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-
- =================
- HEAD OVER HEELS
- =================
-
- Licence
- =======
- This game is licensed as freeware. This means you can give copies of it to your
- friends or put it on web sites in its original, unaltered state - as it was
- downloaded from the Retrospec website. You are not allowed to charge any kind
- of money for downloading or for any media you put in on. This includes placing
- it on pages with paid banners (although compulsory banners from free ISPs is
- okay) or adverts. If you want to distribute it on any freeware/shareware CDs
- then you must first get the permission of the two main authors (Tomaz Kac and
- Graham Goring) and supply each of them with a copy of the CD that it is
- featured on. Obviously, the CDs must not be sold to gain profit, though.
-
- System Requirenments
- --------------------
- The game requires a PC with at least 128Mb of RAM (256Mb is recommended) and
- one of the Microsoft Windows operating systems (any will do, but newer ones
- require more memory !) with atleast Direct-X 3 installed.
- It should run fine on a Pentium 233Mhz or better processor. However the menu
- system might be less than responsive on lower-end computers (although the
- game will hopefully run fine on systems slower than 233Mhz with a few tweaks
- to the options).
-
- THE MENU SYSTEM
- ---------------
- Use Cursor keys UP and DOWN with ENTER to navigate the menus. Alternatively you
- can use any controls that you configure yourself. The ESCAPE key will exit the
- current menu.
-
- MAIN MENU
- ---------
- PLAY THE GAME.
- This will present you with a new menu in which you can start a NEW GAME from
- scratch or load a previusly saved OLD GAME and continue where you left off.
-
- CHANGE CONTROLS.
- This will allow you to change all controls in the game. Any key can be used
- for any control. You can also use any DirectX compliant Joypads or Joysticks
- that are connected to your system.
-
- ADJUST THE SOUND.
- Allows you to choose the sound mode and sound/music volume in the game.
-
- GAME OPTIONS.
- Will present a new menu with additional game options.
-
- PLAY THE GAME.
- --------------
- With NEW GAME option you will start from scratch. However if you have
- previously saved your game then you can choose it from the second menu accessed
- by the OLD GAME option. Just select the game you want to continue playing and
- press Action button.
-
- CHANGE CONTROLS
- ---------------
- It is important to utilise this function properly.
- Step (a) Move cursor to highlight the required control on which the keys are
- to be changed.
- Step (b) Press ENTER or Action Button (clears the current key).
- Step (c) Press the key/pad button/joystick direction required for control
- (it will be printed on the current line as it is pressed).
- Spep (d) When all keys are selected go to BACK selection to go to Main Menu.
-
- Default Keys (all keys are redefinable) :
-
- Up/Down/Left/Right - Move through the room
- Space - Jump/Teleport
- Enter - Pickup/Drop Objects
- M - Jump & Pickup/Drop simultaneously
- LEFT CTRL - Fire Doughnut
- RGHT CTRL - Swap Head/Heels or Join Them Together
- ESC - Quit
-
- ADJUST THE SOUND
- ----------------
- There are 3 distinct sound levels within the game. These are different sound
- tracks as opposed to volumes. One may select from:-
- (a) NASTY - All jingles and game sounds
- (b) SO-SO - Useful game sounds
- (c) LATE - Very few sounds (almost none)
-
- Also you can set the separate volume levels for Background Music and Sound
- effects in the game!
-
- GAME OPTIONS
- ------------
- There are several things you can change here. Mainly it depends on how good
- you already are at playing the game, how good your computer is and if you
- want to play the game with keyboard or joypad.
-
- SHADOWS - The game engine features shadow casting onto floor and objects (this
- is the first engine to do so). With this option you can select how accurate
- you want Shadow casting to be :
- COMPLEX - Shadows on objects and realistic shadows on Floors
- MEDIUM - Shadows on objects and additive shadows on Floors
- SIMPLE - Only additive shadows on Floors
- If your computer is fast enough (over 233Mhz) then we recommend you use the
- COMPLEX mode, since it looks the best !
