DOCUMENTAITON BY DOC'S R' US BBS ARENA BY PSYGNOSIS GETTING STARTED: PLEASE REFER TO THE LOADING INSRTRUCTION SHEET. THIS IS AS FOLLOWS. ARENA LOADING INSTRUCTIONS FOR AMIGA: IN ORDER TO PLAY ARENA YOU REQUIRE AN AMIGA WITH AT LEAST 512K OF RAM AND COLOUR MONITOR OR TELEVISION. TO LOAD ARENA YOU MUST DO THE FOLLOWING: 1. SET UP YOUR AMIGA IN THE USAUL FASHION. IF THIS PRESENTS DIFFICULTIES PLEASE REFER TO THE "INTRO TO AMIGA MANUAL. 2. SWITCH ON YOUR MONITOR OR TV AND THEN YOUR AMIGA. 3. WHEN THE DISPLAY PROMPTS FOR KICKSTART DISK INSERT IT IN TO THE INTERNAL DRIVE. 4. WHEN THE DISPLAY PROMPTS FOR WORKBENCH INSERT THE ARENA DISK. 5. ARENA WILL START TO LOAD AUTOMTICALLY. THE PSYGNOSIS LOGO SHOULD APPEAR. 6. IF THE LOGO DOESN'T APPEAR WITHIN 30 SEC. THIS MAY INDICATE A PROBLEM. 7. ONCE ARENA HAS COMPLETED LOADING THE EVENT SECTION SCREEN WILL APPEAR. 8. LEAVE THE AREANA DISK IN THE DISK DRIVE DURING PLAY. 9. REFER TO THE "STARTING A NEW PLAY" IN THE ARENA INSTRUCTION BOOKLET. IMPORTANT: ARENA NOW SUPPORTS JOYSTICK CONTROL. THE EQUIVALENT OF THE ENERGY KEYS IS RAPID LEFT AND RIGHT MOVEMENT OF THE JOYSTICK. THE JUMP KEY IS THE FIRE BUTTON. STARTING A NEW PLAY: IF YOU HAVE JUST LOADED ARENA AND THE SELECTION SCREEN HAS APPEARED, THEN YOU ARE READY TO SELECT EITHER "NEW" (START A NEW GAME) OR "LOAD" ( LOAD A PREVIOUSLY SAVED GAME) AS REQUIRED. PLEASE REFER TO THE APPROPRIATE SECTION OF THIS MANUAL FOR FURTHER GUIDANCE. THESE ARE THE ONLY TWO VALID ICONS WHEN THE GAME IS FIRST LOADED FORM DISK. ON RETURNING FROM ONE OF THESE OPTIONS YOU WILL NOW BE IN POSITION TO PROCEED AND SELECT YOUR FIRST EVENT. HOW TO SELECT AN EVENT: TO SELECT AN EVENT YOU SHOULD SIMPLY POINT THE MOUSE POINTER AT THE EVENT REQUIRED AND DOUBLE CLICK EITHER OF THE MOUSE BUTTONS. THE EVENTS WHICH HAVE BEEN COMPLETED ARE EDGE WITH A RED RECTANGLE AND CANNOT BE SELECTED, THOSE WHICH ARE AVAILBE TO COMPETE IN ARE EDGED IN A BLUE RECTANGLE. YOU MAY SELECT THE EVENTS IN ANY ORDER YOU WISH. KEYBOARD TECHNIQUE: THE KEYBOARD IS THE WAY TO PLAY ARENA. THERE ARE THREE KEY GROUPS TO LEARN. SPEED OR STRENGHT CAN BE BUILT UP BY "POUNDING" TWO GROUPS OF KEYS ALTERNATELY, FROM NOW ON REFERED TO AS THE "ENERGY KEYS". THE GROUPS ARE ANY OF [A],[S],[Z],[X], FOR THE LEFT SIDE AND ANY OF [;],['],[.],[/] FOR THE RIGHT SIDE. THE PROGRAMONLY COUNTS IN ALTERNATE PAIRS SO WATCH YOUR CO-ORDINATION TO MAINTAIN A RIGHT-LEFT-RIGHT-LEFT SEQUENCE. TO TRIGGER A JUMP, THROW, VAULT OR PUT, THE SPACE BAR HAS TO BE HIT. FROM HERE ON THE SPACE BAR WILL BE REFERED TO AS THE "JUMP KEY". THE RECORD LEVEL OF POWER AND/OR SPEED WILL BE SHOWN ON THE POWER SLIDE IN THE TOP LEFT HAND CORNER OF ALL DISPLAYS. IT WILL SHOW LEVELS RANGING FROM 0 TO 9. FEATURES GENERAL TO ALL EVENTS: THERE ARE