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- Version - 1.25 - 9th August 1998
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- \\ / / / /______/ / / / / /¯¯¯¯¯¯ / /¯¯¯¯¯\
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- \\___/ \/____________/ \/___/ \/________________/
-
- Presents...
-
- **
- *SUNBURST*
- **
-
-
- Background
- =--------=
-
- [Try a Yorkshire accent for this]
-
- Now then, in my day we didn't have none of this fancy matter transporter
- stuff. Life was simple. You tried to keep yourself out of the way of the
- empire, and alive, with enough credits to your name to stop Shotgun, and
- Dribble from blowing your kneecaps away for not paying them back the money
- you'd been lent.
-
- Aye, in them days you knew what a real fight was. None of this drone fighter
- stuff. We had to fight proper, with our bare hands. We used to have to press
- the trigger ourselves, none of this poncy mind control rubbish you kids
- now-a-days get off on. And if we were lucky, we'd come home at the end of
- day, with our spacecraft shot to bits, that's if you had your own space
- craft, which many of us didn't. And ah mam'd give us a pan of gruel and ah
- dad'd beat us round the head with a long stick, and we'd be glad for it.
-
- Luxury! We didn't had a home, we had to live on an asteroid in space. We'd
- spend all day scrubbing our asteroid clean and stopping them Polaniss scum
- from mining it. We got paid half a credit each for that. And at the end of
- t'day, we'd come home and ah mam'd give us a pebble to suck and ah dad'd beat
- us to within an inch of our lives with a metal bar, and we were the lucky
- ones!
-
- An asteroid! An Asteroid! I'd have given my right arm for an asteroid. We had
- to live on a piece of debris flying through space. We had to pay ah mam 5
- credits to get up at the crack of dawn and spend the entire day, and half the
- night mind you, licking the debris clean and trying to stop the emperial
- forces from taking it over, and the Polaniss scum from mining it. An' when
- we'd come home ah mam'd break all our teath and make us eat them and ah dad'd
- flog us to death with roll of barbed wire. And that were on our birthday.
-
-
- Debris? Debris! I'd have given my entire body to medical science for a lump
- of debris. We had to live on a particle of space dust traveling at the speed
- of light through hyperspace with no oxygen. We had to sell our soul to the
- devil every morning so as we could spend 25 hours a day wiping the atoms off
- our debris using the lenzs of our eyes. And we had to stop the hoards of
- aliens in hyperspace from devouring our space dust, and we had to stop the
- Polaniss scum from mining it and the empire's evil forces from taking it
- over. And when we'd come home, our mam'd spit in our faces and our dad'd rip
- off our arms and beat us to death with the soggy end. Then he'd fling our
- limp bodies on the fire so that he an' our mam could watch us burn. And that
- were if it were a good day....
-
- Really grandad?
-
- Well.... no. But we didn't have any matter transporters.
-
- Aye, them were the days.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- SunBurst (yep, we defy English by having a capital letter within a word), is
- a 2-Dimensional space shoot-em-up with 360° rotation. There a four worlds
- (Imperial, Poliniss, Virain and The Void) each with three space stations.
- The idea is to trade between the space stations and different worlds to gain
- money which can be used to upgrade your ship, buy a new ship or to buy new
- cargo. You don't need to buy any galactic hyperdrive to enter another world,
- what you have in each world is a 'jump station'. This station can create a
- jump gate upon request to jump to a world of your choice.
- SunBurst is mission based so you are nearly always doing a mission
- with the ultimate goal of stopping a gigantic bomb from ripping a world to
- bits.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Keys
- =--=
-
- ZX - Rotate
- '/ - Speed up, slow down
- <Return> - Fire
-
- T - Selects nearest target
- R - Selects target before that one (In arbitrarily ordered list)
- Y - Selects target after that one (ditto)
-
- N - Selects next missile type
- M - Fires missile at target if selected
-
- H - Request hyperspace jump gate (only at a jump station)
- D - Request docking permission
-
- F1 - Show Status screen - allows selection of system target and cargo to be ejected.
- F2 - View previously received messages.
-
- - - Increase energy to shield recharger
- + - Increase energy to shots - shot energy used up every time you fire.
- <-|- Increase energy to engine - allows faster top speed.
