COSMIC PAYBACK

An exciting 3-D action game for the 48K/128K Spectrum by PROSM Software.

    THE PLOT

EARTH, 2562 A.D.

After centuries of war and suffering, peace slowly began to return to the world.
Just as civilization had started to recover, however, another crisis fell upon
it - an extra-terrestrial armada pillaged the earth, taking with them virtually
all of the known supplies of gold. Society was plunged into chaos - financial
markets experienced a recession of unparalleled proportions, electronics
production ceased altogether, and people with dental fillings dared not wander
out in public.

An international task force was created with the aim of recovering the gold.
Scraping together what they could with the miniscule amount that had not been
plundered, a shuttle was constructed that would serve justice upon the invaders.
It contained a few spherical exploration pods, which would navigate the
planetary surface by means of bouncing upon it.

You are responsible for piloting the pods and returning all of the gold to
Earth. If this mission fails, humanity will be doomed to return to
the Stone Age.

You are our only hope!

    LOADING

Set up the computer and tape recorder as described in the Spectrum manual.
Insert the tape and rewind it if necessary. The loading operation will differ
depending on what type of computer you own:

+ 48K:        Reset the computer, then type LOAD"" (using J, and then Symbol
              Shift and P together twice for the quote marks, and ENTER to run
              the command). Start the tape and wait for the program to load –
              this will take approximately four minutes.

+ 128K/+2/+3: Reset the computer, then select the "Tape Loader" option when the
              system menu appears. Start the tape and wait for the program to
              load completely – this will take approximately six minutes.

    CONTROLS

Cosmic Payback allows you to control the game using the keyboard, Kempston
joystick or Interface II joystick. These control schemes can be selected on the
main menu. The keyboard controls can be redefined to suit your preferences. The
default controls are as follows:
 
    Q – Up              O – Left            H – Pause
    A – Down            P – Right           F - Quit
 
    GAMEPLAY

There are two modes of play: arcade mode and casual mode. Arcade mode is
scored and only allows you a limited number of lives, whilst casual mode
is unscored and allows you an infinite number of lives.

Upon starting your journey, you will find yourself piloting the
exploration pod on an unfamiliar planetary surface. You may use your chosen
control scheme to guide the pod through the planet. The pod has inertia, so you
will need to build up your speed in the direction you wish to travel.

As you explore the planet, you will find different features of the landscape,
the purposes of which you will discover. To help you get started, here are a few
tips: Gold can be retrieved from the flashing checkerboard areas, and no areas
can harm you apart from the pitch-black tar. Bounce on that and you will find
your pod engulfed by it!

At the end of each section will be a portal to another crevice of the gold
store. This portal can only be entered through once all of the gold in the
current crevice has been retrieved.

    TIPS & TECHNIQUES

+ Momentum can be preserved through teleporters – flinging yourself like this is
  critical to success in the later stages.
+ Sometimes with teleporters, you might not end up the same place twice.
+ Extra pods are hidden throughout the planet, indicated by a scrolling + sign.
+ The biggest gap you can cross is two blocks.

    ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This game could not have been possible without help from the following people,
to whom I am deeply indebted:
+ psndcj for the Triebkraft AY player
+ Sergey Bulba for Vortex Tracker II and the PT3 playback routine
+ Einar Saukas for the ZX7 compression system
+ Dave Hughes for providing 128k hardware testing
+ Jonathan Cauldwell for his Spectrum games programming tutorial
+ Claus Jahn for ZX-Paintbrush and ZX-Blockeditor
+ Juliαn Albo for the Pasmo assembler

Written by John Connolly.
(C) PROSM Software 2020. This program is freeware, please redistribute!
See https://www.connosoft.com/prosm/ for more games and utilities