      ͻ
                   HOW TO USE THE DOCUMENTATION PROGRAMME	       
      ͼ

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  Cursor Down : moves text downward, line by line
  
  Page   Up   : moves text upward  , page by page
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  Please now press the Page-Down key on your keyboard ...
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
                   
      ͻ
                               FOREWORD			       
      ͼ
				
                                REAL WORLD
                   
               We introduces a new concept in computer games
                   
                          VIRTUAL REALITY GAMES


  This documentation introduces the concept of Virtual Reality games and
  displays its unique advantages. Then we make some essential remarks that
  will let you take the most out of this yet unknown game concept.


      ͻ
                 IF YOU WANT TO PRINT THIS DOCUMENTATION              
      ͼ

           Print file DOCUM.TXT with any text editor of your choice.
  
  

The Adventure game
==================

An adventure game is like a theatrical play. You are the main actor and you 
play several acts which are described in a  script. You cannot change the 
script and you cannot play a given act until you have played all preceeding 
ones, you may only  play  the written scenario and nothing else.


The Role-Playing game
=====================

A role-playing game requires several players. Each player takes the role of 
a character. All players compete with each others and have equal rights. For 
each game round a game leader proposes a new epic of which he invents all 
mishaps and fortunes. The encounters between characters are unforeseeable 
and the issue of a battle depends on the respective armaments. The players 
decide where they go and what they want to do. No player can predict neither 
what can happen, where or  when, nor how the game will end, all of the 
players may be eliminated before the end, or the conditions for success may 
never be met. The game continues for as long as there remains players, the 
game leader may keep creating new difficulties, the "end" of the game has no 
real definition.


The Real World or Virtual Reality game
======================================

The Real World game concept introduces the individual role-playing game 
where all action is absolutely free :

Complete freedom : several scenarii, or quests, are proposed along the game, 
however you are free to undertake them, to postpone them, to modify them, to 
ignore them, or to  undertake other quests of your own. You freely decide 
upon your journey, your goals, your methods and the order of your actions. 
No script will ever force or forbid any action to you.

Free and active competition : several characters freely move in the game. 
Each has his own objectives, characteristics and preoccupations and travels 
as much as you do. Encounters are unforeseeable as well as the respective 
intentions at that time, the outcome of such encounters is therefore equally 
unforeseeable.

Real and living epic : your progress in the game will depend upon your 
encounters, your mishaps, upon what you will accomplish, learn or acquire, 
upon what other characters will  accomplish, upon the consequences of your 
and their actions. For the first time in the history of computer games, you 
game will progress exactly as if your were really living it, not just 
following a fixed script that was conceived and written in advance. You live 
an adventure that  develops in real time around you !

Freedom at no compromise : within Armaeth you may undertake anything and you 
may try everything, in the order you choose, without penalties, without 
constraints, without restrictions. Nothing is imposed, nothing is forbidden, 
nothing is predetermined.


         REAL WORLD GAMES GET RID OF ALL CLASSICAL GAMES CONSTRAINTS

No logical or tactical constraints : all objects in the game are available 
from the begining. When you find one, you may take it. If you have one, you 
may leave it or put it in a safe place, at any time, in any  place, or use 
it with no restriction, whenever you wish.

No Jumping Jack characters that jump off the wall in a fixed room whenever 
you get in. All characters are independent, travel freely and manage their 
own business. If you cross one of them, his reactions will only depend upon 
his intentions and equipment at that time, and of nothing else.

No illogical game locks : every riddle, every difficulty, offers one or more 
solutions. Each may depend upon your equipment, armament or magical powers 
but never upon any written script or chronology. The game engine strictly 
never steps in the game in progress, it only manages it.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
A solid logic, as you ever dreamed to use : anything you can do at one time
can be done at any time. Time (that is conventional game's scenario driven
chronology) as no effect in our Real World concept : if you know something,
if you have the necessary equipment, then you can do it, whatever the game
time.

In Armaeth anything that is logically possible can indeed be done, at any 
time, without conditions or restrictions of any kind. This means you can act 
as you would do in a real situation without ever observing any illogical 
reaction or refusal. Only Real World games can do that.


                   ARMAETH SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS


ARMAETH MANAGES A 3- DIMENSIONAL WORLD

Three dimensions are used for the coding and drawing of the rooms thus 
achieving true reliefs. All characters recognize the relief in real time : 
slopes, obstacles, ground characteristics,  void,etc. This allows all 
characters to freely travel in all places without restrictions and to adapt 
their behaviour to local conditions, and let you follow the action in a 
3D-animated color cartoon.


ARMAETH MANAGES THE 4-TH DIMENSION : TIME

Light diminishes as night approaches, achieves a near-darkness in the middle 
of the night, and progressively becomes clearer and brighter in the morning. 
The time has various effects that influence the game. Some events last a 
variable time, like fires which consume themselfs out. Some events may only 
be seen during the day, others only at night. Some characters (or objects) 
may have a behaviour (or properties) that depends on fatigue, (or wear) and 
therefore of time. This guaranties true plausible adventures, as they would 
happen in the Real World where time relentlessly  works.


