Text File | 1996-06-10 | 3.6 KB | 42 lines | [50] Apple IIgs Word Processing (0x5445)
LEGEND OF THE STAR AXE
by Tom Hall
YOU ARE THE LAST DEFENSE
You are Lance Verihoffen, experienced star pilot and leader of the elite Star Axe fighter squadron. The klaxons and flashing red lights turn a knot in your stomach. They╒re here--the strange war-bent aliens from outer space. Earth╒s defenses are shot, and you are the last hope of repelling the alien onslaught.
HOW TO PLAY STAR AXE
When you run Star Axe, after the titles go by, click your mouse to go to the game. (On 768K machines, you will not see the titles, as they take too much memory. You will enter the game directly.)
Your Star Axe will be beamed into battle. Use your mouse to move left and right. Pressing the mouse button fires your Plasma Cannons. Shoot all the aliens and avoid their bombs. There may be a hidden surprise or two along the way.
Your Plasma Cannons will not fire if they are overheated. And the longer you are in battle, the quicker they will be to overheat. (The practical upshot of all this is that you can fire five shots at a time on the first 10 levels, then you'll be reduced to only four. Eventually, at a very high level, you'll get down to two or so.)
CONTROLS
Pressing Control-S will turn the sound on and off.
Press the spacebar to pause the game.
Press the ╥?╙ key if you need help.
Press Q during the game to quit.
HINTS
Don't leave yet! Here are some important clues for you. This should help lessen the frustration of playing. Do not read even one of them if you really enjoy frustration.
Clue one: As soon as the Diamond level starts, do not go left. Really.
Clue two: The asteroid level is random, so there are no safe spots for long.
Clue three: Just try and find clue three.
Clue four: Clue Three tells you where there is a free ship, if you can find it.
Clue five: When shooting things red, shoot too many and you're dead.
CONCLUSION
Now jump into the cockpit and save the galaxy, for crying out loud!
COPYING STAR AXE TO YOUR OWN DISK
Select ╥File Copier╙ from the FILE menu (or press Open-Apple F). This will run the Installer, which will allow you to copy files off of Softdisk G-S onto your own disks.
Kevin Kemmerly's art is pretty impressive, huh? I think the only things I made that survive from my original version of the game are the laser, the Star Axe, and the Diamond shape! Kevin improved the game so much. And his voice is featured on the level where there are green aliens (I don't want to give away too much).
Lane Roath wrote the fast drawing routines in the game. His IFD Library (that's Ideas From the Deep, the pseudo-company name he publishes under) is the core of Legend of the Star Axe. Without his help, either there would have been less shapes on the screen, or Star Axe would have been published a month or two later! In the game, we said "IFD Dude" because "IFD Library Programmer" would never have fit, and Lane probably likes "Dude" a lot better anyway.
Oh, by the way, I called the hero Lance Verihoffen, instead of Lance A Lot. Ok, it is a dumb joke, but sometimes I am sleepy and come up with these stupid things.
ONE LAST TIP FOR THE DESPERATE GAMER
You can skip to levels 1-9 by pressing Open-Apple and 1-9 on the keypad at the same time. You get no points for the first levels, but then you don't get killed on them, either. I left this in for people that aren't very good at these games, but would still like to see what the higher levels look like. You'll still have to beat level 9 to see level 10, though.
