TOWER OF BABEL - Complete Manual + 4 accompaning pics
typed in by Postcard Man with the
help of an IBM, flatbed scanner and
Optical Character Recoginition software.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Many generations after the flooding of the Earth, and Noah's successful
journey in the ark with all the animals, the people of the World decided
to congregate in a place called Shinar. There they built a tower of enormous
height that reached far into the clouds.

The purpose of this tower was one: it would be so high that anyone could
climb to the top and communicate with God. So much for theory.

Although the tower didn't attract God's attention, it did arouse the
interest of a passing Neravas class 1 cruiser from Zantor (a planet in a
solar system some 30 light years from Earth). Being benevolent beings, the
Zantorians left a triad of robots to assist the people of Shinar with their
tower. The robots - sculptured in the form of the Zantorians - were also
instructed to teach the Earth people about life and the Universe in general.

Being human, and generally frightened of things they couldn't understand,
many of Shinar's inhabitants left as quickly as possible. Some, however,
stayed and learnt much from the robots (which, noted the remaining
Shinarians, had a remarkable likeness to large - very large - spiders).

Soon the spiders and the remaining Shinarians built up a great relation-
ship and continued adding to the tower. The purpose was now twofold. The
Shinarians still wanted to meet their maker, and the spiders needed to get
high enough to transmit a message to their owners so that they could be
taken back to Zantor.

This happy co-existence lasted for a long while. But when it became
clear to the humans building the tower that the spiders were homesick, some
became jealous. In fact, they went berserk. With the knowledge they'd gained
from the spiders the Shinarians built devices to deter the Zantorian robots
from progressing up the tower. Explosive devices were built, blockades
positioned and traps set. Even the spiders' energy packs were hidden.

Shinarians who wanted no part of the spiders downfall fled. Only a
handful of degenerates remained building ever more traps for the spiders.
Eventually the spiders discovered what was happening and destroyed the evil
Shinarians.

But as far as can be ascertained, the spiders are still trying to get out.

And it is up to you to help them.

To do this you must guide the three spiders, either individually or
simultaneously, past obstacles. You will also have to help them find
Klondikes (their energy modules hidden by evil Shinarians).

After the disgraceful behaviour of the Shinarians, you must help. The
spiders must get back to Zantor. If they fail to reach the top of the tower,
the Zantorians will wreak havoc on Earth.

And they would be justified, They offered their hands... er, feet... in
friendship and members of the human race spurned them. Don't fail!


G E T T I N G S T A R T E D:

BEFORE YOU PLAY

When the game has loaded you wlll be asked to enter your name.
Whatever you type here will appear in the high score table - assuming
you get a high score. If you can't remember your name, or wish to
remain anonymous, press Return and the computer will select a name for
you. Not all are complimentary. You have been warned. Do note that all
standard editing keys are available for text entry.

THE MAIN MENU

Once you've entered your name, you'll be presented with the main menu.
From here you can play Tower of Babel, load or save a game position, view
or update the high scores, and even design your own game.

Boxed menu options:

With a few exceptions (text entry, for instance), Tower of Babel is
entirely mouse driven. Options in the main menu - and indeed all subsequent
menus - are selected by moving the mouse pointer over the boxed option
and clicking with the left mouse button. Menu options are only selectable
if the boxes they are contained in become highlighted. This automatically
happens if the mouse pointer lies within the box.

PLAY GAME

Clicking on this option will take you to a second menu, Select Game Type:
This second menu lets you choose the type of game to play: standard,
customised (user-created), tutorial. You can return to the main menu by
clicking on Cancel.
Choosing Standard Game will start the normal game. Everything you need
to know about playing the game will be explained later.
Clicking on Customised Game results in another menu appearing. The
options in this menu won't make much sense until you've got to grips
with the standard game and dabbled with the game designer. The items
available let you determine which customised towers (play areas) to use.

Use Current Group - lets you play the group of towers currently in
memory, if any. If none are present, then a message will appear requiring
you to load some data from disk.

Use Designer Contents - any towers currently held in the game designer's
buffers can be played.

Load Group - you can load in a group of previously defined towers from
a data disk.

Finally, the tutorial game is detailed in the Tutorial Game section.


SAVE/LOAD A POSITION

Clicking on this menu option will result in a second menu. From the
second menu you can elect to load a previously saved game position, save
your current game settings or return to the main menu.
Before you load or save a game position, insert a blank disk (formated
from Workbench previously before you started playing). This standard format
disk must then be prepared to receive the special format Babel information.
To do this go to the `Designer' (from the main menu) and click on `File'.
The last but one entry in the `File' menu is `Prepare Disk'. Click on this
and insert your standard blank formatted disk in the internal drive. It will
be prepared for use, after which games, designs and scores can be saved as
explained in the manual. Click on the option you want once you've inserted
the correct disk. A file selector box will appear. If there is a problem
with the disk (ie, it isn't a data disk), an error message will proclaim
"Not a Babel Format disk! You will be thrown back to the load/save menu so
that you can insert another disk and try again.
Whether you decide to load or save a game position, the resultting
file selector box will be very similar.
Briefly though, you can type in the name of the file you wish to load or
save at the > (greater than) prompt. Clicking on the icon just below the
prompt, or pressing 'Return' will carry out the required disk operation.

VIEW/UPDATE HIGH SCORES

Selecting this option lets you see the top ten high scores. If you get
a high score it will automatically appear in the table. The score will not,
however be saved. That's for you to do.
Two menu options appear along with the high score table: Upgrade High
Score Table and Main Menu. By now the Main Menu item should be obvious.
Ensure you place your Babel formatted disk into the internal drive before
opting to save your high score to disk. A file requestor will appear asking
you to type in a file name for the high score table. Turn to page 32 to see
how the file selector functions.

TOWER DESIGNER

Yes! You can create your own towers and place aliens and objects wherever
you like. These custom towers can be loaded and played by anyone with the
original Tower of Babel game disks.
Because the game designer is so complex and comprehensive, there's a
special section towards the end of the manual describing all the options
available to you.

RESTART GAME

Click on this and an alert box will appear warning you that you're about
to restart the game as though you loaded it for the first time. Clicking on
OK will send you to the 'Enter your name' prompt while clicking anywhere
outside the alert box will return you to the main menu.


