Grand Slam/GrandSlam volume 1.iso/xtrac004/ixrtl/inx.doc

Text File | 1994-09-15 | 25KB | 562 lines

                    ┌───────────────────────────┐
                    │ Unusual Software Presents │
                    └─────┬───────────────┬─────┘
                          │  Inspector X  │
              ┌───────────└───────────────┴────────────┐
              │ written by Gabor G. Laufer, M.D., 1994 │
              └────────────────────────────────────────┘


* Hardware *

The game requires VGA (or better) monitor and a Soundblaster compatible
card. While the game works without a Soundblaster card (even without any
sound card), but it looses a lot from its flavor without it.
No need for mouse or joystick, everything happens from the keyboard.
386 or better is highly recommended.
If there is no Soundblaster in your computer, start game typing: IX 2

There are three levels of instructions.
Level 1: Very few things described. For a true intellectual challenge.
Level 2: More detailed.
Level 3: Very detailed.
=========================================================================
┌───────────────────────┐
│ Level 1 Instructions: │
└───────────────────────┘
* Basic description of the game *

Inspector X is partly a replayable "adventure" game, mostly a logic
game, definitely out of ordinary. The concept is relatively simple:
You are Inspector X, a private eye who's task is to track down
the 10 most wanted criminals, remove them from the streets of the city
and get paid for all this. In fact, the bottom line, the score equals to
the amount of money you earn in any given game.

The story takes place in an imaginary city, 30 streets long and 30
avenues wide. You go from intersection to intersection, encounter
buildings, people, items, transportation, etc., you decide which way to
go and what to do. It is replayable, because every time you start the
game, everything and everybody will be in a different position, thus the
logic flow will be different every time. In other words, you can't
"learn" the game, as if it was a regular adventure game.

* The way the game starts *

You start out in the middle of the city. Most of the times you will be
looking at your "transmitter", which will display most of the
communication between you and the other characters in the story. This
"instrument" also has a map on it, which always shows your position in
the city and the places you visited already. It has a "Locator" on it,
which is pretty much like a compass, but it shows the direction where
the "most wanted" criminals can be found. Additional gauges and status
lights are also available. The function of those are explained, if you
press the F1 key, once you started to play the game.

The first thing you must do after the game began, is to find a police
station. You must report there to get your work assignment.

* Keys used in the game *

You move around in the city by pressing the four cursor keys.
There are single letter and single word commands.
The list of those commands (explained) can be also found if you press
the F1 key once the game started. While moving around in the city, if
you want to enter a single word command, you must press the ENTER key
first. The word: Input:> will appear on the top half of the screen and
that is where you have to type in the single word commands. If the
program doesn't respond to a command, you either typed the wrong word,
or the right word but in the wrong situation. The number of those single
word commands are barely more than a dozen, it will take minutes to
learn them (listed under F1 help)

Certain events sometimes require to Press ENTER to Continue, without
being prompted. These situations are usually self-evident.

* The game in progress *

There are 10 major criminals (the 10 most wanted) and many "minor"
criminals are dispersed throughout the city. When you report the first
time at a police station, make sure you remember the description of
Grinbow, the "top most wanted" criminal, because later the identification
of him will be a critical part of the game. Once you left the police
station, you are on your own. Don't forget, the score depends on one and
only one thing: the amount of CASH you succeed to earn. So, even if you
collect other valuables, you must sell them in order to get credit for
them. You can end the game after catching all the ten "most wanted",
by reporting to a police station again and end your assignment.
You can also save a game in progress and resume it later (load).
More than one player can have a saved game in progress.

There is a limit on certain objects you can carry with you:
Jewels:5
Drugs (chemicals):5
Locator charge:500
Phaser (gun, weapon):5
Phaser charge (bullet):50
Handcuff:5

A few last words here:
The Locator needs special energy cartridge.
You need food to survive.
Press letter I for an inventory.
Press letter N for a "notebook".

For a true intellectual challenge don't read more instructions.


