I. INTRODUCTION
Dear Adventurer,
Congratulations on purchasing AMBERMOON - we hope this game will keep you fascinated and entertained for at least as long as it took us to create it.
AMBERMOON is a game of discovery and adventure. You play the part of a young adventurer who has a difficult task to solve without much in the way of equipment and experience.
Soon after starting the program it will become apparent to you just how important your quest is. The world of Lyramion is under threat again. But today nothing is quite how it seems. Old enemies can become friends and serious danger threatens from areas where you do not expect it.
You have to travel the whole world to save Lyramion. On your journey you will meet many fascinating people and have many interesting and important conversations, which will help you in your quest. You will enter secret caves, search through holy temples and discover dark crypts. And you will have to battle against many horrible monsters ...
But you need not travel alone. During this adventure you will meet people who are prepared to accompany you and help you along the way. You will discover immense treasures of gold, magic weapons and secret artifacts. Things which you can use as equipment and for practicing your skills and those of your group. So you will always get stronger and have a better chance of succeeding in more and more difficult situations.
And you will see things and regions which you would not have believed in on that sunny day when your adventure began at your grandfather's home.
We have put a lot of time and effort in AMBERMOON and we hope you enjoy the result. The program is extraordinarily complex but we have tried to make it as easy to use as possible. You will very quickly become familiar with controlling the various features. Many of these have been updated repeatedly to make operation as intuitive as possible. We have also tried to stop you from running into dead-ends from which you cannot escape to continue your quest. Just one example: If you want to throw away an item which you have in your kit but which you will need later on, the program prevents this unless you want to keep it safe in a chest.
To everyone who has played AMBERSTAR, the predecessor of AMBERMOON: Be ready for a few surprises! We have carefully studied all your suggestions, critical comments and proposals and think you will agree that AMBERMOON is bigger, better, more attractive and easier to use. Hard to believe? Okay, start the game - and have fun!
Your AMBERMOON team:
Karsten Koeper: RPG editor, story, game design on Lyramion and the desert moon.
Erik Simon: Production, game design on the forest moon, graphics for country scenes and 2-D and 3-D graphics on the forest moon
Jurie Horneman: Programming of the Commodore AMIGA and ATARI ST versions, improved user guidance
Michael Bittner: Programming the 3-D texture mapping routines and the introductory sequence
Gino Fehr and Frank Ussner: Programming the MS-DOS version
Thorsten Mutschall: Monster graphics, battle screen backgrounds, dealer pictures, portraits and 3-D dungeons
Monika Krawinkel: Graphics of 3-D towns and cities and 2-D interior scenes on Lyramion and the desert moon
Henk Nieborg: Graphics of the introduction sequence
Tobias Franz: Graphics of almost all images in special game situations
Matthias Steinwachs: Music composition
Matthias Rieke: Editing the surface of Lyramion
Arnd K"sling: Editor of program texts
Dieter Rotermund: Cover illustration
Michael Hellmich: Map and illustrations in the manual
Harald šnzelmann (Hotline support): Manual
What happened in AMBERSTAR?
The world of Lyramion, a thousand years before AMBERSTAR.
A young magician by the name of Tar gained power in the Guild of Black Magicians. In the final tests down deep in the demonic realms he was confronted by that powerful Lord Demon, Thornahuun, who informed him that he was his father.
Beside himself with rage, Tar attacked Thornahuun with all his magical power. After a long and bitter battle Thornahuun decided that his son would not be of any use to him in that form and developed a new plan. He entered the very being of Tar, which rendered Tar insane and made him a willing helper of the Lord Demon. From that time forth, Tar called himself Tarbos, God of Chaos, and began to lay waste the world of Lyramion. Only the combined power of the Guild of White Magicians could stop him. He was beaten and locked away in the small red third moon of Lyramion. The magic seal to his prison was created in Castle Godsbane which in turn was sealed by that powerful magical artefact, the AMBERSTAR. The AMBERSTAR was then broken up into thirteen pieces and spread over the whole of Lyramion.
All this took place ten centuries ago. Then Marmion, a black magician, tried to release Tarbos from the red moon. With the help of the demonic brother of Thornahuun he teleported directly into Castle Godsbane and began to intone the long spell which was to break the magic seal.
With the help of the grey magician, Shandra, a young adventurer and a group of friends located the thirteen pieces of the Amberstar and overcame Marmion.
What happened before AMBERMOON?
Twenty years after successfully retrieving the AMBERSTAR the adventurer settled on an area of land which had been presented to him as a reward for his heroic deeds. He married and his wife had a daughter who, after a carefree childhood, also married and moved to Twinlake, the largest town on Lyramion. Soon after that, she, too, had a child.
But this happiness in her life did not last for much longer. The deeds of Marmion became evident again after all those years. The God of Chaos threatened to break free. The unfinished spells had cast the red moon out of its orbit and on one fateful day the moon fell on Lyramion. In great danger the hero of AMBERSTAR searched desperately for his daughter and eventually was able to save the child from the chaos involved in the destruction of Twinlake. For many weeks, earthquakes shook Lyramion repeatedly and huge volcanoes erupted, laying the land to waste. Lyramion had changed so much it was unrecognisable; the continents had broken up into small islands and gigantic clouds of dust darkened the sky over Lyramion for many years. Most of the towns and villages were destroyed completely and, of course, all trade collapsed.
