McMurphy's Mansion copyright (c) 1984, 1987 martin-art ALL RIGHTS RESERVED P.O. Box 7493, Pasadena, TX 77508 *********************************************************************** SHAREWARE This game is a SHAREWARE product. This means for a small fee that you send to the software author, you receive a professional quality program. If you play and enjoy McMurphy's Mansion you should send $10.00 to the address shown above. Please copy and share this disk with your friends (in accordance with the license agreement at the end of this manual). *********************************************************************** McMurphy's Mansion (c) 1984, 1987 Difficulty Level 5 It was three weeks ago when you received the telegram that would change your life FOREVER... It seems that an unknown uncle has died in faraway Scotland and left you his entire fortune. $10,000,000 to be exact!!! There is only one small problem... Dear old Uncle McMurphy was a bit demented and has hidden your inheritence somewhere in his mansion or on the mansion grounds. He has left you with only one clue, a small brass key. It is now up to you to use your superior brain power to solve the puzzles left to you in the mansion and find your fortune. ABOUT ADVENTURE GAMES In games like McMurphy's Mansion, you must command your computer self to do what you would do if you were actually in a particular situation or location in the game. This is done by entering the commands in the keyboard like this: >EXAMINE THE BOX (There will be more command examples later in the manual) After your command is entered, you will be given a response to the command or action you have just taken like this: The box appears to be made of burl walnut. It is about the size of a cigar box. In this way you can explore your surroundings and manipulate objects that you "see" or find in the mansion. - PAGE 1 - LOADING THE GAME LOADING-FLOPPY DRIVE Insert the game disk in the A: drive of your computer system. At the DOS prompt A> type in MCMURPHY so your screen looks like: A:>MCMURPHY then press the ENTER key and the game will load. ALWAYS leave the game disk in drive A: unless you choose to place McMurpy's Mansion on your hard disk or you are saving or restoring a position (more about that later). LOADING-HARD DISK To play using a hard disk, just have the game and all the related files in the current directory. GAME FILES The following files are critical to the playing of the game and must be on the game disk or in the hard disk subdirectory: READ.ME MCMURPHY.EXE MCFILE.DAT MCMANUAL.TXT MCWM.DAT BEGINNING THE GAME Before you actually begin playing McMurphy's Mansion, you will be asked for your first name. Any 15 letters (or less) may be used for your name. Your name will them be used during your explorations of the mansion. LADDIE OR LASSIE? It is traditonal in Scotland to call young adventurers by "laddie" (boy) or by "lassie" (girl). When prompted, simply press the key shown for the correct choice. GAME INTRODUCTION Included in "McMurphy's Mansion" is an introduction that will help familiarize you with this mess your uncle has gotten you into. The first few times you play the game, you should read this introduction carefully. After that, just skip it and go straight to the playing of the game. - PAGE 2 - YOUR FIRST COMMAND If you do read the introduction, your first command should be: >LOOK This command will give you a description of your surroundings and the objects in this location. After this command, you will be on your own. Be careful, an old mansion can be a DANGEROUS place!! COMMANDS USED IN THE GAME "McMurphy's Mansion" is played like many adventure games. You should enter commands as short as possible and as though each one started with "I would like to:", for example: Actual Commands: "I would like to" >EXAMINE THE BOX or "I would like to" >LOOK UNDER THE SOFA Several sample commands are listed near the end of these instructions. MOVING AROUND IN THE GAME To move from one location in the game to another, simply enter the compass direction you would like to go in. You may use all 8 compass directions (N, S, E, W, NE, NW, SW, and SE) and UP or DOWN. You may either spell out the entire word or use the abbreviation as shown. As you travel around the mansion and the mansion grounds, it is also important to draw a map of the mansion and the mansion grounds. Then maybe you won't become a lost adventurer! Actually, the game has a built in map that is shown on the screen, but it is more fun to turn off the screen map ( command: >XMAP ) and draw your own. That way you can make notes about where you find or where you leave objects found in the game. - PAGE 3 - GAME COMMANDS There are many commands that you may use in your quest for your fortune. The explanation and abbreviations (show in parentheses) are listed for the most commonly used commands. LOOK (L) The LOOK command gives you a view of your surroundings and the objects that you can see. Use this command to look around where you are or to see if an action you have just taken has changed things around you. EXAMINE (X) This command will give you a description of an object. Some objects must be in your possession (inventory) before they can be examined. INVENTORY (I) or (INV) Lists your current possessions that you are carrying around with you. Iuring your adventure, you will need various objects to perform certain tasks. Of course, the things you need are never where you need them, so you will have to "take" them and carry them with you. TAKE (+) This command is used to add items to your inventory. Some things such as doors simply can't be "taken", but if you see something you want, TAKE IT!! Also, some items in the game must be taken to be examined. To make it easier to use the "+" abbreviation of this command, we have fixed the "=" key so it will be a "+" key instead. That way, you don't have to hit the SHIFT key all the time for "+". (Your welcome.) DROP (-) If you have something in your inventory that you don't need any longer, or don't want to carry around any longer, DROP it. The object will then remain in the location where you dropped it just in case you want to come back later and retrieve it. MAP This command turns on the screen display of the map. Only simple minded adventurers and weakies actually need the map. It is really better to draw one by hand. It is more fun, and more challenge. XMAP What is turned on can be turned off. XMAP turns off the screen display of the map. The more preferred method of play... REPEAT (R) If you should want to repeat a command more that once, just enter "R" the second time instead of retyping the entire command over again. This will help keep the blisters off your fingers. COLOR If you don't like the default colors of the screen and text, you can use the command COLOR to change them. Just enter the command and follow the instructions on the screen. - PAGE 4 - WORDY When entering a location for the first time, you will be given a lengthy and complete description of that location. After you enter a location for the first time, you will only be given the name for that location (YOUR BEDROOM). If you would like to have the long descriptions all of the time, enter the command WORDY. SHORTY Turns off the long descriptions of each location. You will still get the long description the FIRST time you enter a location, but after that, you will only get the name of the location. LIST Shows inventory items on the screen under the map. List will show your inventory even if the map is off (XMAP). XLIST Turns off the screen display of inventory items. MANUAL Prints the official McMurphy's Mansion manual. You will need a printer in your system to use this command... QUIT Used to end the game. Be sure to SAVE your position first. USING NUMBERS An occassion may arise in the mansion when you would like to include a number in your command. If you need to use a number, just enter the number instead of spelling it out (7 instead of seven). HELP If you would like to review a summary of the game information while you are playing and have lost these instructions, enter the command HELP. ABOUT THE MANSION McMurphy's beloved mansion is truly beautiful and full of antiques. Although the mansion has many, many rooms, only the important ones are included in the actual game. Sorry, no bathroom... All of the doors in the mansion are open for your convenience, unless closed for a reason. Also, there may be objects mentioned in the descriptions of the rooms that you cannot TAKE or EXAMINE. They are included to give you a "feel" for the room and your surroundings. LOOKING OUT WINDOWS While in the mansion, it may be helpful to look out the windows. To do this, enter the command LOOK EAST or LOOK NORTH or LOOK in whatever direction the window is located. If there is a window in that direction, you will be given the view out of that window. If there is no window in that direction, you will be given the same response as the command LOOK. - PAGE 5 - FINDING THE FORTUNE!! GOLD BARS That's right! 24K GOLD!! There are 12 gold bars hidden in the mansion in unusual places. After you have found all 12 bars you will be given one of the three master clues that lead to the fortune. Note: Once TAKEN, a bar cannot be dropped. MASTER CLUES As you solve the puzzles of the mansion that dear old Uncle Mac left you as his legacy, you will receive a total of 3 MASTER CLUES. When you figure out what the MASTER CLUES are for and use them correctly, the FORTUNE WILL BE YOURS!!! SAMPLE COMMANDS The commands are listed below are to give you an idea about the game vommands in general. They may or may not work while playing the actual game. >X THE BOX same as >EXAMINE THE BOX >NORTH same as >N >LOOK UNDER THE DRESSER >TAKE THE RING THEN GO WEST >- BOX same as >DROP BOX >TURN THE HANDLE >OPEN THE TRUNK >LOOK UNDER THE SOFA >X THE CHAIR. X THE SOFA >N.S.S same as >NORTH.SOUTH.SOUTH. >PULL THE LEVER - PAGE 6 - MULTIPLE COMMANDS As you can see from the example commands, you can see from the sample commands, you can enter more than one command at a time. When you do be sure put a period (.) between the commands. You may also use the word AND or the word THEN to separate the multiple commands: >TAKE THE BOX.EXAMINE THE BOX or >TAKE THE BOX AND EXAMINE THE BOX or >TAKE THE BOX THEN EXAMINE THE BOX All three of these commands work exactly the same. Because the word AND is used to separate commands, do not use it to do something to