17 Bit Software 2: Collection B

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Text File | 1990-11-15 | 15.3 KB | 311 lines

Games For May 1991 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tsch ~~~~ The Plot.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was the year 1991. On a small blue/green planet that locals referred to as Earth, a vast number of humanoid beings (some of them hairy) were busily programming GAMES. These games involved tasks set around a simple basic plot. However, there was one game released in this year that broke all universal rules as we know them, for.... though it is hard to believe, this particular game had no plot whatsoever. It was a purely abstract entity only barely existing in this plane of reality. The disk you have inserted into your computer contains this game. BEWARE OF QUANTUM JUMPS CAUSED FROM LACK OF PLOT. The Game.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~ In Tsch, you must guide your ship,Bob across numerous levels attempting to collect a certain number of 'Jewels' (For want of a better name) whilst avoiding other more nasty blocks. Other blocks scattered around the levels have varying effects upon Bob, ranging from reversing control to increasing gravity. Thats about it really. Sorry. What you will see.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Upon loading you will be greeted with the Tsch title screen, backed by some strange, swirling dots and a haunting tune.(At this point pressing F5 will switch Competition Mode on and off. See later section about this.) If you wait a few moments, this screen will switch to one showing and naming the various types of blocks you will meet in the levels. If you wait a few more moments the title screen will return again. You can then go along waiting for as long as you want but nothing more interesting will happen and I imagine you will probably tire of that shortly. Once you have, you may want to press your fire button to proceed into the game proper... The next screen you will see describes the level you are about to play. An example of this would be... ENTERING LEVEL 01. NICE EASY INTRO. THE SPEED IS SLOW THE STROBE IS SHEEP GRAVITY IS OFF TSCH TSCH! The first line declares the level number. The next is the name of the level, which might give you an idea of what to expect.(Maybe!) The speed follows, which varies from TEDIOUS (Very Slow) to WILD (Wild!). The strobe rating tells you just how often the screen will glow brightly and make you lose concentration. The three levels of Strobe can be adjusted with the keys F6,F7,F8 which, respectively give the following effects... GNU - Hardly any flashing lights at all.Really boring and only useful when hungover. SHEEP - Normal mode. The screen glows when you hit the sides of the screen or you hit a block. Really nice,this mode... LLAMA - Special mode often described as "Fureaky" or "Aaagh turn that off." It is very difficult to actually play the game with this mode on. Gravity describes how strong gravity is on the level. "Tsch Tsch!" is the ritual greeting of Beings all over the continuum. Again you can spend many hours playing with these buttons if you are that way inclined but I doubt it will be that enjoyable. Therefore the best idea is to press your sticky button to progress into the game proper-proper..... The first thing you see of the level is called the flyby in which Bob flies past the whole level at high speed so that you can plan ahead for the moves you will need. Do Not Panic. Bob can not be destroyed at this stage. Clever players will use this stage to position Bob ready for the level ahead. At the top of the screen is an info. window which describes, from left to right, the number of jewels to collect to complete this level, your present score and the number of lives you have left. Once the whole level as passed, Bob will slow to the appropriate speed for that level and you can now proceed to play the game. As explained earlier, the simple concept of Tsch is to collect 'Jewels' and avoid the Killa blocks. Admittedly, later levels expand on that concept but the basic structure remains the same. The first level is simple in the extreme. There are six jewels to collect (They're the ones with diamond shaped thingies in the centre.) and two Killas to avoid. (They're the filled in blocks.) Once you've got used to Bob's inertia this level should be as easy as falling over after large amounts of beer. Oh and by the way, you can press 'P' to pause the game at any time during a level. A second press will resume. Should you hit a Killa block, you will lose a life and be returned to the level introduction text. It also means you will have to go about collecting all the Jewels all over again. Sorry, but thats just the way it is. Should you successfully collect all