============================================================================
┌───────────────────────┐
│ Level 2 Instructions: │
└───────────────────────┘

* Various tips, correlations, commands *

In the Banks you can deposit your cash.
In some situations they may take your cash, but will let you keep your
"Bank Card". In some other situations however, you can lose it all.
Command to enter the bank: BANK

In the General Stores you can buy food. The basic purpose of the food is
to maintain your Strength, but the food has at least one more critical
role.
Command to buy food:FOOD
Command to eat the food: EAT

In the Pawn Shops you can buy and sell various things.
Watch out: free enterprise is very much in effect.
Command to enter a pawn shop:PAWN

In the Hardware Stores you can buy Locator cartridges.
Each cartridge contains 100 "move" worth of locator power.
If the locator power runs out, the locator stops operating. New
cartridge of course will make it work again.
The command to buy it: LOCATOR
(You can turn on and off the locator with a single letter command:L
For the single letter commands you don't have to bring up the input
prompt.)

Also in the hardware store you can buy weapon, a phaser.
The command to buy it:GUN
Also in the hardware store you can buy "bullets" or the way it is called
in this game, phaser charge cartridges.
Each cartridge contains 10 shots.
The command to buy it:BULLET

You can use a CAB and travel to anywhere in the city.

You can DIG in a trash can and find just about everything. Including
trouble, in form of a bomb. If you find a bomb, you must defuse it or
else lights will be out.

You can only ARREST the 10 most wanted criminals. You can't see them on
the street, but you can hear them, or identify them on the locator.
For those criminals who you can see (their presence is displayed on your
"transmitter"), just CALL the police.

There is a stolen famous modern painting. Visit a museum for further
instructions.
Command to enter a museum:MUS

Enter the BAR for a little friendly gambling.
(Note: If you have anything slower than a 486 DX x, it is not
recommended that you choose The Circle option in the bar. It will work,
it will be just very slow, use The Track)

You can SAVE and LOAD a game. However, you can't save it, die and reload
it, as you can do with most games. When you save a game, it will
automatically end. Next time when you want to continue to play, just run
the game, issue the LOAD command, type in your name and you can continue
where you left off. However, if you die or end the game in any other way
you can't repeat loading the same saved game. You must save it again
somewhere along the line. In other words, you can't "cheat."
The program can save the game if you press CTRL-S and it will create a
file called SAFE.INX
If something happens (computer hangs, lightning strikes, etc.) you can
restart the game and issue the LOAD command, type in SAFE for the name.
This will restore the interrupted game, including the actual name under
which it was played, so long as at least 10 minutes elapsed in that
game.

As you walk around in the city, you leave a trail, so you can know where
you were. You can change the color of the trail by pressing the numbers
between 1-9. It is up to you what you use this feature for.

When the wind blows dust in your eyes and you can't see, keep on moving.

As you will find out quickly, heavy rain can soak your food.

Watch out for those alleys, minor criminals can give you some major
headache. Try to find correlations when it gets to a confrontation in an
alley. You can win these confrontations, but when you lose them, you can
lose them in various ways (and outcomes). Make sure you check you
inventory after losing or winning a confrontation.
When you get the message "...getting late, finish your mission...",
those minor criminals can appear, even if you are not at an alley.
If you fight and win in an alley, you can call the police to pick up the
criminal (or the body). You will end up with all the possession of the
criminal, but watch out if you also get some drugs.

While the author of this program is conservative, there is a very
liberal role for the beggars in this game, and for you too. The beggars
are not crazy (you are, if you don't realize it soon enough).

Your old friend has a better memory than you do, but they are good only
for one thing.

Besides the pawn shop, somebody else sells drugs, for pretty darn cheap.
In other words, you can also try to become a dirty cop. Of course, it
has it's risks. Also, if you find drugs in the trash, watch out because
the police cars with dogs may catch you.

