Rasterscan

What do you do when all is you and the heat has left? With memory not uncorrupt and 'it' heading for heatsource conjunction and termination, you take MSB and repair and align until the Scan returns and Starship Rasterscan survives!

An animated challenge in real-time with the *weirdest* atmosphere ever. Lunatic health warning: This game may affect your concept of reality.

Born from the tortured mind of John Pickford or Binary Design. Joystick or keyboard.

The Game

The Scan confuses. Where is the heat? It is not appearing. Have they left with the movement? Cold.

The Scan confuses. We are almost unmoving. Are we deactive?

The Scan confuses. I cannot assemble to memory. It contains damage. Am I to unfunction?

I confuse the Scan. All is not well. It does not run, the heat is dying... am I to protect it or to end it? It will not assemble yet. Memory remains but is not uncorrupted. My function must be complete, the heat must tell me now, but it is not on Scan.

The Scan enlightens. We are one. All else is gone. It is damaged, as am I. Repair and reprogram. Correct before we terminate to heat source conjunction which will destroy and I must guard that which is within it.

The Scan fails. I know only what is within and yet the unfunction is else. Without Scan conjunction will occur without control. Movement remains sufficient to complete the meeting. I must restore more to avoid it. All is unfunction. Repair all within and else to regain control.

1 Scan 1. Readout:

Type: MSB Maintenance Droid Class 4
Power: Fusion Class 2
Transporter: Self Centred, Short Range
Capability: Steerage and Repair Cruiser Class X
Operability: 90% Program Corrupt, Functioning Damage to Memory Circuits

MSB returns to the Scan. I am again. Location unclear. Meaning impaired beyond recall. Scan for Rasterscan:

Type: Cruiser Class X
Power: Battery Power Fusion Reactors (Inoperative)
Engine: Four, Rating 250c (Inoperative)
Capacity: 57K Mt Cargo. 250 units
Control Systems: Standard three scanner control (inoperative)
Range: 3K Parcels
Operability: 10% Power and Control Systems not powered. Hull integrity impaired.

Playing The Game

Rasterscan is an animated adventure game without any text. All locations, puzzles, clues and solutions are depicted graphically. Although joystick-controlled, the game requires no arcade skills whatsoever.

The game takes place aboard a large spaceship, the Rasterscan. After a skirmish the Rasterscan is badly crippled and drifting helplessly towards a star.

The player takes the role of a small, spherical service robot by the name of MSB. Unfortunately, MSB's only remaining program is how to repair toasters and he hasn't a clue how to operate the spaceship.

The object of the game is to repair and control the Rasterscan preferably before it collides with the star!

MSB

MSB has no limbs to manipulate objects but he (it?) can cause an object to teleport from one place to another. This is done by placing MSB over the required object, pressing fire, moving MSB to the object's destination and pressing Fire again. The object will appear directly below MSB.

All machinery and instruments can (once repaired) be operated by plugging MSB into them. A window will then appear showing relevant information/options in a graphical form.

Locks

Certain areas of the ship are initially blocked off by locked doors. Locks take the form of a simple logic puzzle which must be completed in an unlimited number of moves. The solution is slightly different for each lock.

Machinery

All machinery and instruments on the ship are designed to be functional and their purpose can be worked out logically. The player must repair each item, ensure it is connected to the power supply then work out what it does. Several options will cause the game to be lost so a cautious approach is called for.

1. The Generator
   At the start of the game, the ship's generator has ceased to function and the ship is on battery power. The battery will not last very long and has only enough power to support the ship's basic life-support systems.
   
   The generator is powered by liquid fuel. A fuel pipe runs from the tank to the generator. Part of the pipe runs along the outside of the ship and this has been damaged, causing a leak. In order to fix the leak. MSB must collect a pipe section from the store, find the leak and repair it.
2. The Engines
   There are four engines on the ship, all powered by electricity from the generator. Between each engine and the power supply, there are two switches; the main on/off switch and the emergency cut-off switch. Switches are scattered around the ship so the player must follow electricity cables carefully to discover which switches are connected to which engine. Many of the cables are broken. The store room contains all the necessary spare parts. Once an engine has been switched on, the ship will accelerate.
3. The Scanner
   The scanner lies on the bridge of the ship. It must be switched on. In a room near the scanner which is also locked, there are three switches and only the correct combination of off/on will switch on the scanner.
   
   The scanner, when operational, will show a view of the Rasterscan and its surroundings. On the far right of the picture is the star, towards which the ship is being drawn. The ship itself is shown as a flashing point. Also shown are several planets.

Steering The Ship

This is the most difficult of the tasks. A room near the scanner is the control room. Here the player can control the speed and direction of the ship. There are four indicators which show the speed of each of the engines. In the middle of the room is a circle with a cross near the centre. The distance of the cross from the centre of the circle indicates the speed of the ship and its position relative to the centre indicates the ship's direction. To change the course of the ship the player must move MSB to the desired position of the cross and press Fire. The speed of the engines will adjust accordingly.

The game is completed when Rasterscan safely reaches the edge of the scanner.

The Status Panel

At the bottom of the screen is the status panel, which shows: MSB's location within the ship, which object MSB is carrying, a fuel gauge and danger level.

Save Game Option

The player can save the status of the game to tape at any time by operating the tape machine. This will, of course, have to be repaired before use.

Game Controls

O - Left, P - Right, Q - Up, A - Down, SPACE - Fire

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|TAPE
Press CTRL and small ENTER.