-
- GAME SPEED - The overall speed of the game. ORIGINAL is the same speed as it
- was all those years ago on Spectrum. If you are just starting to play the game
- you could select SLOW, if you are already very experienced in it then FAST
- mode is recommended.
-
- GFX MODE - Here you can select if you want to play the game in FULL SCREEN or
- WINDOWED mode. Normally FULL SCREEN is faster, but on modern systems it
- doesn't really matter.
-
- TRIPLE BUFFERING - If your graphics card is able to use this option (normally
- in WINDOWED mode this option is not available on any card) then you should
- select it - it will enable very smooth scrolling for the big rooms. If this
- is not enabled then a tearing effect might be present when scrolling.
-
- CONTROL SENSITIVITY - This selects how diagonal controls are interpreted. It
- is imperative for full enjoyment that you set this option correctly. If you
- select HIGH sensitivity then you can walk in one direction and quickly change
- it by 90 degress while holding the same key. It is recommended that you
- select HIGH sensitivity if you are playing with Keyboard! If you are playing
- with a Joypad/Joystick it is recomended to select the LOW sensitivity mode
- so that you don't accidentaly go into the wrong direction!
-
- IN-GAME MENU
- ------------
- While playing the game you can press the QUIT key and you will be
- presented with another menu.
-
- RESUME GAME - Will exit the menu and cancel the QUIT request
- QUIT GAME - Will go back to the main menu and abort the current game.
-
- If you have any Save Games left (ie, you picked up a Reincarnation Fish)
- then you will also be presented with another menu:
-
- SAVE GAME - Here you can select any of the free slots (or you can overwrite
- an already filled slot), name your game and save it. You can also go
- back to the previous menu. You have 6 slots available to fill.
-
-
- TROUBLE-SHOOTING
- ----------------
- The game will initially start in WINDOWED DIRECT-X Mode. This mode should be
- availble on most (if not all) modern graphics cards. However if you are unable
- to start the game for some reason then you should try and change the following
- things before you do anything else:
-
- 1. Try changing colour depth of your desktop mode to either 15 bit (High Colour),
- 16 bit (High Colour), 24 bit (True Colour) or 32 bit (True Colour). Also try
- changing the resolution. One of these should work with Head Over Heels.
-
- 2. If the colour mode/resolution did not work then you should change the
- graphics mode of HoH game with the command line switches. You can do this by
- changing its shortcut (go to Start Menu -> Programs -> Head Over Heels
- and right click on the Head Over Heels icon (the one you use to start the game
- with) and select Properties. In this window you can add command line switches
- at the END of the Target: text box. Just edit this text box and add the switches
- (with spaces in front) to it. You should try the "-r1" or "-r3" switch at
- first. If that fails try the "-r4" switch - which will turn on the GDI
- Windowed mode - this is the slowest solution but it should work on ALL graphics
- cards, even those which you made yourself out of bits of tin foil and drawing
- pins.
-
- Command Line Switches:
- ----------------------
-
- -rX = FORCE Resolution Mode to X , where X is :
-
- 0: Windowed DIRECTX Mode
- 1: Full Screen AUTODETECT Mode
- 2: Windowed AUTODETECT Mode
- 3: Full Screen DIRECTX Mode
- 4: Windowed GDI Mode
-
- -bgr = Use BGR Graphics mode instead of RGB (if you get BLUE or different coloured
- graphics then use this option - normally when using GDI !!!)
-
- If you want the game to use GDI mode then you MUST set the -r4 switch ...
-
-
- History Of The Blacktooth Empire
- --------------------------------
- Far, far away from our star Sol lies the Blacktooth empire, an evil empire,
- four worlds enslaved by the planet Blacktooth. All of the slave worlds bubble
- with unrest, but due to the oppressive nature of their rulers they never
- reach boiling point, they all lack a leader to draw the masses of population
- together.
