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Welcome to Project 64!

The goal of Project 64 is to preserve Commodore 64 related documents
in electronic text format that might otherwise cease to exist with the
rapid advancement of computer technology and declining interest in 8-
bit computers on the part of the general population.

Extensive efforts were made to preserve the contents of the original
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listings, and indexes may have been either altered or sacrificed due
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eliminated where ASCII-art was not feasible.  Program listings may be
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for these limitations, alterations, and possible omissions.

Document names are limited to the 8.3 file convention of DOS. The
first characters of the file name are an abbreviation of the original
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document. Finally, the document is given a .TXT extension.

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or modification to this etext. Therefore if you read this document or
use the information herein you do so at your own risk.

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The Project 64 etext of the ~Return to Eden Manual~, converted to
etext by Dohi <hosza@szabinet.hu>.

RETED10.TXT, August 1998, etext #391#

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Return to Eden Manual

Introduction

Return to Eden is Level 9 Computing's sixth adventure and has taken
the usual enormously long time to produce. It's the second Silicon
Dream adventure and starts where Snowball left off (though you don't
need to have played Snowball first). You play Kim Kimberley and have
just saved the interstar transport Snowball 9 from disaster.
Unfortunately the control room vidcams show a different story. Kim
seems to enter, hurl a bomb and the room is engulfed in flames. The
evidence is damning.

Forced to flee, you just reach a stratoglider life-boat before the
waidroids close in. And one hour later you become the first human to
land on planet Eden.

Snowball 9 is in orbit, crewed by people who believe you to be a
murderer.  The only civilisation on Eden is a robot city far to the
east. And the planet is reportedly populated by furiously-hostile
beings of every kind; only ceaseless vigilance and hi-tech weaponry
prevent them over-running the city.

Now you know enough to start. Good luck!


Scoring

There are no "treasures" in Return to Eden. Instead, you score points
for doing things which are steps on the way to solving the game.

You lose points for getting killed.

Eden

Eridani A is a binary star-system of a red giant and smaller sol type
star (though even this is significantly bigger than Earth's sun (Eden
orbits this latter, yellow star.))

It is a most unusual planet, Earth-like and habitable without
Terraforming.  Its surface is mostly water and climatic extremes are
rare.

Eden's variety of plant-life is legendary and was the source of a host
of documentaries back home until the plants became too hostile to
scan.  Ecologists speculate that it was seeded by long-vanished
aliens.

Unfortunately, you know less about Eden than almost any schoolchild
back on Earth. The only documentation in the stratoglider is an
outdated travel guide containing artists' impressions of the scenery

Snowball

Snowball 9 is carrying the first 2 million sleeping colonists for Eden
and was rescued from flying into the sun in the previous Silicon Dream
adventure.  The Snowball is now back on course, though several months
ahead a schedule, and has just entered orbit around Eden

Space Cities

Robots have been making all the important decisions since the late
2100s (if not before) and they run the colonisation program. Humans
view the whole matter as an adventure on which to base interminable
soap-operas.

The space robots are doing really well. They are rapidly interesting
every chunk of rock in the Eridani A system and their manufacturing
potential is enormous. It's easy when you have access to all Earth's
knowledge. Their priority is further expansion through the galaxy.

The first probes are nearly 100 light-years away by now, and several
promising planets have been found. The controlling computers are only
waiting for the first generation of colonists to be born on Eden
before shipping them out.

It would all be a lot easier if people could live all their lives in
space, of course, and the space cities are working on this. They plan
to use Eden's sister-planets as spacecraft. Acceleration would be
meagre, but would be constant and such a starship could travel for
ever.

Absorbed in their protects, the space cities have little interest in
Eden for the time being. You'll get no help from them.

Implementation

Return to Eden is written using Level 9's ever-increasing library of
compression techniques to give you more adventure in the same memory.

Thus the game needs much less space than it ordinarily would and we
can cram in much more detail than others do.


Instructions

Read the enclosed card for details of how to start the game and how to
save the state of play.

The program asks "What now?" whenever it expects you to enter a
command.  Simply type an English phrase to tell it what to do and
press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. The program will act on your request,
then ask for the next command and so on.

The game knows an extensive vocabulary of English and futuristic
words. It scans your command, picking out the words which it
recognises and 'guessing' the meaning from these. Only two or three
words are used from each phrase; it pays to keep things simple.

