WIZ - MELBOURNE HOUSE On the Magical Isle, there are cracks in reality. Almost hourly, evil is oozing in from the other side, as the worlds of light and dark, of Midgard and Niflheim, move inexorably towards fusion. Bravely clutching his empty Spell Book, a noviatiate wizard resolves to take on the powers of Good and Evil in a foolhardy attempt to prevent the inevitable. Obstructed by the antiquated Council of Wizards, he desperately seeks to learn the incantations wich will break forever the ancient links that bind the two worlds. But some of the runes, essential for spell-casting, can only be found in the depths of Niflheim. And the creatures of the night are already closing in... A potent mix of spell-binding strategy, diabolic action and bewitching graphics, WIZ will test your powers of dexterity and instant recall to the limit and beyond. INSTRUCTIONS As every day passes, more and more evil bursts through from the dark side. It seems obvious to you, a mere 1st Level wizard, that the long forewarned meeting of worlds is imminent. Here on the Magical Isle, where in places the worlds of light and dark touch, the manifestations of evil are reaching epidemic proportions. The Council of Wizards are reluctant to act. They see no way of preventing the disaster other than destroying the ancient links between worlds. In doing so they would lose much of their magic as two of the four runes from which spells are prepared can only be found in the world of darkness. For the Council, time is running out and soon the may no longer be able to close the ancient ways even if they chose to. Seeing the Council's folly for what it is and despairing at their greed of magic, you resolved to act alone. You must become a powerful 5th Level wizard, acquire the spell you need to break the links, and separate the two worlds forever. The Council have already learned of your quest and seek to prevent you completing it. By their own rules they are barred from interfering with the magical advancement of a wizard. Consequently, no wizard can refuse to teach you spells of your magical level unless you have been openly hostile towards him. Despite this, they have other means of obstructing you. Your shields against attack, normally maintained for lower level wizards by the 5th Level masters, has been removed. As a result of this, you are now vulnerable to the power draining attacks of evil beings. As if this were not enough, it is rumoured that a Tracer has been summoned and, should you stay in one place for long, it will find you and come through from the dark side. Once in this world, it will pursue you relentlessly. There is no way to destroy a Tracer, you can only blast it back into its own world for the time being. Good luck brave novice take heed - the warnings. SETTING UP Type LOAD "" and press ENTER then PLAY the tape. Spectrum 128 and Plus 2 users may use the 'Tape Loader' option. The program is compatible with Kempston joysticks and with other joysticks, which may be set up using the "define keys" program option and moving the joystick in each direction in turn. HOW TO PLAY WIZ Press SPACE to start the game and you will see your wizard in the centre of the left hand playing area. All the creatures wandering around this area are shown viewed from the front, whereas the scenery is viewed from above. At the top right of the screen there is a scroll containing your current score (0000), magical power (30) and wizard level (1). At the bottom right of the screen there is a spell book open at the "Zap 1" spell description. Between the scroll and the book there is a medallion containing the letters N, E, S, W. These indicate that Wiz is in "MOVE AND CAST" mode and that the consequences of moving the joystick are to move your wizard either north, east, south or west. In total Wiz operates in four modes:- (1) MOVE AND CAST (2) PREPARE SPELL (3) READ SPELL BOOK (4) BUY SPELL To step through these, press SPACE and then repeatedly press either SPACE or FIRE. As with "MOVE AND CAST" mode, for each mode the medallion shows consequences of moving the joystick up, down, left or right. An explanation of each mode is given below. Not moving the joystick in any direction and pressing fire will automatically take you into the next mode. (1) "MOVING AND CAST" MODE This is represented by a Red Medallion. The direction you travel in corresponds with the joystick e. g. left = east, as you travel in that direction an arrow will show you your direction on the medallion. By pressing fire you cast the last selected spell. Beware though, as colliding with evil beings drains your power. The ammount you lose depends on the danger of the being. Every time you cast a spell you use up 1 unit of magical power. If you run out of power you die! Fortunately, power is gradually regained with time. It can also be raised quickly by using the "Zap" spell to absorb the energy of evil beings. Of course, the more dangerous beings provide more power. As you advance to higher levels of magic you will discover another way to increase magic power in an emergency. The maximum