Apex Computer Productions

Mayhem in Monsterland

Original Price: £8.99 Cassette - £9.99 Disk
Players: 1
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Company: © 1993 Apex Computer Productions

Original Price: 500 Wii Points
Players: 1
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Company: © 17th October 2008

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Mayhem's back after eleven years wait for your mobile phone, new for 2004 and 2006

Credits

John and Steve Rowlands

Review

Instructions

Weapons

Enemies

Stages

Tips and Cheats

Spectrum ZX Artwork

The Birth of Mayhem in Monsterland

 

Review

Takes the C64 to unseen limits in speed, graphics and playability
(Created in Super-Dinovision)

    

Instructions

Warning!!!

Due to the scrolling system used by Mayhem In Monsterland, the C64 will occasionally crash if there is a cartridge present. We therefore advise you to remove any cartridges or other peripherals before loading the game.

Thank you for purchasing Mayhem In Monsterland we hope it gives you many hours of fun and excitement.

Instruction Manual SCENARIO

Mayhem didn't enjoy living in Monsterland; it was always cold, it was always windy, and it rained every Sunday. It was clearly no place for a cute baby dinosaur.

However, rumour has it that Monsterland has not always been such an unpleasant place to live. The sun used to shine onto green fields with luscious vegetation and scenic mountains... until an apprentice magic dinosaur had too much cactus juice and decided to practice a few of his master's spells. The next morning, when all the monsters awoke, Monsterland had been transformed into a very dark and unhappy place. Mayhem wants to change Monsterland back, but has no magic powers to do this, so he enlists the help of his friend Theo Saurus, the dinosaur responsible for Monsterland's ghastly state. Theo lives below Monsterland in a hidden cave to avoid the wrath of the monsters here he waits for Mayhem to collect magic dust. With this in his possession, he flies across Monsterland sprinkling the magic dust in order to transform it back to a happy place.

However, because Theo is only a trainee, his magic doesn't always work as well as he'd like it too. Some of the magic dust that he spreads over Monsterland is a little excessive, and clumps together to form magic stars. This magic could be dangerous in the wrong hands, so Mayhem must collect any magic stars he finds to prevent any further disasters.

GAMEPLAY

Monsterland consists of five different levels; Jellyland, Pipeland, Spottyland, Cherryland, and Rockland. When Mayhem starts a level, the land is dark, dismal, and downright miserable the aim of each level is to find all the bags of MAGIC DUST and give them to Theo to make the level 'happy' again. Each level has a different quota of magic dust bags to collect, and only certain monsters leave them behind. When all the dust has been collected (see STATUS), the entrance to Theo's cave will start to animate Mayhem must find this entrance and drop down to hand over the dust.

Once the land has been converted, Mayhem will reemerge in the happy version of the level. His task here is to collect a designated amount of stars. Again, each level has a different quota, but bonus points can be earned by collecting more stars than necessary (see STATUS). The rotating stars spin at different speeds the faster they spin, the more points they are worth. As well as the rotating stars, certain monsters leave stars behind when killed (see BONUSES). Once the star quota has been collected, Mayhem must find the 'finish line' (which is surrounded by black & white checkers) and cross over it. Skidding over the line will result in an extra bonus (see CONTROL).

CONTROL IN GAME

RUN STOP: Pause (move joystick to resume)

Q: (from pause) Quit game

MAYHEM

Pushing left/right on the joystick will make Mayhem walk left/right, increasing in speed the longer the joystick is held left/right. When Mayhem is walking at his fastest, pressing fire (still holding the joystick) will engage his charge mode if the charge icon has been collected (see BONUSES). Pushing the joystick in the opposite direction to the charge will make Mayhem skid (the longer the joystick is held, the shorter the skid).

Pushing up on the joystick will make Mayhem jump up, increasing in height the longer the joystick is held up. Mayhem can also jump up through certain platforms during the game, and these vary from level to level.

Pulling down on the joystick will cause Mayhem to duck. Pulling down and pressing fire will make Mayhem drop through certain platforms (again, these vary from level to level).

Mayhem is also equipped with a 'half life', which effectively gives him two chances. If hit by a monster, Mayhem will lose his half life. If he gets hit again, he will die (unless he picks up another half life, see BONUSES).

BONUSES

Certain monsters, when killed, will leave behind a bonus icon for Mayhem to collect...

MAGIC DUST [DUST BAG]Found only on the sad levels, these must be collected for Mayhem to progress to the happy version.

CHARGE [LIGHTNING BOLT] This enables Mayhem to charge around at immense speeds, and is only collected once during the entire game (on the happy version of Jellyland).

SCORE MULTIPLIER [RABBIT] When collected, this will multiply any points collected, starting with 2 and up to a maximum of 5 with each subsequent multiplier. The multiplier will decrease after a short time.

SHIELD [SHOOTING STAR] This gives Mayhem temporary invincibility, allowing him to kill most monsters on contact.

EXTRA TIME [ALARM CLOCK] This will freeze the time counter for a short time.

HALF LIFE [BLUE HEART] This restores Mayhem's half life (if previously lost).

