Crystal.bas ------- A text plaform game v0.3

-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 =)

-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

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, to get the crystal. At the 4th level of each act, 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. These are the tiles present:

==Often seen
*3 background tiles
*3 foreground blocks
*water
*ladder
*portal
*crystal
*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)

==Not often seen (appearing only a few times in the game so far)
*Crystal Imp (The white upside-down question mark. The BOSS for act 1. It sprews Idiots and Birds from its body)
*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.)

==Not seen at all
*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)
*4 other bosses I did not activate yet

-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 (not activated yet. There are only 2 monsters that will do that)

-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)

-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 up. 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)

-Who made this?

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