-
- F9 - Close map
- F10- Medium range map
- F11- System map
-
- J - Subspace jump, allows you to move around the system map. Direction
- moved is the direction the ship is facing when it goes off the edge of the
- screen, and not when you press J.
-
- TAB - Eject currently selected cargo type. (Selectable on F1 Status screen)
-
- MISC KEYS
- =-------=
-
- You probably have to buy these things in the equipment shop under misc
-
- S - Auto-pilot, steers ship towards target when active. Press C to
- deactivate. NB NEEDS AUTOTRACKER TO WORK.
-
- C - If autotracker is fitted, this points ship towards target - hold it
- down.
-
- A - If Attractor field fitted. This will attract the target towards the
- player (while the key is held down) as long as the target has no propulsion
- of its own, eg cargo, asteroids. Note that this is an experimental piece of
- technology and its powers of attraction are a little suspect!
-
- E - Electronic Counter Measures. This is an anti-missile device and its
- effect on any missiles in the area will vary depending on what type (of ecm)
- you have.
-
- Q - Turn cloaking device On
- W - Turn cloaking device Off
-
- EFFECT OF DAMAGE
- =--------------=
-
- Damage only takes (accumulative) effect when the damage has become critical.
- This is shown by the red section of the bar on the status screen.
-
- Damage can also be seen as a series of LEDs next to the shields. Green is ok,
- yellow is damaged, but repairable, red is critical damage. The righthand LED
- is the status of the ECM and cloak if fitted.
-
- *life support - If critical, then a counter showing the time until total life
- support lost will be shown in the message bar. You must return to a space
- station for repairs as quickly as possible.
- *engine - Reduces the maximum possible speed.
- *weapons - Reduces the firing rate.
- *scanner - If critical, the scanner may malfunction.
- *targeter - If critical, the targetter is unable to work out the distance to
- the target or its shield's strength.
-
- MISC FEATURES
- =-----------=
-
- Automatically swaps hud (Head-up Display) map to medium when main map is
- system - otherwise hud shows close range.
-
- Auto-repair only works when shields are >66% ie showing green.
-
- ECM will only work when fully charged.
-
- Cloak will automatically turn off when discharged and cannot be activated
- again until approx 1/4 charged.
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Tutorial
- =------=
-
- * Load SunBurst by double clicking the !SunBurst icon. SunBurst will install
- on the icon bar.
-
- * Click menu on it and explore the available options. Noting the Status
- window and the information available there.
-
- * Click select on the icon bar icon to enter the game. After the intro you
- will be returned to desktop where you can either load a new file or you can
- start anew. Click select on the icon on the icon bar and you will receive
- your first mission and a few handy hints. Read them, scrolling the message
- down by moving the mouse, and clicking at the bottom of the screen to return
- to the game. [To read a past mission message you can press F2 and select the
- message you want to read again.]
-
- * You may press F12 at any time (except when reading messages) to return to
- the desktop.
-
- * You are in flight mode; your ship is the one outside the green rotating
- space station. You may enter the space station by requesting docking
- permission and then moving into it.
-
- * Use the ZX/' keys to fly around for a while. You may shoot anything you
- like with the "Enter" key.
-
- Ship's Energy
- =-----------=
-
- * Note that when you shoot, your laser charge gets used up. When you stop
- firing, it recharges slowly. The rate of recharge is controlled by your
- energy levels which are displayed on the right-hand side of the control
- panel around the centre (three green bars).
-
- * Press the = key to increase your laser energy level. Note how the laser
- recharges faster, but your top speed has now been reduced.
-
- * Press <-| (Backspace) to increase the energy level to your engines. You can
- now fly faster again, but your laser recharge rate (and shield recharge
- rate) are reduced (possibly to nothing).
-
- * If you attempt to fire with no laser charge, a handy hint will appear at
- the bottom of the screen to tell you which button to press to raise the
- level.
-
- * The - key increases the recharge rate of your shields. Use the - = and <-|
- keys wisely to control the flow of energy around your ship.
-
- Targetting
- =--------=
-
- * Press T. This will set your current target to be the closest object. The
- small white cross flying round your ship points towards it.
-
- * Use R and Y to move through the targets available. Information about them
- is available in the target window at the top right. Your target will flash on
- screen and also on your close range and medium range maps (F9 and F10).
-
- * Use targeting to fly towards a distant object, and to target your missiles.
