TV SPORTS: BASKETBALL INTRODUCTION Welcome to TV Sports: Basketball, the most realistic and exciting basketball simulation ever created! TV Sports: Basketball has something for everyone. The arcade action is fast-paced and authentic, with all the slam-dunks, three-pointers, and fast breaks of the real thing. Play through hot streaks when you can't miss a shot, and struggle through droughts when you go 0-for-9 at the foul line. Hear the home crowd roar as you make your patented 360 , behind-the-back slam. Witness the height differences as your 7'6" center defends their 6'2" guard. Use that home court advantage to squeak out a w point, come-from-behind upset against the defending league champions. Will your team come through in the clutch? With the Clipboard, you can view complete league statistics in over 135 categories. Use the Exhibition mode to set up games that last from 12 to 18 minutes, with two to five players on each team. And through it all, the CWTV cameras are there: from the pre-game show to the post-game wrap-up! GETTING STARTED (AMIGA VERSION) Note: Before using the LEAGUE option, make a copy of the disk labelled "Reel 2." This disk is not copy protected and contains league and season data. Make a backup copy of this disk before playing any league games. Remember to leave your original disk write protected. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 1. An Amiga 500, 1000, 2000, or 2500 with 512K of RAM. 2. A joystick connected to port 2. OPTIONAL EQUIPMENT 1. Additional RAM. Users whose Amigas have 1Mb or more of RAM will enjoy enhanced sound. 2. A second joystick. For all options involving more than one player, connect a second joystick to port 1. 3. A Parallel Port Joystick Adapter, with a third and fourth joystick. Up to four players may play in exhibition games with this adapter. HARD DISK INSTALLATION You can install TV Sports: Basketball on your hard disk. There is a file, TVSBB.INSTALL on Reel 1 that explains the procedure. LOADING THE GAME If needed, boot your Amiga with Kickstart 1.2 or above. At the Workbench prompt insert "REEL 1" in the internal drive (df0:) and "REEL 2" in the external drive (df1:). The game loads automatically. One drive users should follow the on-screen prompts to exchange disks. Note: Never exchange disks unless the program requests it. 1 2 THE ORIGIN OF THE SPORT OF BASKETBALL Most modern sports are derived from games that have existed for centuries. Basketball, on the other hand, was invented late in the 19th century (1891) by a young Canadian clergyman, Dr. James Naismith. Naismith was working as a physical education instructor at a YMCA school in Springfield, Mass., when he was asked to come up with some type of activity which could be played indoors during the cold winter months. He wanted to design a game which involved a great deal of aerobic activity and developed coordination, with a minimum of physical contact (since the game had to be played indoors. He decided to use a large ball so no other equipment would be needed, and to use an elevated goal so scoring would depend more upon skill than brute strength. Naismith used old peach baskets as goals which were nailed to the balconies at each end of the gym. Someone had to climb up and get the ball every time a goal was scored. RULES OF THE GAME From this humble beginning, basketball has become one of the most popular and exciting sports in the world. Below is a summary of the official rules of the game, as laid out by the Cinemaware Basketball Association (CWBA). OBJECT The object of the game of basketball is to throw a large inflated ball through one of two elevated goals. When this is accomplished during the normal course of play it is called a field goal, or basket, and is worth two points. After certain violations of the rules, called fouls, the fouled team may be awarded free throws, which are worth one point. The team scoring the most points wins. THE COURT The game is played on a basketball court, which measures 94 feet long and 50 feet wide. The lines running the length of the court are called sidelines; the lines running the width of the court are called baselines; everything else is out-of-bounds. A mid-court line is drawn across the court exactly halfway down its length. On each end of the court is a rectangular area called the key, which is centered along the baseline, extends 19 feet into the court, and is 12 feet wide. The side of the key that runs parallel to the baseline is called the free throw line; it is from this line that penalty throws are taken. The goals, also called baskets or hoops, are placed at either end of the court, and are mounted on a 6 ft. by 4 ft. backboard that is suspended 9 feet above the key and 4 feet in from the baseline. The basket itself is a metal ring 18 inches in diameter with white netting hanging from it, placed 10 feet above the floor. 