### More Information about the Humanoid Applet

Humanoid Video Arcade Game [c] Xenonsoft, June 1999
Version 0.3.5
by Peter Pilgrim, Sun Jun 27 15:25:04 BST 1999

Game Playing Controls | Prologue Screen Controls
--- | ---
Key | Action | Key | Action
A | move starship up | Ctrl-E | exit session
Z | move starship down | Ctrl-K | reconfigure game keys
Return | fire laser | Ctrl-M | mute sound effects
Shift | thrust engines | Ctrl-L | jump sheet bonus
Space | change flying direction | Space | start new game
S | smart bomb |  |
H | jump to hyperspace |  |
P | pause the game |  |
Ctrl-Q | quit current game |  |

The Aim of the Game

Congratulations fellow Java[tm] user for downloading `Humanoid', a pure Java based arcade game by XeNoNSoFT, written and produced by Peter Pilgrim.

Here is the aim of the game:

Your mission, quite simply, is to protect ten humanoids that walk the planet below from abduction by enemy alien forces. These humanoids are stranded on some planet somewhere out in the unknown universe. They were trying to settle down on the planet to mine rarely found N-PolyLithiumSilicate Crystals, which is one of the essential ingredients for faster-than-light travel, when Aliens invaded their solar system. The humanoids have no weapons to protect themselves, but they slowly walk around in a feeble attempt to escape from the Aliens. The visitors from another planet send enemy ships, known as Landers, which materialise in waves to search for the humanoid settlers. After the Landers appear, they immediately descend to surface and float just above it, moving either left or right, searching for that unlucky humanoid. Once they locate a nearby humanoid they will try grab it, and quickly ascend to the top of the screen, where they consume the trapped humanoid, presumely biting his or her head off and salivating over the succulent brain tissues(!). Once that happens a Lander will suddenly tranform into devastating fierce Mutant. A Mutant is not concerned with any humanoids at all, but instead will attack your Starship relentlessly. You will recognise a Mutant instantly, because it will be a blue and purplish and obviously angry thing rushing towards your ship at speed, firing bomblets at your ship, while trying at the same time to do a violent version of "Shake Your Groove Thang". You have to kill all the Landers before catch a humanoid, before they rise to the top of the atmosphere (your screen), before they eat the captured humanoids in a giant bite, and finally before they transform into a very deadly Mutant.

The good news is that you can rescue a human that has be caught by Lander, but shooting it (carefully avoiding the human schackled below the alien craft). If your shot is accurate enough, the Lander will be destroyed and the human fall to the earth. If not the human will fall to the earth all the way down. If the distance is short, then human will survive the fall, otherwise the human will die on impact. Fly your starship directly into the perilously falling human, and it will be rescued. You wont kill the humanoid even if fly your Starship at high speed into the settler. Also once you rescue an human settler, he or she becomes impervious to your ship's laserblaster. No Lander can recaputure the humanoid, if he or she is being rescued by your Starship. If you rescue a human you can set it loose again on the planetoid again, by flying your ship to the surface. Any rescued humans are set free behind your flying ship's laserblasters. Be careful not to change of direction suddenly after you set them free, only to destroy them with your ship's laserblaster.

There is more bad news. Once all ten of the humans are consumed by Landers, or have been accidently destroyed by laserblast, or did not survive any huge falls, then the planet will explode! I am afraid, that this pitiful band of Humanoid settlers, built a DOOMSDAY NUCLEAR DEVICE and left it mined deep inside the planet. Naturally, the Aliens don't know about this device of course. It is intended as a fail safe to destroy all the PolyLiSi crystals prevent the Aliens or other invaders stealing the mine and having a local star system monopoly of the rare minerals. Incidentally, every humanoid settler was fitted with a tiny nano transducer probe and transmitter to register the beating hearts of the humanoids. Should the nuclear device not receive any heart-beat pulses from any of the humanoids, then it detonate and blow the planetoid's inner core, effective destroying the planet, rather like the first Death Star did to the planet Alderaan in the first Star Wars movie. If the planetoid explodes, then ALL surviving Landers will transform into Mutants because the nuclear pulse released gives them all enery they need to mutate. So it is good idea to wipe as many of the Landers as you can, to prevent the planet exploded.

In the first sheet you only face only "one" wave of Landers. And yes, the game gets much more difficult (worse in fact), because already by the second sheet there are two waves of Landers, and in the seventh there are three waves, and after the twenty firsth there are four waves. However Landers, are not the only invading enemies out to go you and just visiting here. (That would be far too easy for an popular video arcade game). To hurry you up, eventually yellow slim and deadly Baiters will appear after two minutes or so. Baiters can fly faster than your starship capable of, and fire bomblets at your ship once they are within range. As consequence your starship cannot outrun them, but must evade and try to shoot them with the lasers. The Landers, Mutants and Baiters in the first wave are joined by two Bombers and a Pod in the second wave. A Bomber looks like a blue square with white red square in front that moves up and down the screen in a diagonal fashion. The Bomber leaves little bomblet mines as they trace the world, which disappear after a short interval. Avoid flying your starship directly in the mines obviously. A Pod is like a purple round orb, rather looking quite like a dull marble or gobstopper sweet. Pods, apparently innocently, drift across the planet. However, be warned that these so-called harmless Pods are extremely dangerous to your health and sanity. If you blast one with your starship's laser it will be, of course, destroyed, but it will release deadly fanatical heat seeking aliens, called Swarmers. Each Swarmers is a mortal bloodsucker. The problem with these particular aliens, although they are not as mobile as Baiters, are their small size. Swarmers are more difficult to shoot down because they are zippy and tiny, making them harder to kill, before they crash into your ship. There is one Pod (and nine Swarmers) in wave two, three Pods in wave three, and four in wave four, and finally five Pods to contend with in wave nine and onwards.

To finish a sheet and go to the next, you must laserblast all Landers and Mutants, and any other other aliens on the same sheet, except for Baiters. Once the level is completed the screen will award you 100 extra points for each remaining humanoid that remains on the surface. At the end of the second wave you will get 200 points for each humanoid left alive, 300 points for the end of third wave, and so on up to a maximum 500 points in the fifth and following sheets.

NOTE: A sheet is another video arcade game synonym for a level.

Enjoy, Baby Bop

*PP*, Mon Aug 09 01:11:19 BST 1999

View the Source Code: src
Visit the Author's Website: www.xenonsoft.demon.co.uk
Email the Author: webmaster@xenonsoft.demon.co.uk
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