Get Gems

INSTRUCTIONS

GET_GEM.PRG    version July 24 1993

This is another maze search program
similar in style to my program MAZE3D
in the atari.archive.umich.edu (see
LITPUZ in the Games directory). The
object of the game is to collect most
of the gems scattered in the maze 
before running out of life points. The
program runs only in low resolution
on a colour display.

You are the yellow sprite with the
smiley face. You move the sprite using
either the joystick or the arrow keys
near the numeric keypad. The program
does not respond to the fire button
on the joystick. As you move the sprite
the program automatically scrolls the
screen so you are generally centered.
However, you lose life points,
dependent on how far the screen has
shifted. You gain life points from the
gems that you picked up. To pick up
a gem move your sprite over the gem.

To complicate the game, there are a
number of robots - some moving around
in the maze. They are generally a
nuisance. Try to avoid bumping them
as you lose 5 life points. There is
no penalty if they bump into you.
Some of the stationary robots are
useful as they can break down walls
when they hit them. You must nudge them
to get them moving but you don't have
to much control on where they go.

The squares marked with a T are
teleports. There are two types of 
teleports. One of them automatically
scrolls the screen so you get to view
other hidden portions of the maze.
You lose life points dependent on the
distance you travel. The other teleport 
doesn't cost you anything, but you
don't see where you are going.

The floor that you travel on may have
special properties. Some floors are
once only and turn into walls as you
walk on them. Try not to get trapped.
If you do, you can restart this maze
by hitting the UnDo key. If you give
up, hit the Esc key to get back to the
top menu. Other floors are twice only,
slippery floors, barriers to the robots
and etc.

Once you have collected most of the
gems (all except 6), you are allowed
to exit out of the maze by moving your
sprite to the purple square with the
letters EXIT. The program automatically
progresses to the next level.


The Title page menu allows you to chose
the starting level of the maze. Each
level is stored in a file called
GETMExx.dat where xx is the level
number. The joystick response controls
the length of the pause before the
sprite responds to the joystick
control. If the pause is to short you
may miss an intersection.

The mazes are not too hard so that young
children could enjoy the program. The
higher levels are a little more
difficult.

The program has an editor embedded for
making your own mazes. See the file
gem_edt.txt for instructions on how
to use the editor.


The  program is public domain including 
the GFA Basic sources. Some of my 
other in the atari.archive.umich.edu
are 

Games/Litpuz
Games/Kids_prog/fouryrs
Games/Kids_prog/fiveyrs
Music/musedt
Music/muslurn


Seymour Shlien
624 Courtenay Avenue
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada, K2A 3B5.