HOW TO RUN THE PROGRAM
QUICKSTART INSTRUCTIONS
CONTROLLING THE GAME
MODE 1 - TYPED TEXT MODE
THE LINE EDITOR
USING KEYBOARD MACROS
THE POWER OF THE PARSER
MODE 2 - MENU MODE
SOME IMPORTANT COMMANDS
OPTIONS MENU
THE PANIC BUTTON
ADVENTURING TECHNIQUES: A FEW POINTERS TO GETTING AROUND
AN INTRODUCTION TO ADVENTURE GAMES
AN INTRODUCTION TO DEMON'S TOMB
a) PC compatibles & Tandy machines
(EGA/CGA/MONO/TANDY - these are all autodetected by the game)
Type: A>game
MONO does not support graphics CGA users will not need the second disk; their gfx are on the 1st EGA/TANDY users will be prompted to insert the second disk
b) MS-DOS machines/emulators which support ANSI escape sequences
Type: A>game ansi
Plays the game but without graphics or menu input.
With such a wide variety of user-defined features, DEMON'S TOMB will give its best once you have read the manual thoroughly and are familiar with the options available to you.
This may, however, take longer than five minutes and so for those of you wanting to get on with the show, the following few notes will ensure that the initial foray into the game will be enjoyable and not too frustrating.
i. The game will be set into Typed Text Mode when you start, enabling you to enter text as you would for any other adventure. The parser supports multiple commands separated by AND or full stops, and AGAIN repeats the whole of your last line of input as though you had retyped it. Graphics are called by pressing F1.
ii. At the outset you are in control of Lynton Snr. He will die soon after the game begins. Whatever you do, don't waste time trying to save him. Write the old boy off and concentrate on trying to save his possessions from the blaze.
iii. Use the RAMSAVE function often. Then when you are killed, which you will be, often, RAMLOAD puts you back at the point you reached when you last typed a RAMSAVE.
iv. The game uses a THINK ABOUT feature, as another form of the EXAMINE command, which activates your character's experience and can provide clues and insight into particular objects and people. You will need this to solve many of the puzzles in the game, or even to progress very far into the mystery.
Characters can think about anything they come across, even if they have only read about it or been told about it by someone else.
v. UNDO can be used to undo whatever consequences occurred as a result of your last actions, even if it was fatal. One undo works on one line of input, regardless of how many commands it contains.
This doesn't even begin to cover all the options and features of the program, but it will at least getyou started armed with a few of the more useful words and hopefully satisfy the initial curiousity enough for you to read the manual properly!
DEMON'S TOMB offers two alternative modes of interaction without in any way compromising the quality of the game itself. These modes are:
(1) TYPED TEXT MODE
(2) MENU MODE
The same adventure may be played in either of these modes. Most people will prefer to select their favourite mode and stay in it for the whole game. However, if you wish, you can switch backwards and forwards between them during play. When you save the game status to disk the currently selected mode is also remembered and will be restored on a subsequent reload of the saved game.
Typed Text mode is the normal way in which commands are entered into adventure games; you just type in what you want to do and press the RETURN key. However, the game has three features which enhance the speed of entry and ease of use. These features are:
LINE EDITOR
This allows you to correct typing mistakes in your current command line and to recall, alter and reuse any of your previous ten command lines.KEYBOARD MACROS
These are essentially user defined abbreviations. For example, you can define "X" to mean "EXAMINE", "GA" to mean "GET ALL" and so on.ADVANCED PARSER
The parser interprets your commands and turns them into actions in the game. DEMON'S TOMB parser accepts many effort saving complex commands. It also deliberately encourages you to be lazy by automatically filling in missing parts of your input. If ambiguities exist, it can offer you a numbered selection of possibilities and you simply press a number key to complete your input.
If you are new to adventure games and all this is too much to take in at once - don't panic! These features are not essential knowledge to start playing the game. So you can skip over the following detailed descriptions of these features for now and come back to them once you have played the game once or twice. There is an introduction to adventure games and to DEMON'S TOMB in particular towards the end of this manual.
The editor allows you to do the following two things:
Inevitably you will make typing mistakes. The simplest of these is hitting the wrong key. To correct this press the BACKSPACE key (just above the RETURN key) until you have deleted all the unwanted characters. You can now retype the corrected version.