3 PLAYING BASKETBALL When a team receives the ball, they attempt to move the ball downcourt (toward the basket their opponents are defending) to score. A player may only advance the ball by passing it to a teammate or by bouncing (dribbling) it while running or walking. The player may not run or walk with the ball unless he is dribbling. When a player tries to shoot a field goal, two things may happen. If the shot is good, that team scores and a player from the other team takes the ball out-of-bounds and throws it in to a teammate, who advances the ball to their basket. if the shot is missed, the ball bounces off the basket and the players try to get the rebound. Once the defensive team gets the ball, they become the offense and try to advance the ball downcourt to score. SKILLS OF MODERN BASKETBALL Basketball involves several key skills related to manipulating the ball. Most important of these are passing, shooting, and rebounding. Passing means throwing the ball to another player. Passes may be thrown to any player, including the opposition if you are not careful! Any pass which leads directly to a player making a basket is called an assist. Shooting refers to throwing the ball at the basket. One of the most important skills is the ability to shoot accurately. A typical basketball game will include such shots as the one or two- handed lay-up, the one-handed jump shot, the pivot or hook shot, and even the slam-dunk. Rebounding is gaining possession of the ball when a shot is missed. 4 PLAYERS A full roster on a basketball team is 12 players, plus the coach. In a standard game, five players for each team are in the game at all times; a center, two guards and two forwards. Although every team member must be able to pass, shoot, and rebound with some degree of skill, each position required some specialized skills. Taller players are often better rebounders and more effective shooters from the inside (within about 10 feet of the basket), while shorter players are generally quicker and more accurate at shooting form outside. Guards: The two guards, or backcourt men, are usually the smallest and quickest men on the team. Facing downcourt, the left guard (called the point guard) usually brings the ball from the backcourt (where the opponent's basket is located) to the forecourt (the team's own basket). The right guard is sometimes called the shooting guard. The guards handle the ball more than the other players. The guards' most important function is to make things happen on the court by getting the ball to an open player and making sure the forwards and center remain effective throughout the game. Forwards: The forwards try to position themselves near the corners of the forecourt so they are in position to shoot or rebound. A forward should be a good defensive player who can prevent the player he is guarding from taking an effective shot. Most teams use a small forward who is a quick, accurate outside shooter, and a powerful forward who can make a large number of rebounds. Centers: The center is usually the tallest member of the team. He plays near the key and is primarily responsible for getting rebounds. Most of the shots taken by a center are from inside. PENALTIES There are two types of penalties in the CWBA: violations and fouls. Violations: When a player commits a violation, the ball is given (turned over) the other team, who must throw it in from the baseline. There are five violations called in the CWBA. Travelling is called when a player presses his button to take a jump shot, but does not release the button before he lands on the ground. A three-second violation is called when an offensive player stays in the key for more than 3 consecutive seconds. A five-second violation is called if he does not make the in-bounds pass to one of his teammates in 5 seconds or less. A ten-second violation is called if the offense does not get the ball over the mid-court line within ten seconds of being inbounded. A 24-second violation is called if the offensive team does not attempt a field goal within 24 seconds. 5 Fouls: Personal fouls are violations of the rules involving personal contact between players. Each player is allowed a limited number of fouls per game before he is disqualified (fouls out) and forced to sit out the remainder of the game on the bench. (The number of fouls allowed depends on the length of the game - see Fouling Out, page 16.) The result of most fouls is to award the fouled player one or two free throws. Charging, when the ballhandler runs into a defender who has established position, is not punished with free throws in the CWBA; the ball is given to the other team. Some free throws are awarded on a one-and-one basis: if the player makes the first free throw, he gets a second shot. If a player is fouled in the act of shooting and the ball goes into the basket, he is awarded one throw (a potential three point play). If the ball does not go into the basket, he is awarded two free throws. When a player fouls out, he is automatically replaced by the highest-rated player (in the same position) from the bench. GAME MENUS The main menu has three options: EXHIBITION, LEAGUE PLAY, and CLIPBOARD. To select an option, move the joystick up or down until the basketball icon is next to your choice, then press the button. EXHIBITION GAMES TV Sports: Basketball allows you to choose any two