- Blacktooth itself is not any better, a world rigidly controlled by its
- dynastic leaders for so long that the populace do not even think about
- revolution. The peoples of the neighbouring stars are getting very worried
- about signs of military expansion from Blacktooth and have sent a spy from
- the planet Freedom to see if he can push the slave planets into full
- rebellion by finding the crowns lost when Blacktooth took over.
- The creatures of Freedom are very strange in that they are formed from a pair
- of symbolic animals that have adapted to operate either independantly or,
- to their mutual advantage, join together as one - Head saddled on Heels, and
- indeed these ARE their names and both are highly trained spies.
-
- The Game
- --------
- Head and Heels have been captured, separated and imprisoned in the castle
- headquaters of Blacktooth. Their cells contain 'keep fit' equipment,
- including a wall ladder that Head really must learn to climb. Your job is
- to get them both out of the castle and into the market place so they can
- join up again. From there, the journey leads to Moonbase Headquaters, where
- you will have to decide either to try to escape back to Freedom or to be a
- true hero and teleport to one of the slave planets to search for its lost
- crown! To overthrow the dictatorship on any of the slave planets would be a
- major blow to Blacktooth and you could return to Freedom in glory. Of course
- Blacktooth would probably enslave them again eventually but it would slow
- down any expansion plans for now. The populace of Blacktooth are so heavily
- oppressed that they would have to see all four of the slave planets revolt
- before the Blacktooth crown could cause an uprising. This of course would be
- the ultimate accolade, and unfortunately, almost certain suicide.
-
- Egyptus
- -------
- Once, a long time ago, a craft from Blacktooth got a bit lost while doing
- a hyperspace jump and landed on an unknown planet. Here the crew found a
- primative animal forming a sort of civilisation that appeared to revolve
- around wrapping corpses in lots of bandages and putting them into huge stone
- pyramids. When they returned to Blacktooth their emperor liked the sound of
- it so much that he rebuilt the capital city of one of the slave planets to
- resemble the story.
-
- Penitentiary - The empire's prison planet
- -----------------------------------------
- Millions are imprisoned here. A harsh planet, very mountainous, much
- climbing, skill required. The worst place is The Pit, try not to fall into
- it!
-
- Safari
- ------
- A densely vegitated planet, mainly used for hunting. The natives live in
- wooden forts in the junge, beware traps!
-
- Book World
- ----------
- The emperor is very keen on cowboy books, and has devoted an entire world to
- a western library. Only the emperor's minions are permitted to read them.
- Information is rigotously suppressed in the empire.
-
- Blacktooth
- ----------
- This planet has a large moon with three lunar space stations on it, the
- larger of these, Moon station HQ, is the main teleport centre for the empire,
- with a direction teleport to all the slave planets. Sometime after the
- Egyptus episode, the latest Emperor sent out a craft to find that same
- strange planet, and after much exploration it was finally located and the
- craft landed. However the crew found the people had changed: instead of
- pyramids they used castles and houses, instead of wrapping corpses up in
- cloth, they wrapped living men in metal and then tried to turn them into
- corpses with sharp metal sticks. The Emperor, not to be outdone by his
- ancestor, built a huge resplendant stately home on Blacktooth and used
- it as his headquaters. This home is surrounded by a small market, and then
- a range of impassable mountains. The only way to leave is via teleport to
- one of the three lunar space stations.
-
- Head (Headus Mouthion)
- ----------------------
- This creature is a symbiotic partner to Heels and will normally be found
- sitting on top of one. Head is descended from a breed of flying reptile
- and still has rudimentary wings that allow Head up to twice his own height
- and to guide himself though the air.
-
- Heels (Footus Underium)
- -----------------------
- During Heels's evolution the arms have totally disappeared while the legs
- have become very powerful. Heels can jump his own height and can also run
- very fast.
-
- Reincarnation Fish
- ------------------
- The strangest animal in the known universe! This fish likes to be eaten!
- There have been cases of it jumping onto plates! But there is more: when you
- eat one, its prodigious memory remembers everything about you. Its memory is
- so good that if you die at some later date, you will be reincarnated at the
- very place you ate the fish, and you will even have the taste still in your
- mouth! How a fish can remember anything when its been eaten has never been
- successfully explained. You must be very careful to check that the fish is
- alive and wriggling as dead fish decompose very quickly and it rapidly
- turns so poisonous that a single lick can kill.
