Kwah!

KWAH! - MELBOURNE HOUSE



1. INTRODUCTION



When everyday wimp Kevin Oliver says "KWAH" he means business. Saying "KWAH"

transforms him into the superhuman Redhawk. Redhawk, the daring superhero

who single handedly defeated Fusor, Techno, The Rat and Merlin all in one

day and still had time to prevent a nuclear holocaust before tea.



It is up to you to continue the adventures of Redhawk by controlling both

Kevin and Redhawk in this interactive comic strip. As you give Kevin and

Redhawk commands, the outcome of these is shown as a real time comic strip.

You must make your decisions quickly as time waits for no man (superhuman or

not). While you consider your actions, the other characters in the game will

continue with their own.



2. LOADING INSTRUCTIONS



COMMODORE 64/128



Loading Instructions - cassette version

Commodore 128s should be used in 64 mode.



1. Place the cassette in your Commodore data recorder and ensure it is

properly connected and that the tape is fully rewound.

2. Press PLAY on the data recorder.

3. Press the SHIFT and RUN/STOP keys simultaneously. The computer will now

automatically start the data recorder and the program will load.

4. KWAH! uses the 'PAVLODA' fast loading system and the entire 64K program

will load into your computer 6 times faster than normal. The program is

loaded in short blocks to minimise loading errors. There are three border

'modes' used during the loading process:



FLASHING BORDER - Loading data

BLACK BORDER - Searching for data

WHITE BORDER - Loading error



If the border turns white during loading, just rewind the tape very

slightly and press PLAY to continue loading.

5. Often, loading errors can be reduced by ensuring that the data recorder

is as far away from your T.V. as possible.

6. In the most unlikely event of a genuine fault, please return the complete

package to Melbourne House Publishers at the nearest to you of the

addresses shown. We will gladly replace it. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN IT TO

THE PLACE OF PURCHASE. (This notice does not affect your statutory

rights.)



Loading Instructions - disk version

Commodore 128s should be used in 64 mode.



1. Insert disc into your disk drive with labelled side uppermost and the

label pointing outwards from the drive.

2. Enter the command LOAD"*",8,1 and press return.

3. If you have trouble loading the disc try the following instruction before

loading: OPEN 15,8,15,"I":CLOSE 15

4. In the most unlikely event of a genuine fault, please return the complete

package to Melbourne House Publishers at the nearest to you of the

addresses shown. We will gladly replace it. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN IT TO

THE PLACE OF PURCHASE. (This notice does not affect your statutory

rights.)



SPECTRUM 48/128



Loading Instructions



1. Place the cassette in your player, making sure that it is rewound to the

start and that the EAR socket of your Spectrum or Spectrum + is connected

to that of the tape player, as detailed in the Spectrum manual.

2. Enter the command LOAD"" then press the ENTER key.

3. Start the tape player The game will now load automatically.

4. In case of difficulty, alter the volume level and consult your Spectrum

manual.

5. In the most unlikely event of a genuine fault, please return the complete

package to Melbourne House Publishers at the nearest to you of the

addresses shown. We will gladly replace it. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN IT TO

THE PLACE OF PURCHASE. (This notice does not affect your statutory

rights.)



AMSTRAD CPC



Loading Instructions



1. Place the cassette in the tape deck and ensure it is fully rewound.

2. Press the CTRL key and the small ENTER key simultaneously.

3. Press PLAY on the tape deck.

4. The game will now load and run automatically.

5. In the unlikely event of a loading error, please rewind the tape slightly

and press play. If errors persist your tape deck may need realigning.

6. In the most unlikely event of a genuine fault, please return the complete

package to Melbourne House Publishers at the nearest to you of the

addresses shown. We will gladly replace it. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN IT TO

THE PLACE OF PURCHASE. (This notice does not affect your statutory

rights.)



