TRODDLERS <<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>> The story --------- once upon a time in a far away castle in a magical land lived the sorcerer `divinus` and his 2 apprentices hokus and pokus. now hokus and pokus were 2 little rascals who were always getting themselves into scrapes. much to the annoyance of `divinus` when he thought they were learning spells they`d be off in the orchard eating all the cherries meant for `divinus` favourite fruit pie. or when they were supposed to be collecting herbs for magical potions, he`d find them tucked up in bed exhausted after a day spent vaulting across the moats using their wands as poles. all in all, `divinus` despaired of them ever learning anything of use. one day, when devinus had really reached the end of his tether(hokus and pokus had swopped the lids around in the larder and the poor sorcerer had put marmite on his shoes instead of polish) he sent them down to the storeroom to clear it out. no one had tidied up in centuries, as devinus himself was actually rather lazy if the truth be known. and he was hoping this task would actually keep hokus and pokus out of mischief for a few days. as he sent them down the stairs he boomed `and make sure you dont touch anything!`. unknown to devinus, his 2 apprentices had slipped their comic book collection into their robes and were looking forward to hours of fun without devinus nagging them to do something or other. time went by and it was with horror that hokus and pokus reliases that it was almost supper time and they had`nt done a stroke of work!. divinus would be livid. they thought they`d better shift some boxes around to make it look as if they`d actually been doing something. they had just reached their second pile of boxes when, out of reach and covered in cobwebs they saw a box with the word `warning` in bright red letters written across it. like bees to a honey pot they hurriedly cleared everything away and carefully dragged it out where they could see it better. on it in neat writing it said.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- `warming` instant magical troddlers - do not mix with water! - may turn into zombiesfied variety if allowed to teleport. `do not touch` ------------------------------------------------------------------------- this of course sounded highly intriguing to the naughty duo who instantly decided they ought to investigate further. unbeknown to them, divinus had been plotting behind their backs. he was so fed up with their pranks, that he had decide to try and make some troddlers and rear them so that they could replace hokus and pokus. allowing him to get down to some serious magic. true to form, hokus and pokus thought was,devinus told us not to touch anything, but, i wonder if we could get some of these troddlers to do the clearing up for us, while we have a snooze. they were in such a rush to be first to get at the troddlers, that they ripped the box spilling troddler powder in to the water bucket. there were bubbles and ripples then splashes and jets of water as the powder turned into troddlers who burst out of the bucket and all over the floor.there were hundreds of them. it was`nt long before an uncanny homing instinct took control of the troddlers, it was as if they were hypnotised, one by one they started to move towards a strange little door in the far end of the storeroom. hokus and pokus didnt know what to do. for every one they caught 2 would escape, eventually the duo collapsed exhausted to the ground. it was just as the last troddler was slipping through the teleporter that devinus burst in. not even he could believe what the duo had been up to this time. he was mad!!!!. go after them this instant and get as many back as you can!!!...they didnt need any prompting -mainly because devinus had given each one an almighty kick up the backside and they were heading for the teleporter at an exceedingly fast rate- as they shot through the door they heard devinus shriek `and dont bring any bleeding zombies back either` the mission ----------- your job as hokus and pokus is to rescue those poor innocent troddlers who went through the teleporter door through no fault of their own. you must get them out of the levels and through the exit/s and back to the wizards storeroom before something nasty happens to them,however, any that may have been zombified through teleportation experience should under no circumstances be allowed to get back to the exit! different levels may require other tasks such as collecting diamonds or killing zombies. you will be informed of your missiom at the beginning of each level, so read your mission instructions carefully. the characters -------------- hokus and pokus; you play the part of hokus and or/pokus. they have the unenviable task of completing all the missions despite the obstinacy of the troddlers, and the destructiveness of the zombies and all the other hinrances that you are about to encounter. the troddlers ------------- these are the little fellows pouring out of the entrances. you let them out of the storeroom, so its your responsibility to get them back!. they are, fortunately enough for you a friendly lot. they are not able to harm anyone but need a lot of protection as they are quite fragile.mistakes may cost them their lives and o.k so they are not very bright, but they are cute and all they want to do is return home. the zombies ----------- these are the ones that turned funny whilst teleporting! they just act like their normal troddler counter parts but on contact destroy themselves and, more importantly your charges. whilst zombies always kill troddlers,only some are lethal to the player. the control panel ----------------- top of screen........player one`s score next down............player two`s score first vertical bar...mission completion bar. second vertical bar..health bar: the bar shows the current state of player energy.it sinks when the player is hurt. third vertical bar...is player two`s mission completion bar fourth vertical bar..is player two`s health bar vertical tube (left hand side) all way down screen.... block tube. player 1:here the player can store upto 15 blocks. picked up blocks are stacked at the top and blocks that you place on the screen are taken from the bottom of the stack. vertical tube (right hand side) all way down screen... block tube. player 2 below the mission completion bar are 3 sets of figures. these are diamonds left to pick up.