more than one object. The command TAKE THE BOX AND THE KEY will not work. (Review sample commands) When using multiple commands, you should limit your commands to two or three. If you enter more than that, the game responses could scroll off the screen before you could read them. SAVING AND RESTORING YOUR POSITION Playing this game takes many hours. So that you will not have to begin from the very beginning each tim you start to play, special commands are used to save the progress you have made during a playing session. These saved positions also help in case the power should go out while you are playing. SAVE When you are about to quit for the day or you are about to do something dangerous in the game, use the SAVE command: >SAVE All of the information about what location you are in and the items in your inventory and the progress you have made will be stored on your disk in a special file. Then when you restart the game at a later time, you can RESTORE the old position and begin exactly where you left the game. You will be in the same room, with the same inventory, etc. Here is how to SAVE a position: - PAGE 7 - 1. Use a formatted disk disk with at least 10,000 bytes free. (Actually, there is room on the game disk for several different SAVES, but you may want to use a different disk completely) 2. Enter the command SAVE like this: >SAVE 3. You will be given instructions on the screen about which keys to press to save the position. Don't worry, it's simple! 4. Make a note about the postion number you have just saved for later reference. You may save up to 9 different positions on a single disk. RESTORE This command is used to restore one of the saved positions on your SAVE diskette. To restore a position, enter the restore command like this: >RESTORE 1. You must change disks if the position to be restored has been saved on a separate disk. The instructions given on the screen will tell you when to do this. 2. Follow the instructions given on the screen and you position will be restored. 3. Make sure the game disk is in drive A: or you are in the correct subdirectory on your hard disk and the game can PROCEED! Now all of that hard work won't have to be repeated each time you begin the game. - PAGE 8 - Well that's about it for the instructions. But there is just one more thing you should know before you go play. If you should find an old diary somewhere in the mansion, and you want to read on a specific page, enter a command that looks like this: >READ ON 9-1 in the diary or >LOOK ON 9-1 in the diary 9-1 in the example would be for September 1st. Just use whatever day you wish. This reading may help you, it may not... And REMEMBER!!! If you DO SUCCEED, NO MORE WORK!!! SLEEP TILL NOON!!! The fortune CAN BE YOURS!!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Avoid Insanity!!! Game solutions can be ordered from the shareware address below. Send a self addressed, stamped envelope and three dollars (greenbacks please!) to: McMurphy's Mansion Martin-Art P.O. Box 7493 Pasadena, TX 77508 As mentioned in the beginning of the instructions, the shareware fee of $10.00 should also sent to the same address. If you are a registered adventurer, your game solutions are FREE!, just send the envelope with NO MONEY!! Be sure to include your name and address, so we can tell if you have registered your game. - PAGE 9 - McMurpy's Mansion (c) 1984, 1987 Martin-Art ALL RIGHTS RESERVED!!! *************** LICENSE AGREEMENT *************** You are hereby authorized to copy and distribute copies of McMurphy's Mansion provided it is copied in the form on this disk and your copy contains the following UNALTERED files: File Name Description --------- ---------------------------------------------- READ.ME Text file explaining briefly the game, how to start the game, printing the manual, and the SHAREWARE registration. MCWM.DAT One of the game files MCFILE.DAT One of the game files MCMANUAL.DAT The ASCII text file that is the manual MCMURPHY.EXE The game program You are specifically NOT authorized to change the game manual or distribute any information concerning the solution to McMurphy's Mansion in any media whatsoever!! Note: This disk may or may not contain the file, MCMURPHY.ARC. This file is an archived version of all of the files shown above and can be used for distributing McMurphy's Mansion over a modem. Use PKXARC.COM (part of PKX35A35.EXE) to unarchive the files. This program may be found on your local BBS, Compuserve, or other BBS's, or from your shareware distributor. It may also be ordered from PKWARE, 7032 Ardara Avenue, Glendale, WI 53209 (contact them for price). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Game solutions may be ordered from Martin Art, P.O. Box 7493 Pasadena TX 77508 for three dollars. Your registration fee of $10.00 covers the cost of receiving a game solution (on request). You may order an original game disk from that same address for $10.00. If you are the operator of a BBS or you are a shareware distributor, send proof of same with a request and you will receive a game disk for $5.00. Your registration fees are used to further the goals of quality software at an extremely low cost. REGISTER AS A MCMURPHY GAMER!! - PAGE 10 -