Lode Runner: An action game and game generator for the Apple II

Lode Runner.

An Action Game and Game Generator
For the Apple II by Doug Smith

DISK VERSION

lode Runner.

^ PLAYING THE GAME

You are a Galactic Commando deep in enemy territory. Power hungry
leaders of the repressive Bungeling Empire have stolen a fortune
in gold from the people by means of excessive fast food taxes. Your
task? To infiltrate each of 150 different treasury rooms, evade the
deadly Bungeling guards, and recover every chest of Bungeling
booty.

TO START:

After booting, the program automatically begins a self-playing demo
of three different levels of play. Watch them to get a sense of game
play. To begin play, press any key (except “return”) or push a joystick
button. Your player will start to flash. Move your player or push a
joystick button to begin game action.

KEYBOARD COMMANDS:

I = move up
K = move down
J = move left
L = move right
U = dig left
0 = dig right

GAME PLAY:

To complete a level, you must collect all the gold chests in a scene.
When you succeed, you may then climb a ladder to the top of the
screen and enter the next level. You will also gain bonus points and
earn an extra life for each level you complete. You start with 5 lives.

You will use your laser drill pistol to drill pits and passageways
through brick floors. You may dig through fissured bricks only, not
through solid surfaces, and holes must be drilled all the way through
to be effective. If a Bungeling guard falls into a pit and gets stuck,
it will become safe (for a moment) for you to run over him; also, he
will release any gold he is carrying. Any holes that you’ve drilled will
fill in again after a period of time, and guards caught in them when
they refill will die and be replenished by new guards at the top of
the screen. Be careful: Guards can climb out of pits that do not close
up around them. Your player, however, cannot climb out of pits and
will die if trapped in a pit that is only a single brick wide.

JOYSTICK COMMANDS:

Up/Down/Left/Right
Button 0 = dig left
Button 1 = dig right

2

You will notice that gold chests carried by enemy guards cease to
be visible. If you have picked up all the visible gold on the screen
and the ladder leading to the next level has not yet appeared or you
cannot reach the next level by climbing to the highest part of the
screen, one or more of the guards is still carrying gold. You must
trap the guards in a pit and pick up their gold. If an enemy carrying
gold falls into a “dead end” that he and you are unable to leave, you
will not be able to get that gold chest safely. If stuck in a “dead end,”
press CTRL-A to continue (see below).

SCORING:

Completing a level 1500 points

Picking up a gold chest 250

Trapping an enemy 75

Enemy dying in a hole 75

HIGH SCORES:

If you achieve a new high score, a high score list will appear on the
screen at game’s end. Type in your initials then press RETURN. Note:
You can use the left and right arrow keys to make corrections before
pressing RETURN.

SPECIAL KEYS:

CTRL-A

CTRL-J

CTRL-K

RETURN

CTRL-R

CTRL-S

CTRL-X

CTRL-Y

ESC

aborts man if stuck without means of

death or escape

sets game to joystick control

sets game to keyboard control

displays current high score list

terminates current game (enter demo

mode)

toggles sound ON/OFF

slows down overall game speed (press

repeatedly)

speeds up overall game speed (press
repeatedly)

flips x-axis on joystick
flips y-axis on joystick
freezes action until ESC hit again

3

Cheat keys:

CTRL-SHIFT-N advances a level (CTRL-SHIFT-6 on lie)
CTRL-SHIFT-P adds additional lives/players (CTRL-
SHIFT-2 on lie)

Using either of the two “cheat keys” forfeits your high score attempt
for that game. So does beginning a session at any level other than
the first (level 001).

£ MAKING YOUR OWN GAMES

The Game Generator (“Edit mode”) lets you design, move, erase,
playtest, and save to disk your own unique Lode Runner games —
with no programming knowledge required! You may also use this
editor to access directly (then play) any of Lode Runner’s 150 dif-
ferent game screens, as well as to erase high scores and prepare
new data disks for use in saving your own game creations. Don’t
panic. It’s all remarkably easy.

The following chart summarizes the steps involved in making your
own games. Detailed instructions are given in the sections that
follow.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN GAMES: SUMMARY

WHAT TO DO

HOW TO DO IT

1.

Enter “Edit Mode”

Press CTRL-E from demo mode
(or CTRL-R then CTRL-E from
game in progress)

2.

Put “Initialized”
data disk into disk
drive

(See “Initializing Your Data Disk”)

Use l-J-K-M keys to move cursor;
Use 0-9 to make shapes

4.

Save Your Game

Press CTRL-S

5.

Play Your Game

Press CTRL-Q to “Quit” game
generator;

Press P (and RETURN) to “Play”

4

1. ENTERING EDIT MODE:

First you must enter Edit mode. If you are playing a game, press
CTRL-R to end the game, then press CTRL-E (for “Edit”). If you are
starting from the self-playing demo mode, simply press CTRL-E. The
Lode Runner Board Editor screen will appear, allowing you to enter
the following single-key editing commands:

E (for “Edit”)

P (for “Play”)

I (for “Initialize”)

C (for “Clear”)

M (for “Move”)

S (for “Score”)

These commands are explained in the instructions below.