ARMAETH MANAGES ALL OF  ITS CHARACTERS  SIMULTANEOUSLY, IN REAL TIME

Each character has his own "brain" and decides whatever best suits his own 
interests when facing some event. No script will ever impose a behaviour on 
him. Intelligent characters behaviour, random encounters and dynamic 
reactions to events guaranty a True Adventure which is an exclusive advantage
of our Real World game.


ARMAETH OFFERS AN INFINITY OF GAMES ROUNDS

In comparison to a chess game, of which you buy the board and pieces, and 
where you play an infinitiy of different games, a Real World game offers a 
4-Dimensional kingdom, autonomous characters, management of  time and events,
etc, but hazard, your and other characters' actions, luck and random 
encounters will continuously produce new difficulties and new situations.
You will play an infinity of different game rounds. You simply cannot play 
twice the same epic.


                        GAME  INSTALLATION

THE REQUIRED HARWARE

This game requires the following equipment :
- a 100 % PC compatible computer, any model (PC,XT,AT...)
- the standard DOS operating system, version 3.2 or higher.
- the computer should have at least 512K bytes of central memory available 
   for the game.
- the computer should have an EGA ,VGA or SVGA video card controller.
- this game can be played from 5"1/4 high density (1200K) diskettes, or from 
  3"1/2  (1440K) diskettes, or from a hard disk.

Recommendations :
- it is advised to install this game on a hard disk
- it is advised to start your computer from a DOS-boot diskette so that no 
  resident software, or RAM disk or disk cache, be loaded in your computer 
  memory during the machine start-up. This game only requires DOS and your 
  usual mouse driver if you want to use the mouse interface. Any resident 
  utility will be useless to you as long as you play with this game, and 
  will unnecessarily occupy (sometimes large) chunks of memory this game 
  would have taken advantage of.


                            GAME  INSTALLATION

Important : the game may only be installed from the original diskettes. The 
key diskette can  not be duplicated although all of its files may be freely 
copied. All other diskettes may be duplicated to make safety copies. Copy 
diskettes may not be used for the game installation.

Insert distribution diskette INSTAL-1 in a disk drive, then define this drive
to DOS as being the active disk drive and type command instal.bat. Examples :

5"1/4 floppy in drive A:        3"1/2 floppy in drive B:
a:                              b:
cd  \                           cd  \ 
instal                          instal         

A menu will appear offering different types of installation. Make a choice 
by moving the menu selection bar with the arrow cursor keys, then validate 
your choice by pressing the (enter) key. Then let yourself be guided by the 
messages that will follow.

Important : in order to install this game onto diskettes you must format your
own diskettes BEFORE starting  the installation utility. You need as many 
free diskettes as the original diskettes.

Hard disk game installation troubles : the installation programme prompts you
to identify your hard disk, then it immediately creates a directory called 
ARMAETH on that disk where it places a system file. Then the installation 
programme does no more than to copy all files from all installation diskettes
into that directory. Should any problem occur while copying these files from 
within the installation programme, such as a lack of PC memory, you may 
always try to copy all of these files yourself, diskette by diskette, with 
whatever utility programme you are used to and the game will work just as 
well. About 3 megabytes of free space are required.


                        HOW TO START THE GAME

The installation procedure writes a batch file in the root directory of your 
hard disk if you have installed the game there, or onto diskette DISK-1 if 
you installed the game on diskettes. It is this batch file (the name of 
which has been communicated to you at the end of the installation) you must 
use to start the game. Simply type the batch file name at the DOS prompt and 
press (enter). A message will appear prompting you to place the original key 
diskette labeled INSTAL-1 in a diskette drive, do this then press (enter). 
The prompt message may appear twice on some configurations.


                ARMAETH : THE STORY, YOUR OBJECTIVES

The Dol Armaeth legend takes place in an old kingdom, in forgotten times. 
The world was then inhabited by legendary peoples such as dwarfs or immortal 
elfs, magiciens and fabulous beings with magic powers, and simple mortals. 
Unfortunately, it was also inhabited by evil forces and wicked creatures, 
and by sorcerers with evil powers, and soon their desires for conquest and 
domination would bring them to great and terrible wars. The elfs formed an 
alliance with the dwarfs in order to defeat their enemies and humans 
participated in more than one battle on their side. The issue of battles 
long remained uncertain in spite of the magic and great powers of the elfs, 
and in spite of the bravery and courage of the dwarfs and the help of the 
humans.

At this time lived a great dwarf king, Armaeth. His fame, his loyalty, his 
wisdom, the bravery of his people, were great and renowned. He was the most 
faithful ally of the elfs and his help was decisive in the last great war 
that opposed them to Menankar, the Dark Lord, the master of evil forces. 
Since these days, the elfs showed the greatest respect to his people and as 
a token for their friendship, Erin Huviel, the most powerful wiseman of the 
elfs, entrusted this great king with a fiew objects of priceless magical 
value.