Words can usually be abbreviated (e.g. NORTH to N and NORTHEAST to NE)
and, to help you get started, some possible instructions are
summarised below:

   INVENTORY
   SCORE

   LOOK AT COMPASS
   OPEN DOOR

   EXAMINE ANTS
   QUlT

   WEAR FIG-LEAF
   DROP COLD LEAF

   TAKE WATCH
   PULL LEVER

   LOOK AROUND
   EAT BERRY

AGAIN (or A) repeats the previous command.
IT means the previous object. E.g: LIGHT LAMP and then EXAMINE IT

However, the Snowball had been sabotaged and could not be completely
repaired. Every signalling device was smashed and there were more
important things to do than to jury-rig a radio. The crew have no
contact with events outside.

Once in orbit a trial was held. The mempak record from the control
room was fire-damaged but most interesting. It seemed to show Kim
trying to destroy the ship. Kim was found guilty unjustly, as it
happens, but no one knew what really happened. The sentence was death.

Dragged to the life-boat hanger to suffer vacuum-exposure, Kim had one
last chance. Amazingly it worked: Kim broke free, reached a
Stratoglider and managed to launch it.

The game starts as this life-boat lands on Eden. As Kim, you have
escaped a swift fate but your problems are far from over. The crew of
the Snowball feel they have a score to settle.

CITY

The robot city, Enoch, is on an equatorial shore in Eden where four
rivers meet.

From the outside, all that can be seen is a 3 klom
climate-conditioning dome, surrounded by a green moat of farmland and
an outer defensive wall. Gun-ships drone round the dome like wasps,
swooping low over the surrounding jungle.

Inside, you'd think that you were on Earth. A single yellow sun shines
through fluffy white clouds in the sky. Green parkland surrounds huge
apartment-pyramids and the ground hums with a comforting mechanical
buzz.

Enoch provides all the comforts of home: only the people are missing.


Background

Snowball 9 started its journey to the stars from the EEC's Ceres base,
one of the fifty giant colony starships launched in the 2190s. It
carries the first colonists from Eden, only habitable planet in the
Eridani A starsystem.  ("Eden" is a short form of Eri-DAN-i with
sell-appeal).

Cocooned in a sphere of protective ice, the ship sped through the
void, carrying its hibernating passengers to their new world. The
journey took a century.

Meanwhile, robot probes had already colonised the Eden starsystem in
their own way. Space cities trawled asteroids for minerals to
reproduce themselves, moons were pierced with accelerators, thousands
of daughter probes were fired towards nearby stars and, the lowest
priority task, a city was built on Eden.

At first, city building went well, but gradually problems accumulated,
for Eden was already occupied. Not by sentient beings, but by a myriad
plants and a host of cunning creatures. Eventually these adapted to
fight back..

Normally the robots would have holocausted the surrounding area and
solved their problems once and for all. But they were preparing for
fragile human colonists, vulnerable to poison and radiation.

So a wall was built and the war stabilised. Any machine venturing into
the jungle was crushed and no living thing was allowed to reach the
city or the Earth-plant farms beside it. Losses were enormous on both
sides, but the robots were satisfied. Inside the wall, they work to
perfect the city for the arrival of its new owners.

But all is not well. The city fathers have been fighting the jungle
for decades and the city is beginning to pay the price. Its
foundations are broken by a million root-cracks and vermin infest the
lower-levels. The dome is repeatedly-patched and spores have attacked
the buildings within. The city still looks new, but impressions are
misleading.

And, what may be worse, is that the robot army has been fighting too
long.  Their responses are too ingrained. They have problems in
recognising the enemy.

Events at the start of this game will reinforce their paranoia.

Space Base

The city of Enoch is linked to the space factories via a colossal
space station in synchro-orbit above it. Physical connection is by
sky-hook (ie space-elevator) and com-link is by laser. These integrate
the city into the overall Eridani A presence.

The space station is, like the orbiting factories, constructed from an
iron asteroid a few kloms wide. This mass provides the inertial
stability required for space-elevator operation' raising or lowering
hundreds of tonnes of material between orbit and the planet's surface.

Communication is not the only function of the space station, however.
It is also responsible for planetary defence...

