Letters from Terra - Programming - Trooper II

Letters from Terra - Life in water warmed by sunlight

Basic Controls

The controls in Trooper II have been exaustively playtested with several of my peers to ensure ease of use and an instictive interface to the menu screens and the level editor. Controls are kept to the minimum, and you will usually only have to use the arrow keys, jump and shoot; however, controls can be used in combination to produce effects such as a softened jump, where you use the creep control to ensure the monsters do not detect you, or with any degree of subtlety you feel suits your style of play.

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Back to Trooper II

The menu screens - The general rule is use the up and down arrow keys to see different options, use enter to select them, and the escape key to go back to the previous menu.

The status indicator - This indicates Fred's condition, displaying number of lives (little fred pictures), current weapon (the grey shells), ammo left (the number by the current weapon) and score (red number far right).

Walking - left and right arrow keys. Fred can walk along platforms, lifts,and up and down stairs. He will be obstructed by walls and other objects, and will fall off the edge of surfaces. A bit like real life then.

Creeping - Fred can sneak along quietly, which allows him to pass behind monsters unnoticed when their backs are turned. Creep by holidng down the ? or / key and the left or right arrow.

Jumping - Fred can jump up vertically, by pressing the up arrow when he's not in front of any game objects such as buttons. He can also jump outwards using the space bar. You'll have to experiment with how far you can jump.

Changing current weapon - Use the right "shift" button to scroll throught the range of weapons. Alternatively (and this is a lot faster), use the number buttons 1-8, at the top of the keyboard, to select the weapon coresponding to that number.

Shooting - Use either "alt" key to shoot, but beware, various different weapons fire in different manners, so check out the weapons below.

Climbing ladders - Fred can climb up or down ladders, as well as being able to shoot whilst on them. Use up and down to make Fred ascend or descend.

Game objects - Objects such as buttons and teleporters can be activated or de-activated using the up arrow key, when fred is standing in front of them.

Ducking - Fred can duck to avoid projectiles, malign monsters or toremain conspicuous in cover. To duck press and hold the down arrow; not you can't walk or shoot while ducking, but you can seruptitiously throw grenades. Cover usually consists of greenery or barrels of gunk.

Pause menu - To pause the game and bring up the menu press the escape key. Press it again to continue playing.