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POLYBIUS 6-0
WARNING
This game uses strobe, auditory, and visual effects that
could potentially cause seizures, nausea, motion sickness.
DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME IF YOU HAVE SEIZURES, HEART PROBLEMS
OR RHYTHM DISTURBANCES, PREGNANCY, OR ARE ON ANY PSYCHO-
ACTIVE MEDICINES. If you have any of these or other
prohibitive medical conditions, you should not play video-
games in general, including this one.
DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME FOR EXTENDED PERIODS OF TIME (may cause
some motion sickness).
TO ACTIVATE ALL FEATURES OF THIS GAME, YOU MUST ENTER AN
ACCESS CODE IN THE DIAGNOSTIC MENU (see access code below).
DISCLAIMER/CLARIFICATION:
The effects used in this game are commonly employed in other
games and in the industry. It does not actually induce hypnosis,
mood alteration, or cause mind control (that technology simply
does not exist). The attempts to faithfully recreate the game
as it was in 1981 are limited to notions of gameplay and general
appearance. The conspiracy elements of this recreation are for novelty
as are most of the toggles in the higher functions menu. The only
real toggles in the Higher Functions Menu are for entrainment
off/on/volume, visual interactive backgrounds on/off, subliminals,
false offkey, poltergeist functions, access code, and autonomy.
The others are for effect to shock and amaze your friends on seeing
the game IRL. For the record, the ghosts seen are also not real ghosts
(perhaps MIB constructs for plausible deniability?). Finally, please
avoid saying "POLYBIUS" three times while facing a mirror. They
monitor for that.
If you have any reservations or concerns about playing this game,
don't play. Do something else instead. Why don't you pass the time
by playing a little solitaire?
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This program is the work of Sinnesloschen Inc. It is
freeware. It is not to be sold or bundled for profit
without express permission from the authors.
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System Requirements:
This emulator runs using the DarkBasic compiler. Please check
their specs at www.darkbasic.com for details. You run this at
your own risk.
CONTENTS:
I. About this game
II. How to play
III. Diagnostic menu
IV. Higher functions
V. Display Resolution
VI. Troubleshooting
VII. Support
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I. ABOUT THIS GAME
This emulates the 1981 version as it was originally designed.
This version uses a MAME type interface and is designed to play
in an arcade cabinet. The game uses both vector and raster graphics.
This is incorporated in this version. The program uses a number of
effects which allow the player to customize gameplay. Specifically,
the interactive backgrounds, strobe effects, auditory entrainment
(see below), and subliminals are all toggled. In additon, there are
"poltergeist" functions and autonomous functions. These occasionally
play whispers, show subtle faces, and allow the game to auto credit
and turn itself back on (false off). It is hard to say this is a faithful
recreation of the game but hopefully it approximates the myth.
II. GAMEPLAY
To start, wait for the game to boot (until the flashing POLYBIUS TM logo). Hit "5"
to insert coins then fire (space or "z" when you first start to begin).
Default controls are:
Forward Up or w
Back Down or s
Clockwise Left or a
Counter Right or d
Fire Space or z
Coinup 5
Diagnostic 0
Menu
False off 9
Exit Escape or 3
Use left/right/up/down to maneuver ship clockwise/counter and towards
or away from the base. Use fire to destroy enemies. Occasionally, glowing
shapes will launch from the base with a red number circling them. If the
number matches either digit on the base number (on each arm of the base)
or is evenly divisible within, shooting it will reduce the base number by
the polygon number. Getting the base number to zero advances to the next
level. Intercepting the polygon will increase shields. Colliding with enemy
pawns, missiles, or mines reduces shields. Scoring is based on enemies killed,
reducing base number, and level change. The largest score increases are with
divisible numbers, especially square roots. At higherlevels, the base shoots
a paralysis beam which may briefly immobilize the player. This occurs when all
arms of the base align.
III. Diagnostic Mode
Hit "0" during attract mode to enter Diagnostic Mode. Use up and down to cycle
through options. Use left and right to change toggles on most screens. Coinup,
"False off:, and "Exit to Windows" buttons are disabled in this mode (Esc still
functions).
YOU MUST CYCLE THROUGH AND SAVE IF YOU WANT OPTIONS TO PERSIST WHEN THE GAME
IS RESTARTED IN THE FUTURE.
- Coins per credit- Sets number of coins needed to advance credit
- Free Play- Toggles free play on or off
- Screen orientation- Sets cabinet or cocktail mode
- Game Rotation- "Ship" means the player ship will move on the screen
"Screen" rotates the screen with player ship fixed
- Ships per play- Number of ships per credit
- Bonus ship- Sets score increments for bonus ships
- Shield per ship- Shield amount per ship
- Attract sound- Sets sound on, off, or intermittent during attract mode
- Keymapper- Hit fire to enter. Up/down cycles through mappable keys.
Hit fire to open keystate. The next key hit assigns that function.
Default keys cannot be reset (arrows/space). Changes must be saved to
persist.