So, when the Snowball 9 enters orbit off schedule and without
identifying itself, then ignores all radio messages, and then
threatens the city, the space base has a problem. Further attempts are
being made to contact the "alien" craft but when these fail a decision
must be made: the robots can not risk a hostile presence in orbit.


Credits

   Game Design:
   Pete Austin

   Implementation:
   Mike Austin with Chris Queen

   Pictures (some versions only):
   Tim Noyce

   Adventure System:
   Mike, Nick & Pete Austin

   Booklet:
   Pete Austin & Yannis Kassumis

   Typesetting etc:
   A & M Litho

   Inspiration:
   A Spell for Chameleon/Anthony/Del Ray

   Deathworld 1/Harrison/Sphere

   Hothouse/Aldiss/Sphere

   I, Robot/Asimov/Panther

   Brent Force (in The Steam Driven Boy)/Sladek/Panther


Level 9 Adventures

Our current range of adventures is:

   1) Colossal Adventure
   "Middle Earth" Trilogy

   2) Adventure Quest

   3) Dungeon Adventure

   4) Snowball
   "Silicon Dream" Trilogy

   5) Return to Eden

   6) The Worm in Paradise (soon)

   7) Lords of Time
   "Lords of Time" Saga

   10) Erik the Viking (jointly with Terry Jones and
   Mosaic Publishing)

   11)Emerald Isle
   Fantasy Adventure

   12) Red Moon
   Fantasy Adventure


Details of all Level 9 Adventures are available from:

Level 9 Computing. P 0 Box 39. Weston-super-Mare, Avon BS24 9UR,
England

[ Blurb from the back of the Gamebox: ]

Return to Eden is set in the 24th Century, on one of the weirdest
planets around. It has well over 200 locations, with lots of fun and
puzzles. And the Amstrad, CBM64 and Spectrum versions have graphics:
about 240 pictures each!

Level 9 Computing specialise in adventures. Big adventures, with
detailed scenery and interesting storylines. This means more enjoyment
for you and we'll send a free clue sheet, with hundreds of answers, if
you get stuck.

If you think that you're losing out on adventure because we've added
pictures, by the way: don't! There is as much text and as many puzzles
in this game as in previous Level 9 adventures. We've just had to use
even better compression techniques and every bit of memory in your
micro.

You play Kim Kimberley, secret agent. Escaping from false imprisonment
aboard a colony starship, you are stranded in the alien jungle of
Eden. Your only hope is to reach the robot city of Enoch, said to be
fighting a valiant war against killer plants in this spectacular SF
adventure.

Investigate the air bush, find your roots and watch out for the
parrot! The alien corn is tricky, "Pepsy" Koala is mischievous and the
least said about the city robots the better.

Return to Eden will amuse, bemuse and entertain - and you're doing
well if you finish it in less than a month. Good Adventuring!


RETURN TO EDEN REVIEW

"The appearance of a new program from Level 9 is a flagday for all
aspiring adventurers and, in my household, a signal for the cat to
hide under the bed for the duration against the inevitable moment when
I go rampaging through the flat, a wild look in my eyes, muttering
ferociously about bricklaying birds, nudist beaches and the like.
Since Return to Eden, the sequel to Snowball is out, the cat may be in
hiding until Christmas...

One major different between this and former Level 9 efforts is that
the Spectrum and CBM64 (and Amstrad) versions have graphics of a very
high quality that can be switched off if required. The scope of the
vocabulary appears unscathed by this addition.

Even experienced adventurers will probably get fried a few times by
the avenging engines of the Snowball, before discovering how to take
shelter.  But, once that hurdle is passed, the real adventure begins
and it's a lulu." - Popular Computing Weekly


GUARANTEE

We'll replace the enclosed cassette/tape/disk/microdrive cartridge if
you return it to Level 9. If you have problems in the month after
purchase, a re-cement of the same type is free.

Otherwise, please enclose 1 for a re-cement cassette or 2.50 for a
disk./microdrive cartridge. Add 1 if outside the UK.


OTHER GAMES

Return to Eden is the long-awaited second game in Level 9's Silicon
Dream trilogy. The whole set is:

    Snowball

    Return to Eden
    The Worm in Paradise

The game RETURN TO EDEN and all associated software, code, listings,
illustrations and text etc are the exclusive copyright of Level 9
Computing.  They must not be copied, transmitted, reproduced, hired,
lent, distributed, stored or modified in any form without the express
written permission of Level 9 Computing.

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