SPACE TAXI
(C) 1984 MUSE SOFTWARE
======================


You used to be the hottest pilot in the galactic fleet, but now you make your living zipping through the crazy intricacies of a twenty-third century city. You're learning that one short hop in this job can pack more challenge into your piloting skills than all the missions you flew with the fleet put together. And the money can be good, too, especially if your passengers think you're fast and smooth and deserve a tip.

The Features..
Space Taxi (TM) presents exciting full color graphics, sounds effects you can believe, music that celebrates your success, and passengers with voices that actually talk to you. Plus controls so precise your skill with the joystick will be sharpened to a finer edge than you ever thought possible. All on an amazing array of twenty-four screens.

The Surprise..
Get good enough and you'll fly through an additional mystery screen that combines the best of arcade action and fantasy adventure.

Here's your license!
Your Passenger is waiting!

SPACE TAXI
Copyright (c) 1984
by John Kutcher
All rights reserved 
Published by MUSE Software 
347 N. Charles Street 
Baltimore, Maryland 21201


INTRODUCTION
------------
Hey, just because you were a hot shot pilot in the galactic fleet, don't think it's easy bein' a hack in a spacetaxi. Five bucks a ri - ten if you go between screens -- plus what ever tips you get if you hustle, and let me tell ya, those riders can be picky. They won't even tip you if they think your driving isn't good enough.

Let me tell ya, it's murder driving in traffic these days, too. You have to be alert at all times. No goofin' off. You never know what's gonna get in your way. It might be magnets, lasers, shooting stars, force fields, minefields, black holes that suck you in, strange routes that change when you try to drive back the way you came, and who knows what all, on top of that you have to make sur you don't run out of gas.

I'm tellin' ya, just operating one of these cabs is no piece of cake. Besides the gas gauge, you've got to watch all those other meters on the dash -- you gotta know if you're gong too fast to land and if it's okay to take off.

But then again, it's an exciting job, I tell ya, some days you can make a bundle. If you make three hundred bucks they even give you an extra cab. Hey,i'm tellin' ya -- if you're really good you can even become an immortal Cabbie!

Anyway, here is your licence if ya want to give it a try. Oh by the way, you have a fare waitin'. GOOD LUCK --- I'm tellin' ya, you're gonna need it.


LOADING SPACE TAXI (tm)
-----------------------
Plug your joystick into Port #2. Turn on your disk drive, then your computer. Now, insert your Space Taxi(tm) disk into the disk drive with the label up. Never turn the computer or the disk drive on or off when the disk is in the drive! On your screen the cursor will be positioned under the word READY. Type the characters:

LOAD "*",8,1

This instructs the computer to load the first file it finds. The title page will appear, after about a minute, giving you three options:

1. Move the joystick UP to see the list of high scores (Immortal Cabbies).
2. Move the joystick DOWN to read the instructsions screen.
3. Press the FIRE button on your joystick to begin the game.


GETTING STARTED:
----------------
The object of SPACETAXI (tm) is to complete your shift with a fleet of six taxi cabs, accumulating as much money as you can from fares and tips. The number of cabs remaining is displayed in the lower left corner of each game screen.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS
After pressing the joystick to start the game, you must select the number of players. As many as four can play. Move the joystick LEFT or RIGHT and press the FIRE button to select the number.

When choosing more than one player, each player in turn uses the same joystick to play the same screen. The play rotates through each player until each player has successfully completed the shift or has lost all his cabs.

If the player successfully completes a screen, when his turn comes around again his cabb will be in the next screen with a passenger the cab and the tip meter showing the amount it had when the previous screen was completed.

SHIFTS
After selecting the number of players, you must select the shift (difficulty level) you want. Select your shift by moving the joystick UP or DOWN and pressing the FIRE button. There are five shifts from which to choose. The first three consists of eight screens. The last two allow you to play all twenty-four, and if you are able to do so successfully, you will get to try the MYSTERY SCREEN. The Standard twenty-four hour shift proceeds in order from the first screen in the morning shift to the last screen in the night shift. In the Random twenty-four hour shift, the dispatcher randomly selects the screens through which you will drive.


PLAYING:
--------
After selecting the shift, the name of the screen is displayed, followed by the scene. You will see a series of numbered landing pads and differet obstacles and hazards that endanger your taxi.

When the game starts, a man is beamed onto one of the pads, where he shouts, "Hey, taxi!" (the message also appearson the bottom of the screen) and waves for a cab. At the same time the tip indicator in the lower right of the screen starts to run down, beginning anywhere from $11.00 to $19.00. You must land your taxi on the pad with the man on it.