the jewels, you will be advanced to the next level and an appropriate level bonus will be added to your score. You will then return to the level introduction text describing the next level. Fun isnt it? Thats the general procedure and the only difference will be if you should lose all of your lives. In this case, you will proceed to the high score table, where you can enter a short self-congratulatory message if your score was good enough. From then, return to the title screen by pressing your fire button and start all over again. The Blocks ~~~~~~~~~~ The graphics and names of all the Tsch blocks are shown on the title screen if you wait a bit. Below though, is a full description of the effects of each...... Jewel : This is what you have to collect to finish the level. Killa : These blocks you must avoid for risk of losing Bob. If you were to ever see a Killa block on your local high street report it to the council immediately. Bouncy : Hitting these blocks from the side causes Bob to bounce off in the opposite direction. (Hence the name.) However, Bouncy blocks can be thwarted if Bob repeatedly bashes against them, as they are made of a strange plasticine-like substance which will eventually give way. It is also wise to note that Bouncy blocks only affect vertical speeds. Therefore, if Bob was to enter the block whilst not moving up or down, he can pass through unhindered. Gravity : Hitting a gravity block, strangely enough, increases the gravity on the level you are on. In the first few levels, there is no gravity at all so you can happily leave Bob to glide around without worrying about him falling to the floor. However, once gravity is activated you will have to continually compensate by nudging your stick upwards. (Or.....) Hitting more than one gravity block means that gravity is increased more and consequently you will have to adjust your control. The effects of gravity blocks last until the end of the level. Ice : Normally, the strange quantum level that Bob inhabits is affected by friction,thereby stopping him from bouncing around uncontrollably. However, hitting an ice block causes a temporary quantum shift which means that Bob often does bounce around uncontrollably. In the particular reality that this shift forces Bob into, there is a distinct lack of heat that will force all the blocks on the level to frost over. However,being a vastly intelligent manipulator of parallel universes (Universi???) Bob shortly corrects the situation. Reverse : The reverse block is another reality manipulator. However, where Ice is a quantum shifter, Reverse is a quantum reverser. (Well i never.) The Reverse block creates a temporary Esrevinu, which to the outside viewer will appear to be totally backwards. This will consequently affect the control of Bob, and moving up with your stick will cause Bob to move down.(And vice versa) Jail : The Jail block is a mechanical block that when hit, hunts around the inside of your Amiga disconnecting certain lines. Invariably this causes your joystick to be useless and the colour to fade from your picture. Another interesting side effect of this block is to activate an Ice block thereby losing friction. Therefore, Bob will continue to move in the direction in which he hit the block. Luckily, one of Bob's many talents is that of being a first-rate computer repair being and shouldn't take too long to fix the fault. Accelerator : The accelerator is in fact a warbling-double-spronged-fractal- quantum accelerator (Double sludded) which will accelerate time. However, it is widely known that the Warbling-double-spronged-fractal-quantum-accelerator (Double sludded) uses the rather dodgy Wofting-Underhung-Andlewang circuit which means that on occasions it doesn't work. Generally though, hitting one accelerator increases the level speed once and hitting another increases it again.... Generally...... Decelerator : The decelerator's common name is Tim and Tim is a kind, friendly being whose sole purpose in life is to counterract the horrible effects of people activating warbling-double-spronged-fractal-quantum accelerators. Tim's a very laid back bloke who just likes things to be a bit more mellow,man. Life : Life gives you an extra Bob. Sorry but thats all that it does. Competition Mode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Competition mode is activated by pressing F5 on the title screen. The current state is indicated by a little message at the bottom of the screen. Basically, competition mode means that once you have got so far, you don't have to play all through the lower levels when you die. The mechanics are that if you complete three levels the Competition pointer is moved to that third level. Then when you die you restart from that level. e.g When you complete level 3 the competition