Plan 9 From Outer Space: Complete Game Manual PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE CRISWELL PREDICTS Greetings my friends. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to find the rest of our lives. And remember my friends, future events such as these will affect you in the future. You are interested in the unknow, the mysterious and the unexplainable. That is why you are here. And now for the first time, we are bringing to you the full story of what happened on that fateful day. We are giving you all the evidence based solely on the testimony of the miserable souls who survived this terrifying ordeal. The incidents, the places... my friends, we cannot keep this a secret any longer. Let us punish the guilty, let us reward the innocent. My friends, can your hearts stand the shocking facts about... GRAVE ROBBERS FROM OUTER SPACE?!! A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO THE WORST MOVIE OF ALL TIME Is Plan 9 the worst movie of all time? It's not a tough question to answer. Yes it is. It really is the most flea ridden arnateurish waste of celluloid and sticky back plastic ever to be foisted onto an unsuspecting and undeserving public. Nobody should have to sit through this film without some advance warning of the absolute futility of the whole shambolic rambling mess that it is. If you think that this is overstating the case somewhat, then you obviously haven't sat down and watched the film. But be warned. When you die and go to Heaven, and God is asking you to account for your time, and you say 'Well, I attempted to use my time as profitably as possible', don't be at all surprised when He retorts 'Get real mate, you wasted at least seventy eight minutes watching Plan 9 from Outer Space.' The film's creator was one Edward J. Wood Jr, who had previously directed the likes of 'Glen or Glenda?', also known as 'I changed my Sex' and 'Trans- vestite' in 1953, and 'Jail Bait' in 1954. Plan 9 originally appeared way back in 1959, and was doubtless an attempt to cash in on the popularity of science fiction and all things shiny and saucer shaped in the fifties. It is an unmitigated disaster. The first thing you will notice when watching the film is wood. Wooden sets, wooden gravestones, wooden acting and a wooden script. The emotionless and tired way in which the lines are thrown after each other possibly owes a lot to the profoundly uninspiring and lifeless script, penned by the man himself. Perhaps the two main things which draw people to the film are a macabre fascination with the notion that the film was a genuine attempt to make money, and the fascination with being able to experience over and over one mans profoundly inept attempts to make a half decent movie. Edward Wood called it his little jewel, but it's practically impossible to see why. Plan 9 From Outer Space is a film makers nightmare-crumbling gravestones, night to day to night in the same chase, unbelievable dialogue-the list is endless. But that is enough about the film- you can watch it for yourself. Before you do, however, we will leave the final word to Harry and Michael Medved who have done more than anyone else in bringing Plan 9 from Outer Space to the undeserved attention of the public. It is easy to understand this movie's enduring hold on the imagination of the public; once you have seen Plan 9 you can surely never forget it. Though reviewed by few critics at the time of its release, the film has left an indelible impression on the handful of sci-fi writers and Hollywood historians who have encountered it over the years. "By far one of the worst films ever concocted," observed Vincent Beck in Heroes of the Horrors. "Plan 9 is so very bad that it exerts a strange fascination," reports John Brosnan, author of The Horror People. "It appears to have been made in somebody's garage."'* Enjoy the film. More importantly, enjoy the game. Be careful though-My friend, is your heart ready...? *The Golden Turkey Awards, Harry and Michael Medved LOADING INSTRUCTIONS PC System Requirements 1. An IBM PC, XT, AT, PS/2, or 100% IBM compatible computer. 2. 640k Ram. 3. MSDOS 3.1 or higher 4. A hard drive. You will need around 8 megabytes of disk space free to install the game, although once installed it will take up around 5.5 megabytes of memory. 5. VGA 256k Graphics card. We recommend that you play the game usimg a mouse. If extended memory is available, then Plan 9 will take advantage of it. Installing Plan 9 onto a Hard Disk Insert the Plan 9 Disk One into any drive, and type A:, and then press the Return key. If you wish to install the game from a drive configured as anything other than drive A, of course, you should alter the instructions accordingly- make sure that the drive you have the current disk in is the default drive. Next, type 'install' and press the Retum Key. The game will now Install itself onto the Hard Drive. All further instructions will be presented on the screen. You will need at least eight meg free in order to install plan 9, although once installed, it will only occupy around five and a half meg. Once the game is installed on your hard drive, it is loaded by carrying out the following procedure at the MSDOS prompt: type CD PLAN9 (Enter) type PLAN9 (Enter) Configuring Plan 9 The first time you play Plan 9 you will be presented with a series of questions about the sound capabilities of your PC. This will allow you to configure the game for future use. Once you have done this, you need never configure Plan 9 again. Should you wish to alter the configuration at any future point, instead of typing 'PLAN9' at the MSDOS prompt as indicated above, type 'CONFIG'. You will now be prompted to re configure the game. When you have finished, pressing any key will take you back to the MSDOS prompt. Graphic and Sound Cards Supported Plan 9 supports VGA 256k graphics cards. Plan 9 supports the Adlib, Roland and Soundblaster sound boards. AMIGA Playing from a floppy disk drive 1. Insert your Plan 9 Disk One into the default disk drive. 2. Plug your mouse into port 1. 3. Turn on your computer and monitor, and wait for Workbench to load. 4. Double click on the 'Plan 9' icon. The game will now load automatically. Follow any on-screen prompts for further instructions. Installing Plan 9 onto a Hard Disk 1. Follow steps I to 3 above. When Workbench has loaded, double click on the 'Install to HD' icon. The game will now Install itself onto the Hard Drive. All further instructions will be presented on the screen. When installed, Plan 9 will use around four megabytes of memory on the hard disk. Playing from Hard Disk Once the game is installed on you hard drive, it is played by loading work- bench, and then clicking on the Plan 9 icon. ATARI ST 1. Insert your Plan 9 Disk One Into the default disk drive. 2. Plug your mouse into port 0. 