TECHNICIAN TED INLAY TEXT Technician Ted is an enthusiastic young computer hacker who bounces to work at the local Microprocessor factory every day at 8.30 am. Anxious to please he knows he must complete his 21 daily tasks by clocking off time at 5.00 p.m. or incur the wrath of the Big Boss. But his fiendish boss hasn't told him what the tasks are or where they are located. Undaunted Ted gets his mate (who also works at the factory) to give him a rough sketch of the rooms close to the Canteen after promising to buy him a cuppa at break: We Call Him Sir Ted's Desk Canteen Reception Cloakroom Silicon Slice Store Boardroom Photocopier Main Corridor His mate says the first thing he's got to do is go to his desk then visit the Silicon Slice Store. In each room he has to hit two flashing boxes in the correct sequence. The only other words of wisdom his mate can come up with is the next task is in the Diffusion Furnace, but unfortunately his mate doesn't know where it is. He does know that for some tasks time is of the essence and the two parts of the task must be completed Megaquickly! LOADING INSTRUCTIONS Technician Ted has a unique loading system and it is essential that you switch off your Spectrum, switch it on again and then enter LOAD "". After a few seconds a dynamic loading screen will appear with a countdown in the bottom right hand corner of the remaining time to completion of the loading sequence. CONTROLS Kempston, Sinclair Interface II and Protek compatible. Action Result Q, O, 5, 6 or joystick left Ted moves to the left W, P, 7, 8 or joystick right Ted moves to the right Any key on the bottom row, Ted jumps 9, 0 or joystick fire A, S, D, F, G The action freezes (hit a movement key to recommence). H, J, K, L, ENTER Music off (press again to switch on again). SCORING The number of tasks completed and the time of day is shown at the bottom of the screen. A pink tell-tale running horizontally across the screen shows the number of lives remaining. You will lose a life if Ted collides with a hostile object - all moving objects are hostile and some stationery ones are too. When the two parts of a task have to be completed within a time limit, Silicon Slices will appear on the tell-tale. On completion of the first part the slices will move along the tell-tale and you must complete the second part before they all disappear off the screen. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION * A full event processor - solving a problem in one room changes the nature of another problem elsewhere. * Very high cycle time - ultra smooth, pixel-by-pixel movement occurs at all times. * Exact collision detection so that collisions occur if and only if objects overlap. * Synchronisation of interrupts for constant speed animation. * Intelligent sound routine - the music plays constantly no matter what the progress of the game. * Complex music routine with a cycle time of over one minute complete with vibrato and slide. * Over forty high resolution screens. * Myriads of eight-positions sprites of varying sizes. HINTS from CRASH magazine You must complete these tasks within the time limits printed by each one. Ted's Desk by 8:56 Silicon Slice Store by 9:09 Slice Diffusion by 9:27 Fuming Cupboard by 9:58 Clean Room by 10:07 Silicon Etching Plant by 10:22 Canteen by 10:40 Photocopier by 11:12 Boardroom by 11:25 Slice Surface Abrasion by 11:56 Laser Slice Sparation by 12:15 Bay 7 by 12:34 Micro Chip Mounting by 12:59 Tea Machine by 13:02 Power Generator by 13:18 Electro Plating Bath by 14:00 Quality Assurance Dept by 14:25 Abrasion Dust Extract by 14:38 Matthew's Lair by 14:58 We Call Him Sir by 15:50 The Wage Department by 16:07 After completing the Wage Department then you must go to the picket line, up to the Union flag and down again to the Picket line (in the middle). From here you can now go left into a new room called OK! WHERE DO I GET MY REWARD. Go into this room and walk left through the exit room to complete the game. To plan out your routes to and from room use the map published in CRASH. NOTES There was also a 128K version.