L O A D I N G I N S T R U C T I O N S


COMMODORE AMIGA

Amiga A500/2000. Make sure you've got a mouse plugged into port 1 before
going any further. Turn on the computer and then insert game disk 1 into
drive A. Tower of Babel will load.

AMIGA A1000.

Attach a mouse and then switch on your computer. Insert your kickstart disk
into drive A when prompted. Insert game disk 1 when the Workbench prompt
appears. Tower of Babel will run.


Q U I C K S T A R T I N S T R U C T I O N S:

There's no such thing as a quick start in Tower of Babel. But if you insist
on trylng, here goes:

* Type in yow name when requested and press Return.

* Select Play Game from the main menu by positioning the pointer over the
option and clicking the left mouse button.

* Pick Standard Game from the menu that subsequently appears.

* A three-by-three grid, lettered from A to I, wiil appear. Highlight the
grey square labeled A by clicking on it. Click on OK to proceed.

* Tower objective and information will be displayed. Click on OK when
you've read what you have to do.

The game will now start. Until you move or fire a spider, the tower
remains static and you can change views at will.
Very briefiy, you have three spiders (Zapper Pusher and Grabber) which
must be individually controlled to solve puzzles, rid the tower of alien
filth and collect Klondikes. Each spider has its own characteristics -
particularized by its name. By highlighting a spider's name and clicking
on the directional icons (arrows) it is possible to control a spider and
see the tower through its eyes.
Compass (or camera) icons let you see the tower from North, South, East
and West viewpoints.
There is no luck in Tower of Babel; only logic wiil get you through.
Different obstacles and alien life-forms will present themselves as you
progress through the towers. Turn to the Game Objects section for a full
description of the things you are likely to encounter in Tower of Babel.
If you're completely baffled, read through the detailed instructions
which start overleaf. If that doesn't help, play through the tutorial
game while reading the Tutorial Game section later in the manual.

H O W T O P L A Y T O W E R O F B A B E L

GAME CONTROLS

Throughout your travels in Tower of Babel, the only input device you'll
need to use is the mouse. You can select menu options and icons by
highlighting them with the mouse pointer and clicking with the left mouse
button. Menus can be made to disappear by clicking anywhere outside the menu
with the left mouse button. The right mouse button can be discarded.

TOWER SELECTION

No matter which type of game you decide to play- standard, customised
or tutorial - you will eventually get to a screen similar to the one
to the left. (This shows a three by three grid with boxes labeled A - I) ~
Every square in the array of three-by-three boxes represents a tower.
Towers are always grouped in nines, and individually lettered from A to I.
The towers available for play are shaded grey while the non-accessible
ones are are coloured red. If you pick the standard game, only towers A
through C will be available at first. As soon as you complete a tower
(take B, for example), adjacent towers will become available for play
(in this case it would be E ). Towers don't become accessible sequentially;
instead a tower connected to the one you've just completed becomes available
Although towers A and C are adjacent to B, they are already accessible.
Hence the only remaining tower complying to the rules is E.
You don't have to play towers in alphabetical sequence.
In the standard game, play continues until at least (7) of the nine
towers in a group are completed (shown in green). At a point, the smaller
icon on the right of the screen can be selected (shown in dark grey) and you
can then move forward onto the next group by clicking on it and then on
'Okay'. Note that if you leave unfinished towers in a group, you can
always go back using the small icon on the far left of the screen. Your
current group number is shown above the main grid of boxes (A-l), starting
with group 0.
Play continues until all nine towers in a group are completed. After that
another group of nine towers appears.
Clicking on an accessible tower results in its name being displayed.
Often, but not always, a tower's name will give you a subtle clue as to how
to complete the tower.
Once you've highlighted a tower click on the OK icon to proceed or
Cancel to return to the previous menu.

TOWER INFORMATION

After picking the tower you wish to play you'll be presented with a
screen giving you details on the tower, the subjects (or robotic spiders)
under your command, and the objectives of the game.
You'll get to known more about the spiders you can control in a moment,
but, briefly, you can control a maximum of three spiders: Zapper, Pusher and
Grabber. You'll be informed which of these spiders is available in each
tower. It could be one, it could be all three.
The objectives for each tower vary considerably. Generally though, you'll
either be asked to collect Klondikes (recognisable by the K emblazoned on
their side), zap a certain number of objects, or both. For a full explanation
of Klondikes and the other items that might appear in a tower turn to the
Game Objects section.
Click on OK when you're satisfied with your tasks and the tools you
have to fulfil them. You can click on Cancel to return you to the tower
selection screen.

PIAY SCREEN

You've finally reached the Tower of Babel play area. Become accustomed
to the screen layout because this is where you are going to spend your
time searching for objects and destroying others. When you enter the play
area, time is frozen until you move or fire, allowing you to switch views
and get an idea ofthe tower's layout.
If you click on the Pause icon, you'll see four items in the menu bar.
These only appear when the game is paused. Just below the menu bar is a
window in which all the action in the 3D world occurs. What you see
depends on the items you've selected in the menu bar, which tower you are
on and which spider you're controlling. Clicking on Pause again gets you
back into the main game.
The control panel at the bottom of the screen lets you move the spiders
view the tower using the cameras and even send sequences of instructions
(or programs) to the spiders.

When you first start you'll see something like this: (See Screen Pic)

1. Menu bar (only appears when the Pause button below is selected)
Drop-down menus
The view window shows the view North from the selected spider
(usually the Zapper).

2. Control panel

3. Spider selector
n.b. You can also select a spider (especially from a camera view, where
it is most useful) by clicking on the section of floor it is standing.
Click on one of the compass directions to get a view of the tower from
one of four cameras.

4. This block of icons controls spider mwement and, when a camera is
selected, can be used to view the tower from its side.

5. The robotic spiders can be programmed and set in motion using
these controls.

6. When a camera has been chosen you can use these icons to zoom
in and out

7. Klondike

8. The tower's floor and walls

9. Spider

10. Fixed zapper

11. Lift (always grey)

12. Directional indicator (up equals North)

13. The first digit tells you how many Klondikes you have picked up
while the second informs you of tbe total number that need to be collected

14. The first value informs you of how many enemy robots you've shot
while the second tells you the total number of robots that need to be
disposed of.