- Control check- Allows quick control check without entering game. Defaults
do not register.
- Joystick- Enables basic joystick functions for game controls.
- Reset Highscores- rests to Default
- Level order- Allows you to set level background order (20 levels before
repeat). You must save for order to persist for future games.
- Sync rate- Sets refresh rate
- Higher Functions- Enter higher game functions menu
- Text effects in High Score- Toggles text effects in High score demo and
entry- Toggling to off will reduce slow down (see Troubleshooting).
- Randomizer- Randomizes levels from levels stored (Level 1 is always blank).
- Save- Saves all changes except level order and keymapper. These must be
saved on the individual menus.
IV. Higher Game Functions
Enter through the Diagnostic menu. Use arrow keys to cycle through options.
Left/right toggles options.Coinup, "False off:, and "Exit to Windows" buttons
are disabled in this mode (Esc still functions).
*****ACCESS CODE***** The code must be entered the first time you
*************************** access higher functions.
Most of the toggles are on but a few (including Color Strobe) are toggled
off. The code is 35-34-31-54-12-24-45-43 (POLYBIUS TM on a Polybius square
cypher). Once entered, toggle the "Enter Access Code" option to "Never"
if you do not wish to enter the code each time. You must cycle through and
save this for future options.
- Enter access code- Toggles the need to use access code each time.
- Poltergeist functions- Random events (sound and visual) during all parts
of game function- Toggle on or off.
- Visual interactive backgrounds- Allows optical raster backgrounds- Toggling
off allows only vector backgrounds.
- Auditory entrainment- Toggles entrainment on or off.
- Autonomy- Allows machine to self powerup, give free credits, etc.
- Color strobe- Allows color strobe during gameplay (set to off in download).
- Map Off key- Allows you to set the false off key.
- Subliminals- Toggle on or off.
- Satellite upload- Sets frequency of satellite upload.
- Entrainment sound volume- Sets the relative volume of looped background
entrainment sounds if toggled to on.
- Save options- This must be done to keep current settings.
The "false off key" toggles a false off sequence. This seems to cycle through
a false off sequence during which the game is inactive. This only seems to work
if the "autonomy" is set to on and enables the machine to auto-boot if turned
off using this switch. The mode can be exited by retoggling the "false off key."
There are a number of other menu options in this part of the game but their
exact functions remain unclear. Experiment with these at your own peril.[/b]
V. Display Resolution
To change the screen resolution, run the "Display Resolution" executable
in the "Arrays" folder. This will list all available resolutions.
Simply enter the resolution you want. The next time you run the game, it will
be in that resolution. The game runs best in 4x3 resoltuions (1600x1200x16
works best). Download resolution is 800x600x16.
VI. Troubleshooting
The game should run pretty well on most computers. That being said, a few
suggestions for common problems are below.
The Dreaded Runtime Error 9 (or any other error)
Select all files individually in the main folder and the "Arrays" folder
and uncheck "Read only". If any files are "Read Only", this will disable
all write functions and generate an error. Also, do not alter the file
hierarchy in the "Polybius v5-0" folder. Array access relies on maintaining
file arrangement.
The game runs slowly
This may be insoluble. For the game to look good, higher resolutions better
approximate the vector tube. I have set the default setting to 800x600x16.
If need be, experiment with different resolutions using the "Display Res"
executable in the "arrays" file. If slow down is seen mainly in "High Score"
demo, toggle "High score text effects" to off in Diagnostic Mode (some
graphics cards slow down remarkably when intensive 2d and 3d operations
occur simultaneously). Some levels are particularly memory intensive. If this
is the case, simply deselect them in the level selection in diagnostic mode.
Finally, the type 1 enemies are a bit more memory intensive (multiple limb
movements). Try switching to type 2 enemies. A combination of the above should
improve performance.
The game loooks "pixelly".
If your computer can support it, 1600x1200x16 looks awesome and is the
resolution the game was designed for. Some of the graphics look "pixelly"
on purpose, including most text effects. The game looks pretty good in
800x600x16 but below this it looks pretty pixellated.
We have let this run on a number of computers and the above were the most
frequently encountered soluble problems. Email us if further problems arise.
VII. Support
Email gunther@sinnesloschen.com with any problems. Also, this is may not be the final beta
and we welcome any suggestions as to gameplay improvement, conceptual reconfiguring,
or anyimprovements.
Thanks for looking as always.
Gunther</div>[/spoiler]
Curioso. Ya probaré todas las opciones y lo grabaré con CamTasia, a ver que chorradas hace, lo poco que he jugado me parece soso, pero supongo que lo chulo será la gilipollez del código y las movidas subliminales, la primera vez que lo he ejecutado como aun no habia visto el readme y no sabia como meter créditos a salido un curioso efecto: como si empapelaras un tubo con carteles de PLAY por todos lados que además se movían y el tubo giraba y... Dios xDDDD
Creo que si pruebo esto más de 5 minutos con unos petas lo que acabo es colocao xddd
