THE RUN!
=======

'The Run' is the final proving ground for members of the Sphere Training Corps. Constructed to test the skills of trainee sphere pilots, this underground facility is a series of 16 floors or 'plates' each more difficult to navigate than the last.

Following a serious earthquake at the STC facility, Colonel Matt Ridley has been trapped in 'The Run'. Your sensors indicate that he's made it to the lowest level and you've been chosen to rescue him using the facility's SRP (Sphere Rescue Pod).

"Well this all sounds pretty straightforward" you say as you don your pilot boots. Ah, we forgot one minor detail; each plate has a droid generator that places proximity-activated roving mines around the maze. And of course the deeper you go into The Run the more droids you'll encounter. Bummer.

Still if you manage to grab a shield before going anywhere near one you should be ok, but venture near one without and we're going to have to pull you out to repair the damage! Happily, these criters can be taken out with those handy rockets you're sure to find scattered around each plate. Generally we've found it best not to hang around under the generator.

On your mission you'll also encounter various 'traps' and items used for training, and a summary from the STC training manual is given here...


[+] Experimental Teletrans Disc -  known to all as a 'black hole' the ETD is both a curse and a god-send... accidentally passing over one will teleport you to a random point on the current plate. Of course if you're cornered by something unpleasant this can be very useful!

[+] Spin-off - pushes your craft away in a random direction, can cause prolonged rebounds. Give them a miss if you can.

[+] Motion-Killer - interferes with the drive mechanism of the SRP causing it to grind to a halt. Worse still your pod's drive won't be able to restart for  a few seconds leaving you vulnerable to attack...best avoid!

[+] Shrink-o-Matic (TM) - by a process not yet fully understood even by it's inventor, this device can shrink any craft to less than half it's original size. Useful for getting into small spaces and utilising short-cuts.

[+] Reflate - returns your vehicle to it's normal size making it difficult to take advantage of some shortcuts

[+] Shield - will withstand a hit from an assassin driods but depletes over time. The effect of shields is not cumulative.

[+] Mini-Rockets - Ordinarily these are 'blanks' but unfortunately the earthquake has caused a serious malfunction in the facility super-computer; all the training equipment is now 'live'. Use mini-rockets sparingly as there are only a few on each plate and you might need one to get to the plate exit. As these home in on the nearest armed object they can only be used one at a time.

[+] Mapping Module - on each plate of The Run you'll find a mapping module and you'll need to grab this to activate the plate exit. These modules  display a map of the current plate showing your position and that of the exit. They won't tell you where the action is but at least you'll have some idea where you're going.

[+] De-Vis - cloaks your SRP for a short while but makes it tricky to tell where you are. Note that De-Vis only hides your vehicle, it will still be subject to collisions with other objects!

[+] Hardware crates - any of these you can recover will enhance your mission rating.

[+] Vent switches - these were designed to allow exhaust fumes to escape from The Run and were not intended to form part of the challenge for Sphere pilots. However, since we're now keeping The Run pressurised with air, tripping any of these will allow air to escape thereby reducing the time available to you. Keep well away if you can.

[+] Exit - oh come on, you're an elite member of the Corps, even you should know what this is!


Actually we lied about there being one other thing. There's another 'one other thing'. Since the earthquake we can only maintain a breathable atmosphere for a few minutes at a time - if we start to get low on pressure or you get hit by an explosion we'll pull you out straight away but there's no way we can power up the teleporter more than three times on top of the in-and-out for each plate. If you can't get to Ridley by then it's curtains for him. And it won't look too good for you either. Good luck!



System Requirements
=================

A Windows 98/ME/XP PC capable of 800x600 graphics using DirectX. A monitor, soundcard and some form of input device are all pretty much essential for proper enjoyment of this game.


Options
======

Controls

The default movement keys are the cursor ('arrow') keys with the left control key for fire. You can change any of the keys to suit your preference via the options menu. To change any key place the highlight bar over the action (for example 'Fire') and press enter and then press the key you'd like to use to perform that action. 

Note that reconfiguring keys only affects keys used within the game itself - the main menu uses the standard up, down, enter and escape keys.

You can pause and resume the game during play by pressing the 'P' key.


Sound

You can set the overall volume for sound effects and music via this option. Position the highlight bar over either option and then press the right or left cursor keys to increase or decrease volume.


Brightsess

You can alter the brightness of the game via this option. Changing this setting only affects the brightness within the game itself, it will not change the appearance of the game menus.


Difficulty

You can choose a difficulty setting between 1 and 5 with 1 being the easiest. The difficulty setting changes the number of items within each level and the complexity of the maze - a maze with low difficulty will have lots of shortcuts, fewer traps and fewer mines. To change the difficulty setting position the highlight bar over 'Difficulty' then use the right or left cursor keys to change the difficulty setting.






Gameplay / Tips
============

You score points for picking up hardware crates, shooting droids and any unused shields and rockets at the end of each level. You also score points for any time remaining when you exit a level. The points awarded for each of these depends on the game difficulty setting.

[+] Use rockets sparingly - you might need one to remove a droid that's blocking your exit!

[+] If you're boxed in, try nipping throuh a black hole.

[+] There is a limit to the number of droids the generator will deploy on any given level - if they're not bothering you, conserve your rockets.

[+] It might be worth sacrificing your shield to blow up a droid that's blocking your path.

[+] Rockets that you've collected but not used are worth more points than uncollected rockets - improve your score by collecting rockets but not using them!

[+] When there's less than 20 seconds of air left you'll hear an alarm and get a warning message - make you way to the exit as quickly as possible.

[+] Take your time! Careful navigation, especially on the later levels, is the key to success.

[+] Beware the bounce! The rebound caused by hitting objects at speed can lead to unanticipated consequences!

[+] Always try to be shielded and as small as possible. Even at normal size, look for diagonal gaps that you can squeeze through.



Copyright Notices
=============

Based on 'ISS' (Incredible Shrinking Sphere) Copyright Electric Dreams 1989
This remake copyright X2 Productions 2006
Developed exclusively for the Retro Remakes Competition 2006

This program is freeware.
This program must not be distributed as part of a compilation or on any physical media without the written permission of X2 Productions.
All source code, graphics, sound and music are copyright X2 Productions and must not be used without permission.



The X2 Prodcutions Team
===================

Steve Applegarth
Edgar Ibarra
Paul Robinson



Contact
======

You can contact X2productions via email at remakes@x2productions.com



