REDHAWK - MELBOURNE HOUSE


REDHAWK PLAYER MANUAL


1. INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the world of comic fantasy, superheroes
and supervillains. You are superhuman Redhawk and
must control his two completely separate identities:
Kevin Oliver - a human with all the human weaknesses;
and Redhawk - a being capable of flight and incredible
feats of strength. You can choose to fight crime, pitting
Redhawk against common criminals and even
supervillains. This choice leads to popularity and
superhero status. Alternatively, you can lead a life of
crime and ignore Redhawk's unpopularity and
supervillain status. The choice is yours. Whatever you
decide, you must make your decisions quickly as time
waits for no man (superhuman or not). While you
consider your actions, the other characters in the game
will continue with their own.


LOADING INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place the cassette in your player, making sure that it
is rewound to the start and that the EAR socket of your
Spectrum or Spectrum+ is connected to that of the tape
player, as detailed in the Spectrum manual.

2. Enter the command LOAD "" then press the ENTER
key.

3. Start the tape player. The game will now load
automatically.

4. In case of difficulty, alter the volume level and
consult your Spectrum manual.

5. In the most unlikely event of a genuine fault, please
return the complete package to Melbourne House
Publishers at the nearest to you of the addresses shown.
We will gladly replace it. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN IT
TO THE PLACE OF PURCHASE.

(This notice does not affect your statutory rights)


2. THE SCREEN DISPLAY

The top half of the screen is the Strip, a row of three
panels in which the comic action unfolds. Each event in
the game is illustrated by a picture which appears in the
rightmost panel. The strip is scrolled left to make room
for the new picture. Consequently, the last two pictures
can always be seen to the left of the current picture.
Below the Strip is the information display. This
consists of a rolling digit clock depicting the time of day
on the game; a heart icon and a bar meter depicting the
current strength of Redhawk; a graph icon and a bar
meter depicting the current popularity of Redhawk; and
a picture of the face of your current identity - Kevin or
Redhawk. The significance of these will be explained
later.
Below the information display is a box into which you
enter your commands for your character. Text entered
here may be edited using a powerful editor which is
described in "THE EDITOR".
At the bottom of the screen is a function key reminder.
To aid entry of commands. ten commonly used words
are programmed onto ten function keys. Their use is
described in detail later in the manual.
Finally, when you make a mistake or when the
computer wishes to draw your attention to something, a
message 'pops up' at the top of the screen. When you
have read the message, press the <SPACE> key to
continue with the game and the message will disappear.


3. THE EDITOR

You can give your current character (either Kevin or
Redhawk) a command by typing it as a sentence in
English and then pressing <ENTER>. It is important to
remember that a command is only issued after you have
pressed <ENTER>. Therefore it is possible to type a
command in readiness for something, wait for a precise
moment and then issue it just by pressing <ENTER>.
The type of commands you can give are described in
"PLAYING THE GAME". For the moment it is enough to
know that they must be typed in as English.
The commands you type appear in the box on the
lower half of the screen. The place you are typing to is
indicated by the '+' cursor, which moves along as you
type. You can type in commands longer than the width of
the box. When you reach the edge of the box, your
command continues onto the next line. Do not be
worried if the split occurs in the middle of a word, the
computer will understand it as one word. Your
commands may be up to eighty characters long if you
want!


3.1 EDITING A COMMAND

Inevitably, you will make typing mistakes. The simplest
of these is hitting the wrong key. To correct this, press
the <DELETE> key until you have deleted all the
unwanted characters. You can now type over what you
have deleted.
Another mistake you can make is leaving out
characters. To correct this, use <left arrow> to position
the cursor. To create space for the missing characters,
hold down <CAPS SHIFT> and press <I> until you
have enough space for the missing characters. You can
now type into this space and then move the cursor back
to the end of the line as before.
NOTE: The position of the cursor when you press
<ENTER> is important as it is taken to be the end of
your sentence. Anything after this position will be
ignored. This means that you must make sure the cursor
is at the end of your command before pressing
<ENTER>. There are exceptions to this, but these will
be explained shortly.


3.2 RE-ISSUING PREVIOUS COMMANDS

Often during the game you will want to re-enter a
command you typed earlier. This saves on typing; it
does not 'take back' your earlier command and undo the
consequences. So, if the command you want is still
visible, press the <up arrow> until the cursor is on the
line you want. Now move the cursor to the end of this line
using <right arrow> and when you are ready, press
<ENTER>. Now, if not already there, you can return to
where you were before by <down arrow>.
If the command is not visible then all is not lost. The
editor actually holds ten lines of text, although you can
only see four at any given time. A way of looking at the
box on screen is as a four line window over a ten line
area. You can move the window over this larger area by
trying to move the cursor up when at the top of the box,
or down when at the bottom of the box. In this way you
are free to edit any of the ten lines. You start off with the
box over the top four lines. As you enter new
commands, the ten lines gradually fill up. When you
enter the eleventh, the first line is lost for good; when
you enter the twelfth, the second line is lost; and so on.
Sometimes, you may only want to re-enter the first
few words of an earlier command. You do this by moving
the cursor to where you want the command to end and
press <ENTER>. As explained earlier, this will cause
the rest of the line to be ignored. You will notice when
you try this that a full stop is placed at the end of the
command. If later on you wish to remove this dot in order
to re-enter more of the line, you can just type over it as
you would any other character.


