ANCIPITAL
(c)1984 Llamasoft
AUTHOR: Jeff Minter
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The Master Map (see also gif file for a better picture)
Black walls are impervious. Shaded walls are removed by finding
and touching the appropriately coloured Camel Keys. You begin
your adventures in square 0.0 (top left)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
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0 - : : : # : : : - : - ASCII translation
- : : : : : : : # : : : : : : : - : : : - of the 'Ancipital'
- : : : # : : : - : - map:
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8 - : - - : : : : - - -
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It is s good idea to draw your own copy of this map, adding the
positions of camel keys and magic goats as you discover their
positions. Mark also rooms you have a lot of trouble with, routes
which bring high scores or extra lives, and mark off rooms as you
complete them: this saves you searching for active rooms amongst loads
of empty ones at the end of the game where time cannot be wasted!
Ancipital
Background to the Battle
The Ancipital life-form evolved on a little-known planet out on
the edge of the Galaxy. In the flesh it resembles a cross between
a humanoid and a goat, walking erect but possessing long, curving
horns and a thick, shaggy coat of white hair.
Right from the start the Ancipitals have had a pretty hard time of
it. Climatic changes on their home planet aided the evolution of a
hairless humanoid creature which soon began warring with the
unfortunate goatoids. Pretty soon the newcomers dominated the planet,
and became extremely nasty to the Ancipitals, enslaving, speering,
shooting and acting genocidal towards the hairy creature. Things
looked grim.
A little good luck befell the creatures when Yak-Shoggoth XXVII,
a Galactic hippie, passed by the planet in his psychedelic VW
Starcruiser. Being quite hairy himself, and also being on the run
from the Zzyaxian patrols, he took pity on the creatures and
descended to their planet.
Eventually a starship was prepared end the survivors of the acipital
race piled in. After saying goodbye to Yak-Shoggoth they set out
across the Galaxy in search of pastures new. They figured their luck
was in.
Atter a while wandering the Galaxy they scanned a planet which
seemed to be just what they required, end set down upon it.
Unfortunately for them, the planet turned out to be none other than
Zzyax Prime, and the hapless beasts were immedietely enslaved by
the fiendish Zzyaxians.
(In case you don't know about the Zzyaxians, I'll fill you in. They
are allied to the Iratain Imperials, and between them they are
responsible for just about everything evil in the Galaxy, from the
H-bomb to the sending in of Baiters at the end of a wave in Defender).
The ancipitals were forced to perform many nasty end unusual tasks,
not least fighting against their will in the Zzyaxien's long-running
battle against the Human Race (Cheers! Fanfares! That's Us!!!). That
is the reason why they were spotted in the Zzyaxian attack on Sothis
B (the battle which led to the development of the Space Sheep).
Some of the enslaved Ancipitals managed to steal a Zzyaxian light
stellar cruiser and, remembering the help that the humen Yak-Shoggoth
had given them, joined forces with the humans, sweering revenge on
the evil Zzyaxians. A raid was planned on a Zzyaxian weepons-research
outpost where research was taking place into methods of freaking-out
the Human mind so as to render us easy meat for an attack.
Within the base were 100 chambers of defences. The air was saturated
with a powerful hallucinogenic calculeted to totally burn the brains
of any humans who might attempt to enter. Battle-spacesuits could
not be used, since entry to the base had to be by teleport.
This is where our Ancipital allies became vitally useful. Drugs
which totally freaked the Human mind caused only mild visual and
auditory disturbances in the long Ancipital skull. A small volunteer
force of Ancipital warriors entered the base, their aim to enter and
render harmless each of the 100 rooms there in. They were provided
with a sketchy map provided by Human intelligence. The hairy horned
heroes set out to do their best in a battle vital to the future of
man, goat, half-man, half-goat, and Mutant Camel...
The Options/Start screen
When the game first comes up, you will see the option/start screen
appear. Whilst in this screen, you may set Game Difficuity to Easy
or Hard by pressing function key F3: you can turn Stroboscopic
Effects on or off with function key F1 (these are extensively used
in this game, and if they upset you or if your eyes are a little
tired, setting Strobo FX Off disables the very brightest of thrm).
You can start the game by pressing the Fire button on your joystick.
Pressing any other key than thosee specified results in a random
strobo effect (if enabled) and sonic.
If this screen is left for a while, the game goes into Attract Mode
in which a brief look is taken at a few randomly-chosen waves. To
get out of Attract Mode back to the options screen just press a key
on the keyboard.
