RASTERSCAN THE GAME The Scan confuses. Where is the heat? It is not appearing. Have they left with the movement? Cold. The Scan confuses. We are almost unmoving. Are we deactive? The Scan confuses. I cannot assemble to memory. It contains damage. Am I to unfunction? I confuse the Scan. All is not well. It does not run, the heat is dying ...am I to protect it or to end it? It will not assemble yet. Memory remains but it is not uncorrupted. My function must be complete, the heat must tell me how, but it is not on Scan. The Scan enlightens. We are 1. All else is gone. It is damaged as am I. Repair and reprogram. Correct before we terminate to heat source conjunction which will destroy and I must guard that which is within it. The Scan fails. I know only what is within it and yet the unfuncion is else. Without Scan conjunction will occur without control. Movement remains sufficient to complete the meeting. I must restore more to avoid it. All is unfunction. Repair all within and else to regain control. 1 Scan 1. Readout: TYPE: MSB MAINTENANCE DROID CLASS 4 POWER: FUSION CLASS 2 TRANSPORTER: SELF CENTERED, SHORT RANGE CAPABILITY: STEERAGE AND REPAIR CRUISER CLASS X OPERABILITY: 90% PROGRAM CORRUPT, FUNCTIONING DAMAGE TO MEMORY CIRCUITS M.S.B. returns to the Scan. I am again. Location unclear. Meaning impaired beyond recall. Scan for RASTERSCAN:- TYPE: CRUISER CLASS X POWER: BATTERY POWER FUSION REACTORS (INOPERATIVE) ENGINE: FOUR, RATING 250c (INOPERATIVE) CAPACITY: 57K MT CARGO. 250 UNITS CONTROL SYSTEMS: STANDARD THREE SCANNER CONTROL (INOPERATIVE) RANGE: 3K PARCELS OPERABILITY: 10% POWER AND CONTROL SYSTEMS NOT POWERED. HULL INTEGRITY IMPAIRED. Rasterscan returns to memory. I am here again. Damage all around function must be fulfilled. Repair and control before location is terminated in conjunction. Movement begins to complete undamage... PLAYING THE GAME Rasterscan is an animated adventure game without any text. All locations, puzzles, clues and solutions are depicted graphically. Althoug joystick controlled, the game requires no arcade skills whatsoever. The game takes place aboard a large spaceship, the Rasterscan. After a skirmish the Rasterscan is badly crippled and drifting helplessly towards a star. The player takes the role of a small, spherical service robot by the name of M.S.B. Unfortunately M.S.B.'s only remaining program is how to repair toasters and he hasn't a clue how to operate the spaceship. The object of the game is to repair and control the Rasterscan preferably before it collides with the star! M.S.B. M.S.B. has no limbs to manipulate objects but he (it?) can cause an object to teleport from one place to another. This is done by placing M.S.B. over the required object, pressing fire, moving M.S.B. to the object's destination and pressing fire again. The object will appear directly below M.S.B. All machinery and instruments can (once repaired) be operated by plugging M.S.B. into them. A window will then appear showing relevant information/options in a graphical form. LOCKS Certain areas of the ship are initially blocked off by locked doors. Locks take the form of a simple logic puzzle which must be completed in a unlimited number of moves. The solution is slightly different for each lock. MACHINERY All machinery and instruments on the ship are designed to be functional and their purpose can be worked out logically. The player must repair each item, ensure it is connected to the power supply then work out what it does. Several options will cause the game to be lost so a cautious approach is called for. (i) The Generator At the start of the game the ship's generator has ceased to function and the ship is on battery power. The battery will not last very long and has only enough power to support the ship's basic life-support systems. The generator is powered by liquid fuel. A fuel pipe runs from the tank to the generator. Part of the pipe runs along the outside of the ship and this has been damaged, causing a leak. In order to fix the leak, M.S.B. must collect a pipe section from the store, find the leak and repair it. (ii) The Engines There are four engines on the ship, all powered by electricity from the generator. Between each engine and the power supply, there are two switches; the main on.off switch and the emergency cut-off switch. Switches are scattered around the ship so the player must follow electricity cables carefully to discover which switches are connected to which engine. Many of the cables are broken. The store room contains all the necessary spare parts. Once an engine has been switched on, the ship will accelerate. (iii) The Scanner The scanner lies on the bridge of the ship. It must be switched on. In a room near the scanner which is also locked, there are three switches and only the correct combination of off-on will switch on the scanner. The scanner, when operational, will show a view of the Rasterscan and its surroundings. On the far right of the picture is the star, towards which the ship is being drawn. The ship itself is shown as a flashing point. Also shown are several planets. STEERING THE SHIP This is the most difficult of the tasks. A room near the scanner is the control room. Here the player can control the speed and direction of the ship. There are four indicators which show the speed of each of the engines. In the middle of the room is a circle with a cross near the centre. The distance of the cross from the centre of the circle indicates the speed of the ship and its position relative to the centre indicates the ship's direction. To change the course of the ship the player must move M.S.B. to the desired position of the cross and press fire. The speed of the engines will adjust accordingly. The game is completed when Rasters can safely reaches the edge of the scanner. THE STATUS PANEL At the bottom of the screen is the status panel, which shows: M.S.B's location within the ship. which object M.S.B. is carrying, a fuel gauge, and danger level. SAVE GAME OPTION The player can save the status of the game to tape at any time by operating the tape machine. This will, of course, have to be repaired before use. CONTROLLING M.S.B. Joystick or Keyboard. Q = Up A = Down O = Left P = Right SYMBOL SHIFT = FIRE LOADING INSTRUCTIONS Type LOAD "" and press ENTER. The program code, graphic representation and artwork are the copyright of Mastertronic and may not be reproduced, stored, hired or broadcast in any form whatsoever without the written permission of Mastertronic. All rights reserved. Mastertronic Limited 1987.