Cataclysm

Scenario
Unable to escape the gravitational pull of a truly massive planet, the cosmic exploration ship hurtles ever nearer to the planet's surface. The moment of impact fails to happen. Horrendous creaking sounds, and the faintly audible sound of running water provide sufficient evidence to enable the ship's supervisor to eventually grasp the situation. Submerged beneath a vast and alien ocean, the Orcna is gradually disintegrating...

Game
Playing the part of the ship's supervisor, your task is to expel water from different sections of the ship via hydraulic pumps, to give the ship's semi-organic outer shell time to repair itself. The water enters each section through a network of pressure-relieving pipes, and must be directed towards a collecting vessel using several manipulating blocks. This must be accomplished within a time limit, before the pressure becomes too great.

The various sections of the ship contain numerous features to further complicate your task. Pressure valves, dissolving blocks and filters all affect the flow of the water. Additionally, the water's presence has disrupted the ship's computer, which is now intent on terminating your existence using the on board weapons' systems, although it is possible to acquire fire power of your own.

As the Orcna is an exploration ship, it contains many strange alien life forms, gathered from distant galaxies. The now chaotic computer has taken upon itself to release these creatures from their confining cells, and the aliens are rampaging freely throughout the ship. Needless to say, several of these species are particularly unpleasant. Your task is to prevent the disaster that would occur were the Orcna to succumb to the icy water that is flooding into the ship. Your task is to prevent a cataclysm.

Program
Cataclysm is a stunningly original and unique game. As well as incorporating conventional sprite and pixel plotting techniques, a cellular automata is employed to generate realistic fluid motion. A simple set of rules is applied to each individual droplet of water, with hundreds of droplets forming a dynamic fluid which flows around the various on-screen objects. The water will adopt the shape of any container, and even exhibit tiny air bubbles. Later levels incorporate extended fluid routines to create frothing acid, and coloured liquids that mix on contact. Optimised sprite routines allow the presence of various aliens and over one hundred parabolic particles and bullets, all moving extremely smoothly at a high frame update rate.

Guiding the water through the various features and into collecting vessels requires logical thought, coupled with arcade reflexes. Cataclysm successfully combines both puzzle solving and shoot'em up elements to create an immensely playable and enjoyable game.

Loading Cataclysm

Cataclysm loads from the desktop in normal fashion. Insert Cataclysm disc 1 in drive 0, and click on the disc-drive icon. Double-click on the Cataclysm icon to load the game. It may be necessary to allocate memory via the task-manager, depending on the state of the desktop when loading. If at any point during loading or when playing the game itself, the program pauses, press "Space", "Return" or a mouse button to continue. Insert disc 2 when prompted. This disc should be left in the drive with write-enabled whilst playing.

Scenario

Unable to escape the gravitational pull of a truly massive planet, the cosmicexploration ship Orcna hurtles ever nearer to the planet's surface. This presents its sole human occupant with a problem. After gazing fixedly at the huge viewing screen, the ship's supervisior closes his eyes, and braces himself for the impending collision...

Objective

Playing the part of the ship's supervisor, your task is to expel water from different sections of the ship via hydraulic pumps, to give the ship's semiorganic outer shell time to repair itself. The water enters each section through a network of pressure-relieving pipes, and must be directed towards a collecting vessel using several manipulating blocks. Whilst this is happening, the external pressure is constantly rising. A sufficient amount of water must be collected before the pressure becomes too great. Should the water miss the container then it will drain from the section, but the pressure will increase more rapidly. If the designated amount of water is collected sufficiently quickly then the outer shell will seal itself, and that particular level is complete.

Water

The water is generated by an extremely quick cellular automata. It is composed of many individual cells, and they act together as a fluid. The resultant motion is realistic, and the water behaves as one would intuitively expect it to. It will fall downwards when not impeded by any object. It will flow around any objects in its path, and will level off and fill the shape of any container. Note that effects due to pressure, for example U-bend effects, are not simulated.

The Supervisor

The supervisor is equipped with a jet-pack, which enables him to move freely throughout the level. He may affect the flow of the water by standing in its path, and may also move through it. The water may be manipulated using a number of blocks. To drop a block, press "Return". The block will be left behind the supervisor after he leaves that particular location. Note that a block may only be dropped if the area in which it is to be left is free from water. Blocks may be collected again by simply moving over them, and the number of blocks available at the start of each level is indicated in the lower left of the screen. The supervisor is also able to remove the metal stoppers that often prevent the water from leaving containers, again by moving over them.

Pressure Valves and Dissolving Blocks

The pressure valves form a fundamental part of many levels. They require a column of water above the valve-head before they are triggered. The level to which a valve will sink depends on the height of the column of water above it, with the valve sinking further distances for greater heights of water. Once a valve has been triggered, it will not move back towards its original position. The dissolving blocks are pink in colour, and will only dissolve if water comes into contact with them from above, not from the sides nor below.

