POLAR PIERRE DATABYTE Programming Ron Rosen Computer Graphics Art Huff 1 or 2 Players 100 Action Packed Game Screens Build Your Own Tool Kit Play Our Game...or Create Your Own! Polar Pierre tm 1985 DATAMOST INC. FOR ATARI HOME COMPUTERS 400/800/XL/XE AND COMMODORE 64 Commodore 64 is a TM of Commodore Inc. All rights reserved. Atari is a registered trademark of Atari Inc. POLAR PIERRE GAME INSTRUCTIONS: Polar Pierre is a fast moving, one or two player game that requires a joystick for each player. The object of the game is to lead Polar Pierre (and/or his cousin Jacques) through all the screens. The solutions are not always easy to find, so keep trying! ATARI VERSION 1. Make sure that any cartridges, including BASIC, are removed from the machine. 2. Turn on your disk drive, and wait for the red busy light to go off. 3. Insert the Polar Pierre disk into the drive, label side up. 4. Turn on your Atari computer and wait for Polar Pierre to load. After a few seconds, you should see the title screen. If you want to begin playing Polar Pierre immediately, first select either a 1 or 2 player game at the title screen using the SELECT button. Remove the disk from the drive and reinsert it upside down. Press the START button and you'll be ready to play. If you wish to construct some Polar Pierre screens of your own instead, simply press the OPTION button, then skip to the "Building Your Own Screens" section below for more details. Cassette loading instructions for the Atari Remove all cartridges. Computer should be off. Place tape into the cassette recorder. Press Rewind to make sure tape is completely rewound. Press Play on the recorder. While holding down the Start key, turn the computer on. After a signal (beep), press Return on the computer. The tape will start to turn and load the program. After several minutes the game will run automatically. NOTE: XL/XE owners should hold down both the Start and Option keys while turning on the computer. COMMODORE VERSION 1. Turn on your disk drive, and wait for the red busy light to go off. 2. Turn on your C-64 computer. Insert the Polar Pierre diskette, label side up, type in the following line, and then hit RETURN: LOAD "PP",8,1 You will know that Polar Pierre has been loaded when you see the title screen. The C-64 version of Polar Pierre normally boots up as a one player game. If you wish to play the two player version, hold down the fire button on joystick 2 when you press f7 (see below). Press the f7 button and you'll be ready to play. If you wish to construct some Polar Pierre screens of your own instead simply press the f3 button, then skip to the "Building Your Own Screens" section below for more details. Cassette loading instructions for the Commodore 64 Computer should be off. Place tape into the cassette recorder. Press Rewind to make sure tape is completely rewound. Press play on the recorder. Turn the computer on and hold down the Shift key and press the Run/Stop key. The tape will start to turn and load the program. After a few minutes the game will run automatically. THE OBJECT OF THE GAME Pierre, the figure with the moustache, is controlled by player one and the joystick in port 1. Pierre's cousin, Jacques, the figure with the beard, is controlled by player two and the joystick in port 2. The object of the game is for each player to maneouvre his man through each screen, raising all his flags along the way, and then jump, run, or slide as quickly as he can to the finish. In one player mode, there is no time limit. In two player mode, as soon as one player raises all his flags and makes it to the finish, the game moves to the next screen, and the other player can score no more points for that screen. FEATURES Here is a list of (usually) non-lethal features that you will encounter in Polar Pierre: Flags - Each flag that you raise is worth 100 points. Springboards -Jump onto a springboard to propel yourself up the screen. Lifts - To operate a lift, jump onto it, and keep jumping. The more you Jump, the higher you go. If you get off the lift, it will slowly relower itself. Bridge-builders - Jumping on these will cause a bridge to be pushed out from the section of ground that the player is on. One block will be pushed out for each time the player jumps. One colour sends blocks out to the right, the other to the left. Trees - Besides being beautiful, trees are also useful for breaking a fall. Ice - Walk on the ice and it will melt out right from under your feet. Ski jumps - Slide down these structures and jump across the screen! Just make sure there's something for you to land on or grab onto at the end of your jump. Poles - Like a fireman's pole, you can slide down these without worrying about how far you fall. You can jump towards a pole and your man will automatically grab on and slide down. Chalets - Most screens will have a number of chalets. Quite often, the finish is in a chalet. Catapults - These look like giant hooks sticking out from a barber pole. Cross one of these and it will kick you right up the screen. Trapdoors - Trapdoors are rectangular shapes that lie on the surface, but which are not solid in colour. Jumping on a trapdoor will cause the ground to break out from beneath you. HAZARDS These features will definitely stop you cold in your tracks (or put you on ice): Snowballs - These can come at you horizontally or vertically. Lightening - This may strike down from a cloud at any second. Electro-generators - Some of these require careful