- WARNING: Even living reincarnation fish taste horrible!
- Head and Heels can share the fish they pick up. They can store them for
- indefinite periods of time for them to be used when you are in a real jam!
- Check the SAVE GAME menu to see how many Fish you have left to be used.
-
- Cuddly Stuffed White Rabbits
- ----------------------------
- The cute toy bunnies magically enhance your powers. The status display at the
- bottom of the screen will keep you informed as to which powers are
- temporarily enhanced. If Head and Heels are connected when they pick up a
- Life or Iron pill they will both get the enhanced power. There are four
- types:
- (1) Two extra lives
- (2) Iron Pills (to make you invulnerable) [Shield icon]
- (3) Jump higher bunny. This only works on Heels [Spring icon]
- (4) Go faster bunny. This only works on slow moving Head. [Flash icon]
- If Heels pick up a go faster bunny or Head picks up a jump bunny the bunnies
- power is wasted!
- The bunnies are coloured differently... you must learn which bunny gives which
- extra attributes !
-
- Hooter
- ------
- The hooter may be used by Head to fire doughnuts at attacking mosters. This
- will freeze them in place as they lick the doughnuts off their faces. The
- hooter may only be used by Head and requires a tray of doughnuts to be of
- any use.
-
- Doughnuts
- ---------
- Tray of six doughnuts are few and far between so don't waste shots. Only
- Head may pick up doughnuts. The number of remaining doughnuts will be
- displayed above the doughnut icon at the bottom left of the screen.
-
- Bag
- ---
- The bag may be used to carry small objects around a room. It is essential
- for Heels to find and get the bag as it is impossible to get far without it.
- The object in the bag will be displayed immediately above the bag's icon at
- the bottom right of the screen. To pick up an object just stand on top of
- it and press the CARRY key. It is not possible to drop an object in a
- doorway.
-
- Crowns
- ------
- Find a crown and start a revolution. At the beginning of each game a screen
- showing all five crowns will be displayed. As each crown is collected this
- screen will be shown again with the appropriate crowns in bright colour.
-
- Teleports
- ---------
- Standing on a teleport will activate its machanism, this will sound a warning
- siren. Pressing the jump key will cause you to teleport. Not all teleports
- are two way, some are linked in a chain.
-
- Springs
- -------
- Jumping from a spring will give extra height to your jump.
-
- Switches
- --------
- Simply push the switch to switch things off and on! WARNING: Switching a
- deadly monster off will stop him moving but he will still be deadly to
- touch.
-
- Conveyor Belts
- --------------
- The rollers on the conveyor simply push you along it. If you wish to go the
- opposite direction you have to jump along (if you are Head). They will just
- make Heels go slower!
-
- Hush Puppies
- ------------
- These are a very strange type of beast, they are increadibly sleepy, in fact
- they never wake up and it is quite normal for them to sleep for their
- entire lives. They are often used as tables and even used as building bricks.
- They are a native of Freedom and for many thousands of years Head and his
- ancestors have been mistaking them for Heels and causing so much trouble to
- the poor old hush puppies they they evolved a defence mechanism, they
- somehow learned to teleport themselves away. Nobody knows where they go but
- the instant they see any of Head's race they disappear and won't return until
- thay are sure the coast is clear.
-
- The Emperor's Guardian
- ----------------------
- The guardian blocks the door to the throne room in Blacktooth castle, he is
- very dangerous and he doesn't like doughnuts. Only a true hero may pass the
- guardian.
-
- Swop Key
- --------
- If Head is sitting on Heels the swop key will, on each push, give you control
- of:
- (1) Heels. (2) Head & Heels. (3) Head. (4) Head & Heels.
- If Head is not on Heels the swop key will, on each push, give you control of:
- (1) Head. (2) Heels.
- At all times the character(s) whose icon is lit is under player control.