This happened a long time ago. His kingdom, Dol Armaeth, knew peace and 
prosperity for a few centuries. Then, the death of this great king, the 
remoteness of the elfs, the return of the human people to a more and more 
wild life, allowed the forces of evil to develop once again in this part of 
the world, slowly forcing the dwarf people of Dol Armaeth to seek refuge, 
peace and security in a hidden kingdom, of which they jealously kept the 
secret.

Here starts your epic. Your name is Killian, you have arrived in this 
kingdom, brave and in quest of glory and noble exploits ... or could it be 
greedy and in search for easy plunder ? Whatever it may be, old legends have 
made you believe that the entrance to the kingdom of Dol Armaeth could be in 
this part of the world.

Your goal is to find the old kingdom's entrance, to explore that kingdom, 
to eventually defeat some evil creatures you may meet there, to find king 
Armaeth's Royal Crown, and to become the new King  of Dol Armaeth... and, 
why not, to collect valuable goodies along your journey as it is always 
useful !

Good luck !!!


                  REAL WORLD GAME OPERATING PRINCIPLES

THE STRATEGY IN A REAL WORLD GAME

In a Real World game, there are independent characters, obstacles to 
vanquish, riddles to solve, and plunder to take. You have a main task to 
accomplish, an objective. However, a Real World game is a living world, all 
characters continue their own lives, whatever you may have accomplished. 
Therefore, when your main objective is reached, you may decide not to stop 
the game but instead to go on another quest : conquering more plunder, 
eliminating other characters, or just about anything else.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                n 
you whish, and in the manner you deem to be appropriate. Therefore the 
strategy is : do what you like most and enjoy the surprise of its 
consequences.


THE CHARACTERS

Each character is free to go in any place he wants, free to react to or to 
flee any encounter, free to take or to leave any object. He decides by 
himself according to his own interest and goals, he can find himself 
weakened, loose a part of his powers, eventually disappear, eliminated by 
another stronger character. He can accomplish exploits, acquire new powers, 
new forces. 

You will never know in what state the character you meet is in, nor which 
are his powers or his intentions at that moment. It is for you to discover 
it, at your own risks.


THE OBJECTS

Many objects are available in Armaeth. Some are essential or simply useful, 
magical or ordinary. Others are treasures which enrich you, others are
perfectly useless ! An object  may change its state (shatter itself), change
properties (magic power), become useless (empty bottle), disappear (torch  
entirely consumed), or age (a torch that wears out). Game characters may   
take some objects.

The general rule is that it is good to take the objects. However every object  
has a weight and there is a limit on how much you can carry. You will   
therefore have to make choices on what you think is useful to keep, and what
you may abandon or carry in a safe place for some time.

HINTS

You will be confronted with difficulties for which there often exists several
solutions. If your method becomes impractical or does'nt produce the desired 
effects, don't hesitate to try something else. The solutions are sometimes 
unexpected and the seemingly foolish attempts may at times prove to be the 
right ones. The unforeseen consequences of your actions are anyway an 
effective means to animate the game.

Never keep stuck against a difficulty. If you are not well equipped, or 
armed, or if the adverse party is too strong, you may not be able to defeat
it. It will sometimes be necessary to go far and with difficulty to acquire
a simple but indispensable object. If you do not find a solution, renounce 
this for the moment, you may always come back to a problem later and the   
problem may also disappear in the meantime.    

It is strongly recommended to re-play the game, changing your acts or   
solutions in front of difficulties, in order to observe the produced effects.
This will inevitably create new situations, new contexts, new difficulties to
solve, therefore creating a brand new epic.
 

                        HOW TO USE THE GAME    

HOW TO MOVE ON THE GROUND    

Ground movement : you may use the keyboard cursor keys, or the Boots icon   
(please refer to the mouse interface).    

Pressing one of the cursor keys starts the movement of your character in the
corresponding direction. A second press of the same key makes it stop. Don't 
continually press a given key because this will have your character go on a
series of go / stop steps.


HOW TO CLIMB

Your character may climb some walls, ladders or trees. To go up you use the
(-) key, and to go down you use the (+) key. On the numerical keypad the (-)
key is on top of the (+) key which makes it easy to climb up and down. You
may also use the Ladder icon (please refer to the mouse interface). 

To climb a wall (or ladder or ...) your character must be straight below (or
above) that wall. A simple method consists in putting your character against
the wall, then try to climb it by hitting the (-) or (+) keys or by using   
commands climb, scale, up or down. Climbing is restricted to dedicated 
places, it is therefore not possible to climb all trees or all cliffs. The   
game will let you know if climbing is not possible from your actual location.


                             THE GAME MESSAGES    

The game informs you through messages that it displays on your screen. When 
a message is shown the game is paused, all characters are frozen, all action 
is suspended. To resume playing you must hit the (enter) key or any mouse 
button.