teams and have them play. The game does not count in the league standings (see League Games, page 7), nor are statistics from exhibition games added to the team stats display (see The Clipboard, page 9). You may play exhibition games as one player vs. the computer, two players in head-to-head competition, or with two players as teammates. Exhibition mode also allows the player to play with two to five players per team, and with quarters that last from three to twelve minutes. Starting an exhibition game: Select EXHIBITION from the main menu, then select ONE PLAYER, TWO PLAYERS or TEAMMATES. When the clipboard appears, change the number of players on each team, the length of the quarters, or both, then choose two teams by moving the pencil to the desired teams and pressing the button. Your selection is highlighted. The first team you select (highlighted in red) is the home team; the second team (highlighted in blue) is the visitor. The joystick in port 2 is always the home team. In two-player games, port 1 is always the visitor. When both teams are chosen, the game begins. Teammates: In order to play as Teammates, you must have a joystick plugged into both ports one and two. Make your selections as described above to start the game. All Teammates games use the Roleplaying option (see Roleplaying, page 18). In Teammates games, joysticks 1 and 2 control players on the home team. 6 Three and four players (Amiga version): TV Sports: Basketball allows up to 4 players to play simultaneously during exhibition games. To play with more than 2 players, you must plug a Parallel port joystick Adapter into your parallel port. You may use the F6 key to toggle joysticks three and four on and off during the substitution screen. Activating the third and fourth joysticks automatically turns on the Roleplaying option. The first press of the F6 key places these new players in the available spaces on the home team. The next press places them on the visiting team, and the third press removes them. For example, in a three-on-three Teammates game the first press places J3 (joystick three) on the home team. The second press places both J4 and J4 on the visiting team, and the third press eliminates them. LEAGUE GAMES The CWBA consists of 28 teams divided into two conferences and four divisions. Each team may have a human or computer owner. If you want to play in a league by yourself, simply change one of the teams from COMP to HUMAN (see Changing Ownership, page 19). In order to participate in the arcade sequences during a league game, at least one team must be human-owned. You can compete in a league with up to 27 other people, with each person selecting a team to own. To start a new season, select NEW SEASON. If you wish to edit one or more teams (for example, to change a team's ownership), select EDIT TEAM (see Editing a Team, page 19). When you are finished, or if you choose not to edit a team, select SAVE LEAGUE. (Note: Even if you do not want to edit a team, you must use SAVE LEAGUE to begin a new season.) When you are ready to play a game, select LEAGUE PLAY from the main menu, then CONTINUE SEASON from the league menu. All league games are five-on-five player games, with twelve-minute quarters. Warning: SAVE LEAGUE permanently erases from your league disk all games played in an existing season, including all statistics! You are allowed only ONE season and ONE league per disk. To play more than one season at a time, simply make additional copies of Reel 2. 7 The weekly schedule: When you choose CONTINUE SEASON, you see a schedule of the current week's games. A blue C indicates a computer-owned team and a red H marks the teams which are human-owned. (If your team does not have a red H, you forgot to change the ownership and must go back and edit the team). Move the pencil to the center of the clipboard over the game which features your team and press the button. This game is now highlighted. To start the game, move the pencil to PLAY and press the button. If you do not wish to play a game, select CLIPBOARD to exit. Hold and Auto modes: The right side of the schedule screen has a status column which indicates whether a game is in Hold or Auto mode. All games default to Auto unless they involve human teams, in which case they are put on Hold. Games in Auto mode are played automatically when PLAY is chosen. Games in Hold mode are not played until they are selected as described above, or changed to Auto mode. While you play your league game onscreen, all the games in the Auto mode are decided play-by-play offscreen. If you don't select a game before you select PLAY, all the games in the Auto mode are resolved. To toggle games between the two modes, move the pencil to the status column of the appropriate game and press the button. This allows you to either hold a computer vs. computer game and watch it later, or auto-play a human team's game if that player is not available to play. This second option is useful because no one can advance to the next week until all of the games for the current week have been resolved. The playoffs: The top two teams from each of the four divisions, eight teams in all, go to the playoffs. Each divisional champion plays up to three games (a best-of-three series) against the runner-up from their conference's other division; a team must win two games to advance. The two teams remaining from each conference play for the conference championship, which is a best-of-five series. The conference champions play a best-of-seven series to decide the CWBA Championship. Ties between two teams for runner-up in a division are settled as follows. 