VADE RETRO
==========


HISTORY 

Much has been told about the adventure I am about to relate. Some of 
those things are true, others not so much. It could begin like this: 
"There existed a vast world in a dark age threatened by frightening 
creatures and horrifying beings", and it would continue, "... an 
uncharted land with a dark past...".

The text would sound like any other epic adventure. "A white knight, 
fleur de lis in the chest and sword in hand", would take us to medieval 
ages of jousts and crusades. But it would be equally false.

The knight is not such, but rather a simple palace blacksmith. The 
uncharted land has 'Dusarlyn' as its name and the frightening 
creatures,... well, some are more so than others. In that palace, 
Eshur, for that's our protagonist's name, worked for years as an 
apprentice blacksmith. And tired of making swords for the brave 
knights of the kingdom he decided to leave in search of adventure.

Some time later he crossed the deserts and barren lands of the West. 
He found horrifying creatures that terrorized villagers in small 
towns. An evil sorcerer had turned every living being into soulless 
creatures. He intended thereby to create an army of zombies with 
which to conquer the known world. Tucked away in the misty forest, 
Eshur found an old sorceress who told him how to destroy the work 
of Delcram and return the people of that remote place to their 
previous selves.

The sorceress Aganzia explained that Delcram's power resided in the 
'kishá' an orb whose wickedness was immense. Eshur fought tenaciously 
to achieve this. Delcram fled vowing revenge and the orb was destroyed. 
Our hero came home tired of adventures and resumed his old job as an 
apprentice blacksmith. He decided to forget everything and hid the 
pieces of his sword and his past in different corners of the palace.

Ten years have passed since then, and Delcram has found a way to get 
his revenge from Eshur. Thanks to the power of six horrifying vludurus, 
necromancers from the damned forest of Rgoar, from which he took the 
power to recreate the army to help him conquer Dusarlyn. Therefore he 
has installed in the kingdom where Eshur was born, and took the life 
of every other citizen.

Eshur could never forget that adventure. And even though nobody 
recognized his victory, and he could never be knighted, he didn't 
forget how to wield the sword. The kingdom needed him, and that's why 
he decided to fight against Delcram again.

Will you help him?


ADVENTURE DEVELOPMENT 

In your mission you must recover the sword fragments to be able to 
use it. You'll need it to be able to kill Delcram. It would also be 
very convenient to find the potion that Aganzia the sorceress gave 
you back in the day, to enchant your sword. Without it, trying to 
finish the adventure would be pointless.

The object collection order doesn't matter, but some messages will 
appear when you're able to use the sword or when you can defeat 
Delcram.

During the adventure you'll find some enemies which will drain your 
energy, which can only be killed by using the sword. It's advised 
that you keep track of your strenght while you look for the sword 
fragments before you enter the castle dungeons.

Most of the enemies can be eliminated, but there are some which 
are immune to your hits. Some of those can be briefly defeated 
until you reach the next screen thanks to some "paralyzers" that 
you'll find in certain situations. Those paralyzers can only be 
used once, so try to make the best of them.

The enemy hits are brief, and depending on the type and size of 
the enemy, they will drain more or less energy. During the game 
you'll be able to recover part of your energy taking some skulls. 
Those are precisely the remains of the necromancers that Delcram 
used to come back. Without them it will be impossible to finish 
the adventure, because you need them together with the potion to 
enchant the sword.

The adventure begins in the castle's smithy; but to step through 
the mapping you must release the four seals of the four relevant 
cavalry orders in the kingdom. These are scattered around the 
castle, so don't forget to visit all the nooks and crannies 
thereof to locate them.The passage to the dungeons won't be 
open until you pick them all up.

Once inside you'll find some parts of the dungeons closed by 
doors, which you'll open by pressing their corresponding 
buttons. Good luck!!


CONTROLS 

KEYBOARD 

Q jump

O left

P right

SPACE hit

JOYSTICK SINCLAIR


LOAD INSTRUCTIONS 

48k model. Type LOAD "" and press Enter. Press play on tape.

128k model. Select LOADER and press play on tape.

The game has sounds for both models. If you load it in a 128k model, 
you'll enjoy some nice melodies.


USED TOOLS 

Editor Context & Editplus3 Compiler pasmo (Julián Albo)

Bin2tap & Bin2code (Jaime Tejedor)

Decompressor zx7mini (Einar Saukas & Antonio Villena)

Graphics made with SevenuP (Jaime Tejedor)

Music created with WYZTRACKER (Augusto Ruiz)

Tape file created with Utoloader (Javier Pena)


CREDITS 

(code & graphics) José J. Ródenas -sejuan-

(additional code & optimizations) Jaime Tejedor Gómez -metalbrain-

(music player code) José Vicente Masó -wyz-

(music) José Vicente Masó -wyz- & Juan C. Soriano -mikomedes-

(loading screen) Kantxo Design

(Cover and phisical version) Francisco J. Velasco -pagantipaco-

(English translation) Jaime Tejedor Gómez -metalbrain-

(Betatesters) Ivanzx, Pagantipaco, Metr, Augusto Ruiz, 

... and the rest of Retroworks crew.


THANKS 

Specially to Ricardo Cancho, Topo Soft & Animagic graphician, for 
wanting to participate in the project.

To Retroworks for their indispensable help in the making and 
finishing of it. And to everyone who shares their Z80 knowledge.

IN MEMORIAM To Topo Soft's Javier Cano for the enthusiasm he showed 
when he saw the game's first images, and the support he gave us in 
the videogame development subject. "Wherever you are Javier, thanks"

(c) 1986 Crazy Soft / 2015 Retroworks