3. THE SCREEN DISPLAY



Normally, the very top of the screen consists of white lines on a black

background. However, if you make a mistake or the computer needs to draw

your attention to something, a message "pops up" over this space. The game

pauses so that you can read the message. Once you have read it, press the

<SPACE> key to continue with the game and the message will disappear.



The top half of the screen is a comic strip. Every time something happens in

the game, the strip scrolls to the left and a new picture is drawn on the

right. Hence, the latest event can always be seen in the rightmost picture.



Immediately below the comic strip is an information display which consists

of:



(i) THE CLOCK - This gives the time of day in the game. Time rolls by

whether Kevin/Redhawk is doing anything or not. If he does something

which takes several minutes in the game, then the clock will speed up so

that you don't have to wait minutes before playing on.



(ii) STRENGTH METER - A bar meter next to the heart shape which shows

Redhawk's (not Kevin's) current strength. This goes down all the time

Redhawk is in his superhero identity. If it reaches zero then Redhawk

changes back to puny old Kevin.



(iii) SCORE METER - A bar meter next to the smiling face shape indicates how

much of the game you have completed. A more accurate figure can be

obtained by using the SCORE command described further on.



(iv) DIRECTION INDICATOR - A box containing between one and four arrows that

show where Kevin/Redhawk can go from here. The arrows correspond to the

compass directions north, east, south and west. Note that up and down

are not shown.



Below the information display is the editor window where you enter your

instructions for Kevin/Redhawk. The type of commands you can enter are to be

described further on.



At the bottom of the screen are the programmed key reminders. These save you

having to type ten commonly used words in full. Their use is described in

"5.0 PROGRAMMED KEYS".



4. THE EDITOR



You can give Kevin/Redhawk a command by typing it as a sentence in English

and then pressing <RETURN> or <ENTER>. It is important to remember that a

command is only issued after you have pressed <RETURN> or <ENTER>. Therefore

it is possible to type a command in readiness for something, wait for a

precise moment and then issue it just by pressing <RETURN> or <ENTER>. The

type of commands you can give are described in "8. THE VOCABULARY". For the

moment it is enough to know that they must be typed in as English.



The commands you type appear in the box on the lower half of the screen. The

place you are typing to is indicated by the '+' cursor, which moves along as

you type. You can type in commands longer than the width of the box. When

you reach the edge of the box, your command continues onto the next line. Do

not be worried if the split occurs in the middle of a word, the computer

will understand it as one word. Your commands may be up to eighty characters

long if you want!



4.1 EDITING A COMMAND



Inevitably, you will make typing mistakes. The simplest of these is hitting

the wrong key. To correct this, press the <DELETE> key until you have

deleted all the unwanted characters. You can now type over what you have

deleted.



Another mistake you can make is leaving out characters. To correct this, use

<LEFT ARROW> to position the cursor. To create space for the missing

characters, hold down <CAPS SHIFT> press <I> (Spectrum), <SHIFT> and <INST>

(Commodore) or <CLR> (Amstrad) until you have enough space for the missing

characters. You can now type into this space and then move the cursor back

to the end of the line using <RIGHT ARROW>.



NOTE: The position of the cursor when you press <RETURN> or <ENTER> is

important as it is taken to be the end of your sentence. Anything after this

position will be ignored. This means that you must make sure the cursor is

at the end of your command before pressing <RETURN> or <ENTER>. There are

exceptions to this, but these will be explained shortly.



4.2 RE-ISSUING PREVIOUS COMMANDS



Often during the game you will want to re-enter a command you typed earlier.

This saves on typing; it does not 'take back' your earlier command and undo

the consequences. So, if the command you want is still visible, press the

<UP ARROW> until the cursor is on the line you want. Now move the cursor to

the end of this line using <RIGHT ARROW> and when you are ready, press

<RETURN> or <ENTER>. Now, if not already there, you can return to where you

were before by <DOWN ARROW>.



If the command is not visible then all is not lost. The editor actually

holds ten lines of text, although you can only see four at any given time. A

way of looking at the box on screen is as a four line window over a ten line

area. You can move the window over this larger area by trying to move the

cursor up when at the top of the box, or down when at the bottom of the box.

