TOOBZ (c) 1993 Digital Wizardry This game is Shareware. TOOBZ was developed on an '1 meg A500' with no extra hardware.If you like this game and intend to keep it, please send 5 pounds to help me build my system more.If you have paid this already,just ignore what I've said. Welcome to TOOBZ. A simple game involving forward thinking,strategy and quick wits. The object is to get a set number of various coloured balls into their correct house within the allotted time limit. A ball is launched at a set time from a launcher and travels along a pathway indefinitely.There can be more than one launcher on a level,so the pathways will need adusting to some degree.This is where you come in. At certain places on the board there are ,what are called,ROTATERS. Clicking on these with the mouse will rotate them 90 degrees. The Left Mouse button will rotate anti-clockwise while the Right mouse button rotates clockwise. The BALLS A maximum of four balls can be on-screen at once. There are four standard balls and three special balls which are explained below :- RED - These are the standard balls.These must be guided GREEN into their respective house.If you get a ball into BLUE the correct house,the number of balls required YELLOW decreases by one (as indicated on the info panel as 'LEFT' ).Get the LEFT total to zero and the level is complete. BUT !!! If you get the ball in the wrong coloured house, your time will decrease by thirty seconds. WHITE - This ball can be guided into any house and it will count as a good ball. GREY - Guiding this ball into any house will have one of a number of effects :- 1) Add 30 seconds to your time. 2) Deduct 30 seconds from your time.(If you have 30 seconds to spare.If you don't, it's GAME OVER') 3) Reduce the number of balls left to get by 2. 4) Increase the number of balls required by 2. 5) Reverse the rotater directions for a few seconds.If anything major happens such as a good ball home or a bad ball home, control will return to normal. As you can see, some of the effects are good while some are not quite as welcome.Whether you decide to risk the choice or play safe is up to you. BLACK - ( Multi-player game only ).This is the same as the GREY ball ( apart from choice 5 ) but with a slight difference.It will affect a random player !! If it is to happen to the current player,the effect will take place immediately.If it is to happen to another player,it will take effect when they next play. (eg) Player 1 gets a message saying:- 'PLAYER 2 MINUS 30 SECONDS' When player 2 starts their go, they will have already lost 30 seconds before they start. HOUSES There are four houses which match the standard ball colours. Getting a good ball home has a dramatic effect on the house.IT WILL CHANGE TO A RANDOM COLOUR !! So you will need to rethink your strategy. LAUNCHERS The LAUNCHER is where the ball is launched into the playfield.Up to a maximum of four launchers can be on the playfield.If there is only one LAUNCHER,it makes the game much easier,but more often than not there is more than one LAUNCHER.When a ball is launched,it is in the sequence YELLOW-BLUE-GREEN-RED. ROTATERS Using the rotaters is the only way you can alter the pathways to guide the balls home.The problem with doing this is it will disrupt the path of another ball.Use the left-mouse button to rotate anti-clockwise and the right-mouse button to rotate clockwise. DUMPERS A DUMPER is a special tile where you can safely dump a ball you don't want.BUT this comes at a price.If you dump too many you will lose the pointer for a time.During this time you cannot make any changes to the playfield.The amount of balls you can dump depends on which level you are on.You can dump up to 100 on level 1 while you can only dump 2 on level 50. COLOUR CHANGERS A COLOUR CHANGER is a special tile which will alter the colour of a ball which travels through it.If it is a standard ball it will change to the next colour in the sequence (ie. RED-GREEN-BLUE-YELLOW).If it is a special ball,it will change to a random colour in the sequence (ie. It will become a standard ball.) HOLDERS A HOLDER is another special tile.If a ball runs onto an empty holder, it will stay there until you click on it.It is there to provide a temporary holding space for a ball.If a ball runs onto an already occupied HOLDER, it will just rebound back into play. RANDOM CROSSROADS These tiles deflect a ball in a random direction.They are not really helpful but can sometimes come in use.You can recognise these by the little grey 4-directional arrow on the house. BUFFERS BUFFERS are just dead-ends which spring the ball back into play. ONE-WAY PATHS These tiles have more than one entry point,but