To be on Top

To be on Top

----------------------------

So, you want to have your game completely spoiled? All right...
Here's a sort of plan of your town:

/--------/--------/--------/--------/--------/
/  Your  / Disco  / Rain-  / Your   /  TWR   /
/  Home  /        / bow    / Mate's / Studio /
/        /        / TV     / House  /        /
/--------/--------/--------/--------/--------/

1) Just to remind you.
Avoid everything, when walking through the main
street. Also, avoid your own mother, unless you really want to stay at
home rather than become a famous musician.

2) Your Home.
Walk right, taking the Video Tape on the way - from a
cupboard. Turn on the television. Now you have to catch your
Inspirations. There are four kinds of them: Accomp, Melody, Bass and
Sequence Inspirations. You collect them by moving your aiming device
around the TV screen and pressing fire when it collides with
Inspiration (yes, that little ring). It is crucial which of them
you'll manage to catch, because your final chart position depends on
it. There are nine various Inspirations from each kind. They appear in
constant order: Black, White, Red, Light Blue, Purple, Green, Dark
Blue, Yellow and Brown. There are probably lots of successful
combinations. I found out that WHITE Bass, GREEN Melody, BLACK Accomp
and PURPLE Sequence, if put together, make very good piece of music
(or at least that's how Chris Huelsbeck's algorithm estimates it). So,
try your best and make sure you've collected them. Go to the piano.
Make the song (Sequence forms verse, Accomp, Bass and Melody form
chorus) by clicking desired colours. You should get starting chart
position No. 9. Promising, huh?

3) Your Friend's House.
You won't enter here without a Video Tape.
Walk right. Turn on the synthesizer. It allows you to arrange your
song. If you did follow my advice, your song will do best arranged
this way: 1-A, 2-B, 3-B. Chart No. 5, you can see your fame coming.
But for now, all you've got is an Audio Tape with a demo version of
your song.

4) Discotheque.
Go left, give the Audio Tape to the DJ. Walk right,
stand next to the counter and get Beer. Walk left and give it to the
DJ. Repeat this routine until you are given a Reference Card.

5) TWR Studio.
You are here to add digi-drums to your song. Press play
button. Choose drums line by clicking buttons formed in two rows below
the console. If you still follow my advice, choose sixth button
(counting from the left) from the first row. Stop the tape, rewind it,
then press record button. Yeah! You're number two now, it means you
get an RTV Invitation.

6) Rainbow TV.
This is the last test for you as the entertainer; you
have to perform drums live, synchronized with the playback. Don't
panic, this isn't hard really. Just stress the quarters with bassdrum
(fire) and one of the snares (left or right) alternately. You can use
the hand-clap (up) or sampled speech -courtesy of Paul Hardcastle-
(down) too, if you feel funky enough. While playing, watch the
enthusiasm indicator placed in upper left corner. If it reaches green
area - you are doing great, keep the beat!

7) Well done - your record has just gone gold for the first time... or
try again, dear...

so(u)lution (c) 2001 Smalltown Boy


TO BE ON TOP - manual
---------------------

MAIN MENU
You have following options:
F1: To start the game.

F3: Display top ten. The top ten represents a high score table, and
differs only in that you can replay any of the songs by pressing the
relevant key (1-0). Even when you haven't been listed in the top ten
before, there will still be ten songs that you can listen to. Press
RETURN to go back to the main menu.

F6: Load saved top ten from disk.
F8: Save top ten on disk.

ABOUT "TO BE ON TOP"
In this game, you are a youth who tries to get to
the top of the charts, against all odds. During the game, you compose
a song which has a good chance to be listed in the top ten. If this
song is good enough, you will be invited to perform your hit live on
RTV.

CONTROLS
You can move the figure on the screen analogously with the
joystick movements (up, down, left, right). Diagonal movements are
also possible. By pressing the fire button you can open doors,
communicate with other people and collect objects etc. You'll have to
discover the rest on your own!

