THE TALISMAN WRITTEN BY PAUL JENKINSON Instructions ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Legend has it that long ago, to opposing valleys joined forces to defeat a large band of Orcs threatening to overpower each individual valley. Before the final battle the two rulers met and in a gesture of friendship, brought together the great treasures of each valley. One valley produced a beautiful solid gold chain made from a pure nugget found deep in one of the local mines. Forged by the best jeweller, the highly polished links were joined with seamless precision. The other valley brought forth a pure diamond of immense value. Mined from there diamond mines, the crystal was cut and polished by a professional jeweller just before he died. Sized to the palm of a hand, it has long been the sign of great wealth and prosperity. The two items were joined to produce a extremely beautiful and valuable talisman. Before the final battle, it was hidden in a place only known to 3 fighters from each valley. If the battle was won, the talisman would be paraded and both valleys would become one. During the battle all six fighters lost their lives and the talisman was lost forever. No one has ever found the talisman, in fact the actual location of the valleys has long since been mixed up by varying tales from travelling bards. Many brave adventurers have gone in search of this great treasure, but none have ever found the slightest trace. It is your turn to seek fortune and glory, and saying your last farewell you head off into the unknown. Travelling through forests, towns, caves and swamps you come across a small Orc camp. 3 small Orcs sit by a glowing fire eating the remains of some animal. Being small you think them easy gain and draw your sword for battle. Thats the last thing you remember, for hiding in the shadows were 5 other, bigger Orcs. Knocking you out, they carried you for 4 days as reserve food. On the forth day they became tired of hauling you around and hid you in a small cave, to call back at a later date when you became a little more de-composed and tasty. On the fifth day you wake, tired, hungry, weak and with a hell of a headache. Crawling around you find a small puddle of water, formed by droplets of water from the roof above. Drinking the water causes a strange sensation, a warm feeling overcomes you and as you drink more, all ills are mended. You have heard of such healing springs from the bards, but have never met anyone who actually drank from one. Back to full health you decide to continue your quest........ CONTROLING THE GAME ------------------- The screen is split into 5 areas. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Picture Area | Control Area | | | | | Shows a picture of your present | DESCRIBE= Re describes location | | location along with any other | EXAMINE = Look for clues | | living or part living characters. | FIGHT = Fight a creature | | | USE/GET = Use/Get an object | | | OPERATE = Operate lever etc. | | | DRINK = Drink water | | | STATUS = Show strength | | | TALK = Talk to character | | | LOAD = Load saved game | | | SAVE = Save game position | | +------------------+------------------+ +------------------+------------------+ | | Inventory | Score | | | Window | and Status | | | | Window | +---------------------------------------+------------------+------------------+ | Text Description Window | | | | | | | | Includes any objects or character present. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ SOME INFO --------- This game only works on machines with 2megs of memory or above. I apologise for this, but this was the only way to produce the game without long loads for the graphics. I could have loaded each location in as the game progressed, but it would have been far too slow to be enjoyed. I tried to load chunks of about 10 locations each at varying parts of the game, but apart from being a swine to program so it worked, it slowed the game down too much. I did manage to get it down to 3 loads, but after much messing about with locations and characters I still found that it needed 1.6m to run. After a lot of thought I decided to make it the game what it should be, and is. All locations are now loaded into ram first, so location movement is instant. The game can be played in 1 whole part instead of the 2 or 3 required to make it work on 1.6m. Because 2m is fast becoming the standard configuration, I think the game will be accessible to most people. The game has been tested on the following systems; Amiga A500 with .5m chip ram and 2.5m fast. Amiga A500+ with 1m chip ram and 2m fast. Amiga A500 with GVP hard drive and 2m fast. Amiga A500+ with GVP hard drive and 2m fast. Amiga B2000 with 1m chip and 2m fast. Amiga A1500 with 1m chip and 2m fast. Amiga A1500 with GVP hard drive and 2m fast. Amiga B2000 with GVP hard drive, GVP 40mhz accelerator, 8m Fast. Amiga A600 with 2m chip. 1.3, 2.04 and 2.05 ROMs. The game has taken over 7 months to complete. The main hold up was gathering all the graphics. The text, characters and maps had to be created as the game progressed, due to not knowing what graphics would appear next. This not only makes the game fun to write, but also gives a wide variety of places to see within the game. The characters encountered do move around randomly and will, under certain conditions do the most crazy things. I have tried to make the game as 'real' as possible, for example - Walking in the forest you may find a log. Before you have chance to pick it up, An Orc may get it and throw it away. He may then punch you, or just burp ! Trying to find the log wont take long, but once you've got it, the Orc may follow you and steal it. If you walk past a pit with the Orc in pursuit, he may just fall in, or a Dwarf may emerge from the pit and attack you, or even knock the Orc in ! There are so many things like this to be found all around the game, even I was surprised by a few things during play testing. Originally added to give light relief to me during play testing, and give the Andrew (my play-tester) a few laughs during the long hours, they soon became a major part in the game. PROBLEMS -------- You shouldn't get these ! If all the on screen prompts are followed and you have 2m or more memory, the game will perform as it should. (its been play-tested enough !) NOTE: Remember to keep disk 1 write enabled if you want to save the game. HARD DRIVE INSTALLATION ----------------------- For those lucky sods with hard drives, you should be familiar with AmigaDos by now, so to install on HD follow these guidelines. Boot from your hard disk and goto SHELL. Insert Talisman1 disk into any drive and type EXECUTE TALISMAN1:HDINSTALL The installer will create a directory in RAM and copy all required files from both disks into it. Once complete, drag the drawer from RAM to your hard drive. Saved games will be placed on the Talisman1 disk. If you wish them to be placed on the hard drive, add the following to your startup-sequence; ASSIGN TALISMAN1: {path} e.g. ASSIGN TALISMAN1: DH1:GAMES/TALISMAN To run the game - boot from hard drivem open the Talisman drawer and double click on the game icon. TALISMAN IS COPYRIGHT 1992 PAUL JENKINSON The game is public domain and can be copied and given away without financial gain. Any views, comments or requests for help can be sent to me.. Paul Jenkinson 35 Denshaw Drive Morley Leeds LS27 8RS Thanks to: Andy Hill - For moral support during the 7+ months. Andrew Barker - For many hours play-testing, suggestions and many small bits of paper containing hard-to-read comments. Roger - For making me determined to finish it by taking the piss. HINTS: a) Always read the text description. Things like life saving water, or small clues can be obtained. b) Use the Examine button. Things are not all they seem. c) Always keep an eye on your strength and always make a note of the nearest drinking place. d) Save the game often.