Arena - Manual

GETTING STARTED:

IMPORTANT:  

ARENA NOW SUPPORTS JOYSTICK CONTROL. THE EQUIVALENT OF THE ENERGY KEYS 
IS RAPID LEFT AND RIGHT MOVEMENT OF THE JOYSTICK. THE JUMP KEY IS THE 
FIRE BUTTON.

STARTING A NEW PLAY:

IF YOU HAVE JUST LOADED ARENA AND THE SELECTION SCREEN HAS APPEARED, THEN
YOU ARE READY TO SELECT EITHER "NEW" (START A NEW GAME) OR "LOAD" (LOAD A
PREVIOUSLY SAVED GAME) AS REQUIRED. PLEASE REFER TO THE APPROPRIATE 
SECTION OF THIS MANUAL FOR FURTHER GUIDANCE. THESE ARE THE ONLY TWO VALID 
ICONS WHEN THE GAME IS FIRST LOADED FORM DISK. ON RETURNING FROM ONE OF 
THESE OPTIONS YOU WILL NOW BE IN POSITION TO PROCEED AND SELECT YOUR 
FIRST EVENT.

HOW TO SELECT AN EVENT:

TO SELECT AN EVENT YOU SHOULD SIMPLY POINT THE MOUSE POINTER AT THE EVENT
REQUIRED AND DOUBLE CLICK EITHER OF THE MOUSE BUTTONS.  THE EVENTS WHICH 
HAVE BEEN COMPLETED ARE EDGE WITH A RED RECTANGLE AND CANNOT BE SELECTED,
THOSE WHICH ARE AVAILBE TO COMPETE IN ARE EDGED IN A BLUE RECTANGLE.  
YOU MAY SELECT THE EVENTS IN ANY ORDER YOU WISH.

KEYBOARD TECHNIQUE:

THE KEYBOARD IS THE WAY TO PLAY ARENA.  THERE ARE THREE KEY GROUPS TO 
LEARN. SPEED OR STRENGHT CAN BE BUILT UP BY "POUNDING" TWO GROUPS OF KEYS
ALTERNATELY, FROM NOW ON REFERED TO AS THE "ENERGY KEYS".  THE GROUPS ARE 
ANY OF [A],[S],[Z],[X], FOR THE LEFT SIDE AND ANY OF [;],['],[.],[/] FOR 
THE RIGHT SIDE. THE PROGRAM ONLY COUNTS IN ALTERNATE PAIRS SO WATCH YOUR 
CO-ORDINATION TO MAINTAIN A RIGHT-LEFT-RIGHT-LEFT SEQUENCE. TO TRIGGER A 
JUMP, THROW, VAULT OR PUT, THE SPACE BAR HAS TO BE HIT. FROM HERE ON THE 
SPACE BAR WILL BE REFERED TO AS THE "JUMP KEY". THE RECORD LEVEL OF POWER
AND/OR SPEED WILL BE SHOWN ON THE POWER SLIDE IN THE TOP LEFT HAND CORNER 
OF ALL DISPLAYS. IT WILL SHOW LEVELS RANGING FROM 0 TO 9.

FEATURES GENERAL TO ALL EVENTS:

THERE ARE TWO ICONS IN THE TOP CORNER OF THE SCREEN, THEY ARE "QUIT EVENT"
AND "PAUSE". IF YOU POSITION THE MOUSE POINTER IN THE "QUIT EVENT" ICON 
AND DOUBLE CLICK EITHER MOUSE BUTTON, THE EVENT WILL BE IMMEDIATELY 
TERMINATED AND ALL SCORES TO DATE FOR THAT EVENT WILL BE DELETED FROM THE
SCORE TABLE. ALL THE COMPLETED EVENTS WILL RETAIN THEIR SCORES AND STATUS.
DOUBLE CLICKING THE "PAUSE" ICON WILL SUSPEND THE EXECUTION OF THE PROGRAM 
AND THE SCREEN WILL FADE. ARENA CAN BE RESTARED BY AGAIN POINTING INTO 
THE PAUSE ICON AND DOUBLE CLICKING EITHER OF THE MOUSE BUTTONS.

