INTRODUCTION

Poor Getty and Emma may well have been captured by the grumpy old troll King and 
locked away in the Nyarlu dungeons of infinity, but they weren't overly 
concerned.  Regardless of their plight, the two happy critters cheerily snapped 
the neck of their prison guard while he slept and prepared for another daring 
escape. This wasn't the first time they'd thwarted the King's efforts - and it 
certainly wouldn't be the last...                   

...Having said that though, these dungeons were unlike any hell-hole the King 
had cast the duo into previously.  Every floor of the neon-walled catacombs was 
radically different in layout, and what were these odd pulsating crosses lining 
the corridor floors? Whatever they were for, they certainly tasted nice!  And 
wasn't it convenient that after scoffing them all a key and exit would appear 
leading to another dungeon?  Wizard!

Grabbing a crossbow each from a fallen troll, Getty and Emma skipped happily 
down the halls, filling their tummies with crosses and chirruping merrily as 
they let forth salvo after salvo of deadly bolts into the thick hides of their 
captors.  Full of the spirit of adventure, the two friends felt super-positive 
about their chances - and even if they didn't make it out, nothing would stop 
them from having fun trying!


LOADING GET 'EM DX

To load the Get 'Em DX cartridge, turn off your C64/128, insert the cartridge 
and turn the computer back on. The game will load automatically.

If you are presented with a blank screen or graphic garbage, please try turning 
off the C64 and re-inserting the cartridge again.  Issues like this are most 
likely due to an oxidised cartridge port (after all, we are talking about 30 
year old technology here), so please check and clean the port - or even try the 
game on another C64 - before contacting us for a replacement.

Get 'Em DX has been tested on both PAL and NTSC machines, and works on the C64, 
C128 and C64GS (there is no keyboard input required to play).  Although it runs 
on NTSC hardware, it does play fractionally faster and will be harder as a 
direct result of this.  As such, the game is labelled as NTSC compatible, but 
designed for PAL systems.


PLAYING GET 'EM DX

Get 'Em DX is a one or two player (co-operative) maze-based arcade game It's a 
bit like Pac-Man, but with procedurally generated levels and more guns.

The goal on each level is to eat all the crosses, then grab the key that appears 
and head for the exit door.  However, there's also a motley bunch of nasty 
characters who'll try their best to kill you, block your path and otherwise 
hinder your progress.  In fact, they'll even run off with the exit key if you 
don't collect it first!

Thankfully, you have a rapid fire crossbow and an infinite supply of ammo to 
assist you in your adventure.  In addition to this, most of the enemies drop 
power-ups when they die - although you'll need to collect a full set of nine in 
order to benefit from the effect.  They also award points when collected:

EXTRA TIME (5 Points) - Adds 5 units to the timer.
SHOT RATE UP (10 Points) - Increases fire rate.
SMART BOMB (15 Points) - Destroys all active enemies.
INVINCIBILITY (20 Points) - Temporarily makes your character invincible.
SLOWDOWN (25 Points) - Temporarily slows you down.
SHOT POWER UP (30 Points) - Increases fire power.
SPEEDUP (40 Points) - Increases the speed of your character.
EXTRA LIFE (50 Points) - Additional life (a maximum of 9 can be held).   

Enemies will start to warp into the maze as soon as the level starts.  The first 
two enemies will always be Green Trolls (the dumbest of the King's minions), but 
after that new monsters will appear - each second warp resulting in a Bombor.  
The maximum number of active critters, their toughness and the speed at which 
more difficult monsters occur depends on the difficulty selected on the title 
screen:

EASY - Slow game speed, maximum of 5 enemies.
NORMAL - Normal game speed, enemy HP increased by 2, maximum of 6 enemies. 
HARD - Fast game speed, enemy HP increased by 4, maximum of 7 enemies.

Each of the enemies differ in their behaviour and award a different number of 
points when exterminated.  All of them can steal the key - they'll flash if they 
are carrying it and you'll need to shoot them to get it back!

GREEN TROLL (10 Points) - Stupid and easily avoided, Green Trolls are the grunts 
of the evil King's army.  Drops power up icons when killed.
RED TROLL (50 Points) - As tough as the Green Troll but a *lot* smarter, these 
fiends will attempt to home in on you.  Drops power up icons when killed.
CATERPILLAR (100 Points) - This monstrous bug fills the corridors of the dungeon 
with his long tail, eating power-ups and trapping monsters. You can hack your 
way through his body, but you'll need to shoot the head to kill it!  Drops power 
up icons when killed.
BOMBOR (250 Points) - These volatile monsters explode when shot, destroying the 
surrounding walls and bonuses adjacent to them as well as any other monsters or 
spawn points they are touching.  Be careful, if you shoot a Bombor at close 
range they'll take you with them - even if you are shielded!
MAD BAT (500 Points) - The most dangerous monster of all, these bats zip around 
the maze at an insane speed, eating up any bonus items they pass over.  Be 
warned - if you don't eat any crosses for a while then the chance of a Mad Bat 
appearing is increased.
SKELLY (1000 Points) - The Skelly has a bone to pick with you!  This sneaky 
beast will stealthily track your movements, dashing at you when you fall in his 
line of sight.  Drops power up icons when killed.

