Crystal.bas ------- A text plaform game v1.0

-What is it?

This is a platform game with ASCII charecters as display. This doesn't mean that the quality of the game is marginalised; this game still boasts fluid movement, flickerless scrolling, a colourful display, and a suitable level of challenge. What's more, it's in pure QB =). It is completed, with 5 acts or 20 levels, or 46 maps!

-How do I run it?

Simply double click on "crystal.bat" to run the program.

-What are the basic controls?

Left arrow key -> move left
Right arrow key -> move right
Up arrow key -> jump
Down arrow key -> move down (in water or ladders)
z -> Poke your crystal sword left
x -> Poke your crystal sword right
Space bar -> Activate/deactivate dragmode (With dragmode activated, when you hold down on an arrow key, you would only move one step. Very useful at areas which require almost perfect jumps)
Enter -> Pauses the game
M -> Turn on/off the sound

There are more controls you gain whenever you win an act. Refer to "What are power ups" for these advanced controls.

-What is my aim?

Travel upwards until you find the crystal. You may have to travel through a few portals and various obstacles, not to mention clearing some monsters or mazes, to get the crystal. At some levels, you even have to fight a boss to get the crystal

-What are those colourful charecters all around the screen?

Those are the tiles and the monsters. See below for all of them:

==Non-monsters
*3 background tiles (vary between acts)
*3 foreground blocks (ditto)
*water
*ladder
*portal
*crystal

==Normal Monsters
*Spike (the green astricks)
*Idiot (the green smiley face that does not look like your charecter on screen)
*Bird (the green flying thing)
*Bullet Box (the yellow box that shoot bullets)
*Bullets (they damage you when you touch them)
*Patroller (the red smiley face. They walk left, then right, then left...)
*Spy Bird (the red flying thing. They walk left, then right, then left...)
*Gun Idiot (the bluish smiley face that shoots sideways)
*Drop Bird (the bluish flying thing that shoots downwards)
*Float spike (the blue astricks; they move up and down randomly)
*Soldier (the white smilely face that shoots sideways and moves like patrollers)
*Bomber (the white flying thing that shoots down and moves like spy birds)
*Bounce spike (the red astricks; they bounce up and down)
*Horror Knight (the blue Omega sign that tries to follow you on land)
*Horror Flyer (the blue "oo" that flies and follows you)
*Reaper (the RED "+-" sign that damages you when you are near it, and move like patrollers.)
*Fleet Dracon (the white Omega sign that shoots sideways as it follows you on land)
*Winged Dracon (the white "oo" that shoots down as it flies and follows you)
*Avenger (the WHITE "+-" signs that damages you when near, and follows you as it flies. The most dangerous non-boss monster in the game)

==Bosses
*Crystal Imp (The white upside-down question mark. The BOSS for act 1. It sprews Idiots and Birds from its body)
*Ruja (The A with 2 dots above it. The BOSS for act 2. It moves from left to right, or right to left, while dropping bullets below and behind it, and sprews Bounce Spikes, Gun Idiots and Patrollers from its body)
*Crystal Guardian (The "c" with a stroke below. BOSS for act 3. It moves pretty randomly, but it shoots left and right occasionally, and sprews Horror Flyers. When it is damaged, or when you are damamged, it teleports. Very dangerous, especially since you have to fight this boss underwater)
*Projector Dracon Lord (BOSS for act 4 level 1. It moves randomly, and shoots left, right and down. Furthermore, it sprews Winged Dracon and Bullet Boxes. Better duck those bullets!)
*Animator Dracon Lord (BOSS for act 4 level 2. It moves randomly, but teleports when damaged or when you are damaged. It uses its powers to create Float and Bounce Spikes from stars... you'll see what I mean when you see the boss. This is an extremely annoying boss, particularly since you are in a maze when you fight the boss)
*Vengeful Dracon Lord (BOSS for act 4 level 3. It moves left and right, teleporting when he hits a solid surface, and sprews Reapers. Do not get too near it, or it will also damage you)
*Summonor Dracon Lord (BOSS for act 4 level 4. The Dracon Lord boss with the least hp (5), it causes green and blue idiots as well as Horror Knights and Fleet Dracon to rain down continuoisly from the sky. It can also summon bird and spy birds to attack you. Kill it before the minions overwhelm you)