TAKING YOUR TURN:

EACH PLAYER WILL TAKE HIS OF HER TURN IN ROTATION.  IF YOU HAVE BEEN
ELIMINATED FROM AN EVENT YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED ANOTHER TURN. FOR EXAMPLE
IF YOU HAVE HAD THREE ATTEMPTS AT A HEIGHT IN THE HIGH JUMP AND FAILED EACH
TIME, YOU WILL BE ELIMANTED FROM THE EVENT AND THE POINTS SCORED FOR YOUR 
HIGHEST CLEARANCE WILL BE RECORDED. WHEN IT IS YOUR TURN YOUR NAME WILL BE
HIGHLIGHTED IN RED ON THE EVENT SCOREBOARD. THE COMPUTER WILL ALERT YOU 
WITH A BEEP. YOU "TELL" THE COMPUTER YOU ARE READY TO START WITH A DOUBLE 
CLICK ON EITHER MOUSE BUTTONS. THE COMPUTER WILL REGISTER THIS WITH A BEEP
AND A FLASH OF THE SCREEN. YOU ARE NOW COMPETING AND SHOULD BE READY ON 
THE KEYBOARED. UNTIL YOU HAVE DONE THIS THE DISPLAY REMAINS STATIC.

THE PROGRESS BAR:

WHERE AN EVENT REQUIRES THE PLAYER TO "RUN UP TO" THE JUMP OR THROW AREA,
IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO SHOW THE WHOLE "RUN UP" DUE TO THE SCALE AND SIZE OF
THE GRAPHICS USED.  WE USE THE PROGRESS BAR TO PLOT THE PLAYER'S PROGRESS 
DOWN THE RUNWAY TO THE TARGET AREA.  THIS APPEARS AT THE TOP LEFT OF EACH 
DISPLAY.  AS THE PLAYER MOVES DOWN THE RUNWAY, A RED BAR WILL BE PLOTTED 
ABOVE THE SCALE ICON.  THIS TARGET AREA IS MARKED BY A SMALL RED RECTANGLE.

THE OBJECT FLIGHT GRAPH:

WHEN WE ARE TRACKING AN OBJECT SUCH AS A JAVELIN OR SHOT THROUGH TH AIR, OR,
IN A JUMPING EVENT THE PLAYER, WE OFFER FEEDBACK ON THE PROGRESS OF THE 
OBJECT ON THE OBJECT FLIGHT GRAPH. THIS APPEARS ABOVE THE PROGRESS BAR AND
WILL BE "INKED IN" AS THE OBJECT OR PLAYER FLIES THROUGH THE AIR.

HUNDRED METRES:

EACH PLAYER WILL TAKE ONE TURN AND ONE TURN ONLY TO REGISTER A TIME.
YOU WILL START THIS EVENT ON THE BLOCKS. YOU WILL MOVE AUTOMATICALLY INTO
"GET READY" POSITION ON THE INSRTRUCTIONS OF THE STARTER. HE WILL RAISE 
THE GUN READY TO START THE EVENT AND RESET ALL STOP WATCHES. AT THIS 
POINT,IF YOU TOUCH THE KEYBOARD BEFORE THE STARTER'S GUN HAS GONE OFF YOU
WILL RECORD A FALSE START. TWO FALSE STARTS AND YOU WILL BE ELMINATED FROM
THE EVENT WITH NO SCORE. THE EVENT IS GEARED FOR MAXIMUM SPEED ON THE 
ENERGY KEYS THROUGHOUT THE RUN.  YOU CAN DIVE FOR THE TAPE BY PRESSING THE
JUMP KEY BUT BEWARE, IF YOU DO THIS MORE THAT A FEW STRIDES FROM THE FINISH
LINE YOU WILL ACTUALLY LOSE MOMENTUM AND COME TO A HALT.IT NEEDS TO BE 
TIMED ACCURATELY. THE SCOREBOARD WILL SHOW YOUR TIME AND POINTS AWARDED AS
SO:
NAME        PTS.          TIME
JAN         702           11.52

LONG JUMP, SHOT PUT AND JAVELIN:

IN EACH OF THESE EVENTS YOU WILL BE ALLOWED SIX ATTEMPTS TO RECORD A BEST
SCORE. TURNS ARE AGAIN IN ROTATION ORDER WITH PLAY COMMENCING IN THE USUAL
WAY. THE EVENT SCOREBOARD WILL BE DISPLAYED AT THE TOP OF THE SCREEN AS SO:
NAME        PTS.          DIST.      JUMPS TO GO
JOHN        604           5.98        4

THE SCOREBOARD WILL SHOW YOUR BEST ATTEMPT TO DATE, THE POINT VALUE FOR THAT
JUMP/THROW YOU HAVE REMAINING.