If you made a mistake earlier in the line there is no need to delete and retype the whole line. Instead, move the cursor to where you made the mistake by using the following keys:
| LEFT | one character left |
| RIGHT | one character right |
| CTRL LEFT | one word left |
| CTRL RIGHT | one word right |
| HOME | to start of line |
| END | to end of line |
You can now insert any missing characters by simply typing them in. If, however, you want to replace something instead of inserting it, change the cursor from "insert" to "overtype" mode by pressing the INSERT key; you can then type over anything you wish to replace. Remember, the cursor does not automatically go back into "insert" mode and you must press INSERT again if you want it to go back. Most people prefer to leave the cursor in their favourite mode. To this end, when you save the game status to disk, the cursor mode is also remembered and will be restored on a subsequent reload of the saved game.
Some other useful keys for chopping your input about are the following:
| DELETE (or DEL) | delete the character at the cursor |
| CTRL BACKSPACE | delete everything before the cursor |
| CTRL RETURN | delete all from the cursor onwards |
When you have finished changing your line of input press RETURN to submit it to the game. It is useful to know that it doesn't matter where the cursor is on the line when you press RETURN; it doesn't have to be at the end.
By repeatedly pressing the UP cursor key you can step back through the last ten lines you typed in and find the line you wish to reuse. If you accidentally go back too far, use the DOWN cursor key to step forward again. Once you have found the one you want, you can either edit it as if you had just typed it in or you can enter it unchanged by pressing the RETURN key.
If you only want to look at a previous line without losing the line you are typing, use the UP key to find the old line and then use the DOWN key to return to your current line.
DEMON'S TOMB has three commands which allow you to define macros (abbreviations). These commands are:
(a) DEFINE
(b) LIST
(c) UNDEFINE
To enter one of these macro commands you just type it as you would a normal game command. As with normal commands it doesn't matter whether you type in capitals or lower case; the game does not differentiate between them. The way in which you use the three commands are as follows:
(a) DEFINE
This command allows you to define one word to mean another word or words. The word you have defined can then be used instead of the other word or words when you are typing in your commands. For example
define ga = get all ('ga' now means 'get all')
define def = define ('def' now means 'define')
(You can now use 'def' instead of 'define')
def nb = notebook
def x = examine
def p = put down
def t = think about
def bigwait = wait,wait,wait,wait,wait
This command makes the game list out all the macros you have defined. To use it, just type "list".
In case you change your mind about a macro or accidentally define it incorrectly, this command makes the game forget a particular definition. For example
undefine ga
undefine bigwait
undefine x
When you save the game status to disk, all your macros are also remembered and will be restored on a subsequent reload of the saved game. So, you don't have to type them all in again every time you play the game.
To make playing the game easier DEMON'S TOMB understands more complex input than that described in the first timer introduction. These more powerful features are listed below, along with examples of their use.
>go north and then kick the bucket
>go north then kick the bucket
>go north and kick the bucket
>go north & kick the bucket
>go north. kick the bucket
>go north, kick the bucket
>n,kick bucket
>n,s,e,w
>n.s.e.w
>take the bag, the bucket and the pen
>take bag, bucket and pen
>take bag, bucket, pen
>take the notebook
>read it
>take the notebook. read it
>take the notebook and the pen
>put them all in the bag
>put them in the bag
>take the notebook and the pen. put them in the bag
>get book and bucket and pen and put them in bag
>get book, bucket, pen, put them in bag
>pick sam up. examine him
>take the sandwich from sam. hit him with it
>take all
>take everything
>take the lot
>take all but notebook
>take all but notebook, bag and pen
>take all except notebook and bag
>take everything apart from the book
>get the red bag and the black bag
>get all the big, red things
>get all the red things
>get red
>put all the metal things down
>drop all of the books
>drop the books
>drop all the books except the old one and the red ones
>take everything but the books
>drop something
>drop anything
>throw a book at sam
>read one of the books
>drop something old
>say "hello" to sam
>sam, hello
>"hello" (spoken to yourself)
>tell vaulker about the notebook
DEMON'S TOMB parser does its best to complete incomplete sentences. If there is only one object to take then you don't have to type it. For example
>take
[sleeping bag]
Here, the sleeping bag is the only visible object and so the game assumes that this is what you meant; it tells you this by displaying the name of the object in square brackets on the line below your input. If there was more than one visible object the game would respond in one of two ways, depending on the verb; for verbs like "take" and "drop" it displays a selection like this:
>take
1. sleeping bag
2. notebook
3. biro
4. torch
Take which of these?
