
COPYRIGHT BLURB:

    The Qbic program, its code, graphic images, sound effects, music
    score and documentation are copyright (C) 1992 Ronald Pieket
    Weeserik.
    It may be distributed freely, provided that both the program and
    the documentation are present and unaltered. The following files
    must be included in any distribution:

    QBIC     - The main program file.
    QBIC.DOC - The documentation file. (The one you are reading!)

SHAREWARE BLURB:

    THIS GAME IS CHARITYWARE...

    If you enjoy playing Qbic, and intend to keep it, you are asked
    to make a donation to a deserving charity of your own choice.

    Consider for instance:

        The Terrence Higgins Trust
        FREEPOST
        52-54 Gray's Inn Road
        London WC1X 8BR

    The Terrence Higgins Trust has played leading part in the fight
    against AIDS, and must continue doing so.

FEEDBACK:

    Any feedback, postcards or plain chocolates you may send to:

        Ronald Pieket Weeserik
        26 Saltoun Road
        London SW2 1EP
        England

    Or Email:

        ronald@cix.compulink.co.uk

GAME HISTORY:

    Qbic is loosely based on my second commercial game, called
    Fuzzball, published in 1986, released only on the MSX format.
    (I was paid five hundred Dutch guilders for that - about one
    hundred pounds in those days.)
    In the years that followed I made programming games my job, and
    produced seven MSX and four Amiga/ST titles, among which Amiga
    Silkworm, The Ninja Warriors, SWIV and Rodland.
    Fuzzball has always been my personal favourite. Both because of
    its playability and its history. However since I don't own an MSX
    computer anymore, an Amiga version was called for.
    I could not call it Fuzzball, because another game has recently
    been released with that name - a game that has nothing to do with
    my original MSX Fuzzball.

PLAYING THE GAME:

    You control Qbic with the joystick. Qbic can only jump
    diagonally. Therefore, you must turn the joystick by 45 degrees
    in clockwise direction. So 'up' will become 'back/right', 'down'
    becomes 'forward/left', 'left' becomes 'back/left', and 'right'
    moves Qbic 'forward/right'. (There is an alternate control method
    available, see the 'BUTTONS AND KEYS' section.)

    Be careful not to jump off the pyramid - you can't fly! Jumping
    onto a spinning disk will take you back to the top of the
    pyramid.

    The object of the game is simple: on each pyramid, change the
    colour of all the cubes into the target colour. The target colour
    is shown in the top left hand corner of the screen. You will
    encounter various characters while doing that.
    In order of appearance:

    Spheric - You will see a lot of these. It is the simplest of your
    enemies. All you can do is dodge them.

    Snakey - Bounces down the pyramid as a large purple ball. Once
    hatched, he will pursue Qbic relentlessly. If you can, jump onto
    one of the spinning discs, just as Snakey is about to get you.
    This animal must be far-sighted. Mind you, his eyesight improves
    with age!

    Cling - This is what is called a 'sidewalker'. Disregarding
    newtonian physics. Hint: if you time it right, you can jump over
    them!

    Cool - Blue, that means he is safe to touch. Cool as he is, he
    doesn't look where he's going and will jumble up your work. Jump
    on him to send him away.

    Magic - These blue crystals come like a gift from heaven! When
    touched, their magic spell will freeze everything on the pyramid,
    apart from Qbic himself. During this magic time you may jump
    around freely, but be quick - it won't last forever...

BUTTONS AND KEYS:

    Press the fire button to begin a new game. During the game, the
    fire button is used to speed up the bonus countdown and the 'Get
    Ready!' screen.
    Pause the game by pressing the 'P' key, or the space bar. Press
    again to resume play.

    The escape key aborts the game, and takes you back to the title
    screen. During the attract sequence, the escape key is used to
    turn the page.

    At any time, but not during the game, pressing F1 or F2 will take
    you to the control selection screen. If you find the diagonal
    joystick hard to get used to, try the 'straight' control method.
    See what you like best. Use F1 or F2 to select.

    At any time, but not during the game, pressing the HELP key will
    show you the info screens. Press the space bar or 'P' to pause
    the page, so you can read it at your own tempo.

    At any time, pressing 'Ctrl-C' will end the program, and return
    you to the shell/workbench. If you have entered a new high score,
    the new table will be saved onto disk.

WARNING:

    Qbic will take over the machine. It will do this in a relatively
    nice manner, but if you want to make trouble, you can.
    Don't try to multitask.
    Don't try to access the disk once Qbic has loaded.
    I have made Qbic as safe as I could, but I cannot make any
    guarantees.

NOTE:

    The program will try to save the high score information to the
    current directory. If you do not want the program to write to
    your floppy, flip the write protect tab, and cancel the
    requester. If you are running Qbic from a hard drive, make sure
    that the current directory is ram:, or something like that.

NOTE TO 512k RAM AMIGA OWNERS:

    Qbic needs about 420k to run. On a 512k machine, with the
    operating system taking up more than 80k that is a close shave!
    You will probably not be able to run Qbic from the workbench.
    Try this:

    1)  Make up a floppy disk with Qbic, Qbic.doc, Run and EndCli
        on it.

    2)  Create a startup-sequence that reads:
            RUN >NIL: <NIL: QBIC
            ENDCLI

    3)  Remember to make the disk bootable by using Install.

    4)  Disconnect external drives, and other periphials that may use
        up memory. (Remember to switch the power off first!)

    5)  Boot the machine, and keep your fingers crossed.

    This procedure has been tested and found to work on a 512k A500
    with the 1.3 operating system.

    However I would strongly recommend that you consider upgrading
    your machine to 1 Meg.
    Memory expansions are quite cheap nowadays, and many games and
    applications use/need it. 1 Meg machines are now considered to
    be standard, and if you don't upgrade, you will be left behind.

NOTE TO MAGAZINES:

    The competition for spelling my name correctly is still open...

THANKS:

    To Ned for help with the graphics. To John for saying 'Boit!' for
    no apparent reason. To all the Puntettays for eating cheese.

