THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS

...When Ancient Egypt was at the height of her glory, 
the great kings and pharaohs would build hidden tombs 
far away in a secret place in the depths of the 
mountains to foil grave robbers. From earliest times 
until the present day, the land has been rife with 
skillful grave robbers - some even posing as 
legitimate archaeologists - all after the luxurious 
burial artifacts and famed treasures that the pharaohs 
and their families entombed with themselves. 

These secret tombs were always carved deeply into 
the sides of great cliffs or precipices - the tombs 
themselves having been excavated in the form of 
a horizontal chamber. The ruler's mummy would be 
placed in a stone coffin set into a recessed portion 
of the floor in the main chamber of the tomb. 

Down throughout the years, the pharaohs and the 
ruling nobility eventually constructed a total 
of sixty-four of these hidden tombs. This came 
to be known as the famed VALLEY OF THE PHARAOHS, 
where the rulers of ancient Egypt had hoped to 
rest forever in all their former glory. 

- But, except for the tomb at Thebes of the great 
Tutankhamen (known as "King Tut"), the wishes of 
all these grandly buried rulers were foiled: all 
the great tombs have been broken into, and 
a majority of them have been left in ruins. 

In spite of this, however, with the passage of time 
a certain number of the former kings were secretly 
moved to other hidden locations and - through over 
3400 years of history - have been able to guard 
the secret of the famed Mystery Jewels, which hold 
the secret of eternal life in the Kingdom 
of the Sun God. 


Vick, the notorious English adventurer from Manchester, 
has gone to the Valley of the Pharaohs in search 
of the Mystery Jewels. He is betting his skills 
against those of the wisest minds of ancient Egypt. 

Will he be able to solve the riddle of the stone burial crypts??? 

Will he fall victim to the dreaded curse of the mummy??? 

Can he locate the hidden resting place of the Mystery 
Jewels and get away with them safely??? 


HOW TO PLAY 

*This game is designed to be played one person; 
you compete with the computer. 

*You can control the action using either your 
computer keyboard or with a Sinclair type joystick. 

*You start the game with five lives. At 10.000 points, 
and for each 20.000 points you score, you get another life.

*If you can get all the Mystery Jewels in the pyramid, 
the secret door to the next pyramid, and the door 
to the previous pyramid will both appear.

*If a mummy touches you, you're out!! 

*If you want to stop the game midway, press the H key. 
This will stop the image. Press the H key once 
again to re-start game. 

*If you can no longer proceed in the game as the result 
of mistakes you have made in play, press the R key. 
This will start you once again at the beginning 
of the same pyramid. You will lose one life 
by doing this, however.


HINTS FOR SKILLFUL PLAY 

*There are different type of mummies living 
in the pyramids. Figure out as quickly as 
you can how each one moves!

*You can pass through the revolving doors in one 
direction only: from cyan to white (Weird folks, 
these "Royal Families"!!). The mummies cannot pass 
through the revolving doors. Take adventage of this!! 

*Be careful of the holes you make. If you make a hole 
too deep, you won't be able to get out jumping!

*Be careful! There are certain places inside 
the pyramids where you cannot dig! Places you 
cannot dig include: at the foot of each staircase, 
directly above and below revolving doors, underneath 
a sword, and directly underneath the places where 
pickaxes are left lying. 


SCORING 

Knocking down a mummy with a sword - 100 points 

Getting the Mystery Jewels - 500 points 

Clearing one stage and processing to the next - 2000 points 


CREDITS 

Programming
Manuel Pazos ( Guillian )
Jaime Tejedor ( Metalbrain )

Graphics
Francisco Javier Velasco ( Pagantipaco )

Testing 
Javier Ortiz ( tbrazil )
Iván Sánchez ( Ivanzx )
Javier Pena ( utopian )

Copyright 2009 RetroWorks