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TIME TRUCKER

Professional, Originally Released On Cassette Only

Game Type : Educational; Time Skills; Ages 8-14

Author : Don Walton

Standalone Release(s) : 1984: TIME TRUCKER, Acornsoft/ASK, £9.95

Compilation Release(s) : None

Stated compatibility : Electron/BBC Dual Version

Actual compatibility : Electron, BBC B, B+ and Master 128

Supplier : A.S.K., London House, 68 Upper Richmond Road, LONDON SW15

Disc compatibility : CDFS E00, DFS E00

Instructions

"Jump into your truck and get moving! Are you a top trucker? Can you fulfil your orders with slick route planning and sharp timekeeping? Can you fit in extra work and earn more money through smart organisation or quick decision-making?

With three maps and three levels of difficulty, TIME TRUCKER helps you to tell the time fluently, to calculate intervals of time accurately, to read timetables correctly and to plan how to use time effectively.

It doesn't matter whether you're using a 12 hour or a 24 hour clock, TIME TRUCKER is exciting to play. It takes a lot of skill and it makes telling the time fun."

Introduction

TIME TRUCKER turns time telling into a challenging and rewarding game. While driving your truck around a map, you have to watch the clock and work out how many collections and deliveries of fresh produce you can make in eight hours.

You can choose from three levels of difficulty and from three different maps, which give you many combinations to explore. At the lower level, you use the analogue clock (round) clock with a 12 hour digital clock and tat the higher levels the 24 hours digital clock is introduced.

TIME TRUCKER will help you to develop the skills you need to make the most efficient use of your time by encouraging careful planning and quick decision-making.

In all A.S.K. programs

<RETURN> Remember: once you have typed in your response a program will

< icon > deal with it until you press the <RETURN> key.

<ESCAPE> You can always return to the beginning of a program by pressing

< icon > the <ESCAPE> key.

<DELETE> You can rub out anything typed in, before the <RETURN> key is

< icon > pressed, by using the <DELETE> key.

<_Hand_> Means : Please press the space bar to carry on with the program

< icon >

< ? > Means : the program did not expect the response it has just re-

< face > ceived. Perhaps there was a typing error? In any case, to carry

on, just press the space bar and try again.

<CTRL> All of our programs incorporate sound. There are various volume

levels - holding down the <CTRL> key and pressing the <S> will

<S> change the level - keep pressing the keys until you are happy

with the volume.

Note: The program will not run on computers that have 0.1 operating systems.

How to use the program

You can use either the keyboard or the joystick. Press <RETURN> or fire button to choose.

Keyboard: Z - Left, X - Right, * - Up, ? - Down, and <RETURN>

Joystick: Normal joystick controls apply.

TIME TRUCKER Game

First, choose your trucker by using the Z and X keys or the joystick. Then press <RETURN> or fire. Next, enter the name of your trucker (12 letter maximum) and then press <RETURN>.

Now you have to choose a job. Use the * and ? keys or the joystick and then press the <RETURN> key or fire button. Each job has its own truck and level of difficulty. If this is the first time you are playing TIME TRUCKER, try the job for the Trainee Trucker.

The signpost marked 'Map' will give you the map. The other two signposts marked 'Secret Map' and 'Road Repairs' will give you others, allowing you to explore different roads and get to know them as you play the game. Watch out for dead ends in 'Road Repairs'!

How To Play

Trainee Trucker Game

A small part of the map that you have chosen now appears on the left of the screen. You will see a little truck on it, waiting in the depot. On the right of the screen is the first order of fresh produce that you have to collect by driving the little truck around the map to the various farms. Just below this order you will see £00. The money that you are going to earn will be indicated there.

Your aim is to collect and deliver as many orders as possible in eight hours. Each item on the order earns £100 and each completed order earns a bonus of £1,000 on delivery to the depot. When you have delivered a complete order, a shutter comes down and the money that you earned will be displayed. The bonus is then added to your total earnings.

Now use the Z, X, * or ? keys or the joystick to drive the truck around the map. When you come to a farm that's on your order, drive your truck into its loading bay and then press the <RETURN> key or the fire button.