Our game now begins many years later. Civilization is gradually returning. Several towns have been rebuilt and life is gradually coming back to normal. The hero of AMBERSTAR survived and brought up his grandson on his own. But it appears his time has come. At more than eighty years of age he is now bedridden and waiting to enter the realms of Balas, the God of Death.
But before he dies, he sends his grandson on an important mission. And this is where your adventure begins. You must find out what is happening on the Island of Lyramion and what risks there are to you and life on Lyramion.
II. GENERAL HARDWARE
Depending on the program version we recommend the following additional hardware:
The program supports the faster processors of the A1200, A3000 and A4000 as well as all memory expansions. Turbo cards for the A500, A2000, A500 plus and A600 should operate correctly with this program but we have not been able to test all the facilities, so there may be occasional incompatibility. Unfortunately we are unable to guarantee that standard systems will operate correctly.
LOADING AND INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
The AMBERMOON program is supplied on 9 floppy discs with this user manual. The game also includes a map of Lyramion and a list of runes, which you will actually discover during your adventures with your group. It would therefore be better if you only use the map and the list when you actually discover them during the game.
All game texts, whether on screen or in the enclosed documentation, are shown in English. Whichever computer system you are using (MS-DOS, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST/TT/Falcon), you should not use the original program discs to start the game. Protect your original discs by making copies of them or install the program on a hard disc and keep your original floppy discs safe in a cool dry place.
Creating a game disc
Game discs are only required if you cannot install the game on a hard disc.
You need the same number of discs as the originals. Note that copying the discs will erase any existing data on the disks you use for your copies. Also have an additional disc ready for storing the latest situation in the game.
1. Ensure that the original AMBERMOON discs are write-protected (the write-protect tab must be open).
Amiga
1.1 Boot your computer with your Workbench.
1.2 Insert the original disc A into drive DFO:.
1.3 Click once on the icon for that disc.
1.4 Select "Copy" from the Workbench menu.
1.5 Follow the instructions on the screen.
1.6 As the Workbench uses the name of the original disc during the copying process and adds "Copy of" to the name of the copy disc, you must subsequently correct the name of the copy. Click once on the icon of the copy. Use the "Rename" option in the Workbench to remove the words "Copy of" in front of the name on your game disc, so that the name of the copy is the same as the name of the original disc.
1.7 Repeat steps 1.2 to 1.6 for the other original discs so that, when finished, you have one copy of each original.
Loading from disc
Remember that you need a game disc to store the latest situation in the game. You must create this with the installation program.
Insert the AMBERMOON A game disc into the internal drive (DFO:) and reset your computer (press the Ctrl/A/A keys on the Amiga). The program loads and starts automatically.
If you switch off the background music you will not need to change the discs quite as often. For technical reasons all the soundtracks had to be put on one disc.
The Installation Program
The installation program provides options for installation on a hard disc, creating a boot disc, checking the "Troubleshooting Document" and, on the Amiga and Atari, creating the game disc. After starting the installation program, select the appropriate menu option by entering the number required.
During installation on a hard disc the installation routine creates a new directory on the chosen partition. All program data is copied into this directory.
The "Troubleshooting Document" is a text file which contains supplements to the operating manual. For technical reasons the manual had to be written partly while the various versions of the program were still being produced. There may therefore be certain differences which the programmers have put in this document for you. Please read it.
If you want to create a game disc, remember that all the "old" data on the disc used as the copy will be lost. The installation program formats the disc and creates all the files required for the game status to be recorded.
Installation on hard disc
1. Start your hard disc and the computer
2.1 Insert the original AMBERMOON A disc into Drive DFO:.
2.2 Double click on the disc icon of AMBERMOON disc A.
2.3 Double click on the INSTALL icon.
2.4 Follow the instructions on the screen.
Loading from hard disc
Open the partition and the file in which you installed AMBERMOON and then start the AMBERMOON program by double clicking.
CONTROLS FOR AMBERMOON
You can only control the game with the mouse. However, you can also use many features via the keyboard. In the following sections the two mouse buttons are abbreviated to LMB for the left mouse button and RMB for the right mouse button. The number keys 1 to 9 on the numeric keypad correspond to the features provided on the control panel and can also be selected with the mouse.
Mouse keys
In general, LMB calls up a function and RMB stops it again if it was selected accidentally, for example.
Mouse pointer
The basic shape of the mouse pointer is a sword. However, it can change its shape depending on the situation. In some actions the mouse pointer is locked in a window, to prevent incorrect entries.
Icons
AMBERMOON includes many icons. You select them with the LMB. Icons which are "shaded out" cannot be selected.
