CODE + GFX: Paul Manias
MUSIC: Greg Harding

Introduction

Once upon a time, a magical star named Sparkie was holding the Annual GooddenHappy Beer Festival. EVERYONE in the land of GooddenHappy was invited! All, except... the mighty Wizzbang the Wizard! Wizzbang was the nastiest wizard in all the land and NEVER got invited to the really good parties. As he watched the celebrants from the safety of his dark tower, he felt that this was the last straw. He would make them pay...

Wizzbang jumped on his flying carpet and flew down to watch the revellers at a distance. "Damn that Sparkie!" he thought. "They've gone and ripped the pot out of my backgarden and now all I've got is my crappy home brew!"

Without warning, Wizzbang jumped out of the trees and KAZAM! He zapped all the party guests and teleported them to the Dungeon Dimensions!

Everything went dark, and Sparkie couldn't see a thing. He tried to get his guests to their feet, but they were much too drunk or stoned to notice! Sparkie knew that the only way he could save his friends would be to light up the walls leading the way to exit. Then he would get that meddling Wizzbang for ruining the party of the year!

Can you help Sparkie escape and exact revenge on Wizzbang the Wizard?

Installation

For Windows, download the Exodus setup file and the Pandora Engine user binary from the Rocklyte download area. Run both exe's to install Exodus.

For Linux, download the Exodus zip file and the Pandora Engine user binary from the Rocklyte download area. Unzip the Pandora Engine file and use 'make' to install the software. For the Exodus archive, simply unzip and run './exodus' from the directory that you unzipped it to and the game will start (note that you must have X11 loaded at the time).

For Athene, download the Exodus install file from the Rocklyte download area. Use QikInstall to install the package and an Exodus icon will appear on your desktop ready for play.

'Ere Guvna, how'dya play this then?

To save the party guests, make your way around the rooms lighting up all the walls. Make sure you avoid the monsters! When all the lights are lit the monsters will be 'exorcised' and the exits revealed. Shoot the Ectoplasm before it escapes the room to replenish Sparkie's life energy.

Sometimes a lightning bolt will appear in the middle of the room. Pick it up and you will be able to shoot the monsters to slow them down, but watch the power meter in the top right-hand corner. Also, Sparkie is protected from the monsters when he goes inside the central area. If things ever heat up, go inside to work out your next game-plan.

On the right-hand side of the screen is a large empty box. The purple dot shows Sparkie's position in the Dungeon Dimensions, and the red dots show where the pieces of treasure map are hidden. Gather these pieces and areas of the map will appear enabling you to find the exit (indicated by the red arrow on the far right).

If Sparkie collides with a monster, he loses a life. Sparkie has ten lives in total, indicated by the beating heart at the bottom right hand side of the screen. So long as you can keep shooting the Ectoplasm to regain your energy, you should be able to keep Sparkie healthy enough to complete the game.

The game is complete once you leave the maze, whereupon Sparkie's mates will finally be sober enough to escape the clutches of Wizzbang the Wizard! But beware, it won't be as easy as you think!

Controls

Play Exodus by using the keyboard. Just randomly smash the arrow keys on the right hand side of your keyboard. Pushing the long thing at the bottom of the keyboard allows Sparkie to shoot bolts of lightning when he collects the lightning power-up. Also, you can push the return key to cause Sparkie to STOP on screen.

Hints and Tips

Here are some hints to help your gameplay:

Make good use of the Lightning bolts! Always pick up the lightning when it appears and use it before you run out of power. A good few bolts up the bottom will tell those monsters' who's boss.
If things are hotting up, return to the middle of the screen to think about where you are going to go next. The more patient you are, the higher your chances are of succeeding. Don't rush -- take your time!
Don't play drunk.
Some monsters are smarter than others. Learn how the monsters move and stay away from the intelligent ones.
You need to play at normal level or harder to see the end sequence.
Anticipate where you are going to move ahead of time, rather than making last-second decisions on where to go next.
Like all things, the game gets easier with practice.