Legend/MicroProse TIMEQUEST Game Manual What Is a LEGEND Adventure Game? In a Legend adventure game, you become the main character in an evolving story that takes place in a world populated with interesting people. places, and things. You see this world through your main character's eyes, and you play the game by directing his actions. Like a book or a movie, the story unfolds as you travel from location to location, encountering situations which require action on your part. You can think of each of these situations as a puzzle. The key to solving these puzzles will often be creative thinking and clever use of objects you have picked up in your travels. You will get points as you solve puzzles, and your score will help you monitor your progress. Throughout the game the richly textured graphics, prose, sound effects and music will draw you into a spellbinding adventure that could only be brought to you by the master storytellers of Legend. Legend Entertainment Company 14200 Park Meadow Drive Chantilly, Virginia 22021 703-222-8500 CompuServe E-Mail 76226,2356 Prodigy ID: MXRV51A 24-Hour Hint Line: 1-900-PRO-KLUE (1-900-776-5583) $.75 For the first minute, $.50 for each minute thereafter Hint books are available - call 1-800-658-8891 to order ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction to TIMEQUEST The Temporal Corps was established in the early part of the 21st century to control the technology and science of temporal displacement, or time travel. Time machines (called interkrons) are used by Temporal Corps officers to travel into the future and learn of potential wars, disasters, and social upheavals so that conditions in the present can be changed before those events come to pass. There is a strict prohibition against travel into the past, however, because of its potentially disastrous effects on the timestream and the catastrophic consequences for current civilization. Zeke S. Vettenmyer, a Lieutenant in the Temporal Corps, has turned his back on the Time Travel Code. Vettenmyer has stolen an interkron, traveled back into the past, and subtly altered historical situations so that the outcomes of these events will be changed. The world as we know it will be destroyed as the effects of these changes ripple forward towards the present and cause massive disruptions in the timestream. Vettenmyer remains in the past, but he sent his empty interkron back to Temporal Corps headquarters as a bitter challenge to anyone bold enough to try and stop his plan. You are a private in the Temporal Corps. You have been selected to travel into the past and untangle Vettenmyer's twisted plot. You must pursue Vettenmyer across 3,000 years of history, going to the times and places that he has visited and reversing the changes that he has made which are currently threatening the future that defines your very existence. Inside your package you should find a disk pack made up of ten 5.25" disks or five 3.5" disks, this manual, a set of Mission Briefing Papers, an Interkron Troubleshooting Guide, and a warranty card (which you should send to THG as soon as possible). The Mission Briefing Papers contain specific information about your mission and details about those historical events that Vettenmyer has altered. If you fail in your mission, Vettenmyer will succeed in destroying the modern world in the most devastating and complete way possible by ensuring that it never even exists! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quick Start: Installation If you are new to DOS and game playing on the PC, then skip this page (and the next one) and move to the section entitled Installation and Start-up. If you are an experienced gamer using a hard disk, and if you are wise in the ways of DOS, hard disks, and music cards, then these "Quick Start" sections will get you up and running in no time. To install the game on your hard drive, do the following: 1 . Make backup copies of the disks. 2. Make sure you have at least 4,700,000 bytes of free space on your hard drive. 3. Insert Disk #1 from your TIMEQUEST package in Drive A and type A: to set the default drive. Then type INSTALL to start the installation program and follow the directions on the screen. 4. If you have a mouse, be sure you have loaded the mouse driver. 5. Start the game by typing TQ. The game will automatically detect what kind of graphics card you have (CGA, EGA, VGA, etc.) and it will default to the highest standard that it finds. If you have a Roland MT-32 (or compatible) sound module with an MPU-401 compatible MIDI interface, start the game with the command TQ NIT32. If you have an AdLib Music Synthesizer Card or Sound Blaster, the game will automatically detect its presence and will default to it upon start-up. To hear digitized sound effects through your AdLib or Sound Blaster, type TQ ADLIB or TQ BLASTER. If the above makes no sense to you, or if it doesn't work, or if you do not have a hard drive, or if you just like to read manuals, then please see the Installation and Start-up section starting on Page 8 for detailed installation and start-up instructions. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quick Start: Playing The Game Like other Legend adventure game products, TIMEQUEST is easy to play without ever touching the keyboard. Using the mouse you can: 1. Move from place to place by clicking on the compass rose. 2. Single-click on objects in a picture to look at them. 3. Double-click on objects in a picture to take them, open or close them, greet them, etc. 4. Select a verb from the verb menu and then click on an object in a picture to apply that verb to that object. 5. Build complex commands quickly from the verb, object, and preposition menus. (Single-click selects the word, double-click- finishes the command.) 