┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ A Computer Owner’s Guide │ │ To Care Of And │ │ Communication With │ │ LITTLE COMPUTER PEOPLE │ │ │ │ │ │ Instructions For Amstrad CPC Disk │ │ │ │ │ │ ┌──────────────────────┐ │ │ │ ACTIVISION │ │ └───────────────────────────│HOME COMPUTER SOFTWARE│──────────────────────────┘ └──────────────────────┘™ LETTER OF INTRODUCTION Dear Fellow Researcher, We’re happy to welcome you to the Activision Little Computer People Research Group. As you may have read, we suspected for quite some time that there was something living inside most computers. But we didn’t know who, what or how many there were. After years of research, hard work and creative speculation, we invented what finally became the turning point in this arduous investigation: the “House-On-A-Disk.” When our first Little Computer Person so tentatively entered his new “home,” it was an experience beyond explanation. You’ll soon see what we mean. From that moment on, we have been collecting volumes of information on the Little Computer People: what their personal habits are, what they like, what they don’t like. We now believe that every single computer has its own Little Computer Person. And that every LCP is unique in appearance and personality. This is why we have opened this research project up to all interested computer owners. We also have strong evidence indicating that there are actually several Little Computer People in every computer. But it seems that only one will reside in any given home. So, if you find you enjoy caring for and observing your first Little Computer Person, you may want to sign up to study others your computer may hold. The preceding guide is a compilation of what’s currently known about providing for the little person inside your computer. Use this guide as an outline. But remember, please, to experiment on your own. There are many questions that are still unanswered. And only through the support and cooperation of people like yourself will we ever be able to fully understand our newfound friends. Sincerely, David Crane and Sam Nelson For The Activision Little Computer People Research Group MAKING CONTACT Every time you follow the procedure outlined in this section of the guide, you will begin a new research session with your Little Computer Person (hereafter referred to as your LCP.) In your first session, you will be required to enter your name (as well as the date and time) for your research files. In all subsequent sessions, you will only be asked to enter the date and the time. GETTING STARTED ● Set-up your Amstrad Computer System for diskette usage as detailed in the booklets that accompany the computer. ● Switch your computer ON. ● Insert the L.C.P. diskette into the disk drive, label side up. ● Type the following command, then press the RETURN key: RUN “LCP CAUTION: DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER OR REMOVE YOUR “HOUSE-ON-A-DISK” DISKETTE FROM YOUR DISK DRIVE WHILE THE RED DISK DRIVE LIGHT IS ON. ALSO, TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER BEFORE REMOVING YOUR “HOUSE-ON-A-DISK” DISKETTE FROM YOUR DISK DRIVE. After a short wait, your LITTLE COMPUTER PEOPLE RESEARCH PROJECT notebook will appear on the screen. ENTERING YOUR NAME This is your research notebook. You will be asked (in your first session only) to log your name into the project files. (To later change the name, see CHANGING RESEARCHER’S NAME) Using the keyboard, type your name (first name first) in the spaces provided on the screen. Once you have typed in your name, press RETURN. Your name will be recorded in the lower left corner of your research notebook. Below your name is the “session number.” This number increases by 1 each time you turn on your computer for a new session with your LCP. ENTERING THE DATE The format for entering the date is DD/MM/YY, where MM stands for the month, DD stands for the date and YY stands for the year. Be sure to enter the numeric digit for each space. Use zeros in front of numbers less than 10. For example, if you start a session on January 1st, 1987, type: 01 01 87, then press RETURN. When you have completed entering the date, you will be instructed to enter the time. ENTERING TIME The format for entering time is HH/MM, where HH stands for the hour and MM stands for the minute. As in ENTERING THE DATE (above), use zeros in front of numbers less than 10. Type A for AM or P for PM. For example, to enter three minutes past one o’clock in the afternoon, type: 01 03, then P, then press RETURN. Twelve o’clock midnight should be entered: 12 00 A, then press RETURN. Twelve o’clock noon should be entered: 12 00 P, then press RETURN. When time and date have been entered, your computer automatically processes the data. This may take a minute or more. MOVING IN If this is your first research session, your house will be empty when it appears on the screen. Based on our findings to date, most LCPs are quite shy and will not readily rush into a new situation. In fact, it may take several minutes before they actually muster the courage to step inside the new home you’re providing for them. On the other hand, LCPs have also been found to be quite loyal. Once they have moved in, you can expect them to be in their