RoboSport Keyboard Reference Chart Keyboard commands use the RIGHT Amiga key unless specified otherwise. SETUP MODE - QUICK START Amiga O Open Game Amiga W Close Game Amiga S Save Game Amiga P Print Map Amiga Q Quit SETUP MODE - CUSTOM GAME Same as Setup Mode-Quick Start plus: Amiga D Delete Team Amiga E Edit Team Amiga F New Team Amiga R Open Team MOVIE MODE Same as Setup Mode-Quick Start plus: Amiga D Team Data Amiga E End Movie Amiga F Stop Movie Amiga G Play Movie Amiga H Hide/Show Home Amiga I Rewind Movie Amiga L Forward Step Amiga M Auto/Manual Center Amiga B Backward Step Amiga Q Quit Amiga T Start/Stop Tracking Amiga Y Show/Hide Sighting Amiga , (comma) Play Slower Amiga . (period) Play Faster Left Amiga (and Shift) Change Cursor to Help Mode Help key Same as clicking on the Playing Field in Help Mode at the location of the Cursor 1-8 Selects Active Robot EDIT MODE Amiga A Next Robot Amiga D Team Data Amiga E End Turn Amiga F Hide/Show Position Amiga H Hide/Show Home Amiga I Hide/Show Items Amiga L Lock/Unlock Team Amiga M Auto Center Amiga P Print Map Amiga Q Quit Amiga R Reduce/Enlarge Map Amiga T Hide/Show Team Amiga S Save Game Amiga W Close Game Amiga Y Hide/Show Other Teams Amiga , (comma) Hide/Show Paths Amiga . (period) Redraw Paths Shift key Changes Cursor to Scanning Mode Left Amiga (and Shift) Changes Cursor to Hand Mode, and Selects Active Robot in Playing Field Left Amiga Changes Cursor to Hand for and Control keys Scrolling Arena Control key Changes Cursor to Hand for Scrolling Arena Alt key Activates Targeting Mode, and Allows Repeat Firing with Aim & Fire Help key Same as clicking on the Playing Field in Help Mode at the location of the Cursor Spacebar Toggles between centering on the active Robot and centering on the Active Robot's Targeting Range 1-8 Selects Active Robot SKID ROW - SKID ROW - SKID ROW - SKID ROW - SKID ROW - SKID ROW - SKID ROW SKID ROW presents RoboSport Tutorial INTRODUCTION This tutorial will give you a brief introduction to playing RoboSport. It'll be enough to get you going and having fun. For more details on the different sports and custom game options, see Reference section. Before continuing, make sure RoboSport is properly installed for your computer. Installation instructions are found in your addendum. STARTING A GAME Double-click on the RoboSport icon, and watch the dynamically entertaining credits. After the credits, you'll see a window with lots of little symbols, and a page number of this manual. Click on the same symbols in the same order as they appear on the manual page, then click on the OK button. If you clicked on the wrong symbol, click on the Clear button, and start over. THE QUICK START WINDOW Next, you'll see the Quick Start Window. From this window you can quickly choose from and start over 2100 different game combinations. Once you're bored with those, you can customize games for an almost unlimited number of games. The first thing to do is to decide on the number of Teams you want and to name them. There are two default Teams listed in the boxes under the heading Team Name: the Cyborgs and the Computers. Notice that each Team has a Team Color (or shade, on black and white monitors), a Team Side (if you have more than two Teams, two or three can work together as long as there are at least two Sides), and a Team Brain (human or computer). You can change the Color, Side, and Brain by clicking on the arrows beside each display. Each Team also has a Home Are (the starting corner of the Arena and "home turf"). There are four Home Areas in each Arena. They are assigned clockwise to Teams by their position in the Team Name Boxes. You can change the Home Area by deleting the Team name and retyping it in a different box. For the purpose of this tutorial, we'll use two Teams. Delete the name 'Cyborgs' and type in 'Hunters.' Do the same for 'Computers.' Notice that deleting the Team's name deletes the Team. In the box directly below 'Hunters,' type in 'Sitting Ducks.' Make sure each Team has a different Color and Side. Make sure both Teams have human Brains. Now we'll choose the Sport Type. Depending on your computer, either click and hold on the sport in the box (it should be Survival) to see the different sports you can play in a submenu, or click repeatedly on the displayed sport. The five sports are: Survival, Treasure, Hunt, Capture the Flag, and Baseball. For this tutorial, we'll stick with the most basic sport, Survival. Click and hold or click repeatedly on the box to the right of or below the word 'Formation.' There are five formations: Beginner, Standard, Fire Fight, Missile Fest, and Beat the Clock. The choice of formation changes the type of Robots on each Team, and a number of options that change the flavor of the game and make it harder or easier. Activate each of the formations and look at the Team Roster box. Once you've checked them out, return to