STATUS DISPLAY
ITEM - this will be objects that you collect during the game.
LEVEL - shows the player's current position.
INSPIRATION - number of collected inspirations.
CHART NO. - current top ten position.

STARTING THE GAME
After pressing the F1 key, you must firstly type in a name for the
song to be composed. Then press RETURN. Now you find yourself standing
in a busy street in your home town. Be careful not to collide with any
of the strange people and vehicles you meet here! You have to discover
yourself what lies inside the many buildings! But beware! Make sure
that you choose the right door, otherwise you will experience some
very strange things! Learn from your mistakes!

COLLECTING INSPIRATIONS

Inspirations are musical ideas, that often are originated in the most
unusual situations. These inspirations are generally taken for the
main part of the song, called the refrain. A song also consists of
another part which alternates with the refrain, called the verse.

There are four kinds of inspirations to be collected:
1. BASS (for the refrain): sixteen different bass lines.
2. ACCOMP (for the refrain): sixteen different accompaniaments.
3. MELODY (for the refrain): sixteen different melodies.
4. SEQUENCE (for the verse): sixteen different sequences.

Up to four different kinds of inspirations can be collected in four
rounds. To do this you must touch the inspirations with the aiming
cross and then press the fire button. But you must be quick!

If you fail to collect even one inspiration from one of the four
groups, the game is over - how can you compose a hit without
inspirations ?

Note: It is important to collect as many inspirations as possible,
rather concentrate on the colours which have sounded good to you
before. Also, you should not collect the same colours everytime.

PUTTING TOGETHER YOUR SONG

The collected inspirations are now displayed on a keyboard. Now you
can choose and combine inspirations using the hand-shaped cursor. Note
that you can only take one colour from each line (BASS, ACCOMP and
MELODY) to compose the refrain. These combinations will be valued by
the computer, and the better they are, the further you will get in the
game. Have a go!

You must also choose a SEQUENCE - inspiration that will form the
verse. In order to avoid mistakes, you should listen to your refrain
and verse at least once (simply wait until the refrain and verse have
changed twice). Only then, when you are happy with your composition,
should you proceed. You should know how to do this!

RECORDING THE DEMO-TAPE

Here a synthesizer is displayed. On the left keypad, with the
hand-shaped cursor, it is possible for you to choose the sound of your
instrument.

Next to the three rows (each with four keys), there are the numbers 1,
2 and 3. These stand for BASS, ACCOMP and MELODY. Adjust the sound
until you are satisfied (listen very carefully!), then you can leave
this mode with EXIT.

RECORDING STUDIO

To start with, use all of the keys except RECORD. At this point you
can add one of the sixteen drum sequences to your song. When all final
adjustments have been made, using the Recording Studio's keypad, first
rewind the tape (2 arrows facing left), and then press RECORD. Your
song is now finally ready!

RAINBOW TV STUDIO

If your song is one of the top three titles in the Top Ten (see
placings), you will receive an RTV INVITATION to the Grand Final on
stage.

The number of viewers that you have depends on your stage show, and
naturally, in this age of omnipresent satellite-television, it will
influence the success of your song.

At this point, you must play the rhythm for your song live using a
sample synthesizer. The following functions stand at your disposal:

FIRE BUTTON: Bass drum
UP: Clap
DOWN: "Nineteen"
RIGHT: Snare drum 1
LEFT: Snare drum 2

Here variety and "rhythm-feeling" will be judged by the audience. As
long as the display in the top left corner doesn't go into the green
area, this can damage your placing. If you reach first place, you can
expect a small surprise!

END OF THE GAME

If the game ends prematurely, a screen message will appear, which you
should take note of in order to avoid the same mistake next time!

If you want to save the Top Ten, be sure to do this before you turn
off the computer.

---This manual was extracted by Smalltown Boy from the Remember
version of the game. So thank Jack Alien for it...---