INTRODUCTION In the "Doc the Destroyer" series of games, you take on the role of "Doc" as he adventures his way through fantasy worlds present, past and future. "Doc" is a time traveller whose adventures have somehow led him to the exciting world of the Domed City. Doc does not have access to his time traveller's equipment, since he has lost his time machine; yet he still retains the Power to cloud the minds of other men and effectively change his appearance. You must somehow navigate Doc through the dangerous world of the Domed City and safely win through to your time machine once more. Once you have finished this game, you will be able to save your character and go on to play other games in the "Doc the Destroyer" series. As the character "Doc", you are a very flexible fellow. Doc has a set of characteristics which are used to represent his various skills and abilities which might affect the game. You will be able to shape Doc's characteristics to suit the style of game play that you prefer. Thus strong dumb characters or smart dexterous characters are all possibilities open for you to play. BACKGROUND TO THE CURRENT STORY In the beginning the world was green and bright; Citizens and Rubble Runners were one, and lived in peace and harmony within the CITY. Then the Gods turned their faces from the world, and the Earth was scorched by fire and withered by poisoned rains. Dust rose to cloud the sky, and the great cold began. The High Priest now talked to the people, and told them that he had foreseen the means of their salvation. The Tower of Knowledge at the City's heart became home to a host of Priests who strived to save the people from the terrors of those dark days. One day the Priests declared that all was ready. A wall was thrown around the temple precincts dividing it from the City, and a great dome of energy was raised to seal the City off from the dying planet outside. The key to the Tower of Knowledge was hung about the High Priest's neck as a symbol of his holy office, and the knowledge of the shield's construction was sealed inside the tower for evermore. The Priests removed themselves to the temple precincts, coming forth only to minister to the people. Many strange children were born to the people of the City, and the Priests cast them forth from the City walls, declaring them to be human. Thus came the great rift between the people, who are now divided into the Citizens who live within the City, and the Rubble Runners, who live in the ruins and sewers outside. All remain under the shimmering energy dome, and thus have things stood for two hundred years. Into this strange situation steps our hero, "Doc". Found dazed and naked outside the City in the Rubble, the Rubble Runners have taken you into the tribe and nurtured you back to health. As the character "Doc", you find yourself somewhat confused. Your last memory is of drinking with some of the fellows back at the Time Guardians' academy, and after that everything tends to go a little fuzzy in your memory. The fact that you seem to have been naked when you were found indicates that you at least must have been to one mother of a party. The only problem remaining is to locate your time machine, which must be lying around the area somewhere. While looking for your time machine one day, you reach the lower levels of the sewers and discover that icy cold water has risen over the past day to cover several feet in depth. Rushing back to the Rubble Runner tribe in alarm, you try to warn them that the tribe is in imminent danger of being drowned, only to find that the tribal Shaman has accused you, in your absence, of being a spy for the City temple, and is arranging for your execution. Bowling over the Shaman and his guards, you rush out into the ruins, bereft of your time machine, your companions and any equipment other than the clothes you are standing in, a few coins and a wooden club. Your one saving grace is your psionic ability to cloud the minds of others around you to change your appearance, an ability which relies upon your intelligence. Good luck to you ... DOC'S CHARACTERISTICS Doc has a number of characteristics which are set at the start of the game and which will affect the way you progress through the adventure. The characteristics are: strength endurance intelligence luck charisma The amount which is given to each characteristic is taken from a total number of 60 points, and the total is thus not large enough to set all characteristics to their maximum value of 20. If more points are given to a certain characteristic than are available, then the balance is subtracted from the other characteristics. To select the settings for Doc's characteristics, use the joystick to move the indicating arrow up and down between the displayed characteristics. Push the joystick to the left or right to add or subtract from the indicated characteristic. It will be necessary for you to juggle the point settings of Doc's characteristics several times during play to find his "ideal" characteristic mix. As the game progresses, the opportunity will arise to rest and regain lost endurance. PLAYING THE GAME At each new location or situation in which you find yourself, you will be presented with a set of choices as to your next action. Some choices of action will involve the character in an arcade combat, where you must fight to the death against Doc's opponents before returning to the next set of choices before him. "Doc the Destroyer" combines the strategic element of a multiple choice adventure game with the excitement of an arcade game. How well you do in the multi-choice strategy game will depend very much on how you have set Doc's characteristics. This is because the choices available to the player are dependent on the attributes you have chosen. For example, if you have set Doc's luck to a high value, you may be given the option of sneaking past a guard. However, if Doc has his luck at a low value then he will not be able to sneak past and this choice wail not be available. (Consequently you will probably have to fight past the guard at that section.) However, setting luck to a high value may require other characteristics to be set to a low value. You have to take the good with the bad! At certain points in the multi-choice strategy game, you will have to fight, either by choice or simply by being at a certain location. A fight will drop Doc straight into an arcade combat sequence. THE SCREEN DISPLAY During the strategy sections of the game, the screen will display two windows. At the top of the screen, you will notice the text window. Within this window is displayed the description of the area in which Doc currently stands, as well as descriptions of interesting people or events occurring around him. When a piece of text is too long to fit into the window, the message "more" will appear. Simply hit FIRE, and the next portion of the text will scroll through into the text window. The bottom right-hand corner of the screen is occupied by the games menu window. This window displays the options which now face the character, from which the player must now choose Doc's next action. By using the joystick, the player will be able to manoeuvre an arrow from one of the listed actions to another. When the player wishes to commit Doc to an action, press the firing button, and the action currently indicated by the arrow will be executed. If the player feels the need to examine Doc's characteristics, hitting the "F7" key (for the Commodore), or the "A" key (for the Spectrum) will replace the normal windows with the characteristic display. To the left of the display areas you will find the face of Doc peering out of the screen at you. Doc's face will express a variety of expressions as the game progresses, giving you some indication of just how well you are doing. Doc will laugh or smile, wince or scowl, depending on how he currently feels about your efforts. THE ARCADE GAME When a fight results from your choice of actions in the multi-choice strategy game, you will instantly be deposited into an arcade battle. Here you will be forced to fight to the death against any one of a number of opponents, using the joystick or keyboard to control Doc's moves during the fight. Below the battle field is the combat control panel, which is used to display the strength and endurance of both combatants. The top panel shows the strength of each person involved in the combat (the left-hand display is for Doc, the right-hand display is for his enemy). Immediately below each of these strength displays is the combatant's endurance, which will go down whenever the character is hit. When a character's endurance reaches zero, he or it dies. THE CONTROLS KEYBOARD Q = up Z = down I = left P = right Space = fire Commodore key = pause Run/Stop = restart JOYSTICK Normal joystick LEFT = Move Left UP = Up DOWN = Crouch UP+RIGHT= High Hit RIGHT = Move Right DOWN+RIGHT= Low Hit Firing button depressed DOWN+LEFT = Roundhouse Swing UP = overhead hit UP+RIGHT= High Kick RIGHT = Punch DOWN+RIGHT= Low Hit The above moves are all based upon a character who is facing right. If the player wishes to turn the character about, push the joystick in the desired direction and press the fire button. The joystick moves above will then be reversed.