new home on subsequent sessions. In fact, we’ve never seen one move out yet. NOTE: Although only one LCP will occupy any given “House-On-A-Disk,” we do know that most computers have more than one LCP living inside of them. In order to contact another LCP in your computer, you would need another “House-On-A-Disk.” When an LCP enters a house for the first time, we’ve found that he will usually inspect the new home for anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. Then he usually leaves to retrieve his belongings. Yours will probably return shortly with his suitcase. Most LCPs also bring their dog. If yours doesn’t, contact us. NOTE: KEYBOARD COMMANDS ARE NON-FUNCTIONING DURING THE MOVE-IN SEQUENCE. CARE AND FEEDING OF YOUR LITTLE COMPUTER PERSON or HOW TO MAKE SURE THE PERSON INSIDE YOUR COMPUTER IS HEALTHY, HAPPY AND TOTALLY AT HOME. Although LCPs are basically quite independent, once they move into their new home they are, in a sense, living in your world. So they will need your help in certain areas. To insure that your LCP is healthy, see that he always has food and water. (The dog also needs food.) Both hunger and dehydration can make LCPs sick. They generally turn green and just lie in bed when they are sick. Also, because they tend to be quite active, they should not be allowed to sleep too much. They would much rather have your attention. The following is a list of keyboard operations to help you take optimum care of your LCP. CARING FOR PHYSICAL NEEDS Hold the CONTROL key down and press the designated letter to care for your LCPs physical needs. [CTRL] F – Food is delivered to his front door. [CTRL] W – Fills the water tank. Each time you press W, approximately one glass of water is added to the water tank. [CTRL] A – Rings the alarm clock. [CTRL] D – Leaves dog food at the front door. Your LCP will do the rest. CARING FOR EMOTIONAL NEEDS Addressing the physical needs of your LCP is relatively easy. To know if he needs food or water, you simply look to see if his supply is running low. Addressing emotional needs, however, takes much more sensitivity and careful study. First of all, you must be aware of his different moods. So far, we’ve discovered four distinct moods in the Little Computer People: Happy He’s probably getting plenty of attention. Content He’s fine but could be better. (See MOOD BOOSTERS.) Sad Needs MOOD BOOSTING immediately. Sick This happens when he has gone without food and water for quite a long while. MOOD BOOSTERS There are several ways to elevate the mood of your LCP. Studies indicate that some ways are more effective than others. And new techniques are constantly being reviewed and discovered. Please record your own discoveries. [CTRL] C – A phone call. Many LCPs enjoy receiving phone calls – unless they are constantly interrupted to the point of irritation. We have not yet deciphered their spoken language, nor discovered with whom they chat, [CTRL] P – Physical contact (or “petting”). We haven’t found one yet who doesn’t respond instantly to this. NOTE: In order to pet your LCP, he must be sitting in his easy chair in the living room. To call him to the chair, press [CTRL] P and he will know you want to pet him. [CTRL] R – Leaves a record for his stereo at the front door. [CTRL] B – Leaves a book at the front door. NOTE: Records and books elevate your LCPs spirits only for mild cases of the blues. PLAYING GAMES – This is one of their favorite pastimes, so naturally it makes them feel great. RECREATION AND RELAXATION Most LCPs are very good at entertaining themselves. They’re good pianists and can play compositions from Bach to Boogie Woogie. They also like their record collections. In fact, albums make great gifts for them . We’ve noticed that some LCPs exercise frequently. Many seem to enjoy playing with their computers or sitting down in their easy chairs with the newspaper we’ve provided. You may even be able to talk them into building a fire in the fireplace. KEYBOARD COMMUNICATION We recently found that we can communicate quite extensively with LCPs by typing sentences using the computer keyboard. These sentences can be in the form of questions, suggestions or requests. We use them to evoke a wide range of responses and reactions from LCPs. You can do the same. Though we are just beginning to scratch the surface, here are a couple of requests we have tried. – Please type a letter to me. – Please build a fire. LCPs are especially responsive to good manners. So remember to incorporate words like “please” and “thank you” into your requests. CHANGING RESEARCHER’S NAME To change the name of the researcher, type: logon please, and then press RETURN. Select the program called “NAME CHANGER” by pressing “1” on the keyboard. Then follow the instructions at the top of the screen. PLAYING GAMES As far as we know, almost all LCPs like to play games. Each LCP has his own individual favorites, so we’ve listed a few of the games we’ve noticed occurring most frequently, along with simple instructions for playing them. An LCP will usually allow you to make the game selection. He will knock on the glass of your TV or monitor to get your attention and ask you to select a game from the list at the top of the screen. Type in the number of the game you