The Castle (Bug-Byte) Typed up by Blughes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CASTLE The program "THE CASTLE", its documentation and artwork are strictly the copyright of Bug-Byte. It is illegal to make a copy of THE CASTLE without authorisation from Bug- Byte and legal action will be taken against anyone found doing so. It is also illegal, and expressly forbidden, to lend or hire out this program by way of trade. Author: Chris Cannon As the wine begins to clear from your brain you start to see that it might not have been such a wise thing to do. All that bragging about your exploits in the Gr'n Xanth wars would be the death of you one day - and from the look of this place that time might be right now! "Easy", you'd said, "All i need are my brains and a lift up to the castle. I'm more than a match for your fairy stories. All those stories about travellers who have never returned - hah! If there is any treasure to be found then I'm the man to do it". The locals had muttered into their mugs about "fools rush in...", which had got your temper up to the extent that you made your rash bet. Of course you hadn't really meant that they should take you up on it right there and then, but of course there will always be some fool who just happens to have a coach and horses ready and waiting round the corner... You look round the dismal throne room and shake your head in disbelief - the dank smell of the dripping stone walls, the slime on the floor that surrounds the pools of water has a peculiar sheen to it - almost as if it were trying to move towards the heat of your body. You remember how no amount of whipping would drive the horses any closer than a mile to the castle and how you'd had to walk the remaining distance yourself. You jump as a wisp of mist curves round the door to the east. It curves and moves almost as if alive, and seems to beckon you towards it. From the distant clock tower you can hear the bell tolling eleven times. One hour to go before the witching hour and you're alone (or are you?) in the castle. The mist slowly starts to get thicker. Still, you've been in worse scrapes than this before now. You look around again and spot a chest on the other side of the room. You move over towards it - after all someone might have been decent enough to leave a bottle of something - and from the looks of things, you're going to need a good stiff drink over the next few hours... WHAT IS AN ADVENTURE? Adventure is basically a game of exploration. The hero (you) has an objective (such as trying to stay alive long enough to enjoy your ill-gotten gains!) whilst the world in which you find yourself is generally trying to stop you. It's not all one sided however - you have brains, brawn and a fair amount of low down cunning - all of wich you'll need during your journey through the dungeon. You'll have magic, weapons and a limitless number of lives - if you come to grief you can always start again. You will have the opportunity to gather immense wealth (too bad if the ogre guarding it objects to you taking it from him - you'll have to settle it with a duel!). You'll be set mind twisting puzzles to solve - how, for instance, are you going to get across that bridge without giving up one of your hard earned treasures as a toll . . ? You may have to learn how to use magic. (Now where did I put my wand . . .? The list is almost endless - indeed it's only limited by the imagination of the player and the person who wrote the program. Some games can take place in the Wild West, others in the twistings and turnings of the Colossal Caves whilst another might be on an abandoned space ship, floating through interstellar space! How is all this achieved without ever leaving your trusty microcomputer? Well, the answer is all wrapped up in a lot of very clever computer programming. In the early days (way back in 1976 - that sort of prehistory), Adventures took the resources of a mainframe computer and its disc drives. Today a similar game, although not perhaps quite as extensive, can be crammed into a typical home micro. You talk to the micro using two word sentences such as "Go North" or "Attack troll". As you move about (and indeed after each instruction to the computer) the program will tell you where you are, what you can see, what there is to get - and who might be around to try and tear you limb from limb (or worse, if they're feeling nasty). You can already see the sort of complications that you may have to face - such as how are you going to enter the dark cave if you haven't got a lamp? And what will happen if you do try your luck? Suffice it to say that every problem has an answer, every difficulty can be overcome even though there are times you'll swear that something is 'impossible'. Remember the old adage "if at first you don't succeed..." Nothing is truer in Adventure. If you can't open the door in front of you, it might be because you have to climb the wall instead - and so on. There are no fixed rules in Adventure - so let me give you a few hints. The first and foremost is MAKE A MAP! It's all too easy in the first few goes to rush around discovering all sorts of wonderful things - but what's going to happen to you if you can't find your way out again? There can be few things more embarrassing in life than being weighed down with jewels and then finding yourself condemned to wander round a dungeon - and eventually starve to death - just for the sake of a map. The Vocabulary that each game will understand will vary from game to game, but there are one or two that your should find useful in just about every Adventure worthy of the name:- (I)nventory - A list of what you're carrying. Since there is a finite limit to what you can carry at any one time, you'll need to organise yourself - you may need to strike a balance between loot and weapons, for example, at any one time. Take/Get an object. As implied, the universal method of acquisition. Look. If the description of the room scrolls off the screen, this will refresh your memory. Drop. How to get rid of something. (But what happens if your drop a ming vase...?) Kill/Attack something. The universal method of making sure that you can keep what you just laid your hands on. (See "Get") Search/Examine. Never, never take anything at face value - you didn't think it was going to be that easy did you? Always check the identity of something - it might hide something far more valuable (or dangerous) than you first thought. (N)orth, (S)outh,(W)est,(E)ast,(U)p,(D)own. ... and so on. I don't propose to give too much away - you'll have to experiment for yourself. Good Luck! P.K. If you enjoy this game, look out for other Bug-Byte programs at your local computer shop, branches of BOOTS and W.H.Smiths, or in our advertising in the computer press and elsewhere Think you can write a better game than this? We'd love to see it. Send a cop on cassette to: THE PROGRAMMING DEPARTMENT, BUG-GYTE, Mullberry House, Canning Place, Liverpool L1 8JB - for a free appraisal of its worth, without any obligation to donat the program to our range. Or simply send an S.A.E. for details of our terms for contributed programs.