MENU BAR

When the Tower of Babel is paused you'll see four items at the top of the
screen. These allow you to choose the way in which spiders and other
items are viewed.
By highlighting an item in the menu bar (achieved by placing the
mouse pointer over the item) and clicking with the left mouse button, a
drop down menu will appear.
Within each menu you'll find sub-headings with either a filled circle or
empty circle - a filled circled means that an option is selected while an
empty circle means that it's not. To pick an option simply click the left
mouse button while the pointer is inside an empty circle.
Clicking anywhere outside the drop-down menu will cause the menu
to disappear.

SETUP

BACKWARDS ALLOWED - determines whether or not spiders can move
backwards in addition to other directions. Well worth having selected.

LINK CAMERAS - a carnera is positioned on all sides of the tower. It's
possible to control the cameras individually or simultaneously. Altering
the position of one camera when the link option is selected causes all
cameras to move. So, if you zoom in with the East camera and then switch
to the West camera, you will find that the West camera has also zoomed in.

SHOW COMPASS / INFO - the compass, number of Klondikes to collect and
number of aliens to shoot can be displayed at the top or bottom of the
play area. You can, of course, get rid of this information, but it's not
wise.

SHOW TIMER - in some instances there'll be a time limit in which you
can complete a tower's objectives. You can choose whether or not to
display the remaining time, and where it appears on the screen. You'll
definitely want to keep this one switched on.

VIEW:

VIEW OFFSET - lets you decide the angle at which you see what's in front
of the spider you're currently controlling. You can either see straight
ahead, slightly to the left or slightly to the right. Generally you'll
want to keep your vision straight ahead.

VIEW HEIGHT - this allows you to pick the elevation at witch you see the
action. Normal is best as it lets you see what's going on at the level
of the spider's eye. High and Very High offer near bird's eye views.

VIEW DISTANCE - picking Normal forces you to see through the current-active
spider's eyes (this takes some getting used to, and shouldn't be picked
until you've got to grips with the game); Behind positions the viewpoint
just behind the active spider; Far Behind places the viewpoint a little
further back from the spider.

SIGHTS - a small target can be switched on which tells you where the
spider's vision is focused. Switchlng on the sights forces the view to
normal height and distance.

INFO:

GAME INFORMATION - like whether or not cameras are allowed, the effect
mines have on the floor and the speed at which timebomb explode - can be
found in this menu. It's useful to check here before you start playing as
it can stop you from making fatal blunders.
There's a Show Task option in the menu which can be activated by
highlighting it with the pointer and clicking on it with the left mouse
button. A box will appear containing information on the task to be
completed. Click anywhere outside the box to get rid of the drop down menu
and the information box.

EXIT:

This takes you to a further menu with two options. Abandon Tower - this
will quit the current tower, and Restart Tower - this will allow you to
quickiy restart the current tower.

G A M E O B J E C T S (See Object Pics included)

SPIDERS - Up to three spiders are available in each tower. By controlling
the spiders and using individual skills you can complte the tasks set in
each tower.

ZAPPER
Equipment: laser cannon
Status: zappable, pushable.

Equipped with a cannon as standard, the Zapper is handy for blasting
enemy robots and some, but not all, objects. Take care, the Zapper can
destroy other spiders.

PUSHER
Equipment: repeller beam.
Status: zappable, pushable.

A repelling tractor beam attached to the Pusher means many objetcs can
be shoved out of its way.

GRABBER
Equipment: tractor beam.
Status: zappable, pushable.

Grabber collects Klondikes and has special effects on several other
objects: moves all unoccupied lifts upward when interfaced to a Force Up
module; moves lift down when communicating to a Force Down unit; stops
all enemy robot movement when connected to a Freezer; activates a Wiper;
swaps positions with an exchanger.

ENEMY ROBOTS:

The following robots can cause you grief when you're wandering around
the towers.

FIXED ZAPPER
Hardware: laser cannon.
Status: zappable, immovable.

Faces in one direction (either North, South, East or West) and unleashes
a stream of deadly laser beams. Destroys any zappable object in its path
and is itself zappable by the Zapper spider.

FIXED PUSHER
Hardware: repeller beam
Status: indestructible, immovable

Faces in one direction and pushes any movable object in its path.

ROTATING ZAPPER
Hardware: laser canon
Status: zappable, immovable.

Rotates slowly and fires lethal bolts of laser - any zappable object
in its way will be destroyed.

ROTATING PUSHER
Hardware: repeller beam.
Status: indestructible, immovable.

Rotates slowly and pushes any movable object in its path.

WORM
Hardware: caterpillar tracks.
Status: indestructible, pushable.

Slides back and forth in a straight line. Hinders progress, but will
turn and run if fires upon.

WATCHER
Hardware: caterpillar tracks, cameras.
Status: indestructible, immovable.

Harmless. Wanders around the tower watching and getting in the way.
Doesn't respond to forceful action.

HOPPER
Hardware: recoil spring.
Status: zappable, immovable.

Cannon fodder. Jumps around the tower making good target practise.

LAND LIZARD
Hardware: caterpillar tracks, boring equipment.
Status: indestructible, immovable.

Eats sections of floor if forrced to change direction by an object in
its path, Moves forwards and backwards only. Doesn't respond to actions by
spiders.

OTHER OBJECTS:

Many of the remaining objects will be required to complete the task. You
may have to collect them, shoot them or use them in some way to aid you.
All can be manipulated in one way or another by the spiders.

PROXIMITY MINE

Explodes if any object moves on to an adjacent square. Explosions destroy
all adjacent objects and may destroy the floor. Mines can be pushed out of
the way.

TIME BOMB

This explodes after a user-settable delay. The pillar on top of the bomb
gives you a visual indication of how long there's left until the bomb
explodes. When the pillar disappears the bomb explodes. Like the proximity
mine, the time bomb is pushable and destroys all adjacent objects.

BLOCK

Gets in the way and is indestructible - however it can be pushed.

GLASS BLOCK

Reflects a lazer beam back to its source. Don't shoot at it! The glass
block is pushable.

PRISM

Reflects a lazer beam through a 90 degree angle and can be pushed.

KLONDIKE

One of the most important objects as it is often required to complete a
tower. Take care not to shoot it or let anything else shoot it. Pusher can
move it.

FLAG

Does nothing but blow in the wind and get in the way. It can be zapped.

CONVERTOR

Shooting through the convertor's arc changes the laser beam to a repeller
beam. Similarly, firing a repeller beam at a convertor will change it to a
laser beam.