LONG JUMP:

YOU ARE ALLOWED 6 ATTEMPTS TO RECORD A GOOD JUMP. YOU USE THE ENERGY KEYS
TO PICK UP SPEED ON THE RUNWAY.  AS YOU APPROACH THE BOARD KEEPING AN EYE 
ON THE PROGRESS BAR, YOU NEED TO REACH MAXIMUM SPEED. YOU MUST BE READY 
TO TIME YOUR JUMP; THE CLOSER YOU GET TO THE BOARD THE BETTER CHANCE YOU 
HAVE.  HITTING THE JUMP KEY WILL MOVE YOU INTO JUMP SEQUENCE INSTANTLY AND
SHOULD BE TIMED TO COINCIDE WITH YOUR ARRIVAL ON THE BOARD. DURING THE 
JUMP SEQUENCE THE USE OF THE ENERGY KEYS NEEDS TO BE MAINTAINED RIGHT UP 
TO THE POINT OF LANDING. YOU WILL LOSE A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF DISTANCE
IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP THE ENERGY KEYS RATE THROUGH TO THE POINT WHERE YOU
HIT THE SAND.

SHOT PUT:

AGAIN YOU WILL BE ALLOWED SIX ATTEMPTS TO RECORD A BEST.  YOU COMMENCE 
THIS EVENT STANDING AT THE BACK OF THE CIRCLE. YOU HAVE TO BUILD UP POWER
AS YOU GO INTO THE HOP POSITION, YOU THEN HOP ACROSS THE CIRCL. AS YOU 
MOVE ACROSS THE CIRCLE HITTING THE JUMP KEY STARTS THE PUT. YOU NEED TO 
LEAVE THIS AS LATE AS POSSIBLE TO RECORD THE MAXIMUM DISTANCE. YOU CAN 
HOWEVER FOUL THE CIRCLE BY TOUCHING THE EDGE.  DURING ALL THIS YOU HAVE TO
MAINTAIN THE RATE ON THE ENERGY KEYS.  AS YOU START TO PUT THE SHOT ANOTHER
STRIKE ON THE JUMP KEY IS REQUIRED TO RELEASE THE SHOT, THIS SHOULD BE DONE
TO COINCIDE WITH THE ARM EXTENDING TO RELEASE THE SHOT, THE LATER YOU CAN
LEAVE THIS THE MORE EFFECT IT WILL HAVE.  ONCE THE SHOT IS IN FLIGHT THE 
ENERGY KEYS RATE HAS TO BE KEPT UP TO MAINTAIN THE OPTIMUM FLIGHT PATH.

JAVELIN:

TURNS AND NUMBER OF ATTEMPTS AS ABOVE.  THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN THE JAVELIN
EVENT IS SPEED ON THE RUNWAY, USING THE ENERGY KEYS, AND STARTING THE THROW
AT THE LAST POSSIBLE SECOND USING THE JUMP KEY. YOU HAVE TO AVOID THE FOUL
THROW BY NOT TRANSGRESSING THE END OF THE RUNWAY. YOU MUST KEEP UP THE 
ENERGY KEYS RATE DURING THE THROW.  AGAIN FURTHER DISTANCE MAY BE GAINDED 
BY "HELPING" THE JAVELIN ALONG DURING ITS FLIGHT USING THE ENERGY KEYS.

HIGH JUMP AND POLE VAULT:

SET HEIGHT:

IN BOTH THESE EVENTS YOU WILL BE ALLOWED UP TO 6 TURNS AT NEW HEIGHTS 
CHOSEN EACH TIME BY YOU. THIS IS DONE BY MEANS OF THE SET HEIGHT ICONS.
THIS WILL BE OFFERED TO YOU AT THE START OF THE EVENT AND AFTER EACH 
SUCCESSFUL JUMP. SHOULD YOU FAIL AT A PARTICULAR HEIGHT YOU WILL BE 
ALLOWED THREE AND ONLY THREE ATTEMPTS.  AFTER A FAIL YOU CANNOT CHANGE 
THE HEIGHT YOU ARE ATTEMPTING, YOU MUST CLEAR YOUR CHOOSEN HEIGHT TO 
PROGRESS IN THE EVENT.  YOU MAY HOWEVER, CHOOSE ANY HEIGHT YOU WISH FOR 
YOUR FIRST ATTEMPT.  WHEN YOU HAVE COMPLETED A JUMP SUCCESSFULLYM YOU MAY
INCREASE THE HEIGHT BY ANY AMOUNT YOU WISH AT YOUR NEXT TURN.  THE BAR CAN
BE MOVED UP AND DOWN BY POINTING AT THE UP AND DOWN ARROWS AND PRESSING 
THE LEFT HAND MOUSE BUTTON.  WHEN THE HEIGHT IS AT THE DESIRED LEVEL, 
POINT AT THE OK BUTTON AND PRESS THE LEFT HAND MOUSE BUTTON. 
YOU WILL NOW BE TAKEN TO START YOUR NEXT ATTEMPT. THE SCOREBOARD WILL SHOW
UNDER THE TRYS COLUMN THE ATTEMPTS YOU HAVE HAD AT A PARTICULAR HEIGHT, 
INDICATING EACH ATTEMPT WITH A 9 FOR FAILURE TO CLEAR, AND A 0 WHERE NO 
ATTEMPT HAS YET BEEN MADE.  THE POINTS VALUE REFLECTS THE BEST CLEARANC 
TO DATE.  AS WITH ALL EVENTS THE SCOREBOARD WILL BE SHOWN AT THE HEAD OF 
EACH SCREEN AND FOR THE HIGH JUMP AND POLE VAULT IT LOOKS LIKE.

NAME       PTS.    JUMPS       ATTEMPTS
                              MTRS     TRYS
COLIN      817      4          4.13     9 9 0

HIGHJUMP

AS WE HAVE DISCUSSED IN THE SET HEIGHT PARAGRAPH ABOVE, IF YOU FAIL AT A
PARTICULAR HEIGHT YOU REMAIN LOCKED IN TO THAT HEIGHT UNTIL YOU HAVE 
CLEARED IT AND THEN YOU MAY PROGRESS TO A NEW HEIGHT, BUT REMEMBER, YOU 
ARE ONLY ALLOWED THREE ATTEMPTS AT EACH HEIGHT AND THREE FAILURES MEANS 
YOU GO OUT OF THE EVENT. THE GAME PLAY OF THIS EVENT IS VERY SIMILAR TO 
THE LONG JUMP.  YOU ACCELERATE ACROSS THE RUNWAY KEEPING AN EYE ON THE 
PROGRESS BAR USING THE ENERGY KEYS.  AS YOU APPROACH THE TAKE-OFF AREA 
YOU NEED TO ACCELERATE AND THEN TIME YOUR JUMP TO TAKE PLACE BETWEEN THE 
LEFT AND RIGHT UPRIGHTS.  TO DO THIS, YOU NEED TO START THE JUMP BY 
HITTING THE JUMP KEY A SHORT DISTANCE BEFORE THE JUMP ITSELF, WE HELPED 
A LITTLE BY PROVIDING MARKERS ON THE RUNWAY.  YOU MUST MAINTAIN YOUR KEY 
RATE ON THE ENERGY KEYS UNTIL YOU ARE WELL CLEAR OF THE BAR.

POLE VAULT:

THE POLE VAULT IS IDENTICAL TO THE HIGH JUMP EVENT IN THE NUMBER OF JUMPS,
NUMBER OF ATTEMPTS AND THE SETTING BAR HEIGHTS.  THERE ARE RUNWAY MARKERS
PROVIDED AND THE JUMP KEY SHOULD BE HIT TO START THE VAULT.  WE GIVE YOU
CONSIDERABLE LEE-WAY IN STARTION YOUR VAULT.  IF YOU TIME THE JUMP KEY
CORRECLTY THE COMPUTER WILL"FLASH" THE SCREEN AND THE VAULT WILL START AT
THE CORRECT LOCATION.  AS YOU REACH THE TOP OF YOUR FLIGHT UOU MUST HIT 
THE JUMP KEY AGAIN T RELEASE THE POLE.  THE CRITICAL TECHNIQUES IN THE 
EVENT ARE TO ACCELERATE INTO THE TAKE-OFF AREA AND THEN KEEP MOMENTUM UP 
ON THE ENERGY KEYS UNTIL YOU HAVE CLEARED THE BAR AND YOU ARE DROPPING TO
THE MAT.