In this way you are free to edit any of the ten lines. You start off with

the box over the top four lines. As you enter new commands, the ten lines

gradually fill up. When you enter the eleventh, the first line is lost for

good; when you enter the twelfth, the second line is lost: and so on.



Sometimes, you may only want to re-enter the first few words of an earlier

command. You could do this by moving the cursor to the end of this line and

then deleting all the unwanted characters. However, a much simpler way is to

just move the cursor to where you want the command to end and press <RETURN>

or <ENTER>. As explained earlier, this will cause the rest of the line to be

ignored. You will notice when you try this that a full stop is placed at the

end of the command. If later on you wish to remove this dot in order to

re-enter more of the line, you can just type over it as you would any other

character.



5. PROGRAMMED KEYS



To save typing, ten commonly used words have been programmed onto the ten

numeric keys. By holding down <SYMBOL SHIFT> (Spectrum) or <CONTROL>

(Commodore/Amstrad) and pressing one of the keys <1>..<0>, the word(s) will

be typed for you. The words programmed onto the keys, along with their

on-screen reminders, are listed below. Their meaning will be explained

later.



KEY REMINDER WORD(S)



<1> GET GET

<2> DROP DROP

<3> SAY SAY"

<4> KWAH KWAH"

<5> EXAM EXAMINE

<6> PLAY PRESS PLAY

<7> REC PRESS RECORD

<8> STOP PRESS STOP

<9> STORE STORE

<0> REC RECALL



6. THE PAUSE KEY



It is possible to halt the action in the game by holding down the <SYMBOL

SHIFT> key with the <SPACE> key (Spectrum) or <RUN/STOP> (Commodore), or

<ESCAPE> (Amstrad). This will stop any new actions being drawn until the key

is released.



Also, if you hold down this key as someone is speaking, their speech will be

repeated. This enables you to replay a character's speech if you miss the

start of it. If the whole game is too fast for you then use the SPEED

command described in "8.7 SPECIAL GAME COMMANDS" to slow it down. You can

also use this same command to quicken the game if you find it too slow.



7. PLAYING THE GAME



When the game has loaded, the computer will give a bleep and you must then

press <SPACE> to start the game.



The story begins as Redhawk lands outside the gates of Dr Lee's mansion. He

cannot remember ever coming here before but somehow the place seems

strangely familiar. This was Kevin's first assignment since being promoted

from photographer to reporter at the Daily Trumpet. Rumours of strange

disappearances in the area and reports of eerie lights from the mansion

might turn out to be an interesting story. It is up to you to control both

Redhawk and Kevin, and to discover the secret of Dr Lee's mansion.



You control Redhawk/Kevin by entering commands in English. You can command

him to go from place to place, to handle objects, speak, give things to

people, take things from people, fight people and so on. The vocabulary you

must use to achieve these things is described in "8.0 THE VOCABULARY". Some

commands, such as SPEED which controls the overall speed of the game, are

not for Kevin or Redhawk but for the game itself. These are described in

"8.7 SPECIAL GAME COMMANDS".



All actions take time to do. Most only a second or so, but things like

moving may take several minutes. When a lengthy action occurs, the clock

goes into fast forward mode. What this means is that time in the game goes

by more quickly. Minutes roll by in seconds. When the action is completed,

the clock reverts to normal speed. If, during a long action, you change your

mind and decide to do something else, then entering a new command will abort

the first one. Short actions cannot be aborted in this way. Instead, the new

action will be performed after the first has finished.



The game consists of a number of problems which Kevin/Redhawk must overcome.

To solve these you will need to make full use of the vocabulary.