FORCE UP

Causes all unoccupied lifts to go up when fired upon by Grabber. It can
be destroyed by Zapper.

FORCE DOWN

Makes all unoccupied lifts move downwards when fired on by Grabber.
Shooting at it with Zapper will destroy it.

FREEZER

Again, activated only by Grabber, the frezzer will halt all objects
(except you) for a short period. The freezer flashed white/ grey while it
works and black/ grey when it is recharging.

WIPER

Use with care! When activated by Grabber, it removes all unoccupied
squares from the map of North, South, East and West directions. Supporting
squares and lifts aren't affected. Can be pushed.

EXCHANGER

Swaps places with Grabber and explodes in the process - hence it can only
be used once. It will also reflect back any zapper beams.


C O N T R O L PA N E L

What you see on screen is determined largely by the group of control
icons underneath the play window. In addition to controlling the spiders,
you can position cameras around the tower and send sequences of instructions
to the spiders.
When the game first starts you are in a special mode. In this mode you can
look left and right using the spiders or in all directions using the cameras.
None of the enemy objects wiil start moving until you either fire or move a
spider. The advantage of this is that you can get a good idea of a tower's
constitution before deploying your spiders. It saves lives.
Simply clicking on an icon with the left mouse button will select the icon

1. Spider selector

2. Camera seiector

3. Splder/camera controls

4. Programming icons

SPIDER SELECTOR

Choose the spider you want to control by clicking on one of the icons.
If the spider isn't available in a tower or gets blasted during play, the
screen will go fuzzy.
If everything is fine with the spider you selected, the screen will
either show the worid through the chosen spider's eyes or from a little
behind the spider. To determine your viewpoint go to the View menu
in the menu bar.

SPIDER CONTROLS

To move the currently selected spider forward simply ciick on the icon
with an upward-pointing arrow. Similarly, click on the left and right
arrows to move the spider left and right respectively.
The icon with both downward-pointing and upward-pointing arrows performs
different actions depending on the circumstances. If the backwards Allowed
option is selected in the Setup menu - and the spider is standing on an
ordinary bit of floor - the spider will move backwards. If the spider is
standing on a lift (recognizable by its grey colour) and the button is
clicked, the lift will move up or down a level in the tower. A maximum of
four levels are possible. You won't know what sort of a lift you're standing
on until you click the button and watch where the lift goes. You can, of
course, make an educated guess by looking at a side view of the tower.

NOTE that it's impossible to fall off the edge of a tower, fall through a
hole in the tower or fall off a lift.

Clicking on Fire when Zapper is active cause the spider to unleash a bolt
from its laser cannon. Anything lying in the spider's path which is zappable
will be destroyed.
If Pusher is seiected and the Fire icon pressed, anything that is movable
will be pushed forward a square.
When Grabber is active and Fire is pressed, Klondikes in the spider's
path will be picked up. Force Ups and Downs, Freezers, Wipers, and Exchangers
all cause unexpected things to happen when fired upon by Grabber.
The Pause icon will halt the game and cause the menu bar to appear. Any
options in the menu bar can be altered. Clicking on Pause a second time will
restart the game.

CAMERA SELECTOR

To get a better idea of where objects and spiders are located on a tower,
it's possible to see the tower from its side by looking through
conveniently-placed cameras. Click on one of the compass directions to
see what the camera sees from North, East, South or West sides (n.b. in some
of the more advanced towers, the cameras may be disabled).

CAMERA CONTROLS

After selecting a camera it is possible to move the camera position by
clicking on one of the directional arrows. Logically, the up arrow icon
moves the camera upwards, the down/up icon moves the camera down and the
left and fight arrows move the camera left and right respectively.
The icon marked Stop/ln in the programming block causes the camera to
zoom in on the tower. Run/Out zooms out from the tower.
Altering the position of one camera when the Link option in the menu bar
is selected causes all cameras to move. Moving to the left on one side will
cause the cameras on all the other sides to move left.

PROGRAMMING THE SPIDERS

The block of icons to the far right of the control panel are used to send
sequences of instructions to the spiders. Essentially you can write a small
program, which determines where a spider will move and when it will fire,
and then execute the program.
Each spider has its own program.
To write a sequence of instructions it's necessary to select a spider
first, highlight Write and then press the movement and fire icons in the
order you wish the spider to carry them out.
Up to eight actions per spider can be programmed. These appear as small
representations of the directional and firing icons in the row of empty
boxes beneath the six programming icons.
Once you've written one program you can select another spider and write
a new program. It's possible to jump between spiders at any time - but
there's little point as it will only confuse. Finish one program before
starting on another.
If you make a mistake you can erase a single instructions by clicking the
Delete icon. A complete program can be erased by clicking on Clear.
With the programming done you can click on Stop to deselect the
programming mode and continue operating the spiders.
Alternatively you can click on Run/Out to execute the active spider's
program or Run All to simultaneously run all the spider programs.
It's even possible to write spider programs from camera mode. This is
often the best way of doing things as the side view gives you all the
detail you need to work out a safe path for the spider. Simply highlight
the camera you wish to see through, click on Write, enter the sequence of
instructions as you would normally and then click on the floor section under
the spider you wish to send the program to, or it's icon on the panel.
Finally, click on Run All to get the spider moving.

[Zapper] selects the Zapper spider (if it exists).

[Pusher] activates the Pusher spider (if it exists).

[Grabber] picks the Grabber spider (if it exists).

[N] displays the tower when viewed from the North (if cameras are allowed).

[E] shows you what the tower looks like from the East(if cameras are allowed).

[S] lets you view the tower from the South (if cameras are allowed).

[W] selects a West view of the tower (if cameras are allowed).

[Up arrow] moves the active spider forward or the selected camera up.

[Left arrow] forces the active spider or camera left.

[Right arrow] makes the selected spider or camera move right.

[Down/Up arrow] moves the spider backwards or the camera downwards. If the
spider is on a lift, the lift will move up or down.

[Fire] Zapper shoots, Pusher pushes and Grabber picks up or activates
objects when selected.

[Pause] pauses the game and allows you to alter menu bar options. Pressing
the icon a second time restarts the game.

[Stop/In] zooms into a tower when a camera direction is selected or halts
execution of the active spider's program.