To complete this input, just press a numeric key in the range 1 to 4. If you don't want to select any of these, press either 0 or ESC. One verb where this selection is particularly useful is "go". If you just type "go" on its own instead of, say, "go north", the game will offer you a selection of directions in which you can go. For example
>go
1. north
2. east
3. down
Go which of these?
For verbs like "examine" and "look under", no selection is offered because this might give away some of the puzzles in the game. Instead, a question is displayed and you can type in an answer. For example
>examine
Examine what?
>the coffin (or ">examine the coffin")
Alternatively, you can ignore the question and type in a completely unrelated command like "go south"; the parser is smart enough not to try doing "examine go south" and will correctly interpret your new command.
If you ever give an ambiguous command the game will always offer a selection of alternatives regardless of the verb type. For example
>examine letter
1. old letter
2. new letter
Examine which of these?
In many cases the game will automatically take or drop objects as required before executing your command. For example, assuming that you are not carrying a key,
>unlock the door with the key
<Taking the key first>
Here, the game realizes that you need the key and do not already have it. Therefore, it tries to take the key before attempting to unlock the door. The message bracketed by "<" and ">" tells you this. If, for some reason, you can't take the key a message will be displayed and the game will not bother to try unlocking the door.
Menu mode has been designed to allow you to enter your commands in the fastest possible manner. A menu at the bottom of the screen offers a range of verbs. To give a command you must select a verb from this menu in one of the following ways:
(a) If the verb you want is already highlighted just press the RETURN key.
(b) If the verb you want is adjacent or almost adjacent to the currently highlighted verb use the cursor keys to move the highlight up, down, left or right. Once your verb is highlighted, press the RETURN key.
(c) Otherwise, type in the first letter of the verb you want. This moves the highlight to the "next" verb which starts with that letter. If this isn't the verb you want, either repeatedly press the same letter until your verb is reached, or use the cursor keys to reach it. Once your verb is highlighted, press the RETURN key.
Verbs starting with the same letter have been ordered so that the most frequently used verbs come first. For example, EXAMINE comes before EAT because there are more things to examine in the game than there are to eat. Similarly, EAST, the "verb" which moves you east in the game, comes before EXAMINE.
Another useful feature is the BACKSPACE key (above the RETURN key). This key moves the highlight to the "previous" verb which starts with the same letter as the currently highlighted verb.
If the verb you have selected requires an object (eg. EXAMINE), it will present a menu of possible objects (eg. NOTEBOOK, TORCH, SLEEPING BAG). You must select an object from this menu using the same techniques as described above. Some verbs require both a direct object and an indirect object (eg. GIVE TO), in which case a second menu of objects is offered after the first.
The game uses a degree of common sense in compiling the list of objects for your selection. For example, only objects which may be read will appear on the object menu for the READ verb. However, such "intelligence" is not applied to verbs like LOOK UNDER, where offering only the objects that you can look under would give away some puzzles and spoil the game. Other verbs, like GET and DROP, add the word "ALL" to the start of an object list. Selecting this will, of course, select all the objects. If you do not want to select any of the objects on offer press the ESC key to abort the command.
In some cases there may not be any suitable objects. For example, you might have selected the PUT DOWN verb when you are not actually carrying anything to put down. A message is displayed to this effect and you are returned to the verb menu so that you can select another verb. In other cases, there is only one object to choose from and so the game does not bother to put up a menu. Instead, it selects it for you and the object appears in square brackets on your command line (ie. after the ">" prompt).
Alas, not everything can be speeded up: verbs such as SAY, LOAD and SAVE ask you to type something in. SAY needs to know what you want to say, and LOAD and SAVE need a file name. You may or may not be interested to know that the line editing facilities available under Text Mode can be used when entering this text.