EXTRA LIFE [RED HEART] This will add an extra life to Mayhem's current reserve.

CONTINUE [RAINBOW HEART] This increases Mayhem's supply of continues.

STARS [BIG STAR] This rewards Mayhem with 10 extra stars.

STATUS PANEL

SCORE This shows the player's current score. Score multiplier grades (x2, x3, x4, and x5) appear alongside this.

MAGIC (SAD ONLY) This shows the amount of magic dust bags still to be collected, and flashes when they have all been recovered.

STARS (HAPPY ONLY) This shows the amount of stars remaining on the level, and flashes when the quota of stars has been collected. Any further stars collected will earn Mayhem extra bonus points.

TIME This shows the amount of time remaining on the current level, and flashes when the time reaches 60 seconds and 30 seconds (which is accompanied by a warning alarm).

LIVES This shows the lives left, and flashes if Mayhem loses his 'half life' (see CONTROL).

MONSTER FEATURES

SPRINGBOARD MONSTERS These fling Mayhem high up into the air, and are especially useful for reaching those places which other monsters can't reach.

INFLATORS These have the same effect as springboard monsters, but are equipped with deadly spikes. Mayhem must land carefully on this monster when his chest is inflated, and not when the spikes are showing.

BANDITS If Mayhem collides with this monster, it will steal stars from him (up to a certain amount, which varies from level to level).

SPIKES & SHELLS Mayhem will die if he runs into (or lands on) spikes. Likewise, running into a shell or an indestructible monster will cause him to bounce off.

CREDITS

Conceived, designed, and created by APEX COMPUTER PRODUCTIONS.

Design and programming by John 'ICE TNT' Rowlands

Design, graphics, music and SFX by Steve 'JACK D Rowlands

Additional design, code, and playtesting by Andy 'SPECIAL K Roberts

Ultra jumbo sized shout outs to: Tracy, Christina, Andy, Rob, Kerry, James, Guy (the boyz), Tru & Phil, Ollie, Trenty, Clur, Hutch and Dave.

Special thanks to Mr and Mrs Rowlands, with out whose help this game would not have been possible.

In the unlikely event of this superlative product being faulty, please return the whole package to Apex Computer Productions, enclosing your name & address and a description of the fault.

Audiovisual concept, label, and program

© 1993 APEX COMPUTER PRODUCTIONS LTD.

APEX COMPUTER PRODUCTIONS LTD.
PO BOX 100
South Ockendon
Essex
RM155HD

Unauthorised copying, lending, hiring, public performance and broadcasting of this product is strictly prohibited... and naughty too.

Weapons

Look at the detail in these animations, I've scaled the sprite to double each time as the original is only 24x21 pixels!

Enemies

None

Stages

Stage 1 - Jellyland

     

Stage 2 -

None

Stage 3 -

None

Stage 4 -

None

Stage 5 -

None

Tips and Cheats

Invincibility:

Load or reset the game, then execute the following BASIC command before running or restarting the program.

POKE 46621,173

Unlimited lives:

Load or reset the game, then execute the following BASIC command before running or restarting the program.

POKE 48587,0

Unlimited continues (cassette version):

Load or reset the game, then execute the following BASIC command before running or restarting the program.

POKE 16055,173

Unlimited continues (disk version):

Load or reset the game, then execute the following BASIC command before running or restarting the program.

POKE 16047,173

Extra time:

Load or reset the game, then execute the following BASIC commands before running or restarting the program.

POKE 48446,169
POKE 48447,0
POKE 48448,234

Spectrum ZX Artwork

... well, if i were to actually remake something i wouldn't mind doing Terra Cresta over, or especially this game; Mayhem in Monsterland. I believe it's perfectly feasible and could hold it's own against the original C64 version. Don't know if I'd actually go through with it but maybe do a similar game, though doing an exact version appeals to me. Here's two screens. First is animated. It uses regular ZX graphics, the only part that isn't is Mayhem himself, which is multicolor. I don't know if it's possible, but even if not i can do a nice Mayhem in normal graphics. The second screen i also like, except maybe for the slope on the right. I guess i was getting tired. Anyway, think about it ...

Information and images taken from the internet, as the original page is no longer available.

The Birth of Mayhem in Monsterland

Taken from Commodore Format Issue 26

Ever wanted to know how games are created? Then you are in the right place. Y'see creating games is what we do for a living. Lets get the introductions out of the way. Were Steve and John Rowlands, otherwise known as Apex Computer Productions. You might possibly have heard of a couple of games weve written: Cyberdyne Warrior or Creatures 1 or 2 perhaps?.

We also wrote the Clyde Guide for CF a while back. That was a day-by-day diary which followed the progress of Creatures 2 (the hero was called Clyde you see). This time things are going to be different. Not only will we tell you what we do as we work on our latest epic, we'll tell you why we are doing it. This installment has been scientifically formulated to inform, inspire and educate, without bleaching colors (even at 40 degrees).

