Zeppelin
labyrinth shoot'em up game for Commodore 64, 1984
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The escape from the prison of the
Timelords was treacherous. Only your
courage and savage will to live have
brought you to this point.
But this is only the beginning! The
beginning of a flight for survival.
The world is known as Zarkafir, the cave
world. The gaseous composition of
Zarkafir's atmosphere has led to the
development of hot air technology with
zeppelins and hot air balloons being the
mode of transportation. In this
primitive world the Timelords have ruled
for centuries. It is here that the
Timelords have established the base from
which they plan to dominate this
planetary system... and you must stop
them!
Within the caves there are many
dangerous twisting corridors filled with
defending derigibles, energy barriers,
and deadly air currents. Monsterous
earthquakes threaten your every move.
Not great odds, but who said it was
going to be fair?
You know their plan!
Now, you must try to stop them.
Object of the Game
As pilot of the Zeppelin, your mission
is to explore the 250 rooms of the
caverns, locate the dynamite and blow up
the enemy lair on each of the seven
levels.
Getting Started
Once the game has loaded, you will see
the title screen. Pressing [F3] will
allow you to select the number of
players. Pressing [F5] will allow you to
choose the level of difficulty. Press
[F7] to begin the game.
How to Play
To maneuver your zeppelin, simply push
the joystick in the desired direction.
To fire, hold down the fire button and
push the stick in the direction you want
to shoot. You will automatically shoot
forward and in the direction you push
the joystick. You will start the game
with four lives and lose one life for
each collision you sustain. You gain one
life for each 10,000 points you earn and
for each life marker you touch. The
number of remaining lives is indicated
by the number of zeppelins in the text
window on the top of the screen.
The game will gently scroll
automatically. When you come upon a fork
in the caverns, move your zeppelin as
far as possible in the desired direction
without running into anything. The game
will then scroll you into the next
screen.
As you voyage into the caverns, you will
encounter several types of objects which
you destroy or avoid.
Balloons: 30 points if destroyed.
Enemy Zeppelins: 30 points if destroyed.
Falling Rocks: Cannot be destroyed. You
must avoid these.
Barriers: 20 points for each block
destroyed.
Laser Gates: 10 points for each piece
destroyed.
Buildings/Towers: 20 points for each
block destroyed.
Earthquake Debris: 20 points for each
piece destroyed.
In addition to these objects, you will
find other special objects. These are:
Switches: Shooting these will change
their position and can turn on or off
some of the enemy defenses (zeppelins,
balloons, earthquakes, etc.) Each
switch in the maze has a specific
function which does not change.
Keys: Keys can be picked up by simply
touching them with your zeppelin.
Keyholes: Touching a keyhole with a key
can open up new areas of the caverns.
Hamburgers: A giant hamburger can be
picked up to be fed to the hamburger
creature.
Hamburger Creature: Hamburger creatures
guard some of the switches in the
caverns. They can be bribed into leaving
their post by feeding them a hamburger.
To feed the creature, simply touch the
hamburger to the creature. It will
greedily begin chomping on it and
eventually leave it's guard post.
Life Markers: Touch one of these gives
you an additional life.
TNT: The TNT must be picked up by
touching it with your zeppelin. It must
then be carried to the room containing
the plunger.
Plunger: You must first shoot the
plunger once to bring it into the up
position. Next, deposit the TNT box.
You can then detonate the TNT by
shooting the pluger once more into the
down position. This will allow you
access to the next level of the caverns.
To make things even more interesting,
earthquakes may periodically occur.
This may make avoiding the cavern walls
a little more challenging.
Pause Control
Pressing the space bar at any time will
pause the game. Simply push the joystick
in any direction to resume the game.
Multiple Players
More than one player can participate in
the game at one time. In these cases,
player one is always the pilot and the
other player is the gunner (commodore
64 version).
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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)