[Run/Out] zooms out of a tower when one of the direction icons is
highlighted or executes the currently-selected spider's program.

[Run All] lets you run all three spider programs simultaneously.

[Write] stores up to eight directional and firing commands for the current-
selected spider and pbce the command into the empty icons below.

[Delete] removes one of the stored commands from the active spider's program.

[Clear] deletes a complete program.


TUTORIAL GAME

The Tutorial Towers:

The nine tutorial towers are designed to show how to control spiders and
manipulate other objects on a tower. If you've played Tower of Babel before
then you can ignore the following guide, but if you are a newcomer read on..
To play the tutorial towers simply click on Play Garne from the main
menu and then on Tutorial from the Choose game submenu. The screen
will clear to show a grid of nine boxes A to I. Each box represents one of
the available towers.
Unlike the standard garne, you are free to choose any tower to look at
and, having finished a tower, you are not prevented from trying it again.
Each of the towers A-I will lead through the important elements of
the game so, for starters, click on Tower A.
At the bottom of the screen the towers title, `Your Spiders and the
Lifts - Tutorial 1' should appear. Click on OK to go on to the next page.
Now the screen will clear and various bits of information about the tower
will appear. Most of this can be ignored at present, but note the under
Tower Objective;' it says there is no task for this tower. This is because
the first tower has no problems to solve, it's there just to `look around'.
Normally towers MUST have an objective, otherwise you will be unable to
finish them.
Click on OK to play the tower.

TUTORIAL 1- YOUR SPIDERS AND THE LIFTS

You should now be looking out from the Zapper Spider (it's icon will be
highlighted on the left of the panel). Ahead you can see two other Spiders,
on the left is the Pusher (note the grey top) and on the right is the
grabber. The brown checkerboard on the floor represents areas you can walk
on.
Click on the Pusher icon on the panel. The view will change to that of
the Pusher. There's not much to see in front, so click on the right arrow
(or the left one!) twice to turn round 190 degrees. Now you should be
boking back on the Zapper Spider (note the flashing spike). Try changing
between the Zapper, Pusher and Grabber and turning round using the left
and right arrows.
Now try clicking on the N symbol at the bottom left of the panel. You
should see a birds eye view of the tower, looking North. Click on the E,
S and W icons to view the tower from all directions. Note that the left and
right arrows don't turn you round when looking from this camera view
but move your viewpoint left or right.
Get back to the Zapper spider by clicking on it's icon on the right of
the panel. Now click on the up arrow. You should see your spider walk
forward on to the next square in front. If nothing happens try turning left
or right and clicking again, there probably isn't a floor square in front of
the Spider.
Using the left right and forward icons you can manouever the three
spiders around the tower.
Now click on Pause to freeze the game, and select End Game on the
menu bar at the top of the screen. Click on Restart Game in the window
to get back to your start position.
You should be looking north from the Zapper Spider again, if not go
back to restart game again.
Now click on left (the left arrow). You should be able to see several
brown squares and 3 solid blocks rising above them. These are supports
leading to the next floor up of the tower. To reach the next floor we
need a lift, and the grey square you can see on the right is just that!
Walk your spider forwards two squares and turn right again and you should
be standing in front of the lift square. Now click on forwards again and you
can hear the spider walk on onto the lift. To operate the lift, click on the
pair of up/down arrows above pause. You should hear a drone as the lift
goes up. Click on left and then forwards to move off the lift onto the
next floor. To get back down, go back onto the grey left square and click on
the pair of arrows again.
That's all there is to see on the first tutorial so when you have
finished experimenting with the controls, click on Pause. Now select
Abandon Game from the end game menu to get back to the end game screen.
A message will say Tower abandoned - ignore this if there was no task for
this tower. Just click on OK to get back to the choice screen.
Click on tower B next.

TUTORIAL 2 - YOUR ZAPPER

This tutorial looks at the abilities of your Zapper spider. Click OK
to get past the information page and onto the game.
In front of you you will see a network of squares. On one of them is a
small object. Click on forwards and you will see the object start to hop
about. Not surprisingly this is called a 'Hopper'. Hoppers are cannon fodder
for your Zapper. Just press fire to reduce the Hopper to it's component
atoms. Now turn right.
Ahead of you is a pink box, a Klondike, and behind that is a Worm. Try
shooting the Klondike. Now try the Worm. Note how it tries to reverse away
from the zapper beam. Klondikes are more easy fodder but are more often
involved with the Grabber (see later).
Now go forward 2 squares and turn left. The object to the left in the
distance is a Glass Block. Switch to the camera view N and you'll be able
to see another object, a Flag, of to the right.
Switch back to the Zapper and walk forwards three squares,then turn right.
Now you can see the Flag in closeup. Zap it and then turn left, forwards,
forwards, right, to face the glass block. Punch the fire button and...

WHAT HAPPENED? Glass Blocks (in fact any glass objects) will reflect back
the Zappers laser beam and - Bang! Your Zapper just committed suicide.
The screens turn to snow as you are trying to control a Spider that now
does not exist on the tower and a few seconds later you will be uncerernoni-
ously dumped back to the end game screen with the message `Tower not
completed. All Spiders Destroyed.'
It just goes to show that the Zapper isn't going to have it all it's
own way.
Now click on OK to get back to the choice page, and we are on to....

TUTORIAL 3 - PUSHERS, BLOCKS AND GIASS BLOCKS

This tower looks at the capabilities of your Pusher spider. Get to the
viewscreen as usual and you will be looking out from your Pusher. Three
objects are ahead of you. In the middle is a Glass Block. To the right is a
Solid Block and to the left is a Fixed Zapper. Moving in front of the
Zapper will result in your Spider being destroyed, but the other objects
offer a solution. Try forward, forward, right, forward and left to move right
in front of the block. Now press fire to push the block into the path of the
Fixed Zapper. Have a look through the cameras. Nothing happened to the Block.
Now you can go behind the block with forward, right, forward, left, forward
and forward again. Try getting behind the Glass Block and pushing that into
the path of the Zapper. Things work two ways in the Tower of Babel.
Generally, if you can shoot or push something, then so can any other objects
on the tower with the same properties.
That's all to see on tower C so now lets move on to Tower D.

