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ASCII text
— 5K bytes
— 1992-09-02
— PP20 compressed
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.