3. Turn on your computer and monitor. The game will now load automatically. Follow the on screen prompts for further instructions. Loading and Saving Games when playing from floppy disk on Amiga and Atari ST If you are playing Plan 9 from floppy disk, you will need a blank disk for saved games. When you attempt to load or save a game you will be presented with a requester asking you to place your save game disk in the default drive. Insert your disk and click on the 'OK' button. If the disk has not previous saved games on i~ you will be asked if you wish to format the disk for saving games. If you do so, then any information on the disk will be lost. Once the disk has been formatted you can save and load games as indicated later in the manual. PLAYING PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE Plan 9 From Outer Space is an interactive adventure game in which six reels of film must be found and retumed to their rightful owner. The game can be played using either Mouse or keyboard. The default option is by the Mouse, but if you wish to use the keyboard, the following keys should be used. Alt K Switches to Keyboard control Alt M Switches to Mouse control Alt S Toggles music on and off ESC Cancel command, or skip Introduction sequence, depending upon where you are in the game. When using the keyboard the direction arrows move the cursor and Left CTRL simulates the left mouse button, whilst the left Shift button simulates the right mouse button. You will begin the game seated in an office with a Movie Producer, who will give you your instructions. The first screen you will encounter looks something like this: 1. This is the window where all the action takes place. It shows you the current location, and whoever is there. Sometimes this screen will animate. You are able to interact with, use, examine and take some items from this screen. If you are in a room with a wardrobe, for example, you might be able to open the wardrobe, take a jacket from it, and use it later in the game. Try to examine everything that it's possible to examine. 2. This is your inventory. When you have more items than there are slots for, two arrows will appear, one above and one below the Inventory. Clicking on these will move up or down the inventory list as appropriate. 3. This is a list of all the actions that you can carry out. Moving the pointer over this list will highlight the actions that you can carry out. These actions can also be carried out from the keyboard if the keyboard action is active, and the correct key to use is given in brackets. The actions available to you are as follows: Command Key Result Hit: (H) Obvious. Give: (G) Used to hand an item to another character. Use: (U) A general term that will, if used with the right object in the right location, allow you to properly carry out an action. For example, if you 'Use Shovel' in a logical location, you would start digging. Take: (T) Used to take an object from a location or from another character. Talk: (K) This one is used to converse with other characters. If you select this option, and then highlight another character, you are presented with a list of things that you can say to him or her. Simply highlight the phrase you wish to communicate, and away you go. Open: (o) Fairly obvious. Used to open drawers, doors, and so on. Push: (p) Again, very straightforward. Use this option to push some thing. Close: (c) Used to close drawers, doors, and so on. Drop: (D) Find yourself hogging too much pointless stuff around? Examine: (x) Used to take a closer look at any object. 4. This area is used to present any descriptions of objects that you examine or use, any supplementary descriptions. Building Up Commands It's very straightforward to carry out your desired actions in Plan 9. Generally, you will begin by clicking on one of the commands available in area 3. Next, you will click on an item either on the main screen, or in your inventory. The result of the actions will then be presented on screen. Occasionally, you must use an object in conjunction with another object. If this is the case, then the word 'with' will be appended, and you must select another item. For example, if you clicked on 'USE' followed by a reel of film, you might get the message 'USE REEL OF FILM WITH', indicating that the reel of film must be used with another item. Moving around Plan 9 When you move the pointer over the main window, occasionally it will change into a large direction signpost. In addition, above the window a message will appear like 'Go to private of fice', or 'Go to corridor'. This is to indicate that if you click at this point, then you will move to another location within the game. This method of building up commands is very straightforward, and you'll soon be whizzing round the Plan 9 world in no time at all. Note: If one of the command words is highlighted, for example if you are examining something, they are disabled, and you will not be able to move to the next location. Loading and Saving Games It's possible to load and save game positions in Plan 9. To save a game press the F1 key. A new screen will appear with eight slots for saving a game. Highlight the slot of your choice with the mouse, and press any mouse key. You will now be prompted to type a name for the file. If you chose a slot that already has a file present, then that file will be deleted when you save the new T one. To load a previously saved game, press the F2 key, which will bring up a list of the previously saved games. Just highlight the saved game you wish to load, press the mouse button, and follow any on-screen prompts. If you are playing a version from hard disk, then the game will be saved to the hard disk. If you are playing a version from floppy disk, then you will be requested to put a 'saved game' disk into a disk drive. That is about all the information you will need to enjoy Plan 9 from Outer Space. So, farewell Earth computer game players. And beware-who knows what Plan Ten will be... Any Problems? If you have problems loading Plan 9, then return it to your retailer, or to Gremlin Graphics at the address on the packaging. If you have any questions relating to the game, then the Gremlin Graphics Helpline is available between the hours of 2.00 and 4.00 U. K. time Monday to Friday, on 0742 753 423. Copyright Notice Copyright 1992 Gremlin Graphics Software Limited. All Rights Reserved. This manual and the information contained on the floppy disks are copyrighted by Gremlin Graphics Limited. The owner of this product is entitled to use the product for his or her own personal use only. No one may transfer, give or sell any part of the manual, or the information on the disk without the prior permission of Gremlin Graphics Software Limited. Any person or persons reproducing any part of the program, in any media, for any reason, shall be guilty of copyright violation, and subject to civil liability and the discretion of the copyright holder. end.