# LADDER MAN III _______________________ # OBJECTIVE The objective of Ladder Man is to collect all the yellow light bulbs located in each room. Once collected, get Ladder Man to the doorway to exit. # GAME PLAY Upon first playing the game, it is strongly suggested than you run the Demo puzzle room first. This Demo will help you become acquainted with the various objects you'll encounter. Choose a puzzle by pressing the hoose Puzzle key. This will bring up the Puzzle Menu from which you can select a room. The different rooms tend to get harder as you go along, but you can always skip a room and come back to it later if you get stuck. When the puzzle loads itself onto the board, Ladder Man will wave his arms to let you know he's ready to begin. It is suggest that you look over the game board first to get acquainted with the elements that you'll have to overcome in order to solve the room. The doorway is gray when you begin and cannot be entered until you have collected ALL the light bulbs. When Ladder Man has collected all these bulbs, the door will turn pink and it will let him escape the room if he can reach it. # OBJECTS Each room is filled with many different objects which you will have to use to solve each puzzle. The following is a list of the objects and their properties. (Remember: Run the Demo for a visual guide) Walls: These are red and Ladder Man can climb on top of them, but cannot move them. Balloons: These can be pushed either up, left or right. They will continue in the direction pushed until they either hit another object or the side of the puzzle room. Ladder Man can also climb on top of the balloons and push them down one grid at a time. Water : Ladder Man never learned to swim, so he must avoid falling into it at all costs. Ship : Sometimes there is a ship floating on the water that can take Ladder Man across it. However, if there is something blocking the path where Ladder Man will get off on the other side, then the boat will sink with Ladder Man in it. Remember he CAN'T SWIM! Lasers : These are very hazardous to Ladder Man. He must avoid them by either blocking them with other objects or reaching the special yellow laser switch which will turn the lasers off. Switch : This switch will turn the lasers off if he can reach it. Light Bulbs : Ladder Man MUST collect all the light bulbs located in each room before he can exit out of the doorway. Door : This is what Ladder Man is trying to reach to exit out of each room. It will be gray at first until he collects all the light bulbs. It will then turn pink and allow him to escape the room. Crates : These gray boxes can be pushed in any direction by Ladder Man. He can position them to reach other levels too high for his ladder. Teleport: Sometimes there are two teleports located in a room. If Ladder Man walks onto one of these, he will be transported to the other one. He must step off the teleport and then go back onto it to get back again (if he wants to). TNT : Many puzzles have TNT located at various places in the room. He should try to get these because he can use them to blast through walls. Gray Walls : These look like regular walls except that they are not red but gray. If Ladder Man walks over one, then once he steps off of it, dangerous electric poles that rise from out of the floor will prevent him from going back. He cannot walk over these poles because like the lasers, they are hazardous to his health. # KEY ASSIGNMENTS The key assignments are located at the bottom of the screen at all times: : Move Ladder Man up,down,left,right : Raises the ladder. The ladder has a maximum range of two grids. He can use the ladder to climb and push objects up and to the side. He CANNOT use TNT while on a ladder to blast through a red wall. nt : This will activate the TNT if Ladder Man has collected it. TNT can only be used to the left or to the right. It cannot be used to blast walls above or below him. TNT cannot be used on a ladder. If there is only one wall to either his right or left, then the button will automatically blast the only wall available to it. If there is a wall to both his left and right, then a special menu will come up to indicate which direction you want him to blast. # MENU KEYS hoose Puzzle : Select puzzle room to play gain : Will restart the puzzle from the beginning if you get stuck. (You'll be using this key a lot!) elp : Ladder Man Directions sund : Toggle Sound On/Off oleau : Information on Soleau Software Games Solutions : Solutions to the first 3 puzzles are provided in the Shareware version. uit : Quit Ladder Man # SCORES / ATTEMPTS The Puzzle Menu will keep track of the number of attempts on each room until it is solved. Once a room has been successfully completed, the puzzle number will be marked as *SOLVED* and the attempts will not be recorded anymore for that room. (Note: if you want to reset the score card, you can erase the Ladder3.scr file.) # STRATEGIES As you play Ladder Man you will begin to develop your own strategies to solve each of the puzzles. All the rooms can be solved in at least one way, many have several ways. Here are some tips to help you successfully master these rooms. 1. Avoid pushing crates against walls unless you have to. 2. Sometimes it is not to your advantage to grab a light bulb in front or above you. You might use them to stop balloons in strategic positions before you grab them. 3. Notice that when you push a balloon (when not on a ladder), you will not move forward into the space vacated by the balloon. This in not true for the crates. When pushing a crate, Ladder Man will move forward to where the crate used to be. If you put up a ladder and then push the crate, Ladder Man will remain in place while the crate is pushed. 4. Just because there are objects like TNT in the room, does not mean you must get to them. 5. Don't overlook the obvious. Sometimes the most difficult puzzle is much easier then it first appears! # * CONCLUSION / REGISTERED VERSION * & This version of Soleau Software's Ladder Man III is distributed as & Shareware. There are 12 puzzle rooms available which should keep & you busy for many days. Please see the closing screen or the & Lad3_reg.doc file for details on the registered version featuring & 30 mind-bending puzzle rooms, with the solutions to ALL! & Please support our work and register this game with us. Your & registrations allow us to continue producing logic strategy games & for the entire family to enjoy. # CAN YOU SOLVE ALL THE ROOMS ? ENJOY !!!!!!!!!!!!