All this may sound very complicated for a so called "fast input mode" but what takes several paragraphs to describe is in fact very intuitive and takes only a few minutes to learn. Remember, it doesn't matter if your typing finger gets overenthusiastic and thinks it's playing an arcade game; you can always select the UNDO verb which will undo the effects of your last command and the ESC key will always get you out of an object menu.
The following commands do not actually make your character do anything in the story. Instead, they make it easier for you to play the game. If you have played other popular adventure games you might already know some of the synonyms shown in brackets.
AGAIN This will make the game repeat your last input as if you had retyped the whole thing. For example
>pull the rope
The rope gives slightly, but does not quite come loose.
>again
The rope gives a little more.
>again
The rope finally comes free.
You can do quite fancy things with "again" in Typed Text Mode (not in Menu Mode). If "again" isn't the first command on your input line, the commands before it are repeated instead of the last line you typed. For example, if you wanted to rub and examine a lamp twice and then open it:
>rub the lamp. examine it. again. drop it
This is the same as typing:
>rub the lamp. examine it.
>rub the lamp. examine it.
>drop it
If you find that confusing forget about it and stick to straight forward uses of "again".
UNDO (or OOPS) This command will undo whatever happened as a consequence of your last input, even if your poor character got killed; you can actually "undo" an "undo" if you want to! It doesn't matter how many sentences there were on your last input line, they will all be undone. For example, you can undo
>n.n.w.n.n.e.s.w.get hammer.hit sam with it.run south
with a single "undo".
EXITS This command is used to help you make a map of the game world by giving you a list of exits from your current location. For example
>exits
The obvious exits are: north, south, up.
By 'obvious exits', the game means that none of the other compass directions will take you anywhere; that isn't to say, for example, that pulling a lever isn't going to reveal a trapdoor and thus add a new exit. So remember, the things you do in the game can actually create or destroy exits. It is also possible for certain exits to appear and disappear with the passage of time.
TIME This makes the game tell you the current time in the story. Remember that the time is displayed in 24 hour clock format.
VERSION This displays the game title and the version number of your copy of DEMON'S TOMB. Please include this information if you ever report a fault in the game.
CONCISE (or BRIEF) DETAILED (or VERBOSE or FULL) TERSE (or SUPERBRIEF) These three commands set the amount of information given in descriptions of game locations. The default is "concise" which gives a long description of a location on your first visit and a short description on each subsequent visit. Entering "detailed" will always give the long description, whereas "terse" only ever gives the name of the location. In addition, "terse" inhibits the blank line after each turn. Obviously, terse mode can only be used once you are very familiar with DEMON'S TOMB.
RESTART This takes you right back to the beginning of the story again.
QUIT When you have finished playing, enter "quit" to leave the game. You will be asked to press 'y' if you are sure; if you want to save the game status (see the SAVE command below) to disk and have not already done so, press 'n' for no. When you do press 'y' you are then asked if you want to restart the game. Press 'y' if you want to do this, otherwise press 'n' to leave the game.
RAMSAVE RAMLOAD The "ramsave" command saves the game status in the computer's memory. Subsequently entering the "ramload" command will take you back to that point in the game, even if your game character has died several times since then. These two commands are particularly useful if you are about to embark upon a dangerous sequence of actions which could not be undone with the "undo" command (which only undoes your last input). You can enter "ramload" as often as you want; it will always take you back to the last time you did a "ramsave".
LOAD (or RESTORE) SAVE (or STORE) DEMON'S TOMB isn't the sort of game which you are going to finish in one playing session, no matter how much coffee you drink! If you don't want to start right back at the beginning everytime you turn the computer off you must save the game status to disk. To do this you need to enter a command like:
>save "mygame"
The word in quotes can be anything you want provided that it is not more than six letters long. The game will save the current game status on the disk in a file of this name. By using different words you can have different saved games. Next time you play DEMON'S TOMB, you can reload a saved game by entering:
>load "mygame"
If you are in Menu Mode when you want to save the game just select the SAVE verb as you would any other verb. You will then be prompted to type in a filename of up to 8 letters. Press RETURN once you have done this.
