THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE



THE PYRAMID



PUBLISHER

Fantasy



AUTHOR

Bob Hamilton with Darren and Ian Hamilton



YEAR

1983



DESCRIPTION

A simple, fun arcade game with large, amusing aliens. Attempted

to introduce a character, Ziggy, with a "Hitch-Hiker's Guide to

the Galaxy"-style plot.



CONTROLS

Fuller, Kempston, Mikro-Gen and cursor joysticks supported, plus

3 keyboard options, listed on opening screen.



INSTRUCTIONS

The action all takes place within one screen. Shoot sufficient

aliens to release a crystal; protect it from the aliens, pick it

up when it turns blue and drop it above an exit. Repeat until the

exit is clear, then leave that screen.



INLAY CARD TEXT

[back cover - picture of Ziggy within a triangle]

THE PYRAMID is an arcade style game which has a very adventurous

feel to it.  The Pyramid contains 120 chambers on 15 levels. In

order to get from one chamber to another you must fight off the

indigenous aliens to collect an energised crystal which will

neutralize the force field guarding the two exits.  The Pyramid

is inhabited by a total of 60 wierd and exotic alien types, all

of which are beautifully animated. You will meet a whole variety

of demons, droids, insects and monsters, with a sprinkling of the

more unusual, the extra-terrestrial tweezers, galactic

strawberry, cosmic claw, mutant eye, plus a whole host of

entities that defy rational description. You will no doubt invent

your own nicknames.  You proced to explore the pyramid from top

to bottom with the difficulty generally increasing with the depth

of level. Depending on the choice of exit from each chamber you

are likely to have a different game every time you play.  Apart

from the challenge of trying to achieve the highest score

possible the pyramid contains a number puzzle to solve. The more

chambers you  successfully visit the more information is gathered

to enable you to discover the secret numbers of the pyramid.  The

puzzle won't take you days to solve, it will probably take you

a few months.  The manned craft shown in the pyramid above is

your exploratory capusle and is a true representation of the on

screen graphics.

 

Compatible with all leading joysticks



[leaflet text]

THE PYRAMID: THE SCENE



WARNING! This is probably quite the silliest scenario ever

written for any video game and we make no excuses for it. The

more sober minded of you should turn over for the instructions.



The original answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the

universe and everything was 42 but many aeons have now passed

since Deep Thought produced that magical number. Ever greater and

greater mega-computers have come and gone since then with no

further advances being made - that is, until Ziggy came along.



Ziggy was both very inquisitive and very ambitious from birth.

At the age of three months he decided that his life's quest would

be to solve the puzzle once and for all. Instead of turning to

the much tried computer, Ziggy decided to search for clues back

in history and spent his 200 years of adolescence plugged into

the memory banks at the offices of the Encyclopedia Galactica.



At the age of 218 Ziggy obtained his Cosmonaut's licence and was

free to fly the Universe on his great mission armed with just one

clue from all his years of research. This concerned two amazing

coincidences in connection with a small microcomputer known as

the Spectrum. The Spectrum originated on a seemingly

insignificant planet known curiously as 'The Earth' and when that

planet was destroyed in a galactic highway clearance scheme some

enterprising cosmic salvage expert recovered one of these

machines and claimed universal patent rights. Within a matter of

years the Spectrum became the universally biggest selling

microcomputer of all time.



The first amazing coincidence occurred on the planet of Imagit

where 99% of the population were involved in the production of

games for the Spectrum. On one fateful day, each of the 15,217

Software Houses of Imagit revealed their latest and greatest game

to the realisation that they were all exactly identical, down to

the very last byte. The resulting bitter conflict over rights was

solely responsible for the outbreak of Cosmic War V.



This game, The Pyramid, simultaneously created independently by

15,217 Software Houses became an all-time best seller once Cosmic

War V was over and played a major part in the second amazing

coincidence.



The people of the planet of Sunder were games nuts and at this

particular time were all nuts on 'The Pyramid'. In a moment of

unparalleled frustration the entire population of 8,000 million,

while playing the game, began leaping up and down in perfect

synchrony and at a devastatingly destructive resonant frequency.

The shock wave created sparked off a series of massive

earthquakes and volcanic eruptions which tore the planet Sunder

asunder.