4. FUNCTION KEYS

To save typing, ten commonly used words have been
programmed onto function keys. A reminder of these is
given at the bottom of the screen display. Each of these
words is available by holding down <SYMBOL
SHIFT> and then pressing the appropriate digit key
<1>..<0>. When you do this the computer types in
the word just as if you had pressed each key yourself.
Therefore it is possible to edit words produced by
function keys just like any other words. The ten keys and
words are listed below along with their on screen
reminders.

KEY Function Screen display
1 GET GET
2 DROP DROP
3 SAY " SAY
4 KWAH" KWAH
5 EXAMINE EXAM
6 WAIT WAIT
7 UNTIL UNTL
B FLY TO FLY
9 STORE STO
0 RECALL REC

SPECIAL KEYS

It is possible to halt the action in the game by holding
down the <Symbol Shift> key with the <Space>
key. This will stop any new panels being displayed until
the keys are released.
If the same keys are being held down as someone
finishes speaking, their speech will be repeated. This
enables you to replay a character's speech if you miss
the start of it.


5. PLAYING THE GAME

When the game has loaded, the computer will give a
bleep and you must then press <SPACE> to start the
game.
The story begins with Kevin leaving hospital. He can't
remember who he is, where he is, or how he got there. A
single word fills his mind - "KWAH". What happens
next is up to you.
You control your alter ego by entering commands in
English. You can command him to go, move from place
to place, to handle objects, speak, give things to people,
take things from people, fight people and so on. The
vocabulary you must use to achieve these things is
described in "THE VOCABULARY". However, all actions
take time to do. Most only a second or so, but things like
movement may take several minutes; depending on the
distance your character is travelling and how fast he is
going. When a lengthy action such as this occurs, the
rolling digit clock goes into fast forward mode. Minutes
roll by at the speed that seconds normally elapse. When
the action is completed, game time reverts to its normal
speed. If, during a long action, you change your mind
and decide to do something else, then entering a new
command will abort the first one. Short actions cannot
be aborted this way.
Immediately to the right of the clock are two bar
meters. The top one represents Redhawk's current
strength. Simply staying in superhuman form takes
energy, as do all actions performed in this form. If
Redhawk's strength falls to zero then he is forced to
return to his human form. In the form of Kevin,
Redhawk's strength gradually increases until it reaches
maximum. During the game, Redhawk may have to fight
people. In combat, Redhawk's strength is pitted against
that of his opponent. Therefore it is not a good idea to
punch a supervillain when Redhawk's strength is low.
Kevin's strength is not displayed, but it is quite easy to
test his strength by playing the game.
Below the strength meter is the popularity meter. This
indicates Redhawk's current popularity with the media
and the town's inhabitants. It can be increased by
arresting criminals. If Redhawk lets a criminal get away
then his popularity will decrease by an amount which
depends on the importance of the criminal and the
crime. The media are always quick to pick up any offence
committed by Redhawk and so any such action will
result in reduced popularity. When popular, Redhawk is a
superhero and when unpopular, he is a supervillain.
Obviously, some of the people Redhawk comes across
will be none too helpful if he is unpopular.
When playing the game, feel free to experiment. As is
described in "THE VOCABULARY", it is possible to store
the status of the game instantly. Then if things go wrong,
you can always recall your stored game in an instant and
try something else, even if your character died. People
may not always respond to something in exactly the
same way and it often pays to try again. If you get stuck
on something, leave it for a while and go and try
something else, it may help to solve your problem.
Above all, keep a close eye on the clock. If you have
come across adventure games before, remember that
'Redhawk' is a game based around characters and not
just objects. Something strange is happening and it is up
to you, Kevin and Redhawk to find out what!


6. THE VOCABULARY

The following sections show most aspects of Redhawk's
and Kevin's vocabulary. In most cases just examples are
given, but one or two verbs have further explanation. Do
not take this as a complete vocabulary list as such a
definition would be very large indeed.

