SkoolDaze (Oric)

General information

The classic SkoolDaze game is finally available for your Oric!

In the role of our hero, Eric (or any other name you decide to call him and the rest of the cast), you know that inside the staffroom safe are kept the school reports. And, being Eric, you realise that you must at all costs remove your report before it comes to the attention of the Headmaster.

We tried to keep it as faithful to the original as possible, which has been a really difficult task due to the Oric 6 pixels per byte display. You can follow the development progress in the Defence Force forums.

Some small differences exist, though. A few of them are intentional, others just due to slightly different code.

Anyway the gaming experience should be the same than in the original Spectrum version.

Instructions

The combination to the safe consists of four letters, each master knowing one letter and the Headmaster's letter always coming first. To get hold of the combination, you first have to hit all the shields hanging on the school walls. Trouble is, this isn't as easy as it looks. Some of them can be hit by jumping up. Others are more difficult. You could try and hit a shield by bouncing a pellet off a master's head whilst he is sitting on the ground. Or, being Eric, you may decide to knock over one of the boys and, whilst he's flattened, clamber up on him so that you can jump higher.

OK. So all the shields are upside-down, disorienting the poor masters. Knock them over now and, before they can stop themselves, they'll reveal their letter of the code. All except for the history master, of course, who because of his great age and poor eyesight can't be trusted to remember. His letter has been implanted into his mind hypnotically. To make him reveal it, you must find out the year he was born (which, in case you were wondering, changes each game). Then, creep into a room before he gets there and, if the board is clean, write it on the blackboard. When he goes into that room and sees his birthdate he will, as if by post-hypnotic suggestion, give away his letter.

Now that you know all the letters of the combination, all you have to do is work out which order they go in. You know that the Headmaster's letter is always first, but as for the other three ... you'll just have to try the various possibilities. Find a clean blackboard and write out a combination.

Rush back to the staffroom and jump up to reach the safe with your hand. If nothing happens, then the combination must be wrong, so you'd better find another clean blackboard and try a different one.

With the safe open, your troubles still aren't over, as the upside-down shields are rather a giveaway. You now have to hit all of them again.

Done it? Congratulations! You are now allowed, along with all your friends, to move on to the next class at school. But remember, there will be reports at the end of this term.....

Skool Rules

• Boys shall attend lessons as shown in the timetable at the bottom of the screen. (Remember that because you cheated in the exams last year, you always go to the same lessons as the swot.)
• Boys do not score points by attending lessons, but may be given lines if caught in the wrong place.
• Boys who acquire over 10,000 lines shall be expelled immediately from the school.
• Boys are not allowed to enter the staffroom or the Headmaster's study. Take care.
• At playtime, boys are supposed to be playing and not in any of the classrooms.
• Boys shall not hit their schoolmates.
• Boys shall not fire catapults.
• Boys are expected to walk quietly in the corridors, they are not for running or sitting in.
• School dinners are compulsory.
• Boys will be neat and polite at all times.

The Keys

• Cursors: move
• S: sit/stand
• H: hit
• W: write (on blackboard)
• J: jump
• F: fire catapult
• C: change colour combination (two in color and one on b&w)
• A: Audio off/on

Scoring

• Hitting the shields: score depends on difficulty
• Hitting all 15 shields: scores a bonus
• Opening the safe after getting the combination: scores a bonus
• Hitting the shields after opening the safe: score depends on difficulty
• Lines given to the swot or bully: their lines add to your score
• Hitting the bully by punching him or with a catapult: if you dare!

System requirements

The game is designed to run on 48KB Oric computers (such as Oric-1, Atmos and Telestrat models), but the download link comes with a pre-configured Windows Emulator ready to run.

Credits

• Original ZX Spectrum game by
  • David Reidy & Helen Reidy (design & code)
  • Keith Warrington (graphics)
• Code, Graphics, Audio
  • Chema Enguita (Chema)
• Intro Graphics
  • Symoon
  • Mickaël Pointier (Dbug)
• Testing
  • Symoon
  • Dbug
  • Twilighte
  • Anti/rad
  • Oric community
• Special Thanks
  • Richard Dymond (SkoolKid)

Feedback

If you like the game, if you have questions, if you want to post encouragement messages or suggestions, feel free to register on the Defence-Force forums and post your message in the official SkoolDaze feedback and review thread

Copyright, price and similar things

This game has been written by fans, for the fans. The game is entirely free.

The copyright in the original ZX Spectrum game code and graphics for both Skool Daze and Back to Skool is held by Microsphere Computer Services Ltd.

The rights for this game currently belong to Alternative Software Ltd. Elite Systems Ltd. has recently produced an incredible version of the original Spectrum game for iOS with dedicated controls and other extras. Check it out!

This version of Skool Daze would have never seen the light without the help of the Oric community.

Thanks to Symoon for providing the first approach of the loading screen, and Dbug for his work in refining it, and also for his ideas about how to reduce the code size.

Thanks to Symoon, Dbug, Twilighte, Anti/rad and all the rest of the oricians who tested the game and provided feedback and ideas.

Special thanks to Richard Dymond (SkoolKid) for the incredible work he did in commenting the disassembly of the original game in his site, which was an invaluable source of information.

Happy playing!!!

-- Chema