The Pyramid was subsequently banned from sale resulting in the

creation of the most lucrative black market in history.



For Ziggy, the odds against these two events occurring by chance

were so ginormously ginormous that he reasoned there must be some

fundamental significance in them. Ziggy got hold of a Spectrum

at a space museum in a nearby galaxy and started conducting

tests. For many years he toiled away searching for some vital

clue to point the way on his quest until one day when the

Spectrum was routinely churning out its pseudo-random number

sequence he noticed a familiar pattern - the Spectrum has

produced an Astral Co-ordinate.  A computer check revealed that

the co-ordinate belonged to the remote and largely unknown planet

of Zargon, and in the centre of a large desert area.



You now join as Ziggy arrives after a long journey to discover

that at the precise astral co-ordinate produced by the Spectrum

lies (yes...you've guessed) a PYRAMID. This third coincidence

confirms Ziggy in his belief that he is  close to the Ultimate

Answer.



We can reveal that as Ziggy you must battle your way through the

Pyramid, chamber by chamber, to slowly discover its secret

numbers. Once a chamber has been successfully negotiated its Key

Number may be revealed to you - but not always. The guardians of

the Pyramid have not made it easy so you will have to puzzle out

the missing secret numbers from the relationship to the other

numbers on that level (or possibly the ones above). The Ultimate

Answer is the number for the inner sanctum chamber, the centre

chamber on the lowest level. This number will have to be puzzled

out and the techniques learnt from the puzzles of higher levels

may well be of good use to you.



This program may not be copied, hired out, lent, printed or

broadcast by any means without prior written permission of

Fantasy Software Ltd.



COPYRIGHT (C) FANTASY SOFTWARE LTD 1983.

The Pyramid was designed and written by Bob Hamilton. Graphics

for chambers 5,6,7,11,12,16,20,21,22,34,39,45,60 and opening

titles by Darren Hamilton.  Graphics for chambers

2,18,26,29,40,48,53 and 61 by Ian Hamilton.



(C) FANTASY SOFTWARE 1983.



THE PYRAMID: THE GAME



To explore the Pyramid you have an exploratory capsule with great

defensive shield power and a highly effective phased plasmic

laser to atomize the aliens. The Pyramid contains 120 chambers

on 15 levels with the principal object of the game being to reach

the base level (level 15) as quickly as possible.



Each chamber is inhabited by one of a variety of 60 wierd and

exotic aliens. Contact with these aliens is deadly but your

shield power will protect you. Your shield energy is ued to

atomize the unfortunate aliens on contact but this repeated

action will deplete your supply of energy. When no power is left

in your shield you become totally vulnerable to attack which will

result in you (poor Ziggy) being splatted all over the screen on

being hit. You will be pleased to know that your total shield

power is fully replenished to 100 units every time you enter a

new chamber. Your current level of shield power is indicated

against 'P' on the scoreline. As you descend deeper into the

Pyramid the aliens generally require more energy to atomize so

you'll have to keep out of their way as much as you can.



There are two exits from each chamber, both of which are guarded

by a force field. The force field has to be neutralized in order

to leave the chamber.  This is achieved by means of an energised

crystal which will descend from the top of the screen after a

certain number of aliens have been atomized. The number of aliens

to be destroyed before the next crystal is released is indicated

on the scoreline against 'A'.



The crystal has 3 energy states. In its highest energy state

(white), the crystal will destroy any aliens that come into

contact with it and has too much energy to enable you to pick it

up.



Any contact with the crystal in this state will result in loss

of shield power. In its intermediate energy state (yellow) it is

still not possible to pick the crystal up but it is now

vulnerable to destruction by the aliens.  In its lowest energy

state (cyan) the crystal can be picked up and this is achieved

simply by moving into it with your capsule. When you are carrying

the crystal your capsule changes colour to cyan, however the

crystal remains vulnerable to the aliens and is lost if the

capsule is hit.



The force fields guarding the two exits also have different

energy states, four of them, indicated by yellow (highest), cyan,

green through to magenta (lowest). Dropping a crystal through a

force field decreases the energy state by one level or if in its

lowest state will neutralize the field, allowing you to exit.