1. If the teams have played head-to-head, then the team with the winning record from that matchup is sent to the playoffs. 2. If the teams each have won an equal number of games in head-to-head matchups, the team with the best point differential (points-for minus points-against) over the entire season is sent to the playoffs. Three way ties are decided by point differential, so it pays to score as many points as possible in each game. Note: After one team becomes the CWBA Champion, the other teams get "up for the game" by playing tougher against the defending champion. If you win the championship, be prepared for a tough season to follow. 8 THE CLIPBOARD The CLIPBOARD option offers complete statistics for the league in progress on your league disk. (Statistics generated during exhibition games are not included.) In the screens described below, the pencil moves around to various selections. move the pencil to the selection of your choice and press the button. The Clipboard menu gives you the following choices. VIEW SCHEDULES: This is a weekly schedule of the league games. The + and - icons at the top of the screen allow you to go forward or backward in the schedule. Scores of games that have already been played appear; the blue scores are the winners. VIEW STANDINGS: The Standings screen allows you to analyze the record of every team in every division. From left to right you can see: win/loss record (W, L); average points for the team per game (PF/G); and average points against the team per game (PA/G). Each team can be selected; click on one to view its schedule (a complete list of opponents and scores of games that have already been played). LEAGUE LEADERS: The best and worst performances in the league are represented here in up to 69 different categories. Choose from the four options at the bottom left to view leaders in twenty-four different combinations: the TOP 10 or BOTTOM 10 performers in the league; INDIVIDUAL, TEAM or TEAM DEF. (team defense) performances; SCORING or MISC. (miscellaneous) statistics; and AVERAGES or TOTALS. Each category can be selected; the column in red shows the current stat. For example, to see the best scorers, click on TOP 10, INDIVIDUAL, SCORING, TOTAL, and PTS. 9 STATS BY TEAM: Complete stats are kept for each member of every team in the CWBA. Select a team from the team menu. The first screen you see gives a comprehensive analysis of the team's scoring ability broken down by field goals, three point shots, and points per game. You may also access the team roster from this screen. (You cannot make any changes to the player's abilities on this screen; it is for information only). The last two lines of each column give totals for the team and its opponents. Both LEAGUE LEADERS and STATS BY TEAM display these statistics. * MISC. AVERAGES and TOTALS: Rebounds (REB), Assists (AST), Blocked shots (BLK), Steals (STL), Turnovers (TRN), and Personal fouls (PF). * SCORING TOTALS: Field goals made and attempted (FGM, FGA), Three-point shots made and attempted (3PM, 3PA), Free throws made and attempted (FTM, FTA), and Total points scored (PTS). * SCORING AVERAGES: Field goal percentage (FG%), Three-point shot percentage (3PT%), Free throw percentage (FT%), and Average points per game (PTS/G). You may also print statistics with a printer; see Printing Statistics, page 21. 10 THE ARCADE GAME Once you have selected a game, either exhibition or league, the telecast begins live and direct from courtside with Max McGill on CWTV. However, if you want to skip the pre-game show and go straight to the substitution screen to see the starting lineup (to the tipoff in five-on-five games), just press your button again within two seconds of selecting the visiting team (Exhibition) or pressing play (League). Each team in the league has its own team color. Home teams wear jerseys in their team color; visiting teams wear blue jerseys. During the game, you control the player whose jersey is darker than those of his teammates. When not in Roleplaying mode, you change players as the game progresses. On offense, you are always the man with the ball. When you are on defense, you control the last player on your team to have the ball, until you tap the button, which switches you to the man closest to the ball. After the action begins, you may pause the game by pressing the spacebar. TIPOFFS At the beginning of all five-on-five, full-length games, the tipoff appears. The jumper on the left is on the home team; the one on the right is from the visiting team., Press your button to crouch and release it to jump for the ball. In a two-player game, the referee