Kevin/Redhawk will need to use objects he finds lying around and perhaps

enlist the help of other characters. To help you explore, the direction

indicator shows where Kevin/Redhawk can go from here. To let you know how

well you are doing, the meter by the smiling face shows how much of the game

you have completed. Each time you solve a puzzle the level will move up. An

accurate score can be displayed using the SCORE command described in "8.7

SPECIAL GAME COMMANDS".



To the right of the heart shape is a meter showing Redhawk's current

strength. Simply staying in superhuman form takes energy, as does every

action performed in this form. If Redhawk's strength falls to zero then he

is forced to return to his human form. In the form of Kevin, Redhawk's

strength gradually increases until it reaches maximum. During the game,

Redhawk may have to fight people. In combat, Redhawk's strength is pitted

against that of his opponent. Therefore it is not a good idea to punch

someone when Redhawk's strength is low. Kevin's strength is not displayed,

but it is quite easy to discover his strength by playing the game.



When playing the game, feel free to experiment. Section "8.7 SPECIAL GAME

COMMANDS" tells you how to STORE the status of the game instantly. Then if

things go wrong, you can always RECALL your stored game in an instant and

try something else, even if Kevin/Redhawk died. If you make a total mess of

things and decide to start again from scratch, just type RESTART.



If you get stuck on something, leave it for a while and go and try something

else, it may help to solve the problem. There is more than one way to

complete the game so never assume that the order in which you have solved

puzzles is the only correct order. Experiment and you may discover something

new.



8. THE VOCABULARY



The following sections show most aspects of Kevin/Redhawk's vocabulary, but

not all of them.



8.1 SENTENCES



Commands are given as sentences in English. For example:



PICK THE BOOK UP



There is often more than one way of giving the same command. For example,

the following two commands have the same effect:



PICK UP THE BOOK

GET THE BOOK

GET BOOK



There is no reason why you have to give your commands one at a time. You can

enter multiple commands in a number of ways:



GET A BOOK AND THEN GIVE THE BOOK TO DR LEE

GET A BOOK, GIVE THE BOOK TO DR LEE

GET A BOOK. GIVE THE BOOK TO DR LEE

GET A BOOK, LEAVE, GO NORTH AND WAIT



As you can see, sentences may be separated by "." or "," or "AND" or "AND

THEN". It is a matter of taste which ones you use.



To reduce the amount of typing necessary, certain words are optional. These

are: "THE", "THEN", "A" and "SOME". In addition to this, it doesn't matter

how many spaces you leave between words. This helps a lot when you are using

the editor because you can often delete a word in a sentence just by typing

spaces over it.



8.2 LOCATIONS AND MOVEMENT



LOOK LOOK AROUND / LOOK ABOUT / LOOK / L

LOOK AT LOOK AT THE LIBRARY / LOOK AT LIBRARY / L AT LIBRARY

SEARCH SEARCH THE LIBRARY / SEARCH LIBRARY /

SEARCH LIBRARY CAREFULLY / CAREFULLY SEARCH THE LIBRARY

GO GO NORTH / GO N / N

GO EAST / GO E / E

GO DOWN / GO D / D

GO IN / IN

GO OUTSIDE / GO OUT / OUT

ENTER ENTER

EXIT EXIT

LEAVE LEAVE



8.3 INTERACTING WITH CHARACTERS



LOOK AT LOOK AT THE DR LEE / LOOK AT DR LEE / L AT DR LEE

SEARCH SEARCH DR LEE

SAY SAY "HELLO" / SAY "HELLO

note: last " is optional

SAY TO SAY TO DR LEE "TELL ME ABOUT THE GUARDS"

