HIGH STEEL
==========

This is no time to feel dizzy. As you balance precariously on a narrow steel girder, 
hundreds of feet above the hard concrete below, a head for heights is a must. There's 
a skyscraper to be built, and the Spitters, Crawlers and metal-munching Gremlins are in 
hot pursuit. You step over the slippery remains of your workmates' lunch, hurl your 
spanner at a menancing shadow, and curse the day you became a high steel worker.

The sixth floor is complete. The huge crane delivers the next girder, just as a brick 
smashes into your hard hat. Things might not be so bad if you could just find your 
sandwiches.

Can you overcome all obstacles and dangers confronting you to tower above the city 
streets below, or will you end up splatting the pavement like raspberry jam?


You are one of the highest qualified workers in the art of High Steel — constructing 
skyscrapers out of pre-formed steel structures. Known locally as a troubleshooter who 
really knows his stuff, you have been called in to assist with a particularly difficult 
building contract.

The building site in question is infested with Gremlins, who are being a real nuisance 
and causing serious delays in the work schedule.

Your task is simple — to construct the buildings required, whilst avoiding anything the 
Gremlins may decide to throw at you.

But delays cost money, and a time limit has now been imposed by the Contractor, leaving 
no time for tea-breaks or mistakes.

Can you beat the deadline?


HOW TO BUILD

A building consists of a number of floors made out of consecutive floor segments (FSEGS), 
supported from underneath by vertical girders. These building materials are delivered by 
a crane, and locked into place by the player. Once locked, they cannot be picked up.

The rules for building are as follows:

1. Vertical girders will only lock when dropped in roughly the centre of an empty floor 
  segment.

2. FSEGS will only lock when placed on top of a girder with no other FSEG on top, or when 
   placed one FSEG out from a girder with a segment on top.

3. A completed floor consists of at least five consecutive floor segments with two 
  vertical girders.

4. Objects will not lock if they may be in collision with the crane.

5. Objects dropped that cannot lock according to the above rules will behave as for 
   a normal drop.

Building girders and segments on top is very simple. To lock a segment end to end with 
another, face the player character in the desired direction to add the block, and drop it.

Note that unlocked girders cannot be climbed, and that the player can only carry one 
object at a time.


FLOOR SEGMENT STACKS

Unlocked segments can be stored by stacking them up to four high on floors.


THE CRANE

The crane delivers supplies to the player; building material, food and drink. It has 
certain rules of behaviour to follow, which can be discovered by studying the game in play.

There are certain conditions when the crane will pause or retreat during its delivery; 
these are connected with potential difficulties in successfully completing the delivery.

Food and drink come in the form of sandwiches and thermos flasks. When picked up they 
vanish, and the player's score and energy increase.


ADVERSARIES

The player encounters various creatures who all make it awkward for him to build. These 
are:

1. Gremlins — these drop from the crane jib (above the building) onto the building and 
   move across floors, occasionally eating objects and locked floor segments. They move 
   down the building by eating through floor or moving off the floor edge, then falling. 
   If they land on the player, they stun him. The player can push Gremlins along floors 
   to get them out of the way.

2. Mothers — these hatch from eggs dropped by Gremlins on the crane jib. Sometimes eggs 
   will stay dormant before hatching. The eggs themselves are invulnerable, but Mothers 
   can be killed by throwing spanners at them. Mothers are fatal to touch, and also give 
   birth to Crawlers.

3. Crawlers — these caterpillar type creatures crawl around the building according to 
   certain behaviour patterns. They are fatal to touch and can be killed like Mothers.

4. Spitters — these vegetable parasites sometimes grow out of locked girders, and spit 
   acid globules at the player, which may stun or kill. Spitters are also fatal to touch, 
   but can be killed like Mothers.

5. Bricks — these are dropped from the crane jib by Gremlins and can kill the player and 
   destroy stacked objects.

6. Banana Skins — also dropped by Gremlins, these can cause the player to skid on contact.


THE DATA PANEL

This panel on the righthand side of the screen conveys necessary information to the player. 
At the top, under the words "Score" and "Bonus" are the player's score and remaining time 
bonus. Beneath these are two icons, each with a window to the right. The window beside the 
"man" icon shows the count of lives left, the "hand" icon's window shows the current 
object being carried. Beneath these are three adjacent windows labelled "F", "A", and "E".
The "F" window shows the state of the floors in the current building, with a red line 
meaning complete, and white meaning incomplete. The "A" window is a bar graph of the 
player's altitude, using the "F" window as a gauge. The "E" window is a bar graph of 
the player's energy.


LOADING INSTRUCTIONS
SPECTRUM 48/128K cassette
LOAD""


CONTROLS
		KEYBOARD	JOYSTICK
Climb up	A		UP
Climb down	Z		DOWN
Move Left	M		LEFT
Move right	K		RIGHT
Pick up/drop	SPACE		FIRE
Throw Left	SPACE + M	LEFT AND FIRE
Throw right	SPACE + K	RIGHT AND FIRE

Hiscore — cycle through letters using CLIMB UP/DOWN, select using THROW.


© Alternative software Limited 1990