Then you have to read the time on the analogue (round) clock and enter it into the digital clock. Use the Z key or left joystick to light up the hours and the X key or right joystick to light up the minutes on the digital clock. To change the numbers to the ones you want, use the * and ? keys or the forward and backward joystick. Press <RETURN> or the fire button to enter the time.

If you enter the time correctly, the farm gate closes and a crate appears on the empty truck below the map. Loading always takes five minutes so your clock will move accordingly. Then you can go on to collect another item on your order.

If the time is wrong, you must try again. An extra five minutes is added to your loading time for each mistake. After three attempts the correct time will be filled in for you but you do not lose your item. The crate will appear on the truck and you can then go on to collect another item.

Remember

You can collect the items in any order and unload the crates at the depot at any time.

Six crates will fill the truck and you'll have to unload them at the depot before you can collect any more items.

Unloading takes place immediately and your earnings for those items are displayed at the same time. You are free to drive off as soon as this has happened.

The clock stops when you are in a loading bay or at the depot. You can take this opportunity to make calculations or decisions about where to go next or which item to load.

Your truck always goes back to the depot after the shutter comes down.

To Escape

If you would like to go back to the beginning of the program, at any time, press <BREAK>.

Self Demonstration

If you don't respond to the first menu within 30 seconds, the program will go into a self demonstration. Press <ESCAPE> to go back to the beginning of the program.

Trucker Game

The aim in this game is to collect and deliver as many orders as possible in four 2 hour periods and to earn extra money by picking up items that aren't on the order along the way.

Careful planning is essential here because farms are only open at certain times during the 2 hour periods, and they close once you have collected an item. You can see the opening and closing times of each farm on the order, displayed in 24 hour digital form like this:

08:35 or like this 14:55

08:55 15:10

Each order item earns £200 and each non-order item earns £100 on delivery to the depot. Deliver one complete order in the two hours and you'll earn a bonus of £1,000.

At the end of each 2 hour period, the depot closes and the shutter comes down. When that happens you can't unload or get paid for any undelivered items. A new order appears and you can carry on.

Super Trucker Game

In this game, farms are only open for 15 minutes over a period of 8 hours. The display shows the items, the opening times of the farms in 24 hour digital form and the amount you'll earn when you deliver each item.

You don't have to complete any orders because the aim is to earn as much money as possible from individual items. Only six farms display information at any one time. As you collect each item, another one replaces it on the display.

Each item is worth a different amount of money and each non-display item earns £100 on delivery to the depot.

At the end of eight hours, the shutter comes down. After that you can't unload or get paid for any undelivered items.

Educational Notes

TIME TRUCKER has been carefully structured around the use of the 12 hour analogue clock and the 24 hour digital clock and it encourages the interpretation of both of these forms throughout the program.

The Trainee Trucker game gives practice in telling the time from the analogue clock and then recording that time in digital form. The Trucker game encourages the player to make calculations from digital forms while keeping an eye on the analogue clock. The Super Trucker game encourages a quick assessment of how both forms relate to each other and to the current task, at any given moment.

Although TIME TRUCKER is designed with fun and fantasy in mind, the skills which the players are required to exercise are those which they need, and will always need, in everyday life.

The importance of being able to tell the time fluently, to calculate intervals of time accurately, read time-tables correctly or plan the use of time effectively, can never be over-estimated.

The relationship between time and distance is another aspect to this program that requires constant attention and consideration. If the best route is planned in the given time, the rewards are varied and plentiful.

Players could be encouraged to think of areas in their own lives which might benefit from watching the time or estimating accurately. How long does it take to do something or how long does it take to go somewhere? How much planning is required? What's the most effective way to organise it? What adjustments need to be made if circumstances suddenly change? What's to be gained from doing all this?

TIME TRUCKER gives practice in these life skills and reinforces their use in an interactive, exciting and enjoyable way.

Instructions' Source : TIME TRUCKER (Acornsoft/ASK) Back Inlay & Booklet

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