Release of the crystal takes place automatically as the capsule

passes over either of the exits although it can be picked up

again in an emergency.



Scoring for the game is a little unusual in that points are

awarded for the speed with which you negotiate each chamber. As

you enter a chamber the available points starts at 9999 and

inexorably decreases as time goes on. You can still enter the

next chamber even if the points have dropped to zero, your score

will simply stay as it is. The points can be seen ticking away

against 'S' on the scoreline. For each person there will probably

be an optimum route through the Pyramid which you will have to

gradually discover with experience. If you score more than 30,000

your high score will be coded.  Send your score and its code to

us and you may earn a place in our ranking list of the top 1000

scorers published every 6 months.



After successfully negotiating a chamber the entire pyramid will

be displayed showing your route so far and the next chamber to

be entered (flashing). The key number for the previous chamber

will also be displayed and this should be noted down. If a line

of question marks is displayed then the key number for this

chamber is missing and will have to be puzzled out.  Watch our

for details of a competition connected with the number puzzles

in the Fantasy Micro Club newsletter.



The following four joystick options are available:

1. FULLER  2. KEMPSTON  3. AGF/PROTEK  4. MIKROGEN

There are three keyboard options available (and additionally the

cursor keys can be used by selecting the AGF (Protek option).

These are detailed on the opening page when the game starts.

Keyboard use is very subjective and we hope to have covered

everybody's tastes - let us know if we haven't!  The required

option is selected on the opening page and stays in force for the

duration of the game.



We hope you have a lot of fun playing 'The Pyramid' and that you

enjoy meeting all the aliens invented to do battle with you. We

strongly urge you to send back the reply slip and join the

Fantasy Micro Club which has a regular newsletter with member's

offers on both software and hardware, news on games, scores and

member correspondence.



One last point, the game can be held at any time by pressing

"ENTER" on the keyboard. It can be restarted in the same way.



CHEATS

44685,0 gives, effectively, infinite energy, though you still

lose the crystal if an alien hits you while you're carrying it.



SEQUELS/PREQUELS

Sequels: Doomsday Castle and Backpackers Guide To The Universe

(part 1).  Not particularly similar to The Pyramid but also

featuring Ziggy.



SCORES RECEIVED



URLs



GENERAL FACTS



NOTES

The aim is to deduce the Key No. for Chamber 113.



Chamber              Key No.

001                  000001

002                  000002

003                  000003   

004                  000005

005                  ??????

006                  000011

007                  088841

008                  103041

009                  035721

010                  017689

011                  000017

012                  000013

013                  000027

014                  ??????

015                  000019

016                  000211

017                  000223

018                  ??????

019                  000229

020                  000233

021                  000239

022                  000003

023                  000007

024                  000031

025                  ??????

026                  008191

027                  131071

028                  524287

029                  000210

030                  000090

031                  000084

032                  000378

033                  000567

034                  000042

035                  000128

036                  000384

037                  000027

038                  000035

039                  000061

040                  000072

041                  000093

042                  ??????

043                  000012

044                  000088

045                  000023

046                  148877

047                  205379

048                  226981

049                  300763

050                  357911

051                  ??????

052                  493039

053                  571787

054                  704969

055                  912673

056                  000101

057                  000131

058                  000151

059                  000181

060                  000313

061                  000353

062                  ??????

063                  000757

064                  000787

065                  000797

066                  000919

067                  000723

068                  000180

069                  000357

070                  000289

071                  000209

072                  000317

073                  000489

074                  ??????

075                  000557

076                  000995

077                  000414

078                  000486

079                  002240

080                  001344

081                  000936

082                  000936

083                  001128

084                  ??????

085                  001147

086                  001258

087                  001598

088                  001316

089                  000868

090                  001302

091                  001470

092                  007854

093                  041990

094                  000520

095                  015015

096                  001750

097                  010868

098                  003267

099                  018865

100                  006050

101                  057967

102                  002310

103                  013851

104                  002584

105                  004004

106                  236313

107                  000033

108                  000217

109                  000146

110                  000015

111                  032850

112                  034839

113                  ??????

114                  000711

115                  000641

116                  000026

117                  433316

118                  348816

119                  000052

120                  000129