6. Avoid pesky typing and parser errors. If you don't have a mouse, you can simulate one by pressing . This puts a mouse cursor on the screen which you can move around using the arrow keys. "Click" by pressing and "double-click" by pressing . Again, if you don't have a mouse, there is yet another fast way to build commands by selecting verbs, objects, and prepositions from the menus. Press again to begin using this feature. Then use the arrow keys to move the highlight bar back and forth between the menus, press the space bar to select a word, and press to execute your command. And of course you can still enter commands the old-fashioned way - by typing them. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Installation and Start-up INSTALLATION OPTIONS TIMEQUEST may be installed directly to your hard disk or to a set of floppy disks. The game can be run from floppy disks only if you have two floppy disk drives capable of storing at least 720K bytes each. Any combination of 3.5" or 5.25" disk drives will work as long as they can hold at least 720K bytes each. HARD DISK INSTALLATION In order to install TIMEQUEST onto your hard disk you will need approximately 4,700,000 bytes of free space. The game must be installed using the following procedures in order for you to properly hear all of the sound effects when you play the game. To proceed with the installation: 1 . Put Disk #1 from your TIMEQUEST package in a floppy drive. 2. Type the letter of the floppy drive followed by a colon and press . For instance, if you put Disk #1 in Drive A, you would type A: 3. Determine which hard disk you want to install TIMEQUEST onto and type INSTALL : where is the letter of the target disk. For instance, to install the game onto Drive D, you would type INSTALL D: 4. Follow the instructions presented by the installation program. When installation is complete you may start the game using the instructions presented in the Hard Disk Start-up section that follows. HARD DISK START-UP To start an installed copy of TIMEQUEST from a hard disk, follow the instructions in the Hard Disk Installation section above and then: 1. Change to the directory in which the game was installed (The default directory that the installation program puts TIMEQUEST in is \TQ). For example, if you installed TIMEQUEST in D:\GAMES\TIME, you would type: D: followed by CD\GAMES\TIME . 2. Start the game by typing TQ . For additional information concerning configuration options and defaults, refer to the Configuration and Music and Sound sections. FLOPPY DISK INSTALLATION We strongly recommend that you install TIMEQUEST on a hard disk if you have one. Doing so will significantly reduce the time it takes to load each picture and will allow you to hear the game's RealSound (TM) music and sound effects. You also won't wear out your arm and patience) swapping diskettes while playing the game. If you do have a hard disk and want to follow this recommendation, please refer to the Hard Disk Installation section above. TIMEQUEST may be installed onto a set of floppy disks only if you have two floppy disk drives and both of them can store at least 720K of data (this includes 720K, 1.2M, and 1.44M disk drives). TIMEQUEST cannot be run from the distribution diskettes. To proceed with installation of TIMEQUEST to floppy diskettes, you must: 1 . Prepare twelve (12) blank formatted 720K or 1.2M floppy diskettes. Label three of the diskettes Program Disk 1 thru 3. Label the remaining diskettes Picture/Music Disk 1 thru 9. 2. Put Disk #1 from your TIMEQUEST package in a floppy drive. 3. Type the letter of the floppy drive you put Disk #1 in followed by a colon and type . For instance, if you put Disk #1 in Drive A, you would type A: 4. Determine the source and target drive letters. The disk drive you put Disk #1 in is the source drive. The target drive is another floppy drive for which prepared 12 blank diskettes in Step 1. 5. Type FLOPPY : : where and are the drive letters you determined in Step 4. For example, if you put Disk #1 in Drive A, you would type FLOPPY A: B: and the game will be installed to blank floppy diskettes in Drive B. 6. Follow the instructions presented by the installation program. 7. When you run TIMEQUEST from floppies, you are going to put the Picture/Music disks you just created in the disk drive used when creating them. The data on the Program Disks needs to be copied to the disk format of the other disk drive you're going to use. if you have two 720K or 1.2M disk drives, the disks created in Step 6 are already usable and you can skip. this step. Consult documentation for the MS-DOS COPY command if you need information about copying files between floppies and copy each of Program Disks 1-3 to corresponding Program Disks in the other drive's format. For example, if you installed the distribution diskettes to 720K diskettes in Drive B (Step 6) and you have a 1.2M 5.25" Drive A. you would format three (3) 1.2M floppy disks and copy the contents of each of the 720K Program Disks to the 1.2M Program Disks using the DOS command: COPY B:*.* A: You may start the game using the instructions presented in the Floppy Disk Start-up section below. FLOPPY DISK START-UP To start the game from the floppy diskettes you created in the Floppy Disk Installation section above: 1. Put Program Disk 1 in one floppy drive. 2. Put Picture/Music Disk 9 in the other floppy drive. 