pointer is set to level 4 so that you can miss out the first three levels. From there, the pointer is next reset when you complete level 6, and is set to level 7. If however, you get to level 6 but fail to complete it then the counter remains at level 4 and you willhave to start there again. This might seem tiresome but otherwise its much too easy to get passed even the hardest levels just by non-stop attempts. When you turn competition mode off, the level counter is reset back to level 1 so this is what you must do if you decide to start again from the beginning. Other Stuff ~~~~~~~~~~~ I hope you like the game. From the reaction of mates, once they've got into playing the game they've found it pretty addictive. Its definitely an '"Aagh ya b*stard (??)" then another go ' type game. God knows its made me want to chuck the Amiga quite a few times. Playwise, if you can get to around level 20 without competition mode you're doing good. Any scores in the top 3 are pretty good too. If you have any comments about the game (especially nice ones) please contact me at the address spread all over the disk. Other Non-Tsch Stuff ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Games For May is a new company started to get some money to programmers and get good,cheap games to the public - using shareware as the main medium. We've been inspired by Jeff Minter/Llamasoft and the great software he's managed to bring out over the years. Just look at 50% of £25 games that aren't a tenth as good as Llamatron.(And hopefully Tsch.)Hopefully we'll have more software soon - providing reaction to Tsch is encouraging. If you've got a game that you think would be suitable for shareware please contact us, because we'd like to build a good catalogue of shareware games for release. Releasing a shareware game with Games For May would mean better distrubution,better registration follow-up and better 'advertising' and you'll still get most of the registration fee. Please contact us at the address given if you're even vaguely interested. Right, I've got to do the expected thing and give a list of the stuff that kept this programmer sane whilst slaving over Devpac. Slowdive : Ethereal,spiritual,whatever;they make bloody lovely noises if you ask me. They blow your mind live. Recommended : From "Just For a Day" : Primal,Waves From E.P's : Slowdive/Avalyn,Shine,She Calls (By the way,Floydies,The "Holding our breath" EP features a cover of Syd Barrett's Golden Hair.) Talk Talk : Specifically "Spirit of Eden" and "Laughing Stock". Completely beautiful organic (!!) music. Music to listen to, not to dance to. Recommended : Both of the above in entirity. The Cranes : Went to see them at Edwards No.8, and never looked back since. "Wings of Joy" is a great album.And Alison Shaw,mmmmm...... Recommended : "Wings of Joy" LP,especially "Adoration" Pink Floyd : Of course.I just can't understand how anyone can use an assembler without some Floyd at hand. And after half a bottle of Jack Daniels theres nothing better to sing along to than The Wall. I recently got three bootleg CD's called "From underground to the moon." of live concerts from 69-72.Soooo fureaky. Recommended : LPS "From underground to the moon","Ummagumma (Disk 1)" "Dark Side of the moon" Songs : "Echoes","Careful with that axe.." "Interstellar.." Chapterhouse : So I like shoe-gazing, I don't care. Admittedly the album isn't great but the Mesmerise EP is one of the best for ages. Recommended : "Mesmerise" EP especially the title track. Spiritualized : "Run" is so funky."Feel so sad" is beautiful. etc. etc. Can't wait for the album. Very very nice. Recommended : "Run","Feel so sad" EPs (Okay their only two.) Blue Aeroplanes : The concert at the Institute was one of the best I've been to ever.(Rates up there alongside Floyds) Great time. And we met Gerard Langley on the stairs before the gig. Recommended : "..and stones" from Swagger "My Hurricane","Streamers","Aeroplane Blues" from Beatsongs. Both classic LPs Mercury Rev : Very weird, but so nice. I'm gonna see them at Edwards in December. Can't wait. A few other bands who deserve a mention : Catherine Wheel,Ride,House of Love,Telescopes,Wonder Stuff, Blim,Stone Roses,Paris Angels,The Cure,Lush. Finally, a list of the best and funkiest songs around... "Mesmerise" Chapterhouse "Shine On" House of Love "Run" Spiritualized "Very Sleepy Rivers" Mercury Rev "Echoes" Pink Floyd "Perfume" Paris Angels "Desire" Talk Talk "Primal" Slowdive "..and stones" Blue Aeroplanes "Sweetness and Light" Lush "Adoration" The Cranes "Sennen" Ride "Slowdive" Slowdive "Learning to Fly" Pink Floyd "Circle Square" Wonderstuff "Spin" Catherine Wheel Right, that's it, don't do too much of it, whatever it is, and have fun. TSCH TSCH! MiG Oct 1991. 245,Hubert, Selly Oak, Birmingham B29 6ES. U.K.