Sentinel
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Beyond your wildest dreams, in a world where the only force is pure energy, stands the Sentinel. Battle against him through 10000 lands, in the most original, compelling and addictive computer game ever devised. Firebird issues the challenge and the Sentinel awaits.

The object of the game is to absorb the Sentinel and replace him as the ruler of the landscape. Once achieved, you may hyperspace into a new world to begin the struggle afresh.

Once you have loaded the game, the title screen will be displayed. Press any key and you will be asked to input a landscape number 0000 to 9999.

After you have entered the landscape number and hit return, you will be prompted for an 8 digit secret entry code unless you choose landscape 0000 which does not require an entry code.

After a short delay you will be shown an aerial view of the selected landscape, which shows the relative positions of the Sentinel (the one standing on the tower) and the sentries, if any. Pressing any key will take you onto the landscape's surface. The Sentinel and sentries will be inactive until you expend or absorb energy. This allows you to have a look around and plan your assult on the Sentinel.

Once activated, the Sentinel and sentries slowly rotate, scanning the landscape for squares which contain more than one unit of energy. If they can clearly see such a square, the Sentinel/sentry will reduce the energy to 1 unit by absorbing 1 unit at a time and creating a tree randomly on the landscape. Therefore a robot becomes a boulder, and a boulder becomes a tree.

You absorb things and create things by turning on your sights and centering them on the square surface below the object to be absorbed/created Boulders however, act as an extension of the square surface, and the sights should be aimed at the side of the boulder. Boulders can be stacked and have things placed on top of them.

The amount of energy you have is shown at the top left of the screen in the form of robots, boulders and tree icons. A coloured (non-blue) robot is worth 15 energy units.

To move around the landscape, you must create a robot and then, with the sights still on, press the transfer key. You will now be in the new robot facing the old robot, which you may absorb.

The indicator at the top right of the screen is the scan warning. If a Sentinel/sentry spots you, this indicator will be filled with specks. You have about 5 seconds to move out of view before your energy is drained 1 unit at a time. Once all of your energy is drained, then you are absorbed and the game ends.

The total amount of energy in a landscape remains constant, so if a unit of your energy is absorbed, a tree will be randomly placed on the landscape.

If the scan warning indicator is only half filled with specks, this means that the Sentinel/sentry can see you, but cannot see the square that you are standing on, so it cannot absorb your energy. In this situation, it looks for a tree near to you and transforms it into a Meanie.

The Meanies' job is to flush you out, which it does by forcing you to hyperspace. The Meanie rotates quickly, making a low clicking sound, until it can see you. You will then hyperspace to a new location.

Hyperspacing uses 3 units of energy, because it creates a new robot in a random position and automatically transfers you to it, leaving your old robot behind. You are likely to end up at the same height or lower, but never on your original square. If you hyperspace with less than three units of energy, you are destroyed.

Once the Sentinel has been absorbed, you can no longer absorb energy, although you can still create objects and transfer to other robots.

Once you hyperspace, while standing on the Sentinel's tower, you will be given the 8 digit entry code for a new landscape. The landscape that you are given = Present landscape number + Energy left after the hyperspace.

KEY SUMMARY

Pan left - S
Pan right - D
Pan up - L
Pan down - ,
Absorb - A
U-turn - U
Hyperspace - H
Transfer - Q
Create tree - T
Create robot - R
Create boulder - B
Sights on/off - SPACE
Increase volume - 8
Decrease volume - 7
Quit - F1
Pause - COPY
Unpause - DELETE

Illustration by David Rowe.
Programmed and designed by Geoff Crammond.