----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ######################### The Convergence Saga ######################### ######################### Part 1: TRADING PUNCHES ######################### ######################### Version 1.9 ######################### ######################### ----------------------- ######################### ######################### Written by: Mike Snyder ######################### ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- Before You Start! ------------------- The Trading Punches package should include the following files: TRADING.HEX - The main game program README.TXT - This file, the documentation TRADGFX - Trading Punches Image Pack (JPG) TRADMUS - Trading Punches Soundtrack (MP3) For those players using graphics, the command "VIEW" has been implemented, in order to display the chapter start-scene again. You may or may not find this a handy feature. Hints are available. Type "HELP" inside the game, and you will have the option to start stepping one by one through a series of clues and tips for the current section. You don't have to play the game with sound enabled, if you find it an annoyance or a distraction. Simply disable sound in your Hugo interpreter. it's far better to enjoy the game the way you prefer, than to purposely leave sound enabled as a reason to complain. The music is meant to help set the mood, and I recommend leaving it on with the volume low (ambience). It's entirely up to you. If you play the game to completion, you may even find a way to play each of the songs at any time; you might want listen to the soundtrack only after you finish the game, to reflect upon each chapter. Trading Punches is part one of a five-part saga. It's actually set after the events of parts two and three, during the events of part four, and before the events of part five. As of this release, the remainder of "The Convergence Saga" lives purely as a concept. With encouragement, I hope to complete it. If you have questions or comments about the game, I can be reached via email at sidneymerk@hotmail.com. I appreciate feedback! You can also visit my Interactive Fiction website at http://www.sidneymerk.com/ for the latest versions of my games, and news about my projects. It's not exactly a BLOG, so don't look for frequent news to appear, but you may find it updated once in a while (plus, my reviews of other Interactive Fiction are posted there). ------------------------------- How To Play Interactive Fiction ------------------------------- I am assuming that you have already downloaded and installed the Hugo engine. It's free, but it is not included with this distribution. If not, try going to http://www.ifarchive.org, pick a mirror, select the "interpreters-other" area, and navigate your way to the Hugo downloads. Although these instructions are tailored to Trading Punches and Hugo in general, you may find this information handy for other IF games as well. Fortunately, most of what you need to know can be explained very briefly: Tell the game what to do, by typing your commands. You normally don't have to get very complicated. Keep in mind, you're still talking to a computer. Generally, your commands will take one of three forms: COMMAND VERB SOMETHING VERB SOMETHING at/to/about/with/on/under/etc/etc/ SOMETHING You'll modify this, of course, to the specific command. For instance, "get the book" (or simply "get book", as most articles can be ignored), is a valid command, as are "open book" and "read book", depending upon the context and the availability of these options in the game. "Throw book at the librarian" might work. "Ask librarian about the book" may be possible. Most Interactive Fiction (and this game is no exception) will be grouped into "rooms" -- even if several virtual rooms comprise a single larger area. To move about, simply type the compass directions -- N, S, E, W (or North, South, East, West, if you prefer to do unnecessary typing) are usually valid. The diagonals NW, NE, SE, and SW will sometimes work, depending on the area. U for Up and D for Down, although not required by Trading Punches, will work in some other games. Finally, "In" and "Out" (or "Enter Doorway" and "Exit") may also assist in your movement through game locations. Note that game items can be expressed in numerous ways. Because of this, it is often possible for the game to consider some of your commands as ambiguous. Take for example a situation in which there is a white statue and a blue statue. "X Statue" (because "X" is shorthand for "Examine") will probably result in "which statue do you mean, the white statue or the blue statue?" Hugo, like other IF languages, is clever in that you can actually disambiguate by answering the question. Simply type "white" and your command proceeds. Your original command could have included the color (x white cup). Often, you can simply use the most defining characteristic to refer to it. "X white" will work, until there is (for instance) a "white horse" in proximity, and then you'll once again be asked which one you meant. Other commands vital to most games include "Save" and "Restore" (you might not finish your adventure in one sitting), "Undo" to fix mistakes (although Hugo has hefty "Undo" capacity, I have purposely limited you to three turns backward), "Get" and "Drop" of course, and "Restart" if you wish to begin again. "Talk to (person)" followed by "Ask about (something)" are common in some games. "Tell (person) about (something)" can be useful. Just remember, there are so many possiblities when dealing with conversations, a game usually can't support a fraction of what you'll try. Beyond that, what you try is up to you. ------------------------ Credits and Thank-Yous ------------------------ Thanks to my Pre-COMP beta testers, Bildar, Zaruko, Deb, GreenAlge, Gambit, Grackle, and the few others who did not respond to let me know how you'd like to be listed in the credits. Thanks to Kent Tessman, not only for creating Hugo, but for answering my questions whenever I had a need to ask. The following are free wireframe objects which were used royalty-free from 3dcafe.com and/or the3dstudio.com for various renders in the Trading Punches chapter illustrations: the bridge model (prologue), fountain, gate, and bench models (chapter intros), stone steps/rails, pillars, table, and sofa models (chapter 1), multiple underwater plant models (chapter 3). The chapter illustrations were designed and rendered using Corel's Bryce 5 (fomerly a MetaCreations product). Touch-up (buttonizing, mainly) was done using Paint Shop Pro 6 (JASC). All illustrations are original works. The soundtrack was composed using "Midi Studio Generation 6" (Magix), then converted to WAV using "Midi2Wav Recorder" (RINASoft) and finally to MP3 format with "MP3 Converter 2001" (Cannysoft). All songs are original works. Most of all, thank you to my VERY UNDERSTANDING wife, whom I neglected in the weeks leading up to the IFCOMP '04 deadline, in order to see the original version of this game finished. I know her patience probably would not have stretched much further.