SLAINE ====== Lyonesse, a Land in the grip of evil. Drune lords. their powers are dark, their hearts are cold, this land is theirs. Years pass, the last of the evil drune lords departs. Lyonesse waits. what power will rule its destiny now? Slaine. It is to this terrible place that you must go. Features include: - REFLEX© control of SLAINES mind - Tremendous depth of gameplay - Continuous action - Character interaction - Realistic combat - Object manipulation - Superb graphics SLAINE - The Story It was nearly dawn. Slaine and I were heading along the path into Tautega. "Ukko," said Slaine, "tell me the story you heard from the Druid, Cathbad." Said I, "I’ve told you twice already, you thick skulled barbarian", but a sharp prod to my rump persuaded me to retell the story.... 'The peace of the village of Tautega was shattered by the death of the "Star Seer", Cas Wallen. The reclusive Drune, who resided in Small Sky’s Tower, was inevitably blamed for the death, and as a punishment was imprisoned in his own fortress. The Dome's daughter, Reya, outraged at this, travelled into Tautega and under cover of darkness released her father. Upon his rescue, knowing that Reya could destroy him by revealing his name, and not being able to kill her, the Drune entombed her in the tower by means of arcane magic. After several days, having regained his powers, the Drune took his revenge on the villagers. In the battle that followed the Drune was destroyed, but not before he had laid waste to numerous settlements, and slaughtered many people. As he died he uttered the curse "Never again shall you see the light of day". Seeking to dissipate his magic the villagers decided to bury the unnamed Drune within the stones of Cromm-Lin.' As I finished the story we came to the crest of a hill, and below we could see the land of Lyonesse. SLAINE - Loading Instructions Spectrum: LOAD "" and press ENTER. Amstrad: RUN "SLAINE. If loading from tape on a 6128 type |tape first. Commodore: Tape - Press RUN/STOP whilst holding down SHIFT. Disc - LOAD "*",8,1 Instructions for Savins and Loading Saved Game Spectrum: Pause first by pressing H. Press S to save and L to load. Amstrad: Select SAVE or LOAD from actions menu. Commodore: Select SAVE or LOAD from actions menu. SLAINE - Brief Instructions When playing Slaine, a joystick may be used on Spectrum, Amstrad and Commodore formats. On the Spectrum, keys may be redefined, but will default to: 9 = up, 8 = down, 6 = left, 7 = right, and 0 = point. On the Amstrad, the keys: O = up, K = down, Q = left, W = right, and P = point may be used. Move the image of Slaine’s hand within the bounds of his imagination. The words represent the thoughts in his mind. Influence his actions by pointing at them. Although REFLEX may seem confusing at first, controlling Slaine using the system will soon become second nature. For greater understanding, read on.... SLAINE - Detailed Instructions The following actions are available to the REFLEX user: Main Thoughts: MOVE - move Slaine from place to place. STATUS - shows the time of day, and warp rating. ATTACK - launch an attack on the enemy. OBJECTS - object manipulation (see below). ACTIONS - see below. EXAMINE - examine an object closely. LOOK - see below. HIT UKKO - for gentle persuasion. Objects Thoughts: PICK UP - take object. DROP - drop object. PUT IN — put object inside a container. PUT ON - put object on a surface. TAKE FROM/REMOVE - take object from a container, surface or person. Actions Thoughts: OPEN - opens an object. CLOSE — closes an object. CONSUME - eat or drink an object. REST - increases warp, but wastes time. ASK — interact with a character. USE - Use one object on another. Look Thoughts: AROUND - describes surroundings and reveals objects in a place. IN — shows contents of a container. ON - shows what is on a surface. (On the Amstrad version of Slaine, Ukko is handled slightly differently. On "Main Thoughts" the thought "UKKO" will generate "GIVE TO", "GET OFF" and "HIT" Ukko.) Below are some examples of the object manipulation in use: USE / KEY (on) / CHEST PUT IN / POUCH / KEYS TAKE FROM / POUCH / KEYS The thought "OK" is used when Slaine has finished doing anything, and will return his mind to Main Thoughts. In some locations Slaine may need to complete a task before being able to move in certain directions. SLAINE - Combat Tactics Combat is played as a series of "rounds", with successive attacks, whereby the enemy prepares to strike, and then, depending upon the skill of the opponents, there is a short delay before the attack is carried out. During this delay you have a chance to parry the attack. The DEFEND move is the most successful move, for which you must be holding the axe. Standard attacks are made by SWING, KICK, and PUNCH, each causing varying degrees of damage. You can THROW the axe at the enemy, causing massive damage, but you are left defenceless. To recover the axe you can SHOUT to Ukko, and if he is feeling co-operative he will return it. If you have warp points equal to your maximum warp rating, you may enter WARP spasm, wherein Slaine goes beserk, killing all opponents. SLAINE - Warp Rating Your warp rating is your measure of strength and power, which may be increased if you REST, CONSUME, or ATTACK successfully and is decreased when damage is sustained in an attack. The maximum warp rating is the amount you need before WARP is possible. SLAINE - Design Notes The idea for the design of the game for Slaine came about as a result of the response to "Nemesis the Warlock". This game was very well received, but 2000AD devotees felt that it did not go far enough to capture the true spirit of Nemesis, as portrayed in the comic. People asked "Where’s Torquemada?"; "What happened to Grobbledonk?"; "What abbout the ABC warriors?"; etc. We realised that for Slaine an entirely original approach was required. What was needed was some form of interactive story, obviously with graphics, to show the action in full detail. The original idea was to have some kind of continuous scrolling story, from which various key parts could be selected by the use of a free roaming cursor. Upon selection, expanding windows would graphically display the result of your choices. Eventually the scrolling story became "Thoughts" from Slaine’s mind, and the cursor became a severed hand. This unique method of game control was called "REFLEX". The whole game took six months to produce, from conception to release. We feel that this game is a valid contribution to the advancement of original computer games software. We hope you think so too and would welcome your constructive comments. We would like to thank the following people: Pat Mills - for helping with the story and text. Glenn Fabry - for producing the stunning cover artwork. Stejnar Lund - for airbrushing the Creative Reality logo. SLAINE - Some Hints Want Ukko to do something? Try some gentle persuasion. When starting off, try to get hold of some money. You will need it later. Need some information? The Villagers may be able to help. Program by Creative Reality © Martech Games Ltd. 1987 SLAINE © Fleetway Publications Ltd. 1987 Cover illustration by Glenn Fabry