============================================================================= Epic MegaGames DARE TO DREAM 10406 Holbrook Drive Created by Cliff Bleszinski Potomac, MD 20854 Music by Robert A. Allen USA Copyright 1993 Epic MegaGames ============================================================================= Episode 1 of 3: "In a Darkened Room" REQUIREMENTS: * A 286 or faster processor * VGA graphics * Windows 3.x in Standard or Enhanced Mode * Mouse * 1 Megabyte RAM * Hard Disk MUSIC REQUIREMENTS: * Over 1 Megabyte RAM * Windows 3.1 or greater (or Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions) * Any Windows-supported sound card WINDOWS INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS: 1) First, go into the Program Manager. 2) Select your "Games" or "Epic MegaGames" program group. 3) On the bar at the top of the Program Manager select NEW. 4) A small window will appear. Select PROGRAM ITEM and click OK. 5) Another window will appear that says "PROGRAM ITEM PROPERTIES". Enter DARE TO DREAM in the first box. 6) Click BROWSE on the same window-find the file DARE2DRM.EXE. Click OK to select that file, then click OK on the "PROPERTIES" window. ============================================================================= Brief Overview of the Game You are Tyler Norris, a ten year-old who has had to grow up quite rapidly. You must escape your dream by solving bizarre puzzles, traveling to strange lands, and meeting even stranger creatures. It's all in your mind--so nothing can hurt you... Right? The Story So Far Life has not been easy for Tyler Norris. The stressed ten year-old boy has to deal with school, his paper route, and the recent loss of his father. Over the past few evenings, he has been having several extremely vivid and detailed dreams, dreams in which he met odd characters and solved many puzzles. Tonight, Tyler falls asleep after a particularly bad day -- his report card came. He begins to dream. It starts out as any night before, but suddenly he is falling through a storm to an unknown destination. Tyler lands in a deserted alleyway in an unfamiliar city. He wipes himself off, stands up, and begins to piece together the puzzles that will unlock his happiest and most sinister thoughts, resulting in a confrontation with the evil that lurks in all of us. How To Play Looking, taking, and moving around: The mouse pointer in Dare to Dream is "Intelligent", meaning that it knows when it is being moved over something of interest. On the first screen, move the pointer to the underwear hanging in the top left of the alleyway. The pointer changes to a spyglass, letting you know that the underwear may be of some interest to you. Click once, and a description of what you see appears in the StatusBox (the window at the bottom of the screen). Whenever playing Dare to Dream -always- remember that one click looks around. Now, Double Click (two clicks in rapid succession) to take the underwear. A message appears telling you the action you have just performed in the StatusBox. To see what you are carrying, click INVENTORY on the Remote (the window on the left side of the screen). This brings up a window showing everything you have. Click on the underwear. A description of it appears on the right side of the window. Now click OK to have that item in your hands. You can use that item on whatever you want simply by Double Clicking. Now move the mouse to the picture of the street ahead. The pointer turns into an arrow that says EXIT on it. Click once, and you will look to see where that exit leads to. DoubleClick and you will walk there. Now you're in front of Bouf's Bar and Auto Repair! Talking and character interaction: If there is someone on the screen who can be spoken to, move the mouse pointer over the person and it will change to a SPEAK balloon. Click TALK on the Remote to speak to that person. A window will appear (if that person feels like talking) with a close-up of the character along with various questions you can ask. Click any question to get a response. A "Goodbye" or "See you later" will end the conversation. Certain people must be given items or have items used on them. To do this, you must first have an item selected (a picture of it on the Remote). Then Double Click on the character to use the item on him/her/it. Remember to always talk to everyone several times at different points in the game, as they may have new things to say. Solving puzzles: Dare to Dream is not a typical graphic adventure by ANY means. You cannot "die" or "get stuck" like in some other popular adventures. The creators of Dare have a belief that a player should be rewarded for his curiosity, not thwacked on the head repeatedly. There are only so many times a gamer will be burned to death before he turns off the game and does something else. There is no point in Dare to Dream in which you can "get stuck" either. In many other games, you'll find yourself at the end only to discover there was an irretrievable item that you missed 73 screens back. If you think you are at a part in Dare that that happens, you may have overlooked something a few screens back. You don't have to restart your entire quest, just walk back there and get it. Remember there is a solution to EVERYTHING. Be absurd, try a fish in a keyhole, try using Petroleum Jelly on sewer grates -- ANYTHING can happen in a dream! Saving and restoring your game: Certain adventure