Beginner formation. Click and hold or click repeatedly on the box relating to 'Game Length.' Game Length set the number of Robots per Team and the size of the Arena. A Skirmish has two Robots per Team and a tiny Arena. A Melee has four Robots per Team and a small Arena. A Battle has six Robots per Team and a Large Arena. A Campaign has eight Robots per Team and a hugh Arena. select each one and check out the Team Rosters, then select Melee. Click and hold or click repeatedly on the box relating to 'Arena Type.' There are three types of Arenas. Each type of Arena comes in a number of sizes. For now, choose Rubble. If your Quick Start Window looks like this, click on the Start Game button. If it doesn't, change it so it does, then clock on the Start Game Button. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quick Start ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RoboSport Team Name Color Side Brain Home Hunters [ ] Side 1 @ [' ] Sitting Ducks [///] Side 3 @ [ '] Sports Type Survival Team Roster Formation Beginner 1 Missile Robot [Start Game] Game Length Melee 1 Auto Robot Arena Type Rubble 1 Burst Robot [Custom Game] 1 Rifle Robot ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE TURN EDIT DIALOG BOX The dialog box lets you select the Team you want to edit (program) first. If there is only one Team with a human Brain, you won't see this box. At the top of this box is the turn number and the time for this turn. In the middle of the box is a list of the Teams in this game, along with their "Type" (Color and Brain). To the left of the Team names is an indication of whether or not they have been edited yet. At the bottom of the box are two buttons. Edit Team lets you program the selected Team, End Edit is used when all Teams have been Edited and you want to end the turn. Make sure Hunters is selected, then click on Edit Team. You now see the Edit Window. The Title Bar of the Edit Window shows the name of the Team being edited. Below the Title Bar is the Program Bar, where the Robots' programming steps are listed. Below that is a Scroll Bar to scroll through and edit the programming steps, and the Robot Turn Clock, which keeps track of the time a Robot has left for its programming in the current turn. There is a Message Bar, which depending on your computer, is either below the Turn Clock or in the Title Bar itself. The Location Indicator will be found either on the left or right side under the Program Bar. On one side of the window is the Programming Control Panel, where you select and activate weapons. (Though the locations of some of these elements are computer- specific, their functions are the same.) CHECKING OUT THE NEIGHBORHOOD Before programming the Robots, take a look around the Arena. Use the Scroll Bars and Arrows to scroll the Arena around the screen. Another way to move the Arena around is to hold down either the Control key or both Option and Command keys, which turn the pointer into a hand, letting you use the mouse to click and drag the Arena around. Arenas have three parts: the Dock, the Playing Field and Home Areas. The dock is where Robots wait for battle and where they go when they are destroyed. The Playing Field is where battles take place. The Home Areas are the "home turf" for each Team. There are four Home Areas in the Playing Field, one in each corner. Any Robot's first move out of the Dock must be into its Home Area. Within the Playing Field there are different types of terrain. There are walls, low walls, open ground, rough ground, crevices, bushes, and fences. Different types of terrain give different amounts of protection from enemy sight and weapons. For Help on types of terrain and protection, hold down the Command {Alt}, key and click in the Playing Field. Take a few minutes and explore the Arena and its terrain. PROGRAMMING ROBOTS Robots are programmed one at a time, for a specified amount of time. In a Beginner game like this one) the programming time is 15 seconds. In other formations you can set the time to anything you want. Robots do a few basic things: they move, they shoot at targets (Aim & Fire), and they wait, watch for, and shoot at enemies if they come within range (Scan & Fire). They also do a few other thins, including game-specific activities like tagging bases or rescuing Hostages. Programming a Robot is easy, When you want it to go somewhere, point and click where you want it to go. When you want it to shoot at something, click on the weapon, click on the Aim & Fire button, then click where you want it to shoot. When you want it to wait and shoot if an enemy comes near, click on the weapon, point the Robot's head in the right direction, and click on the Scan & Fire button. To make a Robot do the other game-specific things, use the Commands Menu. PROGRAMMING MOVEMENT First, we'll move some Robots around the Playing field, Scroll the Arena so the upper-left Dock is visible. You