TWO ICONS IN THE TOP CORNER OF THE SCREEN, THEY ARE "QUIT EVENT" AND "PAUSE". IF YOU POSITION THE MOUSE POINTER IN THE "QUIT EVENT" ICON AND DOUBLE CLICK EITHER MOUSE BUTTON, THE EVENT WILL BE IMMEDIATELY TERMINATED AND ALL SCORES TO DATE FOR THAT EVENT WILL BE DELETED FROM THE SCORE TABLE. ALL THE COMPLETED EVENTS WILL RETAIN THEIR SCORES AND STATUS. DOUBLE CLICKING THE "PAUSE" ICON WILL SUSPEND THE EXECUTION OF THE PROGRAM AND THE SCREEN WILL FADE. ARENA CAN BE RESTARED BY AGAIN POINTING INTO THE PAUSE ICON AND DOUBLE CLICKING EITHER OF THE MOUSE BUTTONS. TAKING YOUR TURN: EACH PLAYER WILL TAKE HIS OF HER TURN IN ROTATION. IF YOU HAVE BEEN ELIMANATED FROM AN EVENT YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED ANOTHER TURN. FOR EXAMPLE IF YOU HAVE HAD THREE ATTEMPTS AT A HEIGHT IN THE HIGH JUMP AND FAILED EACH TIME, YOU WILL BE ELIMANTED FROM THE EVENT AND THE POINTS SCORED FOR YOUR HIGHEST CLEARANCE WILL BE RECORDED. WHEN IT IS YOUR TURN YOUR NAME WILL BE HIGHLIGHTED IN RED ON THE EVENT SCOREBOARD. THE COMPUTER WILL ALERT YOU WITH A BEEP. YOU "TELL" THE COMPUTER YOU ARE READY TO START WITH A DOUBLE CLICK ON EITHER MOUSE BUTTONS. THE COMPUTER WILL REGISTER THIS WITH A BEEP AND A FLASH OF THE SCREEN. YOU ARE NOW COMPETING AND SHOULD BE READY ON THE KEYBOARED. UNTIL YOU HAVE DONE THIS THE DISPLAY REMAINS STATIC. THE PROGRESS BAR: WHERE AN EVENT REQUIRES THE PLAYER TO "RUN UP TO" THE JUMP OR THROW AREA, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO SHOW THE WHOLE "RUN UP" DUE TO THE SCALE AND SIZE OF THE GRAPHICS USED. WE USE THE PROGRESS BAR TO PLOT THE PLAYER'S PROGRESS DOWN THE RUNWAY TO THE TARGET AREA. THIS APPEARS AT THE TOP LEFT OF EACH DISPLAY. AS THE PLAYER MOVES DOWN THE RUNWAY, A RED BAR WILL BE PLOTTED ABOVE THE SCALE ICON. THIS TARGET AREA IS MARKED BY A SMALL RED RECTANGLE. THE OBJECT FLIGHT GRAPH: WHEN WE ARE TRACKING AN OBJECT SUCH AS A JAVELIN OR SHOT THROUGH TH AIR, OR, IN A JUMPING EVENT THE PLAYER, WE OFFER FEEDBACK ON THE PROGRESS OF THE OBJECT ON THE OBJECT FLIGHT GRAPH. THIS APPEARS ABOVE THE PROGRESS BAR AND WILL BE "INKED IN" AS THE OBJECT OR PLAYER FLIES THROUGH THE AIR. HUNDRED METRES: EACH PLAYER WILL TAKE ONE TURN AND ONE TURN ONLY TO REGISTER A TIME. YOU WILL START THIS EVENT ON THE BLOCKS. YOU WILL MOVE AUTOMATICALLY INTO "GET READY" POSITION ON THE INSRTRUCTIONS OF THE STARTER. HE WILL RAISE THE GUN READY TO START THE EVENT AND RESET ALL STOP WATCHES. AT THIS POINT, IF YOU TOUCH THE KEYBOARD BEFORE THE STARTER'S GUN HAS GONE OFF YOU WILL RECORD A FALSE START. TWO FALSE STARTS AND YOU WILL BE ELMINATED FROM THE EVENT WITH NO SCORE. THE EVENT IS GEARED FOR MAXIMUM SPEED ON THE ENERGY KEYS THROUGHOUT THE RUN. YOU CAN DIVE FOR THE TAPE BY PRESSING THE JUMP KEY