G L O O M
Typed by Belgarath

I glanced up at the flag waving forlornly in the acid sharp breeze. 'The
United States of Earth' was what it represented, but the enormous number of
stars it had accumulated over the centuries made it look more like a dirty rag. I
turned my attention back to the N.W.O. building ahead. It was, as it was meant
to be, an imposing building, both in size and design. It's sharp spires, oddly
coloured windows and antique building materials were the ultimate tribute to
the ugliness of an age long passed. I had only been here twice before, and the
results of each visit are still etched in my mind - as are anyone's worst horrors...

Seated before the council of 7, I struggled to maintain a dignified calm.
The room was cemetary quiet - the old men holding me firmly in their
collective gaze. At length, one of them rose to speak...

'The New World Order Greet you agent Black. Thank you for arriving so
promptly'. I grinned inwardly at the rhetorical compliment. He continued...

'We of the council have reason to believe that the Cultists are operating
again.' My stomach froze. I had really known this all along, although I had not
wanted to believe it. My other missions for the N.W.O. had involved the Cultists,
and both had involved more violence than any man could be expected to
endure. But I had survived, sanity more-or-less intact, and had made the
mistake of thinking the N.W.O. would see fit to retire me from further Cultist
missions.

'Evidence suggests that Cultist infiltrators are smuggling equipment and
resources off Earth, on an Earth Starcruiser, and are time jumping to cover their
activities. We believe we know which Starcruiser is involved but due to the
time jumping we have no strong evidence to implicate it.' My mind reeled - Time
jumping? Had they really gone that far? The dangers of time jumping had long
ago been established, ever since spacecraft were capable of reaching the
phenomenal speeds necessary - it's tendency to unravel the very fabric of the
universe - the mind shattering effect it had on it's practitioners.

'We have arranged with the owner of the concerned shipping company
to have you teleported aboard the suspected Starcruiser. She has personally
guaranteed us of your safe cover and passage. Your mission is simply to
determine the Cultist's destination, and return such information to us. Again, we
thank you for your co-operation.' He sat. I left.

I had a bad feeling about this mission. It nagged at me all through a
mostly sleepless night, right up until I reported to the Teleport Centre the next
day. As I lay on the teleport couch, watching one reality fade while another took
it's place, I hoped that things would go as smoothly as the council has promised...


Playing Gloom

Yeah! right! As you emerge from the teleport, plasma cannon at the ready,
Hordes of Cultist warriors rush you from the dark corners of the Starcruiser! You, or you
and a friend, must find the exit before you get killed...and eventually locate the
Cultist's destination. Along the way, you collect Weapon boosts for your cannon, the
occasional healthy drink, and lots of other goodies! You begin a game with three lives,
and continue until you either run out of lives, or discover the secret of Gloom.


Controls

Gloom can be played using either the Amiga's keyboard, a joystick or a CD32
joypad. Note that to sidestep using a joystick, you must have a two button joystick.

To Play Gloom Using The Keyboard

Move Forward        Press 'up arrow' key
Move Backward       Press 'down arrow' key
Rotate Left         Press 'left arrow' key
Rotate Right        Press 'right arrow' key
Sidestep Left       Hold 'Alt' key down and press 'left arrow' key
Sidestep Right      Hold 'Alt' key down and press 'right arrow' key
Fire Plasma Cannon  Press 'Amiga' key

To Play Gloom Using A Joystick

Move Forward        Push joystick up
Move Backward       Push joystick back
Rotate Left         Push joystick left
Rotate Right        Push Joystick right
Sidestep Left       Hold down button two and push joystick left
Sidestep Right      Hold down button two and push joystick right
Fire Plasma Cannon  Push joystick button one

To Play Gloom Using A CD32 Joypad

Move Forward        Push joypad up
Move Backward       Push joypad down
Rotate Left         Push joypad left
Rotate Right        Push joypad right
Sidestep Left       Push left joypad shoulder button
Sidestep Right      Push right joypad shoulder button
Fire Plasma Cannon  Push red joypad button

The Main Menu

Once Gloom has loaded, hit the return or the joystick button to bring up the
main menu. This will present you with a screen of options:

ONE PLAYER GAME - Begin a one player game of Gloom

TWO PLAYER GAME - Begin a two player game of Gloom. In this mode, the players
cooperate in their search for Gloom, and players are not capable of harming each
other. In a two player game players share lives, so it is in each players best interest to
help the other out!