TUTORIAL 4 - ABOUT GRABBERS AND KLONDIKES

The main job in the life of your Grabber spider is to collect Klondikes.
(Remember the pink block with the 'K' on it from the first tower). You can
see a Klondike directly in front of you as you start the game up, so click
on fire to swallow it up.
This is the flrst tower to show a simple puzzle. There are two more
Klondikes up for grabs but they are not quire as accessible. A solution
follows, but before you read on, have a go at getting the two without any
help. If you spider gets shot then reselect tower D from the choice page to
get back here.
Well did you manage it? The first problem is the Klondike on a separate
section of floor to your left. No difficulty here. Just use the grey left
square to move up to the next floor and hnd the second lift back down again.
The second Klondike is a bit more tricky. Trying to go right walks you into
a Zapper beam. The trick is to go forwards and round behind the Fixed Zapper.
Then turn to face South and it's there to be grabbed.

TUTORIAL 5 - LIZARDS, WATCHERS AND FIXED PUSHERS

Not much to do on this tower, just a chance to look at a few more objects.
Note how the Lizards eat themselves in to a corner. Both Lizards and
Watchers (the ones with the eyes) are unzappable and unpushable.
Try walking into the path of the Fixed Pusher to get yourself pushed
back to the far edge.

TUTORIAL 6 - MINES AND ROTATORS

Four new objects on this tower. Try walking the Zapper forwards towards
the proximity mine. When you get too close then switch views quickly to
the Pusher (or the North-most Camera). Note that the Block, which can't
normally be zapped, gets blown up as well.
Behind the Rotating Pusher is another type of mine, a Timebomb. The fuse
on the Timebomb goes down at a steady rate. When it disappears the Timebomb
will explode and destroy any objects on the four adjacent squares.

TUTORIAL 7 - MORE ABOUT THE GRABBER

Apart from collecting Kondikes the grabber has several more useful
abilities.
As you start the Tower from the grabber you can see several objects.
Looking North from left to right they are..

A Forcer UP
A Forcer DOWN
An Exchanger
A Wiper
A Freezer

Walk your hopper round the map and try firing at each one to see what
happens. Note how the Freezer, when flred on, stops the Hopper in it's
tracks.... In fact the Freezer will stop all moving objects, except your
spiders.

TUTORIAL 8 - TOWERS H AND I

Towers H and I contain two simple puzzles for you to try. The next
paragraphs explain how to solve the two towers but it's much better if you
try them first and check the solution afterwards!
The objective in Tower H is to collect the single Klondike.
Unfortunately the path to it leads past a Fixed Zapper. Your Zapper
would be able to destroy the Fixed Zapper but a supporting block to the
next floor blocks the way.
To complete the tower go up onto the next floor with your Zapper. Then
use the Grabber to activate the Forcer UP and bring a lift up to the Zapper.
Now you can move forwards and down with the Zapper Spider and destroy the
Fixed Zapper (be careful not to zap the Klondike), leaving a path clear for
the Grabber to collect the Klondike.
The Goal in Tower I is to Zap the two Hoppers and the two Fixed Zappers.
Again the path is blocked, this time by both a fixed Pusher and the two
Fixed Zappers.
The trick here is to use the two Blocks to block the Pusher and Zapper
beams but it is important to push the Block in front of the Fixed Pusher
first, otherwise the Glass Block will be pushed out of the way and can't be
used to get the fixed Zappers to zap themselves.

D I S K O P E R A T I O N

USING THE FlLE SELECTOR

1. Tells you how many relevant files exist on the disk and, if you're
saving data, whether there is room for any more.

2. Informs you of how many pages worth of filenames there are.

3. Names of existing files appear here.

4. Scrolls back a page of filenames.

5. Type in the name of the flle you wish to load or save here.

6. Clicking on this box will load (or save) the file named above.

7. To log in a different disk simply remove the existing one, insert the
new one and click on this icon.

8. Scrolls forward a page of fllenames.

LOADING

Assuming the correct disk is in the drive, you will be presented with a
list of filenames. If there are too many to fit in one window you can click
on the arrow icons located near the top and bottom of the filename window.
This has the effect of moving you forward or backwards through the list of
files.
You can select a file for loading by either typing in its name at the
prompt or by clicking on the filename in the fllename window. Clicking on
the Load icon just below the prompt will attempt to load the file into
memory.
An error message will appear if any problems occur during the load
operation. You can click anywhere outside the alert box to remove the
message and try again.

SAVING

If the correct data disk is in the drive you will be shown list of all
the filenames of the type that you wish to save. For instance, if you with
to save a group of towers, only the fllenames corresponding to groups of
towers will appear. As with loading, if there are too many files to fit in
the window you will be able to see the remaining files by clicking on the
arrow icon towards the bottom of the file selector. Clicking on the upward-
pointing arrow, will scroll you back through the files.
The name of the file you wish to save can be entered at the appropriate
prompt. Filenames can consist of eight alphanumeric (that's letters and
numbers) characters. Clicking on the Save icon below the prompt will save
the file to disk.
You will get an error message if the disk you try to save to is not of
the right sort - that is, not a Babel format disk. You will also get an
error if the write-protect tab is on. Clicking anywhere outside the box with
the error message will return you to the file selector thus enabling you to
rectify the problem.

WARNING

You can't load game data from, or save game data to, the Tower of Babel
game disk. Go to the tower designer and format a blank disk for use as a
data disk. Details on how to format a disk can be found in the Tower
Designer Format Disk section. Keep the Tower of Babel master disk safe. Keep
it write protected.

TOWER DESIGNER

A very comprehensive tower designer is included with the Tower of Babel.
You can create your own towers and place aliens and objects wherever you
like. These custom towers can be loaded and played by anyone with the
original Tower of Babel game disks.
Simply click on Tower Designer in the main menu to get to the game
creator section. The opening screen looks like this: (See Pic)

1. Menu Bar.

2. Tower design grid.

3. Your towers can be password protected so that other people can't
disassemble them.

4. Tells you which spiders have been placed on the tower.

5. The vast range of objects which can be used to make a tower.

6. Status line

7. Small maps of the four possible tower levels.

MAIN EDITING SCREEN

Before you discover what all the menus and options do, you must
understand how towers work. You can only work on one tower at a time. And
each tower can have a maximum of four levels; levels can be anything from
a single square in size to a grid-of eight by eight.
Objects - which include your spiders, enemy robots and lifts - can be
placed just about anywhere on a level. There are, of course, a few
restrictions, but all are perfectly logical and are discussed under each
object heading.
All items in the main editing screen are accessible by moving the
mouse pointer and clicking with the left mouse button.