magical power depends on your wizard level. For a 1st Level wizard it is just 30. (2) "PREPARE SPELL" MODE To move into this mode from "MOVE AND CAST" press the SPACE bar. You will now notice that the medallion has changed. It is now yellow and has runes in place of directions. To select a rune move the joystick towards the desired rune. Spells are prepared by selecting the runes in the correct sequence and then pressing fire. As you select each rune it appears in the scroll above the medallion and the appropriate rune level goes down. When you press FIRE the spell book will display the details of the spell you just prepared and you go back to "MOVE AND CAST" mode. Remember that preparing a spell does not cast it; spells can only be cast by pressing FIRE when in "MOVE AND CAST" mode. Preparing spells at speed is an acquired skill and it is safer to do it slowly when you are new to the game. If you get the sequence wrong or run out of runes mid-preparation, watch out for unexpected spells or side effects! To regain runes used up in preparing spells you will need to learn and use the "Rune" spell. By shooting this at an evil being, you destroy it leaving behind a rune which you must collect, before that too disappears. Only two of the four types of rune exist in the world of light; you must venture into the dark side to get the others. If you wish to go into "READ SPELL BOOK" mode or "BUY SPELL" mode do not move the joystick when you come into this mode from "MOVE AND CAST" mode. Just press the fire button and this will take you into "READ SPELL BOOK" mode. (3) "READ SPELL BOOK" MODE Once entering this mode from "PREPARE SPELL" mode you will notice that the medallion has again changed. It is now blue with only 3 directions marked. By moving the joystick left and right you can read through the spell book. The spell book contains all the spells you have learnt so far this game, plus the ones you start off with. Wiz only lets you prepare spells currently in the book. Don't buy every spell wizards offer you, as your spell book can only hold 20 spells and will rapidly fill up. The book shows the name of a spell, its symbol and the runes needed to prepare it. The symbol is just there to help you recognise the spell when searching the book for it. When you have found the spell you want, you can get back into "PREPARE SPELL" mode by selecting the "R" (for Rune). Alternatively, you may press FIRE or SPACE to continue into "BUY SPELL" mode. (4) "BUY SPELL" MODE On entering this mode from "READ SPELL BOOK" mode you will notice that the medallion has again changed. It is now green with four different symbols. If a wizard is on the screen when you enter this mode, the medallion shows the symbols of the spells he is qualified to teach. There may be up to three. You can preview these spells by selecting the appropriate direction. When you press FIRE you will have tried to buy the highlighted spell. Note that the "up" option means "buy no spell" and will take you back into "MOVE AND CAST". A preview appears in the spell book and normally shows the name of the spell; the symbol for the spell; the amount of magical power you will use up learning the spell; and the wizard level you must attain before trying. Attempting to buy a spell for which you do not have enough power will kill you! Or failure to buy the spell is indicated by the spell book page becoming blank. For some spells the preview will show "Q" followed by a number in place of power. This means that the spell will not cost any power to learn. Instead you must complete a Quest which will be shown on the left side of the screen after the spell has been bought. The quests are numbered 1 to 5. If you agree to do a quest, by selecting as normal, then you must complete it before any wizard will teach you another spell. You complete a quest and gain the spell by finding and touching the quest object. SCORING The score in Wiz is a measure of how much experience you have gained as a wizard. Points are awarded for successful use of magic spells. Keep an eye on your score every time you try something new and you will soon learn the best way to achieve a high score. However, getting a high score isn't just a matter of personal pride, it is the way to higher wizard Levels. The scores at which you attain each new wizard Level are listed below:- LEVEL II - 500 LEVEL III - 1500 LEVEL IV - 3000 LEVEL V - 7500 Credits Program Copyright (c) 1987 Silhouette Software Systems Designed by Simon Price Programmed by John Cain Character Graphics by Antony Scott Cover artwork by Words & Pictures Limited Music and Sound effects by Consult Computer Systems Published by Melbourne House, 6-10 Paul Street, London EC2A 4JH WARNING: Infringement of copyright is a criminal offence. Copying, lending, hiring, public broadcast, transmission or distribution other than in the original package are prohibited without express written permission from Melbourne House (Publishers) Ltd All Melbourne House products are sold subjects to our terms and conditions of sale, copies of which are available on request.