THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE



SPACED OUT



PUBLISHER

Firebird



AUTHORS

John Gibson and Steven Cain



YEAR

1987



DESCRIPTION

An excellent budget puzzle game - a simple idea nicely executed,

in which the level of difficulty adjusts to your skill.



CONTROLS

Keys (left, right, up, down, fire, pause) redefinable.

Kempston, Fuller and cursor joysticks supported;

Sinclair joystick may be used by redefining keys.



INSTRUCTIONS

Your aim is to get from the bottom left to the top right

incurring less penalty points than the handicap for that game -

but your penalty in one game becomes your handicap in the next,

so in effect you must play better each time. You move across the

board according to the roll of two dice, but you cannot move off

the board or across a 'nasty'. To move, press FIRE to roll the

dice, move the cursor to the number of spaces (the roll of the

die) that you want to move and press FIRE, then move the cursor

to the direction you want to move in and press FIRE (or vice

versa - direction then number). Finally, move the cursor to the

central diamond and press FIRE. You can move so that you land on

a 'nasty', which is then 'spaced out' and removed from the board.

If you cannot move, use the bottom right icon to say that you are

'spaced out' - you get 500 penalty points and one more 'nasty'

appears. After your move, the nasties move around in an attempt

to block your path.



INLAY CARD TEXT

[back cover]

Tread carefully and you may 'space out' a computer. A game

requiring stealth and strategy.



[this is translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch

and Danish]



Joystick or keyboard



[inside]

SPACED OUT

(C) 1987 JOHN GIBSON & STEVEN CAIN



THE GAME

To while away the hours in deep space while the robo boys look

after the herds of Cybernetically Operated Wagons (COWS), Cowboys

tend to get SPACED OUT quite frequently. The aim of the game is

to get from the bottom left hand corner of their holographic

screen to the top right hand corner without getting SPACED OUT

by the army of NASTIES designed to make their life a little more

difficult! Not only will you have to dodge the NASTIES but you

will have to watch the penalty points.



LOADING

 1. Connect a suitable cassette player to your Spectrum according

to the User Manual. THEN FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS 3,4 AND 5 BELOW.

SPECTRUM 4/8/128 and PLUS 2 OWNERS

 2. Put the 48/128 and Plus 2 systems into 48K mode.

 3. Place the rewound cassette into the cassette player.

 4. Type LOAD "" on your Spectrum and press ENTER.

 5. Press PLAY on the cassette player.

 NOTE: Full loading instructions can be found in your Spectrum

Manual.



PLAYING THE GAME

SPACED OUT is a game that can be played with either a Joystick

connected to your Spectrum or with definable keys.  Select the

size of the play area by increasing or decreasing its size. Push

FIRE to select the required area. Similarly, the number of

opponents can be increased or decreased and set by pushing the

FIRE button.  The screen will then prompt you to push the FIRE

button again and you're ready to get SPACED OUT.  Push FIRE to

roll the dice which indicate the number of dots you must move

vertically and horizontally, but when a double is thrown 2 moves

must be made.  Move left and right and select the direction and

number by pushing FIRE. You cannot move ACROSS an opponent but

you can move TO a square occupied by an opponent. This means that

the opponent is SPACED OUT and removed. When the move is

completed it is the opponent's turn. If they succeed in boxing

you in, you're SPACED OUT and they move again and gain another

NASTY.



PENALTY POINTS

There are 4 ways of incurring Penalty Points.

 1. Time penalties

If you run out of time you will lose your remaining moves, incur

600 Penalty Points and another NASTY will appear. Time penalties

are also incurred after the first 15 seconds (25 if a double is

thrown).

 2. Opponent Penalty

When a NASTY is removed during a move, 100 Penalty Points are

scored.

 3. Spaced Out Penalty

If you are boxed in you'll score 400 Penalty Points. Tell the

computer that you're SPACED OUT by selecting the icon at the

bottom right of the screen.

 4. Throw Penalty

When you have used your allotted 20 moves, 100 Penalty Points are

incurred for every extra move.



Remember that the penalties scored in the game will be the

HANDICAP in the rematch. If you exceed the Handicap with

penalties in the rematch... YOU LOSE!



CHEATS



SEQUELS/PREQUELS

None.



SCORES RECEIVED



URLs



GENERAL FACTS



NOTES















