[same 3 sets of figures on opposite side are player 2 diamond figures]. the numbers hsow how many more of that colour need to be collected. zero means no diamonds have to collected to complete mission. bottom of the screen shown as a clock is the mission time:shows the minutes and seconds that are left for you to complete the mission in. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- player modes ------------ solo - your partner left you in the lurch yelling `its your fault` you sort it out. so your on your own with 100 missions to complete and many hundreds of troddlers to rescue. team - hokus and pokus decided that the only way to sort this out is to work together to complete 50 missions. remember that zombies can hurt both players. war - your partner got warped in the teleporter and is now on the side of the zombies!. you now compete in 25 selectable levels, to complete the mission or finish off your opponent and his side-kicks. lethal zombies hurt player 1 whilst lethal troddlers hurt player 2. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- player control -------------- 1 or 2 players with joysticks - with fire button released you control the direction of hokus or pokus. placing blocks - with the fire button pressed you produce a crosshair that shows the destination of the block. by keeping the fire button pressed and moving the joystick you can move the crosshair to the chosen spot. release fire button and a block will appear on that spot. if a crosshair is red you cannot place a block on that spot. you can only place as many blocks on to the screen as are available in your block tube (situated on the right of your screen) picking up blocks - to pick up a block from the screen press firebutton to produce the crosshair and place this over the block. when you release the firebutton the block will be gone and will appear in your in your block tube for later use. you can only pick up as many blocks as is room for in your block tube. destroying zombies - using the building and taking blocks away principle, you can squash the zombies underneath the blocks. 1 or 2 players using the keyboard --------------------------------- player 1 (hokus) up.....a down...z [german keyboards = y) left...s right..d fire...amiga key on left of keyboard (to build and take awat blocks,kill zombies ect) player 2 (pokus) up,down,left,right ...cursor keys fire..................right shift key(to build and take away blocks,kill zombies ect.) nb; when using the keyboard make sure the mouse is not connected keys : esc.....abort mission p.......turns the pause mode on/off q.......return to main menu sound : f1......enhanced sounds effects f2......music only f3......music and sound effects, selection of the above ------------------------------------------------------------------------- each level is built up of different kinds of blocks, and its mainly by manipulating these blocks in different ways that you will accomplish the different missions. troddlers entrance ------------------ the troddlers enter the screen through here, unaware of the terrors that await them. their direction of travel is marked by a yellow arrow. nothing can destroy an entrance and nothing can be placed in front of it, neither can the entrance be picked up. zombie entrance --------------- the evil mutated zombie troddlers enter through here,apart from that, its the same as an ordinary entrance. exit ---- this is the end station for the troddlers. once they get here they are safe. be sure to direct them to the exit in the current angle or they will just ignore it. solid block ----------- standard non-manipulative block, nothing can alter a solid block. building block -------------- the most common pick and place block, a standard block which can be safely trodden on. rocks ----- can be pushed around by hokus and pokus to block or kill all living things. cannon ------ exterminates, troddlers,blocks,rocks,diamonds - most things apart from permanent blocks,entrances and exits. mines ----- explode on contact with troddlers and zombies, taking them and the nearby blocks with it. flipper ------- flips troddler from one side to the other, in the direction the arrow is pointing in - but take care not to flip a troddler in to anything solid. ice cube -------- a totally unclimeable block that sends troddlers slipping and sliding. bouncer ------- saves troddlers from being splatted when falling from great heights, and has some invaluable uses. pauser ------ slows troddlers down to a more reasonable speed. grinder ------- the sharp and rotating side of a gadget turns(literally!) the troddlers into pasta paste. no entry -------- this mechanism lets nothing but troddlers get past it. to troddlers its like thin air, to players like a permanent brick wall. diamonds -------- these precious gems are often needed to complete a level. they come in 3 colourslred,green,and blue. in some cases they are already present on the screen, in others they need to be created by the player. fruit ; restores the players health heart ; restores the players health fully clock ; gives player an extra minute to complete the mission in. shield ; makes players invincible for about one minute bomb ; destroys enemy troddlers that are on screen fiveblock; places a bonus of 5 extra building blocks in to your block tube. enemy aliens ------------ these are rather menacing objects you`ll find on some levels. they all hurt players on contact. however they will turn in to blue diamonds when hit with rocks. these enemy aliens include the following; the bird - a pecking bird that has a bit of an appetite for the blocks you build. it flies about at random, hacking through blocks in a determined manner. it is not a direct threat to troddlers but can seriously damage your plans. the spinner - a rolling object that knocks troddlers head over heels. it travels along in search of troddlers. the fire - a moving flame that touches the troddlers and melts ice-cubes. it moves from left to right working its way to the bottom of the screen. playing tips ------------ * keep track of the level passwords for use when attempting levels again * practise combining manoeuvers to take the block beneath you whilst jumping to the next one. * pausing the game at the beginning of a level enables you to plan your mode of attack before you attempt to complete it. * when encountering new objects assess wether they are causing damage to either yourself or the troddlers. * some objects can be picked up - some can`t. always worth trying though. 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