Q * BALL Amiga tm Quick Reference Card! WHAT YOU NEED: Amiga Computer Single Disk Drive Color Monitor LOADING THE PROGRAM: 1. Turn on the monitor and your computer. 2. When the Kick Start disk icon appears on the screen, insert a Kick Start Disk (VERSION 1.2) into the disk drive. 3. When the Work Bench disk icon appears on the screen, remove the Kick Start disk and insert the Q * BALL disk into the disk drive. 4. The program will load into your computer's memory and the demo screen will appear. CONTROLLING THE GAME: The game is controlled completely with the keyboard. Use the cursor keys to rotate the cube to change your view of the balls. Use the RETURN key to shoot. You may shoot at any time after positioning the cue ball. You have 60 seconds to take a shot. A shot will be taken automatically when the timer reaches (0). If the timer runs down 3 times, the game will end and you will be returned to the demo screen. THE RULES: The object is to sink the red balls in the (8) corner pockets. Bonus points are awareded for the amount of time left on the timer at the end of each shot. Each time a red ball is pocketed, you must sink the yellow ball for bonus points. The yellow ball will be put back into play each time it is sunk. If there are no red balls left in the game cube, you must sink the yellow to end the game. PLAYING THE GAME: Press the space bar to exit the demo screen. Choose a 1 or 2 player game. In two-player mode, each player has his or her own settings, which are reset at the start of each turn. SHOOTING: To take a shot, use the aiming keys (detailed on the Reference Card portion of this document) to position the "GHOST" cue ball at the projected impact point of your shot. The ghost image will appear at the point at which your shot's projected path intersects with another ball or with the wall of your cube. You can move the ghost image left, right, up, down, towards you, and away from you with the keys. These movements are in relation to your current view of the cube. You can use the rotatoin key to find a view of the cube which helps you line up your shot (like walking around the table in billards). SPIN: Once you shot is lined up, you need to set cue spin. The cross hair indicates where you will strike the cue ball and thus how much "ENGLISH" will be applied to the ball. Note that top and back spin have a much more pronounced effect in three dimensions than is possible in the more mundane, two-dimensional game of pool. DEFINITION OF KEYS: RETURN - Shoot UP-ARROW Flip 900 vertically LEFT-ARROW Rotate Clock RIGHT-ARROW Rotate Counter-Clockwise DOWN-ARROW Flip 900 Vertically Before taking a shot, you have the opportunity to designate 5 settings. These settings will appear in the message bar on the right of the screen as: Position Cue Ball, Aim Cue Ball, Set Cue Spin, Set Power and Set Friction. Use the Enter key to move to the next setting. You may change any or all settings before each shot, or keep the same settings. Use the numeric keypad to: 1. Positon the cue ball (up, down, left, right) 2. Aim the cue ball using the "GHOST" target image (up, down, left right, near, far). 3. Set the cue spin using the crosshairs (up, down, left, right). 4. Select real or planner mode for cue spin. (Real/Planner Key). 5. Set the Power Level (left, right). 6. Set the friction level (left, right). DEFINITION OF NUMERIC KEYPAD: 7/NOTHING 8/UP 9/FAR 4/LEFT 5/REAL 6/RIGHT PLANNER 1/NEAR 2/DOWN 3/NOTHING REAL or PLANNER MODE: Choose between Real and Planner modes. Real is a full three-dimensional mode, while planer takes the shot as if it were being played on a pool table. This has bearing on the effect of your spin setting. In three-dimensional (REAL) mode, top or bottom spin will cause the impacted balls to move up or down in relation to the cue ball. In Planer mode, this doesn't happen. POWER: Set the power with which you will strike the ball. FRICTION: Since there is no gravity to affect the balls' path, the only thing slowing them down is friction with the air around them (and the resultant impacts with other balls). You can control the Friction Coefficient of the air for each shot. A large FC will slow the balls down more quickly while a tiny FC will keep the balls bouncing for a LONG time. Once all the above settings are adjusted, take the shot by pressing the fire key (detailed on the Refernce Card). All settings are retained for you from turn to turn. If you like, you can take your shot at any time by pressing the fire key. This will use whatever setting are in effect at the time. THE TIMER: The countdown timer starts at the beginning of each shot. It is set initally to sixty seconds, and when it reaches zero, the shot will be taken...whether you are ready or not. The number of seconds left when you take your shot directly affects you score. SCORING: Hitting a red ball straight on: 1 x Timer Sinking a red ball: 10 x Timer plus 500 Sinking multiple red balls: A bonus modifier for every additional ball sunk; i.e. if 3 reds are pocketed, the first will give 1 x (10 x timer + 500) the second 2 x (10 x timer + 500) and the third 3 x (10 x timer + 500). Hitting the yellow ball stright on: 1 x Timer Sinking the yellow ball: 10 x Timer + 2000 Foul shots: Sinking the wrong ball, scratching (sinking the cue ball), or missing altogether: minus 500. THIS DOCUMENT WAS PREPARED COMPLIMENTS OF ANCHORAGE'S BEST, CAPTAIN CRUNCH!!