Prensorium

                             PRENSORIUM 
                             ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
        Designed by Martin and Adrian Gibbins.
        68000 coding, graphics and sound by Martin Gibbins.
        
Prensorium is an arcade puzzle type game, the object of which is to 
destroy all enemies on each of fifty levels.

Each level has a bonus which counts down. Once this bonus reaches 100, 
a siren is sounded as a warning. If the bonus reaches zero, things 
really hot up and bombs start falling from the sky.  

Before starting a level, a code is given. These codes can be entered 
on the title screen.

After completing five levels, a bonus level appears. Complete this and you
will be rewarded with two extra lives and a 10000 point bonus. 
Failure to complete a bonus level does not cost a life.

Completing fifty levels is easier said than done. You start the game with
three lives and no weapons. Killing enemies requires you to collect mines
and/or lure them on to traps that are scattered around each level.

Each enemy killed score 100 points.
Each bomb that falls and doesn't kill you when the bonus runs out scores
10 points.

The top twenty high scores are saved to disk as a 140 byte file. 

Control is with the joystick.

Pause the game by pressing 'P', press 'P' again to unpause.

Whilst in pause mode - '*' on the numeric keypad restarts the game.
                       '-' on the numeric keypad loses a life (just in
                           case you get trapped and can't kill yourself)

Gameplay takes place on a grid of 20 by 10 tiles.

Below is a list of all tiles, pick-ups and traps that appear throughout
the game:

                                 TILES
                                 ÿÿÿÿÿ

   i)   Plain tile - plain blue tile. Traps and mines can be laid on these 
        tiles.

  ii)   Indestructable tile - as plain tile with a bolt in each corner.

 iii)   Barrier tile - as plain tile with yellow flashing barrier(s). 
        You cannot walk through the barrier(s).
      
        If an enemy is killed with a mine on one of these tiles, the 
         barrier(s) on the SAME tile will be destroyed and a tile with
        a hole will appear (see below). Barriers on other tiles will
        not be damaged, even if they are close to the explosion.

  iv)   Broken tile - has a huge bottomless hole in it. Once walked on,
        the tile will fall away. It is not possible to stand still on one
        of these tiles and survive.

   v)   Enemy starting positions - marked with an 'X'. Mines and traps
        cannot be laid on these tiles.

  vi)   Forcefields - have moving coloured squares on them. Cannot be 
        walked on unless the appropriately coloured key has been 
        collected (see PICK-UPS below). Mines and traps cannot be laid
        on these tiles. Enemies cannot pass through either.
  
 vii)   Blockers - appear as a tile with a dome or a hole in the centre.
        Pressing the fire button on one of these tiles pops up a dome
        or pushes in a hole depending on its state prior to pressing
        the fire button. Enemies cannot walk over these tiles in their
        dome state.

viii)   Direction restictors - as plain tile but have two grey arrows
        poiting either up & down or left & right. Movement is restricted
        to the directions indicated with the arrows.

  ix)   Escalators - appear as a plain tile with a single blue arrow
        indicating the direction. Once on an escalator, all movement is 
        restricted until the end is reached. Traps and mines cannot
        be laid on these tiles.

   x)   Teleport pads - tiles with glowing blue circular pads. Activated
        using the fire button. Destinations are not random. During 
        teleportation, you are invulnerable.

  xi)   Home base - where you start and where you must go once all the 
        enemies are dead to complete the level. Press the fire button 
        on this tile when all the enemies are dead to teleport to the 
        next level. Enemies will not walk on this tile under any
        circumstances.

 
                                PICK-UPS
                                ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
All pick ups appear as blue circular objects with distinctive markings
and are collected simply by walking over them.

   i)   Shield - marked with a yellow flashing 'S'. Gives limited time of
        invulnerability.

  ii)   Speed up - marked with two yellow flashing arrows. Doubles speed
        of player. Unlike the shield, speed ups run out due to use and
        not through time.

 iii)   Smart bomb - marked with a yellow flashing mushroom cloud. Kills
        all enemies currently on screen.

  iv)   Mines - marked with a yellow flashing mine symbol. Gives an extra 
        five mines.

   v)   Score bonus - marked with a yellow flashing question mark. Gives
        a boost to the score, funnily enough. Bonus is the level * 100.

  vi)   Forcefield keys - marked with coloured circles. Green keys allow 
        entry through green forcefields, etc.


                                TRAPS
                                ÿÿÿÿÿ

   i)   Lava pits - unmissable. Enemies will not walk on a lava pit unless
        you were or are in its sight. Once and enemy has been toasted, the
        lava pit will cool down and turn grey. You can however walk over
        a lava pit without a care in the world.

  ii)   The two-piecer - as its name implies there is indeed two parts
        to a two-piecer. Each part has a colour bar at the back and two
        glowing yellow spikes at the front. To kill an enemy with one of 
        these, both parts must be the same colour, one part must be 
        pointing down and the other must be pointing up with one
        walk-on-able tile in between. Once an enemy has been fried with
        a two-piecer, they crack up and cannot be picked up and used again.
        Also the tiles that they were laid on become unmineable and no
        two-piecers can be dropped on them.


All in all, not very many ways to kill enemies is there?!. Oh well, you'll
have to put you're thinking cap on and think of some more.

Here's a few hints to help you on your way :

        Enemies become mad, thoughtless and stupid once they have caught 
        sight of you. Use this to you're advantage. Once they see you, they
        will go for you until they have to stop or they have caught sight
        of you again. 
   
        One click of the joystick in any direction will take you to the
        next tile. You can reverse direction once you are moving, but you
        cannot, say, go left when moving up or down.

        Enemies cannot walk over parts of two-piecers.

        Pause the game on each level and think about how to solve it
        before jumping in at the deep end.

        If you run out of bonus, keep on the move, the bombs are
        possible to dodge.


Bit at the end....

        I started writing this game about four months ago and had to learn
68000 in the process. Not bad going, huh?!

        Thanks have to go to ST Format for running the 68000 tutorials
with the Bullfrog team. Even though I only have one issue of the tutorials
the listing supplied was absolutely indispensible learning material. 
Great stuff, cheers!

        I spent the last month and a half designing levels and touching
up the game. Designing the fifty levels was sheer hell, so I hope you
enjoy it.

        Anyway.....

        This game is shareware, so if you do like it and would like a
copy of the Prensorium screen designer and a 1993 version of the classic
Vic-20 game, Blitz (I'm calling it Obliterator), then register with a fiver 
to the address below.
Your contributions will be greatly appreciated.

        Send registration fees to:

        Martin Gibbins
        56 Colwyn Avenue,
        Derby.
        DE23 6HG.
        England.

        Thankyou for reading and I hope you enjoy the game.

        Cheers! Ta very much. Murky bucket and all that!