                         HOW TO PLAY IN TEXT MODE

Armaeth may be played from its mouse driven interface. However a text 
interface has been created for players who have no mouse and also because 
the textual interface has none of the mouse limitations (simple click a
ctions) which makes it very handy and powerful.


How to converse with the game
=============================

You should converse with the game with the help of simply constructed 
sentences :

verb    complement-1    preposition    complement-2

The verb expresses the action, it must be in the imperative form, for example
take, look, get. Complement-1 indicates what or whom the direct action 
concerns. The preposition (or eventually adverb) introduces an indirect 
complement to the verb, which complement-2 defines.

Valid sentences :
=================

climb	
look at the room
talk to the witch	
take the key in the chest
put wood in the fire	
drop lever

You can neither omit the verb, because the action would be undefined, nor 
provide several direct complements, because the action would be ambiguous. 
You can neither give several prepositions or adverbs nor provide several 
indirect complements, because the sentence would become incomprehensible. 
Superfluous words such as "of, the, at" etc are accepted but ignored.

Invalid sentences :
===================

Chest                                  (no verb)
Open the case and the cabinet          (several complements-1)
Speak witch                            (preposition (to) missing)
Look under the cabinet by the wall     (several complements-2)

Everything that you type on the keyboard appears in a text box. You can 
correct your sentence with the help of the (backspace) key. You can 
eliminate the whole sentence by pressing the (Del) key. You can repeat 
your last sentence with the (Ins) key.You can type lower-case or upper-case 
letters or numerical characters or white spaces. Other characters are 
discarded.

How to express your intentions :
================================

Be logical and precise. Always make the distinction between an object that 
is in the same room as you, and an object that is located inside something 
else.

Take the key                    good if it's on the ground
Take the key in the chest       good if it's there

Be simple and direct.

Open the door                          good
Close the door with the key            good
Open the lock                          makes no sense
Turn the key in the lock               let's keep it simple
Take the key which is in the chest     verbose

Don't use adjectives or unnecessary complements.

Take the gold key                      unnecessary to specify the matter.  
Take the key on the ground             the game sees where it is  
Take the key in the large armoire      large is a useless detail      


How to use the vocabulary
=========================

The game recognizes more than 650 words or interpretations. Nearly all you   
can see on your screen which isn't an unsignificant detail is known to the   
game under its most common name, and very often under several synonyms. You
should therefore not have difficulties to converse with the game.    

Every word in the dictionary (that is the vocabulary) is defined using 20   
characters. However it quickly becomes tedious to type all characters of    
the words and the game lets you decide how many characters you wish to use   
when writing a word. Command      

Dictionnary   n        

instructs the game to cut down each word you type to (n) characters before   
it interprets it. You can thereafter reduce your typing to (n) characters   
per word. Number (n) should be even and in the range 4 to 20. default value
is 8.

However, words truncation introduces ambiguities because two different full 
words may become identical when trimmed down to a few characters.    

Put the flower in the flowerpot.      is clear in the full word dictionary  
Put the flow in the flow              makes no sense with 4 letter words    

This kind of ambiguities may make it difficult to interpret your sentences. 
The game will nevertheless try to bring you satisfaction by tring to execute 
all of the possible interpretations of your sentences. The result is almost  
always what you expect, but at times some interpretations may be valid in   
the semantic point of view and still be nonsense on a logical standpoint.   
In this last case you may see different messages come onto your screen that
may appear out of scope although they are normal true answers to these   
misinterpretations.    

However, diminishing the typing effort is handy and limits the typing errors.
Should difficulties arise you can always go back to a larger word size using
the dictionary command again. In order to further reduce the typing effort   
some of the major verbs or words also exist as one-character abbreviations. 

l      for      look        
t      for      take  
d      for      discard        
p      for      put  
o      for      look at the objects  
i      for      inside or in                          


                      HOW TO PLAY WITH THE MOUSE INTERFACE    

The mouse interface has been designed to let you act in the game without ever
typing any command on the keyboard. You can move your character and you can 
do anything you want through simple mouse clicks. Remember however that a 
simple mouse click is a poor information meanwhile the text interface lets 
you precisely express what you wish. 

Experience proves that in some instances (delicate situations, rush actions, 
etc) the text interface is handier to use, and you should therefore not 
neglect its use.

Icons on the top row of the game screen represent all actions the player may 
undertake in the game. Most icons have two uses : clicking on the icon with 
the left or right mouse button changes the icon's appearance and meaning. 

In the following LB means mouse Left Button and RB means mouse Right Button.


Interface icons :
=================                 

They are used for the global management of the game, they are not used for 
direct action.

Fairy  icon : top of left tower.  
LB          : gives a description of the room,  
RB          : informs on all objects of interest in the room.    

Sorcerer icon : top of right tower.  
LB          : rotates the middle bank of icons, forward.  
RB          : same use, backward.    

Center frame icon : keeps showing the active icon.  
LB/RB       : reverts the mouse to its standard mouse shape.    

Mouse icon  : this is the icon the player drags on the screen.   
Its representation varies as it either takes the shape of the action icon   
you select on the top icon row, or it takes the shape of the object you want
to use.      