should see the four Robots on the Hunter Team. One of the Robots has a flashing box around it. This is the "active" Robot - the one that is ready for programming. Is name and main weapon type appear at the top of the Programming Control Panel [Tools Window]. Notice that the Message Bar is prompting you to move the Robot into its Home Area. To move a Robot into the Playing Field, click where you want it to go, but the first move onto the Playing Field must be into its Home Area. Move the pointer around the Home Area, and watch both the shape of the pointer and the Location Indicator. When you are pointing to a place where the Robot can move, the pointer looks like a target sight and the Location Indicator gives an X.Y coordinate. When you are pointing to a place in the Home Are where a Robot cannot go (such as a wall or crevice), the pointer turns into an X and the Location Indicator says "blocked." If you point to a spot out of the Home Area, the pointer will turn into an X and the Location Indicator will say "out of home." All throughout the game the pointer and Location Indicator work together to help you plan your moves and target your enemies. Click somewhere in the Home Area to bring the first Robot onto the Playing Field. Notice the Program Bar indicates that you entered the field, and shows the coordinates of the spot. Also notice that time passed on the Robot Turn Clock. Click somewhere else. The Robot will zoom to the spot where you clicked. If there is an obstacle in the way, The Robot will scurry around it. Once in a while, the Robot will get stuck behind an obstacle. when this happens, click elsewhere, about halfway to your destination, then click again at the destination. Continue moving the Robot around until its time limit is up. You'll get a time limit message in the Message Bar, and the pointer will change to display the word "out." In a real game you will need to plan your moves carefully, staying in the cover of walls and bushes as much as possible, but for this tutorial, don't worry too much about strategy. We're controlling both sides, so we've got a good chance of winning. Now program another Robot. There are a number of ways to select another Robot to program. One way is to click on it while it is in the Dock. Scroll the Arena so the Dock with your three Robots is showing. Point to one of them. The pointer changes to a pointing hand. Click on one of the Robots. A lot happens: the flashing box is now around the new Robot; the Arena scrolled so the new Robot is near the center of the screen; the new Robot's name and weapon is displayed at the top of the Programming Control Panel; the first Robot returned to the Dock; the Program Bar is clear; and the Robot Turn Clock reset to zero. Don't worry. The programming for the old Robot isn't gone. Since, in effect, we've gone back in time to before you moved the first Robot, it returned to its location at the beginning of the game. As you program the new Robot, the first Robot will move according to its programmed path. Before you move the new Robot into the Home Area, look at the Programming Control Panel [Tools Window]. In the section called Height, there are three Robots at three different heights or postures: standing, ducking, and crouching. The Robot that is highlighted (standing) has the posture of the active Robot. Click on the different heights and watch the active Robot change heights. The lower a Robot's height, the harder it is to hit. Crouched Robots cannot cross certain types of terrain (low walls, bushes, rough ground) that Robots at other heights can. Move the Robot into the Home Area, then around the Playing Field until its time is up. Now select the third Robot by opening the Robots Menu and selecting the Next Robot item. While the menu is open, notice that there is a checkmark to the left of the name of the active Robot. You can also select the next Robot by selecting its name. Move this one onto and around the field until its time is up. Then keep moving it for a while. Notice that the instructions in the Program Bar are ghosted after the time runs out. You can edit a Robot's program by deleting instructions from the Program Bar. Use the scroll bar under the Program Bar to scroll it until the black (non-ghosted) instructions are showing. Click on the Program Bar on one of the black instructions. All instructions, from the place you clicked until the end, will be highlighted. Hit the Delete key on the keyboard to delete all the highlighted instructions. There is still one Robot left. We don't need to move it now. In fact, it is a good tactic to hold back a Robot or two and bring them in later in the game. Time to stop editing the Hunters and to edit the Sitting ducks. Select End Turn from the Turn Menu. The Turn Edit dialog box reappears. Make sure the Sitting Ducks are selected for editing and click on the Edit Team button. AIM & FIRE Now