Learning to Play
When you press FIRE to start your game, your first Ancipital will
fall to the base of the screen where the creature awaits your
joystick commands. The beast is followed in short order by the
assailants. Those on the first wave are deliberately quite easy in
order that newcomers might easily pick upthe basis of play. I
recommend spending a little time in the first frame familiarising
yourself with basic control movements and especially with the
Jump-Turn (of which more later). But first let's take a look at the
basic screen layout.
[ Here follows a hardcopy of the Ancipital screen ]
SCORE 0143453 NORTH 3 T:03
STRENGTH CCCCCCC WEST 3 %:09
WAVE TITLE ~:06
STRENGTH: Camels show strength level
NORTH, WEST: Map co-ordinates
T: Timer
%: Percentage
~: Lives left
As you can see there are various indicators at the top of the
screen. These function as follows:
1: The score: seven digits are shown; clocks itself at 9999999.
2: Strength: this is shown as a strip of purple camels. The shorter
this gets the closer to Death you get.
3: Map Co-ordinates: These numbers give your position in the 10x10
matrix of cells.
4: Timer: This counts down from 16 upon entry to a room. At zero, any
open walls become activated.
5: Percentage: This shows how much af the adventure you have completed
so far.
6: Lives Left: shows how many ancipitals remain.
7: Local Map Generator: shows the wall status of the room you're in
and all rooms closest to it.
8: Wall Strength Indicator: These arrows change colour according to
the strength of the four walls, indicate whether or not a wall is
solid or not. and indicate which keys are necessary to unlock walls.
Basic Control Movement
Walking is achieved by moving the joystick parallel to the surface
you're standing on. You can stand with equal ease on any of the four
walls, thanks to the multiple-gravity system employed in this game.
Basic jumping is achieved by pushing the stick towards the opposite
wall. Your ancipital will flip over and fall to the opposite wall.
Do not press the fire button at the start of the jump, or you won't
take off.
Jump-Turning is probably the most important manoeuvre in the game.
It is necessary when you need to jump onto one of the walls
perpendicular to your current orientation. The Jump-Turn consists of
two distinct motions:
1: Lift Off just like a standard jump to an opposing wall. Once
you're moving, do the second phase. 2: Press the FIRE button and
simultaneously lean the Joystick towards the wall you're aiming for.
The Ancipital should rotate and fall feet-first onto the target
wall.
It's important not to leave the second phase too late, because there
is a certain amount of inertia inherent in the Jump-Turn. If you
leave it too late, you'll overshoot and end up embedded in a well,
which is fatal. You'd be well advised to practise both Jumps and
Jump-Turns until you can go from wall to wall without any difficulty.
Remember not to Jump into walls (or even walk into them!) since
contact with a Wall other than by standing on it is fatal.
Firing is fairly straightforward. Holding down the FIRE button
results in the best fire rate available. As many bullets are given
you as are available under the demand-fire system (a new system I
implented to get over the frustration of only having a single
bullet.) It can be dangerous to fire during a straight Jump, since
if you lean the stick you might inadvertantly start an unintentional
Jump-Turn and impale yourself. Whilst firing, bullets can be aimed
in 3 directions by leaning of the Joystick. Fire usually originates
from you, but there are certain waves where fire originates from a
remote object, or where there is no firing at all.
Getting Around in the Rooms
Unique to this game is the method of opening and passing through
walls. There are three types of walls, each of which shows
distinctively on the Wall Strength Indicator. Impervious walls are
shown by the absence of an arrow on the Indicator, and may never
be opened or passed through. Locked walls are indicated by a
coloured camel on the indicator. These walls stay closed until you
find and collect the similarly-coloured Camel Key. Once this is
achieved the wall becomes open. Normal walls show up as a coloured
arrow on the Indicator. Damaging these walls by any of the means
detailed below weakens them - changing the colour of the arrow -
and eventually opens them. The strongest walls are shown by a white
arrow, follwed by a blue, red etc. until finally an open wall is
shown by a white arrow again - but with the wall visibly open, i.e.
a yellow striped band set into the actual wall of the robm you're
in.
How to Damage Walls is what you must discover, and it is different
for each room. Usually you must shoot specific targets, which fall
onto the walls and damage them. You'll see the screen shake whenever
a wall's strength is reduced. On most waves, you stand on the wall
you aim to open and upped targets fall down towards you. On some,
however, you stand on the opposing wall, and upped targets fly away
from you to impact the desired wall opposite.
Whilst most of the screens require simple zapping of targets to open
walls, others require you to touch objects (usually glowing or
highlighted in some way), which then fall and do the damage. Still
others require you to fire at the walls. It is up to you to discover
the ways of opening walls in each room.