Action icons :                    
==============

An action icon usually has two shapes that represent closely related actions.
It may be selected by either a LB or a RB mouse click on the icon in which   
case the mouse takes the indicated (LB/RB) shape and thereafter represents   
its associated action.    

The action-icon, as carried by the mouse, may then be dragged over the screen
to a place, an object, or just any visible detail on the screen. Once the   
mouse/icon points to the desired location a LB or RB click will have the   
game perform the indicated action on the pointed item. Few action-icons may
act differently on the pointed item when the RB is used instead of the LB,   
as it will be detailed in their description.    

Some actions may require the use of an object (like to open with a key). An
object may only be used if it belongs to the player, in which case it appears
in the screen bottom row of frames. You must first select the action-icon   
then drag the mouse-icon over that object, then press on either keyboard   
control Ctrl key while clicking on it. The mouse changes to that item's shape
meanwhile the original action-icon is displayed (kept) in the middle frame of
the screen top row of icons. Then the mouse-object may be dragged over the 
screen, a further mouse click will have the game perform the icon-action with
that object as the direct agent . Example : open (action icon) the door 
(pointed object) with the key (mouse object).


Eye / Scroll icon
Selection  LB = eye icon
           RB = scroll icon
Eye        LB = look at. The mouse may point to any displayed object or 
           character or to major scenery details. The game displays any 
           available information on that item.
           RB = look into or search. The mouse may point to any displayed 
           object or character. A frame will open displaying the object 
           contents or the character's possessions.
Scroll     LB = RB = read. The mouse may point to any displayed object or to 
           major scenery details. The game reads whatever is written on that 
           item.


Get / Put hand  icon  
Selection  LB = closing hand
           RB = opening hand
Closing hand  LB = RB = get an object. The mouse may point to any visible 
           object, either in the room or in the frame that displays the 
           possessions of another character or the contents of another 
           object, as detailed in the look-into icon description.
Opening hand  LB = RB = let or put an object. First select the Opening Hand 
           icon, then drag it over an item in your possession, then select 
           this item by Ctrl-Clicking on it. Once the mouse has changed to 
           this item's shape, you may point and click anywhere on the screen 
           and the object will fall to your character's feet, or you may 
           point and click to any displayed object in which case this item 
           will be put into that object.


Padlock  icon
Selection  LB = open padlock
           RB = closed padlock
Open padlock LB = RB = open. Usable on doors, chests, etc. This action often 
           requires the use of keys or other associated objects in which 
           case you must first select the Padlock icon, then drag it over an 
           item in your possession, then select this item by Ctrl-Clicking 
           on it. Once the mouse has changed to this item's shape, you may 
           point and click on whatever door or object you want to open with 
           that item.
Closed padlock LB = RB = close. Usage is similar to the open padlock icon.


Match icon
Selection  LB = burning match
           RB = smoking match
Burning match LB = RB = light. Usable on fires, torches, etc. Warning : to 
           light a torch you must  click on the Burning Match icon, then 
           drag it over one of  your torches, then Ctrl-click on it. Once 
           the mouse has changed to your torch's shape you may  point and 
           click on any fire or burning torch.
Smoking match LB = RB = extinguish.


Push / Pull icon
Selection  LB = pushing man
           RB = pulling man
Pushing man LB = RB = push. May require some objects to push with.
Pulling man LB = RB = pull.


Talking icon
Selection  LB = RB = talking man
Talking man LB = RB = talk. The action is to engage conversation, the mouse 
           may point to any character.


Bludgeon / Dagger icon
Selection  LB = bludgeon
           RB = dagger
Bludgeon   LB = RB = action is to fight or to knock down.
Dagger     LB = RB = action is to kill.


Heart  icon
Selection  LB = RB = heart icon
Heart      LB = RB = action is to kiss.


Ladder Up / Down icon
Selection  LB = ladder up
           RB = ladder down
Ladder Up  LB = RB = action is to climb up.
Ladder Down LB = RB = action is to climb down.
           In both cases your character must first go next to a wall, a tree,
           a ladder, etc. Then clicking these icons will put your character 
           in a climbing position. Thereafter the plus (+) and minus (-) 
           keys together with the left and right cursor keys should be used 
           to control your character moves. DO NOT use the (up) or (down) 
           cursor keys as they are meant for ground backwards and forwards 
           moves, they would therefore have your character move away from 
           his climbing wall and fall.


Boots icon  Selection  LB = RB = boots  
Boots      LB = action is to have your character travel to the pointed
           location. Be aware that the mouse is a 2-dimensional pointing
           device although the game uses 3-dimensional rooms, depth position
           cannot be indicated with a mouse. In most instances there will 
           only be one logical position in the room that may correspond to 
           the place your mouse points to, but that's no certitude. Be also
           aware that the game will always choose the shortest travel path,
           which may drive your character through a dangerous part of the  
           action room. You may stop your character automatic travel any  
           time by clicking for another travel or hitting any of the cursor  
           keys. It is often more desirable to use the keyboard cursor keys  
           for a sharper control of your character moves.
           RB = action is to exit the room. Point in the middle of any of  
           the four sides of the screen and click RB. This will have the     
           game compute a route for your character to exit the room from the 
           indicated side. Only rear, front, left and right exits may be   
           reached that way. Up (ceiling) or down (ground) exits may only be
           reached by driving your character yourself to the desired exit.  
  

