Over 175 full screen high-res locations in the treasure trove Valley of the Twin Kingdoms. Keep your wits about you and a shard sword handy. A classic complex adventure.

As you may have already guessed, Twin Kingdom Valley is not only the name of this game but also of a mythical place in which two kings reside. Naturally they hate each other! This game is a simulation of the life in that valley. Whilst you play, other creatures will live their natural lives in the valley. You start the game somewhere in the valley.

It is assumed that you are a typical adventurous, bounty hunting, greedy human, and that your main objective is to finish the game with as much wealth as possible.

On your journey here you have heard a lot of gossip about the region and its geography. Here is a summary of that "gossip":

Twin Kingdom Valley is one of many valleys surrounding the vast lake of Watersmeet (so named because it is the meeting point of the many rivers and streams which flow from the mountains and valleys surrounding it).

It is believed that the lake itself has some mystical properties which, some say, are derived from the many potions of witches and so forth, which have been spilt into the rivers and streams throughout the ages. It is also said that a wise man may look upon the secret of life which lies nearby.

All this of course is simply gossip; believe it if you will.

You have rented a small hut from the innkeeper of "The Sword Inn", where your ill-gotten gains may be safely stashed.

I cannot, of course, place you bodily in this valley. Instead you are represented inside the computer. You are allocated, for instance, a certain strength which will go down if you are stabbed, belted etc. by unfriendly creatures, rather like in real life. Under normal circumstances you will gradually recover from any hurt but, like everything in this life, there are exceptions to the rule.

Although the machine becomes your physical body, you are of course still left with your own mind! It will be your decisions which determine your fate.

Collect as much treasure as you can without being killed. Your score increases as your success rate increases. The maximum score possible is 1,024 points. The game begins with you standing on a road running from East to West. Where you go and what you do is up to you. The best of luck...

To play the game you must therefore type commands into the machine, and after obeying you (if possible) the machine will prompt you for another instruction with a question mark. You may, for instance, choose to move north, so just type MOVE NORTH (RETURN).

Most words may be abbrieviated, e.g. the above may be entered as N (RETURN) with exactly the same effect.

The machine has its limitations, and cannot understand everything, e.g. IS THERE A GOOD GOLF COURSE NEARBY will not make any sense to the machine.

Please keep your instructions short and simple. e.g. TAKE THE KEY

Typing "INVENTORY" will list the items in your possesion. "HELP" will list the verbs which the machine understands.

The machine also has many pictures of the places in the valley. Some of these hold useful clues.

The game starts off by offering you a choice of six options which control when you see pictures and how much description you get of the places you visit. On your first game I recommend option 1, which is selected simply by pressing 1. You may alter the setting by typing OPTION (RETURN) at any point in the game. Option 1 will draw pictures of places which you have not been to before, as you arrive.

Press DELETE to erase any picture. After some pictures you are told which way you must face to see the picture. This will often help you draw a map of the valley (without which you might easily get lost!).

Enter all other commands using the keyboard and the RETURN key. You can delete commands by pressing CTRL and U together. You may use DELETE and COPY to make corrections and copy words off the screen. The computer will follow commands such as compass directions and: DRINK, SWIM, WAVE, WAIT, ASK, EMPTY, POUR, FILL, GIVE, OFF, ON, LIGHT, UNLOCK, OPEN, CLOSE, SHUT, LOCK, GET, TAKE, DROP, THROW, CUT, HIT. For example "HIT THE GUARD WITH A HAMMER" will let you hit the guard, presuming you have met one and you have a hammer!

Use the HELP command to list available commands. Other commands to help play the game include: SCORE, INVENTORY, OPTION, QUIT, END, LOOK, VIEW, PICTURE, DRAW. These are all self-explanatory. LOOK lets you look at the description, and so on. A dotted line will appear after commands which take up time. The pictures of the Valley sites will contain clues and help you draw a map. The picture will normally vanish after 10 seconds, or when you type your command or if you press DELETE. Remember to always press to action your command. If you are in a maze, remember each place in the game has a name; you will find that more than useful. If you are set upon by meanies keep on the move until you can recover your strength or find weapons.

Four special commands must start with an asterisk. i.e. *.

• *SAVE to save the current state of a game.
  
• *LOAD to load a previously saved game.
  
• *MODE for Electron only, this changes 25 lines by 40 characters to 32 by 40. Typing *MODE again will revert to 25 by 40. Type LOOK after a *MODE command.
• *TEXT alters the speed of printing on the screen to suit yourself from 0 to 9.