3 Change the DOS default to the program disk drive where you have inserted Program Disk 1. For example, if you have Program Disk 1 in Drive A on your computer, you would type A: 4. Start the game by typing TQ and then following instructions as they appear. During play, the game will periodically prompt you to change diskettes. All Program Disks should be inserted in the disk drive you put Program Disk 1. All Picture/Music disks should be inserted in the disk drive you put Picture/Music Disk 9. For additional information concerning configuration options and defaults, refer to the Configuration and Music and Sound sections. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Configuration CONFIGURATION DEFAULTS TIMEQUEST will automatically detect the type of graphics adapter you have and will default to the highest standard that it finds. If you have a mouse, the game expects you to be using a Microsoft compatible mouse driver. If your mouse is behaving strangely or wreaking havoc with the graphics in the game. it is probably not Microsoft mouse compatible. Try quitting the game and starting again by typing TQ XMOUSE. If you have an AdLib Music Synthesizer Card or a Sound Blaster, the game will automatically detect its presence and will default to playing music through it. If you have a Roland MT-32 (or compatible) sound module, start the game by typing TQ MT32. For more options regarding MIDI sound modules, consult the Configuration Options section below. If you are playing TIMEQUEST from a hard disk, the game will play sound effects through the speaker in your computer using RealSound. If you wish to hear the RealSound sound effects through your AdLib board or Sound Blaster (which makes the sound effects sound considerably better), you need to tell the game which sound board you have by typing TQ ADLIB or TQ BLASTER at the MS-DOS prompt. If you are playing from floppy disks, you will not hear any sound effects. If you have an AdLib card and a Roland sound module, you must start the game by typing TQ MT32 to override the AdLib music default. If you have a monochrome VGA monitor, you may considerably improve the quality of graphics displayed in the game by starting the game by typing TQ MONO. CONFIGURATION OPTIONS As described above, TIMEQUEST defaults to high resolution EGA 16-color graphics with AdLib music and RealSound sound effects played through the PC speaker. If you wish to override any of these defaults, you may type one or more of the following options, separated by spaces, after typing TQ on the MS-DOS command line: CGA Forces the game into black and white CGA graphics on computers with an EGA or VGA graphics adapter. MONO May improve graphics on computers with VGA adapters and monochrome monitors. XMOUSE Overrides the default Microsoft mouse driver. ADLIB Causes RealSound sound effects to be played through an AdLib Music Synthesizer Card, if present. BLASTER Causes RealSound sound effects to be played through a Sound Blaster card, if present. You may set the IRQ number and I/O address for your Sound Blaster card by typing: TQ BLASTER . MT32 Causes music to be played on a Roland MT-32 (or compatible) sound module, if present. You may set the IRQ number and I/O address for your MIDI sound module by typing: TQ MT32 . NOCYCLE Disables color cycling animation for computers with EGA and VGA adapters and color monitors. REAL Disables AdLib, Sound Blaster, and Roland music and plays RealSound only. NOREAL Disables RealSound sound effects and music. So, for example, if you have an EGA adapter, a Sound Blaster on IRQ 7, and you want to see CGA pictures and play RealSound sound effects through your sound card, you would type TQ CGA BLASTER 7 at the MS-DOS system prompt. Refer to the next section, Music and Sound, for more information on music card and sound module configuration. Music And Sound TIMEQUEST supports the following music card sound effect technologies: RealSound (TM) AdLib Music Synthesizer Card Creative Labs' Sound Blaster Roland MT-32 and compatible MIDI sound modules including Roland's MT-100, CM-32L, and LAPC-1 The game defaults to playing music through an AdLib card, if present, and sound effects through the PC speaker using RealSound. These defaults may be overridden using the options described in the Configuration section. If you have an AdLib card or Sound Blaster, you DO NOT need to run SOUND.COM or SB-SOUND.COM (a requirement of previous Legend games). The game will automatically detect the presence of an AdLib or Sound Blaster card and will default to it on start-up. If you have a Roland MT-32 or compatible sound module, start the game with the command TQ l\lT32. RealSound sound effects will be played through the PC's internal speaker if you are playing off an installed copy of the game on a hard disk. See the Hard Disk lnstallation section for instructions for proper installation of the game to a hard disk. RealSound (TM) RealSound is used throughout the game to play sound effects on the PC's internal speaker. No additional hardware or software is required for you to hear Real,Sound effects in TIMEQUEST. If you do not have an AdLib card, Sound Blaster, or MIDI sound module, you will hear the RealSound title track and sound effects on your PC speaker. RealSound will be enabled only if you are running from a hard disk. RealSound is a Patent Pending technological breakthrough that works with any IBM compatible computer with a built-in speaker. If your machine beeps when you turn it on, then it is compatible with RealSound. Rolland MT-32, MT-100, CM-32L, and LAPC-1 Owners To use your MIDI sound module, make sure your equipment is configured as shown in the MIDI wiring diagram on the next page. If you have problems, check that the following steps have been taken in configuring your equipment: Note: LAPC-1 owners may ignore items 1, 2, and 3. 