2. INITIALIZING YOUR DATA DISK:

Before designing your first game board, you must prepare a Lode
Runner data disk on which to save your creations. Enter the Edit
mode (if you haven’t done so already) and press I for “Initialize.”
Remove your Lode Runner disk and insert a blank disk of your own
into the drive. Press Y (for “Yes”) in response to the screen question
(“Are you sure?”) When the disk drive stops whirring, your data disk
is ready to use, and you can use it to create and save 150 different
boards without reinitializing. Note: Use this I command with cau-
tion as it erases the entire data disk! By the way, the program will
prevent you from initializing (and erasing) your Lode Runner master
disk.

3. DESIGNING YOUR OWN GAME BOARDS:

Now that you have an initialized data disk, you are ready to create
your own games. From the Lode Runner Board Editor screen, press
E (for “Edit”). You will be asked to type in the number of the game
board you want to work on (001-150). For your first board, use 001.
Type in the number, then press RETURN. The selected screen will
appear.

NOTE: Whenever you type in board numbers in response to prompts
in the Board Editor, you must type the entire three digit number
before pressing RETURN (i.e. 3 must be entered as 003, 47 as 047,
etc.) You may use the forward and back arrow keys to skip over digits
or to make corrections before pressing RETURN.

5

The process of designing your own boards is simple. There are nine
basic shapes that make up all Lode Runner game boards. Each of
these shapes is controlled by one of nine number keys (1-9). Zero
(0) makes a blank. To design a game screen, you simply move the
cursor around the screen with the cursor movement keys and place
the shapes where you want them by pressing the appropriate number
keys.

Remember: You MUST have an initialized data disk on hand if you
are going to save your creations to disk; you cannot use the Lode
Runner master disk for this purpose.

IMPORTANT: SEE TIPS ON SAVING YOUR CREATIONS BELOW.
YOU MUST SAVE YOUR GAME EACH TIME YOU QUIT THE GAME
GENERATOR, EVEN TO PLAYTEST.

CURSOR MOVEMENT CONTROLS:

I = up a line
M = down a line
J = left a character
K = right a character

LODE RUNNER SHAPES:

0 = blank

1 = diggable floor

Hill 2 ~ undiggable floor
^ 3 = ladder

— 4 = hand over hand bar

~i~ 5 = trap door

^ 6 = ladder that appears

after getting all gold

H 7 = gold chest
■jfc 8 = enemy
df 9 = player

6

There are a few practical limitations regarding the number of ob-
jects you can use:

YOU MUST HAVE ONE “PLAYER” ON YOUR GAME BOARD FOR
YOUR GAME TO BE PLAYABLE -i.e. NO MORE, NO LESS THAN
ONE LODE RUNNER COMMANDO (SHAPE #9) MUST BE INCLUD-
ED IN YOUR GAME BOARD DESIGN. OTHERWISE, WHEN YOU TRY
PLAYING YOUR GAME, YOU WILL BE RETURNED TO DEMO MODE.

You may have 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 enemy guards (shape #8) on a board.
No more than five, no less than one.

The other shapes (1-7) also have numerical limits, though you are
not likely to exceed them. If you do, the program will simply ignore
the excess.

From within the game generator, you may also view adjacent Lode
Runner boards by pressing the forward or back arrow keys.

4. SAVING YOUR CREATIONS:

When you finish designing a screen or when you want to play test
it or take a break ...

YOU MUST SAVE THE BOARD ON YOUR INITIAL-
IZED DATA DISK BY TYPING CTRL-S (for “Save”). IF
YOU DO NOT SAVE THE GAME ON A DATA DISK,

THE BOARD WILL BE LOST WHEN YOU EXIT THE
GAME GENERATOR!

5. PLAYING YOUR GAME:

After you have saved a board (using CTRL-S), type CTRL-Q (for “Quit”).
CTRL-Q returns you to the Board Editor screen. From there simply
type P (for “Play”) and RETURN to play the game board you’ve
created.

OTHER EDIT MODE COMMANDS:

The other single-key commands available from the Board Editor
(CTRL-E screen) are as follows:

P (Play) — Lets you select any game board you desire. After press-
ing P, you will be asked to enter the three digit number of the level
you wish to play (001-150). Type in the number and press RETURN.
Note: If you attempt to enter Play mode using a disk that has no

7

level 001, control is returned to demo mode. To resolve this, enter
Edit mode and create a first level.

S (Score) — Clears high scores from the disk; you start high scores
over again with a clean slate.

C (Clear) — Erases a game board from the disk (blanks the board).

M (Move) -Copies a board to another level number.

Note: You cannot Clear, Move, or Edit the game boards on the master
disk. These functions are available for use with a data disk only.

TROUBLESHOOTING:

Whenever there is a disk error, the game will return to demo mode.
If this happens, check to see if the Lode Runner master disk is in
the disk drive and if the drive door is shut. If this doesn’t resolve
the problem, check to see if you have a level 001 on your game disk.
If not, create one.

Playtest your own board creations to make sure they are beatable.
If you want to refine or improve them, simply return to the editor.

Remember, as mentioned in “Game Play," if a player becomes stuck
in a “dead end” with no way out, press CTRL-A to Sacrifice that “life”
and to resume play-

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