===========================================================================
┌───────────────────────┐
│ Level 3 Instructions: │
└───────────────────────┘

About the length of the game

In the right lower corner of the screen there is a "move counter".
Right above that, there is the time indicator.
Actions don't increase the move counter, only if you move with the
cursor keys.
Up to 500 moves the counter has no significance. At 500th move you will
get a message to finish the mission because it is getting late. You may
continue as long as you wish, but from this point on there will be an
increasing chance for the so called "minor criminals" to sneak up on
you, even if you are not next to an alley. After move 600 the chances
are 10%/move and it will no longer increase.
Also, there is a 150 minutes maximum playing time. You must finish all
transactions (including catching all 10 most wanted criminals) before
the time expires, report to the police and (E)nd game. If you run out of
time, you will "die" with no score recorded.

About Grinbow

Make sure you remember the description of Grinbow when you get your
assignment at the police station. You may jot it down in the internal
"notebook".
After you catch Grinbow, anytime you can report at a police station and
identify him for an extra $10,000 (The identification process is
self-explanatory). If you miss the identification, you end up with
nothing, so do it only if you are sure.
During the game there will be one more time when you can see the
description of Grinbow. Just before trying to arrest him, not only the
third square light on the "transmitter" will turn green, but the fourth
one too (from the top). When you type in ARREST and get to the "arrest
scene", the description will be there.

About the Locator

First buy (or find in the trash) a Locator cartridge. Then press letter
L to turn it on (or off). Use the locator as you would use a compass.
Once you get to the street corner where one of the ten most wanted hangs
out, you will hear steps, or if you turned off the sound, the third from
the top square light on your transmitter will turn green. Issue the
command ARREST and you will get to the "arrest scene".
Any time you turn off the Locator and turn it back on, it will "lock on"
to the next one of ten most wanted (the number on the Locator indicates
which one). Because of that, the Locator doesn't always lock on to the
nearest criminal. However, if you bump into one, you can still arrest
them. Once you "lock on" to a criminal, he will start moving. For each
move you make, he may or may not move (one street or avenue). The
Locator remains "locked" and will indicate the new position of the
criminal.

The Locator, just like any instrument, can malfunction, but it is quite
rare. If it does, try to go to the opposite direction.

Note: As you move, observe the needle of the Locator. From the movement
of it you can estimate not only the direction, but the distance as well.
A small increment move indicate a larger distance and a larger increment
move indicates a smaller distance. The sudden large needle movements
suggests the the criminal is real near.

The final cornering can be tricky, since if he moves, he can move the
same distance as you do. Once you step on the same "square", the
face plate of the Locator will change color, you will hear the
criminal's steps (if you have Soundblaster) and you are ready to Arrest
him (by issuing the command ARREST).


About the "arrest scene"

You will see a grid, where you are represented with a small yellow
circle, the criminal is with a small black circle. You can move by using
the cursor keys. Every time you move one square, so will the criminal.
The goal is to "catch him". Catching means to arrive to the same
unoccupied point on the grid, the same time.
Examples:

─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┬──
     │You  │     │ Him │
─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴──

If you move right and he moves left, you caught him.

─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┬──
     │     │ You │ Him │
─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴──

If you move right and he moves left, you simply pass each other.

┌────┬─────┐
│    │ Him │
├────┼─────┘
│You │
└────┘

If you move up and he moves left, you caught him.

It appears as if the criminal would move randomly. He does not. He runs
a predetermined random pattern. First try to stay put (by pressing ENTER
instead of the cursor keys) and observe the "up","left","right" and
"down" moves and try to identify the pattern. A pattern can be something
like this: up-up-left-left-up-down-right (up to 16 moves long)
After the last "right" move, the criminal will repeat the pattern with
the first "up" move. Once you know the pattern, try to figure out how to
get to an unoccupied square at the same time.

If the pattern results to a situation where the criminal arrives to the
edge of the grid, you will hear a "thump", as he "runs into the wall".
Two different thing can happen at this point:
1. No movement takes place, (it is still considered a "move" ,he just
couldn't make the move, because he hit the wall).

2. If he is at the top edge, he will appear at the bottom edge, if he is
at the left edge, he will appear at the right edge. If that is the case,
you can pass these boundaries too.

Note: When you enter the arrest scene, a high pitched "beep" indicates
situation 1, a low pitched "beep" indicates situation 2.

