The BBC and Master Computer Public Domain Library
SUNDAY
Public Domain, Originally Released On 3 x DFS E00 Disc
Game Type : Arcade Adventure; "Monkey Island" style
Author : (The) Dave
Standalone Release(s) : 1997: SUNDAY VERSION 6.0, (The) Dave, PD
Compilation Release(s) : None
Stated compatibility : Electron
Actual compatibility : Electron, BBC B, B+ and Master 128
Supplier : EUG, 42 Canterbury Road, REDCAR TS10 3QF
Disc compatibility : ADFS 1D00, CDFS 1D00, DFS 1D00
Instructions (SUNDAY Version 6.0)
This manual is designed for use with the most recent Acorn Electron version of SUNDAY; SUNDAY Version 6.0. The revision herein contained differs only in the characters' names, which have been changed to bring the game in line with the novella published in 1997. Download it from www.8bs.com
General Overview
SUNDAY is a graphic adventure based upon an actual occurrence in 1992 which led to the severe psychological damage of its creator. In some respects, it is funny; in others it is shocking and disconcerting. To put it in its proper context it is best to read the novella available from Mudfog Books, ISBN 1899503-27-7. This sets the scene for the adventure which follows.
This new modified SUNDAY is almost materially identical to the ADFS version of SUNDAY for the Electron and, although some of the dialogue is now recognised as being a little immature, it has all been retained as it was in the original first version for the BBC Master.
Loading And Disk Control
You can read the brief instruction manual for SUNDAY by selecting 1 from the small menu that appears on the <SHIFT>-<BREAK> instruction. You can also print it out by pressing 2. When <ESCAPE> is pressed, the DAVE title will be displayed.
At some points in the game, you will be asked to insert Disk One, Two or Three and should do as requested.
Loading Screen
When the main SUNDAY loading screen is displayed, it is necessary to press <ESCAPE> to continue straightaway. A tune will play until either <ESCAPE> is pressed or it reaches the end. The screen will then be wiped. Pressing <ESCAPE> again will clear the screen faster.
Options Screen
A sprite will appear first in the centre of the screen then the Options will be filled in around it. When the Options Screen appears, EVEN IF PREVIOUS GAMES OF SUNDAY HAVE BEEN PLAYED ON SEPARATE SETTINGS, each option will revert to its default value. You have the choice on this screen to select the Text Speed, change the Censorship Options, see the official credits or start the game. Before this can be entered however, press <M> to stop the music.
Changing the Text Speed
The default setting is 5 seconds. This is the time from when spoken text is displayed on the screen to it being blanked and replaced with new text, and it can be altered in two ways.
Pressing <T> will move the button of the Text Speed to the right a notch. When the text Speed reaches the end of the dial, it will return to the far left notch. There are five settings the button can be placed on (1, 3, 5, 7 and 9) and these are from left to right.
An alternative is to input the specific time which is done by pressing <P> followed by a number between 1 and 9. On depression of <P>, an input box on the Options Screen will be high-lighted in white. You do not need to press <RETURN> after typing the number.
Changing the Censorship Options
The censorship option is automatically turned ON at the beginning of each game. If you wish to play an uncensored version, pressing <V> should change it.
Although this option prevents most swear words (certainly all the coarse ones!) from appearing on screen, it should be realised that this also has the effect of removing some of the most disturbing spoken passages from the game itself and may slightly diminish the impact of certain scenes when operational.
"Turdvirgin", Balls and Bollocks are RETAINED in the censored version, as is the occasional Dick.
If depression of <V> fails to change the censorship option, the game has been permanently censored by someone and the Original Edit is not an option. [But also see the Haven file 'For Parents' regarding this.]
Official Credits
Pressing <C> will display a box at the bottom of the screen listing the current version of SUNDAY and who is responsible for its completion. Pressing <RETURN> will return to the Options Screen.
Starting A Game
Pressing <SPACE> will start the game. A typical way to start without wasting any time would be to type:
P2V followed by <SPACE>.
