1st July 2000
Introduction
Without wanting to blow the proverbial trumpet, and bearing in mind that EUG's incomplete administration of Sunday over a measure of disks fair destroyed its playability, the huge graphic adventure (available on standalone disks from EUG and 8 Bit Software) I originally programmed in 1995 has now picked up its fair share of fans.
I have more than a few pangs about recommending something I wrote myself (What I really need is an unbiased review of it for EUG. Hint, hint!) and which has been called everything from "so politically incorrect, it's excellent" to "immature beyond belief", so have usually just added the three disks free to those EUG orders of five disks or more.
High Scores
Sunday's biggest fan has to be Steven Thompson of Ipswich. Not only has he downloaded Version 6.0 from the 8-Bit Software web site, emailed EUG to see if we'd heard of it then, on finding I was the author, asked such a surprising number of questions that I decided to write this article but also said that, by hacking into the program and carefully noting the points given for each response, he has come up with three personal best high scores that he is convinced cannot be beaten. These are:
| 2,820 | ... | Sally ends up dead |
| 3,120 | ... | The Jamie and Sally survive |
| 3,740 | ... | The Jamie ends up dead. |
As he has also contributed a Sunday Save Game Position utility (which is one feature to be included if there is ever a version 7.00), it should be possible to take up his challenge now without needing to spend the compulsory two hours at the keyboard!
Although I have already emailed back the answers to his queries, and many questions he posed will be covered by the "secrets" revealed later, he did ask some questions which do not really relate to the game itself but more to the way I constructed it. These may also be interesting if you're one of the people I foisted it upon...
FAQs
Is there a cheat mode?
The simple answer is no; there is no in-built cheat such as a codeword or combination of keys. However, with the information that A% holds the Insultmeter and X% is your score, you can load in the BASIC program "$.START" on disk one, stick lines in with new values and alter the filename so the game goes directly to any scene.
What is on the disk that the Jamie steals in the secret room, and why doesn't it show up on his inventory?
This is a difficult one as I'd actually forgotten all about it. When I was 'finishing' writing Sunday, I intended to make another graphic adventure afterwards starring Professor Pythag. That's why he appears in the game in the first place and why he says he's part of the "advance publicity"!
Although I never did start the Professor Pythag adventure, it was to involve the Prof running a small pawn shop and inventing strange and useless things from the items brought in by customers. Inventions were to be mystical things like x-ray specs, transporters, self-stick wallpaper, etc made through combinations of items on the shelves then marketted at the patent office (around the corner) when they were considered 'perfect'. The invented items were to have either a beneficial or detrimental effect on the professor's finances and business, and there were to be elements of buying and selling copyright on his products for business to continue. The aim was to make Pythag rich.
I toyed with the idea of having someone blackmailing the professor who had to be paid each week because he had information concerning his earlier dubious practices. Although the Jamie's name wasn't to be mentioned, I figured players of both would make the connection.
Of course, an easier answer would be to say that the disk merely disappears as a way of showing the Professor that the Jamie has moved from his position and that is why his atoms are not reappearing. [But if the Jamie is invisible, why can't the disk be seen? - Ed]
Where does Clarice go for the last scene when her sister is electrocuted?
This is a big plothole which happened because I got in a mess with all the different storylines that can be pursued once the date proper has begun. On the station, the Jamie yells at Clarice, "If I get the chance, you're going in the canal!" and I intended, and actually designed, a scene where Sally is distracted and the Jamie throws Clarice over the side of a bridge and kills her. Later I designed the Sally Death sequence and didn't include Clarice as I was going to allow it to follow on only if the player had become a murderer. But I re-thought the canal scene and decided to get rid of it.
The way it plays, even in the latest version, goes direct from the way home sequence on Middlesbrough railway station to the Sally scene if the Jamie has been too nice with no explanation for Clarice's disappearance at all! As the two sisters have been a pair all the way through the date, her just leaving out of the blue is quite noticeable. However, perhaps you can imagine that Sally asks Clarice to leave so she can have a moment alone with the Jamie as if she is going to congratulate him on not insulting her then tries to get a rise out of him. As the end message points out, this is the reason for her death. Clarice may make a citizen's arrest on the Jamie and take him to the jail cell "waiting for him".