timing to make it through, others a well timed jump. Stompers - They'll stomp you without hesitation if you stop under them at the wrong time. < Small pictures of the above Features/Hazards have been snipped > BUILDING YOUR OWN SCREENS Press the OPTION on your Atari (or the f3 key on your C-64) to enter the construction factory. You'll see a panel at the bottom of the screen which contains a group of symbols that are used in the game. You'll also see a small box in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. This is your cursor. Use joystick 1 to move the cursor to the objects at the bottom of the screen. Position the cursor over the object you want to start with, e.g. F1 (for a flag). Press the fire button once to 'grab' the flag and then position the flag anywhere on the playing surface and press the fire button to 'stamp pad' OR press the fire button and move the joystick to 'paint' the flag on the screen. You can continue to paint with this object until you move the cursor back to the bottom panel to grab another object. Once something is on the screen, it can be erased by grabbing a blank from the bottom panel with the cursor and painting over the object to be erased. You may create three different types of screens, each of which makes use of a different set of icons, called game sets 1,2, and 3 (0, 1, and 2 for C-64 users). Move the cursor over the word 'game' then press the joystick button. Note that a different number and a different set of icons appear. There are three sets of icons for you to design with. Once you have chosen a set of icons to use do not switch between sets! You will lose your work. If, for example, you were working on a screen using the icons for game 1, then switched to game 2, you would lose all the work that you put into screen 1. Here is how the icons for game 1 (game 0 for the C-64 version) read, from left to right, with a short description for some of the more enigmatic ones: * Land type 1, 2, and 3 * Flag type 1 and 2 * Lift type 1 and 2 (type 2 is a decoy) * Lift positioners (use these to determine how long the lifts will go) * Tree * Cloud type 1 and 2 * House type 1, 2, and 3 * Bridgebuilder 1 and 2 (right and left) * Springboard * Trapdoor 1, 2 and 3 (only the first actually works. The others are decoys to confuse the player.) * Thin floor 1 and 2 * Colour Block 1,2,3and4(move the cursor over one of these, press the fire button and move the joystick. All portions of the screen drawn in that colour will change along with the colour block. The empty box changes the background colour). * Pierre * Jacques * Finish (there must be at least one, but you can have as many as you want). On other screens, you can determine the function of each icon by using it on a test screen. The vertical snowball shooters are in the icons for game 3 (2 for C-64 users). The commands on the bottom line of the panel are also executed by positioning the cursor over them with the joystick and pressing the fire button once. Test - You should have a "P" icon for Pierre, a "J" icon for Jacques, and at least one flag for each. You should also have something for them to walk on, and a finish. If your screen puts Pierre or Jacques into a situation from which they cannot escape, hit the SELECT key (f5 for C-64 users), and you will be returned to the building screen. Clear - If you are unhappy with the screen as it has turned out, this will wipe your slate clean and let you start over. Disk - There are four options on the disk commands submenu: Load - Loads a previously designed screen for either editing or testing. Save - Save your screens only on a separate, formatted disk. Save the screen in progress by positioning the cursor over the letter "A" and make sure that GAME is set to "0". Save subsequent screens using subsequent letters and numbers. You can save 104 screens on each side of disk. See the Game section below for more details. Edit - Returns you to the building screen. Position the cursor over the "Y" and press the fire button. Game - This option lets you save more than twenty-six screens. The first twenty-six screens could be called screens 0-A through 0-Z, the second twenty-six 1-A through 1-Z, and so on. SEE NOTES ON BACK COVER NOTE: Atari and Commodore cassette owners cannot save or load their own screens. For Commodore cassette owners only. Press the F1 key to exit from the construction kit. Selecting the play on disc Icons will cause the programme to lock up, (this is for disc users only) and it will mean re-loading the cassette. Press F1 key once for one player or twice for the two player version of the game. DATABYTE 15 Wolsey Mews Kentish Town London N.W.5 Telephone: 01-482 1755 < Two screenshots snipped > The frozen arctic nights. The snow flurries and blizzards. Days so bright with the reflection of sun off snow that Pierre and Jacques can barely see. Above all, the obstacles. Hundreds of them, everywhere. Well, they knew the odds. They knew going in what the reward would be for finishing first. GAME ELEMENTS. Ski Jumps, mystery chalets, lifts, Electro-generators, shooting snowballs, springboards, stampers, thunder and lightning. One or two player option. Construction set to design and play your own screens. Polar Pierre is a TM of Datamost Inc. Distributed under agreement with Datamost Inc. (c) 1985, 1986 Datamost Inc. Distribution arranged by International Computer Group. Commodore 64 is a TM of Commodore Inc. For use with the C-64 Home Computer. DATABYTE