games expect you to finish them in one sitting. Dare to Dream, however, allows you to save your position so you can continue on with your life and return to the game later. To save your game click on SAVE on the Remote. The Save Game window will appear. Click the slot (there are 5) that you want to save your game into, type a description, and click OK. To restore your game, click RESTORE on the Remote. A window similar to the Save Game window will appear, however it will say "Restore" instead. Click on the game you want to restore, and click OK. The many windows of Dare: The REMOTE The Remote acts just like your television Remote Control. Each button has an equally important function for controlling the game. (smaller buttons) SAVE-Saves your game in progress RESTORE-Restores a previously saved game ARRANGE-Arranges your three windows so that nothing overlaps HELP-Brings up Dare to Dream's Online Help system ABOUT-Shows ORDERING INFORMATION EXIT-Quits the game (larger buttons) TALK-Speak to whomever is in the room INVENTORY-Shows what you are carrying (others) Selected Item-A box that shows what you have in your hands. (a caption below it tells what that item is) The STATUS BOX The Status Box is where Dare to Dream "talks" to the player. If you click a door then the text "The door is made of glass and leads inside the bar" will appear in the StatusBox. The MAIN GAME SCREEN This is what Tyler is seeing at the moment. Move the mouse over the picture situated in the center and chances are it will change to one of several pointers: EXIT-This is an exit that you can walk to. TALK-You can talk/interact with this person. SPYGLASS-There is something of interest here. Remember, one click will tell you what you see, two clicks (right after one another) will perform an action. An action can be several things: taking an object, using an object on something/some one, walking to an exit. Beginner's Walk-Thru WARNING! THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SOLUTIONS TO THE FIRST FEW PUZZLES! DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU LIKE A CHALLENGE! Okay, on the first screen there are two items you should get. One is the underwear hanging on the clothesline. See it? It's in the upper left of the screen. Now you need the balloon in the garbage. Move the pointer to the lower middle part of the screen, amoungst the spilled trash. Take the balloon and go north (move the mouse to the street ahead and Double Click). You're in front of Bouf's. Enter through the door (honest!) and look around inside. You'll notice that the door on the second floor is locked (the door is in the upper right part of the picture). Exit Bouf's, and once outside head left. You're at a street corner with a frightingly large advertisement for Cola on the wall. Move the pointer to the street ahead-you want to head -around- the corner. You'll arrive at a parking lot, go to the boat on the right side of the screen (at the dock in the distance). Once there search the boat up and down-look near the lip of the railing. You'll find a fish. Return to Bouf's and use this fish on the door. Once inside the Repair Shop, talk to Bouf and take the jar next to him (it's really tiny). Return to the front of Bouf's. Head right. Now, use the Jelly (the jar you stole from Bouf) on the grate. You can now go into the sewers! Good luck! When you order volumes 2 and 3 of Dare to Dream you will recieve a hint book which contains solutions similar to this... you'll never be too stressed over solving a difficult puzzle if you're not a "pro" adventurer! Epic has included 3 bitmap pictures for your enjoyment: The Dare to Dream logo (can use as a Wallpaper) An EPIC Logo (can use as a Wallpaper) An example MIDI setup (an example MIDI Mapper setup) TROUBLE-SHOOTING: If you cannot run Dare to Dream, here are some tips. Q. I get the message "CANNOT FIND VBRUN100.DLL" whenever I try to run the game. A. A file (VBRUN100.DLL) is missing from the game. Contact the BBS/Catalog/ Vendor/Friend you acquired the game from. BBS's tend to remove that file as it is commonly used in many Windows programs. Leave a message to the Sysop or other users. The file is widely available. Q. I get the message "OUT OF MEMORY" or other odd messages when I try to run the game. A. You do not have enough free RAM to run the game. Try closing all other applications and removing any wallpapers. If that doesn't work try lowering your resolution to 640x480 pixels. If THAT does not work, create a "Boot Disk". In your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files include only the files that are needed to run Windows. Q. I cannot seem to get my Sound Blaster playing! A. Read the file SBSETUP.TXT for extensive information on how to do this. MEMBER, ASP This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principal works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskogeon, MI 49442-9427 or send a Compuserve message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. CALL EPIC'S HOME BBS Call Software Creations for all the latest Epic MegaGames releases and updates. 33 Lines! Sysop: Dan Linton. 508-365-2359 (2400 Baud) 508-365-9825 (9600 Baud) 508-365-9668 (14.4K Dual HST) ============================================================================= Thank you for playing Dare to Dream, Cliff Bleszinski Robert A. Allen Tim Sweeney Author, Musician President, Dare to Dream Epic MegaGames