Knife & Fork / Glass icon  
Selection  LB = knife and fork
           RB = glass  
Knife & Fork LB = RB = action is to eat.   
Glass      LB = RB = action is to drink.      


Gift icon  
Selection  LB = RB = gift  
Gift       LB = RB = action is to give something to somebody. The given   
           object must be selected from your possessions by Ctrl-clicking   
           on it prior to pointing it to whomever you want to give it to.   


Smashing Hammer icon  
Selection  LB = RB = smashing hammer   
Hammer     LB = RB = action is to break.    


Wear / Unwear icon  
Selection  LB = wear icon, little head with a hat on.    
           RB = unwear icon, little head with a hat off.  
Wear       LB = RB = action is to wear an object, a crown for example. The  
           object must be in your possession and you should simply click on 
           it.   
Unwear     LB = RB = action is to unwear.      


Cleaning icon  
Selection  LB = RB = cleaning icon, hand with a cloth and bubbles  
Cleaning hand LB = RB = action is to clean, to remove dust, seeds, or   
           whatever may cover anything you want to see better or to reach.  


Game management icons
=====================

These icons take care of the overall management of the game, they are not 
action icons, the mouse will not take their shape, they cannot be dragged 
over the screen. You may click on them and they will immediately carry out 
whatever action they represent.


Read diskette icon
Selection  LB = RB = restores a saved game. An interface panel appears.
           Shows as a pair of glasses on top of a diskette.

Resurrection icon
Selection  LB = RB = gives a new character to the player.
           Shows as a small man in a magic cloud.

Write diskette icon
Selection  LB = RB = saves a game. An interface panel appears.
           Shows as a pen on top of a diskette.

Restart game icon
Selection  LB = RB = restarts a new game from its official beginning.
           Shows as a smiling face.

Exit icon
Selection  LB = RB = exits the game without saving it.
           Shows as an exit panel.

Score icon
Selection  LB = RB = reports on your actual progress and fortune.
           Shows as a purse full of gold coins.

Music volume icon
Selection  LB = RB = changes the music volume on Adlib and Sound Blaster 
           music cards. Useless for PC-buzzer music. 
           LB increases, RB decreases, the volume.
           Shows as a series of notes of decreasing height.

Sound control icon
Selection  LB = RB = switches music on or off.
           Shows as a single music note.

Metronome icon
Selection  LB = increases the game action speed.
           RB = decreases the game action speed.

Hourglass icon
Selection  LB = RB = toggle switches between Pause and Normal mode. 
           In Pause mode the game is paused, no action takes place, nothing 
           moves on the screen (except the mouse). Anytime you press any 
           keyboard key the game computes one round, all characters make one 
           decision, they all move one step, then Pause resumes, resulting 
           on a step by step action and motion. In normal mode the game 
           plays non stop. Normal mode speed may be tuned by the Metronome 
           icon.
          

                     HINTS AND ADVICES FOR A GOOD PLAY

EXPLORING A ROOM

Always look at the room, you will obtain a description of the place which 
will often contain  information, or indicate some curiosity.

Question:      look at the room
Answer  :      ...a beautiful waterfall flows down the nearby mountain.

Immediately look at every detail that is mentioned in the description of the 
room.

Question:      look at the waterfall
Answer  :      here are eddies, but they are not dangerous.

Look at all curious or main details on your screen. Conversely, you should 
not ask questions on unsignificant details such as a rock, the grass, the 
sky, etc.

Question:      look at the wall
Answer  :      the one on the left has a message written on it !

Ask if the room contains objects, this is essential. Don't forget that other 
characters take and move some objects and therefore an object may be in the 
same room as yourself but out of view. If you don't ask this question, you 
will never find such objects.

Question:      look at the objects
Answer  :      I see a torch, a bunch of keys, a dwarf.

Note 1 : only the real objects (that is, objects you can take or manipulate 
such as a torch or a door) will be described. Fictive objects you might see 
on the screen as part of the image will not be mentioned. You may however 
sometimes get an interesting description of such objects, see above.

Note 2 : If an object is in a trunk that is in the room, then the game will 
mention the trunk in its answer but will not  mention any object this trunk 
may contain.

HINTS : lift up everything, open all doors, explore all niches, try every 
possible exit, search for secret passages, be extremely curious.


HANDLING THE OBJECTS

First of all you have to find the objects.

Question:      look at the objects
Answer  :      I see a torch, a bunch of keys, a dwarf.

Always ask for a description of the objects, as it will often contain capital
information, either about the object, or about its use.