HIT HIT THE GUARD / HIT GUARD

THROW AT THROW THE BOOK AT WILLA

GET FROM GET THE SCREWDRIVER FROM WILLA

TAKE FROM TAKE THE SCREWDRIVER FROM WILLA

GIVE TO GIVE THE SCREWDRIVER TO WILLA



8.4 HANDLING OBJECTS



INVENTORY INVENTORY / I

GET GET THE CAMERA / GET CAMERA

TAKE TAKE THE CAMERA / TAKE CAMERA

PICK UP PICK UP THE CAMERA / PICK THE CAMERA UP

DROP DROP THE CAMERA / DROP CAMERA

PUT DOWN PUT DOWN THE CAMERA / PUT THE CAMERA DOWN

PUT IN PUT THE KEY INTO THE SLOT / PUT KEY IN SLOT

LOOK AT LOOK AT THE CAMERA / LOOK AT CAMERA / L AT CAMERA

EXAMINE EXAMINE THE CAMERA / EXAMINE CAMERA / EXAM CAMERA

CAREFULLY EXAMINE CAMERA / EXAMINE CAMERA CAREFULLY

READ READ THE BOOK / READ BOOK

SHOW TO SHOW TAPE RECORDER TO CAMERA

HIT HIT THE DOOR / HIT DOOR



8.5 OPERATING THE TAPE RECORDER



PRESS RECORD PRESS RECORD

(Records anything spoken. However, only the last speech will be

recorded because each new speech is recorded over the previous

one.)

PRESS STOP PRESS STOP

(Stops recording.)

PRESS PLAY PRESS PLAY

(Plays back what is on the tape recorder.)



8.6 WAITING



WAIT WAIT

(Until you enter a new command or something happens.)

WAIT UNTIL WAIT UNTIL 12:55 / WAIT UNTIL 16:42

(As WAIT but stopping at the specified time.)



8.7 SPECIAL GAME COMMANDS



These commands do not tell Kevin/Redhawk to do anything. Instead, they have

a special effect on the game itself.



SPEED SPEED 0 / SPEED 4 / SPEED 9

This allows you to set the overall speed of the game to a level which suits

you. Speed can be set from 0 (amazingly fast) through to 9 (about half the

speed of a stuffed sloth).



SCORE

This gives your score as the percentage of the game that you have completed

so far. A rough indication of your score at any time can be seen on the bar

meter to the right of the smiling face shape.



STORE

Stores the game status in the computer's memory. After typing STORE, a

message "pops up" at the top of the screen. Press <SPACE> to continue play.

If you type STORE again, the new game status will replace the previously

stored one, which is destroyed. STORE works instantly but the stored game is

lost when you turn the computer off. To overcome this, use the SAVE and LOAD

commands described below.



RECALL

Recalls the STORED game from the computer's memory. You can recall a STORED

game as often as you like. The game status is recalled instantly but if you

LOAD or SAVE a game status from or to tape, any previously STORED games will

be lost. Instead, the LOADed status will be recalled.



RESTART

Starts the game again from the beginning. This command does not destroy your

stored game and if you wish, you can still recall that game.



SAVE SAVE "FRED" / SAVE ""

Saves the game status out to cassette. A message "pops up" and the game

pauses while you prepare your cassette. When you are ready, press <SPACE> to

save. This method of preserving the game status need only be used when you

want to switch off your computer, otherwise it is far quicker to use STORE

and RECALL. It is important to remember that when you SAVE a game, any

previously STORED game status will be lost.



LOAD LOAD "" / LOAD "FRED"

Loads the game status from cassette. A message "pops up" and the game pauses

while you position the cassette. Press <SPACE> when you are ready to load.



QUIT GAME

This must be typed in full and used only when you have finished playing the

game for the time being. It leaves the game entirely and resets the

computer.



Program Copyright (c) 1986

Silhouette Software Systems and Mike Lewis



Program designed and implemented by

Simon Price and Mike Lewis



Characters drawn by Carl Cropley



Cover artwork by Steinar Lund



Published by: MELBOURNE HOUSE



60 High Street

Flampton Walk

Kingston-upon-Thames

Surrey KY1 4DB

United Kingdom



96-100 Tope Street

South Melbourne 3205

Victoria

Australia



WARNING: Infringement of copyright is a criminal offence. Copying, lending,

hiring, public broadcasting, transmission or distribution other than in the

original packaging are prohibited without express written permission from

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