As if your escape wasn't impossible enough, the levels are timed.  To begin 
with, the first three stages have a fixed timer length - on later levels the 
time awarded depends on the size of the maze.  Be warned - if you let the timer 
run out, you'll be ambushed by a swarm of Mad Bats!

Every time you complete a level, the time remaining on the timer is converted 
into points (100 per unit).  As you progress further into the game, tougher 
critters will be called into play and all enemies become faster and harder to 
kill.  Eventually you *will* die - but don't worry, maybe you'll achieve a 
higher score next time?


CONTROLLING GETTY & EMMA

Player 1 (Getty) is controlled by a joystick plugged into port 2.  Player 2 
(Emma) unsurprisingly uses a joystick plugged into port 1.  There are no 
keyboard controls.  Two player mode is selected by pushing player one's joystick 
left or right at the title screen.  Difficulty is selected by pushing up or 
down.


To move your character during the game use the directions up, down, left and 
right.  Similar to Pac-Man, when you start moving you won't stop unless you 
change direction or hit a wall.

Whilst moving, if you press fire you will shoot in the direction you are walking 
in.  Holding down the fire button will lock direction so you can strafe and walk 
backwards whilst still shooting in the same direction.


ADDITIONAL NOTES REGARDING TWO PLAYER MODE

In two player mode both players work together to build up the same score and 
share the pool of lives - in this respect the game is truly cooperative.

Both players can collect the bonus items, but whoever completes a set of nine 
will receive the associated power-up.

If your lives have run out and only one player is left, you still have a chance 
of bringing back your friend from the dead.  This is achieved by completing the 
level with the surviving player, after which the dead player is resurrected to 
fight again in the next maze.


PRO-TIPS

Although a lot of points can be obtained by killing Mad Bats and Skellies, you 
may find that a higher score can be obtained by completing a smaller level 
quickly - the timer units left on the clock are worth 100 points each.  Analyse 
each level quickly and adapt your playing style!

Getty and Emma fire their weapons every time they pass an 8x8 pixel character 
square - if you back up against a wall and stop you'll notice that your firing 
rate will increase.  Use this to your advantage!

When you've eaten the last cross, no more enemies will warp into the maze.  You 
may find it beneficial to clean the area of bonus carrying enemies to max out 
your character before progressing to the next level.  Get 'em and power-up! 


TRIVIA

Get 'Em was originally developed as a competition entry for the RGCD C64 16KB 
Cartridge Game Development Competition in 2011, and now it's back for round two 
of the compo in 2012 as Get 'Em DX!

The update was initiated by RGCD's James Monkman who encouraged Geog 
Rottensteiner to build upon the game by adding a two player mode.  Soon after, 
Sean Connolly and Ilija Melentijevic joined the project and this game is the end 
result of about four months work.

Bug hunting was horrible for this game - due to its procedural generated design, 
some problematic level formations would only appear once in a thousand plays.  
However, after hours and hours and hours of play-testing, we're pretty sure that 
we've got them all.

Get 'Em and Get 'Em DX were inspired by Nyarlu Labs' iOS, PC and Mac game Forget 
Me Not.  It's an excellent game that you should certainly check out if you enjoy 
Get 'Em DX.  Massive thanks go to Brandon Williamson for granting us permission 
to blatantly copy his IP :) 


CREDITS

Get 'Em DX is an RGCD/Psytronik production, Copyright 2011-12.  Published on 
16KB C64 cartridge by RGCD, 2012.  Published on disk and cassette by Psytronik 
Software, 2012.

Georg Rottensteiner - Code/Design
Brandon Williamson - Design
Ilija Melentijevic - Graphics/Box Design
Sean Connolly - Sound/Testing
James Monkman - Testing/Manual
David Simmons - Testing
Tim Harris - Cartridge Hardware
Ray Lejuez - NTSC Testing


LINKS

www.nyarlu.net
www.psytronik.net
www.rgcd.co.uk
www.georg-rottensteiner.de
ilkke.blogspot.co.uk