does not throw the ball until at least one player crouches. If you do not release the button, the computer will eventually jump for you, but you are unlikely to win the tipoff. THE SUBSTITUTION SCREEN The substitution screen gives game statistics and vital information regarding the condition of your players. It appears automatically at the beginning of the game and at the end of each quarter. If you want to make a substitution at other times, you may call a time-out (see Time-outs, page 16), or press the spacebar during a dead ball situation (the time between a score or violation by your opponent and the following in-bounds pass). When your computer opponent calls for a substitution during a dead ball, you have 30 seconds to make substitutions as well. If you call for the dead ball substitution, you have 60 seconds. You also have one minute between quarters and during a computer opponent's time-out. The top half of the screen shows each team's score and the status of the players in the game. The pictures of the players show their fatigue levels; as they get more tired, they hunch over more. The boxes underneath show their positions, names, points (PTS), personal fouls (PF), and the time left on the substitution clock, the quarter, the time remaining in the quarter, the number of time-outs remaining for each team, the players sitting on each team's bench, and the current game options (see Game Options, page 17). Note: In games with less than five players on the court for each team, only the next seven highest-ranked players appear on the bench. For example, in a two-on-two game, the three lowest-ranked players do not appear. 11 To make substitutions: Move the basketball cursor to the player you want to rest and press the button. This player is now highlighted. Move the cursor to the player on the bench you wish to put in the game and press the button again. The two players switch places. To change defensive assignments: Use the cursor to select your player,then move it to the other team and select the opponent you wish your player to guard. You may use this method to double-team an opponent, or just to switch the assignments of your players. To have players trade positions: Use the cursor to select one player, then select another player. The two players trade positions. You may, for example, have your forwards switch sides or have the center and a guard trade positions. To change the player your joystick controls: When using the Roleplaying option, select the player you want to control and press the button, then move the basketball back to him and press the button again. The joystick indicator appears in the box under that player. Each change take effect as soon as you make it. If you finish making changes before the time-out ends, select DONE to continue the game (in two-player mode, each player must select DONE to exit). If you do not 12 press DONE within the time allotted (as shown in the lower half of the screen), the computer exits back to the game. If the time-out expires before you complete a change, that change does not take effect. THE PLAYCALLING SCREEN The playcalling screen appears during the game whenever the players are crossing mid-court. During this screen, you do not control the players, but are setting up the next play. At the top center of the screen is a small half-court diagram that represents the offensive players' positions; it does not show their actual positions on the court. On either side of this diagram is a roster of the players in the game for each team. One side is highlighted; that team is on offense. The basketball icon is positioned next to the current ballhandler between his points (PTS) and personal fouls (PF). For each offensive player, there is a red arrow or dot located between their number and their name on the roster. These show the direction to push the joystick (the doc indicates a button press) to select that player. The offensive team selects a player to try to get open, and the defensive team chooses an opponent to guard move closely. When you choose a player, your team's name flashes to confirm that you have made a selection. 13 PLAYING OFFENSE When you are on offense, you are trying to pass the ball in to a teammate, bring it across mid-court within ten seconds, and then put the ball through the hoop before the 24-second shot clock runs out. You may advance the ball by dribbling or passing. Dribbling: A player starts dribbling as soon as he gets the ball and continues until a defender makes him stop. Once a player picks up his dribble (stops dribbling), he may not dribble again; he must either pass or shoot. Passing: Passing is the fastest way to move the ball around the court, although it is a bit more risky than dribbling. When one of your teammates thinks he is open he will raise his hands to signal for the pass. (You always have one player that is at least partially open). Tap your button to throw the ball to him. Time your passes carefully to avoid having the ball stolen. (For more details on passing, see Game Options, page 17). Shooting: Shooting basically involves two moves: jumping up and