Analyze the following:

MINDSHADOW: AN ILLUSTRATED TEXT ADVENTURE

You find yourself lost in the middle of nowhere. In the middle of a mystery. Who are you? Where will you go? What will you do? London, Luxembourg. Across oceans and continents. You struggle for answers. For your identity. And for the faceless betrayer who left you to perish. Deception abounds. As do twisted traps and devious characters. But a wise, legendary bird named "Condor" helps in the worst of times. This brilliantly wrought mystery echoes with intricate challenges and unexpected reversals. Yet skillfully, it speaks to you in direct, simple prose. And its greatly expanded vocabulary allows you to talk to the computer in plain English. And that means hours of true enjoyment for both novice and advanced adventure.

---

Mindshadow: An Illustrated Text Adventure
Instructions

Your great Mindshadow adventure starts when you find yourself -- all alone -- on a mysterious tropical island. You have no idea how you got there or where you came from. You don't even know who you are! And now, armed only with your reasoning power and imagination, you must escape from this place and get to the root of this puzzle.

So...courage! And remember, your mind is the master of this mystery!

THE TASK AT HAND

As you wake up, you find yourself lying on the shore of a tropical island. Your main problem is that you seem to have lost your memory. As you explore your world, you must search for the clues that will give you answers to the questions: "Who are you?", "Where did you come from from?" and "Who left you on the island?"

THE ILLUSTRATED TEXT ADVENTURE EXPLAINED

OVERVIEW

As the 'lost soul,' you are the central character in a complex adventure that begins in the tropics. The computer shows you the world from the character's point

In order to execute the above-stated tasks, you must explore your world and its many characters. Search for clues, examine everything, question everyone and be on guard for danger. Then, put it all together and figure out what's what and who's who. This will take a lot of thinking, some clever approaches, a good memory and a penchant for risk-taking.

INTERACTING WITH THE COMPUTER

Let the computer be your eyes, ears, voice, hands and legs. Tell it what you want to do by using the keyboard or mouse to give it commands. Commands include verbs and nouns: for instance, TALK TO MAN or TAKE SHELL. The computer also understands more complex commands, like GIVE THE BOTTLE TO THE CAPTAIN.

You can string commands together, too: TALK TO CLERK AND GO UP STAIRS. However, the computer will perform the commands separately rather than simultaneously. So in this case, if talking to the clerk gets you "killed," you'll never get the chance to go up stairs.

Of course, the computer isn't as smart as you are. It might not understand all of your commands. Since your vocabulary is bigger, experiment with different words and ways of expressing what you want to do. If an important command is rejected, make several attempts to reword it.

The screen displays a list of verbs and nouns. These aren't all the words the computer understands, but they suggest the sorts of words that you can use. They can be used in commands by pointing with the mouse.

MOVING FROM PLACE TO PLACE

To move from one location to another, tell the computer the direction you want go -- North, East, South or West. You can use the keyboard by simply typing N, E, S or W, or you can point with the mouse to the desired direction on the screen "compass." Precise directions for moving are described later in "Using the Computer."

After you've memorized (or written down) the layout of an area, you may want to make several moves at once. In that case, type or point to a series of directions (ex: N.N.E.). When typing, be sure to put periods between letters.

USEFUL OBJECTS

As you move around, watch for objects that might eventually be useful. These could be mentioned in the text or may only appear on-screen in the visual. So be observant. We will describe how to TAKE or DROP an object later in "Using the Computer."

MAKING DANGEROUS MOVES

Although you have to do all the thinking in Mindshadow, the computer's memory can be very useful. Right before a risky move, give the QUICKSAVE command. Should you meet with your demise and, thus, end the game, simply give the QUICKLOAD command. The game will return to the screen that appeared just before your unfortunate move. Hence, you can pick up where you left off without having to replay the entire adventure. Details for this procedure are described later in "Command Shortcuts."

VITAL HINTS TO GET YOU STARTED

Here are some hints that will greatly increase your chances of success:

- Be curious! Be sure to EXAMINE or LOOK AT everything and everyone you see.
- GET and TAKE as many objects as you can carry. There's no telling what you might need later on.
- Read the text carefully and study every detail in the visuals. Seemingly unimportant facts or objects may later enlighten your understanding in a crucial situation or analysis.
- Don't forget to look inside things like drawers, file cabinets, chests, pockets -- even trash cans.
- Good text adventurers write everything down. Descriptions, people, places, objects...for easy reference and ultimate solutions.
- A map is crucial. Construct one as you go along -- noting cliffs, buildings, quicksand and other landmarks in each screen. This makes it easier to backtrack or to make multi-directional moves (i.e. N.N.E.).
- One of your best sources is the Condor. He's a bird that's full of advice. Type HELP CONDOR, and you may get the clue you need. However, only three clues are given per game.
- Conversation is sometimes possible. For instance, if you want some information, approach a character and type TALK MAN or TALK WOMAN.
- To get clues about your identity, type THINK (with words that tell the computer what you want to think about). As you stop and THINK from time to time, you may begin to regain your identity -- with some help from the text.
- Take chances! Use your imagination, and try everything. Enter a myriad of different commands to pull as much information as you can out of the computer. Dare to be clever! If you frequently save (or QUICKSAVE) the game, you'll never have much to lose.
- Select the TUTORIAL display from the Main Menu before your first attempt at Mindshadow. It contains many more examples of commands you can use.

Good luck!

USING THE COMPUTER

The computer shows you where you are at every stage of your adventure. It will do your bidding so you can move and explore.

TO MOVE

You can simply type the direction with the keyboard (W) west and press RETURN.

If you want to make one long move over several directions, use the keyboard to type the abbreviations (i.e.: N.N.E.S.E.). Remember to put a period after each letter. Then press RETURN.

TO GET (TAKE) OBJECTS

Any object that you have in your possession is displayed on-screen in your "Inventory." As you progress, you will often encounter objects that you'll want to add to this inventory.

- If a desired object is visible on the screen, or if the object is not visible, simply type GET THE (fill in) and press RETURN.
- To get every eligible object in sight, type GET ALL and press RETURN.
- Objects successfully taken will appear on-screen in your inventory. For an on-screen list of your current inventory, type I and press RETURN.

TO DROP OBJECTS

When your inventory space is full, you won't be able to take any more objects unless you DROP at least one of them.

- Type DROP THE (fill in) and press RETURN.
- To drop all the objects in your inventory, type DROP ALL and press RETURN.

TO EXAMINE OBJECTS

By examining every person, place and thing, you will often observe valuable clues in the text responses.

- Use commands like LOOK AT or EXAMINE when referring to the object of your curiosity.

COMMAND SHORTCUTS

QUICKSAVE/QUICKLOAD. Type QUICKSAVE before each risky move! It will save your current game. It is automatically erased when another game is Quicksaved. Should you meet with your demise and, thus, end the game, type Y to begin the game again; then type QUICKLOAD. This will load the game from Quicksave, and you can pick up right where you left off.

PRE-SET COMMANDS. Two columns of words appear on the right side of the screen. The first column contains verbs, the second contains nouns.