When you first launch Avara, you are shown several windows. Each window contains controls and information for the different aspects of the game. The windows are explained in greater detail later in the documentation, but for now we will concentrate on getting a Player File set up, learning the keys used to pilot a HECTOR, loading a mission, and starting and pausing the game. Most important, this chapter explains why you should save your game right away.
Saving Your Game
This first thing you should do when you open Avara for the first time is type your name in the “Player Name” field. The “Player Name” field is in the Player window, and should be the upper-left most window on your screen. After you type your name in the Player window, choose Save As... from the File menu and save the game in the Avara folder (or wherever you like).
 
Avara will save your game as you play, but first you need to create a file so that Avara knows where to save your data. This file will be automatically updated as you play.
Piloting a HECTOR
The next thing you need to know are the basic controls used to pilot a HECTOR. The HECTOR is the vehicle you use to interact with the world of Avara.
Choose Keyboard from the Window menu. This brings up the Keyboard Editor window. In this window, you will see a keyboard map and a listing of controls with associated icons. The Keyboard Editor window has a drag and drop interface. You can click on the various icons in the window to see which controls they represent and what they do. To assign a control to a key, simply drag the icon onto the desired key in the keyboard map. To remove a control from the keyboard, drag the icon off the key and back into the icon field.
 
You can assign multiple controls to one key. The default keyboard layout has an example of this. The “c” key is set to both load, and fire a grenade. It is a quick way to get off a shot.
In all cases, your mouse will control the head of the HECTOR. Your mouse button will always fire the currently selected weapon. All other controls are on the keyboard. This includes all other movements of the HECTOR.
If you like to learn a game by playing it, try leaving the Keyboard Editor window up while you play so that you can pause the game and refer to the key mapping.
Loading a Mission
Avara missions that are available to play are listed in the lower portion of the Player window. This is the window where you typed your name. The first (and at this point, only) mission available is called Training Course. Click once anywhere in the rectangle where Training Course is listed. Avara will load this mission. As you complete missions, other missions become available to you. To load any listed mission for play, just click on the mission.
Pausing and Starting a Game
After you have a Mission loaded, the next thing you need to know is how to pause the game.
“PAUSE the game? But I haven’t even STARTED yet!”
When you play Avara, the mouse is used to control the HECTOR. That means that while Avara is running, there is no cursor and you won’t have access to any of the menus or controls on your Macintosh. To get your cursor back, you need to pause the game.
By default, both the “ESC” key and the “Delete” key will pause Avara. You can use the Keyboard Editor window to change these keys or set new ones according to your preference.
Now to the good part, STARTING the game.
You can start an Avara mission by choosing Start from the Game menu, or by pressing ‚åò-R. When you do this, the Game window will come forward and the mission will start.
If you have paused Avara, you can continue the mission by choosing Resume from the Game menu, or by pressing ‚åò-R.
Loading in a Different Set of Missions
In order to display a new set of missions in the Player window, choose Open... from the File menu and select any set of Avara missions on your Macintosh. When you have opened a new set of missions, you will see the missions listed in the Player window change. To load a mission from the new list, just click on it.
