
How to play Santa's Rescue
===========================

  When you start up a game, you are looking at a three dimensional
world just as if you were there at the North Pole yourself.  Unlike 
other games, you do not see your own self, you play as though the
view are seeing is from your own eyes.

Returning to the menu
---------------------
  The escape key will bring up the game menu.  Go there to Save or Load
your game, and to turn sound on/off, etc.


The in-game help screen
-----------------------

  Press F1 for help during gameplay.  This is one-screen reminder page.

MOVING ABOUT
------------
  To move forward you press the number 8 key ON YOUR NUMERIC KEYPAD.

HINT:
   Do not use the regular arrow keys, because on some computers they will
  not function properly. (IE, the motion halts after each keypress).

  To turn your body, use the 4 and 6 keys on the numeric keypad.  As you
turn around, you will see the compass on the top of the screen indicate
your change in direction.

  The 2 key on the numeric keypad makes you walk backwards.

  You can also jump, but pressing the 0 key on the numeric key down, and
holding it there.  When you want to spring up, release the key.  You can
jump while moving, too.

  You can also use the mouse or joystick.  Moving the mouse in the obvious
ways will make you move.  

HINT:
  Pressing and holding down the RIGHT mouse button will make you run forward.
This is much easier than trying to move forward by lifting and rolling the
mouse forward repeatedly.

  The left mouse button operates the candy cane.

  Operation of the joystick is straightforward.


INTERACTING WITH FRIENDLIES
---------------------------
  There are some friendly people in Santa's Rescue.  To hear what they have
to tell you, just move close to them.  A text screen will appear automatically.
When you are done reading it, just press the space bar.  There is no way
to talk back to the them.
  
INTERACTING WITH THE NOT-SO-FRIENDLIES
--------------------------------------
  The evil Ice Wizard has turned the friendly inhabitants of the North Pole
area into nasty beasts who melt your Christmas spirit with their 
unfriendliness.  As they taunt you, you will hear a gurgling noise as your
snowman image on the lower right side of your screen slowly melts.   If
you are taunted enough times, your snowman will be completely melted, and
the game is over.

  You can stop the unfriendly creatures with the magic candy cane.  This 
magical device can be found near the North Pole.  Once you have it, you
can activate it by pressing the space bar.  When you do this, you will
hear the tinkling sound.  The good magic of the candy cane will spread 
out directly ahead of you.  Point it at an unfriendly guy, and he will
be transformed back to his original friendly state. (The way he was before
the evil Ice Wizard made him nasty.)

UN-MELTING YOURSELF
-------------------
  You can regain some of your Christmas spirit, and thereby restore your
snowman by finding blocks of magic ice on the ground.  If you are melted
at all, then you will automatically pick up the ice when you walk near it.
If you aren't at all melted, nothing will happen when you walk over it.
In this case, you can pick it up and carry it with you in your inventory.
   You can do this by pressing the 'i' key, or the ENTER key while you 
are standing near it.  Then it will disappear from the 3D world, and appear
in a box along the bottom of your screen.
  If the ice block disappears from the 3D world when you pick it up, but
does NOT appear in your inventory, this just means that you were very
slightly melted.  In that case, your meltedness was not enough to trigger
the automatic pickup.  However, the ice block was applied to your snowman
instead of going into your inventory.
  If you want to set it back down, you can press the 's' key.  This stops
the game, and allows you to use your arrow keys to select which inventory
item you want to drop.  When you have selected the item you wish to drop,
press ENTER.  If you change your mind, the escape key will return you to
the game without dropping anything.
  This way, you can pick up a magic ice block to use later when you need
it.  If you get partially melted later on, you can drop the ice block.  In
that case as soon as you drop it, you will pick it up and use it automatically.


WHEN YOUR CANDY CANE RUNS OUT OF MAGIC POWER
--------------------------------------------
  There is a little green number on your candy cane display window.
That is the number of magic charges remaining.  When that number counts
down to zero, you can't use the candy cane any more unless you find some
magic power.  
  Luckily, there are Christmas stockings laying around on the ground that
you can walk over that will recharge your candy cane.  If your candy cane
already has a full charge, you can pick them up and put the stockings in
your inventory for when you might need them later.
  Just like the ice blocks, when you need to use one that is in your 
inventory, just drop it.  As soon as you drop it, the automatic pickup
will use to refill your candy cane.

Good luck!



