      --------------       GREATESC.COM       --------------- full title  : The Great Escape- author/coder: mariusz- release date: June 2015- source / www: www.atariage.com- other info  : ported from C64- genre / type: movie-game- min. config.: 800XL-OS, 64k RAM,                (Atari) Basic offDescription (taken from www.mobygames.com)The Great Escape is an isometricaction-adventure game. Controlling aprisoner of war in a German camp,your goal is to break out undetected.There are numerous ways to freedom:back doors, cracked fences, evenunderground tunnels. However, youhave to plan your escape whileobeying the strict rules of thecamp.Rule number one: Daily program. Youhave to attend two roll calls a day,one meal, one exercise, and stay inbed at night. Failure to appear atany of these events will result inthe alarm being rung. When you do nottouch the controls, your protagonistwill move automatically, going to allimportant events. You have to detectand use gaps in the time-table toexplore the camp.Rule number two: Guard rooms are offlimits. If a soldier catches you in aroom that is forbidden, you will beplaced in solitary confinement. Ofcourse, you have to enter restrictedparts of the camp to find itemscrucial for your escape. The moralflag will turn from green to red toindicate that you are in an areawhere you shouldn't be. (No cluehow this is solved in the b/w Gr.8Atari version)Rule number three: No prisoner maycarry forbidden objects. When youare caught in a suspicious situation,you will be stripped of all itemsthat you found so far. To avoidthat, you have to deposit objects ina safe place. You need to find keysto open locked doors, uniforms forcamouflage, flashlights to see indark tunnels, and many more.Rule number four: Guard commands areto be obeyed at all times. The Germansoldiers patrol on fixed routes andhave a line of sight. You have tolearn the guard's routes and sneakpast their backs to avoid detectionwhen breaking out. If you are caught,your morale will decrease. If yourmorale reaches zero, your will toescape is broken.THE GREAT ESCAPE documents==========================THE GAMEThe year is 1942, the place Germany.War has broken out and you have beencaptured and placed in a high security POW camp. Victory may be faraway, so it is your duty to escape,but this will not be easy. It willtake careful planning and muchpatience, culminating in a skillfuland resourceful implementation. Inthe camp you are closely guarded butwhile you follow the daily routineyou will need to slip away unnoticedto reconnoitre the situation andcollect tools and materials necessaryfor your chosen escape route. Thereare many avenues of escape, somedifficult, all certainly dangerousand each one requiring differentskills or equipment. CAMP GEOGRAPHY & POSSIBLE ESC-ROUTESThe camp is a small converted Castleon a promontory surrounded on threesides by cliffs and the cold NorthSea. Official entry to the camp is bya narrow road through the gatehouseand all traffic must carry papersauthorising their passage. Elsewherethe camp has been closed by eitherfences or walls and dogs are deployedto patrol the perimeter. These areasare watched by men from theobservation towers and there are veryfew blind spots, at night powerfulsearch lights comb the walls lookingfor any sign of movement. The prisoners are housed inprefabricated huts within the castleground just to the side of aquadrangle that is used for rollcalls and recreational purposes. Inline with the Geneva Convention theprisoners must have exercise so anarea has been provided and this isconveniently situated on the inlandside allowing close up inspection ofthe southern fences. Beneath the camp is a labyrinth ofold drains and tunnels dug out bypast internees it could prove anideal route to escape but enteringwithout a torch is very dangerous asit is far too easy to get lost in thedark. WITHIN THE CAMP THERE ARE FOUR MAINCHARACTER TYPES:1.The Commandant 2.The German Guards 3.Fellow prisoners 4.The escaping prisoner 1.THE COMMANDANT This daunting figure controls thecamp, it is he who chooses the numberof soldiers to place on particularpatrols and the observationpositions. At the beginning of thegame security is fairly lax but themore times the player is caught outof bounds the more secure the campwill become. The Commandant is theleast predictable of the securityforces, he often inspects his guardto see if they are in the correctplace and are following instructionsand it is possible to bump into himalmost anywhere in the camp. It is agood idea therefore to know hiswhereabouts at all times to avoidunfortunate encounters! 