Late into the game, if you have collected all the Goats (see below!)
you can damage walls by just jumping on them. Useful for the
end-game, where there are rooms only do-able in this way or with a
Body-Bomb. Passing through open walls is possible when they become
Active. When you enter a room which you've never been in before, a
timer on screen begins counting down from 16. When it reaches zero,
all opened walls become Active. This is shown by the yellow Portals
beginning to shimmer. At this stage you may leave by passing through
a Portal via a Jump from an opposing surface or via a Jump-Turn.
You will not leave by just walking over an active Portal, or by
dropping from a parallel plane onto a Portal.
You should avoid accidentally leaving a room prematurely, for
reasons detailed below. If the Portals are active and you need to
Jump or Jump-Turn, ensure that you land on solid brickwork.
The fimer is important. Upon entering a room for the first time,
the attack wave commences and the timer counts down. At t=O any open
walls become active. You are not obliged to leave straight away. You
can stay as long as you like, opening other walls, scoring and
collecting keys. When you leave, that room is done. If you return,
it will be empty. No keys, no opportunity to open walls you missed
(unless you have GOATS). Thus it is vitallly important to open
sufficient doors and collect all hidden keys within a room before
you leave. There's no second chance.
Provision has been made for a stalemate circumstance. If you find
that you failed to open enough doors in a room, and return there
to find yourself blocked off from the rest of the maze. you can use
a body bomb. Pressing 'B' on the keyboard triggers this. You blow
up, losing a life but simultaneously blasting open all Normal walls
of any strength in your room. This works whether the room is full
or empty. Your next incarnation can proceed through the extra walls
thus opened.
Body bombing is a last-ditch measure, however. A good player will
never use it (except strategically. See Strategies below).
Camels and Goats
As mentioned above, keys are present in certain rooms in the form
of camels. It is essential to get these before you leave a room,
since a locked door cannot be passed any other way, even with a Body
Bomb.
There are also five Magic Goats scattered around the rooms. Each one
you collect adds a letter to the word 'GOATS' next to your score. If
you complete the word, you are granted the power to damage walls just
by jumping on them. This power must be obtained to complete 100% of
the game.
Mission Objective
Your task is to visit and de-activate each of the 100 rooms within
the maze. You should attempt to score as much as possible alang the
way. Your progress is recorded as a score and as a percentage of
the game completed. A bonus is awarded for successful completion,
modified by a multiplier depending on the number of lives left in
hand upon termination.
Help!
Due to the varied nature of the challenges facing you. I have
provided a Help mode for each screen. Pressing 'H' at the keyboard
pauses the game and displays a little text which offers some sound
advice for the particular screen you're on. Pressing any other key
when ready resumes the game.
Other Helpful Controls
Pressing 'D' toggles the drum rhythm generator on/off. Hit this if the
background rhythms annoy you. It leaves firing sounds intact. Pressing
the left-arrow key at the top-left of the keyboard provides escape from
a game in progress back to the title/option screen. Use this if you
want to abort for any reason.
Bonuses
Every time you open up a wall, three camelsworth of strength is added,
up to a maximum of ten camelsworth displayed. You lose strength when
you are hit, and there is also a natural entropic reduction in the
strength level with Time.
Whenever you take a camel key, you also receive 3 extra incarnations.
However, there are only six keys; after you've got them all you can't
earn any more lives.
Strategies
Don't walk into walls. This may sound obvious but just as you can
tell a Defender novice by the way he flies smack into things, so most
Ancipital novices display a marked enthusiasm for becoming one with
the brickwork. Don't do it.
Make a map. Learn the positions of goats and camels, and waves you
find nasty so you can be sure to approach them with plenty energy.
Learn the wave characteristics. Know safe spots and rich bonuses.
Learn so you know instantly you materialise what you need to do.
(Tip: if the desired target seems reluctant to appear, try easing
off on the firing). Remember that waves exist where no firing is
allowed, or firing is dangerous. Some of the rooms are puzzles.
Take time to think. Use the Help mode often.
Save up walls. You get an energy bonus each time you open a wall.
At the end of a game, you can't get any mare lives because you've
got all the keys, so make the energy last by opening walls you left
yourself earlier on in the game.
Listen to some good rolid rock. Aids the thought processes no end
and helps you get in the swing of things.
Beware of Rory the Savage Guinea Pig.
Body Bomb before you die. If you're about to die in an awkward
room, Body Bomb rather than let them finish you. You can then make
good your escape with your next incarnation, provided you survive
until t=0.
Anything more is up to you. Practise makes less imperfect. The best
achieved by the author so far was 83% and some 3.4 million, so until
someone out there advises me otherwise I hereby proclaim myself to
be Supreme Ancipital Oslactic Champion.
-END-