General icons are:
OK Used to confirm your entry
Exit Used to exit from a function
Icon panel
You will generally find an icon panel at the bottom right of the screen, containing up to nine active icons. You can call this panel up using the mouse or the nine number keys on the numeric keypad. Certain individual icon panels may also be blank because in many game situations less than nine functions are available. To simplify the description of icon functions we have numbered the individual icons according to their position on the numeric keypad, for easier identification. The number in square brackets therefore indicates the corresponding number on the numeric keypad which can be used to call up the function, as an alternative to the mouse.
As the Amiga 600 does not have a numeric keypad, on that computer you can only use the icon panel with the mouse.
Scroll bar
Many of the lists show a scroll bar at the right-hand edge of the screen. Some of these lists can extend beyond a complete window. Use the slider on this scroll bar to move up or down the list of items or texts in the window to be able to see those which are above or below your current position. The slider shows your position on the list. Click with the LMB above or below the slider and the next higher or lower section appears. Press and hold the LMB on the slider and you can move it up or down on the scroll bar to find what you are seeking.
The cursor keys [Up] and [Down] operate just as if you were clicking above or below the slider on the scroll bar. If you also hold down the [Shift] key, you can move the slider straight to the top or bottom end of the scroll bar.
Selecting an object
If you drag the mouse pointer over an object, the name of the object appears on the mouse pointer.
With the LMB you move an object from the inventory of a figure or from a chest or other container onto the mouse pointer. You can then move the object to its destination and press the LMB again. One destination could be a member of your group, for example. If you selected the wrong object by accident, simply press the RMB and the object is put back to its old location.
If the destination for the object is already full, the old object at the destination is moved onto the mouse pointer.
Entering numbers
In certain circumstances you may need to enter a number in order to specify a value or quantity. A special input window opens in these situations.
The item involved generally appears at the top left corner of this window. Next to the item you will see a brief description and a prompt concerning the entry required.
You specify the value using the three icons. The icons with the arrows increase or reduce the value when you click on them with a mouse button. Hold the LMB down on one of the icons and the numbers change more quickly. Click on the icons using the LMB and the value increases or decreases by 1 each time you click. The maximum or minimum permitted value (generally "0") is set simply with the RMB.
Confirm your setting with "OK".
If you opened this window accidentally, simply enter the value "0" and confirm with OK.
The cursor keys [Up] and [Down] correspond to the icons for adjusting the value when clicked with the LMB. If you use the two cursor keys while holding down the [Shift] key, they correspond to the icons when using the RMB.
Entering text
You sometimes need to enter text, for example to choose the character for your game figure. Enter the text required, i.e. the name in this example, using the keyboard and complete your entry with the [RETURN] key or the LMB.
Please use the [Backspace] key to delete individual letters. To delete an entire entry, press [Shift] and [Backspace] simultaneously.
Safety prompts
A safety prompt is applied to all critical entries. If you confirm your entry by clicking on the YES icon it is accepted by the program. If you enter something incorrectly, simply click on the NO icon.
The keys [Y] (English YES), [O] (French OUI) and [J] (German JA) correspond to the YES icon and the key [N] (NO, NON or NEIN) corresponds to the NO icon.
Text window
A text window appears at certain points and in conversations with beings you meet on your quest. If the text to be displayed covers more than one text window you can see the remainder of the text by pressing the LMB. Depending on the length of the text, the window may be switched several times.
Once the text has been displayed in full you can scroll up or down with the mouse and exit from the text window by pressing the RMB.
Input/output errors
The program captures input and output errors in a special window. This window appears if access to a disc or the hard disc was not possible. The windows contain YES and NO icons.
Click on YES if you wish to repeat the attempt at access.
Click on NO if you wish to leave the program and return to the computer operating system.
Amiga and Atari users who are playing AMBERMOON from a floppy disc will be asked to change the discs occasionally. The prompt tells you which of the game discs the program needs. Disc J is your game status disc which you created with the installation program on disc A.
Click on the YES icon after you have inserted the disc required. The Amiga computer detects the disc change automatically. You need not click on the YES icon.
If you click on the NO icon the program is terminated and the computer returns to the operating system.
INTRO
When the program is started, the Thalion fantasy logo appears. Press a mouse button to skip the logo.
The AMBERMOON introduction which now follows relates the events in Lyramion since the successful search for the AMBERSTAR. You can also interrupt this intro with the mouse button.
The input menu appears above the map of the devastated countryside.
STARTUP MENU
The startup menu provides the following options:
CONTINUE
This option only appears if you have already saved the game status. The last game status is loaded with this option. The quest is continued from that point onwards.
START NEW QUEST
You start a new game with a new character. If you select this option, the CHARACTER MENU appears. This does not erase the status of any old game.
This repeats the intro.
QUIT
You quit the AMBERMOON program and return to the user interface, unless the program was loaded directly from disc by using a reset.
CHARACTER MENU
On the character menu you select the personality you wish to represent in the game. The two icons at the left in the box choose the gender of the figure involved. Several male and female figures are available. The arrows to the left and right of the portrait allow you to step through the pictures. Click on the name panel and you can enter the name you want to use in the game. When all details are to your satisfaction, click on OK to exit the character editor. Confirm the safety prompt with NO if you clicked on the OK panel by accident. YES returns you to AMBERMOON.
CHAR...
Skamielina