Now For The Secrets
I have compiled a substantial list of what the objects in Sunday are used for and also detailed the nice 'hidden' sequences average game players, although I suspect not Mr Thompson, may have missed for the rest of this article. But if you have any other questions regarding Sunday though (or anything else), get in touch. Hopefully, these two articles will also tempt a few others to take another look at this huge jaunt like no other!
The Objects
Dancing To Dallas
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This is one of the first oppotunities you have to use Command Mode to deviate from the serial structure of the game. It's not a big deviation as it doesn't affect any of the following scenes, and it's much more 'worthy' of being seen on the Master 128 version than the standard BBC/Elk one.
To see the whole sequence, it is necessary to enter the Jamie's living room before leaving the house on Sunday. To do this, simply hit ESCAPE while he is giving the speech about "changing the future" and enter GO ROOM (RETURN).
You can not get in to see the film if you take the Fake Birth Certificate with you. No matter what excuses you make, the bouncer will be unimpressed and the Jamie will be thrown out of the building; more often than not losing the weapons in his carrier bag.
However, you can get into the cinema by making sure you have the Purse Of Money, do not reply to the bouncer with too much sarcasm and explain that the tickets have been lost. He will demand you pay for more on the spot but, as the clerk lets everyone in for free anyway, it's no real disadvantage.
You can either get the Jamie to do this the romantic way - by playing the game in such a way that you get the happy ending sequence! - or you can get the Jamie to take her by surprise on the occasion she kisses his cheek in the corridor leading to Screen Three of the cinema.
First, to get Sally to take the initiative, in the scene with the flustered clerk puzzling over the films while Sally looks on in anger, you must respond to "Do something! Anything!" with "3: Oooooohh...What's it worth?" at which point she will make an offer too good to refuse. Then, when the location changes, and she and Clarice recommence their double-act, go into Command Mode just as Sally's lips brush the Jamie's cheek. The correct command to type is TURN ROUND although others are accepted.
You Can Ring Everyone!
All of the numbers in the telephone section will work but only Mark, the Sah, the Roberts' household, the CET speaking clock, the helpline and the cinema function when the Jamie arrives home. After he has called the Odeon and set up the date with Sally, Suzzie and Carl's numbers will be unlocked after they have been attempted twice with engaged signals (so that the dream of Carl and Suzzie has some credibility later).
The Cigarettes And The Burger King Fight
In the first scene of Sunday where Carl is busy feeling up a girl in the seedy nightclub, you can pick up the cigarettes on the table to the right by, instead of pressing Space to begin playing, going into Command Mode instead.
Of course, this means only two more weapons can be carried throughout the rest of the scenes. To see the full Burger King sequence, it is best to choose the Purse Of Money and anything else apart from the Fake Birth Certificate. This way, as outlined above, you can get the Jamie into the cinema and will not have to risk the cigarettes being crushed when the cinema bouncer throws the Jamie (and them) out!
When Clarice comes back out of Burger King with the free balloon, the cigarettes are used in one of Sunday's slapstick routines!
Again, You Need To Use Command Mode To See A Hidden Sequence Here!
What do you mean you've never discovered this?! Then you've missed out one of the whackiest parts of the whole graphic adventure and never met the guest star, Professor Pythag. To see the Secret Room and wend your way through a collection of several new scenes: get kicked out of the cinema once and, when sneaking back inside, go into Command Mode when the bouncer is heard to be coming back and type GO DOOR (RETURN).
That really is as much information as most Sunday players could possibly want. However, if you have one of the pre-release versions of Sunday such as v3.00, all of these sequences may not be included. If this is the case, go to either http://www.8bs.com/ and download the latest version else order it from EUG.
Good luck to all those trying to steer the Jamie through a hell of a day. And note that there is a book, published by Mudfog Books (also entitled Sunday) available from WHSmith (or direct from Mudfog, c/o 11 Limes Road, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough TS5 6RQ) which explains all the events leading up to the Zero G scene which begins the game, at £5.99. (ISBN 1-89950327-7)
