
Timewarrior
~~~~~~~~~~~
It  is better to start the game using the 'How to Play' write up.  Once you
have an idea how the game operates then read these instructions.

1) Introduction....talks about the game
2) Instructions....control of the game
3) Of time and Time Warrior


This  version  of 'Time Warrior' is intended for the standard 1 meg A500 or
A600,  extra  ram is welcome.  The game should be booted from disk although
it could be booted from workbench if enough chip and fast ram is available.
It is not intended to install on a hard drive as there is a special 10 disk
hard drive version available.

Introduction
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Although  at  a  glance  Time  Warrior(TW) looks similar to other graphical
adventures.   In  reality it has little in common.  Computer adventures are
about graphics, puzzles, fighting, animations, wandering around and finding
things.   Real  adventures  differ  because  they  are built chiefly around
character interaction.  TW steps into this world.

TW  was  based  upon two books, 'Shades of Evil' which is available on disk
and  'Axe:   A  Tale of Carthelion' which was also written by myself and is
available  in  paperback,  its ISBN number being 0-9510361-0-6.  Both books
have been well tried and tested.  They are two very different stories.  Axe
is  written  in  Tolkien  style without borrowing the mythologies of others
while 'Shades of Evil' is a much shorter story and written in my own style.
Comments  on  the stories are always welcome.  Reviews from people who only
read the introduction are not.

As  you  may  have  gathered  TW  was intended for those who wish to become
immersed  in  an  adventure, I always thought this was what adventures were
about,  not  just simple puzzles which can be found in a puzzle book or the
ones with the magical graphics.  The type which demand you to run through a
set of preset options before moving onto the next location.  I must confess
I  do  like  the  location  graphics  with  the  latter.  TW uses digitised
pictures  because  they are more real, not because they look better or were
easier  to  produce,  which  they  are not.  They are intended to match the
adventure.   TW  normally  displays a screen from which you can control the
game,   however   it   is   possible   to  travel  around  in  full  screen
graphics(landscape mode) if you have the hard drive version.

The  name  'Time Warrior' originates from the fact that you travel from the
future  to  the  past  to  change the future or to be more accurate, create
another  timeline  which  already  exists.   Confused?  Read the chapter on
time.   I  will  say  no more about this here because this story is told in
dreams.   Again  if  you  have  the  hard  drive  version  the  dreams have
animations.

TW  covers  a  large  game  playing  area  but  allows very rapid movement.
Instead  of  moving  yards with each move you move miles, the areas between
moves  can be accessed when relevant, you could call them hidden locations.
You  are  not  meant  to  search for these locations randomly.  If there is
somewhere of importance someone will tell you about it.  The idea of moving
large  distances  was  mine.   It  is  for  instance no harder to produce a
million forestry locations than it is a hundred..but what's the point?  You
should not have to spend half your life travelling.

The  main  control  screen  has a systems window(top), text window(bottom),
character  window(right)  and a location picture window(left).  The picture
window  is  a representation of where you are.  The village hamlets contain
one  picture  per  location  for  ease of finding your way around as do the
hidden  locations.   In  all other locations it is possible to look around.
If  you  wish  to look west while travelling east you can always type 'look
west'  or 'lw', alternatively click your left mouse button on the last icon
then use your right mouse button to choose a direction.


PS Don't forget rest at night, but not the first night.  Not only does this
refresh you but vital clues are hidden in dreams.


Instructions
~~~~~~~~~~~~
1)  What  are  the  icons(buttons)  for?   If you press key 0 the icons are
disabled,  click  on each one in turn to find its use.  Look in the systems
window  at  the very top of the screen for this information.  For those who
wish  to control the game solely from the keyboard, you should note what it
says  in the systems windows because you can type these commands to get the
job  done if your own pet commands are not recognised.  Most of these words
can  be  abbreviated,  for  instance the command to give a write up on your
location can be shortened to loc, instead of typing location.

Most  icons are self explanatory but there are one or two unusual ones.  As
you  will  note  when  playing,  some  icons  utilise  left and right mouse
buttons.   For  example there is a standard seek icon, however pressing the
right  mouse button on this icon means seek for hidden locations (You don't
have  to remember this, these commands display on screen all the time).  If
you are told to go to a particular place and there appears to be nothing of
interest try this icon.  Knocking on doors is another good idea.  All icons
are displayed all the time.  There are no sub-menus.

Perhaps  the  most  important  icon  is  the talk/text(command) icon.  This
allows  the  computer  to  differentiate  between  speech  and when you are
telling  the  computer  to  do  something.   Virtually  all the game can be
controlled  via  the mouse, but there are no pre-selected questions to ask.
The  icon  with the question mark will help you out with what to say but as
the game is based around character interaction, allowing the player nothing
more  than  a  pre-selected option would kill it dead.  Conversation can be
very  smooth,  for  example  when you click on the question mark you may be
given a question to ask such as 'who are you' the answer may be 'I am Fred,
I  have  driven  down  from  Carlisle  in  my  Fiat'.   You could leave the
conversation  at  that  but  there  is nothing wrong with asking 'what is a
fiat' or 'where is carlisle'.  You simply type as you would talk to someone
next  to  you.   All questions can be put to all characters.  Sometimes you
will  get  the  same  answers,  sometimes you won't.  Probably the best two
questions to put to anyone are 'who are you' and 'what can i do'.