This will start an uncensored version of the game with a text speed of two seconds.
The Main Game Screen
When you begin the game, the screen is divided into two oval scoring sections and four box sections. They all have specialised uses:
1. The HI-SCORE box shows the highest score achieved by anyone on SUNDAY. The first game of a session is set to a default value of 1500. Greater scores will replace this figure.
2. The SCORE box shows your current score. See SCORING.
3. The WHAT'S HAPPENING box shows the centred name of the scene, or an action involving a specific change in pace, environment or temperature.
4. The WORDS SPOKEN box contains a centred line of text which continually changes and is replaced to give the illusion of speech. See CHARACTERS for an explanation of distinguishment.
5. The centre box is the graphic part of the game. This displays all the scenes in an 88 x 64 grid of pixels. It also gives information on the date and time before some key scenes.
6. The RESPONSE AND SPEECH box contains the responses a player can choose to give to a character. Also, if the main character speaks without being prompted, his text will appear in this box similar to the WORDS SPOKEN one.
Playing The Game
Unlike with other games, SUNDAY has a clear-cut knowledge of what you need to achieve to win. Often you will not be physically killed, but will lose the game by failing to achieve your goal. An example of this is if you forget to set up the date on Saturday night - the Jamie will watch television all afternoon; not only missing all the sexism but watching DALLAS and being a lot more sad than usual.
The game begins on Saturday June 13th at a seedy night-club on the outskirts of Redcar town where all manner of cheeky antics are indulged. This PROLOGUE scene throws the player into the Jamie's world at the point the novella leaves it. The Jamie has not yet pulled out of the influence of a certain Mark Kirk and we see him swing from a nice discussion with friend Carl Swain into an insulting banter on Carl being a "nasty boy". The Jamie also explains the situation regarding his ex-girlfriend Sally Roberts in this scene and, as he leaves, his attention is attracted by a wall. There are now several ways to play the game.
SUNDAY contains ten different characters in total - some of them keep themselves out of the picture in some games - and the Jamie can interact and respond to most of what they say with a variety of different responses, usually four. But the Jamie is not just limited to responding. On suitable occasions, he can start up a different conversation or try different tacks. As with the caper with the wall, displayed instead of "Possible responses" in the RESPONSE AND SPEECH box are "Possible cries
of disbelief". But every line works in the same way.
Keys <1> to <4> choose the appropriate response from the four displayed. (If there are only two or three responses, the appropriate keys are ignored.) When the key is depressed, the correct response is highlighted, and the rest are cleared. The word PRESS will appear in small writing in the bottom right-hand corner.
PRESS always means PRESS <RETURN> TO EXECUTE.
On depression of the <RETURN> key, the scoring (and the InsultMeter if necessary) will be updated, and the conversation with whatever character will continue.
As SUNDAY is a huge program, each scene is loaded separately to the Electron's memory. Never remove a disk from the drive while the drive is operational.
Location Details
When a scene has loaded and the display changes, details may be given on the place the scene is set if it is deemed necessary. These will be brief and in a different font to the speech. They will be followed by a PRESS instruction and no other key will operate until <RETURN> has been pressed.
Command Mode
At some times, the Command Mode may be entered in order to make the Jamie do certain things he cannot achieve through the SPEECH AND RESPONSE mode.
To get into Command Mode, press <ESCAPE>. If the SPEECH AND RESPONSE box does not clear, Command Mode cannot be entered at that point. There are specific points in which Command Mode is used and finding them is part of the game. There are obvious signs to look for when commanding the Jamie is possible; him lingering outside an alley for example or in something a character says. Note that you are sometimes only given a few seconds to hit the <ESCAPE> key in a scene!
Command Mode is completely different to the alternative mode. The writing is thinner and you are given a list of your inventory and then asked "What Should I Do?" by the bemused Jamie. This Mode acts more as a traditional type of adventure game; you now type directly what you want the Jamie to do and then press <RETURN>.