==The Final Boss Fight in Act 5: Dracon-gon the Avenger
The soul of the dragon that has snatched the 20 crystals from Goldform has been risen by the 4 Dracon Lords just before you arrived and killed the Lords one by one. Being an undead Avenger and ex-Dragon, and being a final boss, this fight is split into 4 levels. Dracon-gon has the following abilities:
- Sprews Avenger minions
- Damages when near or touching
- Teleports when damaged
- Cause a massive rain of bullets from the sky when present
- Can cast DRAGON Pysch., which toggles Draglock of player. A short while before he casts the spell, a yellow warning is given. This ability is mainly for annoying purposes. 
- Can cast DRAGON Fire Shield, which surrounds the boss with a 35 by 15 fireshield for an instant. Damages player if he is within the shield during the instant. A red warning is given prior to casting of the spell. This spell will only be cast if you are quite near the boss, and can only be cast in level 2 to 4 of the boss act.
- Can cast DRAGON Spike Prision, which surrounds the player with a small layer of spikes. A green warning is given prior to castig of the spell. This spell will only be cast if you are not very near the boss and can only be cast in level 3 and 4 of the boss act.
- Can cast DRAGON Ice Blast, which is a 7 by 1 projectile from the boss. This projectile passes through alomst everything, even bullets and walls, except one type of wall. A blue warning is given prior to the casting of the spell. This spell will only be cast if you are near the same row of the boss, and can only be cast in level 4 of the boss act
- Can cast DRAGON Ultimate Bolts, which are a series of searing hot lightning bolts emitted from the four cardinal points of the boss. When hit by it, you lose 5 health, regardless of immunity. A white warning is given prior to the casting of the spell.  This spell can only be cast in level 4 of the boss act when the boss has 5 or less hp left)


-How do you lose?

You lose when you lose all 10 hearts that you start with. These are the ways to lose a heart:

*Touching most monsters
*Getting hit by a enemy bullet
*Staying in water for too long
*Being near some monsters (Reapers and Avengers, as well as the final boss of the final game)
Note that you cannot lose any hearts in a short period of time after you are injured, unless:
- you are hit by a Dragon Fire Shield
- you are hit by a Dragon Ice Blast
- you are hit by the Dragon Ultimate Bolts (you lose 5 health this way)
Fortunately for you, these two attacks can only be used by the last boss, Dracon-gon the Avenger

-What's the difference between different difficulty levels?

The monsters get faster. The bullet shooting frequency gets larger. It becomes more difficult to win the game (I can only win Nightmare difficulty if I'm real careful). Also, at Normal and below, Horror Flyers cannot swim in water whereas in Hard and Nightmare, they can.

-How do I save a game?

When you start a new game, you will be requested to choose a save slot to overwrite. So, when you enter a new map or a new level, the program will automatically save your progress.

-How do I load a game?

When you start the program, you will be given the option to load a game. You should know what to do from here.

-What are power ups?

Whenever you win an act (4 levels), you gain 4 crystals. In return, you are imbued with power and you gain special skills known as power ups. The power ups are listed below:
==Gained from winning act 1:
Up arrow key (when already moving up) -> Crystal Jump (move up a few more steps)
==Gained from winning act 2:
<z> or <x> -> Crystal LongSword (sword extents to 5 spaces instead of only 3)
==Gained from winning act 3:
<a> or <s> -> Crystal Bomb (upside-down exclamation mark that falls from one side of yourself, when it collides with hard surface, it explodes 2*5)
==Gained from winning act 4:
Crystal Rejuv (you regain health slowly as time passes if you are injured)
==Gained from winning act 5:
This is a secret that would only be revealed after you win the game =)

-Who made this?

Singsong (Zheng Shaoxuan) from Singapore. Comments are welcome. Please email your comments to singsong@hotmail.com

