ABYSS

Manual for commodore C-64 C128

LOADING

Cassette: When you own a C-128 switch it to C-64 mode first. Place the cassette in the recorder and rewind the tape. Press the keys SHIFT and RUN/STOP simultaneously. Press play on tape will appear on the screen. Press the play-button on the recorder. The game will now load and start automatically.

Floppy Disk: When you own a C-128 switch it to C-64 mode first. Insert the floppy disk into the drive and type: LOAD:*,8,2 and press RETURN. The game will now load and start automatically.

DESCRIPTION OF THE GAME

Object of the game is to move all the diamond-shaped sprites (from now on cough drops) to their destinations: the grey circles with animated yellow rings. To move a cough drop, you jump on top of it with the player. The cough bonbon then will move one square in the same direction that the player did. It is not possible to move the cough drop to a higher surface. On the other hand it can be moved to a lower plane and when doing so will move one extra square.

The frequently appearing dirty  jumpers have different intelligence levels. This means that the smarter ones will not often fall in holes or other obstacles. When they collide both player and Dirty jumper  will be destroyed. A dirty jumper will also die when it lands on top of a cough drop. The cough drop will move as if pushed by the player with the exception that a dirty jumper can push the cough drop to a higher surface.
Tiles with four blinking dots are selective mines that only explode when the player lands on them. Dirty jumpers and cough drops will not trigger the mine.

Dark blue tiles represent deep water. Everything that falls in will sink and be destroyed.

When the player lands on a tile that looks like a pyramid the player will advance another square in the same direction automatically. Changing direction or stopping the player is not possible.

The elevated tile with the rotating tip will push the player in a random direction

The tiles with a checkerboard pattern can disappear. They have 5 stages. Each time the player lands on it the pattern will become finer, until the tile disappears, leaving a hole.

The ramps or tilted tiles will change the moving direction of the player into the direction of the decline.

Switching tiles are surrounded with a pattern and have either a hole or a tile in the center. A switch (see below) toggles the center tile between those two states.

The pickup tiles look similar to switching tiles but have rivets in their center tile and on each corner. When the player is in Wrench mode (see below) it can pick up the center tile and move it to another pickup square.

Glass tiles are transparent but show a slightly shifted image of the background. The player can navigate over these tiles normally.

A memory tile looks like a plain grey circle, no symbol in the center. After the joystick button is pressed when the player is on this tile, the player will reappear here to continue the game after a fall or being killed.

Pressing the button on top of a Collection tile (blue bottle) will empty the bottle and points are added to your score (see below for more about points and scoring)

Start tiles consist of a diamond-shaped symbol to which a yellow square(hangar) is attached. By pressing the fire button on a start tile cough drops can be collected here. A short while after pressing the button the hangar opens and a cough drop appears. The hangar remains open until the cough drop is placed on a target tile, or falls into the water or a hole. After removing the last cough drop the hangar stays open forever. Each level has 8 cough drops, regardless  how many start tiles there are.

A target tile for a cough drop is represented by a square with yellow rings that animate inwards. Cough drops, the player and the dirty jumpers  will all fall in and disappear.

To get into Magnet mode the player has to move to a Magnet tile (Horseshoe magnet in a circle) and press the fire button. When magnet mode is active a magnet-icon appears in the status bar. In this mode the player can, while positioned directly next to a cough drop, pull it towards itself. This is a one-shot action. After using it the magnet mode is deactivated and the icon also disappears from the status bar. Activating magnet mode will disable wrench mode (see below).

The player can get into Wrench mode by pressing the fire button once on top of a tile with a wrench depicted on it. In wrench mode the pickup tiles can be moved. To do this press the button when the player is on a pickup tile and simultaneously jump in off the tile. Now you carry the center tile and a corresponding icon will appear in the status bar. By pressing the button again while carrying a tile and landing on an empty pickup square you can drop the tile again, and the icon disappears from the status bar. Activating Wrench mode will disable magnet mode.

Because the wrench can be used with pickup tiles only, a means to manipulate switching tiles is needed. This looks like a stylized switch. By pressing the button while on this tile the center of switching tiles can be toggled on or off.

To move from one level to the next, press the fire button TWICE on top of a tile with a 4-armed rotor.

SCORING

The biggest amount of points are scored by moving a cough drop onto a target tile. The first cough drop that is moved into a target tile scores 0.3%.  The next cough drops on the same target tile only yield 0.1%. To get a high score you should place cough drops in as many different target tiles as possible.

Emptying a blue bottle (collection tile) will add 0.1% to your score.

When you move to a next level you will be credited 0.1% for each life you had left before leaving the previous level, provided that all 8 cough drops were removed from the hangars and no cough drops are left lying around in the level. In the next level you will start with a full set of lives.

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

In the title screen:
F1   Choose starting level (1-4)
F2   Switch between Competition and Practice mode
F3   Show current high-scores
F5   Resume a saved game, select with CRSR UP/DOWN
F7   Start game. Fire button does the same.

During gameplay:
CTRL-Q      End the game (GAME OVER)
CTRL-S      Save game (the starting state of the level is saved)
RESTORE   Back to title screen
SPACE      Pause the game, resume play with fire button 

HAVE FUN PLAYING!

ABYSS (C) 1987 KING SOFT

ATTENTION! If this program pleases you then you can requrest our
current complete catalog with a huge selection of other products for
your Commodore 64 or 128.

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