BLACK LAMP
(c) 1988 Firebird Software

                  
"Black Lamp -- a medieval melodrama featuring the exploits of 
Jolly Jack the Jester, hero of this mission of daring and 
romance to rid a kingdom of Evil. 

Jack's quest is to return the enchanted Black Lamp of Allegoria 
to King Maxim.  His courageous crusade leads through rustic 
landscapes and Gothic interiors, dodging skull-dropping 
buzzards, evil eagles and spitting witches to confront the 
fire-breathing angry dragon and battle for the Black Lamp.
The reward for success is the hand of a Princess and the price 
of failure is Death!"

PROLOGUE 
--------
Once upon a time there was a Jester called Jack -- Jolly Jack, 
Jester by appointment to King Maxim of Allegoria. Jolly Jack, 
master of wit and repartee, breaker of the ice at the parties 
with a joke here, a tumble there, a quick whack of the pig's 
bladder elsewhere.

As long as Jack was at work, the Court of Kind Maxim was a 
happy place. However, this general hilarity served only as a 
temporary respite from the sad truth. For, as even the King 
had to admit, theirs was not a happy kingdom.

Local folklore has it that the continued peace, prosperity and 
happiness of the  kingdom was due in no small part to the 
presence, among the Crown Jewels, of a certain set of enchanted 
lanterns, the most revered of which was known as 'The Black 
Lamp of Allegoria'. And it was certainly true that an evil 
blight had  befallen the kingdom ever since the lamps had been 
stolen -- whisked away in the dead of night, it was said, by      
Dragons. Since then, the kingdom had been plagued by strange 
and monstrous beings; since then, animals, birds and insects, 
previously docile, were now, under some evil influence, 
attacking the innocent populace.

And so it was that Jolly Jack was working overtime to keep 
spirits up at Court. And it was not easy work for him, for 
behind the facade of the Jester's smile, there lurked a pain 
that ached deep within him -- the pain of unrequited love. 
Not that the object of his affection did not love him in 
return. Far from it. The problem was that she happened to be 
the boss's daughter -- Her Royal Highness the Princess 
Grizelda.

Of course, the King forbade such a marriage at first. The idea 
of his beloved maiden daughter with that Fool  -- it was 
verging on the ridiculous! And it's true that Jack was a bit 
short on  the usual qualifications: he wasn't rich; he wasn't 
a prince; he didn't have a kingdom; he wasn't even particularly  
handsome. However, softened by the pleas of his daughter, King 
Maxim came up with a cunning compromise. He would allow the
marriage if, and only if, Jack could prove his worth by seeking 
out the Dragons, and bringing back all the enchanted lamps 
intact. It was a good plan -- he had nothing to lose if it 
failed -- except that he'd have to find a new Jester. And if it 
succeeded, well, he'd have to let his daughter marry this idiot, 
but it would be worth it -- it would be worth anything -- to 
restore harmony to the kingdom!

Jack, however, was not such an idiot as the King believed. 
Spurred on by love, he accepted the challenge eagerly. But not 
blindly, for he was fully aware that without help, the quest 
would be tantamount to suicide. Luckily, he knew who to turn 
to...

During his time off, when not wooing the princess, Jack was wont 
to hang out in the taverns with Pratweezle, the King's sorcerer. 
Ever ready to help a pal, Pratweezle was able to conjure up two   
magic spells; the first gave Jack the power of recuperation, 
enabling him to cheat death a limited number of times; and the 
second gave Jack's belt buckle the power to emit shattering 
bolts of pure Magic!

And so it was that, having bade a fond farewell to Grizelda, 
Jolly Jack the Jester set forth, with purposeful expression and 
determined gait, on that fateful day...         


PLAYING THE GAME                        
----------------                        
THE QUEST                               
*********                               
Jack's quest is to explore the kingdom  of Allegoria in order 
to find the nine Enchanted Lamps and return them to their 
rightful place. As he can only carry one Lamp at a time, and as 
he is inevitably going to be set upon by evil Enemies of one 
sort or another, the quest is likely to be, at the very least, 
long, exciting and dangerous -- or at worst, deadly!

The quest will start in a certain part of the kingdom. There, 
in that same place, you will notice an empty Chest, divided 
into nine compartments, colored the same as the missing Lamps. 
There are 20 of these Chests dotted around the kingdom. It is to 
these Chests that Jack must return the nine Lamps. 
              