AMBIENT AUGUST: DESIGNING THE GAME

From the start we wanted to make the game console-esque, aiming for high playability as well as amazing aesthetics. Its going to be platform orientated, like the majority of console games, but with speeds not yet witnessed of the C64 (we hope). We've learnt from Creatures 1 & 2 that cute games can be successful, so naturally we have decided to make this game cute as well.

From the beginning we wanted to incorporate elements fromt he best console platform games, as the C64 has no games of this type (no good ones anyway). But before we got carried away with the design we had to take into account the limitations of the C64.

The first thing we decided was how the screen should be updated. The easiest option was to have a flip screen format ( as seen in Cyberdyne Warrior), but this limits the gameplay considerably. The most obvious desision is to scroll the screen. A conventional scroller, which most games use, has a few limitations: The amount of color that can be displayed, the size of the scrollable area and the speed at which the area scrolls at. We opted for the Creatures scroller which would need to be adapted considerably to suit the games design, requiring a Bi-directional scrolling player area with variable speeds!. ( This means it will scroll up and down as well as side to side.

Once the basic design was finalised we had to consider the look of the game. Graphics are not only there to look good, they also have to provide atmosphere. The graphics in Mayhem are more important than any of the previous games, as they are essential for astablishing certain moods throughout the game. We wanted to make the graphics as bright and colorful as possible but we also wanted to come up with different graphical style to anything we'd done before. So after a few (Very) late nights we had a dozen sketcheson which Steve could vase his level graphics. Now we had a rough idea of what the graphic style was, we set about designing the player.

CHARACTER BUILDING

The next step is designing the players character. We started designing the main player by sketching out ideas and messing about with the sprite editor for a few days. We had to decide on the sprite specification, whether it would be a single, multicolor sprite (Like Clyde in Creatures), a multicolor sprite with a high res overlay (like the players in cyberdyne), or a larger player with several sprites bolted together. The problem with having a large player is that it would : A) make the player area feel smaller, B) limit the amount of on-screen sprites you could display, C) use more graphical memory D) make the player larger than the nasties (when it should be the other way round).

Detail is probably the most important factor for a character in this sort of game, and using a multicolor sprite with a high-res overlay would give us the detail we required and enough free sprites for bad-guys. So once we knew how the player was structured, it wasoff to the drawing board to try and come up with a decent character. As the game is set in the Mesozoic era (that's when the dinosaurs were around to you and me) he had to be a dinosaur. He is, in fact, a baby dinosaur called Mayhem, hence the name Mayhem in Monsterland. During the game he can charge at other monsters to kill them, and therefore he needs some kind of weapon. We can't really give him a 'Maser Staser Phaser Laser' ((C) Rob Ellis), as it has to relate to the game. Therefore we gave him a horn which with to impale his adversaries, with the ability to crush monsters to death at slower speeds. As with most of Steve's graphics, he was designed on paper and then re-created on the C64.

We now had a character which was cute yet intelligent, fast yet precise, powerful yet nimble, sexy yet.... erm... anyway he looked good!

IN THE BEGINNING.

Mayhem in Monsterland wasn't the only game idea we considered to be a follow up to Creatures 2. Here are some of the other and the reasons why we didn't develop them.

GENESIS

This was a game which we designed three years before Creatures, and was in the playable demo stages before we decided to abandon the project (because of the technical limitations of the C64). Since it's initial design we've developed it into an awesome game, which is unfortunatly just inside our heads. Ho Hum. Look out for it on a more powerful machine in the future. Virtual Reality would be nice....

SQUISH

This is a game which designed 2 years before Creatures 2, and was a four-way scrolling isometric 'go around squashing eveything with a mallet type of affair. The idea was to color tiles by squashing baddies, thier blood changing the tiles color. The game had a good violence factor, but the idea was dropped owing to mental block.

KATPULT KIDZ

Designed at the same time as squish, this was a horzontally scrolling arcade adventure based around 2 pranksome schoolboys armed with catapults. These schoolboys were based on characters from Squish, H20 and Destruction Bros as we thought that they were cuter than a really cute thing on a cute day. this was axed from the Apex shedule to make way for Creatures 2.

DESTRUCTION BROS

Planned for release on cartridge, it was scrapped owing to the dwindling cartdrige sales. The game was to feature super-bitmaps, a 128 sprite multiplexer, and a pseudo eight voice sound engine.... OK were dreaming again. Seriously though, it would featured simultainious 2 player super-weapon-weilding action. Basically it was the bee's knee's -- All 6 of them.

H20

After destruction were rubbed of the drawing board we opted for a slightly less violent games scenario. The main character in the game was based heavily on the Descruction Bros characters but without the firepower. This time he had a big water pistol (Honestly) and he used it to extinguish hundreds of fires. The main reason for scrapping this design was that the freshness of the idea had worn off, and the game was not as practacle as first though.

THEO SAURUS

The main character was a cute baby dragon named Theo, whose parents were brutally slain by merciless villagers in medieval times. Theo would progress through villages crushing castles, torching knights and generally dishing out justice (In quite sizeable proportions). It was scrapped to make way for Mayhem In Monsterland (da - Daaaaaa!).

 

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