Loadstar 247/247.d81/t.plumb

Text File | 2004-01-01 | 6.9 KB | 248 lines

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       P L U M B   C R A Z Y

           by Dave Moorman


    The object of the game is easy:
connect pieces of pipe on the grid
to create a continuous flow from the
Start Spigot to the End Spigot. I've
made it even easier for you: On the
first four rounds of each level,
[you] can put the End Spigot wherever
you want it.

    And if that's not enough, I have
made this game so you cannot lose!
Should time run out or some other
calamity strike, you simply do not
score points as the water squirts all
over the grid. In fact, you then move
on to the next round. However, if you
accumulate four failures, you will be
set back four screens. No penalty. No
loss of life. No extra quarters
needed!

    You see -- I do not want you to
lose. I want you to go

     P L U M B   C R A Z Y !

 For those of you who actually READ
the Friendly Manual, here is a
run-down of the game controls and
some of the torture you can expect.

 [FT'S NOTE:] I thought the "F" in
"RTFM" stood for [fiendly].

    After a fundamental view of
Wrenchy, the LOADSTAR TOWER's own
Crack Pipe Fitter, you will arrive at
the Progress screen. At this point,
you can load a saved game (you will
have to remember the password to
which you saved it.) Or just press
RETURN to get on with the game.

 [FT'S NOTE:] I don't know if I've
ever read a more pregnant pun than
"LOADSTAR's own Crack Pipe Fitter".
Bravo, Dave!

    The Play Screen will come up,
surrounded by a red border. Before
pressing RETURN to start the play,
you have a chance to look over the
situation. A column of pipe pieces
is to the left, with a large cursor
around the bottom piece. The cursor
can be moved with the A or Z keys.

    Another big cursor is on the
grid. This can be moved with the
CRSR keys or the joystick (in Port
2). When you press RETURN or the
FIRE button, the piece under the
column cursor will be placed at the
grid cursor. A different piece may
come up in the column.

    Around the lower half of the
grid, the border is gray. Once you
start the play, this will serve as a
timer as the gray fills with purple.
When all the gray is gone, water will
begin flowing out the Start Spigot.
It will flow at the same speed as the
timer moved. As long as the water is
in the pipe, you can continue adding
pieces to your plumbing. If you have
done all you can in the grid, press
F1 to end the round and rush the
water to the End Spigot. (You [did]
include the End Spigot, didn't you?
Oops!) Pressing F7 will double the
water speed without ending the round.

    The first four rounds of each
level are supposed to be extremely
easy. The End Spigot will be
available at the top of the column at
the left. Use it carefully -- it is
the only one you have!

    When the water reaches the End
Spigot, you receive 2 ^ (level - 1)
points for each pipe piece the water
flows through. The T pipe does not
"leak" out the sides, and can be used
as a straight section in either
direction. However, if you manage to
get water to flow BOTH ways through a
T pipe, you will receive 4 times the
score!

    On the other hand, any pipe piece
on the grid through which water does
not flow will cost you 2 times the
score. So don't be overly sloppy!
But do not worry, the first rounds
are very slow. You'll have plenty of
time to learn all the controls.
However, with each round in the
level, the water speed will increase
about 10%. By round 16, you will not
have time to dawdle. And, with each
successive four screens, new
obstacles are offered for your mental
breakdown:

     1 -  4  Place your End Spigot
     5 -  8  Two End Spigots
     9 - 12  One End Spigot
    13 - 16  Chunks of Brick

     After each round, you return to
the Progress Screen, where you can
save your game in progress. (Each
save uses one disk block -- so you
will want to use Copy It to put PLUMB
CRAZY on a non-LOADSTAR disk. Or you
can use the password "password",
since that file is already on the
LOADSTAR #154 disk.)

    Also on the Progress Screen, you
can see your -- er -- progress as
the pipe at the bottom fills with
water. With each level, the water
speed slows to almost the beginning
speed. But it will get faster at the
end of each level. Finish all 16
rounds of Do-It-Yourselfer and you
can go to Plumber University. The
gray border will be shorter, and you
will occasionally see a new piece
on the grid -- the Fill Tank. Connect
through top/bottom (in either flow
direction), and the water will slow
to one/third of its normal speed as
it fills the tank. You will thank me
for this later!

    You will then graduate to
Roto-Router. The gray border is
shorter, but the Fill Tank
occasionally appears. And now, some
pipe pieces will contain a minus sign
or a plus sign. Minus halves the
water speed as it flows over the
sign. Plus signs double the speed.
Good Luck!

    When you finish your apprentice-
ship, you enter the ranks of Ninety
Dollar an Hour Professional Fluid
Control Specialists. The gray border
is ridiculously short. By the end of
the level, the water speed will be
patently too fast. The Fill Tank may
be there to help -- but no promises!
Pipes have plus and minus signs, but
now also may contain little arrow-
heads. Water can flow over the
arrowhead in any direction EXCEPT the
opposite from the direction it is
pointing. Watch very carefully --
burst pipe is a failure.

     But you cannot lose!

 DMM


 [FENDER'S POSTMUMBLE:] I liked the
title picture for this game so much I
had to use it as the title pic for LS
#154. The game itself is a classic.

 I received it from Dave a month or so
before Lee Novak sent me MR. MOUSE.
When I realized how great MR. MOUSE
was I asked Dave to consider upgrading
PLUMB CRAZY to work with a mouse. It
seems like a natural for mouse
support. Dave just got LS #152 with
MR. MOUSE and he called and told me
that he would definitely look into
writing a version that used MR. MOUSE.

 FT


 [DAVE'S NOTE:] A DECADE LATER, the
Mouse version is still being looked
into. Lee Novak was working on it, but
got distracted from his true calling
as a C-64 Master.

 Indeed, Lee may be the only person
who has seen all 64 screens. Mind you,
he did not complete the game.
Inevitably, he failed one of the last
four, putting him back to 61. Again.
And Again. And AGAIN. And...

 I think he gave up. But this is my
idea of a perfectly graded game.
Success is [almost] possible. You can
see it -- right out there just beyond
reach. And then...

 I did not somehow plan for such a
tantalizing game. All I wanted to do
is replicate "Pipe Dreams," from
whence the idea came. I am
particularly happy about the "No
Loser" philosophy. Challenging, but
not wicked.

 The question still haunts me --
should I build a Mouse version? You
know, with DotBASIC and it's Screen
Objects and Do-Loop, it should be
fairly easy. My only problem is
getting Wrenchy to pose for another
title picture. He now owns a monopoly
on a string of poloponies, and is
adamant about never opening another
pipe full of -- well -- liquid again.
He's not so wild about showing off his
backside, either.

 DMM