Armalyte
shoot'em up game for Commodore 64, 1988
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MISSION BRIEFING
Two hundred years ago war broke out between the H'siffian Khanate and the
Terran Empire, after it was proven the H'siffians were responsible for acts
of piracy in the region of space known as DELTA
Earth finally won after 50 years of conflict. Things were in a mess, but out
of the ashes ARMALYTE INDUSTRIES emerged and seized power. In the Years that
followed, the DELTA incident was forgotten, although the reestablished trade
routes steered well clear of Delta space.
Five years ago, a patrol in Delta space stumbled into what appeared to be an
abandoned H'siffian research outpost. Armalyte Industries established a
research base on the ruins of the old H'siffian outpost where scientists were
accompanied by a token force of light armour because H'siffian resistance was
low.
Four months ago Armalyte industries received a message that the scientists
were on the verge of a massive breakthrough, but shortly afterwards all
contact was lost with the outpost. Communications haven't been reestablished
since, and no patrol can get near the place. This suggests the outpost has
been overrun by invading forces.
According to transmissions received just before the loss of contact, the
H'siffians had made a similar breakthrough to that of AI's scientists. They
had discovered a power source of near-infinite potential, but they weren't
ready to tap the source. AI have decided to hire independent fighting forces
to disguise their military involvement - for such risky manoeuvers would
surely alert their clients around the galaxy and seriously damage their
business reputation.
Your mission is to enter Delta space and reclaim the outpost. According to
intelligence, much of the surrounding area of space is under H'siffian
control; be careful out there!
The H'siffians, utilising the resources at the base have an almost limitless
supply of ships and firepower far more advanced than we know. To counter this
we can equip you with state-of-the-art weaponry and the very last in military
transport. We will be on hand to ferry replacement craft although your ships
are expensive and supply is short.
To get the ship into Delta space, it has to be stripped of all heavy weaponry.
but throughout the deep space battlefield there are munition pods
(crystal-like formations in space) to collect. These provide the ship with a
massive energy surge activating the inner-build shield rendering you
invulnerable for a while. Continually shooting this crystal-like munitions
pods provides the ship with weaponry, the more shots the pod takes the better
the weapon received. In two-player mode addition pods appear, providing
enough power for both fighters. If you're fighting alone there is a remote
unit which fires as you do, and follows your every move unless you detach it
from your ship.
THE SCOREBOARD
.... __/--3--| + +
....____ - 0 0 0 0 0 0 - score
....____ [2] 1 _ + ___
.... __ - /_\ \__> 0 - number of crafts
\-----| / \ + -=
1= converge status
2= generator status
3= generator type
+= battery status
A= super weapon indicator
CONTROLS
On title screen:
F1 - one- or two player mode
F3 - switch between the three different starfields
F7 - demo game
FIRE - starts the game
In game:
CBM KEY - switch player one super weapon
? KEY - switch player two super weapon
SPACE - toggle remote tracking on/off
RUN/STOP- pause (fire restarts)
SHIP ENHANCEMENTS
MUNITIONS POD: Collecting a shield makes the ship invulnerable for five
seconds(ship flashes). When shot pods change shape to indicate the
enhancement that can be bolted on.
EXTRA FORWARD FIRE: At the start of each level you have two forward shots
which can be increased to four.
TAIL FIRE: Gives the craft a formation of backward-firing bullets.
VERTICAL CANNON: Adds vertical fire to your arsenal. Trident: Enables two
flanking guns to complement your main weapon.
CONVERGE: Adds two more shots to the main guns by diverting them from the tail
gun(if you have one!) and two extra fore gun enhancements are needed
(see converge status above).
GENERATOR: pick it up and the super weapon will recharge faster.
BATTERY: Adds one extra energy storage cell to your craft(maximum of four).
each stores six charges. For use by the superweapons at the required time.
SUPER WEAPONS, ENERGY CONSUMPTION & REMOTE: Both ships have three super
weapons, selected by either player by the keyboard. They are fired by holding
down the fire button for a few seconds. When fired they use up energy, which
is supplied by the ship's on-board generator system. This, on its own, stores
six energy charges, and once fired you have to wait until the generator
builds up to full power again. If, however, you have some batteries, the
energy is dumped to an available battery and can be used later.
SUPER WEAPONS:
TYPE A: Discharges a long sustained blast, which passes through solid matter
and destroys aliens or installations otherwise impossible to destroy. This
weapon uses two charges to fire and has a low availability.
TYPE B: Releases a swarm of laser fire around the craft, protecting you from
two directions. One charge per blast,medium availability.
TYPE C: Fires a rapid burst of pulsed energy, ideal for close encounters in
nay environment. One charge per blast;very high availability.
THE REMOTE: In one-player mode, the second ship is replaced by an automatic
drone. This follows you and can act as a shield against most enemy shots. It
can also be detached from your craft (press space bar), and glides along its
own trajectory until you recall it(press space bar again).
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Some useful keyboard shortcuts
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[PAUSE] - stop/continue game
[F9] - quick load game state
[F12] - quick save game state (still stored after leaving the site)
[F11] - toggle fullscreen mode
[ScrollLock] - quick switch control ports
[PageDown] - make a screenshot (320x200)