The Valley Of The Kings

It is said that far away across the desert lie the lost pyramids of Kaculud, rumoured to contain fabulous treasure and a legendary golden mask. The pyramids may now have been discovered although strange happenings have caused the archaeologists to abandon their camp. Your task is to travel to the site and try to find the mask.

A real-time adventure game.

Instructions

The Valley Of The Kings is a real-time adventure. That means the game will continue to play when it is waiting for you to enter a command and the characters you encounter may not wait too long for you to think. The screen is split into two sections, the top part shows what is happening around you whilst the bottom lines are reserved for your commands. The game normally updates about every 30 seconds, although if you wish to halt the game for any reason, pressing ESCAPE will cause 'time' to stop until the SPACE BAR is pressed.

The computer acts as your eyes and hands on your quest. It tells you where you are and what is happening, then you must tell it what to do by typing a command of one or two words. For example, if you find an object that you want to pick up, type TAKE followed by the object name. If yout want to look at it more closely (which may yield some vital information) type EXAMINE, again followed by the name.

To move, give the direction you want to go (Directions such as SOUTHEAST must be given as SE to distinguish it from SOUTH). You can also enter more than one instruction at a time, such as TAKE THE SWORD AND GO WEST. The computer will carry out your instructions one at a time until it either finishes or encounters something it cannot do.

Some of the objects you may find are vital in your quest, or are valuable... Others are useless, as you can normally only carry a limited number of things you will need to select them carefully.

Scoring

The object of the game is to find the golden mask. However, there are also a number of valuable artifacts to be found within the pyramids. You will be awarded 20 points for each valuable item that you manage to retrieve and deposit in a tent at the archaeologists' camp. Further points will be given if you successfully complete your quest; a maximum score of 500 is possible.

To find out your score at any time, type SCORE (RETURN).

Useful Words

Many of the commands you will have to discover for yourself, but some of the more general ones are given here:

To move, try one of the points on a compass or something like UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, ENTER.

To get or drop a pot, try GET POT, TAKE POT, DROP POT.

If you want the description of a location type LOOK.

To list your possessins, type LIST. You may find that some objects can be worn as well as carried.

To kill a Goblin (if you have a weapon) try KILL GOBLIN.

If you want to save a game and return to it later, insert a suitable tape and type SAVE. Part of the database will be recorded and the game will then continue. To restart a game, The Valley Of The Kings should be loaded and run as usual, the data tape inserted and the command LOAD given. The data will be loaded and the game will recomence.

To end the game, type QUIT.

As you are in the desert, you will need a regular supply of water or you will die of thirst. A source of light will also come in handy. Neither of these will last forever.

You should think carefully before you make a move; there is something very peculiar going on here and you may meet a fate worse than death!!

Loading

Tape: *RUN VALLEY (RETURN)
Disc: Hold SHIFT and tap BREAK to boot disc