BUT BEWARE, IF YOU DO THIS MORE THAT A FEW STRIDES FROM THE FINISH LINE YOU WILL ACTUALLY LOSE MOMENTUM AND COME TO A HALT. IT NEEDS TO BE TIMED ACCURATELY. THE SCOREBOARD WILL SHOW YOUR TIME AND POINTS AWARDED AS SO: NAME PTS. TIME JAN 702 11.52 LONG JUMP, SHOT PUT AND JAVELIN: IN EACH OF THESE EVENTS YOU WILL BE ALLOWED SIX ATTEMPTS TO RECORD A BEST SCORE. TURNS ARE AGAIN IN ROTATION ORDER WITH PLAY COMMENCING IN THE USUAL WAY. THE EVENT SCOREBOARD WILL BE DISPLAYED AT THE TOP OF THE SCREEN AS SO: NAME PTS. DIST. JUMPS TO GO JOHN 604 5.98 4 THE SCOREBOARD WILL SHOW YOUR BEST ATTEMPT TO DATE, THE POINT VALUE FOR THAT JUMP/THROW YOU HAVE REMAINING. LONG JUMP: YOU ARE ALLOWED 6 ATTEMPTS TO RECORD A GOOD JUMP. YOU USE THE ENERGY KEYS TO PICK UP SPEED ON THE RUNWAY. AS YOU APPROACH THE BOARD KEEPING AN EYE ON THE PROGRESS BAR, YOU NEED TO REACH MAXIMUM SPEED. YOU MUST BE READY TO TIME YOUR JUMP; THE CLOSER YOU GET TO THE BOARD THE BETTER CHANCE YOU HAVE. HITTING THE JUMP KEY WILL MOVE YOU INTO JUMP SEQUENCE INSTANTLY AND SHOULD BE TIMED TO COINCIDE WITH YOUR ARRIVAL ON THE BOARD. DURING THE JUMP SEQUENCE THE USE OF THE ENERGY KEYS NEEDS TO BE MAINTAINED RIGHT UP TO THE POINT OF LANDING. YOU WILL LOSE A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF DISTANCE IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP THE ENERGY KEYS RATE THROUGH TO THE POINT WHERE YOU HIT THE SAND. SHOT PUT: AGAIN YOU WILL BE ALLOWED SIX ATTEMPTS TO RECORD A BEST. YOU COMMENCE THIS EVENT STANDING AT THE BACK OF THE CIRCLE. YOU HAVE TO BUILD UP POWER AS YOU GO INTO THE HOP POSITION, YOU THEN HOP ACROSS THE CIRCL. AS YOU MOVE ACROSS THE CIRCLE HITTING THE JUMP KEY STARTS THE PUT. YOU NEED TO LEAVE THIS AS LATE AS POSSIBLE TO RECORD THE MAXIMUM DISTANCE. YOU CAN HOWEVER FOUL THE CIRCLE BY TOUCHING THE EDGE. DURING ALL THIS YOU HAVE TO MAINTAIN THE RATE ON THE ENERGY KEYS. AS YOU START TO PUT THE SHOT ANOTHER STRIKE ON THE JUMP KEY IS REQUIRED TO RELEASE THE SHOT, THIS SHOULD BE DONE TO COINCIDE WITH THE ARM EXTENDING TO RELEASE THE SHOT, THE LATER YOU CAN LEAVE THIS THE MORE EFFECT IT WILL HAVE. ONCE THE SHOT IS IN FLIGHT THE ENERGY KEYS RATE HAS TO BE KEPT UP TO MAINTAIN THE OPTIMUM FLIGHT PATH. JAVELIN: TURNS AND NUMBER OF ATTEMPTS AS ABOVE. THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN THE JAVENLI EVENT IS SPEED ON THE RUNWAY, USING THE ENERGY KEYS, AND STARTING THE THROW AT THE LAST POSSIBLE SECOND USING THE JUMP KEY. YOU HAVE TO AVOID THE FOWL THROW BY NOT TRANSGRESSING THE END OF THE RUNWAY. YOU MUST KEEP UP THE ENERGY KEYS RATE DURING THE THROW. AGAIN FURTHER DISTANCE MAY BE GAINDED BY "HELPING" THE JAVELIN ALONG DURING ITS FLIGHT USING THE ENERGY KEYS. HIGH JUMP AND POLE VAULT: SET HEIGHT: IN BOTH THESE EVENTS