your back in the Edit Window looking at the Sitting Ducks in their Dock. Take a look at the Programming Control Panel [Tools Window]. At the top is the Robot's name, main weapon, and armor (the number of damage points it takes to destroy it). Below that is the Height Box, which controls the active Robot's posture, and the Scan Box, which controls the direction the active Robot looks and aims. Next is the Weapons Box. There are five weapons in the box: Rifle, Burst Gun, Automatic Rifle, Missile Launcher and Grenade Launcher. Weapons available to the active Robot are shown in black, unavailable weapons are ghosted. Depending on the formation, Robots can have from one to three weapons. You switch between available weapons by clicking on the one you want. At the bottom of the Programming Control Panel is the Fire Box. This box displays the active weapon, and has two buttons for activating weapons: Aim & Fire and Scan & Fire. Bullet weapons (Rifle, Burst, and auto) have unlimited ammunition. If an explosive weapon is active, the number of shots you have left is displayed after the name of the weapon. Check in either the Programming Control Panel or the Robots Menu to make sure that the active Robot's main weapon is a Rifle. Move the Robot into the HOme Are, then to a clear spot in the Arena and leave it there. Move it there as directly as possible, using as little time as you can. Open the Robots Menu and select the Missile Robot. Notice that in the Weapons Box of the Programming Control Panel there are two weapons that are not ghosted. Missile Robots also carry rifles. Move it first into the Home Area, then move it near the Rifle Robot. It should be lower on the screen than the Rifle Robot and there should be a clear path between the two. Go there as directly as possible. Now hit the Space Bar on the keyboard. Do it again. And again. The Space Bar moves the Arena on the screen. It toggles between centering on the active Robot and centering on the active Robot's scanning range. Look at the Programming Control Panel. Notice that the Robot's head is pointing in the same direction as the highlighted triangle in the Scan Box. Click in the circle in the Scan Box, and watch the Robot's head follow. Try it a few times, then leave it pointed at the Rifle Robot. Activate the Missile Robot's Rifle by clicking on it in the Weapons Box. Now we'll check our targeting range. Click on the Aim & Fire button, then move the pointer around slowly - but don't click anywhere yet. Keep an eye on both the pointer and the Location Indicator on the Message Bar. Together, the pointer and Location Indicator are your targeting system. When a target or location in the Arena is in optimum targeting range, the pointer becomes a dark target sight and the Location Indicator gives the distance to the target. As you move the pointer away from the center of the scan direction, it will turn into a light target sight. This indicates that this location is still in range, but with very low accuracy. When the pointer is over a spot that is out of scanning range or blocked by a wall, it will look like an X and the Location Indicator will say "out of range," "blocked," or "out of bounds." Right now the Missile Robot's active weapon should be its Rifle, and the Rifle Robot should be in the Missile Robot's targeting range. If this is right, click on the Rifle Robot once. Then click on the Aim & Fire button again, then on the Rifle Robot again. Don't worry, you can't harm your own Robots with bullets. If the wrong weapon is active, or the range isn't correct, cancel Aim & Fire by clicking on the Message Bar or any other button on the Programming Control Panel, then select the right weapon and/or move the Missile Robot until it has a clear shot at the Rifle Robot, select Aim & Fire, and shoot a bullet. Now click on the Missile icon in the Weapons Box of the Programming Control Panel to activate the Missile Robot's Missile. Click on the Aim & Fire button, then click on the Rifle Robot. Click again on the Aim & Fire button, then click again on the Rifle Robot. Select End Turn from the Turn Menu. When the Turn Edit Dialog Box appears, click on the End Edit button. The computer will now generate a movie of all the action in the first turn. THE MOVIE Once the movie has been generated, you will see the Movie View Dialog Box. Click on Hunters to see the movie from their point of view, and click on the View Movie button. Since this is a Beginner game, all Robots will be visible during the movie. In advanced formations, you will only see the Robots on your Team and any enemy Robots that are in your scanning range. The Movie Window is similar to the Edit Window, except it has movie player controls instead of the programming stuff. The Title Bar shows the name of the Team whose point of view is being shown in the movie. Below the Title Bar are buttons for playing, stopping, rewinding, etc. These