DESIGN GRID

The design grid at the top left of the screen is where you construct the
levels of a tower. Individual levels are portrayed in miniature form in
squares labelled 1 to 4 at the bottom of the screen. You can tell which
level is being worked on as the level number is enclosed in a red square.
Objects are placed into the design grid simply by positioning the mouse
pointer in the desired location and clicking the left mouse button. The
item deposited depends on the icon highlighted in the object box.
Some objects can be placed on top of others - a rotating zapper, for
instance, can be positioned on a section of floor. For a full description of
an object's characteristics turn to the Game Objects section.
If for some reason it's impossible to plant an object in the design grid, a
warning message will appear underneath the object box.
Click the right mouse button to remove an item from the design grid.
What you see in the design grid depends on the options selected in the
menu bar. There are two possible displays. The first is a bird's-eye view
of the tower currently being edited while the second shows you any levels
underneath the one you're editing. Of course, you can only add and remove
squares from the level that is currently selected.

TOWER BOXES

Four boxes along the bottom of the screen, labelled 1 to 4, display each
level of the tower. The level being edited in the display grid will be
highlighted.
A box will remain blank if a level is empty.

OBJECT ICONS

There are 28 different objects which may be placed in a tower; 24 of them
are displayed in a box at the top right of the editing screen.
Selecting an object is simply a matter of clicking on the required icon
with the left mouse button. Some icons can be clicked on a second, third
or even fourth time to produce a different object or an object in a different
orientation.
A status line underneath the object box informs you of what you've
picked and the direction the object is facing.
With only a very few exceptions, any object can be placed on any level.

FLOOR SECTION

Without a floor there is no tower. All objects must be placed on top of a
floor section (or a lift).

SUPPORTING BLOCK

These allow you to build up levels. They aren't essential, but mean you
can create mazes and give the tower ralism. As a supporting block joins
two floors, you cannot palce any objects on it.

LIFT UP

This provides your spiders with access to the next level up in a tower.
Naturally, you can't have these on level 4.

LIFT DOWN

Using these you can move down a level. Of course, you can't have one
of these on level 1.

ZAPPER SPIDER

Only one Zapper is allowed per tower. You can tell when the spider is
placed as an indicator appears on screen.

PUSHER SPIDER

Like Zapper, only one PUSHER is allowed per tower. Again, a flag appears
on screen when it has been planted.

GRABBER SPIDER

Again, only one of these spiders is allowed per tower. A marker appears
on screen reminding you that it's been used.

FIXED ZAPPER

Clicking on this icon for the first time will select a North-facing enemy
Zapper, a second click produces an East-facing Zapper; a third click
results in a South-facing Zapper; a fourth click generates a West-facing
Zapper. The arrow shows the direction of fire.

FIXED PUSHER

Click once to get a North-facing enemy Pusher, twice to get an East-
facing Pusher, three times for a South-facing Pusher and four times for a
Weat-facing Pusher.

ROTATING ZAPPER

Can be phced anywhere.

ROTATING PUSHER

Can be placed anywhere.

WORM

The first click results in a worm that moves between North and South
compass points continuously. The second cllck produces a worm that goes
between East and West points.

WATCHER

Can be placed anywhere.

HOPPER

Can be placed anywhere.

PROXIMITY MINE / TIME BOMB

Take care not to position any moving objects adjacent to a proximity mine
as they will explode as soon as the game starts. Clicking on this icon a
second time will produce a Time Bomb icon. The time it takes the bomb to
explode is settable from the menu bar.

BLOCK

Can be placed anywhere.

REFLECTOR

Can be placed anywhere.

PRISM

The first click gives you a prism with a diagonal edge between North and
East poles. The second click results in a prism with a diagonal running from
South to East poles. The third click produces a prism with the reflective
edge going from South to West. Finally, the fourth click results in a
prism going from North to West.

LIZARD

Clicking once results in a lizard that moves from North to South. A
second click produces a Lizard that goes from East to West.

KLONDIKE

Can be placed anywhere.

FLAG

Can be placed anywhere.

CONVERTOR

There are two versions. The first runs from North to South and is
produced by clicking on the icon once. The second runs from East to West
and is created by clicking on the icon twice. The convertor only works if
you fire through the spark.

FORCER UP/DOWN

The first click produces an upward forcer while the second click results
in a downward forcer.

FREEZER / WIPER / EXCHANGER

Click once on the icon to get a Freezer, twice to get a Wiper and
three times to get an Exchanger.

MENU BAR

Menus in the bar can be forced to appear by highlighting a menu heading
and clicking with the left mouse button. From there options are selected
by clicking the left mouse button. To get rid of a menu simply position
the pointer anywhere outside the menu and click the left mouse button.

FILE: (on pull down menus)

GET TOWER - click on this to transfer a tower from the group of towers in
memory to the tower designer. A box will appear displaying the nine towers
(arranged in a three-by-three grid) lettered A to I. Simply click on the the
tower you wish to transfer. An alert box will appear confirming that you
want to transfer the seiected tower. if you don't, click anywhere outside the
box. Towers that are password protected can't be loaded or moved into the
designer unless you know the password. If the tower you try to get is
protected, a box requesting the password will appear. Answering incorrectly
will return you to the tower selection box.

PUT TOWER - transfers a tower from the designer to the group in memory.
A box will appear displaying the whole group - click on the location
that you wish to send the tower. You will be asked to conhrm your choice.
If the location that you wish to send the tower dteady has a tower (and
that tower is password protected), you will be asked for the password.

SWAP TOWER - swaps a tower in a group with the tower in the designer.
Note: you cannot swap the positions of two towers in a group. After
confirming your selections the swap will go ahead unless the tower in the
group is password protected. If a password is required, you will be
asked for it.

LOCK TOWER - click on this and you will be asked for a password to protect
the tower you are currently working on. Password protection stops other
players from prying and disassembling your tower's construction.

UNLOCK TOWER - gets rid of password protection on a tower.
Naturally, you must supply the password before being allowed to trash it.

LOAD GROUP - a file selector will appear requesting you to enter a
name for a group of towers. An error message proclaiming "Not a Babel
Format disk!" will appear if the disk in the drive is not a data disk.
You will be thrown back to the menu so that you can insert another disk
and try again.

