

NOTE: The amount of real memory that Windows can use is very important for performance. Commonly, the RAM disk and disk cache programs are also big which takes real memory from Windows. Please refer to the chapter 'Optimizing Windows' in Microsoft Windows User's Guide for more information.

EMS (Expanded Memory System)

If you use EMM386.EXE or other expanded memory emulators, decreasing or disabling expanded memory may improve performance. Please refer to the chapter 'Optimizing Windows' in Microsoft Windows User's Guide for more information.

NOTE: Windows running on 386 enhanced mode does not use expanded memory. However, it can emulate expanded memory if an application requires.


No Effect Sounds are produced

Please check setting of Effects Sounds in the Option Menu first. Crystal Caliburn may turn off this setting when an error occurs on the sound system.

If you do not get an error message but the effect sound is not produced, please check connection and volume setting. The 'Sound' Control Panel which comes with Windows may help in testing your system for sound.


No BGM Sound is produced

Please check setting of BGM Sounds in the Option Menu first. Crystal Caliburn may turn off this setting when an error occurs on the sound system.

If you can not get MIDI sound from any other applications, please check connection and volume setting.

If you do not get an error message but BGM sound is not produced, please check 'MIDI Mapper' Control Panel for proper setting. Please refer to section 'Selecting a MIDI Setup' in Microsoft Windows User's Guide and the manuals which came with your sound card for detail of MIDI setting.

NOTE: The MIDI data for Crystal Caliburn is written pursuant to Microsoft 'Extended MIDI' guidelines.