Trolls and Tribulations
platform game for Commodore 64, 1984
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SCENARIO
They're lurking underneath your
city - an entire underworld full of
troll-eating cretins, flying buzzards
and sinister skulls. Hidden away in
this forbidden maze of dark caverns,
rising waters and secret dungeons are
glorious treasures, thousands of
years old. Disguised as a troll, you
enter the underworld in order to save
the treasures from criminal greed.
Your job won't be easy. The underworld
doesn't intend to play fair. They'll
eat you, knock you into the rising
waters or corner you in a dark dungeon.
You must put an end to the evil cretins
before you can move on to collect all
the treasures and earn points.
Watch out! The buzzards and skulls
look hungry. A wrong turn may lead
to disaster.
Trolls and Tribulations has 7 levels.
Over 200 dark and eerie chambers to
explore. It's joystick controlled,
so act quickly. Hey, look behind you!
INTRODUCTION
Ancient treasures are hidden inside the
caverns! The trolls have set out on an
expedition through the dark dungeons,
perilous peaks, and rising waters to
retrieve the valued relics. But watch
out! These treacherous mazes are
inhabited by troll-crunching cretins,
hungry buzzards, ghastly skulls and
sinister spiders, all intent on keeping
the treasures within the walls of
their wicked world.
OBJECTIVE
Your job is to lead the trolls through
the many underground mazes and recover
the treasures that have been hidden
there for centuries. Your success will
depend on your skill in combatting the
cretins and the wisdom with which you
choose your path. You start the game
with six trolls, but be careful; there
are skulls and spiders lurking behind
the cavern walls. They could end your
expedition at any time.
TO START THE GAME
Insert your joystick into "port 2".
After the game has finished loading,
a series of screens including credits,
instructions, and demo will follow.
Press the fire button at any time to
advance to the Level Selection screen.
The Level Selection screen displays
"Move Man to Desired Level". Use your
joystick to move the man right or left
and press the fire button when you've
chosen the level at which you want
to start.
When "Find the Door" displays on your
screen, press the fire button to
enter the maze.
Press the fire button once more to bring
your troll to life and start the game.
CONTROL OF MOVEMENTS
Fire Button: Activates each troll when
it first enters the maze.
Once in action, pressing
the fire button lets you
jump in the direction
you are facing.
Joystick: Pull towards you (south) to
fire. (Also to reload
bullets.) Push forward (north)
to jump straight up. Right and
left movement lets you move
in either direction.
SUMMARY OF FUNCTIONS
[F1] - To start the game over at
any time.
[F3] - To freeze the screen and
timeclock. Press the fire
button to restart the action.
[F5] - To turn the background music off
or on. This does not affect
the movement sounds.
PLAYING THE GAME
You will begin the game with six trolls.
The number of trolls remaining is
indicated by the troll heads located in
the top left hand corner of your screen,
just below your score.
In many (but not all) mazes, the first
task you must accomplish is to shoot
down eight cretins. The number remaining
is displayed at the top center portion
of your screen. After a cretin is shot,
it will turn into an egg. You must then
run and knock the egg off the plank and
into the water before it can rehatch.
Each troll is equipped with a gun and
eight bullets. If you use up all eight
bullets before destroying eight cretins,
you must return to the plank with the
moving vertical black lines in the
center of the screen. Pull the joystick
down and your gun will be reloaded.
After eight cretins have been destroyed,
you can pass through the doors that lead
to the maze with the hidden treasures.
As you encounter more difficult mazes,
the cretins will be accompanied by
low-flying buzzards and bouncing skulls.
This hazardous obstacles cannot be shot;
you must jump over them by facing the
enemy and pressing the fire button.
Once inside the treasure maze, you will
occasionally have your way obstructed by
a blue door. These doors can be opened
with the keys that are hidden in the
maze along with the treasures. The
Master door located at the end of each
maze does not require a key for passage.
There are trampolines located throughout
the mazes. Use the trampolines to
increase your troll's jump and reach
high ledges of the mazes.
Each time a troll dies, the next troll
starts the expedition from the beginning
of the maze in process. You will lose a
troll each time you run into a cretin,
get smashed by a bouncing skull, sit on
a poisonous spider, get snatched up by a
hungry buzzard, or fall into the water.
When all six trolls have lost their
lives, the game is over. Press the fire
button to return to beginning screen
and play again.
SCORING
Points can be collected many ways while
traveling through the mazes. Destroying
cretins, recovering hidden treasures,
and opening doors and master doors will
all increase your score.
Once a cretin has been shot, you must
run and knock the egg into the water.
If the egg remains on the plank, within
seconds the egg will hatch and you will
not receive any points. The points
awarded for destroying cretins depend on
which plank you are shooting from. The
bottom plank is worth 100 points per
cretin and points double each time the
troll climbs up to the next plank.
Red cretins are worth 900 points and do
not have to be knocked into the water.
The treasures that you will search for
increase in value as you travel deeper
into the maze. However, if a troll dies
during the excursion and is replaced by
a new troll, the points awarded for
recovered treasures start over at
100 points and continue to increase
until a new maze is entered.
Each time you open a blue door, you will
receive 100 points. (Remember that you
must pick up the key before going
through the door.) There are also points
scored for reaching the master doors
located at the end of each maze. Points
are awarded at random for finishing the
maze, ranging from 100 to 900.
If you received over 10,000 points, the
High Score! screen will appear after the
game is over. Use the joystick to change
the letters and press the fire button
when the correct letter appears. Then
press the fire button to begin again.
Improve that score!
SPECIAL NOTE
As you get better and reach the more
advanced levels, you'll get into mazes
in which keys or prizes appear to be
impossible to attain without sacrificing
a troll. This is never the case; all
treasures and keys can be collected with
very careful manipulation of your troll.
HINT: Watch the self-running demo for
one such maneuver on the trampoline!
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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)