buttons work just like they do on a VCR. Notice that the pointer is a hand. You can use it to click and drag the Arena around the screen. Once the movie begins, the hand will turn into an arrow, but you can still use it to move the Arena around, even while the movie is playing. Click on the Play button. Move the screen by clicking and dragging as necessary to see as much as possible. Click on the Rewind button, then the Play button and watch it again if you missed anything. To the left of the buttons is the Slider Control arrow that you can drag back and forth to jump from place to place in the movie or to play it forwards and backwards at any speed. Try it. All the Robots that you programmed will go through their movements. You will notice that bullets cannot harm your own Robots, but Missiles (and other explosives) can. If you used the Aim & Fire correctly, your Rifle Robot is a dead Sitting Duck. Once you can see everything, select End Movie from the Movie Menu. The Movie View Dialog Box will appear, offering you the chance to view the movie from the Sitting Ducks point of view. Since this game is in Beginner formation and all Robots are visible, you won't learn anything new from watching the movie again. Click on the End View button. When a message box pops up asking if you are sure you want to end the turn, click OK. THE SECOND TURN We've completed one turn, programmed the Robots and watched the results. Now we begin the next turn. When the Turn Edit Dialog Box appears, select Sitting Ducks, then click on the Edit Team button. You're back in the Edit Window. Notice the Xs on the Playing Field. These mark the location of enemy Robots at the end of the last turn. Select Team Data...from the Turn Menu. It will bring up a screen that will tell you the health and position of each Robot. On the Sitting Ducks Team, the Rifle Robot's health should be zero, and it should be back in the Dock. Click on OK. SCAN & FIRE Now we'll set up an ambush with one Team and have the other Team walk into it. One at a time, move the Sitting Duck Robots to roughly the positions in the picture above, point their heads in the same directions (using the Scan Box), and click on the Scan & Fire button (below the Aim & Fire button). A dialog box for setting the Scan & Fire will appear. In the box you can set the maximum distance your Robot will fire at an enemy Robot, and the amount of time your Robot will stay in Scan & Fire mode. We like the default settings, so click OK, then go on to the next Robot and repeat the procedure. When all three Robots are programmed, select End Turn from the Turn Menu. When the Turn Edit Dialog Box appears, select Hunters, and click on the Edit Team button. One at a time, move all the Robots on the Hunters towards the waiting ambush, and parade them up and down in front of the Sitting Ducks until their time is up. When you are done, select End Turn from the Turn Menu, then End Edit on the Turn Edit Dialog Box. The movie for the second turn will be generated. THE MOVIE View the movie from the Sitting Ducks' point of view, and watch the carnage. If you did everything right, then all the Hunters will be destroyed, and the game will be over. When you have seen the movie as many times as you want, select End Movie from the Movie Menu. If all the Hunters were destroyed, then when the Movie View Dialog Box appears, click on the End View button. Since the game is over, you will be taken to the Final Ceremony. If they weren't all destroyed, click on the End Game Early button, which will also take you to the Final Ceremony. THE FINAL CEREMONY The Final Ceremony awards the points and bonus points to a representative of each Team, and sends the representative of the losing Team off for repairs. If you click on the Start Ceremony button, the Final Ceremony will be replayed. If you click on the Show Stats button, you will get a breakdown of all the points awarded. Click again to cycle through the Teams. Click on the Return to Start button to return to the Quick Start Window. ON YOU OWN You know the basics of turns, moving Robots, changing and firing weapons, and movies. There are a lot of other commands, tricks, strategies, and options to learn, but you know enough to start playing games. Change the Brain of one of the Teams to the computer, and try a real game. In Beginner formation you will always play a Stupid computer. It'll probably beat you the first few times, but once you get the hang of staying under cover, you'll hold your own. When you're ready, check out the Technical Reference section of this manual, especially the sections that focus on Robots, Weapons, Scoring, and Tactics. Once you can handle the Stupid computer in Beginner formation, try the other formations, or play against another human, Instructions for playing against other humans are found in Appendix B - Multi-player and Multi-machine Games. End.............