1. A PC to MIDI Interface card is installed in your PC. 2. The PC to MIDI Interface card is connected to an MPU-401 or compatible MIDI Interface or MIDI Processing Unit. 3. A MIDI cable is connected from a MIDI OUT connector on the MIDI Interface to the MIDI IN connector on your sound module. 4. The audio output jacks on your sound module are connected to the audio input jacks on your amplifier or stereo, 5. One or two speakers are attached to the speaker connectors on your amplifier or stereo. WARNING do not attempt to use this software with any other attached MIDI devices. This software transmits System Exclusive MIDI data. which May destroy system and patch data on MIDI synthesizers not supported by this product. ###### SPEAKERS---->### IBM PC \ #@# ###### ### ###.......... ...======== #@# : : PC MIDI ###............. : : INTERFACE : : : CABLE : : : MIDI CABLE AUDIO CABLES : : :.........######....../......######......./........######..: : ###### ######................######....: MPU-401 ROLAND SOUND AMPLIFIER (OR COMPATIBLE) MODULE OR STEREO MIDI Wiring Diagram for Roland NIT-32, MT-100, and CM-32L ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are having trouble getting your Roland sound module to operate, the difficulty can probably be traced to one of two sources: The first is that you may have two cards in your computer that are set to the same IRQ. If this is the case, you can change the IRQ value for one of the cards by using the card's jumpers or switches (although some cards do not allow this). The second possibility is that your MIDI interlace may be set to an IRO other than the default value of 2 and/or an 1/0 address other than 330. In this case, you must specify the appropriate IRO value and/or 1/0 address in the command line when you start the game. For example, to use a MIDI interface card set to operate on IRQ 5 and 1/0 address 300, you should start the game by typing: TQ MT32 5 300. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction to the Game Interface To install and start up the game, see the Installation and Start-up section. When the game begins, you will see the title screen, followed by the credits and some introductory text. If you wish to skip to the beginning of the story, you can hit any key during this sequence to abort it. The game will then ask you if you wish to restore to a previously saved position. After this sequence, the main interlace screen will appear: ...................................................................... : : : : : COMPASS : COMMAND : GRAPHICS WINDOW : : ROSE : BUTTONS : :...........:...................: : : #: #: : : #: #:....................................: :VERB OR #: OBJECT #: STATUS LINE : :PROPOSITION: MENU #:....................................: :MENU #: #: : : #: #: STORY WINDOW : : #: #: : : #: #: :...........:...................:....................................: GRAPHICS WINDOW This window can contain: A picture of your location A map of the surrounding area Your inventory (what you are wearing and carrying) Your status (score, number of turns taken, etc.) A verbal description of your surroundings COMMAND BUTTONS Many of these buttons have function key equivalents. See the information on function keys for more details. HELP Displays a help screen HALF Removes the menus and makes more room for text ERASE Removes the last word from the command line DO Executes the command on the command line PICT Displays a picture in the graphics window MAP Displays a map in the graphics window INV Displays your inventory in the graphics window LOOK Puts a verbal description of your surroundings in the graphics window COMPASS ROSE AND DIRECTIONAL BUTTONS If you have a mouse, you can move around by clicking on the various points of the compass rose and the IN, OUT, UP, and DOWN buttons. Legitimate exits from your current location are always highlighted. VERB MENU The verb menu contains every verb you need to play the game. There are other verbs you can use, but you will have to type them in. The most commonly used verbs are grouped at the top of the list. The rest of them are in alphabetical order. PREPOSITION MENU After you select a verb, the verb menu is replaced with a preposition menu. The amazing thing is that the game will display only those prepositions that you can use with the verb you have selected. Voila! No more pesky parser errors. OBJECT MENU This menu contains all the things that you see from your current location. If you want to refer to other objects in the game, you must type them in. HIGHLIGHT BAR This is a highlighted bar you can move around to select the next word you want to place on the command line. ELEVATOR BOXES Clicking on these boxes and dragging them down is a last way to navigate through the menus. Watch the index letter at the bottom of the column as you drag the box - when the first letter of the word you are looking for is displayed, release the mouse button and the highlight bar will jump to the first word in the list that starts with that letter. Clicking in the column above or below the box will cause rapid movement up or down the menu. Clicking on the arrows at the top or bottom of the column will move the highlight bar up or down one entry in the menu. (Note: Elevator boxes are only displayed when there are more menu entries than there is room to display at once.) STORY WINDOW This is the window where all that wonderful prose we've been telling you about appears. If the window fills with words and you see 'MORE' at the bottom, press any key or click the mouse button and the rest of the message will appear. If you would like to expand the size of the window and you don't mind sacrificing the menus, press for a half-screen or for a full screen of text. If you would like to see the text displayed before the picture is updated, then type the command