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- P S Y C L O I D
-
- by Marc Walters
-
-
- PSYCLOID is a blend of arcade and
- puzzle game styles. Your goal is to
- collect all of the energy pods on a
- level before the timer reaches zero
- and your craft self-destructs. This
- isn't as tough as it sounds. It's
- TOUGHER because there are little
- drones everywhere that want to get
- you. The 24 levels are rough but
- they are all solvable -- IF you find
- the right strategy.
-
-
- ELEMENTS OF THE GAME
- --------------------
-
- Your pyramid-shaped craft can move
- in four directions and has a single-
- shot cannon. You can only fire up
- (just like in CENTIPEDE). Use
- Joystick #2.
-
- The diamond shaped Energy Pods
- are collected by touching them with
- your craft.
-
- The round enemy drones are ever
- present and your craft will be
- destroyed if it touches one. There
- are two species of drone. The
- "Dormant Drone" cannot move, but is
- still deadly. The "Mobile Drone" is
- constantly swarming, only changing
- direction when it collides with
- another object.
-
- IMPORTANT: The countdown timer will
- be bumped up by one second when a
- Drone is shot, so it's a good idea to
- shoot as many Drones as possible.
- There can be over a hundred Mobile
- Drones per level.
-
- The hourglass-shaped Homing Mine
- is intelligent and can travel through
- walls but NOT drones. It is
- indestructible and will attack your
- craft constantly. There can be up to
- four Homing Mines per level.
-
- FENDER'S NOTE: There's one hilarious
- level where the Homing Mines are like
- predatory rats, lurking behind walls
- of Dormant Drones for you to swagger
- past. Hint: don't swagger. Run!
-
- On the scrolling title screen,
- the following keys are active:
-
- FIRE to start the game.
-
- F1 to toggle the text scroll on/off
-
- F5 to toggle fastforward on/off
-
- Q to return to LOADSTAR.
-
- On the Level Selection Screen you
- can use the joystick to start on any
- of the game's 24 levels. To select a
- level, use LEFT/RIGHT to move the
- pointer to the tens or ones column,
- and UP/DOWN to change the digit.
- Press FIRE when done.
-
- Each Level Description Screen
- highlights any of the three icons
- that will be available or present on
- the level. The icons are:
-
- BULLET- If highlighted, then you
- can use your cannon on the
- level.
-
- HOMER - If highlighted, then one
- to four Homing Mines will be
- present.
-
- DRONE - If highlighted, then one
- or more Mobile Drones will be
- present.
-
- To pause the game, press the BACK
- ARROW key. Press FIRE to
- restart.
-
- HINTS: Many levels may seem impossible
- to complete, but there is always a
- way! Develop different strategies for
- each screen. Don't limit your
- attention to your craft. Concentrate
- on the WHOLE screen.
-
- Sometimes drones may be lined up
- for a massacre when the level opens.
- A higher number of drones on the
- screen adds to the chaos. It's good
- to get rid of as many of them as
- possible. Good luck.
-
- MW
-
- [FENDER'S POSTMUMBLE:] Marc Walters is
- one of the new breed of C-64
- programming, raised on demos and
- raster interrupts. His Codequest-
- winning EPSILON 4 appeared on LS #114
- and promises to be the first of a
- series of high-quality, modern games
- for publication on LOADSTAR. Here at
- the Tower we may be thousands of
- nautical miles from the hot spots in
- C-64 computing, but thanks to
- programmers like Marc, we will no
- longer be deprived of the new stuff.
- Our thanks and a hearty "G'day" to
- Marc for such an excellent, addictive
- program.
-
- FT
-
-
-