6.1 SENTENCES

Commands are given as sentences in English. For
example:
PICK THE BOOK UP
There is often more than one way of giving the same
command. For example, the following two commands
have the same effect:
PICK UP THE BOOK
GET THE BOOK
There is no reason why you have to give your
commands one at a time. You can enter multiple
commands in a number of ways:
GET A BOOK AND THEN GIVE THE BOOK TO THE LIBRARIAN
GET A BOOK, GIVE THE BOOK TO THE LIBRARIAN
GET A BOOK. GIVE THE BOOK TO THE LIBRARIAN
GET A BOOK, GO SOUTH, GO INSIDE AND WAIT
As you can see, sentences may be separated by
commas, full stops, "AND" or "AND THEN". It is a matter
of taste which ones you use.
To reduce the amount of typing necessary, certain
words are optional. These are: "THE", "THEN", "A" and
"SOME". In addition to this, if doesn't matter how many
spaces you leave between words. One other feature
which saves typing is the use of abbreviations for
commonly used words and phrases. These are
described in the following sections.


6.2 LOCATIONS AND MOVEMENT

LOOK AROUND / LOOK ABOUT / LOOK

LOOK AT THE LIBRARY / LOOK AT LIBRARY

SEARCH PARK CAREFULLY / CAREFULLY SEARCH THE PARK

GO <direction>
eg. GO NORTH / GO N / N
GO DOWN / GO D / D

ENTER / GO INSIDE / GO IN / IN

GO TO <somewhere>
eg. GO TO THE PARK / GO TO PARK
GO TO CITY STATION

FLY <direction>
Like GO <direction> but faster.

FLY TO <somewhere>
Like GO TO <somewhere> but faster and with the
advantage that you can fly from almost any location to
any other location.

GET A TAXI TO <somewhere>
eg. GET A TAXI TO THE LIBRARY/ GET A TAXI TO LIBRARY
You can get a taxi from almost anywhere to anywhere else.
Unlike FLY TO <somewhere> common sense is applied.
Consequently, the taxi would stop outside
the library in the example.
The taxi fare is five pounds.

GET A TRAIN TO <somewhere>
Like GET A TAXI TO <somewhere> but cheaper and slower.
Obviously, trains only go from station to station.
The train fare is one pound.


6.3 INTERACTING WITH CHARACTERS

LOOK AT <someone>
eg. LOOK AT THE LIBRARIAN / LOOK AT LIBRARIAN

SEARCH <someone>
Do a body search

SAY "<words>"
eg. SAY "HELLO THERE" / SAY "HELLO THERE
SAY TO <someone> "<words>"
eg. SAY TO THE LIBRARIAN "TELL ME ABOUT THE MUSEUM"

SHOUT "<words>"

HIT <someone>
HIT <someone> WITH <something>
eg. HIT LIBRARIAN WITH A BOOK

ARREST <someone>


6.4 HANDLING OBJECTS

INVENTORY / INVENT / INV / I

WEAR <something>
PUT ON <something>

THROW <something> AT <someone>
THROW <something> AT <something>
eg. THROW CAMERA AT POLICEMAN
THROW BOOK AT CAMERA

GET <something> FROM <someone>
GET <something> OFF <someone>
TAKE <something> FROM <someone>
TAKE <something> OFF <someone>
eg. GET A CAMERA FROM LIBRARIAN

READ <something>

EXAMINE <something> / EXAM <something>


6.5 WAITING

WAIT UNTIL <time>
eg. WAIT UNTIL 12:15 / WAIT UNTIL 16:42


6.6 SPECIAL GAME COMMANDS

These commands do not tell Redhawk or Kevin to do
anything. Instead, they have a special effect on the game
itself.

STORE
Stores the game status in the computer's memory. After
typing STORE, a message "pops up" at the top of the
screen. Press <SPACE> to continue play. If you type
STORE again, the new game status will replace the
previously stored one, which is destroyed. STORE
works instantly, but the stored game is lost when you turn
the computer off. To overcome this, use the SAVE and
LOAD commands described below.

RECALL
Recalls the STORED game from the computer's
memory. You can recall a STORED game as often as you
like. The game status is recalled instantly but if you
LOAD or SAVE a game status from or to tape, any
previously STORED games will be lost. Instead, the
LOADed status will be recalled.

RESTART
Starts the game again from the beginning. This
command does not destroy your stored game and if you
wish, you can still recall that game.

SAVE
Saves the game status out to cassette. A message
"pops up" and the game pauses while you prepare your
cassette. When you are ready, press <SPACE> to
save. This method of preserving the game status need
only be used when you want to switch off your computer.
Otherwise it is far quicker to use STORE and RECALL. It
is important to remember that when you SAVE a game,
any previously STORED game status will be lost.

LOAD
Loads the game status from cassette. A message "pops
up" and the game pauses while you position the
cassette. Press <SPACE> when you are ready to load.

QUIT GAME
This must be typed in full and used only when you have
finished playing 'Redhawk' for the time being. It leaves
the game entirely and resets the computer.


Program Copyright (c) 1996, Silhouette Software Systems

Program designed and implemented by
Simon Price and Mike Lewis
Cover artwork by Steinar Lund

Published by:- MELBOURNE HOUSE