the ball will always exit in the direction shown on the tile. IN GAME KEYS 'p' - Pause Whilst in pause 'Esc' - Quit 'r' - Restart 'Help' - Remove all balls (costs you 1 minute) OTHER KEYS - (activated on title screen) 'o' - Call Options Screen then start game. Both Shifts & 'Esc'- Quit Game TIME OR POINTS At the end of a successfully completed level,you are given a bonus. What that bonus is depends upon you. It can be either:- 10 points for every second left on the clock OR 25% of the time remaining carried onto the next level. When you first start,you get the points but every 5 levels you get the options to decide your bonus type.This bonus type will apply for the next five levels. INFO PANEL At the bottom of the playfield is the INFO PANEL.From left to right it reads:- Current player (1UP,2UP,3UP,4UP) & Score. Time Remaining in Minutes & Seconds. Number of Balls required to complete the level. The colour of the ball to be launched next. Below this is the MESSAGE BAR - This is used to tell the player vital info. OPTIONS SCREEN Selecting 'O' from the title screen brings up an 'Options Screen'.From here you can select the Number of Players (1-4),Start at level one or enter password, and the choice of sound FX on or off. To make any selection simply use the Up & Down cursor keys to move the double white lines up and down to highlight the option you want to change. Use 'Return' to alter the options.Move the lines back to 'START' to begin playing. PASSWORD SYSTEM A password system exists to save playing through the first levels again.The new password is displayed after 5 levels.To enter a password, select 'O' from the title screen and set the centre option to 'PASSWORD' (at the beginning it is set to 'LEVEL 1'). MULIT-PLAYER GAME This format is not as you would think.As each player only has one life, it would be Snoozeville if each player had to play until Game Over.Instead, each player attempts each level in turn.Once all players have played the relevent level,it's onto the next level until all players are out of the game. THE LEVEL EDITOR A level editor is also provided (aren't I generous ?) to allow you to design your own levels or alter the in-game ones. To access the editor,simply call up the password entry screen and enter the password as 'EDITOR'.A message will appear and you will be plunged into the 'Level Editor'. The commands at the bottom are quite obvious,but for those running low on the 'old grey matter' they are listed below:- LOAD BANK - Loads a file of levels from disk.This file must be called 'T_Levels.Tbz' so don't start altering the names of files.Similarly, don't try to load another file type into the Editor as I don't know what will happen. SAVE BANK - Saves the levels as they are to the current directory as 'T_Levels.Tbz'.If this file already exists, you will be given the chance of replacing the file or cancelling. RESET LEVEL - Resets the current level to the default. SELECT LEVEL - Opens a window asking you for a level number. Entering anything other than 1-50 will leave the selected level as it is.You can also use this option as a crude form of 'Undo'.If you select any level other than the current one, the current one is stored in memory.If you enter the current level,it will delete all work up until the last time you stored the level. STORE LEVEL - This will enter the level into memory. SELECT TILE - This will bring up a screen containing all the tiles.Simply point to the required tile to select it.Pressing 'Esc' will abort the selection.You can also call this option by pressing 'SPACE'.You cannot view all available tiles at once,so use the up and down cursor keys to show others. You can get a small paragraph of info on a tile by pressing 'HELP' as you click on it.Click on 'GO' to close the window. LEFT - Select the number of balls required for the level (1-20). TIME - Select the time limit for the level in seconds. Values range from 100 (1 min 40 secs) to 599 (9 mins 59 secs). COLOUR - Cycles the colour of the tiles. The colour has no effect on the game. QUIT - Gives you the option of returning to the game and playing the levels you have designed. To paste the current tile down, simply click with the left mouse button.Clicking with the right mouse button will place a blank tile down. To load your wonderful levels next time you load,simply go to the 'Options Screen' and press 'L'.You only need to do this once. THE BORING BIT If you like 'TOOBZ' write and tell me as I am thinking of doing a sequel with more tiles. If you don't like it,still write and tell me why .Any ideas,new tiles,bugs,etc would also be welcome. Gary Dunne, 124 Home Court, Home Close, Luton, Beds. LU4 9NR.