When you save the game status to disk the following things are also saved:
When you load a saved game from disk all these things are restored to the way they were when you saved the game. This can be a great time saver.
The enviroment in which you play DEMON'S TOMB is highly reconfigurable. What is more, the way you have configured the game is saved out along with the story status when you save the game to disk (see SAVE in "SOME IMPORTANT COMMANDS").
To configure the enviroment, you must invoke the Options Menu by pressing the ESC key (top left of keyboard). You can do this at any time during the game and as often as you want; the game will always resume at the point you left off once you leave this menu. When you have changed whatever option(s) you want press RETURN or ESC to leave the menu and see their effects.
Each line of the Options Menu has the name of an option followed by the current setting of that option. You can change the setting of any option that doesn't currently have "n/a" (ie."not applicable") after it. To change an option, use the UP and DOWN cursor keys to highlight that option. You can then use the LEFT and RIGHT cursor keys to cycle through the various settings for that option until you find the one you want. Remember that the effects of these options are not seen until you leave the Options Menu.
IMPORTANT NOTE: As an alternative, ST and Amiga users can press the right mouse button instead of the ESC key and use the mouse to move the highlight up and down. The left mouse button allows you to step through the settings for an option in exactly the same way as the RIGHT cursor key.
The options are described below:
a) output format This controls the screen format which in turn determines which of the remaining options can or can't be altered (ie. which ones are "n/a"). The table below shows the features of each of format.
OUTPUT FORMAT TYPED TEXT MENU MODE FIXED INPUT COLUMN WIDTH plain 40 YES --- --- 40 plain 60 YES --- --- 60 plain 80 YES --- --- 80 window 40 YES --- YES 40 window 60 YES YES YES 60 window 80 YES YES YES 80 2 column YES YES YES 2 x 36 Where:
- TYPED TEXT means "allows Typed Text Mode interaction".
- MENU MODE means "allows Menu Mode interaction".
- FIXED INPUT means "input is always typed on bottom screen line".
- COLUMN WIDTH means "the width of the output area".
The "2 column" mode displays two columns of text side by side. They behave as if the right hand column were positioned beneath the left hand column; new text always appears at the bottom of the right hand column. This format is particulary good at showing a record of your previous commands - it can show as many as 25 previous inputs. (Note: for best readability in this mode, set the border colour to the same as the output background colour, turn the status line off and turn fixed input on).
b) graphics Setting graphics to "on" makes the game load and display pictures whenever the story calls for them. A picture will be displayed until you press a key. You can always recall the last picture displayed by pressing the F1 key.
c) menu input Provided that the "output format" option is set to a format which allows Menu Mode interaction you can put the game in Menu Mode by turning this option on. Turning it off puts the game in Typed Text mode.
d) fix input line This option only affects Typed Text mode. When turned on it keeps your input line at the bottom of the screen, seperate from the game's output.
e) status line This option affects all output formats. When turned on the top screen line is used to display your current game location and the current game time. Remember that the time uses 24 hour clock.
f) echo to printer When you turn this option on, all subsequent game output is copied to the printer. If the printer isn't on or stops working (PC & ST versions only) then this option is automatically turned off.
g) menu height This option only affects Menu Mode. It sets the number of lines in the menu window.
h) and onwards set the colours used for the various components of the display. Select the colour you want for each component and then press the ESC key to see the results.
If you are playing DEMON'S TOMB when you should actually be working on your computer you may find the panic button very useful indeed. Pressing the F2 key will clear the screen and put up a dummy prompt. This screen will remain until you press F2 again; then the game will resume at the point you left off. It is fairly safe to leave the machine like this and go off and make another cup of coffee; if someone tries to type something in, the following message is displayed: "This machine is busy - do not touch."
This introduction is divided into two sections which deal with adventures in general then DEMON'S TOMB in particular. If you are familiar with the genre, you might like to skip onto the section headed AN INTRODUCTION TO DEMON'S TOMB.
An adventure game is an interactive story in which you control the main character. Each turn the game gives you a description of your character's current situation and you respond by typing in what you want your character to do next. If the game understands your input, the character will attempt to follow your command and the consequences of his action will be reported; otherwise, the game displays a message saying what it doesn't understand and waits for you to enter another command.