TEXTFIRST. To switch back to the default of pictures first, type PICFIRST. COMMAND LINE All your commands will appear on this line, whether you enter them by typing, selecting from the menu, or clicking on the compass rose or graphics window. STATUS LINE This line lists your location and the local time of day. Playing The Game With A Mouse if you have a mouse, playing this game is simplicity itself. Merely by pointing and clicking you can do all of the following: Move around from place to place by single-clicking on the compass rose or the directional buttons next to it. Legitimate exits from your current location are always highlighted. Double-Clicking on an exit that is pictured in the graphics window will move you through that exit. If you are playing with the map in the graphics window, you can also move to adjacent rooms by double-clicking on them. Examine objects by single-clicking on them in the graphics window. Take objects by double-clicking on them in the graphics window. Open/close doors and windows by double-clicking on them in the graphics window. Greet characters you meet in the game by double-clicking on them in the graphics window. Customize the interface by clicking on the command buttons. BUILDING COMMANDS In addition to the above, you can use the mouse to build commands. A single- click on a word in the verb menu will place that word on the command line. The verb menu will then be replaced by a preposition menu that lists the prepositions you may legitimately use with the verb you have just selected. At this point you can select one of those prepositions, or select a word from the object menu, or execute your command by clicking on the DO button. Naturally, we've built in some short-cuts. For example, if you know prior to clicking on a word that it will be the last word in your command, you can double-click on it and your command will be executed. Or, if you've already clicked on the last word in your command and you don't want to move the mouse up to the DO button, just double-click on the last word and the command will be executed. Another short-cut is to select a verb from the menu and then single-click on an object in the picture in the graphics window. FINDING WORDS QUICKLY Because the menus sometimes contain many words, we've also included a few short-cut for getting to words that are far down in the menu. You can click in the grey area to the right of each menu to rapidly move up or down in that menu, (If there is no grey area, the entire menu is visible.) Or you can click on the "elevator box" in the column to the right of each menu and drag the box down while keeping the mouse button depressed. As you do so, you will see the index letter at the bottom of the column change, When it gets to the letter that is the first letter of the word you want, release the mouse button, and the highlight bar will jump to the first word that begins with that letter. An even faster method is to hold down the key on the keyboard and then press the first letter of the word you want. The highlight bar will then jump to the first word that begins with that letter. You can also use the and keys on the keyboard to jump to the top or the bottom of the list, or the and keys to move up or down the list quickly. RANDOM NOTES To remove the last word from the command line, click on ERASE. Double-clicking on an object in the graphics window is intended to "do the obvious thing' with that object. For example, climb stairs, eat food, turn off lamp, etc. If you are using the mouse and you want to begin to type, go ahead. However, once you have begun typing on the command line, you cannot go back to using the mouse until that command has been executed or erased. if you select a noun as the first word in your sentence, the game assumes you are trying to speak to that person or thing, and therefore it adds a comma after the word. (For example, SAILOR, GIVE ME THE ROPE.) If your mouse is destroying the picture, then the mouse driver is probably not Microsoft compatible. Try returning to DOS and starting the game by typing TQ XMOUSE. Playing Without A Mouse EMULATING THE MOUSE If you don't have a mouse, there are still quick and easy ways to build commands from the menus without typing. To do this, first you need to press the key. When you do so, a mouse cursor will appear on your screen. You can move this cursor around by using the arrow keys on your keyboard. Then you can "click" by hitting , and "double-click' by hitting . This will let you do all the things mentioned in the previous section, playing the Game With a Mouse. USING THE MENUS If you don't want to use the method outlined above, pressing the key again will give you yet another alternative. This system puts a highlight bar over the first word in the verbs menu. You can move this bar back and forth between menus (and up and down within them) by using the arrow keys on your keyboard. Once you have highlighted the word you wish to select, hitting the space bar will place that word on the command line. After you have finished building your command, hitting will execute it. TYPING If you like to type, go ahead. No matter what method you have been using to place words on the command line, you can always begin to type. The cursor will magically appear on the command line, as it did in days of old when adventure games were young. If you definitely don't want to use the menus, press and they will go away, creating more room for text. If you really want to return to the golden years of adventuring, press for the all-text look. FUNCTION KEYS You can use function keys to customize the interface as follows: Displays the help screen Returns the menus to the screen if they are not there