COPYRIGHT 1989
How Bubble Began
In the year 2200, after consuming all of the fossil fuels
located on the planet Earth, the human species has finally run out
of practical energy sources. All factories, facilities and even
several households on the planet have grinded to a halt.
After scanning the galaxy for potential energy sources, a
rumor has developed that in a remote section of the universe a
series of asteroids exist which harbor a new power supply in the
form of Rainbow Crystals. After finding this out, many scientists
struggled to develop a way to obtain the crystals.
Without the fossil fuels which humans have depended on,
scientists could only develop a single spacecraft with the Earths
remaining resources -- a craft powered entirely by manpower. This
highly-experimental craft, designed by professor Bud "Bubbles"
McGee, is so new that it has never actually been tested for long-
distance space travel. Consequently, it has not attracted any
skilled pilots -- forcing Bubbles himself to pilot the craft in an
attempt to save mankind.
Recently, warnings have been sent to Earth by the slime-
creatures who live within the asteroids and guard their crystals.
Any attempt to obtain the crystals, they warned, will be met with
resistance because the creatures hope to rule the universe alone.
They protect their asteroids by an impenetrable mine field,
maintained by robot droids and large guardian lizards who blocks
the door to the underground cavern. Even if a human were skilled
enough to bypass these dangers, they warned of a well guarded maze
of caverns.
Armed only with a rubber-band revolver and his wits, Bubbles
has vowed to gain the crystals anyway. He has discovered that the
large lizard creatures can be bribed with the peanut butter and
jelly sandwiches he plans to carry along. Unfortunately, it takes
three sandwiches to bribe the monsters to leave and he can
only carry one sandwich at a time through the mine field if he hopes
to maneuver quickly enough. Consequently, he must go back and
forth through the mine field each time to feed the lizard.
Since Rainbow crystals are located on more than one asteroid,
he must gather as many as he can by entering one cavern after
another and sending the crystals back to Earth, which depends on
him for the survival of mankind.
Now, it is time for him to embark on his adventure, facing
danger to help all of mankind and prove once and for all
that his spacecraft really works...
Game Instructions
To play Bubbles McGee the Atari ST must be set in low
resolution and a joystick in port 1 is required. Load the file
'BUBBLES.PRG' to boot the game up. A title screen will appear and
Bubbles will be flying around on it.
You have three different levels to choose from: Easy,
Moderate and Hard. Easy is probably a good bet to start out,
until you get used to the game. Moderate starts the game at Level
2 and Hard starts the game at Level 3 allowing the better game
players to bypass the easier levels. Press the function key of
the level you wish to play(F1=easy, F2=moderate, and F3=Hard) to
start the game. To return to the title page press F1, F2 or F3
and to return to GEM press F4 at any time.
Screen 1 (Surface of Asteroid):
The object of this screen is to feed the Lizard three times,
so Bubbles can land on the landing pad, which then will descend
into the maze. In order to feed the Lizard, you must maneuver
down next to him on the right or left side of him and feeding will
occur automatically(You will see and hear the Lizard eat). After
feeding him go back to the top of the screen to get more food and
then feed the Lizard again. The Lizard has to be fed three times
before he will leave.
Sound easy, guess again! All this time you have to avoid the
mines, the mine laying droids and not hit the surface, or its all
over for Bubbles. The asteroids also have gravity which pulls
Bubbles down toward the ground.
Maneuvering of Bubbles is as follows: Push the Joystick
right to fly right, left to fly left, forward to go up and let the
gravity pull you down to go down. The gravity takes some getting
used to, but after lots of practice it'll be a lot easier to
maneuver. Don't let the gravity pull you down too fast because
it'll take longer to reverse your direction.
Screen 2 (The Underground Maze):
After landing on the pad it will descend and take Bubbles
into the maze underground. Here Bubbles must avoid the gun
turrets, slime creatures, electrified walls, fire creatures and
bullets flying around. Bubbles must travel through several mazes
before the final cavern with the energy crystals is reached. The
higher the level the more mazes that must be traveled through.
Movement is fairly easy on this screen (Bubbles is now
walking), the direction the joystick is pushed will be the
direction Bubbles moves. Firing is done by pressing the fire
button and releasing it. When the button is released the
direction the joystick is pushed will be the direction the bullet
is fired. The fire creatures can not be killed by your gun, so
avoid them.
Screen 3(Crystal Cavern):
Control of Bubbles on this screen is just like screen 1.
You must get Bubbles to the right side of the screen without
touching any objects(walls, lava, fire creatures, rocks falling,
and lava bubbles rising up), except the energy crystal found on
the right side of the screen. After the crystal is gotten Bubbles
will rise up to the first screen again.
Scoring & Miscellaneous Information
1500 = Feeding Lizard
125 = Bonus after landing, per mine
125 = Shooting guns & Guards Screen 2
3000 = Getting Energy Crystal
You start with 6 men and every 7,500 receive a bonus guy if
you have less than 5 men in reserve.
Special thanks to Dave Bauman, Kevin Ritzman, Troy Janisch,
and everyone else who kept pushing me to improve the game and
helped with some great ideas.
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This program is SHAREWARE. It was written in Megamax C. I used
some assembler routines to speed up the graphics and to keep the
game moving smoothly. If you enjoy this program please send
your shareware payment of $7.00 to:
David Tassone
2325 Eastman, Apt #3
Green Bay, WI 54302
For hardcopy of source code, please send check for $25.
This is the first program I've released as shareware, I have
several other games I would like to release If the response is
good on Bubbles.
Bubble McGee may be freely distributed as long as this file is
included and unaltered. The program may not be sold without
written consent of the author.