releasing the ball. Holding down the button causes your player to jump up and releasing the button him to release the ball. Release the button when he reaches the top of his jump to shoot most effectively. If you do not release the ball, you will be called for traveling and the ball is turned over to the other team. Remember to hold the button while the player is going up; if you just tap the button you pass the ball whether there is a safe pass or not. Note: If some of your opponent's players are directly between you and the basket, do not push the joystick toward the basket when you shoot or you may be called for charging. Free Throws: If an opponent fouls you, you may be awarded one or more free throws. Shooting a free throw is similar to shooting a field goal, except that you have to time the shot using a small green line that moves back and forth across the backboard. Push and hold the button then release when the green line is centered. You have only a few seconds to release the ball before the computer does it for you. The closer the line is to being centered, the more successful your shot will be. Another factor in making free throws is the player's shooting ability. A good shooter may make the shot even if the bar is off to one side; a poor shooter may miss even if the bar is in the center of the backboard. Offensive Strategy: If you get the ball by rebounding, try to pass it quickly to the man farthest downcourt. This kind of high-speed offensive attack down the length of the court is called a fast break, and is used to outrace the defenders for a quick score. If you cannot use a fast break, try to set up a screen once the ball is downcourt. In a screen play, an offensive player tries to position a teammate between himself and the defender guarding him to get an open shot. 14 PLAYING DEFENSE The goal of the defense is to prevent the offense from scoring. More often than not in basketball, the offense does score. However, if the defense is successful at least part of the time, your team can win. Remember the old adage: "Offense sells tickets; defense wins games." Quickness is the key to good defense. In a man-to-man defense, players generally defend opponents in the same position (guards defend guards and forwards defend forwards). The primary goal of the defender is to prevent the player he is guarding from getting the ball, or to force him to shoot from a bad position. While playing defense, try to do three things. First, when guarding the ballhandler, try to force him to pick up his dribble. To do this, keep getting in his way. Once he picks it up, he must pass or shoot. Stay close to him and stay in front of him. Make him go around you. If he gets by you press your button to switch to the player closest to him (unless of course, you are in Roleplaying mode) Also, try for the turnover. There are several ways you can take the ball away from the other team. When guarding the ballhandler, press the button to attempt to steal. If you can force a violation, your team gets the ball. If your attempts fail, you may be called for a foul. Finally, when the man shoots, try to block his shot. To do this, press the button when he goes up for the shot. Timing is a big factor - if you can jump at the same time as your opponent, your chances increase. As in stealing, unsuccessful block attempts often result in foul calls. 15 TIME-OUTS Only the team in possession of the ball can call a time-out.First you must press the spacebar (pausing the game), then press your button. You are prompted to press a button so a time-out is not called by mistake. The game can be paused at any time by pressing the spacebar. The number of time-outs each team gets depends on the length of the game. Length of each quarter | 3 mins | 6 mins | 9 mins | 12 mins --------------------------|---------|---------|--------|---------- Timeouts per half | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 GAME CLOCKS During the game, two clocks may appear. The 24-second clock is shown in the upper right corner of the screen when you have five seconds left to shoot. The game clock appears in the lower left corner of the screen during the last ten seconds of each quarter. FOULING OUT A player is allowed to commit a limited number of personal fouls before he fouls out of the game. The number of fouls permitted depends on the length of the game. Length of each quarter | 3 mins | 6 mins | 9 mins | 12 mins ---------------------------|---------|---------|---------|---------- Fouls to foul out | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 OVERTIME Basketball games cannot end in ties. In 9 and 12-minute exhibition games and all league games, overtime periods lasting 5 minutes are added until there is a winner. In 3 and 6-minute exhibition games, the overtime period lasts for 2 minutes. INSTANT REPLAY During play, you may press the F10 key to view an instant replay of the last sequence. Your joystick controls the action just like the buttons on a VCR. Push forward on with joystick to replay forward at normal speed. Pull back to reverse at normal speed. Right will play forward at