Removes the menus and creates more room for text Puts you into full-screen text mode Displays the picture in the graphics window Displays the map in the graphics window Puts your inventory in the graphics window Puts a verbal description of your surroundings in the graphics window Displays your status in the graphics window Repeats the last input on the command line Many of these function keys have command button equivalents. See the information on command buttons for more details. Save, Restore, and Quit Once you have begun the game, you can use the SAVE command whenever you want to capture and store everything you have done so far. SAVE allows you to define a point you can return to if you are 'killed" or if you just want to turn off the machine for awhile. When you type SAVE (or when you select it from the verb menu), you will be asked to name the SAVE file. Choose a name that will remind you of where you are, like Inside lnterkron or Solved Fire Lance Puzzle. The description of the saved game can have up to 33 characters in it. In the course of playing this game, you may create up to 128 simultaneous SAVE files. You can delete SAVE files by pressing when the highlight bar is over the description of the saved game. If you pick the name of an already-existing file when you SAVE, the original file will be erased and the new file of that name will take its place. You can edit an existing description by moving the highlight bar to the appropriate line and pressing the space bar or single-clicking on the description if you have a mouse, or a double-click will SAVE your current game with the new description over the previous SAVE file. When you are ready to return to a place you have saved, type RESTORE (or select it from the verb menu). As a reminder, a list of your previous SAVE files will appear in the RESTORE window, When the game asks you for a SAVE file description, move the highlight bar to the description you want and press or type in the description. If you type in the beginning of a valid description and hit , the game will automatically match it and fill in the rest of the characters. Once you have entered a valid description, you will be returned to the spot you left as if you had never been away. You will have the same score, inventory, status, etc. that you had when you left. If you want to stop playing, use the QUIT command, However, if you quit without making a SAVE file, you'll have to start from the beginning of the game the next time you play. Talking To The Game You "talk" to TIMEQUEST by telling the game what you want the main character in the game to do at each turn. You do this by typing your input on the keyboard, or by clicking the mouse on the menus, the compass rose, or the pictures [See Introduction to the Game Interface and Playing the Game With a Mouse.] Your simplest inputs will be directions -- moving around from place to place: >NORTH >DOWN >SW Equally simple are inputs which are just verbs: >JUMP >SCREAM Let's get a bit more complicated, and add some nouns (or, if you combine them with adjectives, noun-phrases). >TAKE THE COIN >READ BOOK >EAT THE JUICY POMEGRANATE >SLICE THE HOT RED PEPPER >KISS THE TALL BLOND WAITRESS (Note that you can use articles like 'the' or "a" if you wish; most people just omit them to save time.) Shall we add a dash of prepositions? >TURN AROUND >SIT DOWN >LOOK OUT WINDOW >HIDE BEHIND BROWN CURTAIN Take a deep breath. So far, the noun-phrases we've looked at have all been the direct object of the sentence. Now we're going to throw in a second noun-phrase, the indirect object! >GIVE APPLE TO BOY >TAKE SCROLL FROM OLD WOMAN >BUY VASE FROM STREET VENDOR Sorry, it's time to introduce some mind-bogglingly complicated concepts. You can include several inputs after a single prompt, as long as you separate them by a period or by the word "then": >GET IN BOAT THEN START ENGINE >LOOK THROUGH KEYHOLE. SLIDE NOTE UNDERDOOR. You can also use pronouns: >TAKE TOASTER OVEN. TURN IT ON. PUT PIZZA IN IT >TAKE HAT FROM JOAN OF ARC. PUT IT ON HER. You can use multiple objects with certain verbs (like TAKE and DROP) as long as you separate the noun-phrases with a comma or the word 'and.' You can even use the amazingly useful word "all": >TAKE CLOAK AND VEST >DROP CLOAK, VEST, GOWN >TAKE ALL >GIVE ALL THE VEILS TO PERSIAN MERCHANT It pays to talk to the characters that you run across in TIMEQUEST. If you want information about something or someone, then you should ask! >GENERAL RAMSEY, TELL ME ABOUT THE INTERKRON >ASK RAMSEY ABOUT INTERKRON >ASK SOLDIER ABOUT MONTGOMERY >SOLDIER, WHERE IS MONTGOMERY? or if you would like ask a character to do something for you: >DRAKE, GIVE ME THE COAT >TELL DRAKE TO GIVE ME THE COAT >ASK DRAKE TO GIVE ME THE COAT >ASK DRAKE FOR COAT Navigating Through Time The interkron you will be using in the game is the same machine that Lieutenant Vettenmyer stole from Temporal Corps Headquarters. After he sent it back, the Corps technicians reprogrammed it to limit your travel to the same places Veftenmyer went. Because there are six places and nine years that Vettenmyer visited, there should be 54 potential 'timeplaces' you can explore. However, the technicians discovered 5 timeplaces on the grid that Vettenmyer missed, so you will never be able to get to Cairo or Baghdad in 1940; or Mexico in 1588, 1798, or 1940. There are three ways to make the interkron work. 1 .When you enter the interkron, a world map will be displayed in the picture/map window. If you have a mouse, click on the city you want to go to, then click on the 'thermometer' to select a year, then click on the GO button. 2. To use the map from the keyboard, use the arrow keys to highlight a place and the plus and minus keys to highlight a year. Then press . 