YOU WILL BE ALLOWED UP TO 6 TURNS AT NEW HEIGHTS CHOSEN EACH TIME BY YOU. THIS IS DONE BY MEANS OF THE SET HEIGHT ICONS. THIS WILL BE OFFERED TO YOU AT THE START OF THE EVENT AND AFTER EACH SUCCESSFUL JUMP. SHOULD YOU FAIL AT A PARTICULAR HEIGHT YOU WILL BE ALLOWED THREE AND ONLY THREE ATTEMPTS. AFTER A FAIL YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE HEIGHT YOU ARE ATTEMPTING, YOU MUST CLEAR YOUR CHOOSEN HEIGHT TO PROGRESS IN THE EVENT. YOU MAY HOWEVER, CHOOSE ANY HEIGHT YOU WISH FOR YOUR FIRST ATTEMPT. WHEN YOU HAVE COMPLETED A JUMP SUCCESSFULLYM YOU MAY INCREASE THE HEIGHT BY ANY AMOUNT YOU WISH AT YOUR NEXT TURN. THE BAR CAN BE MOVED UP AND DOWN BY POINTING AT THE UP AND DOWN ARROWS AND PRESSING THE LEFT HAND MOUSE BUTTON. WHEN THE HEIGHT IS AT THE DESIRED LEVEL, POINT AT THE OK BUTTON AND PRESS THE LEFT HAND MOUSE BUTTON. YOU WILL NOW BE TAKEN TO START YOUR NEXT ATTEMPT. THE SCOREBOARD WILL SHOW UNDER THE TRYS COLUMN THE ATTEMPTS YOU HAVE HAD AT A PARTICULAR HEIGHT, INDICATING EACH ATTEMPT WITH A 9 FOR FAILURE TO CLEAR, AND A 0 WHERE NO ATTEMPT HAS YET BEEN MADE. THE POINTS VALUE REFLECTS THE BEST CLEARANC TO DATE. AS WITH ALL EVENTS THE SCOREBOARD WILL BE SHOWN AT THE HEAD OF EACH SCREEN AND FOR THE HIGH JUMP AND POLE VAULT IT LOOKS LIKE. NAME PTS. JUMPS ATTEMPTS MTRS TRYS COLIN 817 4 4.13 9 9 0 HIGHJUMP AS WE HAVE DISCUSSED IN THE SET HEIGHT PARAGRAPH ABOVE, IF YOU FAIL AT A PARTICULAR HEIGHT YOU REMAIN LOCKED IN TO THAT HEIGHT UNTIL YOU HAVE CLEARED IT AND THEN YOU MAY PROGRESS TO A NEW HEIGHT, BUT REMEMBER, YOU ARE ONLY ALLOWED THREE ATTEMPTS AT EACH HEIGHT AND THREE FAILURES MEANS YOU GO OUT OF THE EVENT. THE GAME PLAY OF THIS EVENT IS VERY SIMILAR TO THE LONG JUMP. YOU ACCELERATE ACROSS THE RUNWAY KEEPING AN EYE ON THE PROGRESS BAR USING THE ENERGY KEYS. AS YOU APPROACH THE TAKE-OFF AREA YOU NEED TO ACCELERATE AND THEN TIME YOUR JUMP TO TAKE PLACE BETWEEN THE LEFT AND RIGHT UPRIGHTS. TO DO THIS, YOU NEED TO START THE JUMP BY HITTING THE JUMP KEY A SHORT DISTANCE BEFORE THE JUMP ITSELF, WE HELPED A LITTLE BY PROVIDING MARKERS ON THE RUNWAY. YOU MUST MAINTAIN YOUR KEY RATE ON THE ENERGY KEYS UNTIL YOU ARE WELL CLEAR OF THE BAR. POLE VAULT: THE POLE VAULT IS IDENTICAL TO THE HIGH JUMP EVENT IN THE NUMBER OF JUMPS, NUMBER OF ATTEMPTS AND THE SETTING BAR HEIGHTS. THERE ARE RUNWAY MARKERS PROVIDED AND THE JUMP KEY SHOULD BE HIT TO START THE VAULT. WE GIVE YOU CONSIDERABLE LEE-WAY IN STARTION YOUR VAULT. IF YOU TIME THE JUMP KEY CORRECLTY THE COMPUTER WILL"FLASH" THE SCREEN AND THE VAULT WILL START AT THE CORRECT LOCATION. AS YOU REACH THE TOP OF YOUR FLIGHT UOU MUST HIT THE JUMP KEY AGAIN T RELEASE THE POLE. THE CRITICAL TECHNIQUES IN THE EVENT ARE TO ACCELERATE INTO THE TAKE-OFF AREA AND