Some of the more specialised commands in Command Mode, on top of the traditional TAKE, DROP, KILL, etc. commands are:
DRINK ENTER KICK KISS
RUN SMOKE THROW TWIST
Also in keeping with tradition, the Jamie will respond with stupid comments no adventurer would ever actually make, if you tell him to do something he doesn't understand.
Pressing <ESCAPE> again will take you back to the normal mode and the conversation will be picked up where it was left off - no matter what you have been doing!
The Insultmeter
After the prologue of the game, a fifth section will appear which is known as the InsultMeter - this is a thermometer-shaped object with 23 markings up the side and a skull and crossbones at the top. Throughout the game, whenever Sally feels offended, the Meter will rise a notch (or two notches for very insulting responses).
Picking Up And Using Objects
Picking up objects is usually compulsory, although there are some you can only get through Command Mode. You can only carry three objects at a time and, as you are going out to battle, they are referred to as "weapons".
You cannot usually DROP weapons; usually they either get destroyed by another character or lost after they have been used and this gets rid of them.
The majority of weapons you can select are in the Jamie's bedroom on Sunday morning. These all have uses but some are more useful than others. As there is no-one else in the Jamie's bedroom, this scene is totally Command Mode. Each weapon is examined and you can choose whether or not you want to take them by pressing <RETURN> at the PRESS prompt. You can only USE weapons through Command Mode. You must then enter a
suitable verb for each item, such as THROW STONE or DRINK WATER.
Scoring
You can pick up points in SUNDAY for doing and saying certain things. The scoring system does not often work on the principle that the most insulting lines are the best. Certain things always deliver certain numbers of points (such as picking up or using an object) but the number of points each response scores were worked out randomly. i.e. Response one may add 30 points to your score, response two may add 10 points, response three may add 20 points and response four add 40 points.
Every set of responses has different numbers of points to add to your score. If you chose response one on the last response and it gave 40 points, it is more than likely that it will be a lower number of points added to your score if you choose response one on the next set. However, the actual additions of points for each separate response never change. This offers a challenge for the strong-willed to work through the game continually and note down the number of points you get for every separate response, then to try and generate the highest score possible.
The certain things which have guaranteed points are:
Picking up any object ................................ 100 pts
Setting up the date .................................. 100 pts
Using weapon/doing something from Command Mode ... 100-350 pts
Characters
Every character apart from the Jamie has his/her speech appear in the WORDS SPOKEN boy. When there are two or more characters in a certain scene (THE WAY HOME scene on Middlesbrough station has five characters at once on some occasions!), you are able to distinguish between each character by the marks around their speech. You are reminded if this on the Options Screen before the game starts. After a few games you will know the character's "quotes" off by heart. Until then you may like to refer to these ways of distinguishing separate characters.
CHARACTER NAME QUOTES FOR READABILITY
Clarice Roberts ....................... ' quotes
Sally Roberts ........................ No quotes
Mark Kirk ............................ No quotes
Sarah McDonald ................... Square quotes
Suzanna Floyd ......................... ~ quotes
Staff of the Odeon .................... ^ quotes
Carl Swain ........................... No quotes
Mark Evans ........................ Doesn't talk
Moving Around
In SUNDAY, your movement through the scenes is usually compulsory, but you have the option on some occasions to visit different locations through Command Mode.
Instructions' Source : SUNDAY VERSION 6.0 (The Dave) Text File Instructions
Review (EUG)
The first thing you notice about this game is that it is a huge program and fills two ADFS "L" discs or three ADFS "M"/DFS DS 80T discs. The second is that it works on the BBC B, B+, Master 128 and Acorn Electron. On !BOOTing disc #1, you are presented with playing instructions in the form of a readable/printable manual - I would recommend printing it if possible as it helps to be able to refer to a hardcopy when first attempting the game. The manual is concise and informative and will help you make your way through the world you are about to enter.
Actually, yet greater an insight can be gained through reading the SUNDAY Novella, a book also written by the game's author. Although this isn't vital, the game follows directly on from the last chapter and you may find your journey through the game is easier after having acquired a greater understanding of the characters and their mutual interaction. It is NOT an essential prerequisite though, as you will discover...