SAVE GROUP - allows you to save the group of towers in memory. Again, a
file selector will appear.

LOAD TOWER - lets you load a tower into the game designer.

SAVE TOWER - saves the contents of the game designer to a data disk.

DELETE GROUP - take care with this one. It prompts you for a filename
and erases the file on disk with that name.

DELETE TOWER - erases a single tower from a data disk.

FORMAT DISK - extreme care is needed with this option. It will wipe
an entire disk. And once that happens there's no way of recovering the
lost data. Don't have your Tower of Babel master disks anywhere near the
machine when you use this option. Play safe! The disks that are formatted
using this option can only be used by the game, and are used for storing
towers, groups of towers and high score information.

EXIT DESIGNER - takes you back to the main menu.


OPTIONS: (on pull down menus)

EFFECTS MENU - clicking on this produces a menu from which it is possible to
determine the moon's position (more on that in a moment); alter the star
density from none to high; switch on or off lightning, meteors and
blue pulses; determine the hatching pattern of the tower floor. Clicking
on the Moon Setup option results in yet another menu appearing. From here
you can choose in which compass heading the moon is displayed, whether it
appears at all, its position in the sky, the type of moon and its rotation
direction. To alter the moon's position in the sky simply point at the
small graphic image and hold the left button down. Let go of the left mouse
button once the moon is in the desired position. Clicking on the sound
effects menu allows you to alter background and foreground sound effects.

BEHAVIOUR MENU - determines whether the cameras focused on the tower are on
or off, if mines destroy the floor or not, and the speed at which Time Bombs
go off. A menu appears with all the available options. Just click on the
circles (located next to the options) that you wish to select.

FINISHING CONDITIONS - from here you can set the objectives in a tower.
For instance, you can determine whether or not there's a time limit,
the number of Klondikes to collect (from none to six), and the number of
robots to destroy (again, from none to six). To alter the time - which is
measured in seconds - to complete a tower click on the current seconds
setting, press delete when the cursor appears and type in the new value.
If your finishing conditions are acceptable a message stating so will be
displayed. If, however, there aren't enough Klondikes or enemy robots in
the tower you've created, you will be informed.

NAME TOWER - enables you to enter a name for the tower currently in the
designer. Just type it in at the keyboard. AD the keys work, including
Backspace.

TOWER'S AUTHOR - here's the place to credit yourself with the tower design.

PLAY / VIEW TOWER - if you want to test that your game works as it should,
this is the option to choose. The game will function normally, but when the
game ends (or you quit) you'll end up back here.


TOOLBOX: ( on pull down menus)

COLOURS - clicking on this causes a comprehensive screen for altering the
colours of all in-game items to appear.
At the top of the screen, you'll see three items in a menu bar. The first
Get Preset Colours, produces a menu with a choice of 13 preset colour schemes
and an option for reverting to the previous colour selection. The second
menu bar item lets you play the game to check that you've got the colour
co-ordination correct. When the game ends you'll be returned to this screen.
The final menu bar item returns you to the main editing screen.
A box just underneath the menu bar holds the currently selected colours
for the tower and the various elements that rage inside and outside it. When
one of the colours - numbered from 0 to 17 - is highlighted, the colour's
statistics appear just below. The information provided includes colour
number, RGB (red, green, blue) value and the colour's use.
To alter a selected colour simply click on the Red, Green and Blue
numbers held in the box below. Colours are created by mixing percentages of
red, green and blue. The higher the red value, the more red there'll be in
the final colour; the higher the green value, the more green there'll be in
the flnal colour.
Following is a list of the colour numbers and what they are applied to
in a game:

O .................black background (not alterable)
1 ........first square colour, side
2 .........first square colour, top
3 .....first square colour, top lit
4 .......second square colour, side
5 ........second square colour, top
6 ....second square colour, top lit
7 .................first sky colour
8 ................second sky colour
9 .......first object colour, unlit
10 .........first object colour, lit
11 ......second object colour, unlit
12 ........seoond object colour, lit
13 .................lift, top unlit (not alterable)
14 ....................lift, top lit (not alterable)
15 .. .............pointer and menus (not alterable)
16 .......................floor, lit
17 .....................floor, unlit

SCROLL TOWER / LEVEL - a menu appears allowing you to scroll the complete
tower or the currently selected level left, right, up or down.

ROTATE TOWER / LEVEL - the active level or the whole tower can be rotated
clockwise or aniticlockwise by 90 degrees, or by 180 degrees.

COPY LEVEL - lets you copy the selected level to any of the other three
levels.

SWAP LEVEL - allows you to exchange the active level with any of the other
three levels.

CLEAR LEVEL - will erase the currently selected level. You will be asked to
conflrm your request before losing the level.

CLEAR ALL - gets rid of all the levels. You're given the option of canceling
before going through with the operation.


EXTRAS: (on pulldown menus)

DESIGNER SETUP - another menu appears when this option is picked. From here
you can decide how the designer operates. Depth Cue can be turned on or off,
and determines whether you see just the active level or all the levels
beneath the active level in the design box. The enemy movement can be
switched off so that you can quickly test your tower design. This option has
no effect when you save a tower or group - when the game is played for real,
the enemy robots will move! When Auto Repeat is on you can hold down the
mouse button and plaster the design grid with floor sections. When Confirm
Replace is selected, any save from the file selector over an existing file
will require confirmation.

STATISTICS - provides you with information about the tower you've created.
For instance, the percentage of the design grid filled (taking all four
levels into account), the number of enemy Zappers and Pushers in the tower,
and the number of Klondikes and other objects that can be found in the
tower.

SUPPORT CHECK - checks each level in turn to see that it is being held up by
sufficient support blocks. It doesn't matter if the search fails, but it
does mean you can create more realistic towers with supporting blocks in
appropriate places.

SPIDER PATH CHECK - examines the paths open to your spiders'. If there are
areas of the towers that are inaccessible the check will fail. Again it
doesn't matter if your spider's can't travel everywhere on a tower, but it
does highlight all potential problem spots.

UNDO - every large scale option that alters a tower's map in any way can
be undone. In other words, by clicking on this menu item it is possible to
return the tower to its original form before the editing facility was
applied.


Copyright Rainbird & Microprose Software (England)