================== The Krypton Factor ================== Document created by rstuart@ukonline.co.uk on 5th Nov 99 for World of Spectrum: http://www.void.demon.nl/spectrum.html (Information taken from TV Games "TV Special" compilation) Game 1 - The Krypton Factor --------------------------- Your first test is Mental Agility. Numbers will flash before you at random and your task is to enter them into the computer in ascending order. Next, your powers of observation are tested before you get a ride on the Ergobuggy. Can you pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time? The Ergobuggy will give you plenty of practice, The Vidiwall comes next with random colours flashing on the screen. You must try to spot which colour appears the most and hit the corresponding key. The fourth section emulates the feared Assault Course with puzzle solving and General Knowledge completing the test. The Krypton Factor ------------------ This program is based on the highly successful Tetevision quiz show "THE KRYPTON FACTOR" from Granada Television. Just as in the show you have the chance to compete against up to three of your friends or family in the six exciting sections that make up "the world's toughest quiz". After each section has been completed you are given the relevant points which all build up until the player with the highest number of points provides that they are the one with the greatest Krypton Factor. Loading the game ---------------- Spectrum 48k/128k Insert tape into recorder. Type LOAD "" and press ENTER (LOAD is obtained by pressing the "J" key). Press PLAY on recorder. Spectrum +2/+3 Go into 48k mode (see manual) and follow instructions for Spectrum 48k. Amstrad CPC range (tape) Note: disk drive owners should type | tape and press ENTER before loading. Insert tape into recorder. Hold down CTRL and press small ENTER key. Start the tape and press any key. Amstrad CPC range (disk) Insert disk into drive and type | CPM and press ENTER (| is obtained by holding down SHIFT and pressing the @ key). CBM 64 (tape) Insert tape into recorder. Hold down SHIFT and press RUN/STOP. Start the tape. CBM 64 (disk) Insert disk into drive. Close drive gate. Type LOAD "*",8,1 and press RETURN. NOTE: The game is too long to fit into the computer in one load and so you will be asked to start the tape again during the game to load in the next section. Please follow the on-screen prompts. Disk owners should leave the disk in the drive. The aim of the game ------------------- The aim of the game is to find out which of the players is a Superperson. Each section tests and challenges a different aspect of human ability. There are both mental and physical tests which will stretch the best of us. The game -------- The game can be played by up to four players. The first thing to do is to enter the details about each person. You will be shown a selection of digitised pictures (digipics) along with some "personal details" of each person. (Notw that there are four male and four female characters). On-screen prompts will tell you how to select a character but you can also change the details of the name, occupation etc to your own if you wish. Just put the cursor onto the line you wish to change by pressing ENTER/RETURN and delete will remove the text ready for your new details. The digipics will appear throughout the game to show which player is currently in control. Section One - Mental Agility ---------------------------- This is a test of your mental powers - it is not a test of memory or general knowledge, that comes later, but rather a test of your ability to deal with a juggle number in your head. Each player takes a turn and a series of numbers between 1 and 9 are flashed up onto the screen one by one. The player must rearrange the numbers, in their head, into correct ascending numerical order and type them back into the computer. The computer will then show whether they are correct or not. Each player starts with six numbers and each round increases the amount of numbers by one up to the maximum of nine. If a player incorrectly type in the numbers they are removed from the game until the next section. The Keys -------- NOTE: in all sections and on all machines the space bar terminates the scrolling message and moves onto the next stage. Spectrum: Amstrad: CBM 64 Keys 1-9 to enter numbers Do not use the keypad on the Amstrad. Section Two - Observation Round ------------------------------- This is where we test your powers of observation. A story and associated for each player from a selection stored in the computer. The story will be shown in the form of the scrolling message at the bottom of the screen. The player whose turn it is has to look at the picture and read the story at the same time. After all the story has been shown pressing a key will show the story and the picture again but with certain changes to both. The player will then be asked to enter the changes that they think have been made. The text changes are entered in the form: CAT became DOG HAT became COAT The picture changes are highlighted from a choice of POSSIBLE changes in a list that appears on the screen. After each player has had a turn, points are awarded to the players who have correctly noticed the most changes. The Keys -------- To enter the text changes just type the words and press ENTER/RETURN. To enter the picture changes use the following keys - Spectrum: Q=up, A=down and M to select. Amstrad: Cursor Up=up, Cursor Down=down, and Space to select. CBM 64: Q=up, A=down and Space to select. Section three - Response Round ------------------------------ This round consists of two sections. The first features a rather unusual piece of equipment called the "Ergobuggy". This tests co-ordination by a novel control method. The point of the game is to get the buggy to the end of its track. In the TV programme the competitor sits on the buggy and must cycle forwards with their feet and backwards with their hands (above their head!) but at different speeds! We have shown the buggy on screen and it is up to the player to get it moving in the following way. Four keys are used instead of cycling machines. The keys are split into a pair on each side of the keyboard. With the left hand the player must tap the first pair of keys alternately so that the speed bar on the left of the screen is kept between two markers. With the right hand the player does the same with the second pair of keys and the right hand speed bar. The only problem is that the two pairs of keys must be tapped at different rates to keep the bars between the markers. The longer the player can stay within the markers with BOTH speed bars the faster the buggy will move. It is a race against the clock with each player having to go to get to the end in a faster time than the others. The time remaining is used for the timer in the next part of the round. The second section of the Response round is called the "Vidiwall" and tests your colour sense. The screen