Filters

Several filters allow only one particular type of object to pass through them. An area of short, horizontal, pink strips will only allow water to pass through that area. Yellow/black dithered squares may only be passed by the supervisor. Similarly, on later levels blue/black dithered squares allow only nasties to pass them.

Nasties

The Orcna is carrying a large number of strange and exotic aliens, having recently carried out a zoological expedition. Unfortunately, several of the more lively species have managed to escape from their confining cells due to a computer-malfunction, and are rampaging freely throughout the ship. They enter the playing area through large pipes, and vary wildly in nature.

Passive Nasties

Passive nasties tend to stop, blink and sleep a lot, but do little else. They will hinder your task in diverting the water into the container by obstructing the water flow, but may be touched without harm.

Lethal Nasties

There are two types of lethal nasty, which move with different speeds. Although the slower ones spontaneously explode on contact with the water, the faster nasties are completely water-proof. Both are to be avoided.

Exceedingly Lethal Nasties

Although not lethal to touch, nasties on later levels have managed to acquire weapons of their own. There are several types of weapon-carrying nasties. Needless to say, these range from moderately unpleasant to extremely unpleasant, including some with linear guns, some with spray guns and others that fire guided bullets.

Guns

The water's presence has disrupted the ship's computer, and this is now intent on terminating your existence using a variety of inbuilt weapons systems. These range from the fairly tame to the hideously violent. During the earlier levels the guns which will be encountered will include linear and parabolic varieties, with differing but not too severe rapidity of fire. Intermediate levels possess spray guns, which disperse many bullets in a short interval of time. Later levels incorporate guns which fire homing bullets, including slow-moving single bullets and large clouds of extremely nasty fast-moving bullets.

Sliding Doors

Remote-control sliding doors may be activated by switches, which are located at various points throughout a level. Each door is activated by a particular switch. If the switch is moved to the in position then the door will try to close, if it is moved to the out position the door will open. If any object prevents a door from closing, and the switch remains at the in position, then the door will close after the obstruction has moved.

Drip Valves and Bonus Blocks

Drip valves consist of a series of horizontal strips, arranged vertically above each other and with holes at opposing ends. As the water is forced to travel a greater distance by passing through the valve, this means that a mass of water takes a longer time to pass through it, and tends to emerge in a series of drips. Bonus blocks may be collected by moving over the diamond-shaped objects.

Weapons

In order to defend himself from the vicious onslaught of the nasties, the supervisor may acquire weapons which have been conveniently left around the ship. A weapon is collected by moving over it, and may then be activated using "Shift" or "Space". There are several different types of weapon, and they tend to increase in ferocity as the higher levels are reached. A weapon only remains active for the level on which it was collected.

Acid

In some levels the incoming water has mixed with dangerous chemicals, forming a potentially lethal acid. This must be collected in a similar way to the water. The supervisor, however, must avoid contact with the acid. This means that he is now unable to divert the flow by standing in its path, as this will prove fatal. In addition to this, it is not possible to remove the metal-stoppers that contain the acid whilst the acid is in contact with the stopper itself. This is due to the fact that the supervisor moves perilously close to the acid whilst removing the stopper. Similarly, any blocks withholding the acid may not be collected until the acid is no longer in contact with the block.

Coloured Liquids

Yellow and blue coloured liquids enter the level, often into separate containers, and flow in the same way as water. Before collection in the vessel at the base of the level, it is required that the liquids be mixed, and transformed into a low-pressure, green liquid. In order to achieve this, the supervisor must ensure that liquids of opposing colour are brought into contact. Note that it is not necessary for the coloured liquids to be mixed in proportion, and that rapid diffusion of colour occurs throughout a non-green liquid once the mixing process has begun. Hence as well as blue and yellow liquids mixing to form green, blue and green, and yellow and green combinations will also mix to form a completely green liquid. Should yellow or blue liquids enter the collecting vessel, then the external pressure will rise more rapidly.

Menu System

After loading, the program will present you with a menu. The pointer may be moved with either the mouse or the game direction keys. The following options are available:

Select Level:
Use the panel in the lower center of the screen to select a level. The currently selected level is highlighted. Clicking on any level number other than the highlighted level will cause that level to become the currently selected one. There are forty levels, and the panel displays five at any time. To select others, move the pointer to either the top or bottom of the panel as appropriate. Beside each level number, there are two indicators. The upper indicator depicts the accessibility of that particular level. A level may only be selected if this indicator is green. The lower indicator becomes relevant when a level is completed.

Scores:
Displays top ten high scores. The high score table is saved to disc, and all entries in the table are date-stamped.