Question:      look at the torch
Answer  :      the torch wears out

Observations : this type of question describes an object only if it is in the
same room as yourself or if it is in your possession. If a torch is in the 
room and another one is in your possession, then the answer will carry 
descriptions of these two torches. Objects evolve with time. The description 
of an object depends on its actual state, it is therefore useful to inquire 
several times on a given object.

Always ask to see what an object contains, you may then discover other 
objects or secrets.

Question:      look in the chest
Answer  :      You see ... a gold candlestick !

HINTS : the general rule is that all the objects are useful , it is therefore
good to take possession of them. However some objects may be useless, or may 
become useless.


WHAT TO DO WITH THE CHARACTERS

Always ask for a description of a character, it will often contain capital 
information either about himself or about his intentions.

Question:      look at the dwarf
Answer  :      he doesn't look friendly

Observations : this question describes a character only if he is in the same
room as yourself. The character's description depends on its actual state 
and the information you get with this command may consequently vary in time. 
It is therefore wise to ask for the same description at different times.

Whenever possible, don't hesitate to search a character.

Question:      search the dwarf
Answer  :      the dwarf has an old key !

Try to talk to the characters.

Question:      talk to Prytwen
Answer  :      Pryten is hardly a talker, however...

HINTS : the characters have their own preoccupations. Their state and their 
intentions vary in time and depend on what they have experienced or 
accomplished, and this will influence their decisions. You should not 
believe that you will always have the same reaction or the same answer from 
a character.


HOW TO ACT IN THE GAME

It is necessary to explore all places in the game. Every room has to be 
searched and all of the exits have to be used, some rooms have dissimulated 
exits. Talk to every character, examine every object, don't hesitate to try 
every action.

It is not necessarily useful to ransack the kingdom, to raid all of the 
objects, or to massacre everything that moves. On the contrary :

-  other characters bring action to the game by competing with you or with 
   each others. Eliminating too many characters might impoverish the overall 
   action and your pleasure.
-  other characters or their acts may help you. It might prove useful or 
   funny to use some characters against some others. A given character may 
   be the only one who can accomplish an action that bothers you.
-  leaving some coveted objects behind you may be useful to make traps for 
   your ennemies, or may help them to defeat their own ennemies, which can 
   prove useful if they are also yours.
-  the possession of an object by a character can change the game completely,
   leaving or taking an object may therefore change the evolution of your 
   epic.

Don't necessarily close all the passages behind you. A closed door can 
prevent some to leave, or some others to enter, which can be a useful 
strategy. However a free circulation of characters favor encounters, and if 
you are able to close a door, nothing tells you that you will be able to 
re-open it.

It is up to you to appreciate every situation and to do what appears to be 
the most appropriate, taking into consideration what you know, what you have 
and what you try to do. You will know the soundness of your decisions when 
you see their consequences, sometimes long after, that's life, that's Real 
World.

HINTS : Don't be too prudent, nor too destructive, nor too greedy. Don't 
uselessly deprive yourself of additional adventures. Try to experience all 
the possible variants of this game, look for surprises and fun.


                          HOW TO MANAGE THE GAME
                          
SAVING AND RESTORING A GAME

Saving a game consists in writing a file that describes the exact state of 
the game at the instant when you ask for it. Then the game resumes operation 
just as if you hadn't interrupted it.

Restoring a game is doing the reverse action. The game stops, reads a 
saved-game file on your disk, and puts you back in the exact situation that 
was going on when this saving was done.

Advantages : saving then restoring a game will allow you to continue your 
adventure without restarting the game from its begining whenever your 
character experiences bad luck. It also lets you save your game before 
attempting several different methods to tackle a difficulty. Remember that 
in a Real World game the story progresses from all characters'actions and 
their consequences. Saving and restoring therefore lets you "fix" your game 
in a given situation and then start and try several sub-games from that 
situation.

How to do it  ?  You save a game by  typing command save or by hitting the F2
key on your keyboard, or by  clicking on the Write Diskette Icon. You restore
a game round by typing command restore or by hitting the F3 key on your 
keyboard, or by clicking on the Read Diskette Icon. This will make the 
following panel appear :

ACTION : the word Save or the word Restore will appear in this frame.

The pannel shows the name of a few input field followed by a free space where
the game awaits your answers. Type your answer on the keyboard then hit the 
(enter) key. If the answer is valid, the game goes to the next input field. 
If not, an appropriate message will appear in the message frame that is 
below the panel and the game will ask you to re-enter another answer.

The game may supply a pre-defined value for some input fields. If the answer 
is appropriate for you, simply hit (enter). If not you may enter any other 
answer as indicated above. You can make use of the edit keys (backspace), 
(Del), and (Ins) to edit your or the suggested answer.

If you hit the (escape) key the input panel will disappear, the save or 
restore operation is abandoned and the game resumes just as if it had not 
been interrupted. This provides for an easy way to change your mind or to 
come back on a typing error.

