POWERSTAR     (C) 1985 Pandora Software, Inc.


WELCOME TO POWERSTAR!

In the 21st century, all electrical power in the United States is 
generated by a single huge nuclear fusion reactor, the Powerstar, placed 
in orbit safely away from living things and saboteurs.  The power is 
then transmitted directly to local communities by means of a vast array 
of microwave transmitters.  Unfortunately, the one man crew of the 
Powerstar seems to have had a bad bout of cabin fever, and the only 
message from him in the last week consisted of a facsimile of a Jack 
Daniels whiskey bottle label.  You are the alternate engineer for the 
Powerstar, and the government has summoned you to active duty.  Your 
mission is to save the vital Powerstar from this nut.  Fresh from a 
vacation in Bango Bango, you arrive at a government field station, and 
the adventure begins.

A NEW CONCEPT IN GRAPHIC ADVENTURES

You are about to enter a world of mysterious puzzles, tantalizing clues, 
cranky machinery, and dangerous adversaries.  The environment surrounds 
you, and you'd best be looking over your shoulder if you don't like 
surprises!
POWERSTAR offers the most complete and realistic visual simulation in 
any computer adventure game.  You have 63 locations to find and explore.  
Each location has a separate view for each of the four points on the 
compass.  You can turn around to scan a location for tools and clues, 
or, you may proceed to the next location, which is generally within 
sight.  To manipulate objects, you can type in complete English command 
sentences.  Because the game is entirely contained in a 16K-byte ROM 
cartridge, the lengthy disk accesses which interrupt other adventures 
are absent.

LOADING THE GAME

Any Atari computer with 16K of memory can be used.  The optional 
joystick may be plugged into connector 1.  A disk drive may be used to 
save games.  Have a blank, formatted disk ready if you want to use this 
option.  Insert the game cartridge into the left cartridge slot and 
power on the computer.  Press the START button to begin.

SCREEN LAYOUT

The visual window is at the top of your screen and gives a player's eye 
view of the present location in the direction being faced.  Just below 
is the text window which gives a description of your location or a 
response to your command.  At the bottom, in the first column, is your 
compass.  It gives your present orientation by reading N, E, W, or S.  
Next to the compass is a question mark which is your command line 
prompt.  This is the place where your typed commands appear.

MOVING AROUND

Motion in the environment involves turning around in a location or 
moving forward into the next location.  A left turn would point you 90 
degrees counterclockwise to your present direction (from north to west, 
for example).  POWERSTAR offers two ways of commanding motion:  keyboard 
and joystick.  On the keyboard, left and right turns are effected by the 
left and right arrow keys.  The up arrow causes forward motion.  The 
CTRL key isn't necessary.  You can also type the direction you want to 
go on the command line (EAST or E, for example).  Pushing the joystick 
left and right rotates, and pushing forward causes forward motion.  Some 
people like the feel of using the joystick.  Others prefer to keep their 
fingers on the keyboard.  Try both to see which seems more natural.

CONVERSING WITH POWERSTAR

You may type in commands in natural English.  The command processor is 
designed to understand many sentence constructions as well as synonyms.  
You may include several commands in the same sentence.  Simply separate 
commands with a comma or the word "and".  For example:  "Get the matches 
and drop the boots".  However, you are restricted to one line of input.  
The delete key is useful for editing command lines.
If POWERSTAR needs more information than it gets from the command line, 
it will ask for it with a question such as:  "What do you want to start 
the engine with?".  Your response should briefly answer the question, 
rather than retyping the whole command.  You will learn from POWERSTAR'S 
responses that some words are unknown to it.  It will also let you know 
when it doesn't make any sense to do something in a particular 
situation.
Some important game control commands are:
INVENTORY, or I:  gives you a look at your possessions.
SCORE:  tells you how well you're progressing through the game.  The 
maximum score is 216.
SAVE GAME:  records the present game situation onto disk for resuming at 
a later time.  Ten different games may be saved on a disk.  Turn on the 
disk drive and insert a previously formatted disk.  Type SAVE GAME on a 
command line.  Answer the prompt for a version number.  Note that the 
save command isn't compatible with Atari DOS.  After a game is saved on 
a disk, do not use the disk for any other purpose except to SAVE and 
LOAD games from POWERSTAR.
LOAD GAME:  restores a previously SAVEd game from a disk.

ADVENTURE TUTORIAL

If you've never had any experience "adventuring", you are probably 
wondering what the goal of playing this type of game is.  Unlike arcade-
like action computer games, adventures require strategy, problem solving 
and long term goals.  When you begin an adventure, you don't know what 
is required of you to solve the game, and one of the most satisfying 
aspects is to discover this.  As you begin, you should merely explore 
your environment thoroughly, noting anything of interest.
Adventure games are generally played by manipulating objects in the 
environment.  If you see an object that might have a use somewhere else, 
you can carry it around by typing:  "GET _______".  You can also act on 
stationary objects, for example:  "OPEN DOOR".
The game author will throw obstacles in your way to test your 
cleverness.  Use your common sense to spot these puzzles.  A vehicle 
that won't function is almost sure to be essential to the solution of 
the game.
To efficiently move around in a complicated adventure, you will have to 
construct a map.  When completed, the map generally consists of circles 
to represent the locations in the game, and arrows going between the 
circles which show the possible moves.  The circles should contain a 
short description to identify the location, and the arrows should be 
labelled with the directions that they represent.  Most adventures have 
at least one maze for you to get lost in.  This will put your mapping 
skills to the test.



Manual typed in by Scott Wozniak on March 19, 1999.
Swozniak@aol.com