Chaos Engine, The - Manual

                          Welcome!
                          --------

Welcome to The Chaos Engine. This manual has been produced to ensure
that you get the very best out of this premium product. If you should
find either the program or the documentaion unsatisfactory in any way,
tell us about it. Opinions and complaints should be sent to The Project
Manager, The Chaos Engine, Renegade Software Ltd, Unit C1L, Metropolitan
Wharf, Wapping Wall, London E1 9SS.

                      The Options Screens
                      -------------------

A short introduce sequence will set the scene. Once it's been shown, the
Options Screen is presented. Push the joystick up or down to highlight
the 'SELECT NEW GAME' or 'ENTER PASSWORD' option. Press fire button to select
the highlighted option.

                       Select New Game
                       ---------------

You can have a Party made up of one or two humans players. A single human-
controlled Character won't fight alone - the computer controlled companion
sees to that. The action's not as competitive without a second human player,
but it's no less frenetic.

                       Enter Password
                       --------------

Passwords are given at key points during play. They contain details of your
characters' performance and position and will save you the bother of playing
through the early stages again (and you may have missed the hidden delights,
so it's up to you). When you register a valid Password, play will begin from
where the Password was given.

                       Hiring characters
                       -----------------

There are six characters available for hire, but only two can join the Party.
Check out the Reports before you hire a Character. Player 1 has first choice
of the Characters to play. If a second human player is not involved, Player 1
must also choose which character is to be controlled by the computer.
Otherwise, Player 2 may choose a Character to play.

                        Character Attributes
                        --------------------

The Characters have their own Special Abillities and Weapons. Their
characteristics are determined by four variable Attributes: Skill, Stamina,
Speed and Wisdom. Attributes are boosted by spending Cash in the Character
Equip Screen. Stamina (in the form of Food) can also be acquired during play.

The character's attribute ratings are shown in bar form. The currect potential
is determined by Skill rating. A Character's current potential can never
exceed its absolute potential shown.

SKILL is perhaps the most important Attribute. It's a form of overall rating
which affects all Attributes and determines when PowerUps and Special Abitil-
ities will become available.

STAMINA is the Character's life force. When this run's out, he's dead.

SPEED is how fast the Character can move. Suprised?

WISDOM only applies to computer-controlled Characters as it determines their
ability to play.

                      Controlling a character
                      -----------------------

It's simple. The Joystick is used to move him in any of the eight
directions. A single press of the firebuttom shoots a Character's Weapon
in the direction he's facing. Pressing and holding the firebutton for approx.
two seconds will activate a Special Ability held, providing you have special
power. You will hear 'SPECIAL ACTIVATED!' when this happends

                            Weapons
                            -------

Each character has a different weapon with different attributes. These
attributes can be changed by collecting or purchasing Power-Ups. Depending
on the character, these may increase the number of shots fired, the damage
they do, wheter they travel through monsters and spread of fire. As this
happends the characters shots will change colour to give you an indication
that they have increased in power. Your objective is to turn all of your
characters shots red.

                        Special Abilities
                        -----------------

Equipment with unique qualities. There are many different Special Abilities
to be bought in The Chaos Engine, but none of the Characters gets to use
them all (five Speial Abilities are detailed below).

When a character has more then one special ability in his inventory, you
may change between them by using the relevant shift key on your keyboard.
The Left Hand Shift changes Player 1's current special and the Right Hand
Shift key changes Player 2's.

When Player 2 is controlled by the computer his special abillities can be
used by Player 1. Press the space bar to swap between the two Special
abilities shown on the Status Panel below the playfield.

Special Abilities also appear as you play - simply walk into on to active
it. And don't worry about shooting Special Abilities by mistake - they are
indestructible.

                       Special Power
                       -------------

These are allow you to use your characters special ability. You can carry
up to six at any time. They can either be purchased in the Charcter equip
screen or collected during game by walking over them.

In a one player game you may use Player 2's special power store as a reserve
which provides you with an extra 6 storage.



MOLOTOV  - A ring of fireballs shoot out in the dirction the Molotov was
thron or walked into.

BOMB - Watch the screen shake as the Bomb blows!

SHOT BURST - Powerful Shots shoot out in all direction around the Character,

DYNAMITE - When it blows, all the Monsters you can see will disappear in the
blinding flash of light. Beware! They don't destroy generators

MAP - Shows a plan view not the whole Level but a three screen square area
around the Character who activated it.

                        Playfield
                        ---------

It scrolls, that's to say, as the Characters move around the scenery,
the screen follows to keep up with them. When a computer-contolled Char-
acter is left behind, off screen, he will be teleported to the vicinity
of Player 1's Character approx. three seconds after he was lost. When two
humans are involved, the scrolling is averaged between them so an element
of cooperation is required to move on, OK?

