Mushrooms that Grow in the Woods
maze crawler game for Commodore 64, 2024

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The Dark Ages...
Great want forced people to journey far and wide...
Even into the very depths of...
...the Woods.
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THE BASICS
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The aim of the game is to collect
(eat?) all mushrooms on each single
screen level, while avoiding traps and
guardians. There are 32 levels in total
in this version, each one designed to be
different and more challenging than the
one before.
As expected, every successful action
you perform - mushroom taken, enemy
killed - brings rewards in points.
The number of points any action gene-
rates is dependent on the selected
difficulty level (more on this later).
With every ten thousand points, the pla-
yer is rewarded with a new life. There
is a High Score List that preserves the
best scores of the day, providing the
game with a competitive aspect. The High
Score List can be viewed by pressing F3
in the menu.
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THE MAIN MENU
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Speaking of the Main Menu, there are
seven main options, most of them self-
-explanatory. Use Q/A (up/down), cursor
keys and ENTER, or joystick in port 2 to
select options. These are as follows:
START GAME - new game from the level 1.
INPUT LEVEL CODE - whenever you reach a
new level, you are presented with a code
that enables you to play starting from
that level, should you choose to do so.
PLAY A RANDOM MAP - the computer will
generate a unique random map, suitable
for a quick game.
PLAYER IS: MALE/FEMALE switches between
the gender you prefer (only player spri-
te changes, there is no impact on the
actual gameplay).
DIFFICULTY - choose between three
levels of difficulty (easy, normal or
hard). These affect enemy speed, time
available for each level, enemy's aggre-
siveness, but also the score you will
receive (harder the level, grater the
reward). On hard difficulty enemies
re-spawn on each level (they may do this
anyway, on some special levels).
BACKGROUND - turn decorative dots and
lines on and off.
EXIT - embrace the beauty and majesty
that is Commodore Basic 2.0.
F1 key in the Main Menu will lead you
through some help screens, providing
visual information on certain aspects of
the game and controls.
F3 displays the High Score screen.
You can save or load high score here.
F5 will bring out a short demonstra-
tion of the gameplay, using a randomly
selected level.
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CONTROL SCHEME
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You can use either joystick in port 2
or keyboard to play the game. The main
keys are:
Q - up
A - down
O - left
P - right
CTRL - fire
(or joystick equivalents)
Most actions are automatic, fire is
used only when you have an arrow. You
will encounter these throughout the
game. To shoot an arrow in the desired
direction you need to press simultani-
ously fire AND direction. On their own
CTRL or joystick fire button will have
no effect.
Furthermore, F1 key will activate a
pause, and F4 will kill the player (li-
fe lost). The latter was introduced to
handle some situations that may come
about during gameplay, for example being
trapped or making a wrong choice that
makes the current game unsolvable.
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GAMEPLAY
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On each level (except the final one)
the objective is the same: collect all
mushrooms before time runs out.
Enemies (one can call them guardians)
will try to prevent you fom this. They
differ in their appearance, movement and
general behavior. There are five of them
in total, though not all will necessa-
rily be present on the same level.
They are:
MAD SHROOM - Quite mad. Merely moves
around randomly, though he will kill you
if you cross paths.
FAST SHROOM - Half as mad, twice as
mean. He goes after you instantly.
HUNGRY SHROOM - Insatiable. Initially
he too will move randomly. He will
devour anything red he encounters,
including some of the mushrooms as well
as your bonus lives. If you dally too
much, he too may come after you.
MA SHROOM - stronger, bigger and
meaner than others. After a while, but
much sooner than in the case of Hungry
Shroom, she will seek you out. Traps
and fast arrows do nothing to her. Heavy
arrow will stun her briefly. The only
thing that can kill her is Greek fire.
GRANDPA SHROOM - dead and spectral.
Sadly, he is not with us anymore, but
still wonders about somehow. Unlike
other enemies, contact with him will not
kill you but stun you - for a short
while. Also, he can go through doors
(but not walls) and is immune to traps
(but not to fire).
You can tackle challenges presented
by the game in a variety of ways. Not
all problems can be overcome by action,
speed and reflexes alone. Some demand
more consideration and planning, and all
this before timer runs out. Occasionally
it will be beneficial to sacrifice a
life (for example, by activating a trap)
to enable a more direct solution.
There are two types of arrows you can
pick: heavy (blue) and fast (brown). The
heavy one has short range but will crush
any enemy in its path. It can also be
used to break doors. The fast one has a
much longer range (almost the width of
the screen) but will bring down only one
enemy. Fast arrow has no effect on Ma or
Grandpa Shroom.
You can carry only one at a time.
The arrow you have is presented in the
status bar at the bottom of the screen.
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OBJECTS IN THE GAME
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There are many things of importance
on the game map, appart from mushrooms
and the enemies (who are mushrooms
in themselves). The most obvious are
walls and similar obstacles. If there is
no wall at the edge of the screen, you
may be able to cross to the other side
instantly.
Take note of the two special kinds of
obstacles: water and Green Shroud. The
first one are merely various streams
that flow through the woods. Only...
they are quite deep and you cannot swim.
But your enemies can!
Green Shroud is the magical barrier
that keeps mushrooms away. You, however,
pass through it freely. Unlike water,
Shroud stops arrows.
Scattered in-game items are:
KEY - It opens doors. If you have one
key or several, it will be marked in the
status bar. Any key can open any door.
DOOR - Act as an obstacle until
opened or broken down.
PORTALS - There are two kinds, entry
portals, which can be multiple and the
exit portal that is always one of a kind
on any level. If you or any of your ene-
mies pass through the entry portal you
will instantly appear on the other side.
An arrow shot through the entry portal
will likewise come on the other side.
STICKY SPORE - Slimy and sticky thing
that keeps theplayer (and enemies) glued
to the spot for a little while.
NAIL TRAP - Nasty thing that will
kill you. After being stepped on, the
trap is rendered harmless.
GREEK FIRE - Powerful alchemical mix
that turns into fire on the slightest
provocation. Destroys anything and any-
one (even ghosts). Can be triggered by
arrow strike.
HEART (or Life). Provides additional
life. Very rare. But you also get a life
life with every ten thousand points.
THE PRIZE or the (Holy?) Grail. Only
present in the final level. Brings A LOT
of points.
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COMPATIBILITY
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The game was partly developed on a
real PAL C64, using Turbo Macro Pro
assembler, partly on a Windows PC using
TMPx cross assembler. NTSC machine
performance was tested in the Vice emu-
lator and it was fully playable (only
marginally faster). I hope that means it
will work on any real C64 or C128, but,
obviously, I can offer no assurances or
guarantees in that regard.
I also hope that you will have as
much pleasure playing this game, as I
had coding it.
Have fun!
Nemanja Vujcic
Obrenovac, Serbia
September 2024
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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)