represents a number of TV sets arranged around the edge of a square. The square is split into four quaters and in each quater the TV sets can be either blank or showing a colour eg the TV's in the bottom left quater may be blue or blank. One key in each corner of the keyboard represents the corresponding quater (and colour) of the square. When the game starts the TV's are all blank. A random number of TV's in each quater will then change to their respective colour. The player has only a split second to press the key representing the colour in which most TV's of a colour are showing eg there may be 4 red TV's, 2 yellow TV's and 3 green TV's so the player should press the key in the blue corner. If the player was wrong the border will change to show the correct colour but if the player got it right their score counter is increased by one. When the player reaches 10 correct the timer is stopped and it is the next players go. If the time runs out the number of correct plays is continued. The game does not wait for the player and so it is important to be quick with the keys. At the end of this section a combination of Ergobuggy and Vidiwall decides the order of the points. The Keys -------- Ergobuggy Section - () shows the pair Spectrum: (Q,A) and (O,P) Amstrad: (Q,A) and (O,P) CBM 64: (Q,A) and (O,P) Vidiwall Section: - the four keys for each quarer are: Spectrum: Q, Z, O, M Amstrad: Q, Z, O, M CBM 64: -,C=,F-,F7 Section Four - Physical Ability ------------------------------- We now reach the point where we introduce the dreaded Krypton Factor Assault Course. In the real thing the contestants must use a combination of strength and stamina to get to the end of a series of difficult and dengerous obstacles. Well, we have removed the danger but the difficulty remains. The players are represented on screen by a character that must be skillfully controlled over our computerised Assault Course. The method of control is similar to that used in the Ergobuggies except that now the four key must be treated individually. Each key represents one of the four attributes of: STRENGTH STAMINA ARM POWER LEG POWER The obstacles on the Course need a different amount of each of the attributes in order to complete successfully. For instance, a high wall would need leg power as you jump up, arm power and strength as you drag yourself over and stamina in order to do it all! As you tap each key you will see the bars on the screen, which represent each attribute, rise and fall depending on how fast you hit the relevant key. Each player must use their skill to balance the four attributes to get the maximum speed over the obstacles eg. as you approach a high wall you should tap the leg power key faster than the others until you are on the wall when you should concentate on your arm power. Do not forget to keep the other keys going or you may fall off! The section is played by two players at the same time who have their own keys to tap on the left or right of the keyboard. If there is only one player they should use the left player keys. The time each player takes is recorded and the relevant points are awarded. The Keys -------- STRENGTH STAMINA ARM LEG Spectrum left player: 1 Q Z X Spectrum right player: 0 O M N Amstrad left player: TAB CAPS LOCK Z X Amstrad right player: F9 F6 F1 F2 CBM 64 left player: 1 Q Z X CBM 64 right player: CLR | U/D cursor L/R cursor Section Five - Intelligence Round --------------------------------- In this section your logic and reasoning abilities are tested by a simple puzzle. On the screen you will see a large grid and some small squares containing a picture of a logo that has been chopped up and mixed around. Some of the places will also have been turned through 90 to 180 degrees. The player is given a time limit in which to put all of the small pieces into the large grid in the correct order and alignment to show the complete logo. They can pick up the pieces from the bottom of the screen and rotate them 90 degrees until they feel they are the right way up before placing them into the grid. Pieces can also be deleted from the grid to be picked up again and placed back in another position. The game continues until the logo is correct or time runs out. Points are again awarded for the fastest completion times. Six keys are used to control this part of the game. The left and right keys are first used to select the small square that you wish to manipulate. Up and Down keys will cause the current square to rotate through 90 degrees. If the Select key is pressed then the direction keys change purpose and will now move the current square around the large grid to the chosen position. The Select key will then place the piece onto the grid. The Delete key will remove the piece under the cursor and return it to the bottom of the screen. The Keys -------- UP DOWN LEFT RIGHT SELECT DELETE Spectrum: Q A O P M O Amstrad: up crs down crs left crs right crs SPACE DEL CBM 64: Q A O P SPACE DEL Section Six - General Knowledge ------------------------------- The last of the tests is the quiz section. The digipics of the players are shown at the top of the screen and each player has a key to represent a buzzer. A question will scroll along the bottom of the screen and the first person to know the answer should press thrir key (they do not have to wait until the whole question has appeared). The players digipic will be highlighted and the player should then say what they think the answer is out loud so that the rest of the players can hear. The "Reveal" key is then pressed and the correct answer is shown on the screen. The player will then be asked if they are right and pressing Y for yes or N for no will register the score. If an answer is correct two points are awarded to the player but if they are wrong then two points are deducted. It is up to the other players to make sure that no-one is cheating and saying yes when the answer was wrong. Please note that while every effot has been made to ensure that the answers to the questions are correct it is possible that the odd wrong answer has slipped in. We apologise in advance if it causes any arguments!! The questions are split into blocks to lessen the chance of you getting the same question each time you play. You will be given the chance to chose which block you wish to play with the beginning of the round but it is unavoidable that you will see some repeat questions the more you play but they will not appear in the same game. The Keys: The four players keys and reveal key are -------------------------------------------------- Spectrum: Q, Z, O, M reveal=R Amstrad: Esc, Caps Lock, Del, / reveal=SPACE CBM 64: -, C=, F1, F7 reveal=SPACE At the end of the time period the players scores are added to the running total and you will at last find out who is the KRYPTON FACTOR champion. Software (C) TV Games 1988 Krypton Factor is a Trade Mark of Granada Television Ltd. Programmed by Consult Computers. TV Games 22 Hartfield Road, London SW19 3TA