3. Type, TIMESET (or TS) followed by the name of a place and a year. For example: TIMESET ROME 44 or TS MEXICO 1519. Helpful Hints TIMEQUEST is a large game that can be a little overwhelming at first. We recommend that you start in Rome in 44 BC, and then make sure you explore each of the 49 possible timeplaces. While some puzzles are self-contained and can be solved no matter where else in the game you've been, others should only be tackled after you've collected the proper equipment from other era. Our testers have found it invaluable to make a grid on a sheet of paper with the 6 places you can go across the top and the 9 possible years down the side. In each of the boxes, make notes about the events, objects, and characters of interest you find in each timeplace. Remember to read the Mission Briefing Papers. All the major puzzles are based on actual historical events, and the briefing papers contain everything you need to know about these events to solve the puzzles. You will find it a big help to talk to the characters in the game. The most effective way to do this is to ASK CHARACTER ABOUT THING. To make this even easier, we've built ask-about menus that list all the items that each character knows about. To use these menus, click on the ASK verb, then select the character from the object menu, and finally select the preposition ABOUT. A menu of topics that you can ask the character about will be displayed in the column usually reserved for the object menu. In addition, don't forget the 10 basic rules of adventure gaming: 1. Take everything that isn't nailed down. 2. Examine everything that you come across. 3. Save early, save often. 4. Draw a map. 5. Read all the documentation, especially the briefing papers and the sample transcript. 6. Read all the text in the game carefully. 7. Try weird stuff. B. Play with a friend for a different perspective. 9. If you are stuck on a puzzle, go to another part of the game, or leave the game for awhile and come back with a fresh mind. 10.Talk with other gamers. Many computer magazines and bulletin boards will run tips and hints for TIMEQUEST If all else fails, you can call our automated 24-hour hint line at 1-900-PRO- KLUE, or call our customer support line (1-800-658-8891) to order the official TIMEQUEST hint book. Game Commands And Their Abbreviations Many of the game commands below have function key or command button equivalents. These are listed in parentheses after the description of the command. In addition, many game commands have single key equivalents. AGAIN (G) Repeats your last input. CREDITS Displays a list of everyone who worked on TIMEQUEST and what they did. FULL MODE Removes the menus, compass rose, and graphics window, leaving you with a full screen of text. HALF MODE Removes the menus, but still displays the compass rose and the graphics window. ( key) (HALF button) HINT Will print a message telling you that hints aren't available in the game. The message will go on to recommend that you call an on-line service such as GEnie, CompuServe, PRODIGY, or PC-Link and ask their gamers for hints. Or, it will tell you, you could simply dial our 24-hour hint line, which is 1-900-PRO-KLUE (1-900-776-5583), but which will cost you $.75 for the first minute, and $.50 for each subsequent minute. INVENTORY (I) Tells you what your character is carrying. LOOK (L) Will give you a full description of your current location. This is always a good thing to try if you don't know what else to do. LOOK MODE Displays a verbal description of your surroundings in the graphics window. ( key) (LOOK button) MAP MODE Displays the map in-the graphics window. ( key) (MAP button) MENU MOD Restores the menus to the screen if you have removed them previously. ( key) (MENU button) MUSIC OFF Turns off the music (To turn off the sound effects, however, use SOUND OFF.) MUSIC ON Turns the music on. NOTIFY Normally, the game will tell you when your score changes. If you don't want to be bothered, NOTIFY will turn off this feature. And, if you change your mind, NOTIFY will turn it back on! OOPS (O) if you mistype a word, use OOPS instead of retyping the entire input. For example, you type >TAKE BRIEFING PAPERS, and the game responds, "I don't know the word 'PAPERS"' You would simply type OOPS PAPERS. Naturally, you menu users will never need to use OOPS. PICFIRST Displays room pictures before room descriptions. PICTURE MODE Restores the picture to the graphics window. ( key) (PICT button) QUIT (Q) Tells the game "Hey, I'm outta here!" You might want to SAVE first. RESTART Starts the game over. Again, you might want to SAVE first. RESTORE Brings you back to any point in the game where you've previously saved. SAVE Creates a file which the RESTORE command can use to return you to this point in the story. You should SAVE now and then, and especially before trying dangerous things like >ATTACK KNIGHT WITH BARE HANDS. SCRIPT Sends all the text output of the game into the specified file, which you can then read, print, edit, delete, etc. SOUND OFF Turns off the sound effects. (To turn off the music, however, type MUSIC OFF.) SOUND ON Turns the sound effects back on. STATUS Gives you a brief report of your score and the number of turns you've taken. STATUS MODE Displays your status in the graphics window. ( key) TERSE Tells the game to give you the normal level of descriptiveness, in which you see a full description of a place only the first time you go there. On subsequent visits to the location, you won't get a description, although you can always get one by saying >LOOK (or by playing with the graphics screen in "LOCK" mode). (See also VERBOSE). TEXTFIRST Displays