Info:
Displays information pertaining to the currently selected level. This includes the highest score, the fastest completion time and the success rate.

Status:
Displays an overall status of the accessibility and completion of all levels.

Game:
Displays general game information. This includes music and sound volume levels, and internal speaker status. This information is saved to disc.

To start the game, click on the currently selected level.

Playing The Game

The basic gist of the game involves manipulating the designated amount of fluid into the vessel before the pressure reaches its limit. The colour of the vessel at the bottom of the level indicates the fluid to be collected. The vessel's colour is blue for water, pink for acid, and green for the green coloured liquid. The measuring cylinder in the status column also fills with the relevant coloured liquid as the fluid is collected. The coloured stripes on the pipes indicate the type of liquid which that particular pipe carries, and this is particularly useful on the levels involving coloured liquids.

A score is awarded for particular events occuring in the game, such as collecting water, sinking valves, dissolving blocks, picking up objects, shooting nasties etc.

Completing A Level

Completion of a level is indicated by the status panel, during the menu screen. The lower indicator by a level number is yellow if that particular level has been completed. When the game is first played, obviously no levels have been completed. The upper indicator of the first five levels is green, which means that any of these five are accessible, and may be attempted in any order. Once the first five levels have all been completed then the next five become accessible. Once these have been completed the next five become accessible, and so on until all levels have been completed, enabling the Orcna to repair and float to the surface. Note that after completing any level, the supervisor is only placed on the subsequent level if it is accessible.

Features

The game contains many features. The following list explains various items which will be encountered during the course of the game.

Screen Layout

The screen is mainly filled by the current level, with a narrow status column to the left of the screen. The playing area scrolls vertically to reveal more of the level. The measuring cylinder at the top of the status column fills as the fluid is collected. The red bar below this represents the external pressure, and this gradually increases as the game is played. If the cylinder is filled before the external pressure bar reaches the maximum height indicated by the graduations then the level is complete. The squares at the bottom of the status column indicate the number of blocks remaining.

Hints And Tips

Cataclysm is a unique and original game. The way in which the water flows through a level can often lead to logical problems which need to be solved. In order to help you become accustomed to the game, and to explain some useful playing strategies, the following hints are provided:

1. It is often useful to just explore a level the first few times it is played, and try to formulate a route for the water to follow. Take careful note of the initial number of blocks which are provided, and use as few as possible when solving a particular problem
2. It may prove tricky if water is trapped in the same area as the supervisor, a block needs to be dropped, and he is simultaneously, for example, holding a column of water above himself. In order to overcome this, move the supervisor towards the main source of the water (up in this case), and wait until the water has left the area in which the block is to be dropped.
3. In order to maximise the score, it may be useful to sink certain valves, collect particular objects etc., even if it is not necessary to complete the level.
4. The amount of fluid to be collected and the rate at which the external pressure is rising is not the same for each level. On some levels where the pressure is rising rapidly, it may be necessary to have the route planned out in advance, and to execute it quickly and efficiently, with minimum time-loss.
5. Bullet firing nasties may always be passed in a narrow, vertical passage safely.
6. The blocks are not only useful for manipulating water. They can be dropped to shield the supervisor from guns, and to protect him from nasties. If a nasty is incessantly following the supervisor, dropping a block may divert it.
7. When attempting to solve a level involving acid, it is particularly important that all the metal stoppers along the intended route which the acid is to take are removed. This should often be done before the acid is released from the confining containers, which is often done using remote-control doors.
8. A finite amount of fluid is present in the level at any one time. Once this reaches its total amount, further liquid will only be pumped in after some has been removed from the playing area by reaching the base of the level.
9. All the bullets fired in the game are extremely volatile, and will disperse on contact with any object. This means that a protective veil of water may be used to shield the supervisor from bullets in some instances.
10. Nasties may, on rare occasions, prove useful!

Game Controls

Z - Left, X - Right, ' - Up, / - Down, RETURN - Drop Block, SHIFT/SPACE - Fire

P - Toggle Pause, Q - Quit Level, F12 - Return To Desktop

Game Credits

Written by R. Postlethwaite
Additional screen-design and play-testing: Gordon J. Key
Digitising & Completion Graphic Screen: G. Richardson

Game Features

1. 50 Hz cullular automata generates realistic fluid motion.
2. Over 1,000 individual droplets of water on screen simultaneously.
3. Water, sprites and over a hundred independent particles and bullets, updated at 50 frames/second.
4. 256 colour graphics, 320*640 pixel playing area with superbly smooth animation and scrolling.
5. Over 500K of superb sampled music and sound effects.
6. 40 increasingly complex and difficult levels.
7. Numerous features including valves, dissolving blocks, remote control doors, drip-valves, linear and parabolic guns, increasingly available firepower, various types of aliens, acid, coloured liquids, guided bullets, etc...