WEIRD ISLAND
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Program, Audio, Visuals, Documentation copyright (c) 1992 Kevin A. Lee
All Rights Reserved.
1. THE SHAREWARE IDEAL.
This program is not free it is shareware. This is an ideal that allows
software authors like myself to distribute their programs at little or no
cost. It also enables software users like you, to try complete programs (not
demo versions) before purchasing, at a substantially cheaper price than
commercial equivalents. If you enjoy or use the program on a regular basis you
are required to 'register' it. As a registered user you will receive program
updates and other software from the author. To see what you will receive upon
registering this program you are referred to the file REGISTER.DOC. You may
make as many copies of this software and documentation as you like. You may
distribute it to anyone as long as it remains unaltered and unmodified in the
format in which you received it.
2. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS.
- The program requires the following hardware to run:
- 512k RAM.
- EGA, MCGA or VGA graphics card with 256k memory.
- Hard Disk Drive.
- 8086 or faster processor.
- MS-DOS version 3.0 or greater
- The following hardware is also supported:
- Microsoft Serial Mouse (or 100% compatible).
3. GETTING STARTED.
Before the program can be run it must first be installed into a directory
on your hard disk. Because of the size of the program it is contained in two
large PKZIP archive files. Firstly, make a directory on your hard disk where
you wish the program to go, e.g. MD C:\GAMES\WEIRD. Then, extract the two
files WEIRD1.ZIP and WEIRD2.ZIP into this new directory. The program is now
ready to run.
To run the program change into the directory where the files have been
installed (eg. CD C:\GAMES\WEIRD) and then type WEIRD. Initially, a menu will
appear allowing you to choose the configuration of the program (the video
mode, whether sound is required etc.) Simply choose the relevant options and
the game will begin. During the game you may save your progress at any time
by choosing the Files action from the Action Window (see below for an
explanation of these terms). This will allow you to save your position or
restore the position of a previous game.
4. THE GAME
Weird Island is a graphic adventure which uses an original 'point and
click' interface, eradicating the need for typing of complex sentences. It
features graphic illustrations of every location from a first person
perspective. This allows you to take part in the game as yourself not some
computer character. The plot of the game is as follows:
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Leafing through the newspaper one morning you come across a notice
requesting your presence at 'HUGH, PUGH and BARNEY-MAGREW Solicitors to
Elizabeth Taylor.' Puzzled (and who wouldn't be), the next day you visit the
solicitors where you are told that you have come into possession of a remote
island paradise. The island was apparently claimed by five galley slaves many,
many years ago; one of whom was your ancestor (its nice to know who your
descended from).
Ownership of the island passes between the families of the founders every
100 years and your family is next in line to do with the island what you wish.
You were supposed to be told this by the previous owner of the island but he
seems to have conveniently disappeared. Anyway, the solicitors suggest you go
out to the island to see for yourself. Strangely, you feel happy to oblige...
5. THE INTERFACE
Weird Island uses a consistent user interface in order to tell its story.
Once you have got to grips with the basic concepts of the interface you should
be able to use it intuitively. The diagram below labels each part of the
interface:
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� Text Window �
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� Picture Window � � Action Window �
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� Sentence Window � � �
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� Inventory � ��������Ŀ � Objects �
� Window � ���������� � Window �
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Taking each window in order, the relevance of each one is as follows:
1. Text Window.
This window is the area where you are told what happens during the game.
For example, if you tried to pick up something that was to heavy for you to
carry, a message might appear saying, 'That is too heavy for you to carry'.
Any message remains in this window until you do something that requires
another message to be displayed.
2. Action Window.
The action window contains a list of all the actions relevant to the
adventure, for example Take, Drop, Examine etc. They are all contained within
their own box boundaries so that you can click on a box. A letter of each
action is also underlined; if you press this letter it causes the same result
as clicking on the box.
3. Sentence Window.
In order to perform actions you compose sentences. For example, suppose
that there was a rock in the location, and you wanted to pick it up. You would
first click on the action 'Take' (the word 'Take' would then appear in the
sentence window). Then you would click on the object 'rock' and the word
'rock' would then appear in the sentence window. You have now composed the
sentence 'Take rock'. To confirm this action simply click on the sentence in
the sentence window. Some actions work on more than one object, for example
the 'Use' action works on up to two objects. In this case the word '(on)' will
appear after the first object showing that the second object is optional.
4. Picture Window
This window contains a graphic illustration of what you can see. It
changes according to the actions that you perform.
5. Objects Window
The objects window contains a list of every item that appears in the
location. It includes people and items. This window can be scrolled up and
down if there are too many objects to appear in the window at a time. The
arrows at the side of the window will be highlighted if you can scroll up or
down. To scroll the windows simply click on one of the highlighted arrows.
6. Inventory Window
The inventory window contains a list of all the objects you are carrying.
Like the objects window it can be scrolled up and down if there are more items
than can fit in the window. Be warned there is a limit to the number of
objects that you can carry (although it is a very generous limit).
7. Direction Arrows
The final area of the screen shows four arrows. These correspond to the
directions of a compass with north pointing up the screen. The exits from each
location are shown via these arrows in that if you can go in a particular
direction the relevant arrow will be highlighted. To move in this direction
simply click on the arrow itself.
6. KEYBOARD COMMANDS.
If you do not have a compatible mouse or prefer to use the keyboard here
is a list of keyboard commands which correspond to the mouse actions mentioned
above:
E key - Examine 1* - 1st item in inventory window
T key - Take 2 - 2nd item in inventory window
D key - Drop 3 - 3rd item in inventory window
U key - Use 4 - 4th item in inventory window
S key - Speak
O key - Open 5 - 1st item in location window
C key - Close 6 - 2nd item in location window
P key - Push 7 - 3rd item in location window
L key - Pull 8 - 4th item in location window
F key - File menu
Q key - Quit
Cursor Up - Go north
Cursor Down - Go south
Cursor Left - Go east
Cursor Right - Go west
Left shift + cursor up - Scroll inventory window up
Left shift + cursor down - Scroll inventory window down
Right shift + cursor up - Scroll objects window up
Right shift + cursor down - Scroll objects window down
Return key - Confirm sentence.
* Number keys on qwerty keyboard not numeric keypad.