2.THE GERMAN GUARDS These characters are the work horsesof the camp staff. They must eithertrudge along on patrol, shiver onobservation towers or stand alert onsentry duty and ensure the prisonerskeep to their daily routine. Onceallotted to a patrol, they willdutifully pace up and down takingapproximately the same on eachcircuit. This will allow you to timethe position of the guards and modifyyour escape plan accordingly. The hero will be detected within thelines of sight of any of the securityforces so it is possible to sneakpast a guard who is looking the otherway, but they are very alert and youwill have to be quick. The soldiers who look after the POW'sescort the prisoners before they moveabout the camp, so two or threeguards will follow them to the paradeground, the exercise area or theprisoners mess. 3.FELLOW PRISONERS These unfortunate fellows have beenin the camp for a long time, at firstthey were enthusiastic about escapingbut a long series of failures havecrushed their morale. They now seemhappy to bide their time until theend of the war. However some of themen retain a bit of spirit and can bebribed or persuaded to create adiversion allowing you to disappearunnoticed. Their life is ordered byalarm bells, these tell them when toget up and when to go to roll-call,when to eat and when to exercise. Ananalysis of this routine will enableyou to estimate at what time yourescape will be noticed and the alarmbells start ringing! 4.THE ESCAPEE - "OUR HERO" You control him by joystick or keyboard putting in several patternsof behaviour. If you are in boundsi.e. the morale indicator is greenyou will follow the camp life withouthaving to follow the other charactersaround manually. You will only diverge from this path by taking overthe controls, but if you wander toofar out of bounds the moraleindicator will turn red; now you areliable to arrest and have totalcontrol. You can drop/pick up objects (pressfire, joystick down/up) that you findin the camp but you can only carrytwo objects at any one time. When youhave discovered places that areinfrequently searched or unlikely tobe discovered by the security forcesyou may leave a cache of usefulobjects there. Any objects that arefound however by the Guards orCommandant, or that you are carryingwhen captured will be confiscatedimmediately. If you are spotted while on an escapeyou will have two choices, either tomake a run for it or to surrender.Once caught you will lose all theobjects that you were carrying andthe camp security stepped up; youwill also be sent to the cells but sothat the action of the game cancontinue this is only for a momentand you will then be escorted back toyour comrades. SCREEN DISPLAY DIAGRAM:-------------------------------------I       ----------------------------II       I                          III       I                          IIIObjectsI           GAME           IIIyou areI          WINDOW          IIIcarrying                          III   I   ----------------------------II   I   ---  ---    -               II   --->I I  I I   I I  00000<Score II       ---  ---    -               II News bulletin     I               I--------------------I----------------               Alarm BellMORALEThe morale indicator is situated to the left of the screen, its colourdenotes the current morale. Each timeyou find something useful or explorea different part of the camp yourmorale and score will increaseaccordingly, however each time one ofyour possessions is discovered andremoved your morale will decrease.Red Cross parcels and other goodieswill arrive randomly throughout thegame and increase your morale level.Capture and consequent punishmentwill reduce your morale enormouslyand if it ever reaches zero you willlose control and our hero will becomejust another member of the campprisoners. The only remedy for thissituation is a new game. THE ALARM BELLSThe alarm bell has two functions, when it sounds in a short burst itdenotes the commencement of meals,roll-calls etc. and a message willappear at the bottom of the screenwith the relevant information. When apotential escapee is discovered outof bounds the alarm bell will ringcontinuously and this is the signalto the guards that an escape is inprogress. NEWS BULLETINMessages will appear on screen, keeping you fully informed of all news events within the camp, i.e. thediscovery by the guards of hiddenitems etc. SCORINGYou score points and increase yourmorale by discovering objects, usingthem and escaping - each of theseactivities will increase your score.CONTROLS:              Diagonal               left-up                  .     Diagonal.     .     Diagonal.      left-up.    .    .right-up               .   .   .                .  .  .                 . . .    Diagonal      ...      Diagonal   left-down.......*.......right-up                  ...                 . . .                .  .  .               .   .   .               .    .    .Diagonal       Diagonol    .    right-down       left-down   .               Diagonal              right-down FIRE is pick up, use, drop object.RESTORE - Abort game (A8 = ?)RUN/STOP - Pause game (A8 = ?)CREDITS Produced by D C Ward (C) 1986 Ocean Software limited Game design copyright Denton Designs