TWO PLAYER COMBAT - Begin a two player combat game of Gloom. In this mode,
two players are thrown into a random series of arenas in which they attempt to prove
who is the better Gloom player! Players are most definitely capable of harming each
other!

PLAYER 1 - Selecting this option allows you to choose the control method (either
joystick or keyboard) for player one.

PLAYER 2 - This option allows you to select the control method for player two.

REMOTE LINK OPTIONS - This allows you to play Gloom with a friend and another
Amiga. See 'Gloom for Two'.

VIOLENCE MODEL - We leave the beauty of this option up to you discover...

ABOUT GLOOM - Brings up a screen of interesting facts.

EXIT GLOOM - This allows you to exit Gloom, and is only really useful if you have
played Gloom from your hard drive.


The Ingame Menu

During a game of Gloom, pressing the 'ESC' key, or the CD32 'Play/Pause'
button will pause the game and bring up the ingame menu. The options here allow
you to customise various aspects of the display - useful for those with slower
(standard) Amigas, as many of these options affect how smoothly Gloom runs.



CONTINUE Returns you to the game.

RESOLUTION Swaps between small and big pixels. Small pixels look better, but are
slower to draw. Resolution also affects the maximum game window size - small
pixels let you blow the window up to only about half the screen width, while big
pixels let you blow the window up to any size you want.

WINDOW SIZE selecting this will increase the size of the game window.

FULL SCREEN WINDOW Wammo! This option blows the display up to it's
maximum size - it's a little chunky, but very involving!

FLOOR This option allows you to disable the Floor graphics (fast), draw the floor as
a single colour (fast-ish) or draw the floor in all it's technical glory (slow).

CEILING This option lets you determine the appearance of the ceiling graphics.

QUIT GAME This will end your game and return you to the Gloom title page.


Your Plasma Cannon

To aid you in your dispatch of the various foes you will encounter
playing Gloom, you are equipped with a standard issue Plasma Cannon. Your cannon
is capable of five degrees of firepower, and can be boosted by collecting weapon
powerups.

Collecting a weapon powerup of the same type as you are using will increase your
Plasma Cannon's firing rate.


Gloom For Two

You can play Gloom with a friend over a null modem cable or over the modem
- just select REMOTE LINK OPTIONS from the main menu. Player controls should be
setup BEFORE this, as only one player will have control of the game options once the
Amigas have linked. Also both Amigas must have the Gloom title up before
attempting to link-up.

To start a null modem game, both players should select NULL LINK from the
REMOTE LINK OPTIONS menu.

To start a modem game, one player should select DIAL UP, while the other
should select ANSWER.

Once a successful connection has been made, players can 'chat' during a
game by typing characters or numbers. Chat messages typed during a linked game
will appear in the chat area at the top of the screen.

Note: When playing Gloom over a modem, it is highly recommended that 
your modem's error checking feature is disabled. Please refer to your modem's
manual for details on how to do this.


The Enemy

You will meet many strange and unpleasant creatures during your
travels. Here is a brief description of some to watch out for.

Cultist Warrior

You will encounter many of these during the early phases of your mission.
Although not too bright, the Cultist Warrior is a persistent foe.

Terran Construction Droid (Terra)

Slow moving but hard to destroy, Terra is also armed with a high energy
Plasma rifle. Watch out for these!

Undead Servants Of Gloom

Barely visible to the human eye, these poor souls are doomed to a life of
tormented servitude. Their arrival is heralded by an unearthly shriek, while their lack
of substance allows them to pass through physical obstacles.

Metaphisix

Dedicated to the mysterious ways of the Cult, Metaphisix is a bit of an
enigma. Metaphisix is reputed to be capable of removing a man's soul while leaving
his body intact.

Typed by Belgarath