************************************************************************ EDGE/Net Yaroze anniversary competition 1998 Game name: 'Blitter Boy in Operation: Monster Mall' (incomplete version) by: Chris Chadwick - VideoClay E-mail: chris.chadwick@dial.pipex.com ************************************************************************* The boring story bit... ----------------------- This 2.5D, sprite-based game takes place in a futuristic, high-rise shopping mall of the future. Lighning from a ferocious electrical storm has struck the top floor where the video arcade is situated, causing all manner of monstrous creatures from the video games to, er... 'magically' come to life, and rampage through the entire building. Enter the mysterious Blitter Boy. While merely a child of unknown age and origin, this pint-sized prodigy is a whiz-kid in the field of advanced electronic weaponary. The mighty 'PolyGun' he wields is controlled by his computer backpack, which can alter the PolyGun's fire-power by inserting different electronic cartridges called 'PolyCarts'. The computer also relays status information to Blitter Boy via a radio link which provides a HUD (heads-up display) to the inside of his visor, and audio to his helmet-mounted headphones (often used to simply provide destruction-inspiring music, 'Apocalypse Now' stylee). All tooled-up and ready to go, 'Operation: Monster Mall' seemed quite straightforward to Blitter Boy at first: work his way to the top floor using the 'TeleVators', annihilating all foe en route. But what's this? ...Six babies abandoned in the ground floor creche during the evacuation! Now sealed in, Blitter Boy has no choice except to take the wayward ankle-biters with him by escorting them to the TeleVator on each floor. Oh, well. Blitter Boy isn't just in it for the ride anyway, he's a mercenary looking to collect the big pay-off when the mission is complete. He'll be grabbing as much loot as he can find on the way, too. Anyways, onward and upward! Let's go O-BLITTER-8... Take me there! -------------- You know the drill by now. You dont? Oooh, I'll tell you, then! (blimey, 3.51am and I'm turning into Franky Howerd :) In SIOCONS, press F3, then type and enter: AUTO :to download and run the full monty (i.e. GFX and prog) QUICK :to just download and run the prog again How do I control the little geezer? ----------------------------------- On controller 1, press: D-pad for eight directional (na, get away!) movement [CROSS] = regular, straight firing (press and hold for auto-fire) [TRIANGLE] = wavey firing (press and hold for auto-fire) (just something different to do with the PolyGun until I have installed it's full fire-power in a later version) [CIRCLE] = jump (not a great deal of use in this version but will be needed in later versions to reach airborne enemies and pick-ups, and to avoid ground hazards) [SQUARE] = energy spirt (press and hold to make the little fella move double- quick time, in order to avoid a sticky situation or reach a fading pick-up in time, etc. WARNING: use sparingly as this has a predictable effect on Blitter Boy's energy level) Press START & SELECT together **DURING PLAY** to view a delightful brick wall, AKA the Yaroze startup screen (or is that the other way around?) I've also left in a couple of my debug functions for those that want to take a more considered look at the action: [L1] = pause (press and hold) [L2] = slo-mo (press and hold) What's on-screen? ----------------- I see, in the top-left corner, a score in the form of 'smiley dollars' amassed. You're gonna have to work hard for ya money, though. No 'squillion points for pressing fire' in this game, man! Top-right is a row of dummies (in the USA, known as pasi... passy... pasify..., oh, you know! Those things babies suck on... No, the other thing babies suck on - made of plastic and rubber). Anyway, these represent the amount of babies left to rescue. Along the bottom of the screen we witness the inevitable return of the 'energy bar' (gasp!). Bump into too many 'jelly-guts', or run around too much (using 'energy spirt') and Blitter Boy becomes too knackered to continue the mission. Yes, you guessed it... GAME OVER! The bad news :( --------------- As this version is not complete, there are a few things you may find conspicuous by their absence. Sound, for a start (groan!). As this is pretty much the last thing to be added to a project - and Blitter Boy is my 1st effort - I haven't yet tackled sonics (seems quite complex from what I've gleaned; I'm no musician, either) There's also a distinct lack of pick-ups - apart from gold, silver and bronze 'smiley dollars' - which leaves the mighty PolyGun stuck in first gear for now, sorry! Only one type of monster at the mo, too (D'oh!). AND it's one I'm sure you'll all recognise... now you can get your revenge and pop 'em big time ;) One last thing! --------------- See if you can spot the oh-so-subtle-brown-nose attemp to sway the compo judges, almost subliminally (yeah, right!) concealed in the background graphics :)