If  you  control  the  game  via the mouse, and you are talking to someone,
clicking  on  another command icon will automatically return you to command
mode.    Keyboard   users   can   use   keys   2   and   3   for  switching
modes.Alternatively  you could type 'command or talk' or more realistically
'lo or bye'.

There  are three sliders on the lower half of the screen, they indicate how
tired  you  are,  how  much  water you carry with you and how much food you
carry.   When  you  start  your  adventure  you will be pretty fit and well
topped  up  with food and water.  After a long while you will become tired,
hungry  and  thirsty, the 'crown' which is your status icon will inform you
when you are running low.  Resting restores energy, but every time you take
water  or  food  from  your backpack the relevant sliders will fall.  These
supplies do need replenishing.

Travelling around can be done via the right mouse button.  Alternatively if
you  have  a  joystick  plugged  in  and you wish to travel north, push the
joystick  forward  as  indicated  on  the  screen  compass,  then allow the
joystick  to  return  to  its  central  position and press the fire button.
Normal text commands may be used.

IN COMMAND MODE
To restart a game type begin.
To save a game type savegame. Be patient when saving to a floppy disk.
To load a game type loadgame. This is very fast.
To check remaining memory type mem
To enable and disable the control icons key 0


Of Time and Time Warrior
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Most people at sometime in their lives, sit and say 'Why am I here?  Why at
this particular time and place am I saying this?".  The answer to this is a
simple  one.  To be at that particular place and time saying that, then you
had to be at that particular place and time saying that.

If  time  travel  were  possible  then  it would mean that past present and
future  co-exist.   Travelling  back in time would not alter the future you
came  from  because  that  future already exists.  So do you create another
time  line?   Well,  yes  you  would  but you have to bear in mind that the
timeline  you  have  just  created already exists, past present and future.
Everything  co-exists.   Does that mean a conscious decision to travel back
into  the  past  to  change  the future is a waste of time?  Certainly not.
Conscious decisions would of course really be inevitable decisions, but you
have  to play the game.  If time travel were possible all we really have to
cling to is the belief that we are making our own decisions, and in reality
we  are,  the fact that the future of all time lines already exists doesn't
change this.

Ok  that's the simple stuff dispensed with.  What of the future where 'Time
Warrior'  originates.   Firstly they have interstellar travel.  Warp drives
and  jump  gates  do  not  exist.   In the late twentyfifth century of that
timeline  the  wording  of  the  theory  of the origins of the universe was
changed.   Instead  of  saying  the  early  universe  contained  matter and
anti-matter,  which  collided  and left remnants of matter and energy, they
said  the early universe contained time and anti-time stuff.  When time and
anti-time  merged it produced no time which is energy.  The remnants of the
merging  instead  of  being  called matter, was called time, which gave the
impression  that  it  travelled from yesterday to tomorrow.  It was however
discovered  that  anti-time  had  not  been  totally  annihilated.  In fact
anti-time was responsible for things like gravity (run a film backwards and
pressure  becomes  suction) and the strange forces which hold the subatomic
universe  together.   Once  they  understood gravity it didn't take long to
manipulate  it.   People  are good at manipulating.  Gravity is produced by
mass.   If you manipulate the gravity of an object you also alter its mass,
thus  came  the  inertialess  drive.   This  was  one of the oldest science
fiction  ideas  created in our timeline by 'Doc Smith' (also famous for his
saying  "as  has  been  said  before  but").   It  just  had  to  be?   The
implications of manipulating gravity are immense.  Pilots of spacecraft had
few   energy  problems,  G-force  problems  and  even  time  problems  were
minimised.   This is the era in which the Convention of Time Travellers was
assembled.

The  Convention  of  Time  Travellers  consisted  of  a  bunch of playboys,
knobheads  and  cavaliers,  who  journeyed to the past to live the lives of
others.   After  becoming  fully  gratified they would return to the future
with  all  their  memories  simply  to do it all again.  Sadly for them the
master  of this timeline was not only a nasty piece of work and clever with
it  but  he  was also immortal.  He had been running the show since records
began.   What he wasn't was all seeing and all knowledgeable, thus the idea
of  time  travel  worried  him.   He  was going to close the show down.  He
guessed  the convention would try and dispose of him in the past and he was
right.  This story is told during the adventure dream sequences.

Was it possible to remove the bad guy in that timeline?  Of course not.  So
if  the  mission  was  a  success (which is of course in your hands), which
timeline was he removed from.  Answers on a postcard.



End.