- (M to fire, if you have bought any).
-
- The Mission
- =---------=
-
- * Press F2 to allow you to read the messages you have received, and click on
- the message you got when you first started.
-
- * It tells you that you have a package and that you need to deliver it to
- Research1, a space station in the Void system. Click out of the message and
- click again at the bottom of the screen to return to the flight screen.
-
- * Press F1 to go to the status screen. In the middle of the screen, under the
- secondary systems heading, you should find that you have a parcel. If you
- click on it, then it appears in the secondary systems display to the right
- of the screen. It should say that its status is OK.
-
- * When you buy or receive new secondary systems, you can select them from
- here. However, you do not need to have them selected to activate them.
-
- * On the right hand side there should be a list of available targets. Move
- the mouse over them and watch the map change. Click on Research1. It will
- appear in your system target window at the bottom right.
-
- * Research1 is not in the Imperial system, so you will need to use a
- hyperspace jump gate to get to the void system. You must first go to the
- Imperial hyperspace jump station. Each system has a similar station which you
- must use to jump out of the system.
-
- (Cargo Ejecting)
-
- * On the ship status screen (F1) the left hand list shows all the cargo
- available. Unless you have picked any up, you shouldn't have any, and your
- hold will be empty. The space available is shown. If you click on a cargo
- type, then the next cargo you eject (with the tab button) will be of that
- type, if you have any.
-
- (Mission Continued)
-
- * Click off the bottom or right of the status screen to return to the flight
- screen.
-
- * Press F11 to choose the map of the current system. You are the blue
- flashing dot, the other flashing dot is your current system target, and it
- should be the hyperspace jump station.
-
- * On the system map, the hyperspace jump station is in the top left of the
- map. Imperial HQ, where you are now, is on the right middle. To move across
- the system map, you must point your ship in the correct direction (facing the
- way you want to jump) and then press the J button.
-
- * You will probably be too close to another space object. Fly away from them
- using normal power. Hold J down until you jump.
-
- * Continue to jump until you get to the hyperspace jump station.
-
- * NB The map wraps round the side, so you can jump off one side of the map
- and come back on the other to get to your destination quicker.
-
- * NB You cannot just FLY across the system map. You must do a jump to move
- about it. Space is very large!!!
-
- * When you are at the hyperspace jump station, dock by pressing D to request
- docking permission. Then run into the station.
-
- * Press F12 to return to the desktop and save your game using the menu
- option. This option is only available while you are docked at a station.
-
- * Click on the icon again and launch your ship. Press H to request a
- hyperspace jump gate. Fly into it. You will find yourself in the Void Station
- near the hyperspace jump station (Near on the system map).
-
- * Your system target should now show Research1. Fly towards it, and dock there.
-
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
- Credits
- =-----=
-
- Programming - Owain Cole (VOTI)
- Chris Wymark (ex-VOTI)
-
- Logoz/Marketing/Advertizing - Nathan Atkinson (VOTI)
-
- Graphix - Owain Cole (VOTI)
- Ben Preece
- Andrew Bramah
- Joe Burmeister
-
- Muzak and Sound FX - Owain Cole (VOTI)
-
- VOTI
- =--=
-
- Contact VOTI at the below address:
-
- 42 Wales Street,
- Darlington,
- Co. Durham
- DL3 0LT
-
- E-mail: wrath.voti@ntlworld.com
- WWW: http://www.visionsoftheimpossible.co.uk
-
- VOTI currently consist of:
-
- Owain Cole - Programmer/Musician
- Nathan Atkinson - Agent/Webmaster/PR/Marketing/Advertising/Occasional gfx
- Peter Spence - 3D Graphics
- Paul Thomson (DFI) - 3D graphics engine programmer/Demo Coder
- Joe Burmeister - 2D and 3D Graphics
- Bill Pragnell - POVRay Expert
-
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Copyright
- =-------=
-
- It is a criminal offence to sell, hire, offer or expose for sale or hire or
- otherwise distribute infringing (illegal) copies of this computer program
- and any perons found doing so will be prosecuted.
-
- In other words, it is illegal to copy any part of this software (except the
- QTM module and the Stasis modules which have their own copyright notices).
- One copy is permitted for personal use. The Acorn games scene is dying so
- don't completely kill it by copying this.
-
- SunBurst is © Visions Of The Impossible 1998