TECHNICIAN TED

INLAY TEXT

Technician Ted is an enthusiastic young computer hacker who bounces to work at
the local Microprocessor factory every day at 8.30 am. Anxious to please he
knows he must complete his 21 daily tasks by clocking off time at 5.00 p.m. or
incur the wrath of the Big Boss. But his fiendish boss hasn't told him what
the tasks are or where they are located.

Undaunted Ted gets his mate (who also works at the factory) to give him a rough
sketch of the rooms close to the Canteen after promising to buy him a cuppa at
break:

We Call Him Sir Ted's Desk Canteen

Reception Cloakroom Silicon Slice Store

Boardroom Photocopier Main Corridor

His mate says the first thing he's got to do is go to his desk then visit the
Silicon Slice Store. In each room he has to hit two flashing boxes in the
correct sequence.

The only other words of wisdom his mate can come up with is the next task is in
the Diffusion Furnace, but unfortunately his mate doesn't know where it is. He
does know that for some tasks time is of the essence and the two parts of the
task must be completed Megaquickly!

LOADING INSTRUCTIONS
Technician Ted has a unique loading system and it is essential that you switch
off your Spectrum, switch it on again and then enter LOAD "". After a few
seconds a dynamic loading screen will appear with a countdown in the bottom
right hand corner of the remaining time to completion of the loading sequence.

CONTROLS
Kempston, Sinclair Interface II and Protek compatible.

Action Result
Q, O, 5, 6 or joystick left Ted moves to the left
W, P, 7, 8 or joystick right Ted moves to the right
Any key on the bottom row, Ted jumps
9, 0 or joystick fire
A, S, D, F, G The action freezes (hit a
movement key to recommence).
H, J, K, L, ENTER Music off (press again to
switch on again).

SCORING
The number of tasks completed and the time of day is shown at the bottom of the
screen. A pink tell-tale running horizontally across the screen shows the
number of lives remaining. You will lose a life if Ted collides with a hostile
object - all moving objects are hostile and some stationery ones are too.

When the two parts of a task have to be completed within a time limit, Silicon
Slices will appear on the tell-tale. On completion of the first part the slices
will move along the tell-tale and you must complete the second part before they
all disappear off the screen.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
* A full event processor - solving a problem in one room changes the nature of
another problem elsewhere.
* Very high cycle time - ultra smooth, pixel-by-pixel movement occurs at
all times.
* Exact collision detection so that collisions occur if and only if objects
overlap.
* Synchronisation of interrupts for constant speed animation.
* Intelligent sound routine - the music plays constantly no matter what the
progress of the game.
* Complex music routine with a cycle time of over one minute complete with
vibrato and slide.
* Over forty high resolution screens.
* Myriads of eight-positions sprites of varying sizes.


HINTS
from CRASH magazine

You must complete these tasks within the time limits printed by each one.

Ted's Desk by 8:56
Silicon Slice Store by 9:09
Slice Diffusion by 9:27
Fuming Cupboard by 9:58
Clean Room by 10:07
Silicon Etching Plant by 10:22
Canteen by 10:40
Photocopier by 11:12
Boardroom by 11:25
Slice Surface Abrasion by 11:56
Laser Slice Sparation by 12:15
Bay 7 by 12:34
Micro Chip Mounting by 12:59
Tea Machine by 13:02
Power Generator by 13:18
Electro Plating Bath by 14:00
Quality Assurance Dept by 14:25
Abrasion Dust Extract by 14:38
Matthew's Lair by 14:58
We Call Him Sir by 15:50
The Wage Department by 16:07

After completing the Wage Department then you must go to the picket line, up to
the Union flag and down again to the Picket line (in the middle). From here you
can now go left into a new room called OK! WHERE DO I GET MY REWARD. Go into
this room and walk left through the exit room to complete the game. To plan out
your routes to and from room use the map published in CRASH.

NOTES
There was also a 128K version.