THE POINT SYSTEM

AS IN TRADITIONAL DECATHLON EVENT, POINTS ARE AWARDED ON THE FOLLOWING MERIT
SYSTEM:
POINTS     100M   LONG JUMP  HIGH JUMP  SHOT PUT   POLE VAULT   JAVELIN
 200       14.1   4.28       1.25       6.62       1.94         22.30
 300       13.5   4.28       1.40       7.86       2.25         28.00
 400       13.0   5.11       1.50       9.17       2.57         34.10
 500       12.5   5.54       1.60       10.55      2.90         40.59
 600       12.0   5.98       1.71       12.01      3.24         47.56
 700       11.5   6.43       1.82       13.55      3.60         55.09
 800       11.1   6.90       1.93       15.19      3.97         63.17
 900       10.7   7.39       2.05       16.92      4.36         71.81
1000       10.3   7.90       2.17       18.75      4.78         81.00

SELECTION PAGE ICON OPTION:

ALL THESE ICONS ARE SELECTED BY POINTING THE MOUSE AT THE REQUIRED ICON AND
DOUBLE CLICKING ON EITHER BUTTON.

"SAVE"-STORE THE CURRENT GAME TO DISK:

IT IS POSSIBLE TO SAVE UP TO 6 PART-COMPLETE PLAYS OF ARENA ON THE ARENA 
WORK DISK.  THE ARENA WORK DISK WILL BE OF A TOTALLY NON-STANDARD FORMAT 
AND CAN ONLY BE READ OR WRITTEN BY THE ARENA PROGRAM.  WHEN YOU FIRST COME
TO SAVE A PLAY OF ARENA HAVE A BLANK OR OVERWRITABLE DISK AVAILABLE AND 
THIS DISK MUST THEN BE DEDICATED AS THE ARENA WORK DISK, THIS DISK DOES 
NOT NEED TO BE FORMATTED FIRST.  YOU CANNOT USE THIS DISK FOR ANY OTHER 
PURPOSE UNTIL YOU REFORMAT IT.  WHEN YOU HAVE SELECTED THIS OPTION YOU 
WILL HAVE TO SELECT A NUMBER IN THE RANGE OF 1-6.  THIS IDENTITY UNDER 
WHICH THE CURRENT PLAY WILL BE SAVED.

"LOAD"-LOAD A PREVIOUSLY SAVED GAME:

THIS WILL ALLOW YOU TO LOAD A PREVIOUSLY SAVED GAME FROM DISK.  IT IS THE
REVERSE OF SAVE WITH THE PLAY STORED UNDER IDENTITY 1-6 BEING RELOADED FROM
THE ARENA WORK DISK.

SCOREBOARD- SHOW THE SCOREBOARD:

THIS ICON WILL REVEAL THE SCOREBOARD SHOWING THE SCORES FOR ALL PLAYERS IN
ALL THE COMPLETED EVENTS PLUS TOTAL. A DOUBLE CLICK ON THE OK ICON WILL 
REVERT TO THE EVENT SELECTION SCREEN.

"QUIT"- QUIT THE CURRENT GAME:

THIS WILL SIMPLY RE-INTIALIZE THE MACHINE AND CLEAR THE ARENA FROM MEMORY. 
CONFIRMATION WILL BE REQUIRED BY DOUBLE CLICKING ON THE OK ICON, OR
CANCELLATION BY THE CANCEL ICON.

"NEW"- START A NEW GAME:
ON THE SELECTION YOU WILL BE PRESENTED WITH A SCREEN TO ALLOW IMPUT OF THE
NUMBER OF PLAYERS AND THEIR NAMES. THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF CHARACTERS IN THE
NAME IS 11.  FOR EACH INPUT FIELD TYPE IN YOUR RESPONSE AND HIT RETURN 
WHICH WILL THEN TAKE THE CURSOR TO THE NEXT FIELD. THE ONLY VALID EDIT KEY
IS THE BACKSPACE KEY.  ONCE YOU HAVE ENTERED ALL FIELDS YOU CAN CONFIRM 
YOUR ENTRIES BY DOUBLE CLICKING ON THE OK ICON. IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY WITH
YOUR ENTRIES DOUBLE CLICK ON THE RE-ENTER ICON. ONCE YOU HAVE DOUBLE 
CLICKED ON THE OK ICON ALL EVENT SCORES AND DSTATUS FLAGS WILL BE CLEARED 
AND YOU ARE NOW READY TO PLAY ARENA.

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Typed by DOCS R US BBS. Edited by Parasite.