DISK : asks for the drive/disk on which the saved file should be written or 
read. If you choose to save on diskettes, these should be formatted 
beforehand.

DIRECTORY :  You should enter the full name of the directory (also called 
the path) where you want the saved file to be written or read. That directory
should exist beforehand.

SAVENAME : the savename is a three-letter code that you use to identify your 
actual game. It+s free text, such as the player+s initials, a mnemonic 
marker that lets you remember what it is, or just about anything you want.

NUMBER : the number (up to three digits) comes in addition to the savename. 
You can for example take the nickname of a player (Bob, Joe) as a savename, 
and use the number to count his successive saved files.

The saved file names are built on the following model : SVGnnn.nam  where 
nnn and nam are your answers to the Number and Savename input fields. If you 
save several games in the same disk and directory, using the same 
identification (savename + number) then only the latest saved file will be 
available, as each new file replaces any older file with the same name. 
You may delete these files as any other DOS file.


RESURRECTION OF YOUR CHARACTER

There are no limits to the magic powers of this game ! It is therefore 
possible to bring your character Killian back to life whenever misfortune 
lands him a fatal blow. You may ask for your character to be brought back 
to life by typing command continue or by hitting the F4 key on your 
keyboard, or by clicking on the Resurrection icon.

Killian is brought back to life near the center of the room and he has lost 
all of  his possessions. If you are of the daring type, if you enjoy the 
challenge of adventure and risk, then you might decide to continue playing. 
All in all, it is like starting a new game in that new context and with new 
conditions. You should however pay attention to the situation.

If Killian was eliminated by another character then it is very likely that 
this character has taken some of Killian's possessions. You might therefore 
not be able to retrieve all of your former possessions and you might have 
the secondary quest to look after this opponent to get your things back. 
That can be a real challenge and quite a good sub-adventure !

If Killian diseappears in a pit or sinks in murky waters, or lava, his 
possessions will probably be lost for ever. It's up to you to decide if you 
want (or can) continue your adventure with the extra difficulties of having 
lost some maybe important objects. There are often many ways to solve the 
problems or difficulties, the loss of an object isn't necessarily the end of 
the world. Continuing with a handicap is stimulating, but might be risky !


USEFUL COMMANDS YOU SHOULD KNOW

Here are the main commands of the game.

F1      or       information displays a summary of these commands
F2      or       save         see section : Saving and Restoring
F3      or       restore      see section : Saving and Restoring
F4      or       continue     see section : Killian's resurrection
F5      or       restart      restarts the game from its beginning
F6      or       score        displays your score and fortune with details
F10     or       inventory    displays all of your possessions

End or Quit : these commands let you quit the game without automatically 
saving your game.


CRONTROLLING THE EXECUTION SPEED

In the following Alt X indicates that you should simultaneously press the 
Alt key (first) and then the key marked X on your keyboard.

Alt  Z : accelerates the action.
Alt  A : slows the action down.
Alt  P : puts the game in Pause mode.
Alt  N : exits the Pause mode and returns to the normal execution mode.

In Pause mode the game is paused, no action takes place, nothing moves on 
the screen (except the mouse), unless you press any keyboard key. A key 
press will have the game compute one round, all characters make one decision,
they all move one step, then Pause resumes, resulting on a step by step 
action and motion.

In normal mode the game plays non stop. Normal mode speed may be tuned with 
the Alt-A and Alt-Z commands.The more you press (Alt Z), the faster the game 
goes, up to whatever limit your computer can handle. The more you press 
(Alt A) the slower the game goes, with no lower limit. (Alt Z) counteracts 
(Alt A) and vice versa. If you press (Alt A) N times to slow the game, you 
will have to press (Alt Z) N times to recover the original speed.


TROUBLE  SHOOTING

"Insufficient memory". This message may come on your screen whenever the 
game needs a block of computer memory and cannot obtain it from DOS / your 
computer.

The game installation section recommends the following :

- do not load memory resident programs in your computer memory. Such 
  programs are usually installed from within your config.sys file and/or 
  your autoexec.bat file which contain instructions that are automatically 
  executed during the machine start-up. Please check your DOS documentation 
  for information about these files.

- do not create a RAM disk, as it always takes a share of DOS memory even 
  though it might load the RAM disk itself in EMS or XMS memory.

- do not use a disk cache, for the same reason as for the RAM disk.

- do not reserve too many data buffers, reduce the figures in the FILES=n 
  and BUFFER=n options in the config.sys file.

If these rules are adhered to, you should never get the "Insufficient memory"
message. The game only requires DOS and your usual mouse driver if you want 
to make use of the mouse interface. Anything else in your computer memory 
will be useless to you for as long as you play with the game and will 
unnecessarily capture (sometimes quite large) memory blocks.

Solution : start your computer from a DOS diskette with no config.sys or 
autoexec.bat file.

Should you need a mouse driver or some special hardware driver for your 
machine configuration then put only these drivers in either of these two 
start-up files and no more. Users who enjoy a 640K computer memory may also 
instal a disk cache of reasonable size.