Describing SUNDAY as a game does not do it the justice it so rightly deserves. On playing it, it is more of an experience than a conventional game. Its loader allows you to change the text-response time (Recommended after several games) and whether to play an uncensored version. Doing this is far more entertaining.
As with all games, you will discover that SUNDAY knows what you need to do to win. Finding out is where the fun comes into it.
The experience begins on June 13th 1992 and the adventure contains ten different characters, complete with their own personalities and characteristics, although one of its beauties is that you will not necessarily meet them all in a single game. Once you "finish" it, it can be played over with more interaction with these previously unseen characters.
On leaving the instructions you are presented with a very nicely presented and detailed Mode 4 loading screen, accompanied by a passable rendition of Axel F. After it has finished, or you have pressed <ESCAPE>, the screen will clear and yet another extremely detailed Mode 4 graphic will be displayed providing details regarding the remainder of the actions/keys used to play, together with mug shots of the characters you may interact with in the game. Not sure that I'd like to run into or
meet anyone looking like Suzzie in a well lit alley, let alone a dark one, but I digress...
You are also treated to an extremely good rendition of Enola Gay by OMD - a nice post-apocalyptic anthem; so if you want to find out if this is a portent of things to come, play on. You will not be disappointed.
You control the central character - The Jamie - and we first meet him confronting his friend Carl in Zero G, a local hostelry. To say that the Jamie is a forthright and outspoken character would be a drastic understatement. The Mode 4 graphics have a very professional feel to them and, while they lack an arcade 'punch', make up for it in occasional graphical manoeuvres which must be seen to be believed. The graphics all load smoothly and swiftly, and the code behind this is a credit to the
programmer.
How the Jamie fares from now on in his efforts to re-engage his relationship with young Miss Roberts is entirely up to you. You must carry on conversations, rather unconventionally, with one response from an ensemble. There's also a "Command Mode", described in the manual, allowing the more regular commands you associate with text adventures - and a few more 'interesting' ones to boot. Scoring too is unconventional and VERY dependant on the Jamie's (your) interaction with others and the responses chosen.
As you progress through this game, you will, according to how well you interact in this extremely unpredictable world, be asked to enter successive discs that comprise the game. So far I have mastered enough of it to have been asked for each disc in turn before 'dying'. I have also managed to better the default high score of 1,500 (Up to 2,300) but there is far more to be achieved.
Unfortunately, SUNDAY's playability is crippled in comparison to products like THE HOBBIT because each game must be started from the very beginning. This does allow you to meet new characters but does not let you pause and save your experiences to mull over and adapt for future or continued games. However, because no game of SUNDAY is ever the same, it scores highly in other respects.
As noted earlier, this gaming experience is aided by having a printed version of the manual to hand. Although it is not so complicated as to cause referral to it every few minutes, it helps 'nudge' your own interaction and become more in tune with the way the Jamie thinks. As it is something comparatively new to play, this game will appeal to a broad spectrum (No pun intended) of Beeb enthusiasts. It is not like a shoot-'em-up requiring repeat play to gain the winning strategy yet it does inspire you to play again and again to get under the Jamie's 'skin' and achieve the overall objective for the game: Miss Roberts.
The game was written back in 1993 and, as such, quite after the 8bit heyday of the Beeb. But even now in the 21st century, it is both engaging and addictive whilst being a refreshing experience from the run-of-the-mill games churned out by software companies.
To be able to save a game at any juncture would be a desirable bonus as having to start again and again, however interesting and different each time, does not allow you to continue on a course of action you have started and are thus far pleased with, only to have to turn off due to interaction and issues in the real world.
For this reason, I would give this 8/10. Graphics are a straight 10, with playability hot on their heels. SUNDAY is a worthy successor to the Acornsoft and Level 9 adventure games with extremely 'graphic' graphics to surpass their appeal. Recommended.
Kevin Etheridge, EUG #59