- When Head and Heels are joined together all their abilities are combined.
-
- Life Transfer
- -------------
- When one of the creatures looses all lives and the other has still plenty an
- autmatic life transfer will be done. If they are separated when the tragic
- event happens then 2 lives will be transferred from the other creature,
- otherwise (if they are joined) only 1 life will be transferred !
-
- Online High Scores
- ------------------
- When you run out of lives or complete the game the computer will show you
- "Retrospec High Score Code". You can use this code to enter your score into
- an online High Score Table on the retrospec web server. If you press 'S'
- when the code is shown then you can directly upload this code to the server
- without having to open a browser. Just enter your name and your score will
- be added to the online database. After that your position in the online High
- Scores Table will be shown. However if you are not connected to the net
- then you can just write this code down on paper and go to
- http://retrospec.sgn.net/games/hoh/ and click on the "HIGH SCORES" link on
- the left side. follow the instructions there to enter the high score into
- online database ! If you want to just copy/paste the code to the browser
- then you can do that since when the code is displayed on the screen it is
- also AUTOMATICALLY copied to the clipboard. The last code that was shown is
- also stored in the file HighScoreCode.txt which is put in the same
- directory to which you installed the game.
-
- Hints and Tips
- --------------
- 1. Beginners should aim to escape from Blacktooth and get back to Freedom
- initially. Only the very skilled can hope to liberate a planet or two.
- 2. When you first get Head and Heels in the same location, practice placing
- Head on top of Heels and joining them together accurately with the swop key.
- Both of their icons will light up when they are successfully joined.
- 3. Remember Head and Heels are a team. Just because both are in the same room
- does not mean you have to join them together, and in fact some problems may
- only be solved by separating Head and Heels.
- 4. Make sure Head learns to climb ladders, this is an essential skill.
- 5. Both Heels's bag and Head's hooter must be collected at the initial stages
- for there to be any chance of completing the game.
- 6. Find a safe spot and get used to how far Head and Heels may move over the
- edge of a brick before they fall, this will enable you to make the longest
- jumps.
- 7. Learn the difference in distance and control betwen Head's jumps and
- Heels's jumps.
- 9. Make a map.
- 10. Do not waste doughnuts, they are not easy to find.
- 11. Display screens such as the Five planets or the Final score may be
- aborted by pressing any key.
- 12. Do not get confused, only Heels may carry anything and only Head may
- fire.
- 13. To discover if there is a room above, pile objects high as possible and
- jump from the top. If there is a spring in the room, put it on the top for
- extra jumping height.
- 14. If you can't understand a room, try exiting and entering again, watching
- carefully for any movement in the room as you enter.
-
- Credits
- -------
- Original game written by Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond.
-
- This game is produced by RETROSPEC group. Check out our homepage at :
-
- http://retrospec.sgn.net/
-
- The remake was done by mainly these two people in their spare time :
-
- Tomaz Kac - TomCat@sgn.net
-
- - All Programing (with the aid of Allegro programing library)
- - New Room Design
-
- Graham Goring - GrahamG@Zedtwo.com
-
- - All Graphics (pixelated by hand)
-
- Additional work for this remake was done by :
-
- Dorian Black - Mezkal@Mezkal.com
-
- - Both Musical Scores and main part of Sound Effects
-
- Peter Jovanovic - Pierre@datagate.co.uk
-
- - Title Picture and Logo
- - Web Site Design
- - PDF Booklet and HTML design
-
- Ignacio Perez Gil - ZMEIPG@sevillana.grupoendesa.com
-
- - Additional Sound Effects
-
- The game would not be so good without a plethora of beta testers :
-
- Metka Jostl, James R Curry, Kakarot, Milos Babovic, Russell Hoy, Sir Dave-O
-
- Also big thanks go out to all members of RETROSPEC. Check the messages in the
- game for other important notes and additional thanx.
-
- For more information and updates, etc. visit our official homepage at :
-
- http://retrospec.sgn.net/games/hoh/about.html
-
-