double speed, while left will reverse at double speed. Press the button and move the joystick forward to see the replay in slow motion forward, or pull the joystick back with the button depressed to see the slow motion replay in reverse. Press F10 again to resume play. Pressing F10 in the middle of a play temporarily suspends that play. When you resume play, the play will continue as if it were not interrupted. Forward, Slow Normal Speed Forward /|\ /|\ | | Fast Fire Fast Fire Reverse ----- Button ----- Forward Button UP DOWN | | \|/ \|/ Reverse Slow Normal Speed Reverse 16 GAME OPTIONS In order to make the game enjoyable for players at all levels of ability, several options have been added to change the difficulty of the game. These game options are on the bottom of the substitution screen and are printed in red or grey. Red indicates that the option is on and grey means it is turned off. Some game modes do not allow access to all the options, so if one does not appear at the bottom of the screen, you cannot change it. For example, Fatigue cannot be turned off during a league game, so it will now show on the substitution screen. The default modes are: Player-controlled passing, Cursor on, Roleplaying off, and Fatigue on. The default modes are set for a moderately difficult level of play. To toggle the functions on and off, press the appropriate function key. Passing F2: This lets you toggle between Player-controlled Passing and the simpler computer-assisted passing. If player-controlled passing is selected, you have complete control of the passing game. When one of your teammates gets open, he raises his hands. Move your joystick in the direction you want to pass the ball and tap the button. The computer 17 selects the safest pass to a player in the direction you're facing. Player-controlled passing is more difficult than computer-assisted passing and should only be used by advanced players. Turn on the cursor (see below) for help in selected a safe pass. If Computer-assisted Passing is selected, the computer cycles the cursor through the open players one at a time. When you tap the button to pass, the computer passes the ball to the player with the cursor on his jersey. Because the computer moves the cursor for you, you may have to wait if you are trying to pass to a particular individual. Cursor F3: When you are using Player-controlled Passing, turning the cursor on makes passing easier. (The cursor is always on when using computer-assisted passing.) The passing cursor is an orange circle that appears on the player who is most open, and the cursor has that player's number on it. The color of the number inside the cursor indicates the relative safety of the pass. A green number in the cursor represents a safe pass. A red number marks a pass which is somewhat risky. A white number represents a very risky pass. Players also indicate they are open by raising their hands. If the cursor is off, this is your primary method of determining whether a pass is safe. A green cursor does not stay green for long; it can change to red or white or even disappear altogether. Therefore, pass the ball as soon as you can. Roleplaying F4: The Roleplaying function lets you select a player and "become" that player. You control only the selected player. On the substitution screen, move the basketball cursor to the player you want to control and press the button once. The cursor moves to DONE, so move it back to the player and press the button again. The joystick indicator is now on this player. When you return to the game and think you are open for the pass, tap the button to call for the ball. Fatigue F5: As the game progresses, players get tired and their effectiveness is hampered, necessitating changes in the line-up. Players recover during time-outs, between quarters, and while on the bench. The players can be fresh, tired, exhausted, or injured. Any player who is injured is out for the rest of the game. The players on the bench have their fatigue levels listed by their name. The fatigue levels of the players in the game are depicted by their posture as shown on the substitution screen. Monitor your players' conditions in order to get the best performance from each member of your team. For example, any player left in for an entire 48-minute game is exhausted by the end and could easily be injured. Every player has a different amount of stamina. If you are playing an exhibition game, you may turn the Fatigue function off and your players will remain fresh throughout the game. 18 EDITING A TEAM Whenever you start a new season, you have the option of editing a team. You can change the team name (and choose a 4-letter abbreviation for that team), the players' names, their rankings and ratings, and the team ownership (HUMAN or COMP). Just move the pencil to the item you want to change and press the button. Changing ownership: Move the pencil to the upper right corner and change the owner from COMP to HUMAN by pressing the button. Changing names: Move the pencil to the item you want to change and press the button. A flashing red cursor appears in the first column of