In the "arrest scene" firing weapons are automatic. Both you and the
criminal fires the weapons when you get to the same line (facing one
another). However, you will fire your phaser only if your last move is
in the direction where he ends up (in line). He will also fire his gun
when you both "in line", but he can do it both forward and backward,
while you can shoot only forward.


Examples:

─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┐
     │You  │     │     │     │
─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┼─────┤
                       │ Him │
                       └─────┘

If you move right and he moves up, you will fire your phaser.
He will not fire his gun.

─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┐
 You │     │     │ Him │     │
─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┼─────┤
                       │     │
                       └─────┘

You move left, he moves left. He will shoot, you will not.
If you move right and he moves right, both of you will shoot.

If you can shoot him 5 times, he will no longer move, you can just
"walk" there and arrest him. If he shoots you five times, you better
know the "password to heaven".

Scoring: There is a "base score" of $5000 in the shooting scene, when
you get the criminal. There is a $1000 deduction for each time you get
shot, a $1000 bonus for each time you shoot him. If you get shot only
once, you will still get the full $10,000

About the "password to heaven"

In several situations you can get seriously wounded. If that happens, a
beggar will show up and ask you to tell the "password to heaven".
If you know it, he treats you and you are back in the game. If you don't
know it, the game is over. You can get the "password to heaven", if you
GIVE food to any beggar on the street. That one however, will not be
good forever. Any time you pass a beggar, there is a 10% chance that the
"password to heaven" will change, even if you ignore the beggar.


About the trash

The DIG command will randomly give you nothing or something. There is an
inexhaustible supply of everything in each trash. The problem arises
when you find a bomb, which is ticking away to explode. You are expected
to type in a four digit number to defuse the bomb. Of course you don't
know the number, which is different every time anyway. To guess a four
digit number in 45 seconds would be rather hopeless without some help.
Here is how it works:
When you press a wrong digit, nothing will appear in the small window.
When you press the correct first digit, it will appear in the small
window. That IS the correct first digit.
From this point on, type in the correct first digit and try to guess
the second one. If you guess wrong, again start with the correct first
digit. When finally you guess the correct second digit, it will show
(now both) in the small window. From this point on you will have to
start by typing in both the first and the second correct digits, and try
to guess the third one. The same rules apply all the way.


About the Pawn Shops

First you must enter the pawn shop by issuing the command PAWN. Once you
are "inside", you can buy or sell certain items. Every time you enter a
pawn shop, the "current prices" will be randomly generated, within
certain limits. Thus you can make money by buying certain items cheap
(even if you don't need it) and sell it in another pawn show for more.
Observe that the posted prices are indicating how much the pawn shop
sells the items for. They buy anything for only half of that.

You are not allowed to reenter the same pawnshop in a given location,
you must visit another pawnshop first.

There is a maximum limit of three times you can enter a pawnshop in a
particular location.

Minimum-Maximum price tags:

Jewels:                 $1000-$6000
Chemicals:              $1000-$6000
Locator power (each):     $20-  $60
Weapon:                  $500-$3000
Bullet (charge, each):    $20- $220
Handcuff:                $500-$2000

"Chemicals" means drugs. Careful if you carry drugs with you, suddenly
the otherwise quiet police cars on the street will pass by quite audibly
and you will even hear a dog bark. Whenever you pass a police car on the
street, while carrying drugs, you have a 10% chance to be caught.
If that happens the policeman will offer you a chance to bribe him.
The bank card will do you no good, you will need cash. Offer between one
thousand and ten thousand dollars. He may or may not accept the bribe.
The more you offer, the higher the chances are that he will accept it.
If you offer ten thousand dollars, he will accept it for sure. If you
are not willing to bribe him or you don't have the money, not only the
game is over, you will be banned from the job (the game) forever.
Of course you can always play under another name.

More about drugs

While in the pawn show you voluntarily buy drugs, if you dig the trash
you can end up with drugs whether you like it or not. Of course you can
always carry ten grand cash, but if you do the "alley people" will be
after you, rather mercilessly. The most inexpensive way (besides the
trash) is to buy drugs on the street. If you try to BUY drugs on those
street corners where someone selling it, everybody will decline to sell
it to you, except the "short black man". He sells it to you for a
"measly" $500.