                 Nodes (And how to activate one)
                 -------------------------------

Shoot the Node until its casing explodes and it's activated. You will
hear 'NODE ACTIVATED!' when you - no! - activate a Node. When enough nodes
have been activated (there are three on the very first Level), the Exit to
the next level will open (You will hear 'EXIT OPEN!'. Go for it, unless
you feel hard enough to hang around and explore Level further. 'LEVEL COM-
PLETE!' you will hear when you pass through the Exit.

Now, some levels have more than one Exit. The Node counter on the status
Panel at the bottom of the screen shows the number of Nodes to activate
before an Exit will be open. If an Exit is open and yet there are still
Nodes to activate, that means an alternative Exit exists. Activate the
rermaining Nodes and find it - it will take you to a more advantageous
postion on the next Level.



TREASURE - or Cash. Dead Monsters drop two different values of coinage,
and there are often half a dozen or so different types of Treasure left
lying around on each level. Pick 'em up quick before they disappear.
Treasure is added to the Party Kitty, ready to be distributed between
the Characters when the Level's completed.

SILVER KEYS - Affect the scenery in some way so as to allow progress, for
example, by destroying trees or creating steps. They can also reveal objects
and tresure. Silver Keys are essential to completing levels.

GOLD KEYS - Affect the scenary in some way so as to reveal secret hidden
areas full of Treasure, or reveal objects. Gold keys are not essential to
completing levels, but greedy people can't do without them. I know!

FOOD - It comes in tins and provides extra Stamina for anyone who eats it.

DEATH ZONE TOKEN - When a character touches this, it disappears (you will
hear 'PLAYERS SAVED!'). The status of both Character at that point has been
noted. Now, if one player's Character dies, he will be returned to the
action with his recorded status - but only after the live Character finds
another Death Zone Token, or he dies or reaches the end of the Level.
And, of course, provided the Characters have lives remaining.

MONSTERS - ' All of them hold treasures which they leave behind when they
are killed. Pick 'em up to increase the Party Kitty.'  There are about
seven or eight different types of Monster in a world and it takes more
than a single Shot to kill the blighters.

Some monsters spit or shoot deadly projectiles with varying degrees of
accuracy. Some Monsters run after characters. Some monsters protect items
of interest. Some Monsters appear from generators (a few well-placed Shots
or keys will stop a Generator from generating monsters).

                     The Bonus Screen
                     ----------------

The Bonus screen is displayed when a Level is completed. You can see whether
you did all you could do within the Level. And the party Kitty - all that
tresure you collected during the Level ...  That gets split between the
Party according to how well the Characters performed.

In a one player game, all the cash that has been collected is split equally
between the two characters automatically.

The column down the center of the screen shows small Pictures (Icons)
representing the six most important elements of a Level, with the Level
Total to the far left. You can see how the two Characters performed individ-
ually and as a Party. The EXIT button is already highlighted, so press fire-
button to leave this screen.

If either of the character has run out of lives remaining members of the
Party is given the chance to buy a life from him after every Bonus Screen.
The dead character will pay, providing he has enough money, if not the
remaining character must make up the difference. In a two player game you
are given the option to answer NO, push joystick left or right to
highlight the required option and then press the firebutton to select the
highlighted option. In a one player game you *MUST* buy the other player
a life.

                    Equipping Characters
                    --------------------

The character Equip screen is presented after every second and fourth level
in a World. Here you can use the Cash acquied during play to purchase
equipment and boost a character's attributes. The right-hand side of the
screen shows the Items for sale. The left-hand side of the screen shows the
current status of character. Player 1's character gets to spend his personal
allowance first. If a second human player is not involved, Player 1 must
also equip the computer-controlled Character. Otherwise, Player 2's
character is equipped by the second player.

Push the joystick in any direction to move the highlight from item
to item. Press firebutton to buy the highlighed Item (your cash balance
will be moved into your inventory on the left hand side of the screen,
highlight it and press fire to select it for use during the next level.
When you have finished equipping your Character, move highlight to the
EXIT button and press the firebutton.

If you choose the ALL function, the computer will take one look at your
Character's cash situation and then select the most desirable Attributes
for him. It will not purchase Power-Ups, Special Abilities or Special Power

Skill controls what can be purchased for your character at anytime. As skill
is purchased you will notice that various things become available. The
current maximum (yellow bar) of your other attributes will increase allowing
you to increase their current level (green bar). Power-Ups and different
special abilities will also become available at certain skill levels. Note
that as skill is an overall rating for your character it means that this
level can only be increased once you have also increased all the other
attributes and purchased Power-ups and abilities.

When the party has finished buying equipment, a password will be given.
Write it down, it holds details of the Party's performance. When you next
load The Chaos Engine you can register this Password and begin play from
where the Password was given. Please note that a password given during a
one player game will only restore a one player game and vice versa.



(C) 1992-93 Mindscape Ltd, Renegade Software - The BitMap Brothers -

---
Typed by FairLight 8/3-93