the input area and moves to the right as you enter a name. Team names may be up to 13 characters long; abbreviations up to 4 characters. Players' names must be entered as a first and last name only and may be up to 17 characters long. Last names longer then 9 characters may be abbreviated on the substitution screen and some statistical screens. Changing rankings and ratings: Move the pencil to the ranking you wish to change and press the button. When you change a player's rank, you must enter leading zeros (08, for example) since the computer 19 will only accept two digits. The players ranked from 1 to 13 and the rankings determine the total number of "talent points" that a player is allocated. The best player (ranked #1) is given 32 total talent points and the worst player (ranked #13) is given 20 talent points. The talent points are divided among six categories: Shooting, Passing, Defense, Rebounding, Quickness, and Jumping (see Ratings, below, for an explanation of these categories). To change the distribution of talent points, move the pencil to the player's Shooting rating and press the button. The maximum number of talent points a player may have in any one category is eight and the minimum is one. When you change a player's ranking, the old rank, along with its distribution of talent points, is traded to the player who formerly held the new rank. Example: A guard is ranked 13 and his points are placed as follows: S:5, P:4, D:4, R:1, Q:5, J:1. A forward on the same team is ranked 4, and his points are S:7, P:3, D:6, R:6, Q:2, J:5. When the owner of the team decides to improve his guard to the 4th-ranked player on his team, the forward becomes number 13, with S:5, P:4, etc. Once you have completed editing your team select SAVE CHANGES from the bottom of the screen. This is a temporary save function which allows you to go on to edit other teams if you wish. In order to save the changes permanently for later use, you must select SAVE LEAGUE from the NEW SEASON menu. Once you have done this, you have permanently modified your league disk. Several editing sessions may be used to create a multiplayer league. When all the players are satisfied with their teams, select CONTINUE SEASON to begin league play. Note: The Cinemaware team cannot be edited. You can select it as your team in both exhibition and league play (you can change the ownership), but you cannot make changes to any player. RATINGS As you edit your team, keep in mind that all of the areas a player is rated in are interrelated, and a low or high rating in any area will affect performance in other areas. Shooting: The Shooting rating refers to outside shooting. Whether a shot is made is determined by shooting ability, proximity of a defender and his defensive ability, jumping, momentum, and the timing of the button release. Passing/ballhandling: The Passing rating affects the number of passes stolen, the chance of the defender to stop you while you are dribbling, and the number of passes showed as safe (green). A player with good passing rating has more opportunities to make safe passes. Defense: The defense rating affects the player's ability to force the ballhandler to pick up the dribble, to steal passes, and the number of fouls called against the player. 20 Rebounding: The higher the Rebounding rating, the more likely player is to get a rebound. Rebounding is also affected by height and jumping ability. Quickness: The Quickness rating does not have any direct correlation to a particular skill, but affects how fast a player moves around on court, how often he gets open for passes, how effective he is on the fast break, and how closely he can guard a opponent. Jumping: Overall, this determines how high a player jumps, but also has an impact on rebounding, blocking shots, and shooting. Better jumpers are more effective in these areas. The ranking of a team's coach has a subtle effect on the game. A well-coached team shoots free throw more accurately, makes more steals, and turns the ball over less frequently. PRINTING STATISTICS You may print out statistics for the last game player and for the current league season, as well as the team rosters. Reel 2 contains three files: GAMESTATS.PRT, SEASONSTATS.PRT and ROSTERS.PRT. These are normal text files. To print them, you may use any word processing program or the following AmigaDOS command: copy REEL2:(filename) prt: 21 SUMMARY OF GAME KEYS F2: At substitution screen, TOGGLES BETWEEN player-controlled and computer-assisted PASSING MODES. F3: At substitution screen, TOGGLES PASSING CURSOR on and off. F4: At substitution screen, TOGGLES ROLEPLAYING MODE on and off. F5: At substitution screen, TOGGLES FATIGUE on and off. F6: At substitution screen, TOGGLES JOYSTICKS 3 AND 4 from home team to visiting team to off. F10: During play, cuts to INSTANT REPLAY. During instant replay, returns to game. SPACEBAR: During play, PAUSES GAME. 22 ============================================================================ DOCS PROVIDED BY -+*+-THE SOUTHERN STAR-+*+- for M.A.A.D. ============================================================================