You can also end up with drugs (and everything else), if you win a
confrontation with an alley mugger and if you CALL the police, because
you will end up with all his previous loots. If there is drug among
those, the same rules above apply.

About the banks

You must enter the bank first, by issuing the BANK command. You can
either deposit or withdraw money. You can transfer cash to your bank
card, or withdraw from your bank card and turn it to cash.
Advantages to keep your money in the bank:
The bank pays interest. It is 1/20th of 1% for each move you make (when
you move to another street or avenue. Going by cab doesn't count).
In various situations you can get wounded and robbed, where your cash
will be taken, but you can keep the bank card and whatever amount of
money is on it. However, there are situations where you even lose your
bank card.

About the alleys

The more value you carry, the higher the probability is to be attacked
from an alley. If you try to run, the higher your Strength level is, the
higher your chances to escape. If you fail to escape, he will rob you,
but you will keep your bank card.
If you chose to fight, again the chances of success partially depends on
your strength level, especially if you chose to fight using karate.
If you chose to fight and decide to use your phaser, you have 9 out of
10 chances to win. If you lose however, you even lose your bank card.
If you chose to hand over your valuables, he will take your cash, any
jewels and drugs you may have. You keep your bank card.

After you win a confrontation in an alley, you should use the command
CALL. The police will come out, "take care of the body" and you will
receive any and all valuable the criminal may have had (including
drugs).

About the cabs

If you see one, for $100 you can travel anywhere in the city.

About the friend

If you forget your three digit passcode, use the command ASK to ask the
friend you run into, he will tell you.

About the bar

Straightforward gambling. You can bet as little as $1, as much as all
your cash. In the Circle you will have 1 to 6 chance to win. At the
Track you have a 1 to 6 or a 1 to 2 chance to win, depending how you
will bet. The game is not rigged in any way and doesn't depend on
anything, other than your sheer luck.

About the hardware stores

You can by there LOCATOR, GUN (Phaser) and BULLET (Charge).
You have to use the above commands to buy it. You don't need the enter
the hardware store, you can conduct all transactions from the street.
The gun and the phaser is the same, so is the bullet and the charge.

Note: You can buy from the hardware store only if there is at least one
out of the ten most wanted is still at large. Once you catch all ten of
them the items from the hardware stores will no longer be available.


About the general stores

The only thing you can buy there is FOOD, buy issuing the same command.
You don't need to enter the general store, you can also do the purchase
from the street.
You can EAT the food once you have it and you Strength level will
increase by 25 points. Once your Strength reaches 140, don't try to eat
more, because you will "throw up".

About the museums

You need to have $500 cash to enter a museum.
When you enter the very first time, you will be shown an abstract
painting, the one "stolen". There is a $25,000 reward if you find it.
The stolen painting is in another museum. When you enter the second time
a museum (any of them), you will see four paintings on the wall.
If none of them matches the one you are looking for, just press enter to
leave the museum. If one of the painting is identical to the one you are
looking for press a number between 1 and 4 (paintings on the wall from
left to right), whichever is the matching one. You will get the 10 grand
and from that point on all museums will be closed.
Be careful, some of the paintings are almost identical to the one you
are looking for, but not quite.

About the score

You get score for the cash you end up with. Before you decide to end
your mission, you should sell everything, withdraw all the money from
your bank card and go to a police station. Be very careful on this
"final trip", with all the cash you will be likely to be jumped by
someone from an alley, so you may want to plan an "alley free" route.

About the game

Inspector X is a remake of a game I wrote on an Apple II+ computer
during the middle eighties. It is ShareWare. If you like the game, send
as much money as you can afford to, however don't send more than
thousand dollars, because you will push me into a higher tax bracket.
Have fun.

Gabor G. Laufer, M.D.
P.O. Box 1135
Russellville, KY 42276

If you do, I will mail you another ShareWare game I wrote, called
Anciento. It is totally different and quite interesting.