THEN KEEP MOMENTUM UP ON THE ENERGY KEYS UNTIL YOU HAVE CLEARED THE BAR AND YOU ARE DROPPING TO THE MAT. THE POINT SYSTEM AS IN TRADITIONAL DECATHLON EVENT, POINTS ARE AWARDED ON THE FOLLOWING MERIT SYSTEM: POINTS 100M LONG JUMP HIGH JUMP SHOT PUT POLE VAULT JAVELIN 200 14.1 4.28 1.25 6.62 1.94 22.30 300 13.5 4.28 1.40 7.86 2.25 28.00 400 13.0 5.11 1.50 9.17 2.57 34.10 500 12.5 5.54 1.60 10.55 2.90 40.59 600 12.0 5.98 1.71 12.01 3.24 47.56 700 11.5 6.43 1.82 13.55 3.60 55.09 800 11.1 6.90 1.93 15.19 3.97 63.17 900 10.7 7.39 2.05 16.92 4.36 71.81 1000 10.3 7.90 2.17 18.75 4.78 81.00 SELECTION PAGE ICON OPTION: ALL THESE ICONS ARE SELECTED BY POINTING THE MOUSE AT THE REQUIRED ICON AND DOUBLE CLICKING ON EITHER BUTTON. "SAVE"-STORE THE CURRENT GAME TO DISK: IT IS POSSIBLE TO SAVE UP TO 6 PART-COMPLETE PLAYS OF ARENA ON THE ARENA WORK DISK. THE ARENA WORK DISK WILL BE OF A TOTALLY NON-STANDARD FORMAT AND CAN ONLY BE READ OR WRITTEN BY THE ARENA PROGRAM. WHEN YOU FIRST COME TO SAVE A PLAY OF ARENA HAVE A BLANK OR OVERWRITABLE DISK AVAILABLE AND THIS DISK MUST THEN BE DEDICATED AS THE ARENA WORK DISK, THIS DISK DOES NOT NEED TO BE FORMATTED FIRST. YOU CANNOT USE THIS DISK FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE UNTIL YOU REFORMAT IT. WHEN YOU HAVE SELECTED THIS OPTION YOU WILL HAVE TO SELECT A NUMBER IN THE RANGE OF 1-6. THIS IDENTITY UNDER WHICH THE CURRENT PLAY WILL BE SAVED. "LOAD"-LOAD A PREVIOUSLY SAVED GAME: THIS WILL ALLOW YOU TO LOAD A PREVIOUSLY SAVED GAME FROM DISK. IT IS THE REVERSE OF SAVE WITH THE PLAY STORED UNDER IDENTITY 1-6 BEING RELOADED FROM THE ARENA WORK DISK. SCOREBOARD- SHOW THE SCOREBOARD: THIS ICON WILL REVEAL THE SCOREBOARD SHOWING THE SCORES FOR ALL PLAYERS IN ALL THE COMPLETED EVENTS PLUS TOTAL. A DOUBLE CLICK ON THE OK ICON WILL REVERT TO THE EVENT SELECTION SCREEN. "QUIT"- QUIT THE CURRENT GAME: THIS WILL SIMPLY RE-INTIALIZE THE MACHINE AND CLEAR THE ARENA FROM MEMORY. CONFIRMATION WILL BE REQUIRED BY DOUBLE CLICKING ON THE OK ICON, OR CANCELLATION BY THE CANCEL ICON. "NEW"- START A NEW GAME: ON THE SELECTION YOU WILL BE PRESENTED WITH A SCREEN TO ALLOW IMPUT OF THE NUMBER OF PLAYERS AND THEIR NAMES. THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF CHARACTERS IN THE NAME IS 11. FOR EACH INPUT FIELD TYPE IN YOUR RESPONSE AND HIT RETURN WHICH WILL THEN TAKE THE CURSOR TO THE NEXT FIELD. THE ONLY VALID EDIT KEY IS THE BACKSPACE KEY. ONCE YOU HAVE ENTERED ALL FIELDS YOU CAN CONFIRM YOUR ENTRIES BY DOUBLE CLICKING ON THE OK ICON. IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY WITH YOUR ENTRIES DOUBLE CLICK ON THE RE-ENTER ICON. ONCE YOU HAVE DOUBLE CLICKED ON THE OK ICON ALL EVENT SCORES AND DSTATUS FLAGS WILL BE CLEARED AND YOU ARE NOW READY TO PLAY ARENA.