As an example of this interaction consider the following dialogue with a traditional adventure game. (Lines starting ">" are player input)
You are standing at the end of a road before a small, brick building. Around you is forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully.
>enter the building
You are inside a building. A wellhouse for a large spring. You can see some keys, a shiny brass lamp, some food and a bottle.
>take the keys
Okay.
>take the lap
I don't know the word "lap".
>take the lamp
Okay.
>rub the lamp
Rubbing an electric lamp is not particularly rewarding.
Anyway, nothing happens.
>leave
You are at the end of the road again.
>go south
You are in a valley in the forest beside a stream tumbling along a rocky bed.
>go south
You are in a 20-ft. depression floored with bare dirt. Set into the dirt is a strong steel grate mounted in concrete. The grate is locked.
>unlock the grate with the keys
The grate is now unlocked.
As you play an adventure game you will encounter problems which will need to be solved using the available objects and your own native cunning and intellect. Unlocking the grate in the above example was fairly straight forward. A different adventure game plot might not provide such an obvious way of opening the grate; you might need to oil the hinges or pick the lock with a piece of wire, or even open the grate with a crowbar. Alternatively, examining the grate may reveal that it is welded shut; in which case dynamite might prove more effective! Solving the problem of opening the grate may require you to solve other puzzles first; you may need to get the dynamite out of a locked box, stop it getting wet in the rain and then find some way to light the fuse.
As you will have seen from the example dialogue, to input a command you type in a simple sentence after the ">" prompt. However, this dialogue does not show you that you have to press the RETURN (or ENTER) key after you have typed your sentence; nor that it doesn't matter if you use capital letters instead of small ones.
Although you will be able to guess most of the commands essential for play, it is useful to know that there is a common core of commands used in almost all adventure games. These are listed below:
GO (direction)
The direction can be: north,south,east,west,up,down. These may be abbreviated to: n,s,e,w,u,d respectively, and you can miss out the "go" if you want. For example, the following all mean the same thing:
>go north
>go n
>north
>n
LOOK AROUND
This redescribes your character's current situation. LOOK may be abbreviated to L and AROUND may be missed off.
>look around
>look
>l
TAKE (something)
Alternatives are GET and PICK UP.
>take the book (note: "the" can be missed out)
>take book
>get book
>pick up book
DROP (something)
An alternative is PUT DOWN.
>drop book
>put down book
INVENTORY
This displays a list of the things your character is carrying. The command can be abbreviated to I.
>inventory
>i
EXAMINE (something)
This may give you more information about an object. An alternative is LOOK AT (something).
>examine book
>look at door
Even armed with knowledge of these commands it is not always obvious what you have to do next. To help at such times it is a good idea to gather as much information as possible:
You should not expect to complete an adventure game in one, or even a dozen, sessions; many replays are required. Fortunately, you don't have to start right back at the beginning every time you play; you can save the state of the story to disk and then reload it at the start of the next session.
DEMON'S TOMB is an illustrated text adventure game. It supports all the "state of the art" features which players have come to expect from modern adventure games, and sets new standards by offering an alternative method of interacting with the game. (More on this in section 2)
The game also features enhanced character realism by giving the player's character his own world knowledge and past experiences. To access this information a new variation of the EXAMINE command is used:
THINK ABOUT (something)
For example:
>think about Sam
>think about the notebook
>think about the fire
>think about the door
To fully understand the plot and solve the game you will have to make extensive use of both 'THINK ABOUT' and 'EXAMINE'. Remember, you can 'THINK ABOUT' anything your character comes across in the game. This includes things he has only read about or has been told about by other characters.
The adventure begins on a one-man archaeological exacavation in a remote English forest. You control Professor Edward Lynton, an ill-fated archaeologist who is doomed to die a violent and mysterious death while studying inscriptions in an underground burial chamber. You only have a limited number of moves before Lynton is killed by a raging fire. In that time you must find a way for him to save everything of importance from the fire.
Once the archaeologist is dead you take control of his son, Richard Lynton, who is on his way to visit his father at the excavation. If the archaeologist took the right steps to leave a warning, Richard will discover the dreadful secret of the tomb.