want to play. 1. CARD WAR This is a simple game in which you are each dealt 26 cards from a 52 card deck. (LCPs always prefer to deal.) You both draw the top card from your pile. Your LCP will show you his card first. To show your card, press f7 as indicated by the command menu in the upper right corner of the screen. Whoever has the higher card wins the hand, and both cards are added to the winner’s stack. When both cards shown are of equal value, this is called WAR!! At this point, your LCP deals out 4 more cards to himself and 4 more cards to you, face down. He will then turn over his last card; press f7 to show your last card. Whoever has the higher card wins the hand, and all of the cards on the table are added to his stack. If the last cards shown during a WAR! are of equal value, then your LCP continues to deal 4 more cards each until someone wins the hand using the same rules. The game is over when one of you has all 52 cards. You can press f0 at any time if you decide that you want to quit. 2. ANAGRAMS When you play anagrams with your LCP, he’ll insist on being the one to think of the word. You’ll be the one who unscrambles it. A scrambled version of the word he’s thinking of appears in big type on the screen. You type in what you think is the correct word, and he will tell you whether your guess is right or wrong. He’ll let you guess 8 or 9 times before he tells you the word. If you need a hint, press f4. Each time you press f4, one letter will assume its correct place in the scrambled word. For example, suppose the word the LCP is thinking of is CAT. If the scrambled letters are ACT, then pressing f4 will leave CTA. The C switches with the A, thus putting the C in the proper location for the answer. NOTE: An LCP will not give you two hints in a row. You must guess at least once between hints. Press f7 to quit this game. We have never had a LCP quit playing on his own. 3. 5-CARD DRAW POKER Standard poker rules apply. As usual, your LCP will probably insist on being the dealer. You’re just going to have to go along with it. You both start out with 200 poker chips, as displayed at the top left of the screen. Your number of chips is below his. Bets and raises are limited to 20 chips each. Press f7 to ANTE UP one poker chip and begin the game. The LCP will deal each of you 5 cards (yours are face up) and ask if you feel lucky (he is really asking you if you want to bet any chips). The menu in the upper right corner gives you three choices. BET (f7) – BETS one poker chip every time you pressf7. ENTER (f4) – ENTERS your bet. PASS/CLR (f1) – Lets you PASS when you feel you have a weak hand and do not want to bet. Or CLEARS your bet if you decide to bet a different amount. After you make a bet or pass, the LCP will either match your bet or pass. When the LCP asks if you want cards, press any combination of numbers from 1 to 5 on the keyboard to discard the cards that you don’t want. (As examples, to discard the card on the far left, press 1. To discard the card second from the far right, press 4.) Press the number again to make your original card reappear. You can discard all five of your cards if you like. Once you’ve discarded the cards that you don’t want, press f7 to DRAW replacement cards. Your LCP deals them to you. If you want to keep all 5 of your original cards, press f4 to STAY. You will not be dealt any replacement cards. Your LCP then tells you on the screen how many cards he discards and then deals himself replacement cards. You now have the option to make another bet. (See BET, ENTER, PASS/CLR above.) At this point, your LCP may raise his bet and give you two choices: SEE* (f7) – Lets you match his bet. FOLD (f4) – Lets you abandon the hand, losing whatever you’ve bet so far. *If you opt to SEE, you’ll be given three more choices: RAISE (f7) – Lets you RAISE the bet even higher. ENTER (f4) – ENTERS your raise. CALL (f1) – Stops betting for that hand and lays the cards on the table. After each hand you have the option to QUIT the game (f0). OBSERVATIONS Use this section to record your observations. You will quickly start to notice distinct character traits in your particular LCP. A detailed record of these traits is very important to the research project as a whole. Please keep in mind that your discoveries and insights, like everyone else’s, are critical to an accurate analysis of this important investigation. MOVING IN DATE TIME Unusual Activities: APPEARANCE Hair Clothing Name of Little Computer Person Appetite Sleeping Habits Overall Health Predominant Moods Housekeeping Hints Hygiene Moods Musical Ability Game Playing Aptitude Letter Writing Ability Forms of Relaxation Remember to sign your Deed of Ownership. Then mail it along with any data, statistics, unusual findings, photographs, recordings, video tapes and other research material to: The Activision Little Computer People Research Group Activision House 23 Pond Street London NW3 2PN Your contribution to this monumental study of new human life forms is most highly appreciated. Thank you once again for your interest and time. – The Activision Little Computer People Research Group. LCP Code & Research on Amstrad by Dalali Software A Software Studios Production © 1986 Activision, Inc. All Rights Reserved.