THE LAMPS                               
*********                              
The Lamps are scattered far and wide throughout the kingdom. 
When Jack finds one, he must collect it and take it back to any 
one of the Chests. But the Black Lamp is different -- it is 
always guarded closely by that most fearsome of enemies, the 
Dragon. And the Dragon won't give it up until he's dead! Every 
Dragon will have a Black Lamp, so the only way for Jack to 
return all the Lamps is to fight every Dragon he meets!

THE KINGDOM                             
***********                             
The kingdom of Allegoria, for the purposes of Jack's quest, 
is divided into lots of different scenes. Some of these are 
outdoors, the rest indoors. Indoor scenes consist of one screen 
only, whereas the outdoor scenes, such as woods, lanes or 
streets, are wider than one screen, and consequently scroll as 
Jack moves along.

Outdoor scenes can have exits to adjacent scenes at the extreme 
left or right ends, and also exits to the rear and to the front. 
Exits to the rear are denoted by such naturally occuring outdoor 
features as gates, doors, stiles, etc. Exits at the front are     
marked by two markers. Thus when Jack leaves a scene by a rear 
exit, such as a gate, the same exit will then become a front 
exit of the new scene, and its location will be marked by the 
markers. And vice versa. 

Indoor scenes are more complex in that they contain such 
features as tables, chairs and barrels that Jack can jump onto 
and from; ladders and stairs that Jack can climb up and down; 
and platforms that Jack can walk along or jump on and off of. 
Like those outdoors, the indoor scenes can have exits to the 
left, right, rear and front.

BONUS OBJECTS                           
*************                           
Scattered around the kingdom are various Bonus Objects that Jack 
can collect along the way. These take the form of Musical 
Instruments, Weapons, Food and Drink.

All these Bonus Objects are worth collecting for their points 
value, but, more importantly, they also have magical properties 
that enhance Jack's ability to stay alive and fight his Enemies.


JACK                                    
----                                   
Jack walks with a jaunty, but determined gait, and an expression 
of grim purpose. He's an agile chap, so he can jump pretty well 
(after all, tumbling is part of the Jester's trade!). To protect
himself against the various Enemies he has his enchanted belt 
buckle that can shoot out bolts of pure Magic!

CONTROLS                                
********                                
Use your joystick in port two. The joystick button is always 
used to fire the Magic Bolts. The movement controls are a bit 
more complex... 

                      Exit rear/Climb up/Standing jump
                                       |
                    Left diagonal jump | Right diagonal jump
                      Left upstairs \  |  / Right upstairs
                                     \ | /
                                      \|/  
                             Left -----X----- Right
                                      /|\
                                     / | \
                                    /  |  \
                     Left downstairs   |   Right downstairs
                                       |
                            Exit front/Climb down

In outdoor scenes Jack can walk left and right through the 
scrolling landscapes. For the purpose of moving between adjacent 
scenes, he can exit rearwards (into the screen) when immediately 
in front of a rear exit, and forwards (out of the screen) when 
immediately behind a front exit. He must be facing forwards to 
use a front exit, or backwards to use a rear exit. When not 
immediately in front of a rear exit or behind a front exit, he 
can jump instead. 

In indoor scenes the exits work in the same way. In addition, 
Jack can walk left and right along the floor, and along any 
raised platform, table or rampart, etc. He can also jump up onto 
things like chairs or tables, and down off of them. When at the 
foot or at the top of a ladder, he can climb up or down it. 
All these variations mean that Jack responds to your control in 
different ways at different times. However, the control system 
is intelligent enough to work out the desired response according 
to Jack's position on the screen.

ENERGY                                  
******                                 
Thanks to the spells of Pratweezle, Jack has seven lives. These 
are governed by his Energy level. As soon as his Energy drops 
below zero, he will lose a Life.  His Energy is depleted as a 
result of damage sustained while fighting Enemies. He can also 
lose Energy by falling or jumping from too great a height.        

However, Energy can be regained by collecting the bonus Food 
and Drink objects that can be found along the way.

BONUS OBJECTS                           
*************                           
The other Bonus Objects have different effects: every time Jack 
collects a shield he is endowed with magical Armour, making him 
invulnerable to the onslaughts of his Enemies. However, this 
invulnerability lasts for only twenty direct hits. But he can 
always go on to collect another shield... 

Likewise, collecting a musical instrument gives him increased 
'Bounce Factor', rendering him immune to damage (and consequent 
loss of Energy) caused by falling too far. This will only help 
Jack for up to five high jumps.

And for every weapon collected, Jack gets Super Fire Power -- 
making him able, for his next fifteen shots, to kill strong 
Enemies with just one bolt from his belt buckle! However, these
'Super Shots' will not affect the Dragon.