If you land on the passenger, ten dollars will be subtracted from your total earnings, if not the passenger will walk over to the taxi, climb aboard and tell you where he wants togo ("Pad Five, please!" for example). You must deliver your passenger to the appropriate pad, avoiding any obstacles. Your taxi will very rarely survive when it is strucj by a flying object. The general rule is to avoid bouncing balls, falling stars, etc.

When you deliver your passenger, you must remain on the pad while he gets out and thanks you. The amount of money remaining on the tip indicator will be added to your total if the passenger decides he liked your driving. Within each scene you receive five dollars for every passenger you successfully deliver. Another passenger on a different pad will then hail you ("Hey, Taxi!"), and you must go through the cycle again.

If the new passenger is beamed to the part of the pad where your taxi is parked, he will shout, "Hey!" because you are sitting on his stand, and you will lose ten dollars. The passenger will continue to shout, "Hey!" until you move the cab, and $10.00 will be subtracted from your score each time he does.

After you have made a successful delivery to or pick up from every pad in a scene, your last passenger will say, "Up, Please!". The force field at the top of the screen disappears, and you must move the cab up though the opening. When the next scene appears, the passenger will specify the pad he wants, and you will receive ten dollars (plus tip) for a successful landing.


SCORING AND OTHER FEATURES:
---------------------------
SCORING
$05.00 Per ride for delivering passenges to pads in the same game.
$10.00 Per ride for delivering passengers between screens.

TIPS 
The tip indicator starts between $11.00 and $19.00 and runs down. You get whatever remains if the passenger thinks the ride was worth it.

GETTING AN EXTRA TAXI
If you have earned $300, an extra taxi will be added to your fleet, free of charge.

CONTROLLING YOUR TAXI
Use the joystick to thrust your taxi in any direction. In most screens your taxi will sink toward the bottom and you must thrust UP.

The FIRE button causes the taxi's landing gear to come out. The taxi's legs must be out in the order to land safely. You will take off again by moving the joystick UP. When you do, the legs automatically retract.

FUEL
Each taxi in your fleet starts out with a full tank. At the beginning of each new screen your taxi will also have a full tank. Your fuel supply decreases whenever your taxi is in motion; no fuel is used when the taxi is on a landing pad. The fuel gauge at the bottom of the screen indicates the amount of fuel you have left. You may buy fuel at a fueling pad whenever you want. If your fuel is running low, a tone will sound to warn you to get more. The cost of fuel will be automatically deducted from your total earnings.

If your taxi runs out of fuel before you get to the fuel pad, your taxi will crash and you will have to use a new, if any remain in your fleet.

CONTROL PANEL
There are eight different indicators in the control panel at the bottom of the screen.

A B E C F D E 
F f   G     H 

A: Number of Remaining Cabs The number of cabs remaining in your fleet is indicated by the number of icons in the box.

B: Speed Indicator When the light is blue, landing is permitted. When it's yellow, caution is advised. If the speed indicator is red, you will crash if you attempt to land.

C: Fuel Gauge The fuel gauge ranges from (E)mpty to (F)ull and indicates the amount of fuel in the current cab.

D: Takeoff indicator If this light is red, you cannot take off from a pad. If it's yellow you can.

E: Screen Indicator This tells you which hour (screen) of your shift you are in, labelled 1:00 through 24:00. If you select the morning, day or night shift you will play eight screens, or eight hours.

F: Total Earning Meter The total amount of money earned, from both fares and tips, is shown here.

G: Messages The words spoken by the passenger -- "Hey, Taxi", "Up, Please", etc. -- appear in this portion of the screen.

H: Tip Meter The tip meter, indicates the amount of the tip. It is reset for each new rider to an amount between $11.00 and $19.00 and runs down. The amount shown when the passenger leaves the taxi is the amount of your tip.


FREEZING THE ACTION:
--------------------
Pressing the SHIFT LOCK key will freeze the action. Press SHIFT LOCK again to restart SPACE TAXI (tm).
Caution: Pressin the RUN/STOP key at any time will end the current game and return you to the title screen.


IMMORTAL CABBIES:
-----------------
If you make more than $50.00 and your score is one of the ten highest on the game disk, you will be able to enter your name in the list of Immortal Cabbies.
TO ERASE ALL PREVIOUSLY RECORDED IMMORTAL CABBIES AND THEIR SCORES, press the F8 function key while the instructions screen is being displayed.
Other keys at instruction screen: 
J  - Read about John. 
F8 - Clear and save scores. 

NOSTALGIA CREDITS:
------------------
Cracked, Trained, Sid-fixed, Cleaned and One-filed by .. FUNGUS+6R6 
Documents and disk original supplied by .................. ARTLOVER 
Documents typed by ............................................ 6R6 
System ................................................. PAL & NTSC 
Drives ........................................................ ALL

WWW.NOSTALIGIA.C64.ORG 

Enjoy!