room descriptions before room pictures. TIMESET (TS) Use this command to operate the interkron. When you are inside the interkron (and you see the world map in the graphics window), enter TIMESET followed by the name of a place and a year (e.g., >TIMESET PEKING 1940) and the interkron will attempt to travel to that time and place. UNDO Probably the single most useful thing ever conceived in all of recorded human history. UNDO simply takes you back one turn, undoing the effects of your last move. UNSCRIPT Stops sending the text output to a file. VERBOSE Puts you in the level of maximum location descriptions; you'll get a full description of your location every single time you enter it. (See also TERSE). VERSION Gives you the release number of your copy of TIMEQUEST, as well as some legal stuff. VOLUME If you have a sound card or sound module, the VOLUME command, followed by a number from 1 -1 0, allows you to control the volume of the game's music. This command has no effect on the volume level of the RealSound sound effects. WAIT (Z) Your character will just stand around while time passes in the story. You can also say things like WAIT 45 MINUTES or WAIT 3 HOURS. ABBREVIATIONS A You would think this would be the abbreviation for AGAIN, wouldn't you. Well, you would be wrong. If that were the case, then a simple input like >GIVE A DOG A BONE would turn into the nightmarish GIVE (AGAIN) DOG (AGAIN) BONE. Consequently, we treat 'a' as an article rather than an abbreviation, and shorten AGAIN to "G". D - down O - oops X - examine E - east Q - quit Y - yes G - again S - south Z - wait I - inventory T - time NE - northeast L - look U - up SE - southeast N - north W - west SW - southwest NW - northwest TS - Timeset Sample Transcript The following sample transcript shows a typical interaction with a game like TIMEQUEST. It's not a part of TIMEQUEST; we just made it up for the manual. However, it shows how you "talk" to the game, and it may give you some ideas. >LOOK lnterkron The time machine is a cramped space full of dials and switches. The video screen shows the grid of times and places that you've been authorized to travel to. >TINIESET ATHENS 447 You hear a low humming that slowly crescendos into a full-fledged roar. ..After a few moments you realize you are now in Athens in the year 447 BC. >OUT Shed You emerge from the lnterkron into the dry, sweet air of a stonemason's shed. The only exit is to the west. A fine layer of white dust covers everything in the room, including the chisel you see resting on the workbench. >TAKE CHISEL You take the chisel. >TERSE [Terse descriptions.] >WEST Acropolis You are standing under a clear blue sky on a hilltop overlooking the ancient city of Athens. To the north, workmen are crawling over the half-completed temple of the goddess Athena. From inside you hear someone bellowing, "Where in the name of Zeus is that chisel?" >NORTH Parthenon You pick your way through the massive stone blocks that are scattered around the construction- site and enter the temple. Inside, you see Phidias the sculptor standing in front of an unfinished block of marble. >GIVE CHISEL TO PHIDIAS Phidias takes the chisel and mutters, "Thanks." Then he gives you a closer look and continues, "Say, you've got a pretty good profile - stand still for a moment.' He starts hacking at the marble with the chisel. >LOOK AT STATUE You twist around to see what Phidias is doing. The sculptor shouts, "I can't work if you keep moving around. Stop squirming!" >SIT STILL The artist pounds at the marble for a few more minutes. Then he steps back and says, "Perfect." He calls some workmen over and they hoist the statue up onto the eastern pediment of the temple. >LEAVE TEMPLE Acropolis. >ENTER SHED Shed >IN lnterkron >TS ATHENS 1990 You are now in Athens, in the year 1990 AD. >OUT Shed You step out into a darkened maintenance shed. Two sets of coveralls hang on the wall here. One pair is brown and the other is blue. >OUT Acropolis The afternoon sun is barely struggling through the polluted haze that shrouds the city of Athens and the ruins of the famed Parthenon. The temple is roped off from the public, and there is a fat security guard dozing next to the entrance. An alert watchdog sits by his side. >EXAMINE GUARD The guard is wearing blue coveralls. He is dozing fitfully. >NORTH The dog barks at you. The guard lurches awake and snaps, "We're closed today. They're filming a movie. No one can go inside." >ASK GUARD ABOUT DOG "He's been trained to bark at anyone who isn't on the security staff." The guard pats the dog on the head and settles back into his nap. Moments later you hear him start to snore. >ENTER SHED Shed >WEAR BLUE COVERALLS [Taking the coveralls first] You put on the coveralls. >OUT Acropolis >NORTH The dog growls as you sneak past, but the guard keeps snoring. Parthenon You are standing amidst the ruins of the temple of Athena. Perched on the eastern pediment you see the statue that Phidias carved over 2,000 years earlier. An agitated producer paces back and forth. "Actors!" he cries. "I can't believe that jerk walked out on me. Where am I going to find another Greek god on such short notice?" >PRODUCER, LOOK AT STATUE The producer stops in his tracks and looks first at you, and then at the statue, He whips a contract out of his pocket and says, "Fifty K for signing, plus 3 points off the adjusted gross. Less my expenses, of course. Sign here." >SIGN CONTRACT You sign the contract. The producer pats you on the back and says, "Luv ya, babe. Don't ever change. Well, gotta thing. Gotta go. Ciao." An assistant comes out, puts sun glasses or you, and says, "Congratulations. You're the new star of 'Heracles Takes A Holiday ......