JACK'S ENEMIES
--------------
Every creature that Jack will meet, whether humanoid, animal, 
or bird, is an Enemy. The different Enemies will try to inflict 
damage (and resultant loss of Energy) on Jack, so he must fight 
back  valiantly with his Magic Bolts. But, discretion being the 
better part of valor, there may be times when it is better to 
simply get the hell out!

Most of the Enemies will attack by launching some sort of 
projectile at Jack, whether it be Fireball, Lightning Bolt, 
Spearhead, or whatever.

The various types of Enemy differ in the amount of damage they 
can inflict on Jack in one go. For instance, a Dragon  can cause 
a lot of damage, whereas a Werewolf will not cause so much.        
Likewise, some Enemies will be harder to kill than others. Thus 
it will take more hits to kill a Dragon than, say, a Werewolf.
As a general rule, the more evil and vicious an Enemy is, the 
more damage it will do to Jack, and the more hits will be needed 
to kill it.                                                           

Let's meet, in ascending order of evilness and viciousness, the 
Enemies...                                        

WEREWOLVES                              
**********                              
Once just ordinary forest-dwelling wolves, these poor creatures 
have been turned into man-eating Werewolves. Extraordinarily 
swift on the attack, they hurl themselves at their victim, 
tearing into his body in a flash until, satiated, they 
themselves die.                                                  

About the only good thing one can say about Werewolves is that 
they only appear outdoors.

BUZZARDS                                
********                                
Buzzards too are outdoor creatures. Flying high in the sky, they 
are a difficult target for Jack's Magic Bolts. In their talons 
they carry exploding skulls which they drop like bombs at their 
victim.

GOBLIN WARRIORS                         
***************                        
Taking the form of swordsmen, archers, or spearmen, the Goblin 
Warriors are a force to be reckoned with. With the archers, evil 
arrows are the preferred form of weapon; whereas the swordsmen   
fire balls of fire from the center of their shields; and the 
spearmen have spearheads that suddenly detach and hurl 
themselves at the victim.

SLIME WITCHES                           
*************                           
The Slime Witch is an ugly old crone who attacks her hapless 
victim by spitting out great globs of revolting gooey 
greenslime.                 
Her friend, the Flying Slime Witch, flies around on a 
broomstick that fires the slime out of the end of the handle! 

TROLLS                                  
******                                  
These ugly green creatures have a novel way of attacking the 
unsuspecting traveller. They bang the ground ferociously with 
their hammers until sparks of fire fly out at their intended 
victim.

IMPS                                    
****                                    
Second only to the Dragons in nastiness are the Imps. Resembling 
little trident-toting devils, they prefer the more subtile forms 
of attack -- none of this weapon-waving or ground-banging for 
them-- they merely unleash flashing flames of Evil from the tips 
of their tridents!                                        

DRAGONS                                 
*******                                 
The Dragons are indeed the most fearsomeof Jack's opponents. 
There will always be one Dragon guarding the Black Lamp.  But 
there may be others lurking around, often blocking some vital 
entrance or pathway.

A Dragon's form of attack is to breathe out fireballs which are 
aimed at the victim with a high degree of accuracy. Jack can 
shoot these or try to avoid them, but all the time he must be 
trying to kill the Dragon itself.

Jack's Magic Bolts will only damage a Dragon if they hit certain 
vulnerable parts of its body. The Dragon will give up its Black 
Lamp on its death.                                                 

OTHER VITAL INFORMATION                 
-----------------------                 
To start play, press the fire button on the joystick in port two.

THE SCREEN                              
**********                              
Displayed around the main playing area  of the screen are various 
counters and indicators... 

LAMP INDICATOR
**************
At Bottom Centre. Indicates which color Lamp Jack is currently 
carrying.

SCORE                                   
*****                                   
At Bottom Left. Keeps track of your player's current score.

BONUS OBJECT SYMBOLS
********************
At Top of screen. The Shield symbol stands for Armour, gained by 
collecting a Shield; the Aura Cloud stands for Bounce Factor -- 
gained by collecting a Musical Instrument; and the Axe/Sword   
symbol stands for Super Fire Power -- gained by collecting a 
Weapon.

The symbol will start flashing to warn you a few seconds before 
the extra power runs out.

ENERGY BAR                              
**********                              
At the Bottom Right.

LIVES                                   
*****                                   
At the Bottom Right of the screen, indicated by the Baubles 
(those cute little Jester's-Heads-on-Sticks). The number of 
Baubles indicates the number of Lives left after the current 
one.                                            

EXTRA KEYBOARD CONTROLS                 
***********************                
Pause   = Commodore Key                 
Unpause = Commodore Key                 
Abort   = Q (game must not be paused)

SCORING                                 
*******                                 
Your objective in playing Black Lamp is to score as many points 
as possible before you run out of lives. You start with seven 
lives, but an extra one is awarded every 100,000 points.

You are allowed no more than seven lives (including the current 
one) at anyone time. You score points for...
1. Returning Lamps safely to a Chest.   
2. Killing Enemies.                     
3. Shooting the various enemy projectiles.
4. Collecting Bonus Objects.

HIGH SCORE TABLE                        
****************                        
The High Score table appears after each game. If you get 
sufficient points you can enter your name.

LAMPS                                   
*****                                   
Score is given when a Lamp is returned  to a Chest... 
3,000 Points are gained for the first Lamp returned; 3,100 for 
the second Lamp returned and so on up to 3,800 Points for the 
ninth Lamp returned.            

ENEMIES                                 
*******                                 
Points are scored for killing Enemies, and for hitting the 
projectiles that most of them fire...

ENEMY          POINTS   PROJECTILE     POINTS
-----          ------   -------------- ------
Dragon          2,500   Fireballs       100              
Imp               800   Flames of Evil  100              
Troll             600   Sparks          100                    
Slime Witch       600   Green Slime     100         
Flying SlimeWitch 500   Green Slime     100 
Goblin Archer     600   Arrows          100            
Goblin Spearman   400   Spearhead       100       
Goblin Swordsman  500   Fireballs       100      
Werewolf          300   -                - 
Buzzard           300   Skull Bombs     100 

BONUS OBJECTS                           
*************                           
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: Harp, Bugle. 
                                Score 2,000 to 2,500 points each.
WEAPONS: Mace & Chain, Axe, Dagger.  
                                Score 1,500 to 2,000 points each.
FOOD: Leg of Pork, Boar's Head, Roast Turkey. 
                  Score 950 to 1,000 points each  -- plus Energy.
DRINK: Goblet of Wine, Horn of Ale, Flacon of Cider. 
                     Score 850 to 900 points each -- plus Energy.

COLLECTING AND RETURNING LAMPS & OBJECTS 
****************************************
Lamps and Bonus Objects are collected simply by walking over 
them. Only one Lamp can be carried at once, but there is no 
limit to the number of Bonus Objects that can be collected. 
If you are carrying one Lamp, and you come across another, you 
can swap the one you are carrying for the new one simply by 
walking over the new one. If you don't want to swap, you'll 
have to avoid walking over the new one by jumping over it 
instead.

To return a Lamp to any Chest, simply walk, while carrying the 
Lamp, in front of the Chest. The appropriately colored 
compartment of the Chest will then be filled in accordingly. 
All the other Chests will also reflect the new status. 

SPEED AND DIFFICULTY LEVELS             
***************************            
During each game of Black Lamp, the action will get faster and 
more frantic as the game progresses. 
The first time you play Black Lamp you will automatically start 
on the easiest difficulty level. A Chest will always be located 
in the starting scene. The colors of the compartments in the 
Chest tell you which Lamps you have to find. There will always 
be at least one Black Lamp to find.
Later levels get progressively more difficult: the speed of the 
game will increase, and the number of Black Lamps may increase, 
thus increasing the number of Dragons you have to encounter! 

If you actually succeed in returning all the Lamps to the Chests, 
you can continue the game, starting at a higher difficulty level.
No two games of Black Lamp will ever be exactly the same. There 
can never be a set of pattern for success, because for each new 
game, the Lamps, Enemies and Bonus Objects will be placed in new
locations.

--------------------------------------------
THE BLACK LAMP                          
                          
Being the story of Jack -- Jolly Jack the Jester, hero of this 
medieval mission of daring and romance; this courageous crusade 
through rustic landscapes and Gothic interiors; this audacious 
quest to rid a kingdom of Evil; where the reward for success is   
the hand of a Princess and the price of failure is Death!


GAME CREDITS                            
------------                           
Game concept and design by Steven Cain and G.P. 'Kenny' Everett.
Graphics by Andrew Threlfall.           
CBM 64 Programming by Stephen Ruddy.    
Music and sound by Tim Follin.          
Developed at Software Creations.        
CBM Protection by Jazzz and Graham Ashton. 
Cover Artwork by Graham Potts of John Martin & Associates.
Based on a play guide by Henry Smithson of Creative-Technik.

Published by Firebird Software.
Copyright 1988 Firebird Software. 
Firebird and the Firebird logo are trademarks of British 
Telecommunications PLC.

